Vickers Bl 8 inch Howitzer cannon of 1917

Thanks Jeff , next part to tackle on this build will be the elevating gearbox which has a few different types of gears in it, so i'll see how that goes.

Thanks Mal.

Your attention to detail is great. Looks good so far. Something about detail & good engineering I have always appreciated.

Hell all,thought i would make the trail bracket which the traverse mechanism attaches to which also the 8 degrees sale is marked on, now this bracket sits on the trail at about a 10 degree angle so that when the Howitzer is sitting in the firing position both elevating and traversing gearboxes sit level this could be down to oil level in both boxes not 100% sure ,anyway decided to to make this part out of solid lots chips fettling and roughing it up a little to look like a cast part and this is what turned out couple of pics below.

Thanks Mal.

Absolute brilliance of detail & patience. I admire you. Keep it coming.

Steve.

Superb work on a complex piece.

Rob

Wonderful workmanship

Alan

Thanks guy's , the part took a lot longer than I initially thought ,must be down to a cold workshop

Hello all,

Not getting much done on the Howitzer build lately and at this rate it's going to take a good while to finish, I have managed to make a couple of parts for the trail first one is the bracket that receives and locks the traveling lock bar ,second bracket is what the back of the top carriage attaches on and allowing it to slide the 8 degrees couple of pictures on how they look on the trail.

Thanks Mal.

Hello all in these difficult times hope all is well, well have been having problems with the mill so the Howitzer build came to a stop for a month or so but it's up and running again better than ever [ touch wood] after a few bearings being replaced, so it was back on to the Howitzer I decided the gears for the elevating gearbox would be next to have a go at. Now worm wheel and worm used in this gear box because of locking ability and reduction and bevel gears I have never tried making but spur gears I have, so after digesting Ivan Law's book on gears and gear cutting and reading up on this site I managed finally after a few c%^$ ups to cut some gears ,shafts are still to make and a gearbox to put it all in, few pic's below on how it's going.

Thanks Mal.

Edited By mal webber on 21/03/2020 01:09:45

Couple more from last post.

Amazing gear cutting work. Did you make the cutters as well as the gears. I recently cut my first gears, only straight spur gears, but what you make like worm gears takes a lot of work.

David

Hi David, one of the gear cutters I had already and the small 30dp for the bevel gears i purchased from rdg,a hob was made for the worm gear and free hobbing in the lathe was used as described in Ivan Law's book. I would like to have a go at making my own involute cutters as there not cheap.

Mal.

Edited By mal webber on 21/03/2020 10:33:12

Crikey, great work!

I'm genuinely amazed by the quality of work by people on this forum - truly inspirational

Hello all and I hope everyone is keeping safe,thanks Peter , managed to pick up a lump of stock bar today for the gearbox so next couple of weeks will be to remove metal and find it 

Edited By mal webber on 25/03/2020 20:27:02

Edited By mal webber on 25/03/2020 20:27:51

Great work on the gears Mal! well done. It will be a bit of rooting around in that big bar end to find your gearbox but steady as she goes and you will locate it.

Thanks Jeff , most the bar will end up in the scrap bin ,I'm hoping that not all of it will

Hi Mal

Any other updates on your howitzer build, been looking forward to seeing latest, did you manage to find a gearbox in that lump of metal? your work on the gears looks superb.

George.

Hello George, for the last couple of months with everything going on, I've not had a chance to work on the Howitzer but I am looking forward to starting back on the project end of next month.

Here are a couple of pictures on how far I got on the elevating gearbox before I stopped, still plenty to get done.

Thanks Mal.

Nice to see the work on gearbox. It's amazing how you do it and it will look just like the original and work. Keep safe and keep up the work when you can.

David

Amazing what you find inside a lump of metal 'innit. I can recall a couple of times I've found a crankshaft inside two pieces of metal.. . Looking good Mal.

George.