Tilting/rotating frame design

I was considering making a rotating frame to simplify the maintenance of my 5” gauge loco. I have some ideas about how to go about this but have not seen any designs. Grateful for any suggestions or links from the experts out there.

John

John, if you have a look at " Model Engineers Laser " site there is a listing in the kits section for parts for a 5" Building frame

Regards

Hi,

Look up “building stand” in forum search, there is a couple of photos there.

Maurice

Hi John, you seem to be new to the forum. Great to see you here.

It is worth reading lots and lots of the old posts. If you find 'latest posts' just at the top of this thread you get a time list of posts, goes back to 1066 probably. Just read a week of posts every day and you will learn a load.

If you want a particular topic go to the home page and use the search box there which is better than the one on this page - strange but true.

Hi John,

I built the 2.5" gauge (for my Gauge '3' engines) version of the MEL engine stand a few years ago. It works well and the laser-cut parts saved a good deal of construction time. There may be simpler ways to do this but the MEL kit worked well for me. I assume that the 5" version will be very similar but just scaled up a bit.

The kit came with two 1 metre lengths of '2020' extrusion as the base. I found this to be a little too long, so cut one 2020 length in half and made a new base with a fixed end and a double sliding section. It's a little easier to move around now but will still take all the engines I have (or plan {some distant day} to build). You may need the two full 1 metre lengths for 5" engines of course.

I mostly brass-brazed the kit but it could have been fully silver-brazed - and Malcolm says it can be assembled with 2-part epoxy too if required. Have a look in my photo album ("Brazing" ) for some idea of the construction.

Here's the modified G3 version I now use...one end is fixed - the other can slide, as can part of the base if required. The "spare" 2020 section is going towards the construction my new (replacement) rolling road.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

IanT

Edited By IanT on 10/10/2020 21:48:53

Here is a photo of the frame in use (before the recent mods).

The circular plate to the right-hand side is the locking plate - the loco is rotated by loosening the hand nut that locks this - and the engine can then be gently spun for access. I don't know if the 5" MEL version has some form of geared rotation. I've seen some stand designs that have. It's not necessary with 2.5" engines. As you can see, it does make access to an engine much more convenient when working on piping etc.

Regards,

IanT

Hi John

Have a look at https://supersimplex.yolasite.com/Construction-Stand.php. Maybe this will suit your requirements. I've not made the stand myself, so pass this information on without comment.

Russell

Does anyone try modifying the rotation point during build to keep the rotation point balanced both for weight and/or clearance?
Also looking at Ian's picture I think I might want an option of a point for the axle lower in the frame during the early stages.
Probably over thinking this now but pondering on a cantelever design, sort of square C shape, so there is no framework in front of the pivot to block your arm.

I bolted a counterweight to the frame on mine to allow for the boiler not being on.

Thanks everyone for the all the responses to my question. I now have a few new ideas on going forward. Just to add some more information my 5" gauge tank engine is 54" long and weighs in excess of 100kg. Normally it lives on a substantial mobile steel angle frame and my idea was to add height adjustable supports at each end of the frame so I can lift and then turn the engine into the required position. Duncan's point about moveable pivots points is likely to be a very valid one!

Thanks John B

I'd agree John - at 220lbs, some way to lift the engine into position would be a necessity.

This isn't an issue with Gauge 3 of course, as I can normally just lift the engine into position. The 'movable' pivot points might be a requirement for a large 'free' spinning engine but perhaps less so if worm-geared rotation was available, provided the frame was sufficiently well supported, such that it could not topple (if out of balance).

Regards,

IanT

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