intermission

Well, the cost of brass bar stock has certainly gone up since the last time I replenished my supply. The bill came as quite a shock when it was totalled up during a recent trip to the local Metal Supermarket outlet. Free machining yellow brass was available in many cross-sections, but no bronze (either oilite or aluminium-bronze) was on hand for bearing material or pistons. Still, it's hard to work on your projects without the proper raw stock...

Busy Bee Tools was having another sale, so I picked up one of their 18" wide sheet metal brakes for about $20 CAD. It has no "box-and-pan" capabilities, but I suspect that a few fingers can be made of mild steel to aid in the forming of some small enclosures and trays. First order of business will be to box up the new drive for the lathe...



I see that Lindsay Books has two apparently worthwhile books on sheetmetal forming. "Sheet Metal Technology" and "Working Sheet Metal", both by Dave Gingery. These would probably be worthwhile additions to the average tinkerer's library. I have purchased "Building your own Plastic Injection Molding Machine", "Build a Power Hacksaw with Vise" and "Uncle Dave's Shop Notebook" and find them to be excellent instructional material; well worth the price.

model engineering terms

I've created a cross-reference table of terms that I've come across in older textbooks and tutorials that were written by British authors. The table provides a North American equivalent term or phrase where possible.

So, if you don't know what a "Mole wrench" is, see my Current Projects page for this reference. I will try to update it when new information comes to light.

the LGB Forney project

Some time ago, I was asked if I could narrow an LGB Forney from 45mm gauge to 32mm gauge, in order to better represent the 2' gauge appearance of the prototype. I said yes, but the project languished on my workbench for a lot longer than I ever intended. I did manage to locate a suitable, smaller diameter motor and make measurements (and some plans) for the conversion, but never actually got to it for various reasons.

So this weekend everything came together for a start. I've narrowed both wheelsets on the rear truck to the proper gauge, and am proceeding with the manufacturing of a new truck bolster. Removing 13mm width on the trailing truck and power chassis is going to be a chore; but seeing if the loco manages to walk on it's new "high heels" is going to be something else entirely.



Shown here are one each of the modified and stock wheelsets. Note the flange depth on the narrowed set has been reduced to about .072" from .120".



Here is the truck with the new (brass) bolster partially completed. Holes for the sideframe attachment screws and kingpin still need to be drilled at this point.