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Yes we're nuts...

Started by RoughboyModelworks, January 18, 2009, 12:31:12 PM

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RoughboyModelworks

Continuing with the theme of making nuts & bolts in John's Tale of two gondolas thread...

A few years ago I was rebuilding a 1:48 Kodama K-27 to represent RGS #452. At one point late in the loco's life it had lost(?) the  cylinder head cover on the lower left cylinder, exposing the cylinder head. There's a good photo by Phil Ronfor of the loco showing this in The Mudhens: A Photographic History. I thought it a detail worth modeling so started by turning a brass disk to represent the cylinder head. Then, using an indexing head, I drilled the 15 mounting-bolt holes round the circumference of the disk. Hole dia. was .020". Overall disk diameter as .466".

I couldn't find any brass NB castings in the right size or of a consistent quality, so I decided to make my own. Again using the indexing head, I machined a length of brass bar stock, predrilled with a center .020" dia. bolt hole, to form the hex nuts. After machining stock down to represent a 2" nut, I parted each nut off the machined stock using a .010" wide grooving tool. Before parting, I filed a slight chamfer on the face of each nut. Each nut was .030" T.

I cut 15 lengths of .020" dia. brass rod to represent the bolts and soldered each in place in the drilled holes in the cylinder head using a hi-temp solder. I soldered each nut in place on its bolt using a lower-temp solder. Then I trimmed off the excess bolt length to just above each nut. The photo below shows the finished assembly in place.

I had the foresight to make two complete assemblies at the same time, thinking that I would likely do the same modification at some point in the future. Well, I have a Kodama 463 rebuild on the bench and have planned to include the same detail. Unfortunately, I can't find the spare assembly  :'(, so I'm going to have to do it all over again  :P. Any bets that the original spare turns up as soon as I finish the new one!

Paul




jacq01


  The post title is saying enough  :D :D  ;)   Now I don't have to do it.  ;D ;D
  Beautiful work

  Jacq
put brain in gear before putting mouth in action.
never underestimate the stupidity of idiots
I am what I remember.

John McGuyer

Paul,
Beautiful! That looks so good. So much better than just a disk. To me those challenges are the spice of model building. Incidentally, you can buy those brass nut/bolt machinings from Scale Hardware. .020" shank and a number of different head sizes and shapes. Kinda pricey at about $9.00 for 25, but I'm sure after making them, that sounds cheap. About the indexing head. I now have a 3 axis DRO on my mill and you can tell it the center of your part, the diameter of your circle and how many holes you want and it will give you the XY for each hole. Oh, life is good! The thing wasn't that expensive. I think I paid about $650.00 for it and it has paid for itself time and again.
John

marc_reusser

WOW! :o...Yes you are!!

Beautiful!  I can't even see that small without my shop glasses.


Marc
I am an unreliable witness to my own existence.

In the corners of my mind there is a circus....

M-Works

RoughboyModelworks

Thanks guys...

Sweet setup John. I'm a committed analog guy (I have a hard time reading a digital clock ;)) with various dial indicators that I can set up on X, Y and Z axis as needed. It's time consuming but works. I can see where the DRO unit would be real handy in a tight timeline production set up. The piece of equipment I've wanted to add for years is a pantograph mill. A shortage of space and coin keep that firmly embedded in the wishful thinking department, which is probably just as well. If I were working full-time as a model-maker again, I could probably figure a way to justify the expense.  :)

Paul

John McGuyer

Paul,

I also had dial indicators all over my mill. Still do on my lathe. But when I got a chance to stick the DRO on the mill, I've never regretted it. It is simply a better way to measure things. I can still yank the handles and feel the cutters, I just don't have to count turns or remember backlash or move a 2" indicator.

I share your longing for a pantograph. I had a Deckel GK 21, but lost it when I lost my home. No place in my corner of the garage here to put one.

John

lab-dad

Dont feel bad guys I have gone digital in my woodshop now.
Cutting wood to accuracy down to .001" is definitely overkill!
Along with angles to a tenth of a degree!
And I am still using 100 year old hand tools to do the "fine" work!
-Marty

marc_reusser

Digital!?...Dials!?....man...I am really behind the curve.....I am still using "eyeball"...or at best a machinists rule and a 30 year old dial caliper.

Marc
I am an unreliable witness to my own existence.

In the corners of my mind there is a circus....

M-Works

John McGuyer

Marc,

At least you've given up your abacus and rope with knots tied in it.

John

RoughboyModelworks

There is something to be said for eyeballs and handtools, though I'm not so sure about a rope with knots tied in it. Eyeballs after all provide the finest measure.

Marty... years ago when I was studying traditional english cabinetmaking, we started out doing everything by hand. One of our "exercises" was to hand-plane a rough-sawn block of cherry to a finished state where all six sides were flat to within .001" and all planes were perfectly square to their adjacent plane. The first step was to true-up all our hand planes which actually took longer than planing the block of cherry. I still have that block of cherry, dutifully signed off by the instructor, on my bookshelf - serves as a reminder that there's always a place for handwork.

Paul