The Home Machinist!

Ryan, regarding your locomotive trucks, did you drill a center hole thru the truck bolster for the bolt/pin? Looks to me, unless I drill the bolster hole bigger than my 1” bolt, it won’t allow the truck to pivot and n the bearing. I hate to drill big hole in my 3”x3/4” bolster bar. Seems it would ca...

BDD- I went thru your F- unit build page, and it looks like you bolted the flange bearing to the locomotive frame, versus bolting the bearings to the truck bolster? Correct? I’m trying to understand your reasoning for that? I have been considering fabricating a spherical bearing housing and welding...

BDD- I went thru your F- unit build page, and it looks like you bolted the flange bearing to the locomotive frame, versus bolting the bearings to the truck bolster? Correct? I’m trying to understand your reasoning for that? I have been considering fabricating a spherical bearing housing and welding ...

Well, I ordered a couple of 2-bolt flange bearings with 1” bore for the body bolster center pin to sit in. The housing width is 2.756”, so it should fit nicely on my 3” with bolster. Guess I’ll see in how tight the bearings are and then decide whether or not to flap wheel them. Now to start working...

Well, I ordered a couple of 2-bolt flange bearings with 1” bore for the body bolster center pin to sit in. Almost strong enough for a full-sized car. :D Lol! Maybe so! My cars are fairly big at 28”x96”. had talked with Todd Swan about the bolster setup he uses on his 16” gauge trains and he uses 1....

Well, I ordered a couple of 2-bolt flange bearings with 1” bore for the body bolster center pin to sit in. The housing width is 2.756”, so it should fit nicely on my 3” with bolster. Guess I’ll see in how tight the bearings are and then decide whether or not to flap wheel them. Now to start working ...

Ryan, are you still going with your bolster center pin design?
I’m seriously considering going with the Grand Scales center plate. It’s slightly wider than my 3”
Bolster bar, if I add a 1/2” plate base to bolt it to I believe it’ll work out good.

Looking good!
Lol, something looks vaguely familiar about your trucks. Been playing around with my booster bar setup. Looks like the Chevy valve spring will work good for me.

Southern Pacific’s GE 50tonner #1.
George Town used to have a couple of GE 52ton U6B’s.
DRGW had a Davenport 30 tonner.

Interesting article on ILBS about someone who built a 2.5” scale 0-4-0. Using weight plates as drivers with slices of steel pipe for tires. Utilizing tapper bushings to attach the plate to axels. http://ibls.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=Wayne_Davis

Good point with the driver’s being separated and concealed, it would make it easer to laser cut them. The FP&V RR was an awesome accomplishment of what people dedicated to the hobby can achieve. Harlock did a great video on the story of the FP&V. Interestingly Peters dad built an 0-6-0. https://yout...

Ryan, as awesome as a 3” scale K36 would be, it would definitely weigh tons, break my back and bank! I believe that Tom Miller’s ex- 2.5” scale k36 weighed in at 2000lbs! In 2014 I had the opportunity to ride behind the C&T #489. I have a great fondness for the K-27s and C-19s also. However if I get...