The Home Machinist!

I bought some Tom Bee couplers last year that arrived quite quickly and were nice quality. I think the "arctic cyclone" might be causing a lot of shipping and freight delays. Thankfully I'm able to use the two I have to mock up everything so my build progress doesn't have to come to a stop.

Thanks for the Kudo's Curt! So far we've done a set of AAR Type -B switcher truck side frames in 1.5" scale, and we are gearing up to do several sets 3" scale side frames for 4 freight cars and a narrow gage switcher. Pricing varies with the material utilization, but the truck sides start at about $...

There ended up being a little more weld than I liked so I got out the grinder and smoothed things out. There is a little more work to do yet but I needed a smaller carbide ball burr so some more are expected Saturday. I'm thinking I may change out the safety chain eye bolt for one that's a little sm...

Things are getting down to the exciting part now, at least for me. I got the coupler boxes TIG welded to the pilot assemblies Monday(on the inside). Around the coupler box plates in the pictures above, I didn't want a "giant" TIG bead to show on the outside, so I found some 1/16" silicone bronze TIG...

This is an older post, but if you go direct to a metal wholesaler/steel house you should be able to buy 3/8x1 flat bar in 20' lengths for about 75 cents a foot. Hot rolled is what you want because it does have a radius on the corners, whereas cold rolled has pretty sharp edges.

I've scaled my AAR Type-A switcher truck sides and my freight truck sides down to 1-1/2" scale, and up to 2-1/2", 3" and 3-3/4" scale, so I have drawings/files of these we can laser cut that accept flanged ball bearing pillow blocks for anyone interested. I've had a few requests for GE 44 Ton truck ...

This week we've ran 1/4" plate twice, and had remnant within some large pipe flanges so I was able to get 9 more sets of turnout stand plates all cut out. I also installed this one on my turnout tonight, an 11/32 drill using the holes in the base as a guide works nicely to install the carriage bolts...

Offering laser cut steel turnout stand kits for sale suitable for 1-1/2" -2-1/2" scale. Basic offering is as follows: 1/4" laser cut steel base plate, top plate, bent risers, handle, lever arm + spacer, and handle box plates. 2ea oilite bronze shoulder bushings. 1ea handle spring. 3/8" stainless ste...

Orders and quotes sent!
Hope you guys are staying thawed out in the Midwest!

I had a look at some and they seam awful small/quiet. Think I could connect the output to a stereo amplifier and use a larger speaker?
I love that lower tone, but there is nothing on the market to replicate it that is electric in the boat/car world.

The first one is finally done. This turnout stand can be easily unlocked by giving the handle a bump upward with the toe of a shoe, then rotate to change route. The handle is lightly sprung, so it drops into place once it reaches the other notch. In the last picture, yes that's a grease fitting ther...

These look really sharp with all the detail parts added, nice work!