The Home Machinist!

A while back I brought all my rolling stock home to work on and they've been sitting on the floor in the garage. Pain in the butt! I decided I needed a couple roll-around stands for them so I sat down and designed a stand in CAD. I work for Ryerson and we have three tube lasers at our facility so I ...

Here's the injector I have.

My injector is English style, but I cannot confirm its origins. It was in a box of random bits and pieces that my father picked up at an estate sale of a gentleman in TN that passed away in the mid 1980s. It works on and off, up to 80psi, but catches a lot of trash in the cones and quits working. Th...

This darn thing is still sitting on the workbench unfinished. I really, really need to get back on it and get it on the mogul. The English injector I have on the fireman's side right now is pretty much useless and I need to get the pump done. Married life, career change, and various other things hav...

What? Delrin... Plastic?!! I thought we were building a steam engine here.......... Cast iron, bronze bearings, STEEL!!! So, I suppose you're also opposed to 3D printing a boiler? :lol: Please don't give anyone that idea... I cant even imagine... "Surely this sintered material will work, right...

Myself and quite a few others in the CSPPRY use Tom Bee brakes on our rolling stock. His system uses 1/4" poly tube between cars with Schrader valves on the end sills. These are positive pressure brakes. Application pressure really depends on the weight of the car and trucks; I have three piece...

The Central of Georgia tenwheeler that I rebuilt for Mike A was secured with three stainless screws around the periphery of the smokebox into tapped holes in the boiler shell. This is how it was originally built so I kept it the same. I gave those three screws a good coating of anti-seize before the...

That's a rather large question. More specifics would help with answers. Steam supply lines are typically 3/8 pipe. Injector lines are typically 5/16 tube. Blower line is typically 1/4 tube. Etc., etc. Of course, there's the entire category of model pipe as well if you're looking to build as close to...

A trick I learned from Don Fite (Dan has the same idea) that I used on my mogul was to weld tabs with threaded holes inside the lip of the boiler and brackets with through-holes in the smokebox. I used stainless cap screws to tighten the two together. This pulls the smokebox and boiler nice and tigh...

I'm huge fan of water-jet parts... The rods are a perfect candidate for this process. I would expect water-jet to cost more that laser cut. Anyone have info on relative costs? The water-jet I had in my University shop had high consumable and cleaning expenses. But they surely work wonders. ~RN I wo...

I would offer the rods in steel for a couple reasons: 1. Strength 2. More appropriate look/finish 3. You can have them cut in bulk either via laser or waterjet for a reasonable price and the customer is buying a part that requires less machining and finishing than castings. I, too, am one who threw ...

Harold, I agree with you. The inability to run coalburners, together with the distance (for me) makes it very unlikely that I would attend or (especially) bring equipment. There's just so many great tracks that are closer that I've not been to, and which I would rather visit. I'm not saying I disag...