The Home Machinist!

Standard 20lb propane tanks are 18" tall which is well above the inside height for a boxcar. Even a high cube car doesn't have that inside height. There are some heavy modifications to the frame and floor of a car needed to mount 20lb tanks vertically in the car. As for filling horizontal tanks...

The test that Chuck Hackett ran was in no way flawed. That's one of the best examples of a test method and results I have seen in this hobby. By bringing the boiler inside a structure to cool down, he reduced the error in added air flow which could have skewed the results as air flow over a structur...

I'm also confused on if the guys are comfortable with the blower, why do you need to bother changing the setup? I steam up multiple 1.5" scale engines setup on propane with a furnace motor (probably the same thing as your describing as a metal vacuum cleaner motor). I use the same exact setup w...

I feel like the more important item is the size of the light or lenz. Regardless of the scale of the overall signal target, the light is the item that is providing the important information for track conditions and should be large enough to see from a safe distance. Everything else on the signal hea...

Can it be scaled and work? Yes, but this is a good instance of something that is not worth all the additional effort, time, and cost to replicate in miniature. The performance difference between this and an off-the-shelf ball valve (or a gate valve, plug valve, etc.) will be negligible. Ultimately,...

Would avoid G scale for trying to make an accurate model. Perhaps it has to do with the tighter corners as compared to O scale, but their engines take a lot of liberties on the modeling front and don't look right. O scale would be a far better route to go, HO scale would be second choice. A lot of b...

The original posting sold. The engine is being resold on DLS under a different seller (Scms here on Chaski), link for that ad is below.

https://discoverlivesteam.com/discoverf ... /index.htm

Suggestion: turn to the 1.502 diameter for the entire shaft leaving extra material on the ends for holding to turn between centers (so the countersink can be machined off). Using a single square block, bore the hole to fit over that diameter then use a set screw to push on the center portion of the ...

Can confirm that the SD90 models is not in the Mainline Modeler magazines as an article (that also means no drawings). Newest EMD locomotive written about was the SD70 (no drawings published). An SD50 is the latest EMD engine I see drawings for in that series. Cannon comment on Model Railroader or T...

I did note earlier that stainless tubing is an option. Chris, your write up on tube bending and the stainless piping you have completed on your Challenger is nothing short of extraordinary. Here is the link for those that have not seen it. http://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/viewtopic.php?t=87725 Th...

Although type K is referred to a heavy wall, you physically need a thicker wall to thread the copper. 0.03" wall is not thick enough (that is the thickness of refrigeration tubing). The tubing that Bill is referring to that you can thread has a wall thickness of 0.065". For 1/4" OD tu...

Bill and Russ, what is your success rate for threading the thick wall copper tubing? In my post, I was referring to standard refrigeration copper tubing as that is more commonly used and easier to find at local hardware stores. I tried threading both 3/16" & 1/4" with an internal mandr...