The Home Machinist!

Hello friends,
We had a great weekend at Dresden . For the curves of the layout were a little tight for my A, I had it steaming on a roller board. Much better for the interested visitors to see her life directly in front of their eyes instead down on the floor (so I think).
We had her working there at both low speed and full throttle with working stoker . You can imagine the cinders thrown out off the double stack! The Y6b of steamchris was coupled to the tender but not under steam due to the lack of a second roller board.
All the best by
Asteamhead

Hey Steamers,

yes the exhibition at Dresden was Fun.
We also had the J runing with Air and our Y6b and our narrow gauge Loco on display, on the tracks we moved our freelance 0-4-0. Here a video

https://youtu.be/zD9BXPKsXhs


all the best
Chris

Hello friends,

After spending almost a year to paint my old DB class 44 and bring it back to life, I started finishing my A again .
First project are the two Westinghouse CC air pumps.
The cylinders were sand casted of bronze. The mold included a shaft which made centering in the lathe quite easy . The the LP bore of diameter 35 mm and the front side were turned first. Then a shaft of precise fit is used for both turning the back side and milling the HP bore of 22 mm. All threads will be bored on the turntable, too.
Just 2 steam passages will be bored into the cylinder body. All the rest can be bored into the upper cyl. cover.
Thus there will be not flat (paper or ptfe) sealings, just 2 O-rings between cylinder and upper cover .
To be continued!
Asteamhead

Beautiful work Asteamhead!

I'm looking forward to meeting you and Chris in about 6 weeks!

Andy

Asteamhead

Very much looking forward to seeing how the CC pumps turn out. Look great so far. Please provide as much detail as you are willing!

Geof

Hello Geof,
Now there is some progress with my CC-air pumps. Method of making might be of interest to other modelers, too
The sand casted steam cylinders made of bronze worked out as intended. The idea of casting a mandrel helped a lot turning the LP bore and the bottom side very precisely. For turning the other surface and drilling the flanges I used a seperate mandrel and the turntable for precise centering. The HP bore was made the same. Please see photos.
To avoid any sort of flat sealings in favour of O-rings throughout , I decided to turn the covers from flat bronze. Thus the LP seat including a grove for an O-ring is a bit enlarged to be used as mandrel . The separate HP seat will then be inserted to achive precise centering.
Steam chanals will part of the cover plate. Just two chanals to the lower side of the steam cylinders will need O-rings between the cover plate including the valves and the steam cylinders. This method worked fine already with both the stoker engine and the pwer reverse .
Construction of the piston valves- similar to those of the prototype -is underway and will be made next. Some ideas are still pending.
Construction of the tiny air valves has been started, too. For I have some experience with my working air pump of my DB class 44, this somewhat difficult job might be solved, too.
Some more photos to follow.

Asteamhead

Some more photos of making the CC-air pumps.
Have fun!
Asteamhead

Asteamhead

Thank you so much for these details. The photos are great and you are making steady progress. Are you planning on using superheated steam? If not, how will you drain the cylinders?

Geof

Hello friends,
Progress had been slowed down due to several steam events which called for a visit, sorry .
Here are some more photos of making the air cylinders of those CC-pumps. Same method used as with the steamcylinders. Bores were made a bit smaller (30 / 20 mm) to achieve safer action at medium steam preasure. The air valves will be made as separate parts inserted into the cover plates by means of a thread.

And remember there is a lot of steam around the world which isn't 'Big Boy '. Thus we had a pleasant steam meeting at Apeldoorn (Netherlands) where VSM showed 3 (!) locomotives of DB series 23, all under steam Another 8 steam locomotives of different series were running some trains all the time.
So much fun, when I got the rare opportunity of a cab ride, too .

All the best by Asteamhead

Hello Asteamhead. Very cool, and a cab ride too. What is the wheel arrangement of the type 23 locomotives. I always liked German steam.
Jack

Hello Jack,
Yes it was, indeed! The VSM / NL has up to 11 steam locomotives, some guests come to that special meeting every first weekend of September.
Those 105 pieces of class 23 engines were produced in the mid-50s as modern (and last) replacements for elder steam locomotives.
Their wheel arangement was 2 - 6 - 2. Roller bearings and open economizer systems made them quite modern. The last went to storage back in 1976.
Wulf-Dieter

Hello friends,
Here is some more progress constructing the CC-air pumps for my A.
Same method as desribed above just a bit more complicated due to the air valves to be inserted. Use of the mandrels instead a vice makes it a lot easier to both fix the parts when milling and to find the center and correct position before start drilling . All w/o a CNC mill
As with the prototype the air valves will be constructed as sets . These are inserted into threads, sealed by O-rings. All air chanels are to be drilled into cylinders and cover plates - diameters just 2 mm. Thus the intermediate lantern of the pump is constructed of seperate parts rather than casted. These parts will be turned, drilled and milled separately before silver soldered to the final piece.

All the best
Asteamhead