The Home Machinist!

My name is Jim I am new to the hobby and this forum I started working on the Mogul last week. The drawings and first few castings arrived and I got started on them right away. I was a tool maker for 15 years but, I switched trades 13 years ago so I am learning to build parts from a print again. This is the first time that I have worked with raw castings so I have learned a thing or two while machining cast iron. I have not got a system down yet with working with the large drawings. They are all nicely bound together on one end but, there are different size sheets so the larger sheets are getting damaged I may just separate them. This is the first steam locomotive project for me so I have a lot to learn. There is a club about an hour away from me that I am going to join. I started working on the frame castings while I was waiting on the frame stock to arrive. I have four of the casting complete and will be starting on the frame today.
Jim

Jim

Where are you located?

John B

Welcome, Jim! I think you'll find plenty of support here and I look forward to following along as your project progresses.

As far as plan sheets go, I have found that most drawings are printed way larger than needed so I reduce them to 8 1/2 x 11. Then they can be easily filed in a binder and used in the shop. That protects the originals from stains and marking up.

Have fun!

Pete

I live 30 miles east of Nashville TN. I separated the sheet in the plans and it's a lot easier to work with now. I got the top and bottom frame rails finished today so tomorrow should finish the vertical pieces and the frames will be complete. I have a lot of respect for those who build these on table top machine tools. I have a Bridgeport with a DRO and it was a challenge to machine a 38" long piece on a 42" table and hold a tolerance. It took a lot of set up time. There is defiantly a few things I would do different to save some time and have better accuracy. For the last several years I have mostly machined things not much bigger than the vice so I learned somethings and improved my skills some. Today was a good day in the shop
Jim
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Glad to see you are making parts.
Please keep sharing.
~RN

Jim
I live in Mt.Juliet and am a member at CSME.
I have two 0-4-0 battery critters and a Railroad Supply 2-6-0 “project” which has the chassis almost complete and a boiler. I need to build a cab, tender, add running boards, boiler jacket, and plumb lines for steam and water.
I live next door to a Liddle family, any relation?
Charlie Vlk

Hey Charlie, Yes I have cousins in the MtJuliet/Galdeville area so I am probably related to them. I would like to take a look at your project some time.
I got a little more done yesterday. I started out machining the pedestals to length and tried to save some time. I machined one end of all of them then stack them all in the vice and machine the other end at the same time. As usual when I try to take a shortcut it did not work out. They ended up too short because they were not aligned in the vice like I thought they were and I had to make them again. I learned my lesson for now anyway. I got them completed doing them one at a time and I am waiting on screws from McMaster Carr to get it assembled.

Re. plan sheets: I just hung the needed sheet on the wall next to the lathe and covered it over with a piece of lucite to protect it.

Hi, nice to see another steam engine comming to life. I built an Allen Ten Wheeler and the drawings were quit good. I did lay out the more complex parts on 2 d cad, it allowed me to dimension off of convenient datums for machining.

Reguarding fasteners, I recommend using stainless steel, they do not cost much more, and makes for less corrosion issues in years to come.

Enjoy,
Rob