The Home Machinist!

Hello. My Friends
Thank you Asteamhead, your work is a delight to see also. As to flags, I have made them for 1-1/2" scale. The Nickel Plate Berkshires had sheet metal flags that lived in a little box on the pilot when not in use. I think the New York Central used cloth flags. In 3/4" scale you would have to use some very thin cloth like silk, and the edges should be hemmed... I imagine the wooden part of the flag would have been no larger than 1" in diameter in full size so that would be a 1/16" dowell in 3/4"scale. That's pretty small. Something for a rainy day?
Jack

Jack,

Your mention of scale silk flags for the Hudson is a nice bit of detail to be expected on a model from your shop.

A few years ago I wanted some scale looking curtains for my caboose. Spoke with a teacher friend who was extremely talented with sewing. She told me to select the material and thread color of choice and bring it to school. I supplied the measurements for a scale curtain and a full size curtain to give her an idea of what was needed in the hemming department.

First delivered were two samples of the curtain design for evaluation in a few days. Then she explained the challenges of working with the small sizes of material and how the sewing machines did not like small bits of material. To make the curtains work, she had to employ old tricks she had learned from her mother who was a tailor by trade. Seems her mother used to do dress uniforms for marine corp officers at a base somewhere back east. Everything had to be perfect and nothing less. With some of the tricks of her mother employed, a complete set of curtains were created. A big box of See's candy was the cost for her services.

Seems like the big problem is holding the small bits of cloth as they are fed into the needle as it is moving. Object of the game is to keep the needle out of the fingers yet get the work done as straight as possible. Finding someone with such talents might be a real challenge.

Let us know what happens,

Robert

Pictures of those curtains?
RN

Hello My Friends
Here is some baloney that you might like. One of the little pieces of jewelry I have been looking forward to making is the bell and yoke. I don't know if this is peculiar to the New York Central, but the bell yoke had a X shaped cross section, instead of oval like most bells. You can see this shape in the top photo here. This was machined up from a length of 1/8" x 1/4" brass. Then a forming die was made up to the contour of the bell yoke. This was just band sawn and sanded to the contour wanted. A top and bottom die were made from a maple scrap that was laying around. Then a cut was made with the band saw in the dies receive the short leg of the x material. The brass pieces were annealed and then mashed in the die using the arbor press. As you can see in photo #4 the brass has assumed the shape of the die quite nicely, without distorting the X shape. The bottom photo shows the dies for the top bit that holds the bell. Same sort of set up, same brass shape.

Here is some more. Once again the brass has formed quite nicely. It was trimmed to length, then put in the mill vise, and in the second photo is being zoomed with a 5/32" round nose end mill. The third photo shows our work piece setting on a bit of 5/32" round brass. The forth photo shows a trimmed to length and drilled 5/32" rod, and the formed piece fluxed and ready for silver solder. There is a frog holding things down. The last photo shows things soldered and cleaned up, setting in front of the bell.

Now we have to fit up the boss that will actually hold the bell. In the top photo our work piece is in the mill vise and we are preparing to blast a hole in it. For this a brand new 3/16" end mill was used. It made a nice clean hole and a bit of 3/16 brass will be silver soldered in. The last photo is actually out of order as the bell boss hasn't been fitted yet but it shows most of the parts. I actually did this yesterday. Today was nice and cool outside so I worked on the railway. I'll get back to the bell soon and will have photos showing it's completion.
See you in the funny pages...
Jack

Brilliant!
RN

Jack, as a newbie to machining your pictures and descriptions are incredibly helpful, those maple forming dies are simple and effective!

Hello My Friends
Thank you NP317 and FKreider, I try to post things that are not Machine Shop 101, but modeling tricks and techniques that I have discovered over the years. Parts like the curved yoke pieces here could be made on a CNC mill. This requires skills that I don't have, and a CNC mill. But I understand wood form dies and such, brass, and solder, and end mills. I'm old school...go with what you got. Nothing I do is really sophisticated and could be done in any well equipped home shop. Take the object you want, and break it down into shapes you can make, and then stick together. Easy Peasy
Jack

Hello My Friends
Here is a bit of an update on the bell and yoke set. The top photo shows things sort of mocked up in preparation for silver soldering. After these parts were soldered together the X section bits were trimmed off on the bottom with a razor saw, and the bottom where the yoke fits to the base was squared up and sized using the disc sander. The second photo shows them ready to be silver soldered to the base. A frog was used to hold things in place, you can see it pressing down on the center of the 5/32" round stock. This round stock was drilled through the center with a #52 drill before soldering. After soldering to the base the center of the 5/32" round stock was cut out, once again using the razor saw and squared up with a file. The bell was fitted up as the last photo shows. I often consider making little baloney like this kind of like a chess game. You have to think it through. Like I said earlier, try to break things down into shapes that you can make that you can stick together. It's a perishable skill, the more you do it the better you get at it. Mainly learning what you can and can't get away with. Henry Ford said, wether you think you can, or can't, you are right. I often call little trinkets like this a delightful little puzzle, and to ma they are. Being a lunatic helps.
Jack

Hello My Friends
Finished up the bell today. Made the crank arm, bead blasted the main parts of the yoke and temporarily stuck it together. For now the shaft is 1/16" but I may enlarge that, as the bell yoke will be pinned to the shaft. The drawing calls out a taper pin...I think straight pins will do. There is still a bit of metal finishing and clean up to do, and then these parts will be used as masters for investment casting. Too much fun.
Jack

Jack,

In 3/4 inch scale straight pins should work just fine. Not much weight to deal with.

A couple of years ago I was tasked with assembly of a full size Baldwin bell. The shaft had been removed and replaced with drill rod as it was worn out from 90 years of use. I had to drill and taper ream the yoke to the new shaft on both ends. Then a new set of taper pins had to be turned and installed. Cutting off the new taper pins and peening them over to look like original was a real adventure. Somehow I made it look original and no complaints from management. Once one wrestles with big heavy full size parts, there is a serious appreciation for our model parts.

Robert