Southern Pacific S-14 in 1.6"

[Harlock]

I've noticed the shrinkage with SW stainless as well, especially on IDs. I usually drill or ream to finish after I get them if it's critical, otherwise I oversize the hole a bit.

-M

[AnthonyDuarte]

Life has been busy as of late so not much has been done, but I'm excited to show the first piece of my locomotive that was made with NO computer assistance! (aside from the CAD drawings...)
Here are a few shots of how I went about machining the first union link from a rectangle of 303 stainless steel. One down, one to go.

I wish I could say this was my first attempt, but machining is still very new to me, so it took a few tries to figure out a decent way to go about it.
Until next time.
-Anthony

303 SS 3/4" x 1/2" rectangle roughly 4" long bolted to a chunk of aluminum. I cut the radii first to make removing the metal in-between a little less stressful.

Extra material removed to form the top profile

Drilled the mounting holes with a tap drill, then drilled out the 3/16" clearance hole for the pin, leaving about .15" of threads on the end. The part is held with #10-32 screws. I removed the thread from the top 1/4" of the bolt to clear the internal threads of the part.

I very carefully cut the radii of the ends, holding the link with a grip vice. There's a lock nut at the bottom keeping the screw from turning in the aluminum block. The part was surprisingly snug.

After turning the ends it went back in the vice to have the slots cut out. A little clean up with sand paper to make it pretty. Now to do it all over again!

[GS14403]

I must say that part came out remarkably well. Thanks for sharing your techniques with us.

Donald

[SilverSanJuan]

Beautiful, Anthony. I'd say your figuring it out pretty quick for being new to machining. Keep up the great work, and thanks for sharing.

Todd

[NP317]

Gorgeous work, Anthony. I look forward to seeing more. Being new to this discussion board, I have much catching up to do.

I am presently having a set of Walshearts expansion links and blocks machined using wire EDM. I trust they will come out as nice as yours have!

To "kenrinc":
I hope to get in touch with Steve Vitkovits, because I am also building a 90-ton Mikado, and wish to communicate with others building the same. Can you help me with this, please?

I will also report my Mikado progress when I get more acquainted with this discussion group.
Thanks,
Russ in Seattle

[AnthonyDuarte]

Thank you everyone for the compliments. It really does help keep me going!

Things are slowly progressing with the switcher. The axles have been turned, the molds for the drivers are at the foundry and should be poured this week, and I've started the tiresome process of turning chunks of metal into journal boxes. I also machined the crosstie for the frame, which was roughed out first on a water jet. Made for relatively easy machining.

I got this idea from Peter Mosely's C-16's. A tapered screw hides the oil holes.

Journal boxes in progress. Showing the trimmed-down blank, turning, then finally milling.

And the frame crosstie. My apologies for the poor photo quality on this one.

[AnthonyDuarte]

Soon to come... Drivers!
These molds are 3D printed directly in sand. No patterns were used whatsoever. The thought that it's a one-shot deal makes me nervous, but I'm remaining optimistic. They'll be poured this week. Interestingly, some of the molds show printing lines and others don't.

More on this soon.

[AnthonyDuarte]

Just called the foundry to check in on the drivers. They said the castings came out well and I'm dying to see them!
I'll pick them up next thursday and post pics here! I've been so anxious about them pouring well, and now I'm just anxious to get them on my lathe!

[ThisGuyTwo]

Where do you get your foundry work done? Information like that could be useful around here.

Also great work on the CAD parts, always great to see the parts come together before you start.

-Peter

[AnthonyDuarte]

Where do you get your foundry work done? Information like that could be useful around here.

Also great work on the CAD parts, always great to see the parts come together before you start.

-Peter

Peter,

I had the molds sent to Sunset Foundry in Valley Springs, CA. They only pour grey iron.
http://www.sunsetfoundry.com

Printing was done by Hoosier Pattern in Indiana. http://www.hoosierpattern.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO-olDixjcs

[Fender]

I went to the Hoosier web site and found this item: A Racing Engine Oil Pump Produced through Addictive Manufacturing There's something that spell check didn't catch. I'll have to admit that a lot of what we do is "addictive"!
Nevertheless, a very interesting process.

[AnthonyDuarte]

I went to the Hoosier web site and found this item: A Racing Engine Oil Pump Produced through Addictive Manufacturing There's something that spell check didn't catch. I'll have to admit that a lot of what we do is "addictive"!
Nevertheless, a very interesting process.

A typo? Or freudian slip? It's DEFINITELY addictive!