The Home Machinist!

Oh, the other thing I got done was modifying the coupler for the locomotive with a top pull cut bar pin/eye. The Tom Bee coupler has a little dimple in the casting, making it really easy to drill through with a clearance hole and then just peck a drill mark on the top of the sliding bar inside the coupler. I found some small stainless eye screws that were 10-24, then I disassembled the coupler and drilled and tapped the top of the bar 10-24, re-assembled the coupler and then used some Loctite to install the eye screw through the clearance hole into the bar. When I form the cut bar and attach it with a couple small chain links, it should work just like the real thing.

I wasn't happy with the tie stain as it was too "redwood" so I added some more black to it. It's not marine enamel it's Rustoleum flat black enamel. It seems to mix with the boiled linseed oil and stain really well. It only took about a pint to get the entire batch this dark.
The sample piece has been sitting in the back of my truck floating around in a puddle in the bed liner for a month now with no water penetration so I think the mix will work just fine. Now I just need to get some kind of pipe or something tall enough to stain the rest of the ties in.

Recipe in case anyone is interested:
-3 gallons old deck stain. Mine was redwood color, but any mix will probably end up some sort of brown haha We have a county paint disposal place that gives it away for free.
-1 pint flat black Rustoleum enamel (oil based).
-About 1/2 gallon Boiled Linseed oil (many water proofers and stains already have this in them-look at ingredients).
-2 pints mineral spirits-This makes it really flow into the grain but the BLO still "polymerizes" the wood nicely.

Word of caution, boiled linseed oil creates some heat and rags soaked with it can catch fire. I have a coffee can with some water in it that the rags go into outside.

The domed pipe caps arrived Friday so I welded up my stainless air tanks today. I cut lengths of 3" pipe, faced and beveled them on the lathe, and then TIG welded them out. Not so worried about a nice little bead, but good penetration and no pin holes for a leak free strong tank. I'll be grinding these smooth and painting them. Annoyingly, one of the caps was a little different and around 1/16" bigger in diameter, so after I welded that one on I turned it down in the lathe.

I worked on my hopper car side more tonight, have the ribs all done on the first side and it's ready to unbolt from the frame and saw the ends/corners out.
I also bought a 5 gallon metal paint pail with a sealing lid from Sherwin Williams and "soaked" 50 ties tonight. I have to "double dip" them, but it's easy enough to do while I'm working on something else.

Over the weekend I cut out the notches in one of the hopper sides and ground/filed them straight. I need to pick up some 1/2x3/4 aluminum flat bar for the lip around the top.

Today I fit the cores into the muffler and welded them out. The ends will have inner caps, a layer of rock wool, and then outer caps so the outside of the muffler doesn't get so hot.

One more

I have a question for the group. I've had issues with anything that was exposed to the weather with lap seams, and I'm hesitant to mount the hopper sides to the angle frame on the riding car. I could use some seam sealer and hope for the best, or use some thin UHMW washers so there is a gap and some drainage?

I would go for the sealant. Capillary action will keep the joint full of water long after any water inside drains out through the gap. Space a couple of pieces of sheet metal with thin washers, clamp it up, and try it...

I got the muffler welded up and roto-blasted tonight.
The piece of angle is tacked on there just to keep the shot out of the inside.
I made a couple minor mistakes on this, the original round exit port was too far to the side and would have hit the aluminum channel around the bottom edge of the body. Then, the channel cross-member was almost as tall as the rectangle tube inlet so I had to extend it out taller. In the end I used rectangle tube for both the ports, and filled the gap with a piece of flat bar. This will have a heat shield around it anyway, so no harm done.

Tomorrow I'll TIG weld the air tank saddles onto the sides of this and then it's ready for high-temp paint.

Kimball McGinley wrote: ↑Wed May 01, 2019 6:18 pm I would go for the sealant. Capillary action will keep the joint full of water long after any water inside drains out through the gap. Space a couple of pieces of sheet metal with thin washers, clamp it up, and try it...

Good point. I could use sealant on the washers and screws, but I'm leaning towards the seam sealer too. My only concern is it will make it very difficult to do any repairs if needed, I'd basically have to scrap all the sheet metal work and start from scratch from the frame on up.

Ryan, noticed you’ve asked a question regarding sealing the lapseams on your gon. Are you screwing everything together, or welding? Also is everything mild steel angle and sheet? If boiled together, you could paint all the parts and before assemble. Couple coats of undercoat and enamel will keep the rust at bay for a long time. Also, the marine chandlery stores all carry a thin water proof tape - rubberized butyl of some sort for sealing port hole frames. This stuff would be good for sealing a lap joint, particularly a seam around the frame. Couple more coats of paint over lap seams will seal any gap also. If you decide to go with a paste type seam sealer of sort you could use Dolfinite bedding compound. Again a marine bedding product - originally developed for bedding wood on wood during the old wood boat construction days. I’ve used it consistently since the 1970’s in the marine industry with excellent results - bedding stainless steel and bronze fittings over fiberglass decks, Aluminium over fiberglass, wood on wood, metal on wood, just about any application one could think of - with nary a leak, ever. In fact, I refit my last sailboat with dolphinite for every joint and seam, 10 years ago, and the new owner said it was the only cruising boat in New Zealand to make the SoPAC crossing from California with no leaks. Anyway it’s good stuff. And doesn’t harden or dry out and loose consistency. Cleans up with paint thinner and a rag. And stays serviceable for 45 years.

If you anticipate repairs, or disassembly, the last thing I would use would be silicon or 5200. Even house seal sealer will harden and become sticky over time, necessitating scrapping/grinding/nusiance prep work if you need to take it apart.

Anyway, just a couple of suggestions.

Glenn

The riding car frame is steel angle and channel painted with SW 646 Epoxy paint, and the sheet metal work is currently galvanized 18 gage steel. I am using screws and rivets to assemble the sheet metal portion. The lowest row of screws actually install from inside the frame and thread into tapped holes in the square bar ribs attaching the sides to the frame.

I have used "boatlife" caulk in the past. I like it's O-ring like consistency and it seals well and is easy to take apart but it's moisture cured and I'm pretty sure it would cause seam corrosion if used on steel. I use it for bedding my transom shield, bolts, trim tabs, etc, which are all well coated or stainless steel to fiberglass so it's not really an issue. I will check out the specs on the Dolfinite, sounds like it might be the way to go.