A local shop is currently making some wheel sets for the Cumbres and Toltec; four sets with 3 3/4" journals and Muley ends, and four sets with 4 1/4" journals and conventional ends. The wheel chuck in the four jaw is 26" nominal. Wheels are new steel and the axles are 4140 annealed.
The wheels are fit to about .001" interference per inch of seat diameter - which gives about 60-80 tons to seat the wheel - just about what AAR specs recommend. Every so often, there is an oops. We attribute that to less that ideal surface finish- All press setups have the wheel bore and axle surface liberally coated with antizieze but sometimes that is not quite enough. Burnishing the mating surfaces gives the most consistent good results.
In a case like this, the axle is refinished slightly undersize, and a fresh wheel is bored for the correct fit.
Narrow gage wheel sets
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Russ Hanscom
- Posts: 1955
- Joined: Wed Mar 15, 2006 11:10 pm
- Location: Farmington, NM
Narrow gage wheel sets
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Glenn Brooks
- Posts: 2930
- Joined: Mon Nov 10, 2014 1:39 pm
- Location: Woodinville, Washington
Re: Narrow gage wheel sets
Impressive. And an excellent visual for reproducing miniature stuff in hobby scales.
Glenn
Glenn
Moderator - Grand Scale Forum
Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge
Ahaha, Retirement: the good life - drifting endlessly on a Sea of projects....
Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge
Ahaha, Retirement: the good life - drifting endlessly on a Sea of projects....
Re: Narrow gage wheel sets
There's a reason why industry grinds precision fits!Russ Hanscom wrote: ↑Sun May 06, 2018 6:00 pm Burnishing the mating surfaces gives the most consistent good results.
H
Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.
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Russ Hanscom
- Posts: 1955
- Joined: Wed Mar 15, 2006 11:10 pm
- Location: Farmington, NM
Re: Narrow gage wheel sets
Not the kind of grinding you were thinking of; they do posses a tool post grinder, but the stone on it might have been chipped out of a medium cobblestone.
The shop supt started there at age 17 and just celebrated his 50th anniversary in the shop. Shop probably was set up in the mid 50s as the local gas boom started in the early 50s. Four lathes with close to 36" swing capacity and several with large through bores so casing and other oilfield tubulars could be threaded. Lots of other large machines - some of which have probably not been needed for years.
The ARR specs, 50s version, calls for white lead for pressing - another item which is no longer available. We had a bit of an arm wrestle over heating the wheels - the ARR specs do not allow heating so figured we did not need to go there - if the RRs can press many many thousands of wheels every year, than the process has to be well understood.
The shop supt started there at age 17 and just celebrated his 50th anniversary in the shop. Shop probably was set up in the mid 50s as the local gas boom started in the early 50s. Four lathes with close to 36" swing capacity and several with large through bores so casing and other oilfield tubulars could be threaded. Lots of other large machines - some of which have probably not been needed for years.
The ARR specs, 50s version, calls for white lead for pressing - another item which is no longer available. We had a bit of an arm wrestle over heating the wheels - the ARR specs do not allow heating so figured we did not need to go there - if the RRs can press many many thousands of wheels every year, than the process has to be well understood.