Building the 2.5" Scale Shay

Where users can chronicle their builds. Start one thread and continue to add on to it.

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Soot n' Cinders
Posts: 983
Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2012 5:24 pm
Location: Marietta, Georgia

Re: Building the 2.5" Scale Shay

Post by Soot n' Cinders »

Mike,
The steam dome of my shay is 4.5" OD x 0.375" wall DOM tube from speedymetals.com.
-Tristan

Projects
-2.5" scale Class A 20 Ton Shay

Steam Siphon: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/leavitt ... tive-works
Soot n' Cinders
Posts: 983
Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2012 5:24 pm
Location: Marietta, Georgia

Re: Building the 2.5" Scale Shay

Post by Soot n' Cinders »

Time for an update I think.... Lots of figuring has been done lately and I finally got into the smokebox. The drive screw rivet detail has been added as have the holes for the blast nozzle and the smoke stack. Next were the studs for the smokebox door ring. Wound up using an end mill to make a 1/4" interrupted hole the was plugged with a piece of 1/4" rod with a 8-32 thread turned on the end. The studs were then fusion welded into the holes using the TIG welder.
IMG_0274.JPG
IMG_0275.JPG
Still more to do. Have to figure out how to machine the stack flange to fit the smokebox barrel, and also have to figure out how to mount up both petticoats inside so theyre removeable.
-Tristan

Projects
-2.5" scale Class A 20 Ton Shay

Steam Siphon: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/leavitt ... tive-works
MRG
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Jun 29, 2017 9:26 am

Re: Building the 2.5" Scale Shay

Post by MRG »

Great work. It's amazing how much you managed to do just on your own. I know about various steel fabricators that take could do this much faster, but with a lot more people and machinery. It takes a lot of ingenuity for regular people to do something like this.
Soot n' Cinders
Posts: 983
Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2012 5:24 pm
Location: Marietta, Georgia

Re: Building the 2.5" Scale Shay

Post by Soot n' Cinders »

Been a while since I last posted an update.... Some progress has been made on the shay though. Lots of research and deciding what to do for lubricants and lubricators on the engine and I think I finally have it figured out so I’ve been drilling and tapping quite a few holes. Also getting my first experience using MTP taps and dies, haven’t broken anything yet but still figuring out how deep to run the taps. Hopefully my first round of pipe fittings comes today so I can mount the drip oilers for the engine base.
-Tristan

Projects
-2.5" scale Class A 20 Ton Shay

Steam Siphon: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/leavitt ... tive-works
Soot n' Cinders
Posts: 983
Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2012 5:24 pm
Location: Marietta, Georgia

Re: Building the 2.5" Scale Shay

Post by Soot n' Cinders »

Got all three drip oilers in place. Still deciding if I want to loctite the copper tube in or if I should just knock it out of round a little and hammer it in since its under no pressure.
IMG_0276.JPG
IMG_0277.JPG
Also made up a oil cup for the crosshead guides. Still needs a drop over cap like the full size ones have, and the truck oil cups need them too so I see a run of lathe work in the near future. Im pleased with how the cup turned out so the other three are about half finished now so I should have them completed tomorrow.
IMG_0278.JPG
-Tristan

Projects
-2.5" scale Class A 20 Ton Shay

Steam Siphon: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/leavitt ... tive-works
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makinsmoke
Posts: 2260
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2003 12:56 pm
Location: Texas Hill Country

Re: Building the 2.5" Scale Shay

Post by makinsmoke »

Tristan,
Many petticoats were separate from the stack and were attached to flat bar.
Bent and drilled so the bars used the same bolts as the stack at the top, then drilled and bolted to the petticoat pipe.

Many also did not go all the way to the top of the smokebox, but had an opening between the smokebox and petticoat.

Building a Shay you should be looking at Nelsons Locomotive Works webpages. He built both a Shay and Heisler and did a lot of research on some prototypes. Plenty of photos of the real thing including pictures of the inside of the smokebox and petticoats of several full size locos.

No need to reinvent the wheel when folks have already done that for you!

Take care,
Brian
User avatar
makinsmoke
Posts: 2260
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2003 12:56 pm
Location: Texas Hill Country

Re: Building the 2.5" Scale Shay

Post by makinsmoke »

The relevant Shay page from his website:

http://www.nelsonslocomotive.com/Shay/B ... okebox.htm
Soot n' Cinders
Posts: 983
Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2012 5:24 pm
Location: Marietta, Georgia

Re: Building the 2.5" Scale Shay

Post by Soot n' Cinders »

makinsmoke wrote:Tristan,
Many petticoats were separate from the stack and were attached to flat bar.
Bent and drilled so the bars used the same bolts as the stack at the top, then drilled and bolted to the petticoat pipe.

Many also did not go all the way to the top of the smokebox, but had an opening between the smokebox and petticoat.

Building a Shay you should be looking at Nelsons Locomotive Works webpages. He built both a Shay and Heisler and did a lot of research on some prototypes. Plenty of photos of the real thing including pictures of the inside of the smokebox and petticoats of several full size locos.

No need to reinvent the wheel when folks have already done that for you!

Take care,
Brian
Brian, Ive gotten quite familiar with the different setups, maybe too familiar... Now its just a matter of getting it to work in scale. Im familiar with Nelson's website and shay, he actually just sold the shay. I may use some of his ideas when it comes time to setup my front end
-Tristan

Projects
-2.5" scale Class A 20 Ton Shay

Steam Siphon: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/leavitt ... tive-works
Soot n' Cinders
Posts: 983
Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2012 5:24 pm
Location: Marietta, Georgia

Re: Building the 2.5" Scale Shay

Post by Soot n' Cinders »

More jewelry making tonight. Got the other three crosshead guide oilers made up except for the cross hole, which wont take long. Also decided to play around with a cap for the oil cups and came up with a simple design I think looks a lot like the prototype. Easy machining since all of the rounded parts were done with files instead of form tools. I dont see the need to make a form tool to make 4 parts that are just decorative.
IMG_0279.JPG
-Tristan

Projects
-2.5" scale Class A 20 Ton Shay

Steam Siphon: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/leavitt ... tive-works
User avatar
makinsmoke
Posts: 2260
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2003 12:56 pm
Location: Texas Hill Country

Re: Building the 2.5" Scale Shay

Post by makinsmoke »

Nice work!
Soot n' Cinders
Posts: 983
Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2012 5:24 pm
Location: Marietta, Georgia

Re: Building the 2.5" Scale Shay

Post by Soot n' Cinders »

Now that Christmas and New Years has passed, I’m finally thinking to post here again. More work has been done to the shay. The engine is finally going into paint prep, so it’ll hopefully get painted next week when it warms up a bit.
In the meantime, all of the crosshead guide oilers are complete and caps for the truck lineshaft oilers have been machined. Just need to add some small chain so the caps don’t get lost. All that remains is adding the grease cups to the wrist pins and main rod ends, cylinder cocks, and snifters. Then it’s on to all the piping and the many hundreds of dollars I’ll spend on fittings and appliances.
-Tristan

Projects
-2.5" scale Class A 20 Ton Shay

Steam Siphon: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/leavitt ... tive-works
Soot n' Cinders
Posts: 983
Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2012 5:24 pm
Location: Marietta, Georgia

Re: Building the 2.5" Scale Shay

Post by Soot n' Cinders »

Guess it would help if I hit submit instead of save draft...

While I'm waiting for the warm weather to arrive in a couple days here, I've been working on modifying an American Model Engineering Supply twin ram lubricator to work with the vertical motion of the shay. Had to move the pawl on the body to the other side and also had to reverse both pawls and the ratchet wheel so the drive rod would be under tension while pumping. In the process of that, the pump lost its prime so I had to reprime it.
lubricator.JPG
I've also completed adding grease cups to the main rod big ends and wrist pins. It'll take some playing with to figure out how best to use them, since if I tighten them down more than half way the grease squeezes out of the split bearing seams instead of going into the bearing. The wrist pin wont take more than a half of a cup at a time either, the grease pressure gets too high for me to continue tightening the cup by hand
mainRods.JPG
-Tristan

Projects
-2.5" scale Class A 20 Ton Shay

Steam Siphon: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/leavitt ... tive-works
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