The Home Machinist!

Hello My Friends Been Making progress on the railway, mainly adding to the mountain division fill. Also casting pylons and building track. Here is a photo of a gaggle of rebar assemblies. One goes in each pylon. Then a pallet of redi mix. It takes three sixty pound bags to make two pylons. Last phot...

Hello My Friends Managed to get a little more done on the rods. The main rods were cleaned up a bit and polished. Then some new crosshead pins were made. The originals had a hardware store #10-32 nut and no slot in the backside . The new pin has a #10-40 thread and castle nut. The big end of the mai...

Hello My Friends Thank you Russ and LIALLEGHENY. I didn't make the rods but I think they are cold rolled steel. Once all the rods and valve gear parts are cleaned up they will get sent out for electroless nickel plating. I like nickel because if you leave it alone, after a while it will go dull and ...

Hello My Friends I've been looking at the rods and valve gear on the J1e for some time wondering if I should clean up and polish the existing parts, or to make new ones. I finally decided to go with what's there. So today the rods were taken off and polished. First they got some minor profiling with...

Hello My Friends
Like I said, I had some pretty cool parents
Jack

Hello My Friends Thank you Steve for your very kind compliment. I must say that most of the time I think of myself more like Curly Howard than Michaelangelo. I have been trying to make things since I learned to walk. If you stick to it, eventually you get good at something. Mom always said I was bor...

Hello My Friends Yes the pylons are a bit of work. The railway will require about a hundred and twenty of them and I think I just cast number fifty five and fifty six, so about half way done. The cost isn't too bad $4.80 for concrete, about $3.50 for rebar, $.11 for conduit, and $.66 for the carnage...

Now the whole mess is given a good zoom with a vibrator. It's amazing how well the concrete liquifies when it's hit with the vibrator. Middle photo shows the filled mold. I like to leave the pylons in the mold for two days before opening the mold. And the last photo shows some pylons wrapped up in w...

Now that the mold is closed up the rebar assembly can be tied up with wire so that it stays in position when the concrete is dumped in. A friend loaned me a mixer into which the ready mix is put. Three bags of concrete is not quite enough so a couple shovels of sand are added with another shovel of ...

Hello My Friends Here is a bit concerning the pylons that the Alcalde & Coalfield high line is built on. I thought about several different types of pylons before I decided on this set up. Steel and wood pylons were both considered. Concrete was picked for a number of reasons. I wanted something heav...

Hello My Friends
Greg is absolutely right. Pay more...get less. I bought a box of ice cream sandwiches the other day. They shrunk too. I hate it when that happens!
Jack

Hello My Friends
Your'e right Russ, I need something to do I might get tired, but I never get bored!
Jack