The Home Machinist!

I remember seeing a beautiful 2 inch scale Case steam tractor model in Silverton, Oregon back in the late 1950 era. As a young kid, I had never seen such a beautiful model before and was captivated by the craftsmanship. The owner builder claimed it was from a set of castings obtained by Charles Arno...

Rebuilt one of those heads two years ago when the noise became almost unbearable. Found most of the bearings in poor condition and the vari-drive belt ready to self destruct. It was a Jet version with the same basic parts. The handles of a Jet might be a good replacement. We had a radial drill that ...

The valve pilot was rather maintenance intensive which caused the SP to begin removing them about 1950. By late 1952 and early 1953, they were a fading memory. Just a change in driver diameter of 1/2 inch was cause for a change in the cam inside the cam box. With driver diameters on different classe...

Always nice to see a few more Jack shop secrets revealed.

Is there going to be a Valve Pilot cam box appearing under the running board on this Hudson?

Robert

The 1843 features the anticlimber sheet metal addition to the center of the pilot which indicates sometime after April of 1937. The photo of the missing feedwater pump does not have the anticlimber and still has the smaller Southern Pacific Lines lettering on the tender. During the late depression y...

The lids look like the Nelson Gray injection molded lids common to 1 inch scale. The castings appear to have the look of the Little Engines tender trucks for the 1 inch Atlantic and Pacific models. The one inch scale journal box lids that Little Engines used to offer as castings to go with these jou...

The M-21 class was a real brute of a Mogul. One of the heaviest Mogul designs ever constructed and certainly the largest of the SP system. They were considered "little Mikados" as they could pull the same train as a MK-5 on flat divisions down south. Their weight kept them off of some branches. They...

The relapping of cast iron valve faces was/is an ongoing adventure in steam service. The more use, the more corrosion can be expected. I have seen full size blow down valve seats that will need relapping each year or every two years for sure, based on leakage observed. Several years of no lapping or...

In regards to future corrosion and wear of the related parts. The cast iron of the cylinder block is far more prone to corrosion and this is where most of the lapping time will be needed. The bronze or brass valve is a far more corrosion resistant metal and will almost always need less lapping atten...

Lapping compound is usually obtained in a metal can not unlike paint would be found in. There are various grades/grit sizes from coarse to superfine mixed with thick to thin oils to work well as a lubricant on the lapping plate. Quality lapping compounds can be found on the McMaster-Carr website cat...

Lapping will surely make the surface smooth. You want to fill all of the holes and ports with some silicone sealer and once it cures, slice off the excess with a sharp razor blade. This makes cleaning the lapping compound off the surface a dream. Heavy and flat are the secrets to a good lapping plat...

The mystery material could be a mixture of powdered white lead and linseed oil that was installed to add weight and insulate the saddle casting. Today both products are hard to find but still very useful if one has a supply secreted away. Often times it can be found at estate sales where the sellers...