The Home Machinist!

Steve,

Heat and rare earth magnets are NOT a good combination. Tack well away from the magnets and move them if needed.

Good Luck,

I agree with cbrew. If the damage is NOT affecting the operation, run it as it is. The only one who will know is you. If it IS affecting the operation, then I would machine the flange off as in cbrew's diagram and run it blind. Many locomotives had blind drivers for shorter radius curves. Good Luck,...

Steve, The quickest way to determine if it is the valve is leaking or not is to do what liveabroad did, put a good ball valve in the line to isolate the operating valve. If the bucket still bleeds down, you know it's the cylinders. Cranes use the same type of cylinders for boom lift and extension. B...

There's a visual I wasn't expecting!

While I can not make any comments about the high-frequency motor operation, I can make a few observations on hydraulics. Many people automatically resort to blaming a valve leaking for hydraulic cylinders retracting. If you take a moment to use a little logic, you may come to a different conclusion....

The name is tabwasher or tab washer. A quick search of the web will turn up just about anything you might need. Too many to list here.

Good Luck,
Terry

Gentlemen, Uhrich Locomotive Works in Strasburg, Colorado has or will make anything you desire. He has his own foundry, pattern shop, machine shop, and build shops. He also specializes in 15" trains, has built several of his own and for sale as well. Merrick is also another great place to work with....

That expiration date is only for eating it. If you're using it to make things slippery, the expiration year is multiplied by 100. Since that one is out of date, take it to the manager and ask for a disposal discount of $2. After all, they shouldn't be selling expired Vaseline, somebody could die fro...

The reason you are not supposed to spin bearings with air it two-fold. First: You have NO lubrication on a freshly cleaned bearing. High rpm with no lube spells short life of the bearing. Second: As said earlier, it's easy to exceed the rated speed of the bearing. When cleaning and drying the bearin...

While I'm not a CE, I have been part of many bridge builds. This is a fairly common joint. The first problem to solve is how to allow expansion without the bridge moving ON the piers. Thus, the off-pier expansion joint. The joint, pictured, allows for sliding action of the section to the right of th...

Hoppercar,

I sent you a PM with a web site link. See if that answers your questions. Also, if you have access to Grand Scales Quarterly Issue #29, Kell Schmidt wrote a 5 page article on minimum radius curves. He did a pretty good job on the whole subject.

Good Luck,
Terry

If you purchase Pittsburgh PRO tools, the steel is very comparable to high quality supplier's tools. If you are buying for a single use or very limited uses, most of their stuff will work. For some of us who demand more of our tools, we need to evaluate the price vs. quality factors keeping safety f...