The Home Machinist!

Benjamin, Over on the railfan.net live steam forum there is a guy named George who uses the pseudonym "Moose the Caboose", who has a whole series on building live steam cabooses. All kinds of nitty-gritty details. You might want to go over there and see what you can learn: http://forums.ra...

I have also used the vinyl letters on patterns. They weren't thick enough for me, so I "stacked" them three deep! You'll need to seal the letters with something so they won't get knocked off during molding. (Regular spray paint causes the letters to curl up, but latex paint doesn't).

Blagg, If you're going to cut metal on a bandsaw you will need to slow the blade down from its wood speed. I have set up my Craftsman bandsaw for both wood and metal. Actually you need different speeds for different types of metal, but almost all my metal sawing is steel, so the speed is setup for i...

Looks great, Dave! If you want a filter, why not cut a strip of cloth or toilet tissue the right width, and wrap it around the center shaft?

Lawrence,
Very nice, but what is SG iron?

I'm working on the centering mechanism for the Hodges trailing truck. This design uses coil springs for the centering mechanism, and I need to figure what size springs to order. If the weight on the truck is approx 125 lbs, how much centering force would be appropriate?
Thanks,

If you are worried about the floor, lay down some thin plywood to use the rollers on. The plywood will make the turns a little harder to make. The pipe rollers will spread out the load more than a pallet jack or dolly.

Stephen, One thing which is not available (to my knowledge) is a top-feed check valve in 1.5" scale. These were used, for example, on the B&O P7 pacifics. It is really two check valves in one body, and mounted on the top of the boiler rather than the side. Another thing would be a multi-fee...

Steve Bratina wrote:The engine has been out three times for de-bugging and was fired on corn all three times. The corn gave no steaming problems.

Steve,
Corn is something I've thought about as a substitute if coal isn't available. Does it throw many cinders/sparks? Any disadvantages?
Thanks,
Dan

Carrdo,
I sent Tom a drawing of some cylinders for a NYC&HR pacific I had in my collection.
Dan

OK on the exhaust steam injector. I didn't know about them.

Not an authority on NYC Hudsons, but I don't think there is such a thing as an exhaust steam injector. It would have to be supplied by live steam from the turret. Exhaust steam would be used in a feedwater heater, in conjunction with a steam-driven pump.