The Home Machinist!

Here’s a sample.
http://www.titchenal.com/NYCSHS/phototn ... 06.082.jpg

yea keith, I don't know what im doing wrong. I tried everything and nothing. oh well. I tried. thanks for posting that sample picture.

Dan, do you have access to another computer?
Try accessing from another computer and it may then work for you.

Keith

no just my home computer. oh well. it's not a big deal. thanks for all your help though.

jack and keith, just real quick. here are a couple of pics of my fathers 5344. the first photo was taken in 1998 one year after the engine was completed 1997 and that's my father posing with it. and the 2nd one was taken last year with me at the throttle. we've had 22 years of enjoyment with her and she is a joy to run. enjoy.

Hello My Friends
Steam Engine Dan, your dad's engine is beautiful! But then it is a J1e....
Here are some snappies of the little guy. I was fussing around with the J1e today. Gave her a good cleaning, the more I see, the more I am pleased with the little Hudson. Pulled the engine truck and it had a good cleaning. The truck frame is a beautiful tiny casting. It even has a pad for the brake cylinder and a spot for the fulcrum. Very Cool. Now this bottom photo is something that was made for the little engine today. I'm sure you New York Central guys out there know what it is.
Lots More To Come
Jack

The front drop coupler fulcrum.

Hello My Friends
Carrdo is correct, he knows his New York Central Hudsons. He has probably made one of these. Here is a bit more progress on the drop coupler. The pilot has had a bit of sandblasting and one of my steel couplers has been TIG welded to the swivel bit. This drop coupler is very interesting as the horizontal swivel is behind the vertical fulcrum pin. You can see this in the top photo. You can also see that the slot for the pin that holds up the coupler is marked with a sharpie. The CD of drawings from the New York Central historical society was very handy here, and will be in the future. The pilot will need some machining as the coupler can't drop fully. The pilot beam also will need to be modified with an opening for the counterweight. The pilot will also have some missing pads added for mounting bolts. The cut lever is also an interesting piece. When the coupler is dropped the cut lever drops with it, the ends of which, recede into pockets in the pilot beam. There is a stop inside the pilot beam that holds up the cut lever when the coupler is in the raised position. On the prototype there is a bracket welded inside the pilot beam that the stop slides upward in to allow the cut lever to drop. This isn't going to work on our little model so some other stop arrangement will be needed. A delightful little puzzle?
See you in the funny pages...
Jack

Hello My Friends
Things don't always work out as planned. As you can see in the top photo the counterweight doesn't line up properly with the boss it's supposed to rest against. I hate it when that happens! The counterweight was made to the New York Central drawing I had. If I didn't have the drawing I would probably have made a card stock pattern and checked it's fit. This is how we learn. So it got a trip over to the band saw for some hack & whack. Then a zap with the TIG welder and we are good to go. Now it rests against the boss just fine. The prototype had an adjustable stop threaded into the boss so the coupler down position was adjustable. I'm not going to bother with that. In the bottom photo we have our tiny little coupler folded down. Now if we hit a car at a grade crossing it won't get wadded up under the coupler and derail the engine. Little glitches like this counterweight being too long are just a part of making things. The same thing happened with the coupler. It was too long and had to be cut off and shortened just like the counterweight. Each probably didn't take more than a half an hour to correct. If you get discouraged or give up easily perhaps model building isn't for you. The main ingredient for finishing a project like this little Hudson is desire. You have to want it. I have been accused of being very patient. Well I'm not, I'm stubborn. Good ol' German hammer headed stubbornness. Go with what you got.
Jack

Hello My Friends
It was beautiful rainy day here in the mountains, the perfect sort of day to hang out in the shop and make little baloney. The current area of interest is the lead truck brake rigging. Fortunately the CD from the New York Central Historical society contains drawings for most of this little baloney. So here are some photos of the brake beams and the push rod trunnion. These brake beams have all kinds of curves and ribbing and holes for this and that. 3/8" fee machining brass was started with. A card stock pattern was made of the general shape and transferred to the brass with layout die and a scribe. They were trimmed using the bandsaw and then the disc sander and some small sanding drums were used to get them to the right shape. Then in the second photo down you can see a handy little fixture that was used. Its just an aluminum block that fits in the mill vise. There are a bunch of holes drilled and tapped 1/4"-20 that can be used to clamp things down. In later operations the aluminum block had some holes drilled in it for pins that fit into the two end holes on the brake beam. This allowed the brake beams to be located one after the other for repetitive operations. This little fixture is very handy. The bottom two photos show the partially machined brake beams and the push rod trunnion. This push rod trunnion was one of them delightful little puzzles. There is a .093" hole through the center that the push rod passes through with double nuts to take up the wear in the brakes. The bosses that will engage the brake beams are .093" also. There are four brake beams, right and left live beams that fit to the bosses on the push rod trunnions and right and left dead beams that fit into a clevis on the other end of the push rods. The brake heads are unique for this lead truck. The brake shoes and keys are the same as on the arch bar truck from several years ago. There is also a brake cylinder to be fitted up. The 5/8" brake cylinder already on hand is a bit big and doesn't want to fit so a 1/2" brake cylinder will probably be made. When all this little baloney is made and checked for fit it will all get investment cast in some nice sturdy bronze, after all, it's got to work!
See you in the funny pages...
Jack
Jack
Jack

Hello Jack,
Knowing so well making such sophisticated parts - by means of both patience and will! Nobody will see them again once they are mounted inside / under the locomotive. But you (and some modelers of course ) know - that's it, isn't it?
Thank you for posting!
Asteamhead

Hello My Friends
Well, today it snowed off and on pretty much all day. Another opportunity to play in the shop. These brake beams are fiddly little buggers. I machined off the wrong bit today. I hate it when that happens So silver solder came to the rescue. The entire ends of both live beams (the ones with the push rod trunnions) were cut off and new ends were silver soldered on. Cost me a couple hours. This is where stubbornness comes into play. Then some profiling with a 3/32" corner rounding end mill and now the gussets are being stuck on as you can see in the middle photo. They will need a bit of filling and metal finishing. Remember now these are just masters to pull a mold off of so some filler will be used to make them pretty so the old boys in the pattern shop at ALCO would approve. A break was needed from the brake beams so a master for the cut lever brackets was slammed together. These will go on the pilot and also on the back of the tender. The little nut and bolt the holds the half bearing in place is #00-90. The smallest nuts and bolts in the shop. You can get them from JI Morris. In 3/4" scale this will be popular size. One thing that this smaller scale has made me realize is that the shop needs better lighting. Or younger eye balls...
Happy model building.
Jack