Father & Sons build project: Fitchburg Northern (2.5" scale, 7.5" gauge)

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Harlock
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Re: Father & Sons build project: Fitchburg Northern (2.5" scale, 7.5" gauge)

Post by Harlock »

I like your fixture for turning the radius on the rod ends. Faster than a rotary table.
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Re: Father & Sons build project: Fitchburg Northern (2.5" scale, 7.5" gauge)

Post by Harold_V »

Harlock wrote: Sun Sep 30, 2018 12:31 pm I like your fixture for turning the radius on the rod ends. Faster than a rotary table.
True, that, but with risks. Unless stops are set, it's very easy to undercut, and if one attempts to climb mill, things can get interesting very quickly.

H
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Re: Father & Sons build project: Fitchburg Northern (2.5" scale, 7.5" gauge)

Post by Donhost4449 »

Harold_V wrote: Sun Sep 30, 2018 3:55 pm
Harlock wrote: Sun Sep 30, 2018 12:31 pm I like your fixture for turning the radius on the rod ends. Faster than a rotary table.
True, that, but with risks. Unless stops are set, it's very easy to undercut, and if one attempts to climb mill, things can get interesting very quickly.

H
I can't take credit for that fixture, it is John Bailie's. He has been using this method for cutting a radius for many years on multiple projects. To the best of my knowledge, he has never had a problem.
Building a Fitchburg Northern (build log): www.chaski.org/homemachinist/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=107249

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Re: Father & Sons build project: Fitchburg Northern (2.5" scale, 7.5" gauge)

Post by rkcarguy »

Climb milling the finish cut makes for a beautiful finish, but you've got to keep the locks tensioned up and feed carefully, or do it on a CNC:)
When you were milling the radius on the rod end, was that sitting on a pin or bolted from the other side? Clamped down(can't see the whole part)?
I'd be afraid the mill would suck the part up off the pin....

Good to see the kids so involved at their age:)
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Re: Father & Sons build project: Fitchburg Northern (2.5" scale, 7.5" gauge)

Post by Donhost4449 »

rkcarguy wrote: Mon Oct 01, 2018 11:13 am Climb milling the finish cut makes for a beautiful finish, but you've got to keep the locks tensioned up and feed carefully, or do it on a CNC:)
When you were milling the radius on the rod end, was that sitting on a pin or bolted from the other side? Clamped down(can't see the whole part)?
I'd be afraid the mill would suck the part up off the pin....

Good to see the kids so involved at their age:)
I don't have CNC equipment, nor does John. I can't speak to milling the radius, because I didn't do the milling on the rods, John did. However, I've seen him employ this method on previous projects. The part isn't clamped down - the end being milled sits on the pin, and John holds the other end of the part in his hand to rotate the work against the end mill. He sent me this photo to show some other parts made by hand rotating.
IMG_1362.JPG
John included the following commentary with the photo of his work "The pivot must be held so it cannot slip sideways. I use an old vise jaw with a vee groove. Use small diameter cutters. Only climb mill on the last pass. Make sure your health insurance is paid up and have 911 on speed dial. "
Building a Fitchburg Northern (build log): www.chaski.org/homemachinist/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=107249

My YouTube Videos: www.youtube.com/user/donhost4449/videos
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Re: Father & Sons build project: Fitchburg Northern (2.5" scale, 7.5" gauge)

Post by NP317 »

I used a similar set up, except:
The pin in the vice was theaded for a bolt that held a brass washer on top to secure the part from coming off the pin.
I could tighten the bolt/washer to add some drag to the rod, for finer control.
The results are satisfactory.
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Re: Father & Sons build project: Fitchburg Northern (2.5" scale, 7.5" gauge)

Post by rkcarguy »

Donhost4449 wrote: Mon Oct 01, 2018 11:16 pm
rkcarguy wrote: Mon Oct 01, 2018 11:13 am Climb milling the finish cut makes for a beautiful finish, but you've got to keep the locks tensioned up and feed carefully, or do it on a CNC:)
When you were milling the radius on the rod end, was that sitting on a pin or bolted from the other side? Clamped down(can't see the whole part)?
I'd be afraid the mill would suck the part up off the pin....

Good to see the kids so involved at their age:)
I don't have CNC equipment, nor does John. I can't speak to milling the radius, because I didn't do the milling on the rods, John did. However, I've seen him employ this method on previous projects. The part isn't clamped down - the end being milled sits on the pin, and John holds the other end of the part in his hand to rotate the work against the end mill. He sent me this photo to show some other parts made by hand rotating.
IMG_1362.JPG

John included the following commentary with the photo of his work "The pivot must be held so it cannot slip sideways. I use an old vise jaw with a vee groove. Use small diameter cutters. Only climb mill on the last pass. Make sure your health insurance is paid up and have 911 on speed dial. "
Scary! But it works and everyone can still count to 10 right? :shock:
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Re: Father & Sons build project: Fitchburg Northern (2.5" scale, 7.5" gauge)

Post by Donhost4449 »

Thanks for all the comments & encouragement. Yes, everyone can still count to 10! Moving on...

With my homework completed, I was back to John's shop for another day of fun. The boys had cut open the pedestals using our bandsaw at home, so now we needed to machine them to spec. We started with machining the font side (cylinder side) of each box.
IMG_8564.JPG
Plugs in the rods were used to measure the distance between the openings to make sure they were within .002" by way of feeler gauge inspection.
IMG_8568.JPG
Once the front side was done, we had a surface to measure off for machining the rear side (tender side) of each box. These were checked with both the rod plug/feeler gauge method, and with a telescoping gauge with micrometer.
IMG_8573.JPG
John's mill is just big enough that we were able to open all three boxes, both front & rear sides, all in one set-up.
IMG_8576.JPG
Next was the rod brass. John made a fixture to hold the bronze Oilite bushings in the lathe. A parting tool was used to cut the bearings to size.
IMG_8583 (2).JPG
The bearings were pressed into the rod ends, and then reamed to size.
IMG_8584 (2).JPG
Last edited by Donhost4449 on Thu Oct 04, 2018 12:33 am, edited 2 times in total.
Building a Fitchburg Northern (build log): www.chaski.org/homemachinist/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=107249

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Re: Father & Sons build project: Fitchburg Northern (2.5" scale, 7.5" gauge)

Post by Donhost4449 »

With the frames and rods done, it was time to put some parts together for a test fit. I had brought the wheel and axle sets that John and I made back in 2003-4. The bearing boxes were machined, but did require a little bit of file work to clean up. John is using the vise to hold a wheel set for filing.
IMG_8586 (2).JPG
Next the frames went together using frame spaces that John had on hand from a old set of Chloe frames he had on hand.
IMG_8588.JPG
IMG_8589.JPG
As things go, there was a slight bind in the motion. John is studying the rotation to discover the source of the bind.
IMG_8592 (2).JPG
We ran out of time - I had to get back home for the boy's football game. John kept the chassis to study it and discover the source of the bind. I think before the kid's game was over, John had texted me with this video of the motion smoothly rotating. As it turned out, the rear axle quartering was off .009"


Next up we will take a look back to 2002 when this project got started, and what was completed before moving to Portland...
Building a Fitchburg Northern (build log): www.chaski.org/homemachinist/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=107249

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Re: Father & Sons build project: Fitchburg Northern (2.5" scale, 7.5" gauge)

Post by Pontiacguy1 »

Where did you get those wheel castings? They look nice, and different.
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Re: Father & Sons build project: Fitchburg Northern (2.5" scale, 7.5" gauge)

Post by Donhost4449 »

Pontiacguy1 wrote: Thu Oct 04, 2018 7:37 am Where did you get those wheel castings? They look nice, and different.
The wheels were cast at the Knight Foundry from patterns made by the late Don Juergenson for another build project about 25-30 years ago.

https://knightfoundry.com/
Building a Fitchburg Northern (build log): www.chaski.org/homemachinist/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=107249

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Re: Father & Sons build project: Fitchburg Northern (2.5" scale, 7.5" gauge)

Post by Donhost4449 »

As promised, here are some pictures from the start of this project. John suggested I start with the boiler, because that is a part of a locomotive build that people sometimes get hung up on. I purchased the boiler tube on October 5th, 2002 for $30. All together I spend about $100 on materials for the boiler, and it took a little over one year to complete.
P1010065.JPG
P1010066.JPG
John taught me to weld on this project - I had only done some limited welding during high school one semester in metals class.
P1010071.JPG
Chris's Pics 00008.JPG

The boiler was successfully hydro tested (300psi) on January 3, 2004
Chris's Pics 00025 (2).JPG
From there, we worked on the axle boxes, axles, eccentrics, drivers and crank pins. Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures from then.
P1010053.JPG
Should anymore pictures from the start of this build surface, I will share at a later time. I thought I had some others, but this is what I could find.
Building a Fitchburg Northern (build log): www.chaski.org/homemachinist/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=107249

My YouTube Videos: www.youtube.com/user/donhost4449/videos
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