Monday 30 May 2016

OK, its time to have a catch up on things.

Hello.

Its been a while I know but I don't want to end up posting about things that don't really deserve a post in their own right. I would much rather save up a couple of bits and put it all together into a single post. Then, hopefully, it makes my stuff a little bit more interesting. Im far from the the fastest of people to produce things. This weekend I was at the Railex exhibition and saw Mick and Alan who were aiming to produce a layout in a weekend, that amazes me as do anyone else who can 'knock things together' in a weekend. The 22xx engines of mine are a classic example of my speed. These were started over the Christmas break (2015 before anyone asks!) as a 'quick project' and as you can see below they are still very much work in progress.
Anyway, enough of my waffle, here is a bit of an update on the bits and bobs I have been doing...

Q1

In previous posts I have shown progress on some CNC machined wheels. These were ultimately for the Dapol Q1 which I attempted to convert a few years back. Anyway, this work then prompted a complete overhaul of the engine and the result of which can be seen below. The list of work was as follows...
  • Re-wheeled with home brew CNC machined wheels.
  • Replaced the intermediate gearbox with a new CNC machined body and MOD 0.2 gears.
  • Replaced the coupling rods with a pair of custom etched ones.
  • Replaced both CV joints with a couple of my designed and 3D printed joints.
  • Reworked the tender wheels by replacing the steel axles (pin points) and insulating bushes.

Its lots better than the previous version by quite a bit, there are no more wobbly wheels anymore and it runs much smoother.  The engine has a slight bit of 'cogging' at slow speeds which I think might be a slight discrepancy between the worm and the worm wheel but I am in two minds if to strip and replace or see if a decent bit of running improves it. Next step is to fit a decoder.

22xx

 These two engines are turning into another 'slow burner' project (I cant really afford another one!). I must admit though that I am particularly pleased with how these are turning out and I can say that to date these two are the best engines I have ever produced. Currently I have been working my way through the brake gear for the engines and once this is done it will be onto the tender brakes. Sadly the plastic brake bits you get with the tender 'kit' from the association doesn't seems to fit so I put together an etch for the brakes so I just need to work out how to fit them.


Rivet Press

This is the latest thing off of my workbench. There are a few future projects where I will need something to form rivets so I came up with the idea for this tool.
Its based upon a pair or parallel jaw pliers which were produced to punch holes in metal. The advantage of using these is I could remove the bits designed for punching holes and replace them with some bits to form rivets. These were turned up on my lathe from silver steel and hardened. The 'pointy bit' is adjustable using a M3 thread and locknut so the rivet pliers can be adjusted to suit various thickness's of metal. I am happy with the resulting formed rivets on standard 0.2mm thick Nickel Silver sheet and I am looking forward to using it in anger sometime in the future.





So you lot are now upto speed on what I have been doing. There are a few other bits and bobs in the pipeline but I will post about those when there is enough progress to show you all.

Julia :o)

P.S. Highclere is due to go to the CMRA show in Stevenage Jan 2017. I'm feeling the pressure already!

13 comments:

  1. Neat work on the rivet press! I've never seen that type of hole punch pliers before, and if I had I wouldn't have thought of converting one into a 'press.

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  2. Thanks Paul, I am pleased how it turned out.
    The idea came from not wanting to spend a fortune on a larger ready built press as the formed rivets from these have always seemed a little too large for 2mm. I therefore looked at alternative methods of creating the parallel action needed and stumbled across the pliers which were designed for punching holes in metal. The resulting conversion was then relatively simple!

    J.

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  3. Good to see you posting again Julia. The Q1 looks brilliant.

    Talking of 'slow burners', I still have a set of Q1 drivers that I bought from Mike Bryant for my Q1 project... in 1982 I think it was.

    Are you going to be at Tutbury?

    Regards, Andy

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Andy.

      The original wheels on the Q1 were a set from the 2mm association but the original chassis didn't lend itself well to an easy conversion. When I tried the wheels didn't end up running very concentric hence the rethink.

      Yes, the plan is to come along to the meet at Tutbury :o)

      J.

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  4. Nice work as usual. What does the metal strip on the bottom of the 2251 chassis do?

    Chris Higgs

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    1. Thanks Chris.

      The metal strip underneath the chassis is the beginnings of a bracket for the brakes. I want to make them removable so I can easily paint them once they are done. I didn't think through the brakes properly on the engines at the beginning and now I am paying the price for that.

      J.

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    2. excellent as ever leave my own efforts in shame

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    3. Thank you Nick although I wouldn't sell yourself short. Your layout is coming along nicely and I love the stuff you are doing with that laser cutter (I'm a bit jealous of that one).

      J.

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    4. The lasers is a nice bit of kit for a reasonable price and size if a little limited in capacity. The thing I really like is the ability to try something and ifs not quite right, correct it and recut within minutes

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    5. I can imagine that is a great benefit. It certainly is nice to have such tools to hand.

      J.

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  5. Good to see you've been busy. My main problem with rivets is getting them evenly spaced and lined up!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Mike.

      The plan is to cheat and use the CNC to generate a pattern that can be used as a guide for the rivets, unless of course, anyone can think of a better way to do it?

      J.

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    2. Mmm. I'll let you know if I think of anything :) I find that even after marking out, it's still tricky to punch in exactly the right place. It's so infuriating when one tiny mistake ruins a whole row!

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