Author Topic: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco  (Read 23684 times)

Offline NickG

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7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« on: September 17, 2010, 04:13:52 AM »
Well - the true start of a new project...

Before I moved house in June 2009, I bought some gears from Harrowgate Model Engineering Show, then followed my quest to find some motors. I had some kind offers from Bogs but decided I needed something slightly larger and found some from electric scooters on ebay - I also found a controller on ebay which came from China ... how did people do things 15 years ago without the internet?

Here is a bit of the history of how this started: http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=1147.0

I will post some pics up later of these bits and pieces. I guess moving house and setting up my workshop again got in the way of this project a bit, then I got a dose of  :proj: and started making other things like flame gulpers and rocking engines!

Anyway, as I said my son (now 4 1/2) is really pestering me now so I had a look around in the garage for material last night and found some useful bits.

3 bits of angle iron that is very square, exactly the same length - great, I don't really care what it is, I am just leaving it and bolting / maybe welding together for the frame!

4 bits of aluminium scrap from work will do for the wheels - people will probably have lots of opinions why not to use aluminium for wheels but it's almost ideal sizes and I think it'll work so am definitely using it-  it's a high grade so should be ok.

Again, pics will follow.

I took the little toothed pulleys off the motor - they were held on with a circlip and loctite - just warmed them up with blow torch.

As I am axle hanging the motors and the gears aren't that large, I needed to do some measurements. There is just enough room to squeeze 10mm dia. bar in for the axles. I may make the axles from more than one piece though and make them thicker where they go through the wheel and into the bearings. The rest just needs to transmit the torque which 10mm will easily do. I haven't decided yet whether just to use the 10mm all the way through - I know a lot of people will be thinking it's too thin, but as long as the bearings are close to the wheels it's more of a shear force more than a bending one and the shear strength of 10mm steel bar will be way more than enough.

I also found some aluminium that I will use for the bearing housings and I might just put some thin plate over the ends of the frames to look like buffer beams.

The body work will come later, at the moment I'm going to concentrate on trying to get a working chassis, also, my son hasn't decided whether he wants it to look like 'Rusty' the diesel shunter or 'Toby' the tram engine. He initially wanted Rusty but his little brother is called Toby so I have a feeling he might change his mind - normally changes with the weather anyway!





So I need to buy some 5mm plate to hang the motors, some bearings and some 10mm bar for the axles. Another good thing about the 10mm bar is that the gears have a 10mm hole in them!

I need to make it 7 1/4" gauge to get the motor between the wheels - might just be able to squeeze between 5" gauge but 7 1/4" will give me plenty of room. Downside is I won't be able to use it on our club's 5" portable track but then I won't really be using it for that anyway.

 :worthless: don't worry, will add some tonight!

Nick


Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline Stilldrillin

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2010, 04:39:54 AM »
Working for your kids.     This is the start of a great project Nick!  :thumbup:

Really looking forward to watching it develop.  :D

David D
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Still drilling holes... Sometimes, in the right place!

Still modifying bits of metal... Occasionally, making an improvement!

Offline sbwhart

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #2 on: September 17, 2010, 04:40:17 AM »
This look mighty interesting Nick

I think this would make a good Grandson project  :proj: I came across a site by a Swedish guy doing quicki build of this typ of loco he was knocking them together in less than a week, I'll go surfing to try and find him.

Stew
A little bit of clearance never got in the road
 :wave:

Location:- Crewe Cheshire

Offline sbwhart

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« Last Edit: September 17, 2010, 04:46:47 AM by sbwhart »
A little bit of clearance never got in the road
 :wave:

Location:- Crewe Cheshire

Offline NickG

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #4 on: September 17, 2010, 05:11:30 AM »
David,

Am quite excited about this one too - always planned on making one but as usual never got around to it! I think I've just thought of a possible way I can do a quick temporary repair on my milling vice too   :smart: :scratch:

Stew,

You posted those links in my other post, I was looking at them the other day - thanks!  :thumbup:

I like his designs and the use of windscreen wiper motors.

Hopefully I'll have some progress to show after this weekend.

Good news (ish) - the milling machine has just sold on ebay, planning to collect this weekend - bad news is after fees I'll only be getting around £247  - think that's about £100 less than I paid for it 12 or so years ago but needs must!

Nick

Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline NickG

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2010, 10:26:57 AM »
Just ordered 4 bearings from arc euro - they had a clearance on double row self aligning the size I need £1.95 each  :thumbup:. Had to take the wife to the dentist and picked up some metal on the way back - axle material, plate for the motor hangers and some 3/8" brass angle - that stuff was £2.40 a foot so think I'll try to use it sparingly!

Still, £23 for the remaining metal and bearings isn't too bad, I'll get some sheet aluminium or something from my mate to do the bodywork.

Here's a pic of all the metal and bits so far:



Will hopefully do something with it over the weekend!

Nick
Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline NickG

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #6 on: September 20, 2010, 04:21:41 PM »
Hi all,

Just a quick update ... I did make some progress over the weekend:



It might only look like I've drilled a few holes and cut a few bits of metal but I had all this lot to cut through with the same old hacksaw I used for my 'Poppin' flywheels!!! I really need to get a powered saw of some sort!



So although not that interesting, it needed to be done. So I've hacked the lumps off leaving blanks for wheels, faced them up in the lathe.

Decided on a width for the frame, cut  / milled to length, drilled and loosely fastened together.

Incidentally I managed to repair the milling vice - had a slight brainwave for a quick fix, I made a sort of top cap, so the bottom half is threaded the top half of the nut is plain diameter of the screw major dia. This stops the screw from jumping out. I was going to drill and tap holes and screw it down but there wasn't much material to screw into  - at this point my eye caught glimpse of the mig welder - not really used it yet and it didn't have any gas but it seems to have glued the two bits together anyway  :lol:

Other than that, I've cut the axles to length and realised I only bought enough steel plate to hang 1 motor  :doh:

Next I need to do yet more sawing to hack out the bearing housings. Then once the bearings are delivered I can bore out to suit. Going ok so far touch wood!

Nick
Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline NickG

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #7 on: October 01, 2010, 02:39:30 PM »
Quick update, I forgot when I started this thread that it's not an engine or a quick change tool post so nobody will be interested, nevertheless I will still post and finish the topic, just less frequently - after all, there is no point just replying to my own thread all of the time!

Anyway, here are a couple of pics of the progress:

First I made the bearing housings, a couple I made a sliding fit rather than press fit, I didn't want too tight as I did that once and it actually squeezed the outer ring in and made the bearing bind! The sliding ones I put a couple of centre pop marks around the bore and loctited them all.



Drilled holes and milled slots in buffer beams for draw bar and buffers, thought I'd better do this before the frame gets welded up, I wasn't going to mess around with buffers etc originally but I thought I might make little additions as time goes on. Drilled a hole in middle of front beam for a hook too:



Below is all work thus far, not far off a rolling chassis, just need to turn flanges on wheels and bore to size for that. Then I probably need to weld chassis up and get on with the motor hangers and bushes.



Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline AdeV

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #8 on: October 01, 2010, 04:28:59 PM »
Well, I for one am following your progress with interest -  even though I don't see a loco in my future. I can't wait to see some of the machining work...

So, don't dare slow down the posting, or I'll be forced to fill the vacuum with some tedious roughing cuts I've been doing....  :poke:
Cheers!
Ade.
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Offline ozzie46

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #9 on: October 01, 2010, 04:55:52 PM »


 I'm watching also although I'll never build a loco this large. It will be an interesting ride.

   Ron

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #10 on: October 01, 2010, 05:20:30 PM »
Got my attention Nick  :thumbup:

Rob

Offline Majorstrain

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #11 on: October 02, 2010, 12:52:37 AM »
I'm watching as well. The first time I read your post it sent me on a 4 hour net hunt re. minimum radius, track stock and assorted required knowledge.
My 4 year old would love one, and so would I. Clearance from SHMBO  :wack: to lay the track around the house on a 550m2 block will be a problem though.
I'll just have to send her on a weeks holiday up north, and when she gets home I'll claim it wasn't there when I went to bed the night before.  :coffee:

I've scouted the area and should fit 12' radius curves in.

Cheers,
Phil

Offline Stilldrillin

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #12 on: October 02, 2010, 01:51:31 AM »
Nick,
It might only be me..... But I find this far more interesting than another toolpost!  :thumbup:

Keep on, keeping on. We're out here, following and enjoying....  :wave:  :clap:

David D
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Still drilling holes... Sometimes, in the right place!

Still modifying bits of metal... Occasionally, making an improvement!

Offline NickG

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #13 on: October 02, 2010, 04:10:49 AM »
Thanks for the interest guys, it was said slightly tongue in cheek but there did seem to be little interest thus far! I know it did just look like a bit of a collection of metal so maybe that's why, anyway it should look more interesting soon.

Ade, to be honest, there's not going to be a great deal of machining work so I haven't really taken any pictures of that side of things. There's some simple turning, boring, squaring up ends on the milling machine and drilling holes! Maybe I should have taken a few shots of those so at least people could see what I'm doing.

Phil, a track in the garden would be fantastic, wish we had one big enough, 12' radius should be ok for most engines I would have thought!

Thanks Ron, Rob and David.  :thumbup:

I've just realised from those pics that I may need to skim a bit off the bottom of the bearing housings, I probably won't need to as they will be outside the widest part of the track but would probably look better. I think I'll also need to shorten the axles and put some covers on them to stop ingress of dirt.

Those self aligning bearings were great because I knew I didn't have to be mega accurate with anything, everything was just marked out, centre punched and drilled so I reckon it's still fairly accurate.

Hopefully will get a bit more done tonight / tomorrow night as I'm away with work until Thurs night again  :doh:

Thanks

Nick
Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline sbwhart

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #14 on: October 02, 2010, 01:07:23 PM »
I'm quietly watching as well Nick.

This is one project I've got plans for in the future for my grandson.

I was giving a electric an electric engine a good looking at the other week, it had a fibreglass body, I wonder if you can buy just the bodies ?.

Stew
A little bit of clearance never got in the road
 :wave:

Location:- Crewe Cheshire

Offline NickG

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #15 on: October 02, 2010, 01:41:50 PM »
Stew,

thanks, I never thought of buying a body but no doubt it would be the wrong size now anyway  :doh:

I'm going to make a simple body folded / welded in steel I think.

Made some more progress but will post in a bit as wife is going crackers  :bang: :bang:  :lol:

Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline NickG

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #16 on: October 03, 2010, 03:58:29 AM »
Right, despite even more moaning for her, here is a quick update - with some machining!

I thought I'd make a start on finishing the wheels off, which were just blanks at the moment.

To turn wheels, there's a sort of accepted method in the loco world and it makes sense. You face and bore / drill the blank in the outside jaws, then turn up an arbor to finish the tread / flange. Once the arbor is turned, you don't take it back out of the lathe so it stays true to the lathe axis, however, as you'll see, in this case I did because I made the bloomin' bits the wrong way around!  :doh:

Anyway, here goes -  it needs to be a fairly large dia to give the wheel some support from behind, another quick way I suppose you could do it is use some rod near to the right size, skim down then with a nut clamp the wheel up against the jaws of the chuck, but here is my method:

Found some suitable material and turned and faced one end for a nice datum:



Turned it around so I could grip the datum and turned a larger, new datum on other end which will be gripped in the chuck until all wheels are complete:



Opened the hole up then tapped it:



at this point I should have started bolting wheels on and turning them but I realised I'd made this part first instead of the bolt!  :doh: So I scribed a line at one of the jaws and made a note of which jaw to ensure it was back in the chuck where it was before - this can't gaurantee zero runout still but I could hardly detect any.

Started making the bolt, face a bit of hex to length:



Turning down to size:



I hate finishing cuts, I took half a thou off but it was still not enough - that's when I get in patient then overshoot on the next cut! This one was ok luckily, maybe a tinsy bit looser than I would of liked but still ok:



Putting a shortish thread on the bolt, only thing I needed to do was make sure the plain shank was shorter than the thickness of the blanks so it will clamp up:



Then I realised I had been given a tailstock die holder for xmas and hardly used it - much easier  / better result with this! :



Here is the finished bolt:



Actually it wasn't, I only left the head long because that's how it worked out - no point sawing, parting things for the sake of it but then as an after thought I put a centre hole in to support it from the other end, so it was a good job I left the head of the bolt long, gives me more room to get in:



Wheel mounted on the arbor and started truing up the OD:



Then turned the tread leaving the flange 1mm over-size. I will need to grind a tool with a 1mm rad to go in and form the radii, think I will get all wheels to this stage first though so only have to change tool once:



I'm sure many people have seen this sort of method before but thought it was worth showing. An other way is to turn down a longer piece of material to leave a spigot the right size sticking out, then thread and use a nut to clamp - just more work whittling down a larger diameter. Or, you can buy expanding mandrels, never tried these though.

Hopefully tonight I'll get the wheels finished and it'll be a rolling chassis of sorts, though not rigidly fastened together and I can't put fasten the wheels in place as the motor hangers & gears need to go on first.

Nick







Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline raynerd

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #17 on: October 03, 2010, 05:04:03 AM »
Great work and good pics....!!

Look forward to seeing your updates later :D

Offline NickG

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #18 on: October 21, 2010, 04:32:45 PM »
I've made a little progress on this but not updated for a while due to being away etc etc. I was doing a bit more tonight in the garage but I've come in in a bit of a huff ...  :doh: will explain later!

I finished turning the wheels, thinning the flanges down and putting the 1mm radius in. I just ground the tool by eye and I think I had it set at a bit of a funny angle so they aren't that good but they'll do.





Also quickly made the draw bar. Not sure whether the height will be correct for our driving trucks at the club but I can correct that later with a bend in it or something.



My attention then turned to milling two bits of angle iron to length to fit between the frames to hold the battery and act as stretchers. I then welded them in - as you can see, not the neatest welding, need a lot more practice at this, never-the-less the joints seem strong.



I then started on the motor hangers, I thought I needed more flat steel for this but I decided to measure the bit I'd bought and there was just enough as luck would have it!  :D

This was really a marking out and drilling exercise, I was holding the pieces by hand to drill them and being careful managed to get up to about 1/2" diameter - then when I was drilling one of the smallest holes I was too slap dash and didn't have a tight hold which sent the thing spinning and dug into my hand - hence the g clamp set up a bit further down. So there's a bit of a safety lesson to learn there, I thought I had some common sense but obviously not, I kept thinking I shouldn't be holding onto this really but I thought I'd cracked it then then it came back to bite me drilling the small hole  :hammer:  :wack:

The setup to bore the big holes was quite interesting. At first I thought I couldn't do it it my massive 4 jaw. It's really too big for the lathe in my opinion - so if I had all the jaws reversed, there was no hole in the middle to bore through, if I had them in the normal way, the jaws were extended out too far and caught the bed. Then I thought why not put 1 jaw in the normal way and use some packing pieces - to my astonishment it worked!



This is the setup I used for drilling the holes out bigger for the bearings - I didn't have a drill big enough but found a centre drill that did the job:



Here are the finished hangers minus the bushes which will need making and loctiting in.



I started making the brass bushes tonight but I drilled it with a 10mm drill as thought it would give a decent sliding fit, drill was really cheap and nasty though and it ended up way over-size!  :bang:  The best thing I've got is a 10mm end mill which should give a more accurate size although when I tried that on test pieces for the wheels I thought it was a bit sloppy. Maybe my tail stock is out of alignment.

Another thing that is bugging me is the lathe has started cutting out, the bi-metal strips are tripping it on the on / off switch. Anyone have ideas what that would be? it just started doing it about a week or so ago. The first time it did I'm sure the motor made some weird noise but it's sounded normal since, just when it's been running for a couple of minutes or put a decent load on it it trips.  :(  I wondered if it could be the start or run capacitor needs changing or something? Or would that stop it completely?  :smart: don't want to  :zap: so better get it sorted.

Nick







Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline Stilldrillin

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #19 on: October 22, 2010, 04:01:21 AM »
Nicely shown Nick!   :clap:

Re your 10mm hole. Always double drill, for a (more) accurate hole.

9mm, first. Then 10mm, held well out from the chuck, to allow it to centralise itself easier......  :thumbup:

David D
David.

Still drilling holes... Sometimes, in the right place!

Still modifying bits of metal... Occasionally, making an improvement!

Offline NickG

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #20 on: October 22, 2010, 06:41:36 AM »
David,

Cheers  :thumbup: I should have said that I did go through with 3/8" first, that's why I was surprised ... it was a really cheap set of drills from a market type stall but I still expected them to be roughly the right size! They do feel hollow when you pick them up though! Another lesson learnt I guess, buy cheap buy twice as one of my colleagues always said!

Good tip about having it far out from chuck though.

Nick
Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline sbwhart

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #21 on: October 22, 2010, 12:17:18 PM »
Coming together well Nick  :thumbup:

Stew
A little bit of clearance never got in the road
 :wave:

Location:- Crewe Cheshire

Offline NickG

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #22 on: October 23, 2010, 10:42:13 AM »
Cheers Stew  :thumbup:
Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline AdeV

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #23 on: October 29, 2010, 01:20:18 PM »
Nice work on those wheels Nick; and I thought you did fine with the nut despite the bad sequencing. I'm guilty of doing that sort of stuff as well...

Looking forward to the next installment  :thumbup:
Cheers!
Ade.
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Offline NickG

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #24 on: November 03, 2010, 06:28:15 AM »
Nightmare, my update from the other night hasn't appeared - took ages writing it and can't remember what I said now!  :doh:
Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline AdeV

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #25 on: November 03, 2010, 10:50:07 AM »
It got lost in the wash :( ISTR you turned some hex stock into bushes...
Cheers!
Ade.
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Offline NickG

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #26 on: November 03, 2010, 10:54:09 AM »
Basically yeah! I just wrote a load of waffle with it but here are the pics anyway:







Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline Stilldrillin

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #27 on: November 04, 2010, 05:27:05 AM »
Replay of wot you wrote still impresses me Nick!  :clap: :thumbup:

David D
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Still drilling holes... Sometimes, in the right place!

Still modifying bits of metal... Occasionally, making an improvement!

Offline NickG

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #28 on: November 04, 2010, 05:38:32 AM »
Thanks David  :thumbup:,

I really should have a running chassis in the next couple of weeks. Bit busy this weekend with a wedding so will have limited time though.

I think it's the body work that I'm really going to struggle with on this, I've not done much work, if any with sheet metal so it could ruin the whole thing but I'll give it a go. I'm tempted to cut and weld to get more use out of / practice with the welder but it could go horribly wrong. Might get my mate to do the welding and dress off with an angle grinder. Or I could try bolting it with that small brass angle I bought.  :scratch:

I guess the main plus point to come out of this was that replacing the capacitor on my lathe motor seems to have done the trick - touch wood!

Nick
Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline shoey51

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #29 on: November 20, 2010, 01:48:58 AM »
this is a great build Nick
Just catching up on a few threads will be watching this with keen interest :thumbup:

Rob.Wilson

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #30 on: November 20, 2010, 06:25:57 AM »
Hi Nick

I am still watching  :D Lookin good  :thumbup:

Would this be any use to you to control the speed/direction ........... has dead man return to zero and the lever  cannot be moved until the lower section of the knob is lifted , fitted with 5K pots but these can be changed out .




Rob

Offline Bluechip

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #31 on: November 20, 2010, 07:37:32 AM »
Hi Rob

Exotic knob assembly you have there ...

What was that off, when it was alive ...

Posh, that  ... I'm impressed  :thumbup:

Dave BC
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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #32 on: November 20, 2010, 07:53:46 AM »
HI Dave

Its the Lift/slew control form a telescopic boom lift ,,, only done 50 hours work ,,, had to change it due to a slight creep to the left . Pot not centralised .

I was cold, wet ,hungry and plodging in mud so i just stuck a new one on , could not be arse to faff about with it  :coffee:

Rob

Offline NickG

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #33 on: November 20, 2010, 10:07:29 AM »
Hi, Shoey, Rob  & Dave, thanks for the comments.

Rob, that's an impressive bit of kit, thanks for the offer but think it'd be wasted on this though! At the moment I've just got a double pole double throw switch, centre off for forward & reverse and the controller has the pot on flying leads. I realised after I didn't need a centre off switch as I'll need a normal on off switch before the controller too anyway.

Here are a few more pics - I've made a slight amount of progress since last time but then I came down with  :proj: and have started working on the design of something else - will start a new post!

I put the wheels on the axles where I thought they should go but took it to the club track to try before I made anything more permanent. Good job, it was too sloppy. I'd allowed 1mm clearance either side as the rad on the wheel tread was 1mm, but it seems I can push them a bit further out maybe by 1-2mm.

This makes the wheels pretty damn close to the frame - i'll need to turn some spacers to stop the axle floating too much and the wheels rubbing on the frame. If it's too close I can always skim a little off the outside of the wheels.

I need to mill a flat on the axles where the gear grubs screws will tighten onto. The wheels are quite a tight fit at the moment - not sure whether to knurl the portion of the axle and press them onto it with loctite or just loctite.

Then I need to make up the slotted cross braces which will stop the motors from rotating about the axles and stop them sliding along the axles, they will be welded into position - I think, well if it still allows disassembly they will be.

Then there is wiring to do, the body of course and lots of cosmetic bits like bearing covers & buffers. I have bought the materials for those.

My dad had a good idea, I think it will be easier to make the body from wood, maybe thin plywood or MDF then fill bits and paint.

Still a long way to go! Hopefully I'll get it done before xmas so it can be a surprise for my sons - they've sort of forgotten about it, the oldest one (4 1/2) kept saying, "daddy, are we going to make that train today" thinking it would be done and dusted in a couple of hours!









Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline Stilldrillin

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #34 on: November 20, 2011, 04:50:49 AM »
Still a long way to go! Hopefully I'll get it done before xmas so it can be a surprise for my sons - they've sort of forgotten about it, the oldest one (4 1/2) kept saying, "daddy, are we going to make that train today" thinking it would be done and dusted in a couple of hours!

Not sure how I landed here, Nick!  BUT?? :scratch:

It's been a year now........  :palm:

Any further progress? Those lads are getting older, all the time........  :D

David D


David.

Still drilling holes... Sometimes, in the right place!

Still modifying bits of metal... Occasionally, making an improvement!

Offline ksor

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #35 on: November 20, 2011, 12:11:49 PM »
MAYBE, maybe you have a problem with your wheels if you drive in curves !

Maybe you will see breach of your axles, because the "drive foot" is parrellel to the axles.
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KSor, Denmark
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Offline NickG

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #36 on: November 21, 2011, 02:49:07 PM »
David, you're right! It's the next project I am due to drop back onto but I can't seem to muster up any determination to get in the garage to be honest ... pretty poor really. :(

Ksor, sorry I'm not sure if I understand what you mean, do you mean the flange on the wheels? They should have a radius on them I think, I can't see it affecting much though, minimum radius curve on our track is 50 feet. Or are you talking about something else?

Nick
Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline ksor

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Re: 7 1/4" Gauge Electric 0-4-0 Loco
« Reply #37 on: November 21, 2011, 03:52:57 PM »
That is what I mean - the flanges should be conical - not much but conical, I beleave.
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KSor, Denmark
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