Workshop
Back Breaking Work
I made one part (#10) two pieces last weekend. I milled a 1/2″ square bar of brass into a 1/8″ x 1/2″ angle. It is to be used for the brackets to hold the tender steps. I got the milling done just fine. Then…
I reached around the X3 mill, I think to turn off the main power. It felt like I got stabbed in the back. I have a bad vertebra at the bottom of my spine. Years of heavy lifting destroyed the padding. Occasionally I get an extreme pain spasm and this was one of them.
That shut me down for the rest of the weekend in the shop. ($#^$&#^) <– swear word
I didn’t even get the holes drilled but I did get it cut into two parts. That’s not the correct location in the picture. I just posed the parts…
An immediate heat pad and some ibuprofen got me healed and back to work today. This was one of my shortest episodes. I’ll have to hit the heat pad quickly again next time. Also, I didn’t keep pushing it. It’s heck to get old. I wonder when I will get there?
I’ll just claim working on scale steam locomotives is back breaking work…
Lens Plate
My daughter is a professional photographer working for a large commercial corporation. Some of the studio cameras use lenses that mount on a lens board as you see here. That is not a real piece of board, but rather a cast aluminum plate. I think the idea is to make lens changes and adjustments easier.
On this one someone bought the lens board with a hole that was too small. Maybe they got a deal? You can always make a hole bigger right? Problem is most people do not know how to make the hole bigger. If they know, they probably don’t have the proper tool.
I was given another lens board with the hole being much larger than necessary. “Just make the small hole half way bigger than the large hole.” I was told. I love those accurate working dimensions. Ha!
It was dang close to being a 2 inch hole I suspected I needed. I bored the small one out to about 1.995 inches. I was actually thinking 2 inch but short is better than taking too much.
My daughter took the lens board to work and sure enough the hole was still too small. “It needs just a hair more, Dad!” was her request. Uh… “What color hair, kinky, curly or straight?” I went for red, curly.
In the pix I went out to 2.010, so I’ll see if I got the color right…
Silver Brazing
I was self taught in brazing and soldering metals long before I became certified By Harris Industries (Now called the Harris Products Group) about 35 years ago. Nothing has changed about the processes in all that time. It is a skill that can easily be developed and improves with use or practice. Most skilled hobbyist can quickly master the basic technique.
What is required is an understanding of the science and what is going on in the heating process. I have always needed to know the why of any process before I could truly master the how. Silver brazing is a process a machine can be set up to do perfectly every time on an assembly line; but not until all the variable factors are preset and under control. A human operator in a mixed environment must understand all the variables and observe and modify the process “on the fly” to make a perfect assembly.
I am not going to explain the process here in the blog. Just Google Silver Brazing and you will find all the how-to you will ever need. If you are close to Ohio you can still go to the Harris factory and take a two day course. My course was for making piping joints but the process is still the same for model train parts.
Correct heat and the correct tools for keeping that heat under control is critical. Also the prep work is the key to successful joints. Playing with the big flame seems intimidating but with practice it just becomes a comfortable step in the process.
Every trade from jewelry makers to pipe fitters has mastered the processes of brazing and soldering. For model builders it ought to just be another skill in a big bag of tricks. It is a fun… Continue reading
The Hobbyist’s Quandary
I have a decision I should make about building live steam locomotives. It’s not one I have to make but not making it is a decision in itself. In other words I am not at a stopping point where I have to make a decision to move on, but rather shall I continue where I am going or change direction. It is not a dilemma as none of the choices are truly unsatisfactory.
So I went back and read some of my own writings from around year 2003 that I posted in my The Hobbyist Machine Shop website. Hard to believe I started my publishing seven years ago. I see that most of my interests and goals have not changed in all that time.
Back then I said my plan was to design and build my workshop and machine tools to a size where I could work on live steam model locomotives in a scale size of ½ inch to ¾ inch. Mission accomplished. What has not been accomplished is actually completing any projects of that type. I do have some work done in ¾ inch scale on the Pennsy A3 Locomotive but the nearly three year layoff didn’t speed that project along.
What I noticed from seven years ago is that I said my primary interest was in ½ inch scale with ¾ inch my upper limit. I feel that is still true. So why did I start building in ¾ inch scale? There are several good reasons.
Number one is the outstanding publication of engine projects in that scale by Kozo Hiraoka. Second is the fact the parts are large enough that my PN is not much of a problem as it would be with very small parts. Third, the scale locomotives look wonderfully massive, complex and… Continue reading
“I’ll Buy That!”
I just had a minor epiphany thanks to a comment in an email from my friend Ed. He said, “…I focus on my project and not on the tools unless they impact the project.” What a profound statement. I have been preaching that concept since day one on my web sites.
I often get asked, “What machine should I buy to get started in the hobby.” My stock reply has always been, “First decide what you want to build.” “Second, how much can you spend?”
Ed is an outstanding builder of small scale live steam locomotives and has a wonderfully equipped home machine shop, all top notch machines and tools. His comment hit me so true I could hear the angles singing. Well, almost.
I have read most of Kozo’s books and have seen photos of his modest workshop. He shows his shop in at least the A3 book and several others. I know THAT master builder has a very modest workshop.
Wonderful works are not judged by the machines used to create them. It is the skill of the operator that makes it art, not the chisel and hammer. Are the workshop and tools of Michelangelo famous and on display? No, just what was produced by their use. It is the work that is remembered, not the tools in the shop.
Yes, yes, someday there may be a special on TV about the tools of Michelangelo because some people will be interested, but it is not the tools that have made him and his work immortal.
We all have to decide for ourselves, what is my hobby? Is it making miniature live steam locomotives or owning fabulous machine tools? Neither answer is wrong. Doing both is fine if there is the space and the money. But if my primary… Continue reading