5 inch Gauge 9F

[Sooty655]

Looking good, VB.

It must be murder trying to rationalise dimensions from different sources.

[Vulcan Bomber]

Looking good, VB.

It must be murder trying to rationalise dimensions from different sources.

The hardest bit is deciding where to hide any errors... The top row of holes in the buffer beam are actually all in the wrong position apart from the outer most hole. There is the correct number of holes and the error is so minor no one will notice though....... Hopefully.

[Vulcan Bomber]

Finally something worth reporting on the 9F again.

As I mentioned in my previous update, i've had some bits laser cut, I have had these cut with slots and tabs to make for easy assembly, there are how ever a few gussets that i will make myself and i will use some silver steel dowls to locate these bits.

I have there for made a little drilling fixture for making all the holes to do that.

The plate you will see in the first pic is the base of the center stretcher, and in the 2nd pic the 2 clamps over the top of the plate. I'll start drilling tomorrow hopefully.

[Vulcan Bomber]

And here it is with the holes drilled.... 1mm diameter and reamed to go with it.




And also, Ed was wanting more simple bits to do, this part wont see the light of day again for a little while but it is the start of the rear drag box.

[34053]

Thanks for the Update VB. Keep 'em coming!

PW

[Vulcan Bomber]

Only a quick 1 picture tonight to show you the pair of vertical stretchers i'm working on. These need some small strengthening ribs making before welding together which I plan to do neext week.

[Vulcan Bomber]

Well, a productive week has been had on the 9F. But not as i had initially had planned. The reason being that through a bit of bad luck and a pretty spectacular crash, we've had 2 lathes out of action at work so i've been demoted onto the milling section for the last week and with the Pro not required for works work.... i've been using it.. (the Pro is a 3 axis milling machine with the prototrak milling control I use on the other machines.... the good thing with this one is, once its set, it only needs me for tool changing, so it can run in works time with no one getting upset).

So, something ive had sat waiting for this opportunity is a stretcher for the Tender... The front, lower one to be precise.



this is 4 of them after first op was completed, this was programmed and set last friday night, and run all of Monday and Tuesday... at 4 hrs each.

Wednesday saw me finish the Pony truck Pivot stretchers, these need to see Ed for soldering on of some pads and a Bronze Bushe in the center hole. I couldnt really get a useful pic of these..



Thursday saw me removing the Turret of our Hardinge Cobra 42 lathe...

And Today, saw the 2nd side of the Stretchers started, and the first one finished.








And the plan now is to finish the stretchers next, they need 4 rivet holes in each end and then they are complete.

[34053]

Very grateful to you for the Update VB. It's amazing to be taken through each step of the 'build' and shown the amount of work involved.

Do you have a 'Target Completion Date'; or will it be 'as and when''?

PW

[Vulcan Bomber]

Very grateful to you for the Update VB. It's amazing to be taken through each step of the 'build' and shown the amount of work involved.

Do you have a 'Target Completion Date'; or will it be 'as and when''?

PW

Not really, I'd love to have it complete by the time my kids are doing things like show and tell at school, my eldest is just about to turn 4 so I might be pushing it...

[Vulcan Bomber]

Well, this is exciting! I've managed to finish something i've started in the same month! Being a bit crafty at work, i've done a couple of jobs on the cube.... Not mounted in the ideal position for the Lower Stretcher for the tender but oh well.. Anyway, some pictures.











Not quite sure what the plan is next, we will see what machines are available.

[Spitfire]

I looked up

Hardinge Cobra 42 lathe

and its a bit of a beast



I was imagining something from Axminster or maybe a Ward of some kind - but the Cobra is a REAL man's lathe - lucky to have access to such machinery

[Vulcan Bomber]

I looked up

Hardinge Cobra 42 lathe

and its a bit of a beast



I was imagining something from Axminster or maybe a Ward of some kind - but the Cobra is a REAL man's lathe - lucky to have access to such machinery

To be totally honest and pardon the lingo, the Conquest 42 is the biggest piece of shit I have ever worked in my life... It's undoubtedly a very good machine, very precise, reliable, quiet ect but it's is not at all user friendly and lacks the grunt for making real swarf ect. We tend to use it for long run work rather than odds and sods.

If you want to look at my baby at work, have a look for a 1996 Colchester Tornado 200. Best machine I've ever worked.

[Spitfire]

Blimey



Its not like my Axminster mini lathe

[Vulcan Bomber]

Hows that?

Only took this a few weeks back, the job is a piece of EN8 steel (quite soft) and it starts as a solid billet 105mm long by 101.6mm diameter(4 inches) 3 minutes later its 100mm diameter with a 61mm hole in it.... 95mm deep. There just a spacer for road tankers but the machine stands up to quite a thrashing all day doing these.... And its then quite happy turning other bits alot smaller to tolerances of 0.01mm all day, a complete joy to work.

[Spitfire]

When I was a teenager many moons ago my Dad got me a holiday job at a local metal working factory and, after a little tuition, I was put in charge of a Ward 7 with a 6 sided turret doing a repetitive job using copper bar feed to make centre rods for the glass insulators on electricity pylons ...

Make the last 3 inches thinner - put on a thread box to make a coarse thread - slim down the other end then part off - switch it round and dome off the parted end ... times 5000 .... weeks and weeks of it ....

Naturally I got a bit bored so I used to take the lubricating suds off and watch the swarf coming off in very pretty colours (remember its copper and when it got hot it was spectacular) ... I was not popular with the tool room erks as they were forever having to come to my lathe to change the cutting tools ... then management found out and I was taken off that job and put in charge of what must have been a very early automatic lathe (this was in the 1970s) which was making 6BA threaded nuts ... bloody hundreds of thousands of them ... my job was to keep the bar feed constant ... couldn't get into mischief with this as the job was done automatically under a perspex cover and the suds pipe was fixed anyway ...

Never understood how blokes could do this day after day with such mind numbing endless repetition

I do remember that the bloke next to me was making some huge parts in aluminium on a massive Ward machine - to this day I remember that the cutting lubricant for aluminium was paraffin ....

There was another chap who was the 'specialist' he would spend several days setting up his Ward to make 6 coach bolts for the coachmen in the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace .. they had to be perfect and when made they were sent off in a special tin lined with cotton wool

Happy Days (ish!)

[Vulcan Bomber]

Yes, one of the joys of CNC machines is that you can get them running and then with the bar feed or bar puller working as well they can be left for periods of time without operator input... So I generally go and run another machine, tidy the metal rack or whatever.... A busy day is a quick day.

[34053]

Thank you for the Update VB and also for the interesting conversation pieces with Spitfire. (Things have certainly moved on since my C & G 'Workshop Practise' days at Technical College!!!).

PW

[Vulcan Bomber]

Well, another big gap between update but i've been very busy at work, and when im not working, im busy making some bits for some land rover friends.. Anyway, work has gone quiet now... Always does this time of year, do dad has had literally nothing to do, and amazingly my boss gave the ok for some 9F to be done in works time!

so, we have been concentrating on the rear drag box for now.

first thing he did was to finish the main block that Ed started for me many moons ago.



and then he made the lid for it.



the holes are for dowls to line them up for welding, welder friend Domonic has that job to do along with the previous mensioned land rover bits.



He has then drilled location holes for the bits that make up the front end of the drag box. The profile was laser cut for me by Malcolm





the holes are all 1mm diameter.

he has then made a start on the rear brake cylinder bracket, this doesn’t exist in full size but ive had to incorporate it because I have used Les Warnetts design at the front and i don’t want 2 odd brake cylinders.... Wont be seen when the model has a cab on it so I wont tell if you wont.

We decided the easiest way was to mill a profile onto some round bar and part them off on the lathe later.



And I parted them off before home time tonight.





I/dad will tart these up on the surface grinder.... just because we can and then yep, 1mm holes to be drilled for location dowls when there welded/soldered.

We have also made up some gussets for the vertical stretchers i’ve been working on, hopefully i’ll be able to get the stretchers and drag box welded up at the same time.

More next week I really hope!

[Sooty655]

Thanks for another great update, VB.
Are you keeping a record of all the manhours (and dadhours)?

[Vulcan Bomber]

It's never crossed my mind to do so Eric to be honest.

[34053]

Thank you for the Update VB. Sounds like quite a brilliant 'Team effort'.

PW

[Sooty655]

It's never crossed my mind to do so Eric to be honest.

Probably better not too, it might be frightening.

[Vulcan Bomber]

It's never crossed my mind to do so Eric to be honest.

Probably better not too, it might be frightening.

I would think the same applies to you with the time you spend on or around 655.

[Sooty655]

It's never crossed my mind to do so Eric to be honest.

Probably better not too, it might be frightening.

I would think the same applies to you with the time you spend on or around 655.

Very true.

[Vulcan Bomber]

Another update on the 9F, we have almost finished making a kit of parts for the Rear Drag Box.
All that needs doing now is the rear plate, we just need to drill 4 dowl holes to locate it for welding, then I need to fit it all together with lots of little bits of 1mm silver steel.



The main block has been welded and the edges tidied back up, i haven’t got an individual pic of this due to me rushing around.
Now the reason we havnt finished the last bit of that puzzle is because the Pro has been parked up for a week we decided it would be better to make use of that, so i’ve dragged the Horizontal stretchers I started over a year ago.





And naturally, an action shot.



The reason we wanted these on the Pro is because theres a fair bit of material to shift and it runs on its own for long periods, hopefully next week will see the gussets for the Vertical Stretchers finished and the End Plate for the Drag Box Completed ready for the welding Session.

And finally, a little extra for you. I took Monday and Tuesday off work this week, one of jobs on Tuesdays list was to turn some wheels for a chap on the MECH forum (model train nerds). Now, I will admit to only doing the easy bit due to what is required to the hard bit of this job, (that involves a 4 jaw chuck, a clock and potentially a lot of patients... So my partner in crime Ed did that in his home workshop...)

Anyway, i took this little video on my Phone so show a bit of the Colchester Tornado that was discussed in this thread I work in action....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRp-peSg62M

More soon we hope.