Building Kozo's New Shay locomotive

[SilverSanJuan]

That looks really amazing!

The A3 doesn't have drawings for a generator. I'm going to have to buy the Shay book for some of these details. I plan on "modernizing" my A3 by updating the lights, adding a generator, and an air compressor.

Todd

 

[crueby]

That looks really amazing!

The A3 doesn't have drawings for a generator. I'm going to have to buy the Shay book for some of these details. I plan on "modernizing" my A3 by updating the lights, adding a generator, and an air compressor.

Todd

Kozo's first Shay book does not have generator or compressor either, he added those in the New Shay book. Those kinds of little details do add a lot.

 

[crueby]

A little more whittling on the lathe, and the compressor is made. It is a set of simple parts, mostly bolted together (couple little ones silver soldered). None of the parts are complicated, but the assembly looks pretty neat. It will get painted, then bolted onto the left side running board, along with some piping to the cab and smokebox.

Next to make are the toolbox and air tank....

 

[SilverSanJuan]

Now, that's just too cool! Looks like it could actually function. Nice work.

Todd

 

[crueby]

Got a start on the tool box. It is made of some brass sheet, cut to shape then edges trimmed with the mill, and silver soldered together. The hinge took a bit of fussing to get it to clear along the back, but not bad. It cannot open all that far anyway since the lid will contact the boiler when open. Below are some photos.







Now, after a great suggestion from b.lindsey, I am going to see about making up a pile of little (well, scaled up they will be quite large) tools - wrenches, hammers, etc. The wrench in the photos is about the size some of them would be - that is not a model but one I use.

 

[SilverSanJuan]

Yes, definitely a great place to put any tools for adjustments and small repairs.

Todd

 

[crueby]

Yes, definitely a great place to put any tools for adjustments and small repairs.

Todd

Yup. It sits next to the compressor on the footboard on the left side of the boiler. I was looking at the air tank drawings, which will be next to the engine on the right side. Kozo started with 1 1/4" bar, that seems like a waste of solid stock so I am going to go get a length of brass pipe extension from the plumbing store and fit end caps...

 

[SilverSanJuan]

Would you be putting something in there? I would say that the additional weight of the solid bar would help with traction.

Todd

 

[crueby]

Would you be putting something in there? I would say that the additional weight of the solid bar would help with traction.

Todd

Thats a good point. I could fill it with scrap pieces to get some weight back. I've also got a half bag of lead shot that I can use some of. I have not weighed the whole thing lately, must be up over 50 pounds by now.

 

[SilverSanJuan]

Lead shot would be a good alternative.

 

[kvom]

That looks really amazing!

The A3 doesn't have drawings for a generator. I'm going to have to buy the Shay book for some of these details. I plan on "modernizing" my A3 by updating the lights, adding a generator, and an air compressor.

Todd

The A3 had oil lamp headlights and steam brakes, so no need for either a generator or an air compressor.

 

[crueby]

The A3 had oil lamp headlights and steam brakes, so no need for either a generator or an air compressor.

So make some little oil cans and steam irons instead....!

 

[SilverSanJuan]

The A3 had oil lamp headlights and steam brakes, so no need for either a generator or an air compressor.

I have some pictures of it in later years that show a generator and electric lamp on both the tender and engine.

Todd

 

[crueby]

Just a couple of quick progress pics to show - the compressor, air tank, generator, etc parts are painted and installed now, and also got the white floor edge stripe on the tender painted. I have gone back and am making the water piping, connecting up the tender tank, axle pump, hand pump, water return valve, check valves to the boiler. Mostly it is mass producing union nuts, nipples, and connectors, plus bending lots of tubing.... After that I'll probably tackle the drain cock assembly for the cylinders - that looks to be a lot of teensy parts! Then on to the oil lines/valves... This part of the build is all the little fiddly details behind the scenes. Also going to see about making up some small tools for the toolbox...


Next time that it is a little warmer/sunnier outside, I am going to take the loco outside and get some good pictures of it (we have regressed from spring back to wintry weather again, actually had some snow the last couple days!).

Yesterday the local raptor research organization had its annual public event (one of the bays here on the south shore of Lake Ontario is on the migration route for all sorts of hawks/eagles/etc), and I got to participate in the photo session with a collection of hawks, eagles, falcons, owls - took a ton of pictures, and at the end got a chance to fly one of the hawks - last pic below is of that! Great experience!

 

[SilverSanJuan]

She is looking amazing! Such nice work you are doing.

Raptors are amazing creatures. I envy your time that you spent with them. Such a beautiful Hawk.

Todd

 

[SilverSanJuan]

Crueby,

What solder are you using when you do the soft soldering? Also, what flux?

Thanks,
Todd

 

[crueby]

Crueby,

What solder are you using when you do the soft soldering? Also, what flux?

Thanks,
Todd

For soft soldering, I have been using a mix of things from the bottom of the toolbox - I think most recently I used some Forney self fluxing silver solder (soft, low temp, not hard solder). For other areas where there is no high heat, the TIX brand jewelers solder and flux is very good - needs a tight joint to work well, but is very strong (and expensive, but it does not take much). It has a very low melting point (around 275F I think) - it is meant for fine jewelers work, wicks into tight joints very well. In the past have used other brand silver solders/fluxes, dont recall the brand names - was stuff from local hardware store. With any of them, be sure to wash/scrub off the parts to get rid of any flux residue since it can corrode the parts over time.

For the high temp/high strength stuff, been using cadmium free silver solder and harris white flux. Found it in coils of thin wire which are handy for small jobs.

 

[SilverSanJuan]

Thanks. I need to pick up more solder/flux to start assembling my tender.

Todd

 

[crueby]

Thanks. I need to pick up more solder/flux to start assembling my tender.

Todd

Great, looking forward to seeing the progress on yours.

I've been working on the water tubing between tender, axle pump, hand pump, and boiler. Progressing slowly, but real pain to get pieces through the maze of struts, beams, floor plates, etc. This might be one place where Kozo could have laid it out better, not sure. This might be the best way to make a lot of stuff fit in a small place, just seems like another layout might avoid dismantling/re-mantling things so many times. Trained mice with wrenches would help!

 

[SilverSanJuan]

I can imagine it is very tight in those spaces to be running the tubing. There's more on the Shay than on the A3 also. And, there's more space as most of the tubing runs on the outside. You're a pretty clever guy though. I'm sure you'll get it done right.

Todd