How the **** did I do that!

[Mo deller]

This is the worst I have felt since starting this hobby. I feel so dejected and I am just irritable and don't want to do anything.
I have messed up on my loco wheels. Only noticed when I started to machine the axles that the wheels are 1/16 inch too thin which is the thickness of the flange. Misread something somehow.

My feeling is that they are scrap now but I am clutching to one last hope that there may be a solution. Anyone know if it they can still be used?

Peed off Pete

 

[engjas]

Sorry to hear of your problem but why not turn off the flanges completely and fit steel tyres with a shrink fit as full size did.
Best wishes
John

 

[Metal Butcher]

It eventually happens to all of us.

Before doing anything, take some time for cooling off before proceeding.


!/!6" is not all that much if the wheels are big Your talking .062" less in width on the rail and wheel contact. maybe its not as bad as you think.

-MB

 

[SBWHART]

We've all got scrap boxes Pete.

I scrapped off £90 worth of cylinder casting for my Loco. Give it a couple of days to get your thoughts together, then jump back on the Bike.

Have fun

Stew

 

[Maryak]

Sorry to hear of your problem but why not turn off the flanges completely and fit steel tyres with a shrink fit as full size did.
Best wishes
John

Mo,

John beat me to it but that's a viable work around. Commiserations on the whoopsy and good luck with the fix.

Best Regards
Bob

 

[user 1493]

As a smarter man than me said, the only way to never make a mistake is to never make a decision.

Jack

 

[Mo deller]

Thanks everyone. I am cooling off a bit now but it still hurts.
Putting tyres on would get the outer bit sorted but it needed 1/2 inch in the centre where the boss is to go on the axle which seems to be standard for 3 1/2 inch gauge. I don't know enough to understand what the other implications are. It all has to line up with the connecting rods and cylinders.

Ohh and it seemed to be going so well.

Peter.

 

[Maryak]

it needed 1/2 inch in the centre where the boss is to go on the axle which seems to be standard for 3 1/2 inch gauge. I don't know enough to understand what the other implications are. It all has to line up with the connecting rods and cylinders.

Ohh and it seemed to be going so well.

Peter.

How about a press/shrink fitted bush to bring the centre boss back to size.

When you catch your breath, how about a CoC of what is v what should be.

Best Regards
Bob

 

[SBWHART]

Peter

What Loco are you building ?.

It may be a bitter/expensive pill to swollow but in the long run it may be better just to buy a new set of wheel castings, than trying to rework them, which will take time and may well result in an unsatisfactory fix.

It may be posible for you to use the scrap wheels to make your ride on truck, that way they may not be a total financial loss.

I use my scrap cylinder as a paper weight that way its doing something usful ;D

Cheers

Stew

 

[Mo deller]

I have ordered some new castings today. Only about £35 so not too bad. It is still haunting me though.
It just seems like too much work to get the material and make a new tire to fit and do the boss etc. I will feel better with a fresh start.
Thanks for the help and I may well use them on something later.

Stew, I am building an LBSC Juliet. I have borrowed the original model engineer magazines from 1946 to help me along. At least the first volume. Hope to get the rest later as I progress.

Peter.

 

[rake60]

Pete I have done that on a much larger scale.

It's a long walk to the project managers office to explain what happened
when your stomach has sunk into your work boots.

It's an even longer wait for the customers engineers to call back with a
decision of altering their plans or scrapping a $20,000.00 casting.

Hang in there, it will get better!

It won't be the last time it happens, unless you just quit today.
I'm too stubborn to quit. I'm sure you are as well!

Rick

 

[steamer]

Peter,

"People who don't make mistakes, don't do anything" I've heard that one before, though when the part is trash, it still doesn't make you feel any better

We've all done it far more times than we like to remember.....usually on the last operation .....I have some dents in the "backboard" over my scrap box to prove it!

Peter If I can be so bold, I would suggest an aid to prevention....it doesn't always work, but it gets everything settled in my mind as to what to do at each step, and it gives me some confidence I know what to do when I turn the lathe on.

Once you have the plan studied....make an operation sheet.

I do it with a sketch ( C-o-C version 2 is perfect for this ;D) of each step, with a couple of notes on how it will be held in the machine, what material is coming off, how much material, and what geometry I am trying to achieve ( squareness, parallelism, ect).

In this case I would take it from raw casting to finished part. Spend some time thinking it all the way through. Whats important should be marked so, also keep track of what is not important.

I helps me get through it some times.

Dave

 

[Mo deller]

Hello Dave,
I understand what you are saying and I was making sketches and writing notes to make myself think about what I had to do. Ironically I messed up on my sketch. If I had worked directly from the drawing I wouldn't have made the error.

I have also spoken to another builder of locos and he said that they would still be ok as track can vary in width. Some being as narrow as the treads I have ended up with. I have now made washers to pack out the connecting rods. Looks like I'll have some spare castings arriving soon : ;D.

Rick, sorry I didn't acknowledge your post. That does put things in perspective a bit. I am hanging in and feeling better now.

Thanks
Peter

 

[Huntinguy]

I have never made a mistake in the shop... I have only improved on what the engineer should have designed. :big:

Some times I have found when I knew what I was doing I was doing it wrong... Yep... take a coffee day... walk around the shop... or building... or county... and have at it again...

Like one guy I work with says... "it's only steel and they can make more." (except were I work that is not true....)

 

[Lew_Merrick_PE]

Peed off Pete

Pete,

1) I've never once screwed up! 50,000 times, maybe, but never once!

2) Show me someone who's never screwed up and I'll show you someone who's never done anything!

3) I've never screwed up so badly in the shop that I couldn't get a new batch of material and make it right.

4) Back when I started my apprenticeship, I asked Herr Meister Muller the difference between an apprentice, a journeyman, and a master. His answer was, "An apprentice, he makes a mistake and knows not what to do. A journeyman, he makes a mistake and knows how to repair it. A master, he sees the mistake before he makes it and avoids it." Isn't that a great definition? I am still only a journeyman (after more than four decades) by that measure...

 

[Mo deller]

Thanks guys. Very timely posting as after a long delay, because my order was forgotten about, the wheel castings arrived today.
Ready for take two.

Peter

 

[justlesh]

I guess I'm still a journeyman also after 26 yrs. Can't say I ever met a master. That actually is a good definition. I was always told a machinest makes mistakes and starts over, a toolmaker fixes his. According to that one I'm both. When I goof it's usually a good one. I've got a nice big pc. of scrap 2" round with a main journal where a rod journal should be from a booboo last week. We all make them and hopefully will continue to do so for a while, otherwise were dead or quit.
Les

 

[Paul_C]

Yeah, happens to everyone. I got about a hundred hours into a hit-n-miss no screw up's on any of the major parts until the other night. All I had to do is drill and tap a 10-32 setscrew in one of the flywheels. Got it set up and needed a long drill bit. Somehow got #21 and .201 mixed up. Drilled the hole and when I went to tap the tap fell in the hole. Crap, stupid mistake avoided if I was thinking and wasn't trying to push on to meet a personal deadline. I would go with a 1/4 set screw but the keyway is only 3/16. A 50 dollar 10-32 helicoil kit will fix it, great... :