After my experiments in wheelmaking (http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=6989.0), it's time to do something useful fun with them.
The old Australian Renowntm steam roller toys Tmuir's rebuilding (http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=6764.0) are the inspiration-- they look like lots of fun and got me wanting to try making one, so with not much more than some pictures and sheet steel, I started playing around.
If all goes well, I'll clean up the drawings and open source them out for everyone-- The ides is to make a project that people with one or two wobblers under their belt could have a shot at building and having fun with. I'm going to try and use hardware-store materials whenever practical, though that won't work for everything.
The motto for this build is "Making toys, not finescale models" ;D ;D
After a little plotting and measuring, I drilled a bunch of holes in some 16ga steel. The originals were brass; I think it looks much better, but I'm guessing this project is going to get a lot of tweaking and part changes and extra holes as I design and re-design things, so steel, being considerably cheaper, is the prototype material for now. Once the design is good, I may go back and do a brass one.
Drilled a bunch of holes for the sideplate (fastening and stacking them and drilling through both at once if possible):
Check out the disposable parallel since so many holes are right on the edges.
These holes are mostly drilled 3/32". 3/32" is a convenient size since it's both a clearance fit for #2-56 and also a standard rivet size. I think you can even get 3/32" pop-rivets, though I don't think they're at my local hardware store. The axle holes are drilled 3/8" for bushings later.
Again for the proto and I expect lots of disassembly and rebuilds, I chose to make the frame spacers from solid and drill and tap the ends. The original toy was riveted with bent flat spacers, and that would be much less tedious once the design is solid and it won't need to be disassembled all the time. If you look at the pictures, you can see the raw stock I made the spacers from is a little wider than the 1/2" planned for, but except for needing to trim one, the rest have tons of clearance.
Here's tapping the ends of one of the frame spacers. I use this little chuck for hand-tapping 2-56. I only turn it with my fingers and use the little tapping block which can get into pretty small spaces (in normal use my other hand is holding the block squarely against the material being tapped, rather than running the camera)
And both frames and spacers assembled with the wheels just passed through the axle bushing holes for show. There's more frame to go up front. Making the frame in two parts means smaller pieces of raw stock are needed and it'll fit in the work envelope of more machines.
The other two 3/8" holes are for the flywheel and reduction wheel axles (I'm going to try and go with a Renown-style gearless reduction). On the original I think they're just drilled straight into the brass frame. I decided to put bronze bushings in the frame for the axles. It might be a toy, but it should last a while. Since the rear wheels were already drilled for 1/4" axles, the bushing hole got chosen to be 3/8". That's way overkill for the flywheel and reduction wheel axles, which I think will be 1/8" and 3/16" respectively, but it's the drill that was in the machine...
Made of 16ga steel and bolted spacers, this thing is as solid as a brick-[expletive]-house.. Should be no problem using much lighter gauge material.
The old Australian Renowntm steam roller toys Tmuir's rebuilding (http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=6764.0) are the inspiration-- they look like lots of fun and got me wanting to try making one, so with not much more than some pictures and sheet steel, I started playing around.
If all goes well, I'll clean up the drawings and open source them out for everyone-- The ides is to make a project that people with one or two wobblers under their belt could have a shot at building and having fun with. I'm going to try and use hardware-store materials whenever practical, though that won't work for everything.
The motto for this build is "Making toys, not finescale models" ;D ;D
After a little plotting and measuring, I drilled a bunch of holes in some 16ga steel. The originals were brass; I think it looks much better, but I'm guessing this project is going to get a lot of tweaking and part changes and extra holes as I design and re-design things, so steel, being considerably cheaper, is the prototype material for now. Once the design is good, I may go back and do a brass one.
Drilled a bunch of holes for the sideplate (fastening and stacking them and drilling through both at once if possible):
Check out the disposable parallel since so many holes are right on the edges.
These holes are mostly drilled 3/32". 3/32" is a convenient size since it's both a clearance fit for #2-56 and also a standard rivet size. I think you can even get 3/32" pop-rivets, though I don't think they're at my local hardware store. The axle holes are drilled 3/8" for bushings later.
Again for the proto and I expect lots of disassembly and rebuilds, I chose to make the frame spacers from solid and drill and tap the ends. The original toy was riveted with bent flat spacers, and that would be much less tedious once the design is solid and it won't need to be disassembled all the time. If you look at the pictures, you can see the raw stock I made the spacers from is a little wider than the 1/2" planned for, but except for needing to trim one, the rest have tons of clearance.
Here's tapping the ends of one of the frame spacers. I use this little chuck for hand-tapping 2-56. I only turn it with my fingers and use the little tapping block which can get into pretty small spaces (in normal use my other hand is holding the block squarely against the material being tapped, rather than running the camera)
And both frames and spacers assembled with the wheels just passed through the axle bushing holes for show. There's more frame to go up front. Making the frame in two parts means smaller pieces of raw stock are needed and it'll fit in the work envelope of more machines.
The other two 3/8" holes are for the flywheel and reduction wheel axles (I'm going to try and go with a Renown-style gearless reduction). On the original I think they're just drilled straight into the brass frame. I decided to put bronze bushings in the frame for the axles. It might be a toy, but it should last a while. Since the rear wheels were already drilled for 1/4" axles, the bushing hole got chosen to be 3/8". That's way overkill for the flywheel and reduction wheel axles, which I think will be 1/8" and 3/16" respectively, but it's the drill that was in the machine...
Made of 16ga steel and bolted spacers, this thing is as solid as a brick-[expletive]-house.. Should be no problem using much lighter gauge material.
