1/20th Scale Traction Engine

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1/20th Scale Traction Engine

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Viewing 25 posts - 51 through 75 (of 84 total)
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  • #519151
    Nigel (egi)
    Participant
      @nigelegi

      Just made a new smokebox door and roughed out the brass etching. Now need to make up the hinge – I'm making a jig so that I can align all of the parts for the hinge and silver solder the whole thing before slicing it up again.

      smokebox door

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      #520218
      Nigel (egi)
      Participant
        @nigelegi

        I've been struggling with the smokebox door hinge and have now messed up several parts….all in the round filing system.

        So, I went back to basics, looked at the design, looked at the assembly and how I was fixing everything. I read an article about silver soldering and they said best to approach it in stages. So I had another go at the door hinge for this 1/20th scale Burrell

        I jigged the assembly and used the CooksonGold silver solder paste – wow, this is a superb product

        Now I need to etch another brass plaque

        #520506
        Nigel (egi)
        Participant
          @nigelegi

          Not totally happy with the hinge, but it's strong and now very easy to sort out. Also, finally did a nearly perfect etch for the door, this was then fixed with countersunk brass bolts. These will eventually nearly disappear under red paint.

          1/20th scale Burrell traction engine

          #520510
          Roger Best
          Participant
            @rogerbest89007

            cool that looks great.

            #520557
            Nigel (egi)
            Participant
              @nigelegi
              Posted by Roger Best on 17/01/2021 18:01:33:

              cool that looks great.

              Thanks, gradually getting there. Feels like I'm making 3 of nearly every part to get it right.

              #520560
              Roger Best
              Participant
                @rogerbest89007

                It is very much a first-off. There has to be a good bit of process development and "does it look right". In such a case three attempts is good. many people need three attempts to make a part with full instructions and published tips. smiley

                #521427
                Nigel (egi)
                Participant
                  @nigelegi

                  and so to the mid-section of the chimney for the Burrell, this should be a rolled sheet cone with top and bottom caps. However, at this scale I decided to machine it from mild steel and just make it thin wall.

                  Burrell chimney

                  a little bit of chatter on the inside, but overall I think it looks good. I now need to make the top brass finial

                  Burrell smokebox and chimney

                  #522192
                  Nigel (egi)
                  Participant
                    @nigelegi

                    The brass top of the chimney was roughed out and then silver soldered to the main steel part of the chimney. I then held it between centres in the lathe and machined the whole chimney again.

                    You can just see the line of silver solder

                    #522195
                    Nigel (egi)
                    Participant
                      @nigelegi

                      I think some might not like the fact I've merged the hornplates with the main body of the engine, but see what you think and do comment.

                      I markout using a blue permanent marker – worth buying a named marked such as BIC as they work much better.

                      Here I'm using 1/16 inch brass – too thick for scale, but for this I think it looks fine.

                      These are then bolted in four places to the firebox

                      #524231
                      Nigel (egi)
                      Participant
                        @nigelegi

                        I've been riveting and soft soldering the body together. Not sure whether this is going to be the main body or this is the first go and I end up changing the design to improve it for a second go.

                        This is the first go.

                        I've been heating and soldering with a 1600 Watt hot air gun (an old paint stripper that has been in my toolbox for a long time). It works a treat on these larger structures.

                        While the solder was still molten I brushed it down with a fine steel wire brush. Still some filing and finishing to do, but it's come together quite well.

                        #524401
                        Nigel (egi)
                        Participant
                          @nigelegi

                          Just making up the structure for the water tank in the bottom of the tender and wondering about the water pump.

                          My thought was to make a vertical pump in the rear corner of the tender, but is that right?

                          Has anybody made one and any experiences to share?

                          traction engine tender

                          #524402
                          Roger Best
                          Participant
                            @rogerbest89007

                            Looks great, amazing actually for something so small.

                            A row of rivets and a scored line will disguise the common plate.

                            Sorry – no idea about pumps.

                            #524440
                            Nigel (egi)
                            Participant
                              @nigelegi
                              Posted by Roger Best on 02/02/2021 20:57:40:

                              Looks great, amazing actually for something so small.

                              A row of rivets and a scored line will disguise the common plate.

                              Sorry – no idea about pumps.

                              Thanks, the "common plate" has made me think that I might still construct a separate water tank to sit inside this volume – this will let me seal it.

                              The first diagram on this website (1920-30.com) has a vertical water pump. I think I'm going to have a go at designing one.

                              #525321
                              Nigel (egi)
                              Participant
                                @nigelegi

                                Just added the beading around the edge while I'm waiting for more rivets to arrive from EKP Supplies

                                this is 2mm half round beading, must admit that I found this quite hard to do and ended up fixing it in stages

                                #526468
                                Nigel (egi)
                                Participant
                                  @nigelegi

                                  I machined the phosphor bronze rear axle bushes using the carbide inserts designed for aluminium, really not what I would expect to work well on PB.

                                  machining phosphor bronze with carbide tip tools in a lathe

                                  Once I had these bushes in place I then just had to put the model together (the parts I have) to just look at it again…..

                                  Burrell traction engine on A4 notebook

                                  Here is the build to date sat on my A4 notebook

                                  #526488
                                  Harry Wilkes
                                  Participant
                                    @harrywilkes58467

                                    Looking good

                                    H

                                    #526749
                                    Roger Best
                                    Participant
                                      @rogerbest89007

                                      Always a good idea to check the proportions…and generally admire. angel

                                      #526750
                                      Steviegtr
                                      Participant
                                        @steviegtr

                                        Great work so far. Keep it up. yes

                                        Steve.

                                        #526915
                                        Nigel (egi)
                                        Participant
                                          @nigelegi

                                          I didn't want to admit that I had the firebox door in the wrong location until I had fixed it….

                                          This was the clash. My fault I just ignored the axle location.

                                          However, I think my correction is actually ok

                                          and now it all clears and looks great

                                          #528238
                                          Nigel (egi)
                                          Participant
                                            @nigelegi

                                            My first go at machining the flywheel turned out a tad heavy

                                            Luckily, someone pointed out some options for improving the design.

                                            A quick video showing the steps in making the flywheel – very much a manual machining process for me.
                                            #529419
                                            Nigel (egi)
                                            Participant
                                              @nigelegi

                                              My design creates a boiler that is separate to the firebox. This means the firebox sits above the level of the boiler. This then means that my clearance for the crank is rather limited, even for the 6mm of throw.

                                              I think my solution is going to be a case of lifting the bearing blocks slightly.

                                              I think this will look ok, just need to be careful not to end up making the cylinder clock too tall.

                                              #529432
                                              Nigel Graham 2
                                              Participant
                                                @nigelgraham2

                                                Fine work there!

                                                Aluminium inserts for PB – I'll try to remember that.

                                                That flywheel's spot-on.

                                                I don't think you've had to lift the motion excessively. The top of the firebox is a bit on the thick side but not that much above the barrel, and the cylinder saddle will compensate for some of its thickness anyway.

                                                I may be mistaken but I think the engine in the photo behind yours is a single-crank compound. Are you following that or making a single-cylinder engine? If the latter your cylinder-block will be proportionately a little bit less tall.

                                                I don't suppose you are the first to be caught by things like someone putting an axle in the way of the fire-door. They would! Many traction-engines have either the axle or a motion-shaft not actually in its way but above it, and some seemed to have been designed to make access right awkward. At least yours is below the door.

                                                I've certainly fallen into my own design traps many times. There are plenty of bits on my steam-wagon that are second, third… mods to overcome mistakes I had not foreseen maybe 10 weeks – and often years – beforehand.

                                                #529434
                                                Roger Best
                                                Participant
                                                  @rogerbest89007

                                                  smiley great progress.

                                                  I would recess the top of the firebox. Is there boiler under it at that point?

                                                  #529439
                                                  Craig Brown
                                                  Participant
                                                    @craigbrown60096

                                                    Starting to take shape now, really looks the part 👍

                                                    #529554
                                                    Nigel (egi)
                                                    Participant
                                                      @nigelegi
                                                      Posted by Nigel Graham 2 on 22/02/2021 21:35:49:

                                                      Fine work there!

                                                      Aluminium inserts for PB – I'll try to remember that.

                                                      That flywheel's spot-on.

                                                      I don't think you've had to lift the motion excessively. The top of the firebox is a bit on the thick side but not that much above the barrel, and the cylinder saddle will compensate for some of its thickness anyway.

                                                      I may be mistaken but I think the engine in the photo behind yours is a single-crank compound. Are you following that or making a single-cylinder engine? If the latter your cylinder-block will be proportionately a little bit less tall.

                                                      I don't suppose you are the first to be caught by things like someone putting an axle in the way of the fire-door. They would! Many traction-engines have either the axle or a motion-shaft not actually in its way but above it, and some seemed to have been designed to make access right awkward. At least yours is below the door.

                                                      I've certainly fallen into my own design traps many times. There are plenty of bits on my steam-wagon that are second, third… mods to overcome mistakes I had not foreseen maybe 10 weeks – and often years – beforehand.

                                                      Thanks for the comments, someone else thought that the drawing might be a compound engine – I will have a bit of a dig.

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