Thanks Hopper!

Here are some more pictures of work on the radius rods from last night.

The other side of the block was machined in the mill.

The block was then cut down the middle with a hacksaw and the sides filed flat.

Now all I need to do it file the two rods to the final shape countersink the lifting link hole on one side and peen the pin to the rod.

Finally finished the radius rods…

I did some more work on the bogie this weekend.

The square spring retaining tabs were cut off and filed flat and 4 mm holes drilled in their place as per the picture below.

I also managed to finish rough turning the two axles.

The proof of concept of the new spring retaining pin can be seen in the picture below.

And finally, a bit of a mock up of the whole bogie with wheel blanks.

This weekend the treads were rough cut with a square profile slightly oversize.

The axles were first masked and then coated with etch primer.

Following the etch primer, they were sprayed with four coats of gloss black QD enamel.

A wheel press was then made from some angle and threaded rod to press the wheels onto the axles.

Following the wheels, the bearings were pressed to the axles.

Finally the bogie was assembled.

All it needs now is a coat of paint on the side frames, bearing covers and stretcher and it is good to go!

….. and then I need to make another one

Good Evening Everyone

After about 4 years of not working on my Tich, I have finally made a bit more progress. As you all my know I have moved to the UK now and surrendered the majority of my machinery, tooling and tools to that thing called life.

Having made a start again with a very small setup with mostly hand tools and a mini lathe I have made a start on parts that would be easy to produce with my current workshop. The first part I started on was the reversing stand and sector plates.

As usual, the part was marked out with scriber, square and radius gauges. The embryo stand was freed from a strip of cold-rolled bright mild steel and filed to final dimensions, draw-filing the edges to give them that touch of crispness.

The words and music were followed but some changes in sizes and thread type of fasteners were made to suit the taps and dies I have.

* A note regarding cold-rolled steel, it does not bend well and as you may have guessed, the stand in the picture above is my second one, with a slight change in design to accomodate the lack of "bendiness"

The stand and sector plate were bolted together and filed in the vice, checking with a square every so often.

The fulcrum and lever pins were turned and provided with some metric thread (M2 and M3), I also made a couple of suitable nuts.

These little bits are weeny!

Overall I have been happy with the mini-lathe despite the terrible reputation this make in particular has…

The next bit to make was the lever. This was made in one piece using a piece of bright square bar of appropriate size.

The piece of bar was turned to the final overall length on the lathe, in the 4-jaw chuck. The round handle portion was then turned.

The collar portion near the bottom of the grip was then formed.

The top of the handle was then rounded off using a file and the taper of the handle started.

The radius at the bottom was formed using a needle file and the whole lot was smoothed out using some wet/dry sandpaper.

Pretty happy with how that came out.

The next procedure was to file the lever portion to the correct thickness, taking off material from both sides, checking for squareness and making sure everything was parallel.

So, using some elbow grease, a file and a vice, the lever started taking shape.

The embryo lever and the stand and sector plate.

The next item to make according to the words and music was the latch block.

The block was machined to final external dimensions in the lathe using the 4-jaw chuck.

Next, the two perpendicular grooves were made using a hacksaw, needle files and a warding file.

The thin groove was done first.

Then the wider groove.

This took a really long time but it was very satisfying to do it all by hand.

Here is the latch block in place on the lever.

The latch was next, starting the same way as the latch block, a chunk of steel in the 4-jaw chuck, machined to final external dimensions, marked out and a hole drilled for the pin.

Once drilled the bulk of the block was removed with a hacksaw and then filed to produce the latch cross-section.

The material at the sides was then removed to finish it off.

There was much fitting and fettling of the latch and latch block to get a decent fit.

Here is the lot together for a test fit.

The final piece to be made is the trigger. A piece of 3/8 square rod was used and machined to length in the 4 jaw chuck. A piece was cut off one of the sides and filed to a final width of 5mm. The layout was marked out and holes punched for drilling.

The two holes were drilled holding the piece in the 4 jaw chuck. (The copper was inserted to increase the gap so as to prevent the jaws touching on the one side).

Once drilled, the slot at the bottom was rough cut using a hacksaw and then filed to size using needle files and offering up to the lever and latch for fitting.

The sides were then cut out and the overall shape filed to suit.

Here you can see the partial side cuts.

Then only one side was removed with the other bit left on for holding in the vice whilst filing.

The first side was filed and radiused.

Then the other side completely cut off and filed. I left a little square of material near the corner as this is where the radius is located.

The above picture shows the radius being filed using a piece of 1/8 offcut positioned inside the slot to prevent any distortion whilst in the vice.

The trigger filed to final overall dimensions but needs the rest of the radii filed and the cross-section of the long part reduced in width.