Gary,
Great progress on the little gem.
A quick change, how cool is that(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
Hey Rick,
Yeah, I finally “broke down” and got into the 20th-21st Century with that Quick Change. What a difference when it came to turning the large drivers on this little Huskie! That and the new 3-jaw, removable “soft jaw” chuck. I’ve purchased quite a few tools and “tooling” for both my lathe and mill this past year. Also fitted a power feed to my “X” axis on my mill. Got tired of turning handles and I can do other things while the mill has a long feed going!
Gary,
Isn’t it amazing how, when we get older, that we decide that things we would have never considered important when we were young now become a practical way of doing things(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
Cool stuff. I’m looking forward to watching your posts about the overalls and hat you are sewing for the scale engineer figure.
Forrest Scott Wood said:
Cool stuff. I’m looking forward to watching your posts about the overalls and hat you are sewing for the scale engineer figure.
Close enough Forrest?
Yep, close enough! (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
I received the cast iron coupler pockets for the Super Husky last Friday. The trick with machining rough castings like this is to get a starting point so the entire casting “cleans up” nicely and that you have enough stock to be able to mill whatever features are to go on the part. I started with “truing” up the back of the coupler pocket where it attaches to the locomotive. You want to make sure the coupler shank sits in the as cast square pocket so it is straight and true to the centerline of the locomotive and any rolling you will pull with this engine.
In this photo, you can see 2 of the 4 short 1/2 square parallels I made from 6061 T6 aluminum. They are tight under the four corners of the coupler pocket. This plane establishes the flat as cast section of the coupler pocket which has to be parallel with the back once it’s finished machined. Before I made this cut, the back was very uneven and the parting line ran through the center of the square pocket, Once it is milled flat, then you turn the casting in the vise and finish machining the edges of the coupler pocket. Everything comes out square this way. Just drill the 5/16 diameter hole for the coupler pin and you’re done.
You can see the remnants of the casting parting line in this photo. On the edges of the coupler pocket. You can see the as cast coupler shank pocket under the cutter. Everything on the remainder of the casting is registered from that little pocket.
The two finished machined coupler pockets with the coupler pin hole (has to be centered on the as cast boss in the casting. I sanded the edges of the pocket opening and put radius’s on the edges. Coupler pockets are always rough looking. Painted black and 5 feet away, you never notice a blemish :).
Drill the five 3/16 mounting holes tomorrow and mount the couplers on the Super Husky.
These are the new couplers for the Super Huskie. Cast steel and weigh 1.66 pounds each! Definitely NOT Kadee :). These are considered semi-automatic. To open the knuckle, you push the rectangular pin from underneath the shank. To couple up, you bring the two knuckles together and the pin drops by gravity and locks the coupler.
The photo below shows a coupler installed in the new pocket. This coupler is one from one of my Baldwin electrics. It’s a few years old and shows the rust accumulated (natural “weathering”. Couplers are not painted for safety purposes (so you can see cracks or flaws just like the prototype).
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The brand new Tom Bee couplers with the older coupler. The new couplers will have the shank shortened and the 5/16 pin hole moved to the new location on the shank. Note the two “dimples” cast into the couplers. One is for the 5/16 coupler pin and the other closer to the knuckle is for a coupler release pin hole. You can actually have a working cut lever!
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1.66 pounds and I have big hands. Beautiful couplers. I use these almost exclusively on my engines and rolling stock now,
Continuing the machine work on the Super Huskie coupler pockets.
I setup a fixture clamp as a “stop block” to set each pocket in the same location in the mill vise every time. Use a precision 1-2-3 block to use an edge finder to find “00” for X and Y.
Notice the “X” and “Y” axis marked on the 1-2-3 block.
Then simply dial over the correct amount to locate and drill the 3/16 diameter mounting hole.
Finishing up on machining the cast steel couplers. These will be “shorty” couplers, so I needed to spot new holes for the 5/16 inch coupler pin.
The coupler comes with a “as cast” dimple for the normal location for the coupler pin. The stop block is the edge of the mill vise and the large rectangular part of the coupler at the rear coupler face. I know the distance of the “short” hole from my existing “shorty couplers” on my Baldwin electrics. I just spot on the dimple and dial over 1.155 inches and plunge the drill. The second coupler shank was just a repeat of the first. Use the stop block system and no guesswork.
The coupler shanks come with “extra stock” so that each individual builder can match their couplers to their particular coupler pockets. This photo shows that milling process. Flat bottom high speed end mill, 3/4 inch diameter works great on this cast steel! Nest step is to cut off the excess length from the shank. That cut will be 0.225 inches from the left edge of the drilled hole.
Finished the coupler shanks and installed them in the coupler pockets. Next step is to mount them on the end plates of the Super Huskie. Did a simple drawing of the end plate and the coupler pocket. The small rectangle in the pocket is the shank go the coupler. The finished coupler height from the railhead to the centerline of the shank is 4-3/8 inches plus or minus 3/16 inch. You get a lot of tolerance in 1/8th scale :)!
The 1"X 2" rectangles at the bottom of the drawing represent the 1X2 steel tubing on my storage rack.
Decided to use my lightest cat to double check the coupler height. This caboose only weighs about 110 pounds, so it is close to the weight of the Super Huskie at this time. Two batteries will make a difference down the line. The caboose sits a little lower when the brakeman is sitting in this car. Depends on the springs and the weight of the passenger. All in all, it will be close enough for height. BTW, the block and tackle system on the top of the lift rack is to lift the steel cab off of the Baldwin electrics. The reason for this “lift” is explained in a forthcoming post about adding RC/wireless control to my Baldwin electrics.
To help hole the pocket and coupler in place, I c-clamped a toolkit to the Huskie end plate. This is set at 2.09 (actually 2-088 per print) from the bottom of the end plate to the top of the toolkit. I lay a straight edge across the top of the steel tubing rails and check the 4-3/8 inch height with a tape measure.
You can see how much larger the Super Huskie is than the standard gauge caboose. The Huskie is definitely narrow gauge!
You can see the straight edge across the tubing rails to check the coupler height on the caboose.
It was a hot one today in Burbank. I’m done for today. Tomorrow is the day that both Baldwin electrics become RC/wireless controlled! Like “Airwire”, but for BIG stuff. 