Weekend Update 3/14/2010

[sizemore]

I have heard all about those pot toppers, but can't find them at my local store and I can't find them for sale online.  :-\

Ed and I picked them up...I don't know how Ed faired but IMHO their horrible to make into N scale weeds. They're hard to break off, then replant...then have to strip all the other crap off. I'd rather roll my own or pay the clams for the Noch and Scenic Express stuff. 

The S.

[DKS]

I have heard all about those pot toppers, but can't find them at my local store and I can't find them for sale online.  :-\

Ed and I picked them up...I don't know how Ed faired but IMHO their horrible to make into N scale weeds. They're hard to break off, then replant...then have to strip all the other crap off. I'd rather roll my own or pay the clams for the Noch and Scenic Express stuff.  

Yeah, I made the same mistake getting the pot toppers thinking they'd be a cheap source of weeds, only to find they're a PITA to use. Agree that it's worth spending the extra bucks on the good stuff, or rolling your own.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I have heard all about those pot toppers, but can't find them at my local store and I can't find them for sale online.  :-\

Ed and I picked them up...I don't know how Ed faired but IMHO their horrible to make into N scale weeds. They're hard to break off, then replant...then have to strip all the other crap off. I'd rather roll my own or pay the clams for the Noch and Scenic Express stuff. 

The S.

It's funny, I just moved the bag they were in the other day... without really doing anything with it.

Hopefully soon.

[Philip H]

Ed,
You can't be unpacked or settled enough to be doing that dance yet.   

[AlkemScaleModels]

I also started work on a little something to run on the track (although it will be a very long time in coming). This is the crankshaft for a 32-ton three-foot-gauge two-truck Shay (Ely-Thomas Lumber Company No. 6) in Z scale, sitting on the face of a dime:
 

Wow, that takes this week's Nucking Futs award. How did you manage to solder the subsequent parts without unsoldering the rest?

[tom mann]

The scary thing about David K. Smith's crankshaft is that it is almost perfect.  Is David a machine sent back through time to accurate build z scale items that will be sold in the future?

[avel]

Saturday night spent two hours assembling a pair of MT #903's and bodymounting on a MDC gondola.
The second picture is on an 8"R curve of ATLAS code 55.
It makes it around the 8"R with the Kato SD40-2 with about a millimeter before the two frames touch.



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[DKS]

The scary thing about David K. Smith's crankshaft is that it is almost perfect.  Is David a machine sent back through time to accurate build z scale items that will be sold in the future?

[ednadolski]

How did you manage to solder the subsequent parts without unsoldering the rest?

Z-scale blowtorch?

[DKS]

How did you manage to solder the subsequent parts without unsoldering the rest?

Z-scale blowtorch?

The cranks were assembled first by soldering the crank pin to the webs. After grinding the excess crank pin off the webs, I clamped each crank assembly in a steel vice to act as a heat-sink while soldering it to the main shaft. The other cranks on the shaft were OK, because the soldering goes quickly; the joints are so tiny that soldering takes at most a half-second.

The third one I make will have a gear so I can power it. Hopefully.

[Ian MacMillan]

The scary thing about David K. Smith's crankshaft is that it is almost perfect.  Is David a machine sent back through time to accurate build z scale items that will be sold in the future?

/>

LOL

[AlkemScaleModels]

How did you manage to solder the subsequent parts without unsoldering the rest?

Z-scale blowtorch?

The cranks were assembled first by soldering the crank pin to the webs. After grinding the excess crank pin off the webs, I clamped each crank assembly in a steel vice to act as a heat-sink while soldering it to the main shaft. The other cranks on the shaft were OK, because the soldering goes quickly; the joints are so tiny that soldering takes at most a half-second.

The third one I make will have a gear so I can power it. Hopefully.

I wonder if you could solder the parts with the shafts extending through all the eccentrics. That would keep everything lined up. Then you could cut away the shafts sections you don't need. Since each cylinder is quartered differently, I guess this idea would only help for the center shaft.

What is the diameter of the shaft?

[DKS]

How did you manage to solder the subsequent parts without unsoldering the rest?

Z-scale blowtorch?

The cranks were assembled first by soldering the crank pin to the webs. After grinding the excess crank pin off the webs, I clamped each crank assembly in a steel vice to act as a heat-sink while soldering it to the main shaft. The other cranks on the shaft were OK, because the soldering goes quickly; the joints are so tiny that soldering takes at most a half-second.

The third one I make will have a gear so I can power it. Hopefully.

I wonder if you could solder the parts with the shafts extending through all the eccentrics. That would keep everything lined up. Then you could cut away the shafts sections you don't need. Since each cylinder is quartered differently, I guess this idea would only help for the center shaft.

What is the diameter of the shaft?

That's what I did for the center shaft. The cranks were all soldered to the center shaft, then the excess shaft cut out. Originally I tried using a jig that held all four shafts at once, the center along with the three cranks at 120 degrees around the center. The problem is that it's too crowded to solder when everything is in place.



The shafts are .020-inch diameter steel wire; the crank webs are cut out of .015-inch thick nickel-silver sheet.

On a Shay crankshaft, eccentrics are six off-center discs (three pairs) that operate the valves. I'm not sure if I'm going to try and simulate these or not. They sure as heck won't be functional, anyway.

Here's how I built the first: http://pinecreekrailroad.net/project_1.htm
And the second: http://pinecreekrailroad.net/project_1a.htm