7mm On Heather's Workbench - North Eastern interlude

Axleboxes, brass origami

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
I was sort dreading the intricate origami of the axleboxes, but I needn’t have worried. Like all good kit designers, a spare axlebox, covers and handle are provided in case of catastrophe.

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I was going to take some before, during and after shots, but got carried away. You’ll have to make do with the finished articles. I found I needed to depart from the instructions slightly. The main bearing hole is better opened out before assembly, as you can’t get a broach in there otherwise. The tiny holes for the door handles are better opened out using a 0.4mm bit, and the swivel pin hole is better with 0.75mm if you want to keep any metal around it.

Otherwise, so far so good. What's next? Working springs. Right-ho.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
I remembered I still had to make the axleboxes for the other bogie, so I wielded the camera for you.

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Here they are, in the flat and folded up so you can see how it works.

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This is how the folded box is held while solder is applied in various points. The front and rear of the box folds up from flat, and has tiny raised edges that fit into half-etched slots. With everything clamped, it’s just a case of gently teasing the two parts together, upon which a satisfying click is heard. A dab of flux and a drop of solder holds it all in place. Solder is then run into the top and bottom of the main folded centre area. To finish up, the box cover, handle and swivel pin are fitted, and there you are.

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I couldn’t resist trying wheels, and I can report the bogies run very sweetly, even without the suspension in yet.

Springing tomorrow. Boing!
 
A dynamo pulley

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
All good bogie kits include a dynamo.

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This one is two circular plates and a strip that is formed to fit into half-etched slots. The only problem is the axle hole is larger than Slater's axle diameter.

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However, chance would have it that I have brass tube of suitable diameter to fit the dynamo axle hole, tube that fits inside the tube in the hole, which then fits over the axle. I’d like to say I’d planned it, but I happened to buy some Albion Alloys tube over the weekend which was exactly the right size for the first part of the exercise.

Apparently, the next job is fitting axleboxes, using various supplied shim washers if needed.
 
Bolsters

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
I rather skipped over the first bolster, and didn’t document it. The reason was, stupidly, I managed to fold the parts the wrong way. Thankfully, as the relevant parts were actually symmetrical, I could save the day. I’ll get it right on the second one, promise.

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Things are designed so the bolster can be installed rigid or rocking. The idea is one bogie has the rocking bolster, while the other doesn’t, as a way to prevent the coach from wobbling. To make the bolster rock, it needs to be a free fit in the bogie. This one wasn’t, and I don’t think some of the bits being the wrong way up was the cause. I rather think, the next pair of these I build, I shall pay better attention to the first folds done right at the start! Equally, I could chop off the curved bearing pads on the bolster instead. Hopefully, that might come clearer when I document the second bolster's construction.

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Anyway, as I said before, these bogies are really very sweet runners. It’s fun just shoving the things up and down the test plank and watching them glide through the pointwork effortlessly.
 

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
Heather,

The bogie headstock which is adjacent to the dynamo pulley - by reference to the photo that I posted to page 1 of thsi topic, might the headstock require the "depressed" portion to be on the topside?
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Heather,

The bogie headstock which is adjacent to the dynamo pulley - by reference to the photo that I posted to page 1 of thsi topic, might the headstock require the "depressed" portion to be on the topside?

If it does, that’s not the way the kit has been designed. *shrug*
 
Bolsters in detail

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
My plan for today - what do you mean it’s supposed to be a holiday‽ Whoever heard of anyone self-employed taking holidays! - is to finish and fit the remaining bolster. Before getting into the intricacies of the brake gear, I thought it might be prudent to find out how to fit the bogies to the intended coach.

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First up, the constituent parts for a bolster. I have already folded the bearing pads over and secured them with a dab of solder.

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Remembering, although actually painful, to fold with the crease OUTSIDE the fold, here’s everything formed up. Again, dabs of solder securing parts that have been folded through 180°.

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The spring castings are soldered in their places. It’s a mark of someone actually having built the kit before they wrote the instructions that it is explained how best to fit the castings. Solder is used sparingly elsewhere just to hold parts together. It is sufficient.

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Attempting to install the bolster in the bogie, and again I found it a tight fit. The problem area is where the bearing pads fit against the crossmember in the main structure. The crossmembers are quite literally the first folds made in the construction sequence, but it is only at this point does it become obvious you have to be really careful making the fold. Even then, I don’t think it would make a lot of difference. Tolerances here are virtually nil. Anyway, as this bolster is the fixed one, a tight fit is an advantage, where it’s not so good for the rocking one.

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In, and two 0.8mm wires run across and fixed in place.

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From the top. Now to find the coach and see what needs to be done to install these rather neat little models to it.
 

richard carr

Western Thunderer
Heather

Have a look at some photos but the gap between the bogie and the coach body looks a bit large to me.

They look gorgeous though.

Richard
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Have a look at some photos but the gap between the bogie and the coach body

I did a quick survey before fitting. I think you're right it looks a bit high. I have some drawings somewhere which will help get it set to the right height.

The coach needs a bit of weight adding to it to compress the springs properly. Work to do, but I’m pleased with them so far. :thumbs:
 

richard carr

Western Thunderer
Heather

the bogies look great and to be fair they aren't taking too long, I know it's relative as you can make a Sparmac gresley bogie in 20 minutes, but these look so much better. It really shows how much fun it is to build a properly designed kit.

Richard
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Yup, bogies look great. The coach body interests me too. Would it be a Kirk kit? I look forward to seeing the fittings (handles, partition and seating etc), and I hope you are planning to cover this on here.
 
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Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Would it be a Kirk kit?

It’s a Sparmac kit. They were resin mouldings, much like the JLTRT style. I’m not sure, but I think that company's LNER coaches owe a lot to the Sparmac range. I bought three part-built models a while ago with a view to completing them and selling them on. Almost everything I need to finish them is in the box.

I will probably cover the completion process in this thread in due course. Now I know how the bogies go together, I’m more confident in being able to complete the trio in fairly short order.
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Thanks for your response Heather. It prompted me to google Sparmac. Some interesting things are in their pipeline.
 
Rebooting the build

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
And here we are in 2021! Doesn’t time fly?

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I dug the coaches out from storage, and spent a while going through all the bits and pieces. Everything’s now been matched to each coach, and assigned a storage tub. I suspect there will be one or two odds and ends that will need to be sourced, if I haven’t got anything suitable in the stores already. The first job, really, is to make up the remaining bogies, while digging into the reference material for a refresher.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
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The first job today is disassembling the bogies I built a couple of years ago. Why? Because I failed to listen to my own good advice. I didn’t clean off all the flux residues, and most of the sliding surfaces for the axleboxes had gummed up. Trying to free things up ended up with a couple of the axleboxes starting to fall apart. I decided to cut my losses and go for disassembly and cleaning up. Happily, should the worst happen, there are spare axlebox and spring parts in the kit.

After some careful disassembly, scraping and scratch brush work, then a couple of doses in the small ultrasonic bath with a dash of Viakal, I reckon I’m in a position to put the wheelsets back in and have a go at the brake gear.

So, how’s your Monday going?
 

simond

Western Thunderer
didn't sleep very well last night. Alarm at 06:25.
Breakfast - some homemade yoghurt and honey and a cup of good coffee
Weather forecast suggested biking was likely to be damp, came by car (wimp)
in the office a bit early, few minutes usefully spent on Excel
Attempted to talk to somebody in the Met Police about an item reported stolen, on hold for 9 minutes, gave up, filled in a webform.
Half-hour meeting on the joys of "Inward Processing Relief" - nearly completed the procedure and flowchart for the staff & information sheet for customers.
Half hour management meeting, overran 15 minutes
Brief discussions with tech team
Completed Excel exercise
90 minutes Non Conformance review
Few emails, including Met Police acknowledging my webform
Lunch.

Typical Monday, really. And I have the weekly change meeting to look forward to this afternoon too!

Well, you did ask. At least I get all the meetings done on a Monday and can get on with stuff for the rest of the week :)

atb
Simon
 
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