Question Re Bill Bedford W-iron Etch

David Taylor

Western Thunderer
Hi,

It's too cold to go into the shed at night now, or even the back room(*), so looking for a kitchen-table-friendly project I pulled out the S scale bits I bought a while ago to see about a wagon or two.

I found the wheels, spring and axlebox castings, and a bunch of wood strips and plastic card... and after checking some e-mails to confirm I did buy some W-iron etches I hunted them down in a different place than I'd stored all the other stuff.

Looking at the W-iron etch I can recognise the w-irons and keeper plates, but what are those 4 rectangles with the holes in them? They fold in half, thus making a square with a hole in it. Are they meant to be bearings for the axles or something?

Pics 015.jpg

Speaking of which, I have the W-irons and axlebox castings but nothing to keep the axles in place (unless that's what those squares are). Do I just make something up like some pin-point bearings and solder them to the W-irons?

Regards,
David Taylor.

(*) While true, an equally true explanation is that everything I've touched in the shed lately has been a bloody disaster so I'm looking for another project I can start and not finish.
 

Dikitriki

Flying Squad
If the rectangles with holes have half-etched lines on the other side, the chances are that if you fold them with the half-etch to the inside, you have created a channel and when an axle bearing is soldered in the hole, they will be working hornblocks. The channels and the slots in the W irons may need adjusting/smoothing for free movement. The hornblocks are then retained with the keepers adjacent the W irons on the fret.

Richard
 

JimG

Western Thunderer
Looking at the W-iron etch I can recognise the w-irons and keeper plates, but what are those 4 rectangles with the holes in them? They fold in half, thus making a square with a hole in it. Are they meant to be bearings for the axles or something?

Speaking of which, I have the W-irons and axlebox castings but nothing to keep the axles in place (unless that's what those squares are). Do I just make something up like some pin-point bearings and solder them to the W-irons?

David,

I think Bill has supplied the rectangular bits to be folded to give double thickness to fit between the legs of the "W" irons and to take a bearing - probably that's a 2mm diameter hole. I haven't actually ever had my hands on this style of "W" iron from Bill so it's only guesswork on my part. It might be a fore-runner of some of his sprung axlebox designs. I'm not sure if there would be a firm location for the folded up bearing holder and it might be that you have to make some sort of jig so that the holders can be soldered to same location on all the "W" iron legs.

Messrs. Dunkley and Willis might have some thoughts. :)

Jim.
 
S

Simon Dunkley

Guest
David,

I think Bill has supplied the rectangular bits to be folded to give double thickness to fit between the legs of the "W" irons and to take a bearing - probably that's a 2mm diameter hole. I haven't actually ever had my hands on this style of "W" iron from Bill so it's only guesswork on my part. It might be a fore-runner of some of his sprung axlebox designs. I'm not sure if there would be a firm location for the folded up bearing holder and it might be that you have to make some sort of jig so that the holders can be soldered to same location on all the "W" iron legs.

Messrs. Dunkley and Willis might have some thoughts. :)

Jim.
True about the bearing plates being a folde-over job. The small pieces thnext to the axleguards are the "keeps", placed over the bottom of the axleguards to stop the bearing plates from falling out.You can solder them in place, or use small pins/bits of wire to locate them as a push fit, with a dab of paint/glue to keep them in once once everything is sorted.

These are rather old etchings, and you have to arrange your own wagon springs - a u-shaped piece on its side, bent to the shape of the axle-guard diagonal brace might do the trick.

Simon
 

David Taylor

Western Thunderer
Thanks guys. I think I'll fold the squares over, solder a bearing into them, and assume the squares are meant to go on the inside of the W-iron, with the bearing going through it, and they're held in place by the W-iron on the outside and the axle on the inside. So the square can slide up and down, but hopefully not fore-aft or in-out too much.

Where would you get the bearings from? Never mind, I just looked at the SSMRS web site.

Regards,
David.
 
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