Macton Waggon Diorama

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Michael
I have a set of Myford collets that I use on my ML7B but I've not seen collet blocks before. I followed your link but couldn't see any blocks that would take a Myford collet, they all seemed to be metric. I take it that yours are all Imperial and who supplies the blocks?

Jon
 

AndyB

Western Thunderer
Hi Jon,
I'm guessing that your Myford collets are 2MT?
I can't see any commercially available 2MT collet block, only a home-made one - here.
I have the ER32 versions from ARC - and they are very useful. All the commercial ones do seem to be ER or 5C.

Andy
 

michael mott

Western Thunderer
Hi Jon I too have the Myford collets and as Andy says I also had to switch collets to be able to use the commercial collet blocks. I have found that the most useful collets are the 1/2" and the 3/8 and 1/4, One thing I have found with turning small diameters is to use a much larger one first then to turn down the smaller diameter in one shot especially if the small diameter is 3 to 6 times longer than the finished diameter. it took me a long time to come to this conclusion but it works very well and is consistent even on my 50 year old Myford. you might try checking out one of these blocks
The type that I am using is the 5c there is a set by aliExpress that is like the ones I have. I know that Myfords new collet set is anER32 so if you could pick up a cople of those you could use the ER32 collet block. They really are very handy for a lot of work holding round stock on the mill.

Andy that link for the home made block was interesting.

Michael
 

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Thanks Andy and Michael, I'll have to give it some thought. I don't fancy trying to make a holder for the set of collets that I have so, it looks like one of the commercial ones.

Jon
 

michael mott

Western Thunderer
Bit more work on the buffers for the wagon scene. I had thought about putting this into a separate thread but as soon as would have done that it would have been lost when I start back on the scenery. So if its OK I shall press on.
All the webs have been rough shaped and the ready to be soldered.

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I thought about what way to solder them for a long time and sice they will mostly be in a static pose I though that soft solder was fine. The good thing about that is the hot air soldering gun works fine even on this mass.

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Now all that need to be done is to finish the shaping and pop it back into the Jax Blacken. Geeze photos show up mistake fast I need to round off the milled edges before soldering in the webs. I shall have to work this one as it is which will be more difficult than the rest but lesson learned. Slow down.

Michael
 

simond

Western Thunderer
Michael,

perhaps a rotary wire brush would round the edges. I’m thinking a small brush, and a Dremel or equivalent.

Atb
Simon
 

Lancastrian

Western Thunderer
Michael,

I've only just stumbled on this thread. Inspiring workmanship and skills. :bowdown:
I now have lathe envy !

Ian
 

michael mott

Western Thunderer
Jon the one that is blackened looked funny when I took it out of the blackening because there were white marks where all the solder was, but it all just brushed off with a damp toothbrush, so yes this ordinary Kesters solder has blackened.

Welcome Ian and thanks for the compliment, Lathes are wonderful tools in fact I would have to say that next to the jewelers saw and block plane it is my favourite tool.

Michael
 

michael mott

Western Thunderer
Befor doing any more work on the buffer "castings " I needed a cutter that was .234" in diameter to cut a flats for the bolts, the problem being that the nose was in the way for a straight cutter, so I had to make it a wider cutter than the shaft. I used some 3/8ths drill rod (silver steel) turned it up and filed the teeth which are rudimentary at best. Heated it to a cherry red then plunged it into a jar f vegetable oil, to harden it.
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The second buffer "casting" first the milled corners were rounded, then using only the hot air soldering gun I soldered in the top three pieces first then rotated it over to add the bottom piece.

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The next operation was to turn up a new mandrel and glue the "Casting" onto it in order to machine the end. fortunately I had already made a cutter for some other job some time ago so the rounding was easy. I just rotated the chuck by hand to do the cutting, and it worked well .
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Next a soak in Acetone to dissolve the glue.
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Then it was placed into the Blackener Jar.
After the piece came out of the blackener the white chemical again showed up where the solder is.
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A scrub with the toothbrush in hot water cleaned off the white deposit.

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There is some colour difference I did not leave it in the blackener too long so after a clean up in the morning I will pop it back into the blackener.

Michael
 

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Michael
Excellent work and a wonderful thread, it makes very enjoyable reading.
I'm intrigued by your 'hot air' soldering gun. It would seem to me that it wouldn't be that controllable i.e., the other joints would melt but, obviously not. Can we have a picture, please?

Jon
 

michael mott

Western Thunderer
Hi Jon, The hot air soldering gun is wonderful fully controllable with both the amount of air and the Temperature There is a large selection of this type on the market and they are not expensive. My whole kit was $99 delivered I used it extensively on the restoration of a Bassett Lowke ship model. The set up in the photo was to re solder the tiny integral tabs back into the stairs after they had been restored to the shape. This set of stairs was badly beat up in the ships Accident.
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aft stairs 1296.JPG
aft stairs 8019.JPG
by using the hot air soldering I was able to put them back together without loosing the paint on this antique model. I also used it to rebuild the sidewall that supported the lifeboat deck.
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Enough of ships though I have not used it much yet on the train work because I purchased it for doing the work on the ship.

the temperature control is quite accurate and in combination with the different nozzle sizes and the air speed it is great because I don't have to touch the work once it is set up. some flux a flake of solder (round quashed in the pliers then snipped off) the flakes don't roll.
overall it is a great tool and it has allowed me to do some work that would have been difficult any other way. I have not used a soft solder paste but I would imagine it would make life easy with the hot air soldering station.

Michael
 

simond

Western Thunderer
Looks like a serious accident and thorough rebuild of a rather lovely model.

Is the ship a quarter inch scale? Make a good backdrop to a harbour station (assuming sufficient space!)

I saw a sailing boat/ ship in one of your earlier photos - I don’t suppose you’d like to treat us to a virtual tour of what seems to be a rather special workshop?

Atb
Simon
 

michael mott

Western Thunderer
Hi Simon, The ship was 6 feet long I think it might have been closer to 1/8th inch to the foot.
The sailing boat in the background is a 1 1/2 inch freelance Bristol Pilot Cutter that I have been working on since 2012, I will put together something about my little workshop and post it in the chat area in a day or so.

Michael
 

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Michael
I followed your link, very interesting indeed. They seem to call them desoldering units but, I suppose if it can be used for desoldering, it can be used for soldering too. I'll have to read some more about them.

Jon
 

michael mott

Western Thunderer
After a lot of soul searching and thinking about what is important regarding the layout, and not wanting the brickwork to take me into the next century, I have decided to use printed brickwork. Looking for decent images of printable bricks is not all is cracked up to be. Many years ago there was a website called Mayang's textures or words to that effect. The site is gone now and there are some websites that claim to have Mayangs textures but I was not satisfied with what I found.
Fortunately back when I first started version I of Macton locomotive works which was built to 1/2 inch to the foot I assembled a few of Mayangs brick textures into some interesting building elements. so after digging them up from the depths of old computer folders I recaled the sheets to 27/32nds and have been doing a bit of testing and sorting. I had a lot of trouble getting the right colour at first because it turned out that the printer head needed to be cleaned so that the red worked properly after printing many sheets trying to adjust the colour but finding that the red just was not happening but the cartridge was full.
A few shots showing the test work on the columns inside the works
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Once the printing was sorted I began to work on the exterior brick surfaces.

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A bit closer this was ordinary paper printed up on 11x17 sheets

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The base will work with enhancing overlays in particular places for arch bricks etc. The palladian type windows are printed on cover stock which is stiffer and easier to cut for all the various surfaces.

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At first I was thinking of large sheets and quickly realized that cutting and fitting smaller pieces was the way to go. Once all the ancillary details are installed and all the foreground The brickwork will fade into the background which is what it is intended to do in any case, I am building a story more that a treatise on brickwork.

Michael
 

simond

Western Thunderer
I have been pondering a similar issue, cutting an image to an exact fit. I want to print wagon sides and laser them out to produce a rake, on top of laser cut MDF bodies, a bit like the old Peco Wonderful Wagons of my youth. If it’s possible to get the print “right” and then cut it with the laser properly in registration, jobs like my wagons and your brick arches become rather easier.

my ponderings have not yet led to a prototype, let alone a solution, but hopefully, one day...

Atb
Simon
 
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