Steph Dale
Western Thunderer
Guys,
Well, the time has come - new gearboxes and a little something extra...!
Yes the test etch arrived this afternoon:
And here's a brief run-down of what we have. In no particular order we start with the self-contained Markits-based gearboxes, these are available for 26:1 and 13:1 (top), 40:1 and 20:1 (bottom). Although originally considered for diesels or similar applications, they also strike me as a good way to get a powerful drive in to a steam loco or helping with tricky applications. I shall be having a good look at suitability for locos like the 9f as I build these; surely the epitome of both 'powerful' and 'tricky'. They'd also be worth considering for articulated locos if only one motor is required.
These little beasties are probably the highest risk items on the fret, it'll be interesting to see whether I got the mesh between the first and second stage gears correct. Those of you who have been asking about the projected drive for inside motion can also wish me luck here; if these work we'll have them available relatively quickly. 15mm centres (for Canon 1833) on the left, 12mm centres (for some Canon 1833 and all Mashima 18xx-series) on the right:
For those really tricky and smaller prototypes we now come to a set of gearboxes using the Romford gears. These have a choice of backplates for 15mm, 12mm and 10mm (Mashima 16xx and 14xx-series) centres and provide ratios of 30:1, 4o:1 and 54:1. Combining the latter with the Mashima 1426LS (from Branchlines) seems a great way to get really smooth slow running in very small locos. Incidentally, there are two sizes of 40:1 gear, one of which uses the 30:1 spacing, the other is a bit bigger, which sounds useful to me:
For DMU under-floor drive or for help with those tricky locos there are a set of driveline brackets (top) and a motor bracket set, the latter fitting Canon 1833 or Mashima 18xx-series:
Back to the Markits gears again; this time 20:1 and 40:1 with 10mm, 12mm or 15mm motor fixings. These are aimed as a drop-in replacement for the Roxey gearboxes, although these are narrower (only 13.2mm across bearings) so easier to use with split axles or Delrin drive.
And here's the 13:1 and 26:1 equivalents of the 20:1/40:1 'boxes above; should be useful for diesels with conventional Delrin drive:
And finally, the 'extra' item is a hornblock to use with the Slater's 'insulated square bearings' (Item 7961). These are configured as a like-for-like replacement for Slater's erstwhile 7960 insulated hornblocks. Two styles were drafted to see how they'd etch up and work out. I can already see that the one on the left is a non-starter, but the one on the right looks very promising:
I'll update the thread as the test builds progress. For clarity I'll add that these are all etched in 0.028" (0.7mm) nickel-silver and the gearboxes use ball races to support the various shafts.
Expressions of interest are welcomed to help me plan out the production frets. Thanks for looking!
Steph
Well, the time has come - new gearboxes and a little something extra...!
Yes the test etch arrived this afternoon:
And here's a brief run-down of what we have. In no particular order we start with the self-contained Markits-based gearboxes, these are available for 26:1 and 13:1 (top), 40:1 and 20:1 (bottom). Although originally considered for diesels or similar applications, they also strike me as a good way to get a powerful drive in to a steam loco or helping with tricky applications. I shall be having a good look at suitability for locos like the 9f as I build these; surely the epitome of both 'powerful' and 'tricky'. They'd also be worth considering for articulated locos if only one motor is required.
These little beasties are probably the highest risk items on the fret, it'll be interesting to see whether I got the mesh between the first and second stage gears correct. Those of you who have been asking about the projected drive for inside motion can also wish me luck here; if these work we'll have them available relatively quickly. 15mm centres (for Canon 1833) on the left, 12mm centres (for some Canon 1833 and all Mashima 18xx-series) on the right:
For those really tricky and smaller prototypes we now come to a set of gearboxes using the Romford gears. These have a choice of backplates for 15mm, 12mm and 10mm (Mashima 16xx and 14xx-series) centres and provide ratios of 30:1, 4o:1 and 54:1. Combining the latter with the Mashima 1426LS (from Branchlines) seems a great way to get really smooth slow running in very small locos. Incidentally, there are two sizes of 40:1 gear, one of which uses the 30:1 spacing, the other is a bit bigger, which sounds useful to me:
For DMU under-floor drive or for help with those tricky locos there are a set of driveline brackets (top) and a motor bracket set, the latter fitting Canon 1833 or Mashima 18xx-series:
Back to the Markits gears again; this time 20:1 and 40:1 with 10mm, 12mm or 15mm motor fixings. These are aimed as a drop-in replacement for the Roxey gearboxes, although these are narrower (only 13.2mm across bearings) so easier to use with split axles or Delrin drive.
And here's the 13:1 and 26:1 equivalents of the 20:1/40:1 'boxes above; should be useful for diesels with conventional Delrin drive:
And finally, the 'extra' item is a hornblock to use with the Slater's 'insulated square bearings' (Item 7961). These are configured as a like-for-like replacement for Slater's erstwhile 7960 insulated hornblocks. Two styles were drafted to see how they'd etch up and work out. I can already see that the one on the left is a non-starter, but the one on the right looks very promising:
I'll update the thread as the test builds progress. For clarity I'll add that these are all etched in 0.028" (0.7mm) nickel-silver and the gearboxes use ball races to support the various shafts.
Expressions of interest are welcomed to help me plan out the production frets. Thanks for looking!
Steph
will you have 2251 at the Northern Show, it would be great to see one working in a loco. I only ask as I have a J25 on the bench and it may be I could use a similar set up there ?
