Building Kozo's New Shay locomotive

[thayer]

That is some nice progress!

 

[crueby]

Cab front is started - got the outline cut,

and the mounting holes drilled, so I could do a test fit of the cab on the frame. The floor is not made yet, so it was just propped in place - amazing how it changes the look of the loco! *beer*

 

[SilverSanJuan]

Really starting to come together!

 

[crueby]

Really starting to come together!

I love those steps where you put on one more piece and go "ooh! That looks so different!"

 

[SilverSanJuan]

Yup. I can see the big smile on your face from here.

 

[Swifty]

You have impressed me so much, I'm going to order the book today.

Paul.

 

[crueby]

You have impressed me so much, I'm going to order the book today.

Paul.

You won't be disappointed, the books are great. Interesting style, he goes into detail on each new procedure, then assumes you remember it the next time a simaler ppart comes up. So, book looks light on text at first glance but it teaches you a lot. I have both of his Shay books plus the A3 switcher book. The New Shay book has very few missing or wrong details, since he had two newbies build from his draft, and corrected any issues they turned up before publishing. I had the books a few years before having the confidence and skills (and time, once retirement) to start. No regrets at all, having a lot of fun!
Hope you didn't pay too much - even though the books are still in print some sellers charge way over list as if they were old and out of print. Some sellers and the publishers sell at list price.

 

[Swifty]

Ordered the book from Amazon, sure was expensive!!!! Ah well, I've sold a bit of surplus stuff around the place recently so I might as well spend it. It is a big book, and a nice hard cover, with 326 pages.

Paul.

 

[crueby]

More done on the cab assembly - got the windows/frames milled out in the front wall, the floor blank is shaped to its outline, and have the engine cover about half done - some more slots/holes/tabs on it still to be done, but enough to see how it looks on the frame. These kinds of parts are a lot of fun - easy to do, and they make a big difference in the appearance.

 

[SilverSanJuan]

The cab is turning out very nicely.

 

[crueby]

Minor update (been out of the shop busy with holiday parties, reunions, christmas tree/lights, all the usual fun seasonal stuff!). Now have the cab floor finished up - a number of holes for mounting the cab itself, floor-to-frame, and for reversing gear lever later, plus some recesses for piping. Not a lot to look at, but at least it holds the cab steady now. Next up is to make the roof hinges and support....

 

[crueby]

One more small bit made - the cab-half of the roof hinges. Found a chunk of offcut brass in the box, milled it down to dimensions,

drilled/tapped the holes, rounded the end with a file, and fitted them to the cab front.

For that, drilled a hole just undersize in the front wall, and filed the holes square to fit the hinge so that the working end projects through and is screwed in from the back.


Next up is to make the roof-half of the hinges... These hinges allow the roof to swing upwards, giving easy access to the valves/gauges on the end of the boiler.

 

[crueby]

Made the other half of the roof hinges, as well as the ventilator for the roof.

To start, milled an angle on the edge of a piece of brass bar wide enough to make both hinges. The angle matches the angle of the roof where the hinges will go.

Then drilled/tapped a hole in the center for a screw to hold the other plate of the hinge in place.

With both hinge plates screwed together, the assembly was silver soldered together, and then sawn down the middle to make both hinges.

Each half was then milled to width, which also cleaned up the sawn edge.

After drilling the mounting holes, test fitted it on the cab/roof - fits nicely.


Also made the dummy ventilator for the cab roof. Kozo made his from one piece of 6mm brass, I did not have any that thick, so used two sheets of 3mm - worked out easy that way since the two halfs are slightly different sizes anyway (so the upper one hangs over the lower one). The lower piece was milled lengthwise to match the curve of the roof in a series of stepped cuts, then filed smooth.

Last shot shows the ventilator in place - the screws will also hold the bracket for the bar that holds the roof open - that will be made next time.

 

[SilverSanJuan]

Nice work! What sort of file did you use to remove the steps?

 

[crueby]

Nice work! What sort of file did you use to remove the steps?

Mostly just a normal flat file - the curve is very shallow, and the steps were small. Started with using the upper wheel area on the belt sander to remove the bulk, then smoothed it with the file.

 

[crueby]

The cab roof support (used to hold it open to make access to valves/gauges easy) started with making a pair of hinge ends very simaler to the roof hinges. Then, took a strip of brass for the support itself and drilled one end for the pivot, and a series of holes at the other end for the slot. The slot was then cut out with a jewelers saw and filed smooth.

Next, needed to make the little handwheel to tighten the bolt that rides in the slot. In the book, Kozo uses a cross-rod arrangement like you would have on a bench vise. I decided to use a handwheel instead since it will blend in with the handwheels on the valves better, and be just as functional (plus easier for fat fingers to turn). Started with a bit of brass rod, drilled/tapped the center hole on the lathe, and then went to the rotary table on the mill to drill the series of holes around the edge. First spot drilled to locate the holes,

then drilled them out to size every 60 degrees.

After that, moved the table over a bit and used an end mill to make the recesses in the edge of the wheel. I plunge cut each one, so that I did not have to worry about getting the distance in from the edge the same on each one.

Moved back over to the lathe, filed the edges round, and parted off the wheels - had enough depth for two of them, sure the second one will get used somewhere...

With the wheels parted off, soldered in a short length of threaded rod (cut from socket bolts) in the center.

With all the parts made, they were assembled onto the cab and roof.


Next up will be the end plates for the engine cover, hand rails, and steps, which will complete the cab....

 

[Swifty]

I had the FedEx man at the door today with my copy of the book, even at first thumb through, it sure looks very detailed. It's a very nicely presented book. I think that I will slowly get all the materials required, and perhaps later next year I will make a start on it.

Although I'm not a mad keen "run the train on the track" sort of person, it will sure make a nice display piece.

Paul.

 

[crueby]

I had the FedEx man at the door today with my copy of the book, even at first thumb through, it sure looks very detailed. It's a very nicely presented book. I think that I will slowly get all the materials required, and perhaps later next year I will make a start on it.

Although I'm not a mad keen "run the train on the track" sort of person, it will sure make a nice display piece.

Paul.

I had the books a couple years before starting mine. When I finally decided to start, began getting bigger size stock during good sales at places like online-metals (30 off coupon out this week) and the drop zone at Yarde metals, they have great prices on 3 foot offcuts. I am more into running boats (real ones) than trains, but it is a great project to build, and the end result looks amazing on the shelf.

 

[SilverSanJuan]

Beautiful work on the hand wheels. Thanks for the details on how you produced them. They are somewhat reminiscent of Honeycomb cereal.

 

[crueby]

Beautiful work on the hand wheels. Thanks for the details on how you produced them. They are somewhat reminiscent of Honeycomb cereal.

I THOUGHT they looked familiar!!