Newish ...

[clivel]

I was an occasional lurker, who soon become a frequent lurker, who in the past few months has become a registered lurker

I grew up in South Africa before moving to Vancouver Canada in the early 90's where I develop software for a living.

The last few years have seen me as more of an armchair modeller than a practising one, however I have recently set up a workbench in the corner of the garage and have started and are making very slow progress on a Don Young Rail Motor in 5" gauge. Actually slow progress is an understatement, in reality all I have are the tender frames marked out and a few holes drilled.

After having now actually cut metal, I realised that I am being a trifle ambitious especially with my limited equipment and first need to get some basic metalworking skills under my belt. So my current plan is to concentrate on a simple "wobbler" and maybe some basic items of tooling during the next few weeks/months.

Clive

 

[crab]

Hi Clive, wEc1.Building a wobbler is a good way to start.
Bill L.

 

[lazylathe]

Hi and welcome Clive!! ;D

There are a few of us South Africans on the forum.
Some still live there and others have relocated!

Any pictures of the machines you have at the moment?
And maybe a pic of the build?

Andrew

 

[miner49r]

Hiya Clive,
Welcome to the best forum for information and encouragement. I am also new to the hobby and I have built three wobblers with great success. All of them Elmer Verburg designs. (#25, #18, #15)
Alan

 

[tattoomike68]

You can do it. I made my first runner with nothing more than a drill press.

 

[tel]

Welcome Clive!

 

[Maryak]

Clive,

Welcome to our forum. wEc1

Best Regards
Bob

 

[90LX_Notch]

Clive-

Welcome. You've got the right outlook. Start simple and work your way up and you will be successful.

-Bob

 

[clivel]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome
Great to hear that there are other South Africans on the forum as well.

For machinery I have a Unimat PC Basic with vertical milling drilling attachment. It uses mostly the same range of accessories as the Unimat 3, but the PC Basic has the advantage of a larger swing and is also considerably more solidly built than the Unimat 3.

Besides my lack of skill, the size of the machinery is another reason for me having scaled down my ambitions from a 5" loco to a wobbler

Now that I have decided on an engine, upon finding the proverbial scrap box empty (well I don't actually have one yet) I took a few hours off work to go and find the few odds and ends of brass and steel I would need. This turned out to be a lot less straightforward than I would have expected. My first port of call was a warehouse that I had made note of when I drove past a few weeks ago with a large sign outside that reads: "Metal - ferrous and non-ferrous". The assistant informed me that due to the cost they no longer stock brass and as they have little call for smaller ferrous items their range is limited. In the end I came away with a 1" dia piece of steel, a part of which I am attempting to face in the photo above. Next stop was a nearby scrapyard. At first glance, this looked very promising with a large rack of brass rods and bars. But they won't cut, and with nothing under about 8ft long I walked away empty handed.

So it looks as if I will have to order the metal online, but what do the other Canadians do when ordering from the US?
I don't mind paying the shipping, I don't even really mind paying the taxes and duties. But what I do object to is being gouged by the shipping companies for "brokerage". The last time I ordered something from the US, the price including shipping was around $30 which I paid to the supplier. UPS delivered to my door with a COD bill for $43, when I informed the driver that I had already paid he told me that the $43 was $5 taxes and $38 UPS brokerage fee for collecting the taxes. So in the end what should have been a $20 item in the US cost me in total over $70 !!!
Clive

 

[steamer]

Welcome Clivel!

Nice looking rig there....that'll do!

Dave