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EVERYTHING HAS AN END

Posted by THE OLD MACHINIST on April 30, 2018
Posted in: DIESEL LOCOMOTIVES. Leave a comment

I am 86 years old. I have Parkinson’s and am not able to work as a machinist any longer. I am no longer the ‘the old machinist’ in reality and my friends at O.E.R.M. are trying hard to soften the impact this fact of life is having on me. Brian, a very good friend, comes to my home from time to time and we go the museum for a day of work. Well, what really happens is I sit and talk while Brian works. I had been ‘teaching’ Brian some of the ‘things’ I had learned as a volunteer machinist at O.E.R.M. over the past twenty or so years until I was forced to quit my active participation. I can still talk and be understood most of the time, so we do OK. My other friends at O.E.R.M  still seek my advice on ‘how do we do that’ issues. I am very grateful that I have such good friends. What prompted me to write this little piece is that I today I received a notice that I had a new follower of this Blog.  It occurred to me that I will be unable to recount any new activities in the machine shop, but I will, from time to time, write about my past activities in the shop world. Hang in there new friend, I’m still kicking.

‘The Old Machinist’

 

A NEARLY LOST SKILL

Posted by THE OLD MACHINIST on February 28, 2015
Posted in: DIESEL LOCOMOTIVES, MACHINE TOOLS, TOOLS. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

Screws and their uses go back to the time of Archimedes and I sometimes wonder how the first screws were manufactured. My thoughts on the subject seem to generate more questions than answers. For instance, it seems as though the making of the first screw required a screw to serve as the “standard screw” for the process that produced the first screw.  You get the idea.

A lathe, in the old sense of the word, that is, before CNC lathes, generally has a “lead screw”, driven by a set of gears (“back gears”) connected to the lathe spindle. The “lead screw” rotated at an angular speed determined by the  gear ratio of the “back gears”. The gear ratio is set by the lathe operator to produce threads of the required “pitch” (“threads per inch” for us old  folks).  A skilled lathe operator can produce many different types of threads to suit nearly all requirements. It is an ancient process still employed by The Old Machinist and his ilk.

The thread, in the accompanying image, is being produced by the “single point” process, that is, by a single cutting tool. The tool is fed incrementally, over several cutting passes, into the workpiece at the angle set on the “compound slide”. The cutting edge of the tool “forms” one side of the thread and the other side is “generated” by the sequential advancement of the tool. Threading to a “shoulder”, as in the image, requires quick reflexes on the part of the operator and the ability to pay attention to what is happening. Otherwise, things get exciting quickly! If you come to visit as I am threading, you will be ignored until I am finished. Nothing personal – just don’t bother me when I’m threading.

SINGLE POINT THREADING

SINGLE POINT THREADING

 

MAKING A HANDRAIL STANCHION FOR VC2

Posted by THE OLD MACHINIST on February 2, 2015
Posted in: MACHINE TOOLS, STANDARD GAUGE, STEAM LOCOMOTIVE, TOOLS. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

The Steam  Crew works on our operating steam locomotive and they sometimes find this or that part fractured or completely broken.

That is how the fractured, and soon broken, handrail stanchion was found. A distress call was received in the machine shop soon after.

The original stanchion was cast steel and a relatively easy task to complete at Baldwin Locomotive works, in 1922! We were faced with machining a replacement from bar stock; not an easy task.

A blank was machined using our 16 inch Axelson lathe. The transverse hole for the handrail was drilled and bored in our vertical mill without much fuss.

The stanchion was finished in the lathe using the taper attachment, form tools, and a bull nosed tool guided by “eye-ball tracing” as needed to match the broken stanchion.

The Old Machinist

SOME PROJECTS ARE MORE INTERESTING THAN OTHERS

Posted by THE OLD MACHINIST on January 21, 2015
Posted in: MACHINE TOOLS, RAILROAD ARTIFACTS, STEAM LOCOMOTIVE, TOOLS. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

1-11edited MEL12367 edited MEL12372 An OERM member, also a whistle collector, asked me to take a look at the valve on this whistle to determine if I could make a modification to the valve stem to facilitate in-situ lapping of the valve seat. I knew the mod was a slam dunk, but I got to looking at the condition of the stem and valve seat and determined it would be a better idea to make a soft-steel lap for the seat and re-face the stem valve seat to the same sixty degree angle (included). The lap was turned forthwith and the stem valve seat faced with the stem mounted in the lathe using existing center holes. As the valve seat lapping started, it was immediately noted the seat was in poor condition. However the lap did its job and the only expense was a sore pair of hands and forearms the day following.

A sore muscle or two is a small price to pay for the opportunity to work on an 1896 Kinsley 4-chime locomotive whistle. This is a rare specimen and very unique in being a 4-chime whistle. Opportunities such as this arise often for me at OERM.

I have included the patent drawing for the four-chime whistle – enjoy!

Reference: “THE ENGINE”S MOAN”, Edward A. Fagen, The Astragal Press, 2001, pg. 110

MACHINING FROG PARTS

Posted by THE OLD MACHINIST on September 27, 2014
Posted in: DIESEL LOCOMOTIVES, MACHINE TOOLS, NARROW GAUGE, STANDARD GAUGE, TOOLS, TRACK MAINTENANCE. Leave a comment

The Old Machinist recently machined parts for a turnout frog that is destined for installation in the heavily used demonstration loop line. He wants to thank for the help, in making the setups, provided by the track-gang. As one can see, it was heavy work and required close attention to what was happening when the rails were lifted.

Click on any image to enlarge.

SEE WHAT FIFTY YEARS IN THE WEEDS OUT BACK DOES TO STEEL

Posted by THE OLD MACHINIST on April 8, 2014
Posted in: RAILROAD ARTIFACTS, STANDARD GAUGE, TOOLS, TROLLEY CARS. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

It is unwise to turn down an offer of old railroad equipment parts because most are not available new at any price. But there is a downside to a loose acceptance policy; finding a place to store what is accepted. Well, some of it ends up in the weeds out back. I have spent many enjoyable hours in the weeds discovering the almost forgotten leavings of an earlier time with surprising results at times. I “found” what turned out an circa 1890 metal planer and it is now in our machine shop as an honored piece of “old iron”. It is being restored (slowly) to a functional  machine tool. So, it is possible for the weeds out back to yield up rusty lumps of steel and iron which are restored to service by the magic performed by our wizards of the art of renewal.

I was working in the machine shop recently trying to loosen up the levers of the quick change box of the 36 inch swing Le Blond lathe (a pain in the ass for a long time), and having some success at that, when I called my wife to report I would not be home for dinner. The conversation was repeatedly halted to allow the very loud noise coming from the other end of the shop to cease. My wife asked what all the noise was about and I told her it was from the disassembly of some piece of a streetcar. Afterwards, I began to wonder what was going on over there. I was  unable to satiate my curiosity right away because the airbrake mavens ask me to perform another “quick lathe job”.

When I got to the area of the noise, I observed an eager group of streetcar folk beating up a set of very rusty streetcar power trucks. After a minor interrogation of the folk, I learned they had fished out a pair of PCC trucks from the weeds out back and were about the task of making a set of shop trucks for our PCC cars. They allowed as they thought the trucks had been in the weeds for fifty of the fifty five years our museum has been here. I took a photo to show my wife where the noise was coming from. Then the photographer side of me took control and I ended up up with some photos which I will share with you.

BIG HOG SHAPER AT WORK

Posted by THE OLD MACHINIST on June 15, 2013
Posted in: MACHINE TOOLS, TOOLS. Tagged: , , . 1 Comment
SHAPER

SHAPER

The Orange Empire Railroad Museum machine shop is fortunate to have a 24″ hydraulic shaper. It is used only infrequently and needs to be run periodically to allow the pressurized lubricating system to distribute oil. I decided a scrap 6″ x 8″ piece of hot roll mild steel spotted nearby would serve as a work- piece for some run time. To make the job interesting, I set the goal to machine the plate to within .001″ of being parallel. To meet the .001″ goal, it was necessary to adjust the knee support several times.

The shaper type of machine tool has a long history of useful work, but these days the milling machine is the better choice for most jobs. Our shaper does not run often and needs periodic TLC.

THE BACK BREAKER LATHE IN USE

Posted by THE OLD MACHINIST on March 3, 2013
Posted in: MACHINE TOOLS, RAILROAD ARTIFACTS, TOOLS. Tagged: , , , . 1 Comment
THE 33" BACK BREAKER LATHE

THE 33″ BACK BREAKER LATHE

A 2' X 2' BASE PLATE FOR ONE OF OUR OLD M.O.W. MACHINES NEEDS A LITTLE HELP.

A 2′ X 2′ BASE PLATE FOR ONE OF OUR OLD M.O.W. MACHINES NEEDS A LITTLE HELP.

NO COMPUTER REQUIRED HERE! ALL THAT'S NEEDED ARE A PAIR OF WILLING HANDS.

NO COMPUTER REQUIRED HERE! ALL THAT’S NEEDED ARE A PAIR OF WILLING HANDS.

The Orange Empire Railway Museum has, and uses, an extensive network of track which requires a lot of maintenance. Also, since the Museum is growing, new tracks are being laid. All this by volunteer workers, also known as Museum members.The M.O.W. machines used are donations from railroad companies and have seen their better days. The Museum M.O.W. workers are very pleased at the very supportive donations of the machines, but, these machines need lots of repairs before they can be used. The base plate shown is a part off of a M.O.W. machine used in replacing ties and the age and condition of it are readily apparent. The base plate needs to have repairs made to the connection point for a hydraulic piston of the machine. This piston is needy also and is presently in the 16″ lathe for work.. All this work is being done by an old machinist, using old skills, and an old machine to repair an old M.O.W. machine. However, all are still young at heart so it works for us. I believe it was Mae West who said: ” Why don’t- cha’ come up and see me sometime?”. Why not? We throw in a free bag of chips when you visit the Machine Shop.

RESTORE AN OLD WATER TANK? WHY NOT – WE HAVE THE PARTS!

Posted by THE OLD MACHINIST on December 30, 2012
Posted in: NARROW GAUGE. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Active railroad museum members are pack-rats disguised as normal people. They act normal until they come near railroad artifacts in danger of going to the scrap-dealer.When this happens, their thin veneer of normality is cast aside as they busy themselves with plans to save the artifact in question. They are capable of heroic actions as they carry the rescue plans to successful conclusion. This is how the Orange Empire Railroad Museum came into possession of a pile of rusty cast iron alleged as the remains of a water tank used by the Southern Pacific Railroad’s narrow gauge line in the Inyo Valley of California.

Rusty piles of old iron, with history attached, have the a curious power to attract people capable of restoring old iron piles to their former glory. So it came to pass a plan was approved to restore the S.P water tank.  A subsequent examination of the iron pile revealed the legs would have to be machined to a common length and the mounting surfaces trued if the restoration process was to go ahead smoothly. But how was this to be done?

After consultation with shop people, it was decided the OERM machine shop could and would do the work. The images below tell the story of how the machining of the water tower legs was done. Click on any image to enlarge the image gallery.

The machining operations on the leg assembly parts were completed without difficulty beyond that expected when machining large, rough and irregular castings. The historic value of these pre-1900 cast iron parts and the wish to avoid difficulties during assembly were reconciled by not machining any surface which could be seen after the legs were assembled. The erection of the leg assembly was completed smoothly due to the care taken in setting in setting all foundation piers to a mutual height and the leg parts machined to uniform length and true surfaces.

NEW PARTS FOR VC-2 BOILER CHECK VALVES

Posted by THE OLD MACHINIST on December 13, 2012
Posted in: STEAM LOCOMOTIVE. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

The Orange Empire Railroad Museum‘s operating steam locomotive is the Ventura County Railroad No.2, the VC-2 as we know it. Like all steam locomotives, the VC-2 has its balky moments when steamed-up. The boiler water injectors, vital to safe operation, were becoming hard to start. They never failed to start, but the starting difficulty was a pain-the-ass thing for the crew. An inspection revealed the boiler water check valves were at fault due to excessive wear. The inspection also revealed cracks in the check valve cover nuts. New check valve parts were needed. The OERM Machine Shop got the job after a suitable amount of begging by the Steam Crew was noted and approved by the Machine Shop personel. This the story of the making of the required parts.

An agreement was reached that established the material to be used, dimensions of the parts, general design, and the date of completion. All this is made necessary by the complete lack of part drawings, as is usual in the repair and maintenance of antique railroad machinery. The initial machining of the parts consisted of routine lathe work and was accomplished without any difficulty. A thread plug gage was made to ensure the nut would fit the check valve housing after the nut was threaded on the lathe. The next machining operation was the milling of the fins of the check valves. This operation was a complicated one as the valve fins were slightly angled from the center-line of the valve to cause the moving water to impart a rotation to the valve so as to evenly distribute valve seat wear. The shop is blessed with an early version of a CNC vertical milling machine. However, it is so “early” it requires the use of punched paper tape to input the CNC program data. An ancient laptop computer is used to emulate punched paper tape, of which we have none. This machine gets the job done so we are fortunate to have it. The fin geometry was analyzed and a moderately complex G-code control program was written to achieve the required fin shape. The program was de-bugged while machining a wooden test piece. The subsequent machining of the valve fins was done without major incident.

The parts were finished in the lathe and delivered to the Steam Crew and were installed in the check valve assemblies without delay. The following locomotive steam-up revealed the injector start problem was gone. The injectors remain problem free to this day.

Photographs of the making of the check valves are presented in the gallery below. Click on any photograph to enlarge the view.