Percy and the Driver Test

I’m nearly ready to go ahead with the “final” set of wheels for Percy. These will feature a combination of keys and Loctite to ensure everything goes together in alignment and, more importantly, stays that way. The 3D printer makes test fits unusually easy, and so, I’ve broken from my damn-the-torpedoes tradition, and made a […]

12L14 Tyres

Up until now, I’ve only made tyres out of 316 Stainless Steel, which is supposed to be machinable. While small wheels were not too bad, my little Sherline lathe struggled with the 17.5 mm drivers of #622. So, I asked the local Metal Supermarket to bring in some 1″ 12L14 free-machining steel. They probably sell […]

Pretend engineering

Before we proceed to make a decision about the best path forward for attaching wheels to axles here in North Vancouver, I have one more round of experiments to share. I still believe that a keyed wheel will be superior in holding onto the axle compared to any sort of a glue bond, but the […]

Three ways to wreck split axles

Both #10 and #622 have split-frame current collection whereby the wheels on each side are connected electrically to the frame on that side. This means that the two ends of the axles are in turn isolated electrically. In the case of #10, I used split axles available from the EM Gauge Society, while for #622, […]

Holding onto more Axles

Continuing the “science” from last week, I’ve now seen how CA affects the performance of both a press-fit, and a keyed fit when the CA is applied before pressing the axle into the wheel. Because it would be great to be able to fine tune the quartering after assembly, I also picked up some Locktite […]

Best layout tour ever!

I’ve just finished reading Pete Warren’s article, Morehampstead in 2mm Finescale, which appeared in Model Railway Journal (MRJ) 285. If you hurry you might get to McNews on Lonsdale before John or Brian pick up the last copies. It is worth elbowing your way past my friends to secure your copy, even if you have […]

Holding on to the Axle

We’ve now seen that even reliable old Percy can lose the grip between axles and wheels when things get rough. I’m driven to ask what exactly is the best way to connect the wheels to the axles so they don’t slip? There are plenty of scale locomotives running around with an interference fit between wheel […]

Breaking Inertia

Ever since the birth of The Girl, the month of November has been swamped with domestic activity. I’ve kept a journal since The Boy was born (something I recommend to every parent, by the way), but when The Girl joined our family, I started transcribing my journal into a photo book, which I print using […]

Percy’s wide chassis

For Daylight Savings Hour —- that magical extra hour of modelling time you get once a year when all the clocks go back — I designed and printed frame spacers for Percy that give the chassis dimensions similar to #622. For the first time I also tried pushing the chassis on glass, which turns out […]

Percy’s new rods

Percy received a new set of connecting rods to match his new split frame. For those keeping score, this is Percy’s third set of connecting rods. I decided to try out the new style of crank pin to see how it behaved and how easy or difficult it is to manufacture. Over all, this pattern […]