Flood update: but of course it’s under a stud!

As we don’t want another flood, the Boy and I spent more than an hour getting at the offending floor drain today. Naturally, it is under a stud (supporting an electrical outlet), and so, it wasn’t a simple matter to get at it. The hole is simply straight through the concrete, 3 1/2 inches in […]

Redesigned crossheads refine OnShape technique

To be honest, I don’t know if I would have this much patience if the real workshop were not still out of commission. The sheet metal design for the crosshead guides and crossheads took several days (well hours, as I don’t spend whole days on this stuff!) due to a disagreement between OnShape and me […]

Improved cab design

A couple of weeks ago, The Boy and I were lucky to be invited to visit Dan Gelbart’s amazing lab. The Boy was so inspired, we’ve been working our way through Dan’s YouTube channel. There, Dan stresses the benefits of keyholes to facilitate removal of parts. As he says, they’re free with a water jet cutter, […]

Sheet metal construction fixtures

When I built #10, one of the innovative and useful ideas was to create both running boards out of a single large piece of brass. This helped me get the boiler level relative to the running boards, and since Pembroke is not an incline railway, a level boiler is desirable. I’ve planned the same approach […]

Engine truck design – the murk beneath

When you model something that has been gone for over a hundred years, you get used to squinting at photographs and trying to imagine a design that might present similar patterns of dark and darker. In the case of the engine truck, which is missing from the erection drawing for 622, I found a drawing […]

Using OnShape to create etching patterns in InkScape

I’ve been experimenting with OnShape sheet metal models to produce patterns for etching parts. Being designed for ordinary bending processes, OnShape is not directly applicable, but I think it is close enough for my purposes. Here are the sheet metal model parameters that I have found work in OnShape to produce drawings that match the […]

Flood update: cabinets removed

Over the past couple of days, OnSide has made further progress toward remediating the flood. The cabinets were removed on Monday afternoon, and heaped in the middle of the floor. Most of them were moved to a warehouse yesterday, except the big one, which doesn’t fit up the stairs. The movers protected it and fixed […]

OnShape and etched fold lines

Due to flooding, progress on real modelling has halted, and I’ve had to move into the virtual realm. This is okay, as there is loads of drawing work yet to do on 622. I speculated a couple of months ago that some careful manipulation of OnShape’s new Sheet Metal Model feature might yield a good […]

Packing away

Demolition starts tomorrow, and that is somewhat incompatible with fine models. So today, they all went into boxes. Most of my stock fits into some old cookie tins from Christmases past, which are now sadly devoid of cookies, but perfectly shaped for hold HO scale rolling stock. Some ancient rubber foam separates each piece, and […]

Update on the Flood

The waters have subsided, and we have three fridge-sized dehumidifiers running 24/7 in the basement. My emotions have also subsided – there is nothing quite like three evenings of digging holes in the glacial til to promote philosophy. The insurance adjuster hasn’t yet decided if they will cover the losses – it comes down to […]