Engine truck wheels

The engine truck, which I primed yesterday, went together more or less as planned this morning before I left for work. Unlike #10, which has tiny equalizing beams and floating bearings trapped in rigid sideframes, #622 allows the whole sideframes to rock. The bearings are simple holes in the sideframes, meaning the wheels are permanently […]

Improved engine truck assembly

The first time I assembled the engine truck, it was held together mostly by fervent prayer while the epoxy set. The result was as shaky as my belief in prayer! Perhaps if I were more spiritual, this would be a good strategy for me. The second and third attempts leveraged a new pair of jigs […]

Engine truck good enough for now

Rebuilding the engine truck wheels, including one tyre that went missing (but is not missed as it wasn’t my best work) took a morning. This time I soldered the half-axles in place before casting the spokes. So all the wheels are nice and solid now, even the one that came apart in the heat and […]

Engine truck: two steps forward, one step back

Obviously, things were going too well. Parts were literally flying off the frets and attaching themselves to the frame. I was hopeful of actually hitting my deadline. The optimism continued as I folded up the the engine truck. Even tacking the bottom chord onto the side frames worked reasonably easily, despite being a flawed design […]