Re: A wagon tutorial
Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2016 4:56 pm
Before beginning this short session I should answer Dave K's question. I don't normally work the fold with anything prior to folding but it does depend on the thickness of the etch and the hardness of the brass used in it. I find that most modern etches are fine to fold without any prior action, even the sturdier stuff used for loco chassis, etc. and the sort of etches I'm using here are no problem to work with. Like, I suspect, many of us, I do have some older stuff upon which a little easing of the folds is always helpful. In these cases, a little work with the edge of a trianglular file, or knife edge file, should do the trick.
Life got in the way a little last night, so this is a relatively short session.
The next job is to add the vertical parts of the T-section that go to make up the body fixing brackets. I did take a picture of the tinned parts prior to soldering, to show how little solder is required, but I seem to have made it disappear. Don't ask how! Anyway, what is first required is some delicate tinning of the parts. Lightly tin the underside of the horizontal part of the T section and do likewise to the top edge of the vertical section. There is a tab on this latter part which inserts in a small slot in the solebar. Flux the area to be joined, hold the vertical part in a pair of tweezers in the required alignment, and touch the horizontal section with the soldering iron. There may be a little cleaning up required but if you have been careful when tinning the parts, there will be very little and a few gentle strokes with a fine file should do the trick. Don't forget to clean it afterwards. On this chassis, you will have to repeat this exercise 8 times, so you should be adept by then.
We now come to the bit where we make up the suspension and the component parts are shown here. The brass bearing plates come from the chassis kit, the spring wire is number 8 guitar string, again, supplied in the kit. (I bought so many, I got the whole string!) and the bearings are Exactoscale's parallel ones, which have become my preferred ones. You can, of course, use the bearings of your choice, there is only a minor difference between pin point and parallel bearings when it comes to construction and I will dealt with this in due course.
A bearing soldered in place in the carrier. Another of my wooden aids is also shown. This one has a 2mm. hole drilled in it, in order that the bearing carrier can lie flat whilst the bearing is inserted and then soldered in place. It also serves to hold the bearing carrier whilst the spring wire is soldered in place, as shown below. I cut a 20mm. length of wire for each spring. The instructions recommend having a spring length of 7mm. either side of the bearing carrier. A 20mm. length will give you around 8mm. either side but I have not, as yet, found this to be a problem. Importantly, use a pair of Xuron cutters on this wire as it will mangle ordinary wire cutters. I am not in the business of forcing anyone to spend their hard earned but, in this case, its a good investment.
Lastly, here are the finished springs, waiting for a clean up.
Finally, a word on the soldering of spring steel wire to brass, or nickel silver, for that matter. Much musing has taken place over the difficulty of doing this and the special fluxes needed to achieve a secure bond. I have used Laco flux, a yellow greasy like substance, which can be washed off with water (although I've found that it really takes a domestic cleaner, hot water and a toothbrush, to do it effectively). I have NEVER had a joint fail, so don't get too hung up on special fluxes and the like.
That's it this time. Hopefully I will get a little more done tonight, which I should be able to post later or tomorrow sometime.
Life got in the way a little last night, so this is a relatively short session.
The next job is to add the vertical parts of the T-section that go to make up the body fixing brackets. I did take a picture of the tinned parts prior to soldering, to show how little solder is required, but I seem to have made it disappear. Don't ask how! Anyway, what is first required is some delicate tinning of the parts. Lightly tin the underside of the horizontal part of the T section and do likewise to the top edge of the vertical section. There is a tab on this latter part which inserts in a small slot in the solebar. Flux the area to be joined, hold the vertical part in a pair of tweezers in the required alignment, and touch the horizontal section with the soldering iron. There may be a little cleaning up required but if you have been careful when tinning the parts, there will be very little and a few gentle strokes with a fine file should do the trick. Don't forget to clean it afterwards. On this chassis, you will have to repeat this exercise 8 times, so you should be adept by then.
We now come to the bit where we make up the suspension and the component parts are shown here. The brass bearing plates come from the chassis kit, the spring wire is number 8 guitar string, again, supplied in the kit. (I bought so many, I got the whole string!) and the bearings are Exactoscale's parallel ones, which have become my preferred ones. You can, of course, use the bearings of your choice, there is only a minor difference between pin point and parallel bearings when it comes to construction and I will dealt with this in due course.
A bearing soldered in place in the carrier. Another of my wooden aids is also shown. This one has a 2mm. hole drilled in it, in order that the bearing carrier can lie flat whilst the bearing is inserted and then soldered in place. It also serves to hold the bearing carrier whilst the spring wire is soldered in place, as shown below. I cut a 20mm. length of wire for each spring. The instructions recommend having a spring length of 7mm. either side of the bearing carrier. A 20mm. length will give you around 8mm. either side but I have not, as yet, found this to be a problem. Importantly, use a pair of Xuron cutters on this wire as it will mangle ordinary wire cutters. I am not in the business of forcing anyone to spend their hard earned but, in this case, its a good investment.
Lastly, here are the finished springs, waiting for a clean up.
Finally, a word on the soldering of spring steel wire to brass, or nickel silver, for that matter. Much musing has taken place over the difficulty of doing this and the special fluxes needed to achieve a secure bond. I have used Laco flux, a yellow greasy like substance, which can be washed off with water (although I've found that it really takes a domestic cleaner, hot water and a toothbrush, to do it effectively). I have NEVER had a joint fail, so don't get too hung up on special fluxes and the like.
That's it this time. Hopefully I will get a little more done tonight, which I should be able to post later or tomorrow sometime.