Kozo's New Shay cylinder cock assembly

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daveb
Posts: 51
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 2:46 pm
Location: Kennebunk Me

Kozo's New Shay cylinder cock assembly

Post by daveb »

If anyone is building Kozo's New Shay there is an easier way to build the cylinder cock shafts. Kozo's cylinder cock assembly calls for a bunch of small parts. (photo 1). A total of 47 including 22 pins. After going through all the steps involved to build, my final assembly had a lot of play to the extent that cylinder #1 was not exhausting as much as #2 &#3. The cause of this was the number of joints in each plug shaft all pinned together and probably some of my building skills. The picture below shows most of the parts required.
B3C68D7C-038B-4938-8F70-4FAAB0EB3B37.jpeg
Anyway with some time on my hands decided to replace the cock shafts with one piece shafts eliminating all joints. From Kozo's design I kept the cylinder cock bodies, connecting link, reach rod, and the the plug shaft bracket. All overall dimensions stayed the same except for the new shafts which were made from 2.5mm brass rod stock instead of a combination of 2-2.5mm stainless. This resulted in a reduction of about 40 parts including all pins. Total parts for the one piece shafts is 5. Picture below
8EF074C3-2977-46BF-9BFC-C4124785E563.jpeg
Dave Barker
Kennebunk Maine
cmitcham
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2016 9:28 am

Re: Kozo's New Shay cylinder cock assembly

Post by cmitcham »

thanks for this post. i'm close to making those cylinder cocks and i might give your method a try. the 47 pieces does look cool, but i can see what you say, there's alot of play there. on the other hand, i'm not confident that my machining skills are going to have made 3 cylinders that one shaft will line up through.

please post more build pictures, i don't get to see many kozo builds.

cyl6.jpg
daveb
Posts: 51
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 2:46 pm
Location: Kennebunk Me

Re: Kozo's New Shay cylinder cock assembly

Post by daveb »

Hi cmitcham

Good to hear someone else is building the shay. Don't think there are many of us. This was my first machining project.

Below is the finished product ready to go. Last year I steamed it using a torch to test everything out. Had a big problem when water began to overflow from the oil reservoir.. Problem with the check valves in the oil line. Anyway the engine did run for a short time. Then back to the shop to fix the valves.
3EE8FFC9-819D-401A-A234-1D72E101DAD9.jpeg
I don't think you will have a problem with the alignment because of the way the cylinders are built. I never even thought about the alignment and as it turned out it was pretty good. One thing you should be aware of is you must either loosen the engine or loosen the cab to slip the shaft into the shaft bracket. No big deal.
I'm hoping that we get over this virus thing so I can try again. Right now it runs very good on air. Not the same as steam though.

If you have other questions let me know
Dave Barker
Kennebunk Me
daveb
Posts: 51
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 2:46 pm
Location: Kennebunk Me

Re: Kozo's New Shay cylinder cock assembly

Post by daveb »

Another situation to avoid. Kozo outlines a method to check the oil pump by disconnecting the oil lines at the valve box and then using a pin vice connected to the end of the cam shaft in the oil reservoir and turning about 60 revolutions. Problem is the shaft was not long enough to attach anything. I extended the shaft about a 1/4" and now can attach a drill to drive the pump. Works well. Picture shows the extended shaft.
A053089E-F35E-4B06-88FC-D6DDE6E7C73F.jpeg
Dave Barker
Kennebunk Me
sncf141r
Posts: 170
Joined: Mon Jan 06, 2003 10:06 am
Location: Canada

Re: Kozo's New Shay cylinder cock assembly

Post by sncf141r »

Dave - really nice work on your locomotive.

I've made the first Shay, and am thinking about all of the others, but finishing up a British 2-6-0 I started a long while ago. The plans are like night and day.

Kozo's plans are fantastic, and the locomotives go together well.

JohnS.
daveb
Posts: 51
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 2:46 pm
Location: Kennebunk Me

Re: Kozo's New Shay cylinder cock assembly

Post by daveb »

Hi John
Browsing Kozo's New Shay book convinced me to try to build. Before I started was into garden RR and had bought a couple of nice live 1/20 steamers. Didn't know a mill from a lathe. Anyway bought the book,mill,and a lathe and seven years later have a shay. I"ve steamed it using a torch and had a problem with water backing up into the oil reservoir. Problem fixed and I"ll be testing soon.

learning mistakes. Fourth one was perfect.
5A9020C7-CFFA-4FE0-8D9F-98917BA2F589.jpeg
Dave Barker
Kennebunk Me
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NP317
Posts: 4557
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2014 2:57 pm
Location: Northern Oregon, USA

Re: Kozo's New Shay cylinder cock assembly

Post by NP317 »

Well done!
Shows what can be accomplished when you start with a dream.
RussN
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