An O.S. Porter Journey

Where users can chronicle their builds. Start one thread and continue to add on to it.

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Bill Shields
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Re: An O.S. Porter Journey

Post by Bill Shields »

Lots of fun that u can pick up and carry
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
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JBodenmann
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Re: An O.S. Porter Journey

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Bill is right. Big engines are no more fun than small ones. I have always liked 3/4" scale. Miniatures always fascinated me. I still have all my Matchbox collection. Remember those? 3/4" scale just always seemed so cool to me. I couldn't understand its lack of popularity. Years ago when I would travel to LALS I used to wander around the then deserted and neglected small scale railway. It made me sad to see it so lonely looking. Nowadays during the meets ( hopefully they will return soon), the small scale railway is a hive of activity. Lots of pointing and talking, and cool little engines zooming around. And many of my friends are building in 3/4" scale. Andy with his 3/4" scale American that he is just putting the final touches to. And Mike with the beautiful Mogul he is working on. There are others too. I'm hoping to get the railway finished up and then we will have a high line to run on. That's one thing with 3/4" scale, for us old Bozo's it tough runnin' em' on the ground. But it's still, too much fun!
Jack
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Bill Shields
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Re: An O.S. Porter Journey

Post by Bill Shields »

Old bozos? Speak 4 yourself :D

I can still sit on a ground level flat car cross legged..but here at PLS..there is no high line.

I used to ride around WLS high line that way until they asked me not to because I might fall off...so I started riding side saddle left..and about an hour later I tipped over backward, fell off and took riding car, tender and Tomb Thumb down with me. Fortunately I was @ the station and only thing hurt was my pride.

Yes...somewhere there is a picture..always a picture..😃

Ever see Bill Morewood carrying his Raritan around by the stack? Tender under one arm..loco in the other..two trips to the car and he was ready to run.
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
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mikeyg
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Re: An O.S. Porter Journey

Post by mikeyg »

Thanks for the comments everybody and agree with Jack on the small scales interest. And I may or may not have some familiarity with that Bozo affair...

My next step was to correct that forlorn looking front coupler rod which was provided in the kit. It was brass with an odd hook on the end and just didn't look right. But with Glenbrook as a model, we have something cool to fabricate!

Not many pictures of the process, but we have a few. First step was the little hinge at the top...pretty fast work for a collet holder and a slitting saw.

Then we have some work between centers, taking a square piece and making some of it round and tapered in two directions too. As we often say, we take pieces of metal and cut away everything that doesn't look like a locomotive...

Then we make some pins and cotter pins and we're looking pretty good.

It's looking like a Baldwin more and more!
Attachments
Glenbrook
Glenbrook
Top hinge
Top hinge
Tapering
Tapering
First look
First look
Just like Glenbrook
Just like Glenbrook
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mikeyg
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Re: An O.S. Porter Journey

Post by mikeyg »

And a tease for the next iteration...a mockup of the proposed cab, domes and funnel. Following narrow gauge Baldwin practice of course!

Mike
Attachments
Loco only
Loco only
With tender frame
With tender frame
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Harold_V
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Re: An O.S. Porter Journey

Post by Harold_V »

Nice! Very pretty work on the square/round rod. Couldn't help but notice your use of HSS.

H
Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.
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mikeyg
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Re: An O.S. Porter Journey

Post by mikeyg »

I'm a little old fashioned Harold! And that is my old South Bend which still has the lantern type of holder for which I have a number of tool holders.

I use carbide for single-point threading on SS and I have a nice Kennametal holder for my 12" Clausing so I'm not a purist. But I like the old too.

Appreciate your comments too.
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Bill Shields
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Re: An O.S. Porter Journey

Post by Bill Shields »

Amen on the square work. Being the blacksmith that I am it would have been silver soldered from 3 pieces..and never looked that nice.

I have a can of that vintage Rapid Tap..
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mikeyg
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Re: An O.S. Porter Journey

Post by mikeyg »

Thank you all for the comments!

As mentioned before, although I love little Porters, this somewhat larger Mogul has a style that doesn’t suit my tastes so I decided to revamp it into a narrow gauge Baldwin product of the late 1800’s. Retaining the superb OS Steam mechanicals of course.

The features on the original kit that I didn’t like very much included the high running boards, short cab, small domes and a diamond stack. All were smaller than a prototype narrow gauge engine so these were on the list to change. The design for the domes and stack were easy to determine, but the cab was something I noodled on for a while. And then in a long text conversation with my friend Jim, he recommended an “Ogee” style cab roof which immediately appealed to me. Although it will be much tougher to build, it is a classic narrow gauge style and looks like it will fit the model nicely.

Size and proportion are critical so taking a page from The Book of Jack, I made some mockups in various sizes and styles. I also sketched things up in 2D CAD so I could just scale and print them as needed. We won’t show all of the iterations, but there is no question that the effort is worthwhile. I even played with extending the original kit cab just to get some ideas going. A flurry of pictures went back and forth to my friends as we commented on the appearance and when we arrived at the right mix, we all knew it right away.

The final shot is the obligatory turntable shot with new cab/stack and old domes just for fun.

Now that size and proportion are determined, we can get going on the dome machining and stack base.
Attachments
Original appearance
Original appearance
Prototype inspiration
Prototype inspiration
Looking better
Looking better
Cab comparison
Cab comparison
Turntable beauty shot
Turntable beauty shot
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mikeyg
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Re: An O.S. Porter Journey

Post by mikeyg »

Now that we know what it should look like, we can begin to fabricate domes, stack, headlight etc. We'll start with domes first.

As I mentioned before, I sketched up the dome profiles in 2D CAD and scaled them to suit. Now I can develop a dxf file to support some special tooling. My plan is simple...or so I think. I'll ask good friend Doug to cut some tool profiles on the wire machine so I can profile each shape separately. I end up with 6 tool shapes of cemented carbide. And in a moment of brilliance, I listen to Jack and make the blanks out of aluminum. Brilliant because I listened.

The blanks are simple enough, but the dimensions are important. Slightly larger for cutting the shapes and slightly longer for the scalloped bottom. Then threaded 5-16"-18 for a bolt which will either hold it on the angle plate or on the fixture I'll prepare for the lathe.

Now off to the mill where we fly cut the bottom pieces.
Attachments
Tools
Tools
Blanks
Blanks
Angle Plate
Angle Plate
Cutter
Cutter
Done
Done
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mikeyg
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Re: An O.S. Porter Journey

Post by mikeyg »

Next step is to make a fixture...a solid piece of aluminum bar threaded for the dome, and get to work on the lathe. The piece fits snugly on the fixture which should work for one steam dome. Then we reduce the diameter for the sand box.

Not many pictures here and not sure what I was thinking. But it worked! A little chatter on the larger radius and the very fine tip of one of the tools went bye bye. But overall it worked well and looks pretty nice. But it was kind of a nail biter. I was very gentle on the cross-feed and backed out of it numerous times. Be careful! I kept a full size drawing nearby to compare.

Next was the steam dome top, and a brass piece in between. We hold it the other way so the tool profile fits. And you can see the chatter marks. Easily taken off with cloth. And then a test fit! Looks good. But we're not really done yet.

One more job to do...
Attachments
First piece
First piece
Steam dome base
Steam dome base
Comparison
Comparison
Profile
Profile
Fit check
Fit check
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mikeyg
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Re: An O.S. Porter Journey

Post by mikeyg »

Last one for today.

The new dome sits on top of a fake dome where the safeties are located. So the top of the bowl needs to clear the safeties, but the bottom of the top piece has to be bored on the back side to accommodate the fake dome and fit nicely doing so. So we make a fixture...

Borrowing from good friend Norm (Who was trained as a Millwright in England) we make a slotted collet and use some clamps to hold it. We indicate it in, make a backwards cutting boring bar tool and we backwards-bore in two steps. (Careful of the spinning stuff!) A little weird, but careful work results in a good fit.

We'll do the sand box next using the same approach. Only we'll have a painted center section so no brass there.

And those BIG pieces of bronze are the pistons for my other project...
Attachments
Fixture
Fixture
It fits!
It fits!
Looking down
Looking down
Fake dome
Fake dome
Backside
Backside
BIG pistons
BIG pistons
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