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Pandemic Progress?

Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2021 11:43 am
by NP317
What have you accomplished during the past Pandemic Year+ ??
It should be entertaining to see what Craftspeople here have been doing in their shops.

So here's what I've been up to:

Completed my Mikado Project:
IMG_2774.jpg
Rebuilt the 16 year-old valve gear on my Allen Ten Wheeler:
TM008 (med).jpg
Finished the restoration of our 56 year-old steam launch "Cluaran."
IMG_3798.jpg
Please share your work so we can all enjoy the incredible creativity of you Folks here.
RussN

Re: Pandemic Progress?

Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2021 1:24 pm
by rmac
Mostly I did woodworking projects in 2020. A few small ones crossed over into the metal realm, though. To wit:

This thing is good for when you have a splinter (from woodworking) in one hand and some tweezers in the other hand and you need to see what you're doing.
magnifier_holder.jpg

Here's when I got tired of the cheap plastic eraser holders that you buy in the store. The middle one (with the collet) works the best.
eraser_holders.jpg

As everyone knows, most lathe tools want to be exactly as high as the spindle centerline. The base of this thing sticks to the cross slide with a magnet. Then the sliding part rests on the tool. By feeling with your finger where the post goes through the sliding part, it's easy to tell when the tool is at the proper height.
tool_height_gauge.jpg

And here's the world's most complicated clipboard clamp.
clipboard_clamp.jpg

-- Russell Mac

Re: Pandemic Progress?

Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2021 2:06 pm
by NP317
I particularly like your lathe tool height gauge! Very creative and useful.
RussN

Re: Pandemic Progress?

Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2021 2:45 pm
by Steamer Al
Started my project in May of 2020, just after I was laid off. Was hoping to have it done by the time I went back to work, which ended up being sooner than i thought which I suppose is a good thing!

Almost ready to steam the boiler, but a fair bit of fitting out left in the hull, and some more wood work.

Oh and I renovated a kitchen and ressurrected a veggie garden that had been dormant for 30 years. Dont know how I would of had time to work last summer!

Re: Pandemic Progress?

Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2021 5:37 pm
by rmac
NP317 wrote: Sun Apr 04, 2021 2:06 pm I particularly like your lathe tool height gauge! Very creative and useful.
Thanx. I can't remember where I got that idea, but I copied it from somewhere. It works really well.

-- Russell Mac

Re: Pandemic Progress?

Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2021 6:56 pm
by Dick_Morris
My biggest accomplishment was avoiding getting Covid by my wife and I. Shop accomplishments include improving my skills in 3D drawing, printing, and investment casting to make parts for a WWII War Department Consolidation and some details for my CP-173 American. Also trying to work out more of the details to finish a pair of circa 1890 passenger car trucks. I've posted photos of most of these previously.

Re: Pandemic Progress?

Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2021 11:23 pm
by Steggy
Despite the Chinese plague, I stayed pretty busy with actual work (as opposed to play work). I did get the new trucks for my F7 done.
finished_trucks01.jpg
finished_trucks02.jpg
I'm also making a new lower headlight pod for the F-unit. Here is some of the machining going on.
machining_headlight_pod01.jpg
In non-railroad stuff, I've been working on one of my homebrew computers. I actually built this thing before the roof caved in from COVID, but have only recently been writing code for it.
v1_2_assembled01.jpg
DSCF4657.JPG
That last picture is the POST screen of the little beast right after I fired it up for the first time. I didn't even have to bodge-wire it to make it work, which is quite unusual.

Re: Pandemic Progress?

Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2021 5:54 pm
by Marty_Knox
Last May we finished rebuilding a Winton Mogul, including a new boiler and slide valves.
Now we are finishing up reboilering a Bill Daney Pacific that was built in 1937.
Oh, and we built some boilers.

Re: Pandemic Progress?

Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2021 9:18 am
by pat1027
Marty_Knox wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 5:54 pmLast May we finished rebuilding a Winton Mogul,
I'm fond of the Winton moguls but the Green Goddess really looked sharp.

Re: Pandemic Progress?

Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2021 12:18 pm
by Marty_Knox
pat1027 wrote: Tue Apr 06, 2021 9:18 am
Marty_Knox wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 5:54 pmLast May we finished rebuilding a Winton Mogul,
I'm fond of the Winton moguls but the Green Goddess really looked sharp.
Thank you, Pat! I plan on painting my 2.5" scale Mogul a lot likt the Goddess.

Re: Pandemic Progress?

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2021 12:27 am
by Steggy
Steamer Al wrote: Sun Apr 04, 2021 2:45 pm Started my project in May of 2020, just after I was laid off. Was hoping to have it done by the time I went back to work, which ended up being sooner than i thought which I suppose is a good thing!

Almost ready to steam the boiler, but a fair bit of fitting out left in the hull, and some more wood work.

Oh and I renovated a kitchen and ressurrected a veggie garden that had been dormant for 30 years. Dont know how I would of had time to work last summer!
Sharp-looking boat!

Re: Pandemic Progress?

Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2021 1:19 pm
by 427red
I managed to get my very first boiler constructed this past Fall. I'm building a Climax in Fn3 scale, based on Kozo's design(s). Yea, my soldering skills need more work, but it was a success in the end. Actually, seeing this as the most difficult item to construct (at least to me, and hence the first thing to do - get the worst done first and out of the way), it turned out surprisingly easy, as I expected to have a very difficult time with it all. Having never done something like this before, I was surprised at how easy it actually was to get the copper formed, machined and fitted. Not what I anticipated.