Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Sherline Lathe and Wheels

All,

I had the Sherline initiation ceremony this evening. While I’m a novice, I can certainly say that it is a fantastic machine to use.


I worked on some 1/8 inch solid brass bar, which will be used for the axlse. The axels need to be 1/8 inch to fit into the High Level Kits standard size bearings.

However, a shoulder will be machined on the axle stubs for the wheel centre to be pushed on to (ie 2.5mm in diameter to represent the prototypical 8.5 inch seat on the face of the wheel).

For its part, the Sherline worked a treat. I actually managed to quickly and accurately create the 2.5mm seat, and push on a wheel centre. The shoulder was slightly larger than 1.6mm and the seat was equally under size Nonetheless, I was amazed at how quickly this was achieved.




I purchased some ¾ inch stainless steel solid bar this evening, which will be machined into tires. I’ll turn my attention to these after I receive the P87 for tool from Australia and the axles are fabricated.

Julian

Monday, June 18, 2012

Possie Hits the Hood

All,

Some of the local Vancouver  ‘Proto87 Possie’ boys came around to my place recently help me with my layout. Thanks Jim and Andrew!

Andrew put together the baseboards, which are a work of art. (I was almost too scare to do anything to them.) The design is based on the Barry Norman-inspired method of construction. They are strong but low weight.


As can be seen, we managed to get some cork bed (draw liner with an adhesive backing) down to correct VR width. I’ve cleaned up the ‘spare’ room, which has been commandeered as the layout ‘den’! The next step is to lay ties and some sleeper plates from Proto87 Stores.




Julian