Another one from Western Australia

I have to admit to being a little late in announcing myself as a new member, as I have been lurking and learning for a few months. My interest is in Gauge 1 1/32nd scale and the plan is to build a garden layout in the not too distant future. I have four live steam locos, 3 built from Aster kits, as well as two electric locos. My intention is to build some rolling stock first and then to build the track. My current project is to properly set up my workshop (after thinking about it for too many years). I am also starting to put together a Slaters D362 Midland covered wagon, but I think there are a few areas I can improve on, and later I intend to start a thread on this.

I am originally from Bournemouth in the UK, and have also lived in London, Birmingham and Manchester. In 1977 I went to Indonesia on a four year assignment, ultimately staying there until 2001, when I moved to Perth.

My avatar is an Indonesian State Railways 3' 6" gauge tram loco B1624 photographed around 1978 near the port of Jakarta Tanjung Priok, below is a photograph of the complete train:



Sorry about the quality as it is a scan from a print, I do have a few more photos if there is any interest; I should add that this was taken at the side of the main road connecting the port to Jakarta, which even in those days was very badly congested (1 to 2 hours to go 10 kilometres).

One other reason for my leaping into print was noticing that MRJ number 236, due out shortly, will have information on an "ergonomic hand vice which is specifically intended to be operated with one hand". In starting to assemble the Slaters Wagon, I came across the problem of holding etched parts to be able to remove the etching cusp, finding that I did not have any tools where it was easy to clamp the part using only two hands, which also presented a brass face in case I slipped with the file. I designed the tool shown below to overcome this; I hope the photo gives an idea of the means of operation, as I needed the other hand for the camera. If there is any interest I am happy to give more details, which would also include a slightly larger wheel for clamping that I have yet to make.



Many thanks for all of the information available on Western Thunder I have learnt a lot, and I know there is much more to learn. I hope I will in the future be able to make some small contributions in return.

Hi Paul,

Your EHV looks very useful!

Colin Garrett's publications brought to the attention of the outside world the existence of some interesting old locomotives in Indonesia (pre 1900 Sharp Stewarts etc) - do you have any knowledge of what became of these?

Tony

Tony

I think the vast majority of the very old engines in Indonesia went for scrap in the early 1980's, I do recall seeing an old Sharp Stewart 2 - 4 - 0 in Madiun in Central Java which was definitely pre 1900, and I think I have a photo, I will try to dig my photo's out tomorrow. When I arrived in Jakarta in 1977, there was was little steam left, all of the main passenger trains being diesel. Steam lingered on much longer in Central Java. There is a railway museum in Central Java at Ambarawa near Semarang, which I did visit in the 1980's, but I do not recall any old loco's of UK origin there, I did take photo's and I will come back to you later.

Paul

pakpaul said:

One other reason for my leaping into print was noticing that MRJ number 236, due out shortly, will have information on an "ergonomic hand vice which is specifically intended to be operated with one hand". ... I designed the tool shown below to overcome this; ... If there is any interest I am happy to give more details, which would also include a slightly larger wheel for clamping that I have yet to make.

Click to expand...

Yes please.

Old Steam engines in Indonesia

I have succeeded in finding two out of three albums of photos, and also trawled the internet for information, both in English and Indonesian, the latter yielding nothing of interest. The site with the most relevant information is www.internationalsteam.co.uk. If you go to the section 'railway museums' click on 'Asia' then click on 'Indonesia', and then go to the "unofficial site" for Ambarawa, it will give details and thumbnail pictures of the locos there including a couple of early twentieth century Beyer Peacock locos. You will also find a reference to a museum in Taman Mini in Jakarta, and there is a thumbnail of a Sharp Stewart 2-4-0 number B5004 of 1880 which shows it without a tender. Sorry for the long winded description without a link, but I have just spent a frustrating 10 minutes trying to cut and paste a link from that site with an absolute total lack of success.

On my travels I did manage to photo B5008 also an 1880 Sharp Stewart 2-4-0 at Madiun in Central Java, over a pit minus connecting rods, probably a year or so before its hundredth birthday; 4 low resolution scans from a print follow:





Another very old loco which was in operation in the late 70's and photographed at Karawang in West Java follows:









Finally definitely old, never got near enough to get details, but with very interesting valve gear is number 14 photographed in Medan North Sumatra.



I think that is enough in terms of photos of old Indonesian Locomotives for this section, If there is still interest I can post more perhaps in the gallery forum. I'm afraid all I have are prints, the negatives disappeared during a divorce.

I remember that photography was difficult because of the lighting from an overhead tropical sun, all of these photos are taken within 5 degrees of the equator. Also railway depots in Indonesia were not usually located in the most salubrious part of town, first of all the kids would arrive making photography more difficult, then the bush telegraph would start to work and adults would arrive, time to leave very smartly the camera was worth well over a years salary for them. I know that if my manager had been aware of my activities there would have been trouble.

Hi Paul, welcome in ..

These photos and the story behind them is fascinating...

Ian

Hand Vice

Sorry for the delay in providing further details of this but work has interfered more than expected this week.

Below is a photo of the two vices I tried to use first of all to remove etch cusps:



My problem with these was the risk of damaging files meant for brass, and particularly in the case of the small one the difficulty of clamping something, due to the force needed to close the jaws. This was resolved by the arrangement below with brass pieces superglued to the jaws.



This could also nearly be used to hold a component, using one hand to close the wing nut, and one to hold the component, however when seen from the side it shows one advantage of the line grip on the item, but a serious disadvantage that when it is tightened it will tend to pull the pieces of brass from the jaws.



That was the design route to the vice illustrated in the first post which was made from offcuts of brass and wood.

Since it was an experiment four different vices were made with jaw widths of 3/4", 1 1/2", 2 1/2" and 3 1/2", to see what would be the most useful size, and this has turned out to be 2 1/2". Below is a photo of all four vices



This image showing the 2 1/2" one with a 1 1/2" knob which is an improvement. The components for the vice are shown in the photo below with dimensions both in imperial and metric.



Three components were made with a lathe, the handle, screw and knob. If there is no access to a lathe, a wooden file handle can be used, a suitable knob is available from Axminster tools, and I would imagine many other suppliers, and a commercial 6mm screw 15 to 20 mm long to replace the turned version. The rest of the components can be made with a hacksaw and files.

The two "T" shaped pieces to make the jaws are from 1/16" or 1.6mm brass, I think 1mm would also be OK. The smaller holes are 6 BA or similar clearance, very lightly countersunk on the outside (only 20 thou or half a millimetre) to allow for slotted countersunk screws for assembly, the heads of which can be fled off to leave a smooth surface after the companies are glued or soldered together. (if you look at the illustration of the set you will see that I countersunk these holes on the smallest one too deeply). The central "T" shaped piece is made from 3/16" brass with the two holes tapped 6BA or similar. The tang on this piece to fit into the handle depends on the hole in the handle, I used a tapered reamer to open up the hole in the handle, and shaped the tang so that it had to be firmly pushed in about 3/16" to get a tight fit. If the fit is accidentally made too loose, a few slivers of wood in the hole will tighten things up.

The jaws need to be bent as shown in the photo below before final assembly.



I used Loctite 620 retainer to assemble the vices, as this allows sufficient time to do up the screws before it sets, I have some left over from a job from ten years ago it is way out of date but it still works. Solder is another alternative.

If a washer is placed under the knob, it should not be necessary to fix the screw to the jaws.

The brass I used was very dirty, and a little pitted to clean it up I used emery paper, wrapped around half a wine cork as shown below:



It makes it easier to hold the paper, and if used with increasingly finer grades will produce a mirror polish.

I hope my description makes sense, if any clarification is needed please let me know and I will do my best.

Paul

Great explanation of your one-handed vice Paul.
A belated welcome to WT
Steve

Useful stuff, thanks. And welcome!

Welcome Paul

Steve

Great stuff, a very useful tool and welcome to WT

Thanks for taking the trouble to dig out those old timer photos, Paul. Despite the Sharp Stewarts looking as if they could do with an extra bogie axle, I guess they rode well.

Tony

pakpaul said:

I have to admit to being a little late in announcing myself as a new member, as I have been lurking and learning for a few months. My interest is in Gauge 1 1/32nd scale and the plan is to build a garden layout in the not too distant future. I have four live steam locos, 3 built from Aster kits, as well as two electric locos. My intention is to build some rolling stock first and then to build the track. My current project is to properly set up my workshop (after thinking about it for too many years). I am also starting to put together a Slaters D362 Midland covered wagon, but I think there are a few areas I can improve on, and later I intend to start a thread on this.

I am originally from Bournemouth in the UK, and have also lived in London, Birmingham and Manchester. In 1977 I went to Indonesia on a four year assignment, ultimately staying there until 2001, when I moved to Perth.

My avatar is an Indonesian State Railways 3' 6" gauge tram loco B1624 photographed around 1978 near the port of Jakarta Tanjung Priok, below is a photograph of the complete train:

View attachment 40132

Sorry about the quality as it is a scan from a print, I do have a few more photos if there is any interest; I should add that this was taken at the side of the main road connecting the port to Jakarta, which even in those days was very badly congested (1 to 2 hours to go 10 kilometres).

One other reason for my leaping into print was noticing that MRJ number 236, due out shortly, will have information on an "ergonomic hand vice which is specifically intended to be operated with one hand". In starting to assemble the Slaters Wagon, I came across the problem of holding etched parts to be able to remove the etching cusp, finding that I did not have any tools where it was easy to clamp the part using only two hands, which also presented a brass face in case I slipped with the file. I designed the tool shown below to overcome this; I hope the photo gives an idea of the means of operation, as I needed the other hand for the camera. If there is any interest I am happy to give more details, which would also include a slightly larger wheel for clamping that I have yet to make.

View attachment 40135

Many thanks for all of the information available on Western Thunder I have learnt a lot, and I know there is much more to learn. I hope I will in the future be able to make some small contributions in return.

Click to expand...

Hang on a minute, I missed this one but don't we need some sort of rails included? Oh well I'll get the hang of it some time soon,

Ken

My copy of MRJ 236 arrived today (a subscription via Newsstand, more than 10% cheaper than a newsagent in Australia and about 6 weeks quicker) and was immediately opened at page 10 to see how someone else had looked at the problem of closing a hand vice with only one hand whilst the other was holding the component in the right place.

I did like the idea of the backflip hinge, its simple, no need for machine tools, and if a solid brass hinge is chosen fulfils my criterion of not having steel close to where a file reserved for brass is being used.

His ergonomic hand vice is clearly meant for heavier work than my own design, but to me has the disadvantage of being made from steel. I would also agree with him that it is a bit short, scaling from the photograph it is about 4 - 4 1/2" long, my own version is about 7" long.

My solution to something to hold heavier but still small work is a modified small vice with a jaw width of 2" which originally incorporated a clamp at its base. The one I use was picked up in a car boot sale for free as the clamp was broken, and was old being made of cast iron.

I sawed the remains of the broken clamp off, filed this area flat which was the base of the fixed jaw and screwed a piece of 1/8" steel strip using 4 2BA countersunk screws at 5/8" centres as in the photo below.



To this was added a length of 1" square mild steel with a threaded end and a knurled brass nut as well as brass covers for the jaws from1/2" by 1/16" brass angle.



The idea being that the square steel rod could be held in a vice, and the angle of the vice changed and fixed by releasing and tightening the brass knob. OK in theory, but in practice a pair of long nosed vice grip pliers has to be used for this operation so that the vice will not move when being used. Another view below



The movable vice jaw was removable and so the brass jaw covers were screwed in place, and the top hammered to fit the shape of the vice. I think superglue or retainer would have been a simpler solution.

The small vice is shown in a woodworking vice as the new bench for the metalworking vice is not yet completed.

This was a cheap solution to getting a small vice which can be rotated to any angle as well as be held at any angle for conveniently working on small parts (apart from the need for the vice grip pliers)

Paul