Jon Nazareth's G3 workbench

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
IMG_1713.JPG

As mentioned above, the solder didn't run onto the slide bars and therefore, I have a set of working brakes. Well, they are working at the moment but I have to complete the front end of the mechanism. I tried different ways to make the clevis which failed until I found that I hade some square brass tube which I used. It took me a while to make them but, I'm happy with the result.

Jon

P.S. No, the rubber bands won't be part of the finished model.
 

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Jamie and John, thank you.
Before closing down for the evening, I fitted the wheels to the body just so that I could push it along some track, as you do, only to find out that the brakes were in the on position. When I came to move them, I found that they were solid and I'd obviously had a misshape with the solder. I stripped it down to find that one of the levers was stuck fast but with a bit of a twist, it came free. A quick clean up and then back together again only to find that things weren't aligning properly. Although all of the rods were in the right place they weren't lining up with there respective levers. An hour and a half later they were sorted and next time that I take the brake system apart, I'll make sure 'everything' is marked up. I put the wheels back on this morning only to find that one set weren't that keen on going around when pushed so, some work there at some point.
I couldn't help but have a comparison of size by placing this little chap alongside. He is 5' 9" without the spike so about 6' as he is and he is still dwarfed by theses two vehicles especially the wagon. A whole train of these wagons must have looked quite frightening to small children when they were a common sight. (The wagons, not the small children).

Jon
 
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Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
IMG_1743.JPG Next to make was the brake screw and handle. The only decent picture of this brake van appears in LB&SCR Carriages Vol 2 and shows the vertical handle of the lever. What happens the other end we don't know but, looking closely at the photo and to me at least, it looks as if the horizontal part of the lever is of square section and tapered. I didn't fancy a lot of delicate filing and so, I have based my example on this one which appears in a drawing of a MR brake van. There is a nice plan view in the drawing too.

IMG_1733.JPG This is how I turned the screw mounts. My 4 jaw wouldn't accept the 1/8" x 1/8" square section brass and so, I drilled a hole in a piece of hexagon and soldered it inside. This shows the mount part machined.

IMG_1736.JPG This is the vertical handle being turned well, actually, it's finished. I turned the bar down to 1/16" and then turned a spigot on the end that would eventually fit into the flat section of the handle. When I fitted the spigot, I was able to simply peen over the end as one would with a rivet, and then cleaned it back.

IMG_1737.JPG The parts to be silver soldered together. I opted for silver soldering as I wanted to metal black the finished handle and I've never had much success with trying to blacken soldered things.

IMG_1741.JPG It was a bit of a job positioning the little collar as every time that I heated the flux, it would bubble and the thing would move but I got it in the end after repeated re-positioning. I wasn't so fortunate with the little turned handle as that did move or, at least, I think the bar moved as it was heated. I made a new one, cut this one off and re soldered. I wasn't going to scrap the whole thing as positioning that collar was a pain.

IMG_1744.JPG The finished handle et al. If the handle looks as if it has a bit of a lean it's because nothing is fixed yet as this is just a dummy run to make sure all fitted and that the handle could be turned without hitting the sides of the window. The vertical handle looks a bit tall but it scales at about 6" so, about right. I needed to bring it all this far so that I could fit the long brake rod underneath the van, which is next on the list.

If anyone out there thinks that this is all too much and that finished stages is all that is wanted then, just shout and I'll keep it brief :)

Jon
 

Giles

Western Thunderer
Lovely to see this, and things like this......!

I sympathise with the flux bubbling and moving the job - infuriating- it's one of the reasons I now almost entirely use the silver solder paste instead, as that acts more like glue during the heating phase, and movement is much rarer.
 

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Giles
Thank you for that. I didn't know there was such a thing as silver solder paste and it sounds like a good idea for small things. Where did you get yours from?

Jon
 

Giles

Western Thunderer
Giles
Thank you for that. I didn't know there was such a thing as silver solder paste and it sounds like a good idea for small things. Where did you get yours from?

Jon

I get mine from Cooksongold on the internet- I get the easy grade, as we don't need the highest melting temperatures. I rarely use anything else! ( it will transform your approach - I silver solder all my valve gear joints nowadays with this stuff, as well as building up chassis)

 

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Giles
I've ordered some silver solder paste, the easy variety, and thanks for uploading the video. I noticed, though, that you didn't use any flux. Not necessary? One more question, which ultrasonic cleaner do you use?

Steph
What do you mean when you say that you'd use it more often if it were a bit more convenient?

Jon
 

Steph Dale

Western Thunderer
Jon,

It's the faffing about mixing flux and setting the job up so that the flux doesn't fire solder around the place when it boils. I'm assuming the solder paste is bound with flux so it should just be a case of cleaning the workpiece, dobbing the solder paste on and then heating.

Steph
 

adrian

Flying Squad
I sympathise with the flux bubbling and moving the job - infuriating- it's one of the reasons I now almost entirely use the silver solder paste instead
I've yet to try the silver solder paste but I will order some and give it a go.

I'm still stuck in the silver solder pillions and easy-flo flux method. I find a slow gentle warming of the flux reduces the bubbling but I also use binding wire where possible to hold the components together whilst soldering.
Search Results - cooksongold.com
 

Giles

Western Thunderer
That is indeed the stuff...... no extra flux is needed. As always, clean the job with a needle file or emery - except the bits you don't want to take. Indeed, I tend to heat and blacken all parts (of valve gear, for instance) and then only clean back bits that I actually want to solder.
With jobs like that (please forgive me if I'm teaching my Grandmother to suck eggs!) I remove from direct light so I can see more easily, an carefully play the torch only on the receiving link, and as soon as the solder flashes to molten, take the flame away.

Cookson also do ceramic tiles and bricks which I use for heating on cheaply,
Soldering Block 150 X 100 X 25mm Asbestos Substitute

and also COOL PASTE . Magic stuff, which means you can protect anything delicate from heat, and silver solder within an inch of it....
Technoflux Heat Insulating Paste 120ml
 
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Tim Watson

Western Thunderer
Silver soldering is much easier on very small pieces using the paste systems, but it seems to run out of metal content on a larger piece. Absolutely essential to pin pieces down to a block (e.g. charcoal) when soldering. Much of the valve gear on the loco below uses silver soldering techniques and will sooner or later appear in an MRJ article.

b82teq.jpg


Tim
 

Giles

Western Thunderer
I've not found too much problem with soldering larger elements myself - this chassis is entirely silver soldered with paste, including the angle running from front to back. I must say that my work is not a patch on Tim's extraordinarily watch-making skills, which are exemplar!

I do sometimes use the little ceramic blocks with ceramic pins to jig the job up and square whilst heating - about a fiver from Cooksongold again.... (no connection)


Cylinders SSoldered on by giles favell, on Flickr
 
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