Tuesday 9 December 2008

Crossheads and castings


I have now completed milling out the crossheads. Three weeks ago these were 30mm thick lumps of 3" square steel bar, now look at them. As you can see, I'm going for a double slidebar arrangement, rather than the single one of the original one. This saves width at the front end, which then means I don't have to use that awful bent coupling rod. I have also made a set of patterns (cylinder set, chimney cap and base, smokebox door, brake blocks), and the trial castings are due back before the end of the year. Given that these are OK I aim to get several sets cast early in the new year.