Loco Frame (work in progress)

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whirlybomber
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Joined: Wed Aug 14, 2013 6:54 am

Loco Frame (work in progress)

Post by whirlybomber »

So I have a picuture of something I am working on -
Loco Frame work in progress.png
Loco Frame work in progress.png (48.12 KiB) Viewed 6656 times
It's a bit of a cheat really. It's made up of individual pieces exported as .stp files, then all imported into a new Part and aligned by moving the individual .stp's, without any sort of parametric alignment. Works for me though so far.
whirlybomber
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Re: Loco Frame (work in progress)

Post by whirlybomber »

So now there is a new place for these progress pictures to go, here is another one.
Screenshot from 2014-02-18.png
Screenshot from 2014-02-18.png (86.18 KiB) Viewed 6410 times
It is a reimplementation of the model in this http://www.ameng.com.au/85_ame_422_manual.htm. The bogie frames and the cab ends are not going to be in my model as they are castings the same as the original one, but I am redoing the body frame and all the electrical and braking (or so the idea is).

I'm going to need to sort out some different colours for the different parts as well.
whirlybomber
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Re: Loco Frame (work in progress)

Post by whirlybomber »

Bit more progress. Lots of time spent getting dimensions correct, few new parts added.

The overall lenght is 1686mm.
2014 02 27 progress.jpeg
2014 02 27 progress.jpeg (69.52 KiB) Viewed 6325 times
And a detail view of the Coupler Pocket with the Apron hidden.
2014 02 27 No 2 end detail.jpeg
2014 02 27 No 2 end detail.jpeg (58.21 KiB) Viewed 6325 times
Made with FreeCAD on Linux using the daily PPA.

Now I need to get to making .dxf's or .pdf's of the individual profiles so I can get them cut in 3mm plywood or MDF to test the fit of everything.
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bejant
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Re: Loco Frame (work in progress)

Post by bejant »

Interesting that it's named 5" Gauge and not 127 mm...
whirlybomber
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Re: Loco Frame (work in progress)

Post by whirlybomber »

Hello bejant, the live steam model railroad hobby has been around since the 1930's or 1940's in various sizes (starting with the smaller ones like 2.5" then 3.5" and 5") so in english-speaking countries the names were set long before we moved over to the SI units. I don't know what it is like in other places, but I imagine in France they would call it 127mm as they were early adopters of the whole SI thing. But that's only a guess.

So I have some more pictures of updates.
2014 03 02 progress.jpeg
2014 03 02 progress.jpeg (34.93 KiB) Viewed 6260 times
More details in the Roof, with some grills, some fans and a basic rib/stringer structure to hold it together.

There are also some lumpy blocks underneath for placeholders for the Bogies. I'm not modelling them as I don't have much in the way of dimensional details for them, and I intend to purchase cast aluminium bogie frames anyway.
2014 03 02 detail of hinges.jpeg
2014 03 02 detail of hinges.jpeg (36.52 KiB) Viewed 6260 times
Looking at the detail of the end of the roof on the body, these hinges are designed so they should alow the roof to close down in the gap in the body with no externally visible hinge parts. Also, hopefully they will not foul on the cast aluminium cab ends that go in the big gaps.

Anyway, hopefully I will know for certain in a week or two as I just sent out emails to ~6 laser cutting companies to ask for quotes on the pieces (in Ply or MDF, not steel yet) so I should be putting together something pysical in a week or two.
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yorik
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Re: Loco Frame (work in progress)

Post by yorik »

Amazing work whirlybomber... Please keep it coming!
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NormandC
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Re: Loco Frame (work in progress)

Post by NormandC »

Seeing it being built is very cool.

Going with a dedicated forum and dedicated topics for each project was a good idea from jriegel.
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psicofil
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Re: Loco Frame (work in progress)

Post by psicofil »

Excellent job you're carrying out ;) . Continue so I want to see more. sorry for my bad english.
Ing. Gomez Lucio
Scope Ingenieria (scopeingenieria.com)
whirlybomber
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Joined: Wed Aug 14, 2013 6:54 am

Re: Loco Frame (work in progress)

Post by whirlybomber »

Great News everyone! I got 2 quotes back from the 6 Laser Cutting services I asked!


Bad News everyone! The prices were way higher than I expected. Like order-of-magnitude higher.


Great News everyone! I have a Shapeoko so I can cut the pieces out myself!


Bad News everyone! The working volume of my (upgraded) Shapeoko is only ~180x780mm. So I am having to section the bigger parts before I cut them and then I'm going to have to do some extra stick-it-togetherness.

So progress has been shifted back to a low gear.

I'll post some pictures once I have something assembled.
whirlybomber
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Re: Loco Frame (work in progress)

Post by whirlybomber »

Back at last!

So this is a picture of the large parts being NC routed. Shall try to pick them up tomorrow. Need to cut the smaller pieces on my machine now so I can do the assembly. I tried cutting the big parts into sections that fit on my machine. The results were somewhere between "unacceptable" and "downright ugly".
MDF parts being cut.jpeg
MDF parts being cut.jpeg (61.36 KiB) Viewed 5970 times
Noticably missing are all the holes in the body side plates - since the cost of the cutting is directly driven by the machine time, and since I'm not intending to put the trim on that they are intended to hold in place on this mock up I deleted them to save time / money.
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