Falk Locomotive build

[bparrish]

Hal...

The stand looking device that the chuck is mounted to is the indexing table.  I have it standing on the cross feed of the lathe.

There is a spring loaded pin that drops into the indexing wheel inside the stand.

I'll put up a photo later tonight that shows it better.

see ya
Bob

[gnatshop]

Glad to see that the butt numbness from travelin' has worn off and you're back to
amazin' us! 

[bparrish]

So here is how an indexing table works.

The Unimat system allows for placing the table in all manner of locations to get most anything done, vertical or horizontal.

It has a series of cores that are cut to different teeth combinations.  I have a 30, a 36 and a 48 tooth indexing core.  They are shown below.  This gives all sorts of options.......... the 30 gives anything consisting of fives or tens, and threes.  The thirty six gives any combination or sixes, nines and twelves.  The forty eight tooth gives combinations or twelves fours and sixes.  Between these three indexes most anything is possible. It is a matter of counting how many teeth between each cut.  With a 48 I could count twelve between each cut and get perfect quarters.

Shown on the actual table, you can see the back side of the index core for the 48 tooth core held in with a snap ring.  The thumb wheel on the left is spring loaded and drops into the various teeth of the core.  Then the core is locked at the top during cutting to prevent any motion.

The trick to making this work is that once you start, neither the cutting wheel or the gear being cut can be removed from the table for any reason.  The chances of it returning to the same location is nearly zero.

You can return to the previous posts to see the gear wheel being cut from the other side.

see ya
Bob

[LongHornCaddy]

Serious WOW factor!!

[bparrish]

So here is the cut gear.  Normally with a gear hobber the leading and trialing edge of the teeth would be cut at the same time.  This allows for the rolling radius of both the bull and pinion gears.

I don't use a hobber so those two additional angles must be cut by repositioning the cutter wheel about fifteen degrees above and below the center axis of the gear.

The rest will be taken out by the pinion gear.  A project for a few weeks from now.

see ya
Bob

[bparrish]

So here is the bull gear off of the cutting chuck and ready to go to a different indexing table lash up.

The brass hub which on the prototype is a really big casting is mapped here for the cutting of the spokes.  The steel gear will be pressed off so that the spokes can be cut out to the edge.

The number of steps for this one part is amazing.  I write instructions to myself so as to remember what order stuff has to be machined in.  This has a LOT of steps.  The gear was times 48 for all of the teeth but the spokes are only times 6.

see ya
Bob

[S&S RR]

Great to see our machinist back!  Great work Bob.

[bparrish]

After a bazillion machining steps the bull gear for the winch is roughed in. 

I have it just hanging on the main shaft as it presses on really tight and I have too much finish work to do on it to work it with the shaft in the way.

see ya
Bob

[halrey]

Nice Bob!

[GPdemayo]

Glad to see you back at this amazing project Bob. 

[jrmueller]

Once again amazing work Bob

[deemery]

Could you provide a brief description of how you milled the spokes?  Did you take any photos of the process?


dave

[clevermod01]

Wow, I seem to say that a lot on this thread

[bparrish]

Dave....

I got cooking and never took any photos while it was lashed up... 

But here is the setup.

I turned out a centering pin the fits in the center of the milling table to hold the wheel center still in case anything moves while I'm moving around the various hold down clamps.



The following photo shows the spoke wheel being held down.  Each setting allowed me to cut two spokes and then the wheel would need to have the clamps relocated. 

The milling table was mounted to the indexing device and I used the 48 tooth index core and counted eight steps to get the six spokes.  I cut all 6 spokes on one side by turning the wheel then relocated the cross feed to do the other side of the spokes.

It still needs a lot of file and cleaning work but it's close.

see ya
Bob

[bparrish]

So here is the lash up of the pinion gear.  I'm cutting it as if it was a splined shaft.  Then cut it off later.

A hole will be drilled up the center while it is still true in the chuck.

see ya
Bob