Sheepscot Scale Products Conveyor

[Oldguy]

Next up, a Red Devil coal conveyor .  The starting point is a Sheepscot Scale Products conveyor (no longer in production).  The kit is rather basic - a brass etching sheet, two small plastic tubes, and a chunk of larger tubing.  No belt material or shafting is provided.
The first thing that I did was to scan in the brass etchings.  The plan was to adhere these to cardboard for planning purposes since the conveyor will have to be shortened.  I couldn't find any cardboard so I used some 1/8" foam board.  The conveyor is going to be placed opposite of the cinder conveyor, with the intent that a steam locomotive can drop the ashes and load coal at the same time.  As a result space is really, really tight.
So first up is to draw the the area profile.  I used the magnetic gluing jig to establish the horizontal and vertical planes.  Then locate the tie height and inside rail spacing.  (Hmmm, the ME code 83 rail is out of gauge on the wide side.)  Next was to establish clearances for both set of tacks using the NMRA gauge.  This gives me the working envelope for the conveyor itself.  Another parameter that needed attention was  the discharge chute placement.  Can't be too far off center, not too high or low relative to a tender.  I am using a Tichy Train Group coal chute TTG 8003.  Apparently, is was made for the coal tower kit as the included instructions are really bare.  No matter, as the long chute is all I need.  It is just a matter of conveyor placement if I need to shorten it or not.
At least now I have a general idea of what I am up against.

[Oldguy]

Okay, I got basic out of the way.  Now what about the angle?  It is going to be steep, no getting around that.   I looked at the angle of the clearance gauge and found it was at a 60 degrees.  I love that over some odd one as the reaming bits will be easier to draw and cut.

Since this is a flat belt conveyor it is going to need cleats for product movement, other wise it would just roll back down the belt.  And that means it is going to need some raised sides.  But how high?  Then I noticed the fret sides.  Bingo!  Instant side material.  So now I need to modify my dummy side piece.  I had made two copies of the scan, so it was just a matter of cutting a new one taking into account the new depth requirements.   Then it was a matter of cutting it to what I think will be the new needed length.  What that all done, it is a matter of drawing in the pit profile.
I have a bunch of 0.058" scrap plastic which works out be about 5 scale inches.  Double up mot sides and triple up the back for the pit walls.  Then it was on to determining the care discharge width and length.  I snagged a copy of a plan for a Red Devil off a NG forum and down loaded photos of the Oriental Model that was produced in brass to figure out the slope sheets.  Unfortunately, these are not as steep as mine, so I still need to work out how the coal is to get where it need to go in the area where the conveyor comes out of the pit.  There is a plate and gate at the bottom of the pit to control the coal entering the conveyor and I might be able to extend the plate further up the conveyor.  I'll have to figure it out tomorrow.
I'm thinking that I need to build something a lot easier next time, such a Master Creations Minerva Casket or a SS LTD Toad Suck Canning kit.

[GPdemayo]

This is something different.....looking forward to the build. 

[Jerry]

Love these kits should be a good one!

Jerry

[Oldguy]

I think I found the problem with posting, this system hates cut and pasting from Word.

[deemery]

I think I found the problem with posting, this system hates cut and pasting from Word.

Others have had similar problems. It's probably due to the hidden mark-up characters in Word.  Before copying, try this:  Select your text, go to Format -> Styles.  Change the bottom menu to show "List All Styles"  Now select "Normal (Web)", copy and paste.  See if that fixes the problem.


(Word is an abomination anyway.)


dave

[Oldguy]

I think I found the problem with posting, this system hates cut and pasting from Word.

Others have had similar problems. It's probably due to the hidden mark-up characters in Word.  Before copying, try this:  Select your text, go to Format -> Styles.  Change the bottom menu to show "List All Styles"  Now select "Normal (Web)", copy and paste.  See if that fixes the problem.


(Word is an abomination anyway.)


dave

Thanks for the intervention.  Apparently my Word version is different.  I finally found where I could change the style to normal web and still no joy.  I agree, I hate Word, but then I started as a WordPerfect guy.  I'll try to just rewrite it, in sections and see what happens.  The only reason I put it in Word in the first place was that my first posting didn't take and I was too lazy to rewrite the whole thing.

[Oldguy]

The more I looked at the pit, the more I realized that I need to put the conveyor together.  I removed the parts using a #17 chisel blade and then took a deep breath and cut the conveyor sides t length at a convenient vertical member.  I did a quick check of the alignment and something was off.  Why didn't the holes line up?  Apparently, there is an A and B end and I flipped one of the sides over.

[Oldguy]

Since I have three kits, I stole an additional side and this time making sure that everything lined up and made another end.  I made the same cuts to the horizontal sections, no A and B ends here.  The instructions state to solder the horizontal sections to one vertical piece forming a U shape piece and then solder that to the remaining vertical member.  I managed to solder the first piece without too much of an issue, but trying to solder the second piece was more of a challenge as there is very little working space.  I did use soldering paste for these longish pieces, but still managed to loosen a joint or two on the other side.  But I got 'er done.  But how in the world to join all of this to the last side with out popping any thing else loose.  I chickened out and just used the Loctite 430 and glued it on.

[Oldguy]

Now that the basic conveyor body was done, I needed a way of adding the lower end roller.  I could have skipped this as it wouldn't be seen, but no.  It should be there.  In the Tichy coal chute kit, there was some bracket that looked good enough to use.  It was a simple matter of drilling out the axle holes on the brackets, add some scrap brass to mount them on, and voila. 

Now on the conveyor side extensions.  I cut out some of the fret material and glued them on, using the axle holes for placement.  That was a disaster as there is hardly any material available for the sides to hold onto.  I was hoping that they would stay on at least until I could get the rollers installed as they would give additional support.
So on to plan B.  I'll use some .015" plastic and go full depth.  A quick measurement for needed height and cut a strip and glue it on to each side.  Next stop for paint.

[MAP]

I'll be watching as well.  Looks like you're doing very well so far!

[PRR Modeler]

I'll be following. Great job so far.

[Oldguy]

Mark and Curt, thanks for the support.
I managed to get the conveyor frame painted.  I'm still hesitant about using an air brush, but it does give better results.  I was worried about the inside frame getting painted, but it came out fine.  Now on to the rollers.
All but two of the rollers are made from the provided small tubing.  The two end rollers are made from a short piece of larger tubing.  Since the kit provides no axle material, I dug through my metal supplies.  The smaller rollers are are not an issue.  But the larger ones are a different animal.  One just can't use the same axle material as they are out in the open.  Luckily, or perhaps by design, I found that all was needed was a decent supply of brass tubing.  All it took was 5 sizes, all cut to length m/l to form the final product.  Once all rollers and brass tubing was cut, it was a simple mater of painting the ends.
I should mention a new favorite tool - the ScopeAround.  It is sold as a battery operated screwdriver.  But when out fitted with a MicroMark Drill Chuck For Ultra Tech Precision Power Screwdriver it turns into a fantastic battery powered pin vise.  One does need a USB charger.

[S&S RR]

Bob


I'm following along as well.  You're off to a great start.

[Oldguy]

I cut and painted all the rollers and found some brass rod for the axles.  I had picked out some steel rod to use but soon realized that I had no way to flush cut the stuff.
First up was the exposed end roller.  I got everything together and then realized that I need to add grab irons to the discharge cute.  That was going to be royal pain if it was attached.  So take it all apart (it was good practice) and add the grabs.  One each side are little, very little dimples, as a guide to where they are to be located.  As luck would have it, the only straight grabs that I had were from Tichy and they matched the spacing.  But then they are long and need to be shortened.  So I made a quick jig, added a spacer, and then cut each end off.  But to aid in the drilling of the chute holes, I added a bunch of scrap plastic and left over foam board templates as a bed for the drill bit.  Theses were then AC'ed in place.
Then it was just a matter of placing the roller in place, thread the axle through one side piece, through the roller, and then through the other side.  Just get the free end flush, add glue, let set up for a bit, flush cut the long end, more AC, and then to the next.  The axle for the end roller also acts as a hinge for the chute and holds a pulley for the belt drive.