Wichendon Machine Shop (restart)

[PRR Modeler]

That looks awesome Dave.

[nycjeff]

Hello Dave, it just keeps getting better and better. I have no idea how you are going to get all of the belts in their proper place. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress. Your machine shop work and Larry's sawmill work are raising the bar for all of us. Good job sir.

[jbvb]

One thing I recall seeing somewhere (maybe the Lowell NHP spinning room, maybe an old Home Shop Machinist article) has power on/power off controlled by a tensioner roller - push the roller over to tension the belt and start the machine, pull it back to stop it. Belt is still over the drive pulley, so dangerous, but that's how things were before there were safety laws and owners' liability.

[deemery]

The tool shafts with the belts:  (Here the tool shaft is Upside Down.)

One belt is horizontal, that will be attached to the drive shaft.  The other is vertical and will go to the cone pulley on the tool.)  Now the theory here is that I'll test-fit and trim the belt, then put some CA on the pulley, and carefully attach the belt to the pulley (such that the joint is on the underside of the pulley.)  The reality will probably require substantial amounts of profanity to work    Oh, and I'll have to glue the tools into position first.

I think I'll get some fresh thick CA, the stuff I've been using doesn't have quite as much initial tack as I want.  

dave

[PRR Modeler]

You're making good progress for such a complex setup.

[craftsmankits]

Dang, this is looking good. Nice progress.  Please keep us updated, and if possible, more photos.  Thanks, Mark

[Michael Hohn]

Looks good.

[Rick]

Dave, you're making steady progress on the shafts and belts.
Coming together nicely.

[nycjeff]

Hello Dave, the belts look great. This is definitely a forefront model I hope. There is so much detail to look at.

[deemery]

Well, I figured out how to add the drill press.  It'll be run off the main drive shaft, with 2 pulleys on that shaft and a shifter lever.  But when I was touching up paint on the shifter lever, I knocked over a bottle of paint onto the work desk.  Nothing serious was "repainted," but it was a mess to clean up, particularly washing the paint off of tools.  So after I cleaned that up, I stopped work for the day, and ran the vacuum cleaner (the floor was a mess.)

So I'll try again tomorrow.  I need to add the belt to one of the 2 pulleys on the drive shaft, and also reglue some belts that came loose.  As I mentioned, my CA was old and not holding very well, so tomorrow I'll start with a new small tube of fresh CA gel. 

dave

[Philip]

Looking great Dave!

[deemery]

This morning I glued (wood Flamingo Glue) the shaft assemblies into place on the roof rafters, with the model turned upside down (the assemblies glue to the underside of the ceiling joists.)  That was tricky, the belts fought me and it was hard to make sure the supports were in proper alignment.  This afternoon, I'll flip the model back over, check alignment, and probably lock things into place with CA from above.  I'll connect the tool shaft belts to the main shaft pulleys.  Then I'll need to glue the tools into position, and start connecting the belts down to the tools.  That should take the rest of the week (and I'm sure many naughty words) to get everything hooked up....

add:  The tool shafts are in place.  This is starting to look like a real belt drive machine shop.


dave

[friscomike]

Howdy Dave,  The shaft assemblies look fantastic.  Your attention to the details is really paying off.  BTW, the masking tape is not prototypical.    Have fun, mike

[deemery]

The masking tape marks the doorways, so I don't put machines there.  Think of those as the prototype's placemats :-) :-)

dave

[Rick]

"This is starting to look like a real belt drive machine shop."

Yes it is.