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Hi all,
Thought I would throw out to the group an update on a project that I have been working on for some time. I have been very fortunate to have support from people on this group. Attached is a picture of a "prototype" of a CB&Q # 7 truck in 1.6 scale (live steam ride on scale). Hope the pic makes it. The truck is not complete. But it is complete enough for road tests. I am currently constructing a frame so I can put this truck through some tests to see if it will work. Ir it proves our satisfactorily, I will finish it off with brakes and journal box lids. Long term intent is to have the spiral back wheels as well. I plan on building "production" trucks out of white oak. White Oak is a closed cell wood, much like cypress. The bolt ends will of course be trimmed. And there are a couple other minor issues that need to be addresses. All the castings except for the brake hangers are silicon bronze and this truck rides on roller bearings. A # 2 truck is also possible using the basic castings. Some castings will have to be developed due to the longer wheelbase. My development of this was done in AutoCAD. Parts were drawn full size, then scaled down to 1.6, assembled in a drawing, checked for issues, and finally dimensioned drawings produced. The items for casting were copied, scaled up to allow for shrinkage and plastic rapid prototypes were produced. These were used as masters for the lost wax silicon bronze casting process. I have also produced some direct to metal pieces. The brake hangers on the end beams are direct to metal where the drawing of the part needed is sent and a stainless steel bronze impregnated metal part is shipped back. Fascinating. I will probably try this technology on other parts of the truck eventually. Great thing about the direct metal printing is there is no further machining of the castings needed. The silicon bronze has sprues that need to be cut off, holes need to be drilled and in the case of the journal box and pedestal, the vertical bearing surfaces need to be machined on a mill. Most of this journey is documented here: http://forums.railfan.net/forums.cgi?board=LiveSteam;action=""> And yes, I plan on making these available. But that is another subject for a commercial post. Dale Grice  __._,_.___
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