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Workshop latest

January 09

Well after nearly a two year wait I finally received the first pour from the cylinder block pattern. As you would expect after this length of time its no surprise their have been some challenges. However the casting looks fine although I have a fair bit of sand still to extricate from some hard to get at nooks and crannies. The pour also included the cylinder covers front steam chest cover and pistons. The rear steam chest cover was cast last year and is shown further down this page.

All steam inlet and exhaust passageways have been cored in which should mean that the amount of machining should be reduced. Its a bit daunting seeing something I drew probably four years ago finally in the flesh. All I can say is I thought the springs on the front truck were a bit heavy ... not any more.

 

December 08

The rapid prototype cast form wax's for the boiler supports arrived from America this week. Hopefully I will get them cast in the new year

 

 

 

January 2008.

This month the good news is that things are starting to move on the cylinder block front. The patterns have been with the foundry since April 2007. Not a problem though, as its hardly something i need at the moment, but regular casting keeps the cost down so i like to do at least one major pour every year.

This tends to coincide with the latest pattern i have commissioned, in 2007 that was the cylinder block. This year its the tender truck but that's for another time. On this visit i also picked up 4 lost wax cast iron castings of the cross head guide cover.

I had these castings done using thermojet printing which is described in the frame bracket section

©2007 Northernsteam