flandersflyer Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 I guess it keeps the edge more homogenous, and so cracks and wrinkles are less sure where to start. The spinning videos all seem to do a lot of edge trimming with a tool for the job, so it shouldn't be too hard to trim to perfect circles when mounted and "set on" the former. my hands are doing OK thank you very much.... got some of that O`keefes stuff....seems to be helping... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flandersflyer Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 They make gas cylinders that way. But I can see it being tricky to do it as a spinning operation as you are trying to compress the metal into a smaller volume. they do copper cylinder tops n bottoms as well like this.....for your hot water cylinders you have at home..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asciidv Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 ...and it is now Sunday night and I keep wondering if Steve has been down to Devon this weekend to spin the brass cover. I just can't wait to see what he makes of it! Barry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Sorry Barry, you will have to wait a bit longer. Too much going on here. Earning a living gets in the way too! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenHawkins Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Steve, I am looking forward to you spinning the covers. I need to make a pair and would like to learn! Only tried metal spinning once and made nothing but scrap. Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andypugh Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Only tried metal spinning once and made nothing but scrap. I think I have acetylene generators in my future. Those will be moderately expensive scrap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 We are still pressing on with the front end as we really want to get the wheels on. As Steve has bored out the wheels, we need new bearings to suit. These are plain bronze bushes so Father started off by cutting two lumps from a £195- piece of bronze. He then put them up in the Colchester to bore them through including a chamfer to clear the radius on the stub axle. As the Myford has a better chuck, he mounted them with the jaws inside and a plug in the end supported by a centre before turning the outside. A quick check in the wheels, just to make sure and the two were passed to Steve to add the grease hole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 The original bushes have a number of holes to trap and transfer the grease. Although their position is not critical, the holes could more easily be located with the use of a dividing head. Steve is very fortunate to possess such an item and soon set them up and drilled them through. That’s another job ticked off! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 Thinking a bit more about the track rod, the ball joints would benefit from hardening. The originals were not very hard but that might have been because the surface had corroded away. Anyway, I decided to case harden the new ball joints. First step is to heat them to a bright red using the propane torch. Sorry, you can't see the glow but I ran out of hands at that point! Once red, they were stood in a tin of case hardening compound, known as 'Kasenit'. This is a grey powder, very high in carbon. The carbon soaks into the surface of the steel locally converting it to a 'high carbon' steel which can be hardened. The balls were then re-heated to bright red before quenching in cold water. They look quite rough at this stage but a stiff wire brushing soon cleans them up Track rod next. Steve (Trying to keep up with that Human Dynamo, Ben!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seb Marshall Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 A bit of healthy competition! Always a good thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 A little while back, Dad pulled out the track rods and the drag links for assessment. He had them sand blasted so that we could see what we had and they proved to be not very good. The drag links are very poor and are corroded to such an extent that the stell has gone in places leaving only the brazing material! We decided that the drag links cannot be saved and new ones are to be made. The un-bent track rod, we think will fight another day. However, the corrosion around the clamp is rather significant and needs attention. First job here was to drill out the pinch bolt and this was simply done in the milling vice using a slocumb drill to centre it. Then heat was applied before unscrewing the adjustable ball joint using a stillson wrench and a big mallet. It did not want to move! Examination of the spherical surfaces was not encouraging due to corrosion. However, we felt that we might just get them good enough by polishing them with a lap and then facing the castings to tighten them onto the ball ends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAN THE STEAM Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Great job on the ball joints, Steve. Keep up the good work guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_bish Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Its a pleasure to watch this thread build, some first class skills on show Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrevWringe Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I have to say that I’m completely hooked on this thread and eagerly await every development as the restoration continues. I read every page of the Dennis Truck restoration and found it spellbinding. Your skills and attention to detail are amazing. Thank you for having the patience to maintain this thread and to show so much detail of the work that you’re doing as you do it. Many congratulations to all involved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Glad to hear you are enjoying it, Trev. It is the only reason we do it! Steve :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 The female parts of the ball joints were all a bit poorly. However, I felt that we could probably get away with simply polishing them up and then tightening them to reduce the clearance. To that end, I turned up a simple lap out of a piece of ash with a spigot to go in the pistol drill. This was loaded with coarse valve grinding paste and run at low speed in the cavity taking care to keep the drill moving in random directions to prevent grooves from being cut. This worked reasonably well and gave enough surface for the balls to work against. This one was very bad but I think we might just get away with it. If not, we shall make some new ones! Then a joint was nipped up over a ball in the vice with a clock gauge set up against the end. It was shaken back and forth to estimate the clearance around the ball. This worked out to be about 0.015" so the cover was set up in the four-jaw and 0,012" removed leaving a little bit of movement but not too much. More help from our frends! Barry very kindly offerred to build up the clamp ring with weld, an offer gratefully accepted bearing in mind the quality of my welding! This took all morning which was much longer than I had anticipated. However, on dressing back, there were no inclusions and only a couple of places which needed a little filling. All ready for some paint! We will have the front wheels on very soon which will be a major step forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gritineye Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 What I like about these threads is that I learn a useful new technique every visit, keep 'em coming chaps, much appreciated. :bow: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted March 6, 2015 Author Share Posted March 6, 2015 One of the minor jobs that we have picked up from time to time, in between the more immediately important and major jobs was the recovery of the two “Brake Levers on the Compensating Sleeve”. The Hand Brake linkage was still in place on the chassis under the Shepherds Hut but was extremely rusty and mainly beyond recovery. We were optimistic that the Brake Levers were good enough to be used again if they could be recovered. The compensating shaft consists of a length of 1 1/4” diameter steel tube through which is inserted a length of 1” diameter steel bar which runs across the chassis – the 1” bar is held in a casting at each end and the tube must turn on the bar when the brakes are applied or released. The tube and its inner shaft were both bent and rusty and there was no way of getting the inner shaft out of the tube – so it had to be cut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted March 6, 2015 Author Share Posted March 6, 2015 With the centre section of the tube and bar removed, we simply applied some heat to the small ends with the levers and twisted them off the remains of the steel bar which were still held in the chassis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted March 6, 2015 Author Share Posted March 6, 2015 At this stage, we found that the two arms were attached to the tube by brazing and that there was no mechanical fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted March 6, 2015 Author Share Posted March 6, 2015 The levers and the remains of the tube which were still brazed together were sand blasted, just to clean them up and to make them nicer to handle. They were then placed in the Milling Machine and the remains of the tube were bored out. We now have the two levers, original parts – although quite wasted but are deemed strong enough to be used again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markyakyak Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 Could this be a Thornycroft ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted March 6, 2015 Author Share Posted March 6, 2015 Certainly is. Nicely colourised photo. The headlamp has been reversed to prevent damage to the glass. Probably resulting in him driving off the road in the dark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeePig Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Will you be carburising the female parts of the ball joints, or will they be all right as they are? trevor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cel Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Could this be a Thornycroft ? Same picture in b/w is in the museum at Ieper. I took a picture of the description that goes with it. Marcel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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