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WW1 Thornycroft restoration


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Off-topic, but when I made a lid for a ceremonial drinking vessel I found:

http://www.pewtersheet.co.uk/ who sell pre-cut circles.

 

Thanks Andy. I was looking for a source for more pewter discs. I should mention that not only is it easier to spin pewter rather than brass but the shape which I chose as a first attempt is much more straightforward than the "tube" that Steve is trying to replicate.

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Yesterday was the moment of truth for the king pin cover! First task was to mount the new chuck and turn a 30° angle on it.

 

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Then mount my 20swg disc.

 

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And have a go, using the borrowed spinning tool.

 

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The tool actually seemed too big at this point so I reverted to my own tools.

 

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A couple of goes, annealing in between, and it went down quite well.

 

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Re-cut the chuck to 45° and have another go.

 

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The chuck behind allowed me to push the brass against something and push any ripples out.

 

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And again. 60° this time. The ripples are becoming more pronounced.

 

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75° this time.

 

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Serious ripples at the edge this time. This scrapped the last one so, with nothing to lose, I took the job out and beat the ripples out with a hammer and a block of wood. I also took the opportunity to trim 1/2" of excess from the end.

 

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One more go and it was down.

 

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Change the chuck over for the finishing one, parallel and to size this time.

 

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It's down! Home straight now!

 

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Cut it to length

 

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A quick buff and it is done!

 

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It needs some more polishing but it is now on and there is a great sense of relief!

 

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The videos which were so kindly pointed my way showed proper spinners laying down pewter and copper in one go in about ten minutes. I am not a proper spinner so it took me yesterday afternoon and this morning to do it, annealing in between something like fifty times altogether. This is probably not very cost-effective but the job is done and I did it, with a little help from my friends.

 

On to the next challenge now!

 

Steve :-D

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Thanks Paul. You just have to want to do it and stick with it until you have got there. Anyone can do it if they have those!

 

With the front end all but there for the time being, we thought it time to start looking at the back axle. We eyed them up and picked the least corroded of the two we have before pulling it out of the shed.

 

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The spring securing bolts were still there but a few good swipes with a lump hammer soon drove them through.

 

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Then we removed the last remaining diff securing stud. It wouldn't go at first but some heat soon sorted that out.

 

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Then it was the turn of the brake cam shafts. First thing was to remove the pinch bolt from the bottom of the actuating levers. This was done with heat and a cold chisel on the nuts. The bolt was then knocked out before driving the shaft from the lever with a piece of rod and a hammer.

 

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Once the cam shaft was out, the thin sheet dust cover could be removed.

 

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Then it was the turn of the tie bar. The nuts were ground through and split off. Unfortunately, the strap is paper thin in places and will have to be replaced.

 

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Then the brake shoe anchor pins had to come out. Lots of heat and the 3/4" drive socket soon sorted them out. Again, they are very corroded so Father will make some replacements in due course.

 

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Edited by Old Bill
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With the brake cams removed, the remains of the dust covers could be taken off. These are very battered and corroded and need replacing but under the gunge, there are still signs of service green paint. Very nice to see!

 

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After all of this, we sorted out the brake shoes ready for the sand blaster as they will be needed very soon.

 

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Finally, the axle stowed away ready for cleaning tomorrow. Lots of wire brushing and elbow grease needed!

 

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Edited by Old Bill
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Good luck with your spinning, Ben. Let's see if it can be repeated! The secret which really made it for me was to have a selection of chucks at different angles against which to lay it down. They allowed me to work the wrinkles out each time.

 

Yesterday, we made use of the wonderful weather to start cleaning the axle casing up. We did so well between us that Father even finished painting it!

 

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Father has also been busy today. He had the brake shoes sand blasted and got a coat of paint on them as well. Now we need some drums to try them in!

 

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We fitted the track rod onto its new ball joints and wll went ell until the last fraction of a turn on the nuts on the RHS when the ball locked up solid. I need to lap a couple more thou from the cup end just to give some clearance. There will be no back-lash anyway!

 

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Finally, I fitted the fan belt. As you can see, there is no adjustment and the belt worked out to be almost a whole link too long so there is a lot of slack. I'm not sure how this will work out or whether there will be enough tension to drive the fan so I guess we will have to suck it and see. We may well be back to link belts very shortly!

 

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We fitted the track rod onto its new ball joints and wll went ell until the last fraction of a turn on the nuts on the RHS when the ball locked up solid. I need to lap a couple more thou from the cup end just to give some clearance. There will be no back-lash anyway!

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]103270[/ATTACH]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Steve,

I have come across this type of ball joint before and they often have shims, this way as any bedding in takes place it can be tightened up by re-shimming.

Just a thought!

 

cheers Richard

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It seems a pity that there are no short or long links available to take up the slack on the fan belt, but maybe it did not need any.

 

trevor

 

I have been thinking about that. If I make up a couple of the steel pieces 1/8" longer, I will be able to lose a link and set the length much more closely. Something to do for the weekend!

 

Steve

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I wonder if there might have been a clip on the prong to keep the drain plug captive in the sump?

 

In fact, it was to locate the bottom of the oil level float. This is a brass float on a piece of aluminium tube with the top of the tube poking out of the top of the crank case. We had two originals from which I made a good one (See post about 18 months ago). On one, the float was secured by swaging the tube and on the other by split pins put through it. I replaced the tube and used the split pin method for simplicity. Unfortunately, the split pin prevents the prong from entering the tube! One of our sumps had ththis long prong and the other a simple plug. Father repaired the prong and I made the float to suit the plug!

 

I suspect that the float arrangement used to stick as it is only located in the top so the prong was a later mod to keep it all in line.

 

Some things do not become obvious until you try to put it together!

 

Steve

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Hi Steve,

I have come across this type of ball joint before and they often have shims, this way as any bedding in takes place it can be tightened up by re-shimming.

Just a thought!

 

cheers Richard

 

Yes, we could shim it and that was my first thought. However, none of the joints we have dismantled have had any shims at all and it is so nearly there that it only wants a couple of thou to get it right. We will have to see how my patience lasts whilst lapping it out!

 

Cheers!

 

Steve

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Our current efforts are directed towards getting the back axe and wheels fitted to give ourselves a rolling chassis. To that end I have been working on the brake drums. Readers may remember that we managed to break one whilst trying to take the back axle apart and that the remainder were in very poor condition. Our joiner friend, Mark, did the donkey work for a pattern which I finished off and Father took to the foundry. Well, the castings have been in my living room for a year, leaning against the book case waiting for the day when they would be machined. Well, that day has come! Thanks to our good friend Adrian who once again very kindly made his huge Oldfield and Schofield lathe available, the job is done.

 

Set up in the jaws on the face plate, I started by boring the first one through.

 

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The odd toolpost arrangement forced me to mount the tool inverted and cut on the far side. This was not as stiff as I had hoped but I managed to keep the chatter to a minimum by taking only modest cuts

 

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Then a knife tool in a conventional position to face the front and finish the diameter.

 

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The bore and rear faces completed I reversed the chuck jaws and faced the fronts.

 

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Job done and it only remains to drill, spot face and fit them to the wheels.

 

Thank you Adrian! We couldn't do this without our friends!

 

Steve :thumbsup:

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Yes, we could shim it and that was my first thought. However, none of the joints we have dismantled have had any shims at all and it is so nearly there that it only wants a couple of thou to get it right. We will have to see how my patience lasts whilst lapping it out!

 

Cheers!

 

Steve

they may have done when new.....but as wear took its toll the shims were removed to take up any slap...

 

 

it would seem prefectly sensible to have used shims.....let us not forget that it was the fitter that made it all work smoothly back in them days...

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Our current efforts are directed towards getting the back axe and wheels fitted to give ourselves a rolling chassis. To that end I have been working on the brake drums. Readers may remember that we managed to break one whilst trying to take the back axle apart and that the remainder were in very poor condition. Our joiner friend, Mark, did the donkey work for a pattern which I finished off and Father took to the foundry. Well, the castings have been in my living room for a year, leaning against the book case waiting for the day when they would be machined. Well, that day has come! Thanks to our good friend Adrian who once again very kindly made his huge Oldfield and Schofield lathe available, the job is done.

 

Set up in the jaws on the face plate, I started by boring the first one through.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]103440[/ATTACH]

 

The odd toolpost arrangement forced me to mount the tool inverted and cut on the far side. This was not as stiff as I had hoped but I managed to keep the chatter to a minimum by taking only modest cuts

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]103441[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]103442[/ATTACH]

 

Then a knife tool in a conventional position to face the front and finish the diameter.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]103443[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]103444[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]103445[/ATTACH]

 

The bore and rear faces completed I reversed the chuck jaws and faced the fronts.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]103446[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]103447[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]103448[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]103449[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]103450[/ATTACH]

 

Job done and it only remains to drill, spot face and fit them to the wheels.

 

Thank you Adrian! We couldn't do this without our friends!

 

Steve :thumbsup:

would the fronts have been faced off originally? Edited by flandersflyer
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Steve, the brake rings look great.

 

The old lathe is interesting, no tailstock and the toolpost looks as though it belongs on a capstan lathe; presumably it was intended to do a simular job as you have done on the brake rings with repeatable accuracy on large batch machining.

 

 

John

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