fowler 2" scale a7 steam traction engine build

11the September 2008. 1st session

This lever has been part made before, but since I have been 'developing' my model
engineering skills I have decided to re-make the lever.

After finding a suitable piece of stock material I used the height gauge and cast iron
table to mark out the position of four holes and a slot. I must admit I enjoy marking
out and have beniefited greatly in my levels of accuracy since buying the optical centre
punch and height gauge. Money well spent.

When drilling the holes, it was nice to see that using to digital readouts of the milling
machine to co-ordinate drill, they were exactly the same. Using the 3/64th drill to drill
through 1/4" of steel was a somewhat daunting. However the reality was somewhat
different and whilst taking it gently, the drill went through easily, much to my surprise.

The next task I undertook was to mill the sides to the correct taper. The scribed line
was used to measure each side of the lever blank so the line was level with the table.
The side was then milled to the line and to ensure the the tapers on each side matched
I placed the straight, unmilled side on top of the vice and used a digital angle meter to
read the angle.

Using the meter the other side was then placed in the vice and the cut made to the
scribed line. This procedure worked very well and the taper is in proportion.
However as I was coming to the end of the cut I thought about the next task to mill
sections of the top and bottom of the lever blank. I had just machined in a taper! So I
will have to make a fixture to hld it onto the mill table, using two of the holes drilled to
hold it. Doh! The best of it is that I thought this through before and forgot!

The next tasks will be to cut the lever to length, mill the top and bottom to shape,
radius one end and turn a handle top to silver solder onto the lever. After that there a
r several fittings to make for the assembly although they will wait until I come to that
sheet on the plans.

Time taken this session 2 hours 45 minutes

12th September 2008 session 2

Had a brief session this morning before going fishing with my brother Stephen.
Managed to secure the lever to some steel to protect the mill bed. After using the
digital readout system to cut the correct profile the one side of the lever was milled
down to size. However when releasing the clamps the lever was very bowed.

I read somewhere that by heating up the bar the tensions would be released. So it
was heated up to red heat and let to cool down itself and whilst it was the reason
to do it I was very surprised to see it get back into shape! Thats when Stephen
turned up so it was left outside to cool down. If youre interested in boat fishing at
sea have a look at our joint website www.dartmouthfishing.co.uk

Time taking this session 1 hour : total time 3hrs 45 mins

14th September 2008

After cleaning up the lever after its heating session, the second side was milled
down, leaving the high area required. The lever was then partly cleaned up and put
to one side. Next a section of square bar was cleaned up and the centre point of
one end, marked. It was then put into the 4 jaw chuck and turned down before a
small taper cut. The top slide was then adjusted again and a sharper taper cut to
form the end.

Once the shape was acceptable a strip of 400 grade wet and dry paper was
lubricated with 3 in 1 oil and the profile cleaned up. The next job to do will be to
bring the the sides to size and mill the slot before silver soldering the two parts
together.

Time taken this session 1 hour 15 minutes : total time taken 5hours.