(Another?) cautionary tale

Yes, dear readers, omscaler has had to solve a rather sticky production problem. Everything started out well enough. Scan in a drawing that was done on a master drawing sheet. As a point of fact, the new drawing was of a set of locomotive cabs needed for the current project. The drawings were added to a sheet of previous drawings used for storing the same for laser cutting when needed. The scan went well as usual. Then the idea of copying and pasting the new cab drawings from the master file to a new blank file was done. No problem. The cab drawing was “cleaned up” (more on that in another post). Then pasted into the laser cutting file. The laser was readied. The cut was started. Then something strange happened. Omscaler noticed that the cut time seemed unusually long. Not good. When the same was finished, the finished cab side was huge. Looked four times larger than it needed to be. What went wrong? Omscaler began to investigate. All looked well. Let’s try another cut. This time span seemed better. The finished cut was too small. A night’s sleep was planned to avert frustration. The next day, a plan was tried to clean up the cab drawings “in situ”. Then just one drawing was transferred to the laser cut file. The cut turned out on spec. Oh happy day. Then the rest were done correctly as well. What caused the original dimensional deviation? Omscaler does not know. Since we found a solution, we will repeat what works in the future. Sticking to the plan, omscaler

 

Still on the fence?

As of this post, most boiler-top parts are complete. Modifications may have to be done at point of installation. The locomotives still need running boards, air compressors and air reservoir. Also, just prior to writing this post, omscaler drew cutting drawings for the cab sides to be done on the hobby laser. Then the drawings were scanned in and stored with other laser cutting drawings which are kept for future use. Omscaler believes that the fence has been crossed as far as procrastination. The weather is hot and humid here and contributes to a lack of progress. This week will have some chores needing to be done as well as more progress on The Omega Scale Railway. We will keeping pushing forward. On the point, omscaler

 

A plethora of parts

This last week saw omscaler digging into parts making. We believe we now have enough parts to fit out the tops of the boilers. Three each of front number plates, headlights, smoke stacks, bells, sand domes, steam domes. We now need cabs, air reservoirs and air compressors. As you can see, still plenty to do. The plan for the cabs is to cut them out with the laser. The final decision on this has not been made. The cab sides are probably the only parts that will be cut. Until next post, omscaler

 

Another week, another dome?

It seems like omscaler is just inching along. We do have a sand dome for the American (4-4-0) locomotive. We have three headlight lenses. These are scheduled for a remake. We have one smoke stack for the above mentioned locomotive. As readers will recall, we generally need three of everything. Three boilers, three cabs, Etc. However, last week turned into get more chores done week. And now omscaler feels like things are running late. Oh well. As the saying goes. We will get ‘er done. Also, last but not least, Happy Fourth of July! Gotta’ celebrate the founding of the country! Until next post, omscaler

 

Wiggling off the track?

Last week started off well, it being Father’s Day and all. Monday evening saw me getting home after lunch with my son to a steak and baked potato dinner prepared by my oldest daughter. Saturday and Sunday were spent with my youngest daughter with good food as well. Caught a fish too! As a further note, the oldest daughter is staying with me until her apartment arrangements are complete. Glad for the visit. You dear reader may be wondering what this has to do with the OSR. Omscaler is wondering a little “hisself”. A little distraction here. A little there. So now Friday finds omscaler with little being accomplished. We did make preparations for expanding the module using a thirty inch by five-foot box-beam table. When this table is adjacent to the “variable desk” where the current module is located it will be very imposing. Fortunately, it easily dissassembles. Until next week, omscaler

 

We did it.

The steam valve gear and cylinders are done. Omscaler did change to a better approach and that made all the difference. Some of the piston rod gear is there but very rudimentary. Next we need to work higher on the locomotives. A number of appliances are placed on the very top of the boiler jacket. These have in fact been made for the two preceding locomotives so omscaler is hoping time may be saved. As said before, we shall see. Working the work, omscaler

 

The effort continues

Last Friday omscaler was working on the three locomotives project. The last parts worked on were the Stephenson valve chests. As work was being done, the part for the body delaminated. Omscaler decided to continue with another part. This part too delaminated. At this point, omscaler decided to call it a day. This gave time to reflect on the problem and think about a solution. In thinking back, this problem may have happened before. Anyway, we have a working plan and should be making good progress at the time of this post. Getting the work done, omscaler