Boxcab Rebuild cont’d

Refitting the refit…

Well, the method I had started to use to add a flywheel to the power unit didn’t work.  It looked cool, but the small motor used in these units is a bit limited in its power and could not drive the belt driven flywheel.  It actually decreased performance quite a bit.

The idea was to make a post mounted to the unit into which two ball bearings were pressed.  Pulleys would be turned on the lathe and a belt fitted to drive a flywheel pressed onto the shaft.  After all this was made the results were disappointing, so I abandoned the idea.

Last night I turned a smaller flywheel and pressed it directly onto the shaft of the PDT power unit.  Initially I did not think there would be enough clearance for this, but it actually fit quite well.

A test run confirms that it will work very well.  Nice slow speed performance at a consistent crawl.  Once I add a decoder with back EMF the performance should be even better.

Now I just have to figure out how to mount it to the chassis.

On to Next Section

-T.

About the Author:

I'm your host, Tim Warris, a product developer in Port Dover, Ontario. Since March of 2007 I have been documenting the construction of the former CNJ Bronx Terminal in HO scale. For my day job, I design track building tools for Fast Tracks, a small company I own and operate. Fast Tracks makes it fast and easy to hand lay your own trackwork. Stop by our website to learn more!

Posted by: Tim | 11-04-2008 | 08:11 PM
Posted in: CNJ 1000 Boxcab | Latest Posts | Comments Off on Boxcab Rebuild cont’d

Springy Bird Thing

Guardian of the Tomatoes

This guy kept watch over the garden this past summer.  Must have worked, as I didn’t see anything making off with any tomatoes.

I’m testing out some new methods of posting to the blog.  The techniques I have been using in the past work well, but are cumbersome and time consuming.  I am considering dropping the Picture of the Day on the right side and just posting the images to the front page daily.  These images would be categorized to the Picture of the Day category so they could be easily viewed.

The upside would be a better chance of daily pictures being posted….

-T.

About the Author:

I'm your host, Tim Warris, a product developer in Port Dover, Ontario. Since March of 2007 I have been documenting the construction of the former CNJ Bronx Terminal in HO scale. For my day job, I design track building tools for Fast Tracks, a small company I own and operate. Fast Tracks makes it fast and easy to hand lay your own trackwork. Stop by our website to learn more!

Posted by: Tim | 11-04-2008 | 06:11 PM
Posted in: Latest Posts | Picture of the Day | Comments Off on Springy Bird Thing

New Chimneys for The Pit

Late Summer Projects

While I didn’t get as much done on the house as I had hoped this summer, too many other priorities, we did get a pretty good chunk of work done.

One of the last projects for the season was having the old chimneys rebuilt. They were both in very bad shape. One is still in use as a fireplace, the other has not been used in many years. I think it was for an old coal furnace and perhaps a cook stove in the kitchen. It was poorly capped, parged and crooked and was home to lots of bats. The fireplace chimney looked ok, but was falling apart. It was time for them to go.

In June I had hired a mason to do the job before having the roof done. Unfortunately he never showed up for the job and when I pressed him he said he had hurt his knees and could not do the job. To redeem himself, he did arrange for someone else to take on the project, a part time mason who teaches brick laying at a college in Toronto. He came out and agreed to take on the job.

A week later he showed up and with a helper set up scaffolding and got to work. The following weekend I “volunteered” to do the labour for him, which actually was enjoyable, but lots of work. Below is a gallery of pictures of the project.

click on image to open gallery

-T.

About the Author:

I'm your host, Tim Warris, a product developer in Port Dover, Ontario. Since March of 2007 I have been documenting the construction of the former CNJ Bronx Terminal in HO scale. For my day job, I design track building tools for Fast Tracks, a small company I own and operate. Fast Tracks makes it fast and easy to hand lay your own trackwork. Stop by our website to learn more!

Posted by: Tim | 11-02-2008 | 10:11 AM
Posted in: Latest Posts | Our Old House | Comments (1)