Blondihacks
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Stickers & Thanks!
🕑 Added 2022-01-02 18:32:41 +0000 UTCHey Patrons! It's that time once again. Stickers for all Rockstar Patrons who joined in December are in the mail, and credits are updated on the blog and future videos.
This month's featured book is a Christmas gift from my pops- Kozo's Heisler book! I share Kozo's love of North American logging locomotives, and comparing the design differences between the two biggies (Heisler and Shay) is interesting. They share many common features of all logging locomotives, of course. They are gear-driven to cope with steep grades, tight radii, uneven gauge, bad weather, and other poor track conditions. All of this is demanded when running through the woods on rails that were hastily staked to some logs lying in the mud. Ballast and grading are for those lazy city locomotives. Logging locomotives are the off-roaders of the railroad. Both Heisler and Shay share the design that the cylinders and valve gear are completely independent of the drivers. That makes it easy to change the gauge as needed, and allows for much more suspension travel. Only a universal-jointed drive shaft connects to the drivers, unlike a road locomotive where the cylinder spacing, valve gear, and driving wheels are all locked together in a tight-tolerance dance that demands large turn radii and very even rail of a standard gauge. The Heisler seems to scale to your logging operation better, being offered in 2, 3, and 4 truck versions. There was even a prototype single-truck version (basically a gear-driven tank switcher). The Shay, however, has the entire engine assembly outboard of the frames, which seems to me would make servicing easier (though also putting it at risk from nearby trees, I suppose). The Heisler looks to me like it would be more difficult to service. Both locos are "all wheel drive" thanks to the flexible drive-shaft power transmission system that allows even the tender wheels to pull their weight. Awesome machines all around, and I hope to build one someday!
Comments
George Speake
I’ve been watching you at work for well over two years now and have learned a lot. This past November my lathe arrived and now I’m practicing many of the things you have taught us. This post is simply a well deserved “thank you” for all you do and all the help you provide. Your style and teaching skills have enabled me to just dust myself off and move on when a mistake happens. Thanks again and God bless!
Blondihacks
Hooray!
Hans Finkelnberg
Got my stickers! Happy happy joy joy! 😀
Blondihacks
That's a tricky one because every mill is quite different in terms of what you need to see and reach. At least with small mills, there seems to be no good position- you're bending down to see the work, but you have to stretch up to reach the drawbar and column crank. Something like a Bridgeport seems more ergonomic since the controls are in one place, but there's a lot of bending down to crank the knee, from watching people use them.
Alex Topfer
off topic but i was wondering about this and thought it might be good for your into to machining series: what is the right height to mount machine tools from an ergonomic perspective? i recently built a mill stand after having it sitting on my workbench for a couple of years, and it felt like it needed to be higher than when on my workbench. it's left me wondering if there is a proper method, or if you just shim the operator until they are the right height.
Ron Kellis
Maybe when sharing a book throw in the ISBN for a quick copy/paste?
Blondihacks
I did not watch Speed Racer, nope. :D
Alex Stern
Thanks for the interesting topic! Here's an annoyingly off-topic question... Did you watch Speed Racer growing up? Only people who watched speed racer seem ro call their pops pops!
Glen Simpson
I am building one using the Steam In the Garden plans, I am gaining a new respect for this locomotive.
