Making a part...

BoxcabE50 Apr 12, 2021

  1. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Anyone interested in making me a part for me? :D
     
  2. Chris Hall

    Chris Hall TrainBoard Member

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    Depends what you are after! small stuff I can do before the postage become stupid.
     
  3. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Needle beam-queenpost piece. Modeling in HOn30, during the time frame having truss rods. Need two per car. Can easily supply measurements, photos.
     
    Chris Hall likes this.
  4. Chris Hall

    Chris Hall TrainBoard Member

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    I can give it a go. Last thing I posted to the US took about 3 weeks to get there.
     
  5. wvgca

    wvgca TrainBoard Member

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    if you need more than a couple of dozen, and little else, you can justify a printer ??
     
  6. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    It is a detail part. I would have no use for a printer.
     
  7. Chris Hall

    Chris Hall TrainBoard Member

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    What's the dimensions of the little post things?
     
  8. Chris Hall

    Chris Hall TrainBoard Member

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    2021-04-13_181552.png

    This is what I've come up with using the dimensions above.
    2021-04-13_181753.png
    I guessed the size of the posts, but I made them 0.007" x 0.004"

    Its a pretty tiny piece, I'll give it a go but not sure how it will come out.
     
  9. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Those are known as Queenposts. I am using a dial caliper, which is the best I can do.I drew them undersized or they would blend with the dimension lines.

    In real life they are 3" tall. A seen in my side view sketch, .007" tall. Making any sort of additional measurement is difficult, given their size in the model world. The "U" shaped top is where a truss rod nests. On a model we use fishing line, pulled a taut as possible without breaking or deforming the Queenposts. In the "End" view you can see the "U" has some length, in real life, depending upon the car, at least four inches long. To the naked eye, using the caliper, they are as wide as the side view of the beam, .004". They are so small, that even looking at them on a completed model, they look just fine. Any smaller they would be so delicate as to break just by breathing on them!
     
  10. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Before going any further, let me try again to get a picture for use as reference.
     
  11. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Oh nooooooooo!!! As I was trying again to take a photo, having several ongoing kits on my workbench, realized I had grabbed the wrong beam. ARGH.
     
  12. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Trying again. The previous information, I had grabbed a part for an oldser style gondola. What I needed is from a slightly newer box car, which has a thicker Needle Beam.

    First the slightly altered drawing:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Next, the best photo my camera will provide. NOTE: There is still flashing on the part, and one Queenpost is slightly damaged:

    [​IMG]
     
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  13. wvgca

    wvgca TrainBoard Member

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    in some cases the queen post can be represented by a sort of rectangle, thicker on the end that joins the cross bar [which can be made with a piece of tie], in the HO flat car i made [with trusses], there were no actual queen posts but the beam that ran across ...
    these were often made 'in the bush' and modifications to the basic design were many ...
     
  14. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    The cross piece is known as a "Needle Beam". HOn30 is too large to adapt an N scale tie, way too small to use HO.

    Now I am wondering about something such as styrene. No time today for a search of dimensions offered.
     
  15. wvgca

    wvgca TrainBoard Member

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    I guess that nobody mentioned HO ties being too small on the downloads on Thingiverse .... oh well ...
     
  16. Chris Hall

    Chris Hall TrainBoard Member

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    Right-o, those second dimensions make a lot more sense, but the height of the queen post bothers me a little.

    2021-04-14_065521.png
    2021-04-14_065601.png
    Overall beam size is 0.85"x0.06"x0.09" with the queen post 0.007" high to the bottom of the curved bit. I've made each post 0.01"x0.01"
     
  17. wvgca

    wvgca TrainBoard Member

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    Screenshot_2021-04-14 HO FlatCar truss rod 30 foot by wvgca(1).png I made mine [initially] out of stripwood glued together in a jig, then worked up to a cnc one piece one routed out of a paint stir stick, then to a FDM piece that while wasn't as quick, did allow me to add some smaller detail .... that's the last one on Thingiverse ...
    On yours I wouldn't bother about the queen posts, they are too small and hard to see, but I would include the nuts right on each end of the truss rods, those are very visible ..
    The cross beam can easily be simulated with a piece of sytrene stock, no brakes or rigging underneath as was commonly found on turn of the century [1900] backwater lnes, lol

    but anyways, it's your layout so do as you wish, and there were a lot of undocumented modifications to these old cars
     
  18. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I am simulating a Maine 2 Foot style operation, (but not in Maine), which has survived to the post-WWII era. Has been buying a few surplus diesel critters. The rolling stock is still the truss rod style, equipped with "K" brakes, which the famous Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes RR used on their cars.
     
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  19. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    The Queenposts are indeed that short. Their height depended upon the railroad, the car builder, etc.
     
  20. Mark St Clair

    Mark St Clair TrainBoard Member

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    I read through this a couple times and am confused. If the prototype is 3" tall, shouldn't the HO item be about .035"? What am I missing?

    Stay safe,
     
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