Anybody know how to do it? I have a 4-6-6-4 Challenger that the drivers bind up on. So I need to get her drivers quartered and see if that will fix her. Thanks Shawn
OK, there's the way it should be done, and the way it actually works for bozos. The way that it should be done is to use a precision quartering jig, I think NWSL makes one, that helps align everything to that magical 90-degree offset. But remember, we aren't powering from the pistons. The problem isn't that they aren't all 90-degrees, its that they aren't all the same, and if you're driving via the rods (instead of gears, or a combination) here goes the wobble. I got into this when I thought it would be a good idea to make an 0-6-0 from the Atlas 2-6-0. As it stands, the rear axle has the traction tire. If you take off the tender, the pickup is now one wheel (sorta) on one side, the truth is on an 0-6-0 it's all contact anyway, so you can live without traction tires. SO, lets move that axle to the center...waait a minute, that wheel has the gear on, now I need to swap wheels on the axles....and congrats, the wheels are now out of quarter and it binds. How to get them back? I made a bozo quartering jig entirely out of .030 styrene. Imagine two upright letter "L"'s that fit where the bearing blocks go. The axle goes into the angle, the lower "L" holds the axle between any gears and inside the wheels. Glue to a pad. Build up on one side (of the wheel you agree will be the master) with plastic to make a steady rest for the one crankpin. Make another indicator part that exactly touches the other, so that the 'master' wheel fits in it precisely. Now try the other wheel, and you should be able to spot the difference. Hmm, need to twist it just a hair... so if you don't get hung up on precisely 90-degrees it's not impossible. Worked for me, but until I tried this it was pretty much impossible. I got the hiccups out of mine. This works as long as the wheels are the same diameter and the pins/screws are the same, you may have a bunch of wheels slightly off 90-degrees but they all work together fine.
Thanks for the info, I believe I be will getting a quartering jig. Now finding out where the wires go. Basically I bought a box of parts that is supposed to be a cc/river 4-6-6-4. The guy disassembled it thinking it was going to be an easy kitbash for a Moffet Mallet.... Not SOO much. So he is selling it and I like to tinker while I am out on the road(conductor/BNSF) something to do while waiting for trains,signals and the lottery.
I don't think NWSL's will work for N - here's the description. I know I stopped cold at the price anyway. http://www.nwsl.com/uploads/cat_chap1_TOOLS-web_9-20.pdf I'll take pictures of what I cobbled up in styrene if necessary, it certainly worked on tiny drivers that you simply have to twist to align. Maybe one of the other steamheads here has found something that will work other than eyeballing and 'lather, rinse, repeat'. EDIT: Of course they have: http://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=27582.0 Wow, I don't even have the tools to build the tools.
