Pouring Babbitt in the engine house

For the past year stories and photographs on this blog have focused on the El Dorado County Historical Railroad Park. Long time readers have seen activity shift from weekly renovation reports on the Diamond and Caldor No. 4 Shay locomotive to tie replacement, speeders and train rides on the Placerville Branch rail line.

That doesn't mean work has stopped at the engine house. During this time two dedicated members of the Shay team have continued work in the shops at the El Dorado County Historical Museum.

Lead machinist Sam Thompson continues to make the weekly drive to Placerville from his Bay Area home. He has focused on rehabilitating the Shay's three engines. The second member, Mark Bruto, has divided his time between the engine house and railroad park.

The team has focused on the bearings for the eccentrics on the crankshaft. Using Babbitt donated to the railroad by the CemexUSA plan in Pleasanton, California, Sam and Mark devised a simple process to form the bearings.

The photographs show the process Sam and Mark used yesterday to form the third of six bearings:

Sam tightens the bolts after placing shims between the halves of the eccentric strap. The shims act as dams. They form two distinct halves as the bearing is molded. The round fixture at the bottom of the picture is used to form the inside diameter of the bearing.

Sam makes final adjustments as he centers the eccentric strap around the ring mold. Sam and Mark next clamped the strap to the ring mold to immobilize it.

A little after 10 a.m., Mark began melting the Babbitt. Babbitt is the soft white metal that's used to make the bearing. According to Sam, the material consists of approximately 92 percent tin. Antimony and copper make up the rest of the alloy.

Sam drops a handful of Babbitt shavings into the molten Babbitt. The shavings melted as soon as they fell into the pool. The Babbitt is heated to 460 to 470 degrees. Mark said the Babbitt it ready to pour when it takes on a straw color.

Mark pours the molten Babbitt into the mold around 11:15 a.m. Although difficult to see, Mark and Sam used duct seal, a clay-like material, to keep the molten Babbitt inside the mold. A second line of duct seal formed a gasket under the eccentric strap.

Sam said that he would cool the bearing for an hour or more before splitting it into halves. He heated the mold in an oven to 250 degrees before pouring the Babbitt. This prevented the Babbitt from prematurely solidifying as it spread in the mold.

Sam is currently machining the second bearing on the mill in the machine shop. Mark and Sam try to mold a bearing every other Saturday. Sam uses the middle Saturday between pours to machine the bearing to specifications.

Machine shop

Lead machinist Sam Thompson mills a fixture that will be used to build the ballast plate rings for the engines on the Diamond and Caldor No. 4 Shay locomotive. Sam continues his work rebuilding the engines on the Shay while most other volunteers are working on the track.

Cast iron billet

Lead machinist Sam Thompson is currently machining three pieces for the valve set up from a heavy cast iron billet. They are for the steam engines on the Diamond and Caldor No. 4 Shay locomotive. After completing the first part, Sam used the electric shop forklift to move the billet from the lathe to the power hack saw in the next room. From there he cut off the part and returned the billet to the lathe to machine part number two.

Working on the Shay valves

Sam Thompson is fabricating a set of two shims for each valve on the Diamond and Caldor No. 4 Shay locomotive. He and one of the welders had tried to braze a strip of brass on the ends of the each valve. When that process failed, Sam decided to machine the pieces need to extend the length of each valve.

Shaper head

Shaper head, originally uploaded by SeabeeCook.

I walked around the machine shop one Saturday last January looking for photographic opportunities. The shaper seemed a worthy target at the time.

Lead machinist Sam Thompson was using the shaper to form small rectangular bars out of larger pieces of cast iron stock. The bars will be used to repair the valves on the Diamond and Caldor No. 4 Shay locomotive.

The interesting thing about the shaper is that is uses raw, untamed power to chip layer after layer off each cast iron block. While most machines in the shop are designed for precision jobs, the machinist uses the shaper to rough in the piece of metal. Sam will use one of the mills to trim the bars to specification.

The shop is located in the museum grounds for the El Dorado County Historical Museum in Placerville, California.

The diagram is from the The New Encyclopedia of Machine Shop Practice A Guide to the Principles and Practice of Machine Shop Proceedure by George W. Barnwell (Wm. H. Wise & Co.: New York, 1941).

Accomplishment

Machinist Alberto Weiss recently received a certificate of appreciation for his work the El Dorado County Historical Museum and the El Dorado Western Railway Foundation.

According to foundation Keith Berry, Weiss used "his long standing experience as a machinist to make or repair parts where we have no drawings."

During the past year, Weiss dedicated about 50 hours per month to the renovation of four key El Dorado County railroad artifacts. Projects included:

• Fabricated replacement brake shoes for the Camino, Placerville and Lake Tahoe Track Inspection Car No. 4
• Rehabilitated brake linkage for the rear truck to the Diamond and Caldor Railbus No. 10
• Machined pins for the valves and brake linkage on the Diamond and Calfor Shay No. 4
• Fabricated a new handbrake staff and chain roller for the Diamond and Caldor Flatcar No. 10

Call for the oven man

My culinary skills were put to work for the first time since joining the El Dorado Western Railway. Although my occasional meals please its volunteers, they're a side benefit. Demonstration railroads don't need a cook to renovate locomotives and rolling stock.

I was asked to check a standard home oven at the engine house last Saturday. Machinist Sam Thompson wanted to use the oven to pre-heat three cast iron valves for the Diamond and Caldor No. 4 Shay locomotive.

At about 9 a.m., I watched welder Harold Tilton wheel the oven into the engine house on a hand truck. He planned to plug it into the shop's 240-volt receptacle, which is normally used to power the electric arc welder.

Other than a mental note, the fact that Harold was moving the oven didn't register in my brain. Acquired several years ago, the oven hadn't been used to date. I have often though that it could be become the centerpiece of a shop kitchen.

"I had just sat down to preview photographs of the morning's activities when I heard my name.

Where's the oven man?" called Harold. "We need the cook."

I walked into the engine house and looked at the oven, which was set up in the narrow isle between the 39-ton locomotive and a tool cabinet.

"All I can do is to play with the dial." I explained to Harold that my next move has always been to call the kitchen maintenance man in to repair the problem.

As I walked up to the oven, I saw Bill Rodgers, the railway "kitchen maintenance" man, at work. Once we determined that the oven had no power, Bill quickly assessed that the wrong receptacle was connected to the 240-volt power supply.

Bill is our millwright, a jack-of-all-trades shop maintenance man. We've come to depend on his capability to repair almost any piece of shop equipment, including older General Electric electric ovens.

Once Bill repaired the oven, I asked Sam (pictured above, watching Bill repair the receptacle) what he planned to "cook" in the oven.

"As you know," explained Sam, cast iron cracks when intense, local heat is applied to the cold metal. Instead, Sam set the cold valves inside a cold oven. He then turned the oven dial to about 250 degrees.

Once hot, Harold removed each valve one-by-one and braized a layer of brass on each side of the valve. Sam will later machine the valves to the proper specification.

I may use the oven as long as Sam doesn't intend on cooking toxic compounds inside it. The oven and rangetop will come in handy this winter during inclement weather.

There's no reason we can't mix some harmless metallurgy with a bit of precision bread baking in the engine house.

How many railroaders does it take to thread a screw?

Answer: One railroad president (Keith Berry, tapping the hole for the handbrake pal) and six railroads giving advise, including the photographer! The crew includes, clockwise from top left, John Rodgers, Wayne Thorely, Bill Rodgers, Alberto Weiss and Mark Bruto. Photographer Steve Karoly was behind the camera.

Keith and Alberto have used the past week to fabricate a new hand brake for the Diamond and Caldor railbus flatcar. Using parts donated from a rail museum in Massachusetts (ratchet and pawl), the two designed and machined the chain roller, brake shaft and bushings for the hand brake.

Setting up for a shave

Sam reads the measuring devise as he lines the middle eccentric up with the boring head. The rig looks more like a 21st century robot arm that's been attached to a 19th century drilling head.

"This machine is not the daintiest thing to run," said Sam Thompson.

He struggled to line the middle eccentric up with the boring head. Sam's main concern was to line the eccentric on vertical and horizontal planes, or pitch and yawl, as he calls it. Otherwise, the eccentric won't line up properly with the crankshaft, said Sam.

His goal is to shave about one and one-half hundredths of an inch from the interior bore on the middle eccentric. Sam finished the job today. The test comes next Saturday when he re-fits the eccentric onto the crankshaft.

Sam used a series of shims and wedges -- "whatever I could find" -- to line the eccentric up with the boring head.

Shaving a bit at a time

"I'm trying to decide whether to put it on the lathe or horizontal boring mill," said lead machinist Sam Thompson. Harold Tilton and Sam dropped the crankshaft and removed the eccentric on Saturday, February 28, because it didn't fit properly.

Sam spent Saturday morning recalculating his next series of cuts on the middle eccentric to the Diamond and Caldor No. 4. He figures he must to remove one-thousands of an inch from the eccentrics bore to make it fit onto the crankshaft.

"It's going to be a cut-and-fit process," said Sam. The challenge will come when Sam tries to mount the eccentric on the lathe. He expects it to take several Saturdays.

In the picture, Sam uses railway's No. 2 rotary head milling machine to shave a thin layer of metal out of the key slot on the middle eccentric.

Almost ready ...

Here's the promised photograph of the middle eccentric to the Diamond and Caldor No. 4 Shay. Although it's a week late (I forgot my camera last Saturday), the timing couldn't be better.

When asked how far along his machine work was on the eccentric, lead machinist Sam Thompson said that he was making the last cut this morning. As I write, Sam is cutting a few hundredths off the rear facing.

The eccentric will be ready to mound in the crankshaft, "providing it mounts okay." It may need a little file work to make it fit, said Sam.

His next project is to fit and mount the eccentric on the crankshaft. After that's done, Sam said that he'd probably work on the line shafts before moving onto valves.

Now that spring's over ...

Outdoor work on the Diamond and Caldor Railbus No. 10 came to an abrupt halt Friday. A series of winter storms that slammed into the engine house made outdoor welding unsafe. The crew turned to other projects.

So, after two weeks of productive spring-like weather, all work moved indoors. Outside of some shop cleanup and design work, the two machinists were the most productive crewmen.

Sam Thompson steadily carves the middle eccentric for the Diamond and Caldor Shay No. 4 out of a large piece of cast iron. This photo, taken on Saturday, January 10, 2009, shows Sam's early progress. As of this past Saturday, the eccentric was starting to take shape. I'll post a photograph next week.

Someone has to do the cleaning ...

Keith to Jacob: "This tool is going to become your best friend!"

For hundreds of years, journeymen used mundane tasks to instill the value of work into young boys and girls. In the process, these young apprentices learned a trade. Along the way they leaned shop terminology, the difference between a mill and a lathe and how to care for their tools.

Helping is a valuable learning tool for Jacob, and thousand of boys and girls his age. I take him to the engine house about every other Saturday. He helps by cleaning shop equipment, separating the recycling and brushing rust off of 100-year-old locomotive parts.

While you could call Jake's work assignments tedious, these are jobs that must be done. It's a two-way street for Jake and the railway. The railway gets a clean shop.

Jacob is learning to attend to every detail and to complete a task on time and in a manner that pleases the boss. While it isn't pleasant listening to the boss tell you to vacuum the mill again, it pays in the end.

One day, Jake will appreciate the lessons learned here. Although he may not vocalize it, he'll express in doing a good job for him employer.

Machining the valve links

Here are two photographs from last summer:

Machinist Alberto Weiss aligns the milling head over one of the valve links to the Diamond and Caldor No. 4 Shay locomotive. Here he uses the indicator on the second hole to tell him when the head is aligned over the hole.

At the moment I took the picture, Alberto was five-thousands of an inch off center.

"Now I have the center," said Alberto. To center, he moved the milling machine table "this way" (Alberto motioned side-to-side) and "that way" (front-to-back) until the tool was centered.

Alberto then removed the indicator and inserted the carbide boring tool. He set a towel on top of the valve linkage incase he dropped the heavy tool.

The tool is too valuable (and expensive) to risk breaking it. "This is the only one we have."

Alberto usually makes four or five passes with the boring tool for each hole. This hole only required three passes.

"Until I see the tool doesn't touch any more," explained Alberto. "Then I stop."

Alberto's goal was to make all six holes (two per valve link) equal in diameter.

"That's fantastic," exclaimed Alberto. "I expected serious problems."

"In the top it hardly took nothing," explained Alberto. "In the bottom the chips were really big."

Sometimes a simple task, like boring out the holes on the valve linkage, goes completely right in the machine shop. It's always a cause for celebration.

The last thing you want to do, said EDWRF president Keith Berry, is to patch up a major blunder, or worst, re-cast the part.

This is the part that tells the locomotive to go this way (pointing forward) or that way (pointing backward) on the first stroke of the engine, said Keith. The first stroke determines which way the steam engine will go.

After that, the engine moves in the direction it was set to go.

"Isn't it amazing that this piece was made 21 years before you were born!" Keith said to Albert.

Engineer side, up

This is an example of how we mark parts. Although many parts look identical, subtle differences preclude their interchangeable use.

The machinists drill holes, for instance, to match the companion part. Often, the parts will not fit when reversed.

Keith and Alberto manufactured a pair a brackets two weeks ago. The brackets will be riveted to the water tank and will hold the ladder in place. The ladder hangs off of the rear of the oil tank.

Last week, Keith stamped each piece so we know which side it fits on the ladder. The pictured bracket, left, fits the engineer's side of the Diamond and Caldor No. 4. The backing plate was marked as well. Companion pieces were measured and drilled for the fireman's side mount.

Back at the eccentrics

Now that Sam Thompson completed shaping the valves on the Shay's three steam engines last June, he has time to turn his attention to fabricating the replacement for the middle eccentric on the drive shaft. In time, Sam will machine the billet of cast iron into one of two eccentric halves.

The eccentric os "a mechanical device with an off-center axis of revolution that converts the rotary motion of one component of a mechanism to reciprocating motion in another."

Much like the valve lifters in an internal combustion engine, the Shay's eccentrics lift the valves that let steam into the cylinder.

Machining brake pins

Two new volunteers, Alberto and John, started machining brake rigging pins from a large piece of tool steel yesterday. Alberto is a retired machinist. He's a welcome addition to the machine shop. John, who's the son of board member Bill Rodgers, is a local contractor.

The first step was to cut the bar stock into workable lengths on the Racine power hack saw.

The blade and stock are cooled with a mixture of water and oil. Typical of any operation, Sam and Alberto had to unplug the cooling line before operating the saw yesterday.

Machining the tool steel into a pin.


All that needs to be done now is to cut the pin off of the excess stock. To save stock, Alberto is going to turn the piece around and mill a second pin on the stock.

Bending the eye bolt

Bending the eye bolt
Originally uploaded by SeabeeCook

Metal fabricator Harold bends a 5/8-inch steel rod to form eye bolts for safety chains. The end of each red-hot rod securely rests in the homemade jig as Harold pulls to form a perfectly round eye bolt.

Closing the eye

Closing the eye
Originally uploaded by SeabeeCook

Harold closes the eye bold on the work bench in the engine house to the El Dorado Western Railway. He is forming four pairs of safety chains. Each nine-link chain has an eye bold formed around the end links.

The next step is to weld the bolt closed -- to keep it from flexing open during operation of the Diamond and Cador No. 4 Shay locomotive. After the last heat operation is applied to the bold, Harold will thread the long end of the rod. In time, the safety chain will secure the large brake beams to to locomotive's frame.

Horizontal boring machine controls

Horizontal boring machine controls
Originally uploaded by SeabeeCook

The controls to the El Dorado Western Railway's horizontal boring machine.