Axle Box

The Front Axle Box was fairly easy to make, just a few tight dimensions but nothing we haven't done before. A Brass 1" square stock was used and as expected easy to drill and bore. The Bushings on the other hand were quite different and fun to prep and machine. Here I used Bronze 936 1" round stock.

Each picture below is a thumbnail so it can be enlarged to get a better view ... back arrow to return.


	Most of the work has been done ... just finishing the boring job.		Hallowing out the box.

	Now the fun begins ... took a 1" diameter 936 Bronze round stock sliced down the middle. These are about 5" long to make 4 sets.		Finished the rough side and took a little off to square them up a bit ... just not too much. Still need enough material to get the 11/16" diameter flange.


	Ready for soft soldering. Notice that these little jewels are about 1 1/4" long, a little over the 7/8" drawing. But I wanted more material in the 4 jaw chuck.		Squeezing out the excess solder using a small press. The aluminum blocks are to help keep the bronze somewhat square. The two pieces like to move around on the wet solder.

	I melted solder on two surfaces before pressing them together. This way I don't have to worry if there is enough solder sandwiched between them.		Cleaned up the edges a bit. Here I'm using a Co-Ax indicator to center the work pieces in the 4 jaw chuck. This not a critical alignment, just want to be sure there is enough material for the outer flange diameter.

	Another blurry picture. Glad I had extra material as there wasn't much in the chuck.		Here we have a bushing fixture similar to a 5C collect. Brass round stock in placed in a 3 jaw, drill and bored then it remains in the chuck for each bushing. Loosing the chuck just enough to remove and install the next bushing.

	After heating to melt the solder then fine sanding and these bushings are ready to go. If you look closely you can see the temporary black dots to identify the mating pairs.		Thought I would add something new ... the colors are different so that the features can be seen better.
	Although there is still more to do with these parts I'm well on my way to start putting the Drive Assembly together. Soon I will have a skeleton frame on some tracks.


	Until Next time ...