Buckeye Truck
Construction Page 2 November 2001 - June
2003
After spending nearly 2 years constructing the B&O
WagonTop Boxcar, I was not intent on utilizing poor quality,
"store bought" trucks made from castings that are readily
available from sources in the Live Steam community. With the incredible
help of Fred Bouffard, I had complete access to a Matsuura 6M
Ram Master 2 CNC Milling Machine and all the equipment needed
to produce a series of Buckeye Trucks for the Boxcar and any other
projects I will undertake. So, we spent the better part of 2 1/2
years perfecting a program to create entirely from bar stock a
100% prototypical model of the Buckeye Trucks. No CAD or CAM programs
were used at all in this venture, everything done the "old
fashion way", pencil and paper. Once completed the hand-written
and calculated G-Code program totaled 3000 lines for the front
and 3000 lines for the rear of the sideframes alone. These trucks
feature prototypical bearing construction as well (no store bought
roller bearings used). The side frames are perfect representations
of the prototype, cored and "3Ded". Furthermore, since
this was created using a CNC machine, at any time in the future
that we may need more trucks all that is needed is to load the
billet, call up the program and hit the start button. The following
are photos detailing the construction of the Buckeye Trucks for
the B&O WagonTop Boxcar...
click on any smaller picture
to view a larger picture
Again, finish cutting the top portion of the front
of the sideframe
The front of the completed and prototypical 3D sideframe
After the front of the sideframe was cut in the CNC
Milling Machine, the rear was roughed to height in a Milwaukee
#3 Milling Machine and reloaded in the CNC Milling Machine for
the rear. There was a separate program of 3000 lines of code for
the rear. Unfortunately, due to brake rigging, the prototype truck
was asymmetrical front to back, so, the model was as well, necessitating
2 separate programs. Now you might begin to realize why this was
a 2 1/2 year long project.
Machining in the vertical vice on the Bridgeport the
pockets on either end of the sideframes representative of coring.
The completed sideframes, ready for lettering
We ended up extensively modifying a labeling engraver
for the job of hand engraving all the sideframes
Myself (sitting) and Fred (standing) hand engraving
the sideframes. Each sideframe was given a unique number. 36 sideframes
in all.
More billets, this time for the bolsters
Turning the center pivot for the bolsters
Another shot of bolster machining
Like the sideframes, these bolsters were to be 100%
prototypical as well, therefore, all details were included on
the model.
Completed parts after about 2 years 3 months. Wheels,
axles, sideframes, bolsters, and hardware, all ready for painting.
Completed and painted sideframes, you can still see
some incomplete (yet masked) wheels and axles. These parts were
all sprayed with Centari etching paint due to its extreme hardness
once dry.
