Westlake Publishing Forums

"the two towers consist of 873 individual parts"

Does that mean each tower consists of 873 parts?

Satisfactory progress and the overall appearance so far is quite adequate.

Russ

And the making starts straight away.
I had the sheet metal parts for the two girders laser-cut. The long sheets are over 1.3 m long. I wouldn't have been able to process them in one piece on my machine. I was also able to have the laser cut 0.6 mm wide slots into which I can insert the bulkhead plates precisely. I hope this will make it easy to fit the various parts precisely.





I also need over 70 m of different profiles and other raw materials.



And with that, I go back to the workshop.

Bernhard

Unfortunately, there are only very few original drawings of this assembly.



(Drawing: Wellman-Seaver-Morgan Co)

For the design I am therefore largely dependent on the evaluation of photos.
And this is what it looks like. Lots of parts, lots of work, lots of fun!

The main girders

The main girders rests on the two towers and carries the trolley, the larry car and the disc-hopper. On the land side, the girders are extended with a cantilever so that the wagon can drive out over the railroad tracks and empty its load into a temporary storage area.




(Fotos: Library of Congress)

Here is an aerial photo taken recently during the demolition of the machines on Whiskey Island. For orientation: the water side of the front main girders is on the left. At the bottom center of the picture, you can see one of the severed cantilevers.



It really hurts to see this picture. A testimony to technical history has been irretrievably destroyed!

I printed out two more signs on the laser printer. Following Volker's instructions, I painted them with clear varnish and then lightly washed them.



However, I am not yet convinced by the quality. The clear varnish, which I applied with the airbrush gun, is problematic. Because the varnish was probably too thick, an unsightly texture is clearly visible on the surface of the signs.
I will make another attempt.

And here are a few more pictures of the finished towers.







The upper sign on the front tower will of course be replaced.

Thank you for not getting bored with the topic and for still being involved.

A small addendum to the statistics from the last post: the two towers consist of 873 individual parts, including the parts not yet attached such as ladders, stairs, etc. The pin rivets are not included.

In the meantime, the two towers have been primed ...



... and painted.





The builders's plate, etched from nickel silver, is attached to the front tower.

I've seen worse. -- Russ

As always, perfect attention to detail.

Bernhard

Words fail in the face of your craftsmanship!

It's often the little things that take a little more time.
I just wanted to mill two small flanges for the protective tubes and the day is almost over.

First the drawing was created and the milling file derived from it, so after a good hour I had two (plus one - in case a part should disappear) flanges milled out of two millimeter MS58.

Flansch 01 (fspg2)



To remove the small retaining bars on the 6.5mm outer edge, I soldered the flanges onto the 3.5/3.0mm protective tubes...

Flansch 02 (fspg2)



...and machined on the lathe with a small file. I also machined the lower protrusion to 1.0 mm to create a secure guide in the walls of the gear block.

Flansch 03 (fspg2)



As the corresponding walls were not previously intended for mounting the flanges, I had to drill out the existing 3.0 mm hole to 3.5 mm. At the same time, six 0.5 mm holes were drilled for the rivet connection.
The parts were fixed in a small recess with masking tape and machined on the milling machine.

Flansch 04 (fspg2)



I inserted the rivets into the holes using a jig with a headband magnifier and small tweezers. The 40 watt soldering iron and a little soldering paste connected everything.

Flansch 05 (fspg2)



The 3.0 mm silver steel rod ensured vertical alignment during soldering.

Flansch 06 (fspg2)



The soldered rivets protruded by 0.7 mm on the inside and prevented the inner ball bearings from being inserted accurately. So the protrusion was removed. I simply forgot to take a photo.
All parts were then sandblasted and burnished.

Flansch 07 (fspg2)



Initially I wanted to solder together the boom "lifting block" (I don't know another word for this part) from two parallel half-shells.

Ausleger-Hebeblock 01 (fspg2)


Ausleger-Hebeblock 02 (fspg2)


Ausleger-Hebeblock 03 (fspg2)



Two small 2.0 mm wire pins on the inside should align the two parts.

Ausleger-Hebeblock 04 (fspg2)



A metal clamp held everything together when I then hard brazed this brass block with the flame. The clamp slipped to the side and pressed the 0.6 mm thick side walls together.

Fortunately, I couldn't fix it - so I came up with a modified solution.

Ausleger-Hebeblock  05 (fspg2)



In version two, the two side parts were aligned at an angle to each other and connected with two trapezoidal sheets.
This also allowed me to slightly reduce the offset of the 2.5 mm L-profiles.

Ausleger-Hebeblock  07 (fspg2)



The two auxiliary plates are located in 1.0 mm thick pockets in the side shells.

Ausleger-Hebeblock  08 (fspg2)



During assembly, a Pertinax gauge will help with alignment.

Ausleger-Hebeblock  10 (fspg2)



Ausleger-Hebeblock  09 (fspg2)



The two locating holes for the axle bushes were reamed with a 5.0 mm reamer.

Ausleger-Hebeblock  11 (fspg2)



I then soldered in 1.0 mm brass rivets from the inside. The 1.3 mm head ensures a secure stop.

Ausleger-Hebeblock  12 (fspg2)


Ausleger-Hebeblock  13 (fspg2)


Ausleger-Hebeblock  14 (fspg2)


Now the two small 5.0/4.0mm sockets have to be soldered in before I can mount the bracket.