Friday, March 11, 2011

Drilling Steel and Wood

I've had a week off work and spent some of it at the railway.

Today I seemed to spend all the time drilling.



Using the radial-arm drill I drilled and countersank the bolt holes to attach the gusset-plates to the sole-bars. The radial-arm drill is a great machine and capable of very accurate work - and very inaccurate if you don't take your time.



After drilling the gusset-plates and a couple of square, flat washers for the tie-bars I went out to the wagon frame to prepare the end stanchions for attaching to the headstocks. It was a very simple job after the bulk of the radial-arm drill. When I'd drilled the first one we checked it to make sure I'd marked it up okay and got the holes in the right places. I had. So I drilled all four stanchions.



The side members for the frame that carry the side planks and form the protection for the ends of the floor planks have arrived and are ready for fixing. If you look carefully at the photo you can see that the side member is bowed up in the middle, so we're going to have to clamp it down straight before drilling the bolt holes and bolting it together. It should be all right. When Ollie stood on the top of the side member his weight was enough to take the bow out of it, so a little light clamping should be enough.

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