flexible_coupling
Western Thunderer
Hello all,
I've just been testing out my brand new workbench and have opened up the new toys sent over from Steve Cook, including a Dapol RTR five-plank wagon. My initial hope in altering it to suit S7 was that I could do the same trick as I'd been successfully bodging with the Slaters wheelsets in my other wagons - carefully pressing the wheels out. Sadly, the parallel-style axles used by Dapol are too long and protrude from the axleboxes - as the wheels are pressed out to suit S7 back-to-back*, the front faces rub on the parallel tube bearings and stop the wheels from running freely. I have a few spare pairs of Slaters wheels (not of the split-spoke type Dapol have tried to replicate but I'm not that fussy!) but the outside diameter of the Dapol bearings is larger than that of the Slaters top-hats, of course the stub-ends of the Slaters wheelsets is a smaller diameter than that of the Dapol wheelset. Nothing is interchangeable directly.
Curious to know if Slaters do a top-hat bearing with different outside diameters? Or if anyone can think of a different, clever solution? I am in need of an Exactoscale sprung chassis for a different Slaters wagon, and could conceivably heavily alter the Dapol wagon to suit an internally sprung-and-supported frame... It'd mean having to mill out the webbing under the wagon floor, but I can fix that later with plastic section etc.
Just for the sake of it, a snap of the new bench with a nice LED batten light mounted in place, makes it quite a reasonable work space despite the cold! She who absolutely MUST be obeyed is satisfied with its location and will not permit soldering or glue in the house, so I've taken refuge in the garage for the moment.
The * represents my temporary lack of vernier calipers at home - my pair will return home in a few weeks. I'll check a few measurements with the little digital pair at work at some point soon.
I've just been testing out my brand new workbench and have opened up the new toys sent over from Steve Cook, including a Dapol RTR five-plank wagon. My initial hope in altering it to suit S7 was that I could do the same trick as I'd been successfully bodging with the Slaters wheelsets in my other wagons - carefully pressing the wheels out. Sadly, the parallel-style axles used by Dapol are too long and protrude from the axleboxes - as the wheels are pressed out to suit S7 back-to-back*, the front faces rub on the parallel tube bearings and stop the wheels from running freely. I have a few spare pairs of Slaters wheels (not of the split-spoke type Dapol have tried to replicate but I'm not that fussy!) but the outside diameter of the Dapol bearings is larger than that of the Slaters top-hats, of course the stub-ends of the Slaters wheelsets is a smaller diameter than that of the Dapol wheelset. Nothing is interchangeable directly.
Curious to know if Slaters do a top-hat bearing with different outside diameters? Or if anyone can think of a different, clever solution? I am in need of an Exactoscale sprung chassis for a different Slaters wagon, and could conceivably heavily alter the Dapol wagon to suit an internally sprung-and-supported frame... It'd mean having to mill out the webbing under the wagon floor, but I can fix that later with plastic section etc.
Just for the sake of it, a snap of the new bench with a nice LED batten light mounted in place, makes it quite a reasonable work space despite the cold! She who absolutely MUST be obeyed is satisfied with its location and will not permit soldering or glue in the house, so I've taken refuge in the garage for the moment.
The * represents my temporary lack of vernier calipers at home - my pair will return home in a few weeks. I'll check a few measurements with the little digital pair at work at some point soon.