Back in December I had a post about a 2-6-0 conversion I had underway, which was updated to being a 4-6-0, using a modified Scale-Craft 0-6-0 boiler. It should look nice when it is done, and I want to be sure it operates well too.

A modified cylinder block?

Some months ago, I modified a cylinder block (shortened the boiler mounting) to hold the boiler level. With the end of my time using my garage shop approaching rapidly (I’m in Arizona! The insulation I added to the garage door has helped, I probably have a few weeks of mornings left), last week I was working on mounting that on a donor drive. The donor engine was complete but non-running, with the prewar brass drivers.

Looking at it closer after I got things apart, it was clear that at some point that engine was dropped pretty hard. I got the valve gear all straightened out, but then the rod to one cylinder fell off. Ah ha! I could use my new resistance soldering unit to fix it.

Using a resistance soldering unit for the first time

At least a year ago I purchased the resistance soldering unit from Micro Mark, thinking it would be good on another project that I will be writing more about soon. The photo below shows the setup, and it worked well for this application.

Basics are that you attach one side of the unit to the part with the clip and use the other side to solder – turning on the unit with a foot pedal. The materials to be soldered need to be very clean and you will need flux. For this job I used a very small quantity of paste flux and a chip of solid core 50/50 solder. It heats up when you have the probe touching the place you want the solder and press the foot pedal.

For this job it worked like a charm, I am looking forward to using it more.

It was all going well until a driver fell off

The next step was trying to free up the drive a bit. Oil helped a lot, but something was catching more than I wanted. And then the rear driver simply fell off. I tried to use pliers to create a more “grippy” surface, and did my best to quarter it and tap it into place solidly, but it was a lost cause. It won’t stay on. A shame, but at least I can make use of the motor and gearbox.

It was kind of a bummer, but I do intend to keep working on the boiler as the next phase, now that I know a drive can be set up to work. More on that in a future post.

Continue reading the 4-6-0 series