Buckeye Truck
Construction Page 3 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
Here, we see all parts completed and painted, ready
for assembly, no quick task in and of itself.
Parts required for one truck. This isn't your typical
cast truck kit. All parts are scratch machined, no castings or
commercially available parts utilized.
The sideframes mated to the bolster
A detailed shot highlighting the 8 springs (prototypical)
per sideframe
Wheel / axle sets with bearings and bushings installed
on either end, all parts hand made
The completely assembled Buckeye Truck
A detailed view of the bearing / Journal Box assembly.
Timkin Needle Roller bearings were used with the appropriate inner
and outer races hand machined as well as seals and other assorted
parts.
View from above of the completed Buckeye Truck. The
unpainted circle in the center of the bolster is the pivot
Completed detailed shot of the bearing / journal box
assemble with hand made rotating journal end caps
Side view of the completed Buckeye Truck, 2 1/2 years
after beginning.
Yet another shot of the completed Buckeye Truck
All parts needed for the assembly of just one Buckeye
Truck
Another shot of parts needed to complete one truck.
All machined from billet, no castings utilized on the entire project.
