Wood Shop

These reports are fast becoming like a picture book.  For awhile my camera was not working very well, and now TOO MANY pics.

Panels

The two new doors for Chicago Great Western X 38 have solid raised panels in the bottom half.  All are done and Victor Humphreys does some finish sanding on them.

Trim Molding

Bill Peterson completed fitting and mitering all the quarter round trim molding on door number two for the plow.  Next, primer and paint.

Puzzling

We began work to create a new exterior door for our station today.  After a visit to the door in question in the depot, Paul Cronin is trying to sort out a puzzle.  We have a stack of lumber and a drawing with dimensions.  Now, where can each piece be 'harvested' from the oversize planks that were available?

Ripping

After jointing a straight edge on all pieces, Paul and Bill are at the table saw ripping the stock to the exact width needed.

Arranging

The parts have been cut to rough length and a dado set used to plow the needed grooves in each piece.  Paul is checking the arrangement with all the parts arranged in order.  This is a BIG door!

Layout

The next step involved the three of us confirming the length of each piece and then laying out the needed work for the mortise and tenon jointery.  Bill is making sure all marks are transferred accurately and both sides will match.

Brakes

The Electric Car Shop just completed new custom sheaves needed for working hand brakes on the Chicago & West Towns 141.  This is big news and I managed to snap a pic of Project Manager Frank Sirinek taking a picture of me taking a picture of him tak- - - - -

Template

Tim Peters is working on a hardboard curved template for some needed wood parts for Chicago Rapid Transit 1024.

Photo

Never loan your camera to ANYBODY!  As I downloaded these pics earlier today, what should appear but a followup shot to the above, with me and Tim solving the problems of the day.  The grammar does not sound right but the names go left to right as do the people in the image.

Ribbing

Buzz Morisette is laying out patterns for new ribbing as he continues to replace roof and ceiling panels in the private car ELY.

A Box

Here is new project for Union Telephone & Telegraph, my own made up name for the enterprise being spearheaded by Frank Carraro.  Buzz has made a pile of parts of oak, all of which would fit in one hand.  It is for a box that will hold jacks for line switching - IN THE OLD STYLE.

See, It Is a Box

Here are all those small parts being glued and assembled into something useful by Buzz.

Door

We made good progress on the two new doors for Chicago Great Western X 38, all while several other projects proceeded.  Jim Leonard is fitting quarter round molding (we made that also in the shop) for the two panels below the window.  The panels for all doors were completed earlier and sanded for finish.

Panels

After the molding to retain the door panels had been fitted, we took them out and Jim Foraker is applying some polyester glazing compound to smooth out and fill in any divots gained during our handling.

Back to the Door

With panels done and fitted, Jim Leonard has turned to fitting the moldings for the glass window in the top of the door.  This pic is of the second door.

Windows

FINALLY!  A picture caption with 'windows' in it!  Rich Witt is carefully marking each of the eight pieces for the cuts, at this time the table saw was 'raising' the panels for the CGW doors.

Notching

Paul Cronin and Rich are making stop cuts in the four stiles for the Boston & Maine round top windows.  These are not the typical railroad sash we turn out routinely, so some thought is required.  That leaves me out!

Sneak Peek

All of the parts are taking shape for the two round top windows.  Rich has laid them out to check dimensions.  See how they will go together?

Paint Work

Paul Cronin has been cleaning up a very old motor for a new to us old table saw.  Finally, there is primer going on.

Berlin Sander

While we were successful in using the Berlin Sander last Saturday, there were a few tell tales that maybe indicated more fine tuning and adjustments could be made.  Jim F was pretty deep into that and a quick test showed improvements.

Rare Photo

Here are Mike Alterio and Frank Sirinek during a rare working visit to the wood shop.  For now we will keep that work under wraps.

Of course I could not get pics of all the other work.  Paul and Dave Diaz cut a number of thin strips or slats of wood for Michigan Electric 28 - these to be used on the curved end roof bonnet on the front of the car.  Henry Vincent continued his fine work repairing and end door for Chicago Aurora & Elgin 36.  Pete Galayda and John Nelligan made more progress on the seemingly endless task of rebuilding the resistor grid boxes for Charles City Western 300.  And we would be remiss not to thank Bobby Knourek of Woodworkers Tool Works.  In a short time you would not think possible, Bobby made a set of custom ground knives for new door molding for Chicago Rapid Transit 1024.  From the time we sent a sample, to the return of the cutterhead and new knives - LESS THAN ONE WEEK!  And the price was right.  I suppose I sound like his marketing department but you just do not find that level of service anywhere today, let alone on parts for machines a half century old.

There is a Pattern to the Work

Or in this case, the pattern IS the work.  Frank Kehoe shows off a very elaborate piece of woodworking - be sure to look closely at the full screen image to see the hundreds, maybe thousands of small pyramids milled into the surface of this slab.  This will be sealed and then sent to a foundry for a cast iron pour.  Ultimately the finished castings will provide new threshold plates for Chicago Rapid Transit 1024.  Non skid?  You bet!

Berlin Sander

The work continued on the Berlin Sander, assembling and lowering the deck back onto the mechanism.  That was not without DRAMA.  Bill Peterson and Dave Diaz did a lot of the 'heavy lifting' and here we are only a few parts away from finishing the re-assembly.

A Working Sander

Dave Diaz and Bill Peterson wasted no time after we did some checkout and got the machine running.  Here is one of the two new doors made for Chicago Great Western X 38.  Both doors went through the machine without incident, although I think some more adjustment and fine tuning could be made on the feed rolls.

The Doors

After sanding, both doors had the tails cut off of the stiles.  We leave those long to protect the assembly in handling, but now they are squared off to finished length.  Then we sized and squared the previously made lower panels.  Bill Peterson and Victor Humphreys are calling it a day with the panels in place on the first door.

Interior Tongue and Groove

Warren Newhauser showed up early and got a head start on the T&G we made three weeks ago.  Here he is cleaning them up to ready them for prime painting.  These will be installed in the Milwaukee Road X 5000 dynamometer car.

Priming

Warren, new volunteer Brian Patterson, and Buzz Morisette are busy with the paint for the X 5000 boards.  Yes, it appears Warren was working hard and shed the green shirt he was wearing earlier.

This week we owe thanks to Gerry Dettloff who supplied a number of images to fill out this entry.  I will start with a review of several of the projects and then move on to the BIG job of the day.  Read on.

Glazing

Victor Humphreys was on call and started out by glazing some of the new windows for Chicago Great Western X 38 snow plow.

Motor Work

Paul Cronin pitched in by working on motor cleanup and repair for the next woodworking machine to join our stable, a large GREENLEE table saw.

Motor Work

Paul continued on the picky motor work.  He found old gunk, oily sawdust, and peeling paint caked on almost every surface.  The bearings for the motor have seen the needed attention already, and when all parts are primed and painted, we will attempt to reassemble it.

Door Work

Henry Vincent is making good progress on restoring a door for Chicago Aurora & Elgin 36.  The rotted wood has been repaired with new custom fitted pieces and here Henry is trimming out the recessed panels with custom quarter round we made in the shop.

New Roof Boards

Gerry Dettloff and John Faulhaber have been working on repairs to the roof of Lake Shore Electric 810.  The new shop made boards and new tack molding are done for the north side.

More Roof Work

Jeff Brady and Norm Krentel are working on the roof of Michigan Electric 28.  Brrr!  It was chilly working out in the barn area.

Berlin Sander

Here is the BIG job of the day.  Our workhorse for many projects is the massive Berlin Sander which has an estimated weight of 12,000 lbs.  Two of the three drums needed new sandpaper and the machine has to be substantially disassembled to replace the sanding media.  First, the top drive deck is removed using a purpose built A frame and a custom frame jig.

Deck Off

The deck is off and many have never seen the machine from this perspective.  There are a LOT of parts, and many special tools we had to 'invent' to do the work.

How It Works

With that top deck off you may begin to understand how this machine works.  The three sanding drums may be engaged independently and there are synchronized drive rollers on the now removed top deck, and between each of the sanding drums on the lower deck.  The crew for this project included Dave Rogan, Jim Leonard, Dave Diaz, Victor Humphreys, Jim Foraker, Bob Kutella, and Rod Turner.

Access

To gain access to the drums ever more parts were disassembled giving more understanding to the design.

Wrapping

Then it was on to spiral wrapping with big sheets of sandpaper - each about 2 feet wide and almost 10 feet long.  They have to be smooth and tight.

More Hands

More hands make quick work of any job.  In this case maybe more could not fit in the picture (or on the machine).

Going Back Together

With the new paper wrapped it was time to start the assembly process.  I do not remember that casting being that heavy when we took it off.  Is this where it goes?

End of Day

People rotated in and out of the crew.  At the end of the day we had the top deck back above the machine, although not yet set and aligned.  These three guys were ready to do more - Dave Diaz, Jim Leonard, and Victor Humphreys.  But the parts which had littered the shop floors were back in place and hopefully tightened and aligned where they should be.  TO BE CONTINUED