Metal Planer Restoration 50: Machining new Hardware for the Clapper Box Assembly

Maryann is a little love. She is adorable. My cat gives you two paws and a loud purr.

Fantastic work Keith!

Enjoyed seeing Mary Ann and hope Ginger is doing well too. They do grow up too quick. But it is nice for them to want to share their affection. I have 4 rescues and they are all very affectionate and a lot of company. When I set down to eat or watch TV all 4 of them are either on my lap or next to my legs.

Combined cat video and machine techniques can't get any better

Keith, you are the nicest man! It always make me happy to see someone who is kind and gentle with animals. 🙂

Nice work Keith!

Hi Keith. My husband watches you every nite.As his wife I am trying to learn. I really Love how you seem to love animals. I am a major animal lover. So I really enjoy that. Jody Grove

There is nothing better than a shop cat.

Helper-kitty doin a fine job.

Best part of this video is the kitty.

i love your cat/ owner

THANK YOU...for sharing.

Kitty photo bombing. Love it

Mary Ann steals the show, you go girl!

When working on vintage equipment it’s mandatory to be able to make your own parts. I’m involved with an organization the runs and maintains a standard gauge, Mikado 2-8-2 Steam Locomotive that was built in New Orleans. SPX-745 was built in the Southern Pacific’s Algiers Shops in 1921. There are several videos of her out running on the main lines of several class one railroads. During one of her annual inspections, around 2010, one of the check valves used for injecting water into the boiler had to be removed for some repairs. After removing the valve our Chief Mechanical Officer ( CMO ) was not pleased with the 4 studs that held it on the boiler. A lot of corrosion and wear on the outer threads. He believed they were the original threads from 1922 when she had a boiler explosion and had to get a new boiler. We tried to remove them using several ways but they would twist but not break free. Penetrating oil, heat, long cheaters on a 3 foot long pipe wrench could not break the old threads. So we ask several machine shops in the New Orleans area to bid on removing the old studs and making new ones. Several shops come out to look at the job, but only one shop bid on removing, but not making the new studs. The end that went into the boiler has tapered threads, and none of the shops wanted to make them. The only bid was $2,500 to remove them if they did not have to drill them out. So we decided to drill them out our selves. Our CMO had a lathe with a tapering attachment, but had never cut tapered threads. After cutting the outer shank and threads off we drilled the old studs out saving as much of the old threads as possible. It did take a couple Saturdays of working on them to get all 4 of them out. I probably had 8 to 10 hours of drilling myself. We borrowed a set of brand new tapered taps from another steam locomotive operation. Our CMO tapped the old threads until he had 100% new threads. This resulted in 4 different sizes for the new tapered threads and we needed two different sizes of round stock, 3/4 and 7/8 of an inch to make them. He used the tapered taps as a pattern and all the outside threads and shanks were the same, 3/4 X ???. One of our members got a retired machinist friend, that he worked with at a refinery, to give us a hand. It took us all day to make the first one. A big learning curve for us. I mainly watched and went to pick up the poor-boys, ( a 9 inch long sandwich made with French bread ). Our CMO made the other three the next morning. The whole cost to us was $150. The round stock cost $100 and the 7 shrimp and oyster poor-boys cost us $50. Now I did not count the cost of the 3 wives going shopping after they served our lunch or the potato salad my wife made. All 4 of us guys learned a lot that day, but you know, it was fun and worth every minute of our time. Our three wives had a great time too.

Your cat seems to approve your work!

I caught those modern bolt's glad you're going to change them.

Awesome progress. Lookin' forward to this old gal doin' her thing. Soo cool to see old tools brought back to quality. Better than ever really.

Thanks very much for a great video. With a cup of coffee this made for a perfect start for my day. It's appreciated.

Mary Ann, best part of the whole video!