Hats off to your ingenuity! I like the "bolt simulators"!
SRK
dave2-8-0 Wrote:
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> The steel is off to the welders. The plan is to
> bolt the steel mounting bracket to the wooden cow
> catcher. Both of the top mount brackets will
> have 3 bolts each, and two through pins. You can
> see the locations on the steel pictures.
>
> Now comes the deceptions. In trying to keep the
> the "New" CC like the typical mountings on a
> locomotive and for most old rail cars, I needed to
> use square headed bolts, or at least make them
> look like the original would have been. To
> actually attach the pieces together, typically
> when attaching metal to wood one used LAG bolts.
> Seen any 5/16 x 3" with 3/4" square head, lag
> bolts lately ? NOPE, Not Made. So I had to make
> my own. In the steel photos, I took 3/4" bar
> stock, cut into 1/2" slugs, to replicate the
> original bolts.
>
> Purchased common 5/16 x3" Lag bolts and cut the
> hex heads off.
> [attachment 49615 CowCatcher-192.JPG]
>
> I then drilled a thru hole in the 3/4" slugs. The
> hole was drilled .007" undersized, of the shank of
> the lag screws, for a pressed interference fit.
> [attachment 49616 CowCatcher-193.JPG]
>
> Onto the forge and heated a bit, and then just
> driven into the slug on the anvil.
> [attachment 49617 CowCatcher-194.JPG]
>
> And a finished fit. These will never have a lot
> of torque on the bolts, so good enough.
> [attachment 49618 CowCatcher-195.JPG]
>
> And I did the same for the 3/8" Pins.
> [attachment 49619 CowCatcher-198.JPG]
>
> These will be drilled for a "R" clip retainer, to
> make the removal and instillation easy.
>
> 4 Days till it's hung on 425.
> Stay tuned
