Server Built

[epicdoom]

That's pretty much it simple hardest part is drilling the aluminum out Home depot does sell 3/8 aluminum tube if you want to do that way also will save drilling but the inside diameter will be larger the 1/4" and is why I drilled mine I needed 1/4" for my brass rod attachments

 

[Pathfinder65]

That looks pretty good. I’ll give it a go late Sunday or Monday.

Have show and tell this weekend. Company visiting and two three to four hour Railroad Operating Sessions planned. So we’ve been in the basement burning incense to chase away the Gremlins and making sure that the doors are locked so “Murphy “ can’t get in. Everything always works fine until visitors come.

 

[epicdoom]

This is very nice Brother. I never got into the trains, but I do love to watch them run. My wife's uncle had a train set that ran from his basement to the first floor of his house through the living room, kitchen and dining room. Was Massive multi train had houses, mountains, cars moving around the whole 9 yards was super impressive he was an engineer for B&O railroad and his life was Trains, Trains and More Trains. When He passed away his daughter disassembled and boxed it all up. its sitting in storage he had a ton of Old metal trains many Quite Valuable some I remember were American Flier, Lionel and his prized possession Edmonds Metzel set of trains called Chicago trains or something like that. I have a couple big storage Bins He gave me that have a lot of Plastic Model sets never opened they are old cars trucks military vehicles and People some houses and so on that he never got time to build for his massive display. Because I'm good with Wiring and electrical I would help him wire things up and I was permitted to run the trains when we visited him. he was a great man and I miss him greatly new everything under the sun about trains and begged me to get into train work for a living I should have done that, but life led me down the path of the US Marine Corp and when I came home nothing was available in that field of work so I started working on Heavy equipment.

 

[Pathfinder65]

I’ve had this scale for over thirty years and I’m fortunate to have a warm basement for my hobby.
I think your career in the Corps was a good life path. My years also have been about choices, one never knows what is around the next corner.

 

[epicdoom]

I’ve had this scale for over thirty years and I’m fortunate to have a warm basement for my hobby.
I think your career in the Corps was a good life path. My years also have been about choices, one never knows what is around the next corner.

Your so right Brother I have zero Regrets other then Leaving the Corp. I traveled and got to see a lot both good and bad. After 8 years two combat tours I had enough of being a soldier and wanted to get back to my family and civilian life only thing was I wanted to back in the soup less then a month after I got home. it get in your Blood and you miss your Brothers just as much as you miss your real family. its rough, but Home was were I belonged.

 

[Pathfinder65]

Your so right Brother I have zero Regrets other then Leaving the Corp. I traveled and got to see a lot both good and bad. After 8 years two combat tours I had enough of being a soldier and wanted to get back to my family and civilian life only thing was I wanted to back in the soup less then a month after I got home. it get in your Blood and you miss your Brothers just as much as you miss your real family. its rough, but Home was were I belonged.

Yup, been there, done that. I stood down after two tours in the Army and two in the Air Force. I also wanted more time with my family.

 

[Pathfinder65]

Hi Joe,

All the parts are punched out and some of the Laser char cleaned up.
What did you use for glue, I’m thinking Titebond or Gorilla. I’m not sure how much strength and rigidity I need a to build into this assembly.



I do plan to use epoxy on the hand crank gear and I’m going to press fit bushings made from copper tube into the four holes that will hold the gear axles. I’ve found enough bits and pieces in my “I might need this someday” junk box to get this little project started.

 

[epicdoom]

I used Titebond Brother and a drop of CA to help keep things in place till the Titebond dried

 

[Pathfinder65]

Step one:

Glued all the little sub assemblies with Titebond III. Used small bolts and wing nuts to align the gear and wooden bushings. I also used two small bolts and wing nuts to align the bottom of the frame to keep it square after I applied the glue and then added the clamps. Found that the nut cutout in handle is metric, so it will be a visit to the hardware store in the morning.



That's it for today.

 

[epicdoom]

Looking Good Brother. One thing I forgot to mention when you install the uprights onto the base use a square the gussets that are given don't pull it square like one would think they should. I used CA to glue those gussets in place once the upright was square to the base so that I could remove the square as the titebond dried

 

[Pathfinder65]

Good idea on the gussets. I dry fitted them this morning and noticed that didn’t fit plumb or square. I’ll tackle that problem in the morning.

I’m chasing a Gremlin on the RR at the moment. I have LED’s on a control panel that stopped working this morning.

 

[Pathfinder65]

Little bit of progress:

Stopped at the local hardware store this morning and picked up some bits and pieces to use in the assembly of the Ropewalk kit.



I plan on using the 3/16 in Brass rod for the top gear axle and the bottom rung for the support of the serving "bobbin". The Nylon bushings/spacers will be a bushing for the Brass axle top gears, those bushings are 1/2 X .257 X 1/2 inch. The center Bushing is 1/2 X .257 X 1 inch and tapped to hold an 8-32 X 1/2 Thumb screw.
Tomorrow its off to the Big Box hardware store to see if I can find a couple of knobs.

 

[epicdoom]

the bushing you have looks like the ones I used for the Knobs. I was tempted to 3D print one as I only need one side to turn, that being the right side for me. I was thinking about using a brass rod for the bobbin but there is no stress there and the wood dowel supplied would work just fine for my needs. Honestly I probably wont even use it as I prefer to just hold the bobbin in my hand on a Fly tiers bobbin. like this https://www.amazon.com/Griffin-Tyin...d=1540327342&sr=8-13&keywords=fly+tying+tools I already had 6 of them I use for Tying Fly's to fish with. this one is pricy, but others can be found for as low as $5 they also come in different sizes so you can use a large spool of thread to serve with almost all of my serving line for ships is on 1" spools so I'm good with the tools I already have as it will hold from the tiny sewing machine bobbin spools up to 1.5" bobbin spools

 

[Moxis]

Few months ago I made my server machine using the parts and materials I had home. Main parts are sawn of birch plywood, gears and bearings were found from scrap bin. There are a lot of plastic toy gears offered at internet with very cheap prices. Not necessary to make them by yourself.
For serving blocks I added a small clamp where block can be easily kept while serving.
Work can be done either manually or with a simple geared toy motor operated with a foot switch.

 

[piter56]

Excellent machine

 

[Pathfinder65]

Server completed.

I had to do several work arounds to finish this “kit”

I cut 8-24 threads into both of the top brass rods ends. The nuts that were added snugs the gears to the side of of the frame upright and there is enough play between the 3/16 in OD of the rod and the inside ID of the nylon bushing/spacer.

For the main gear I drilled a hole down through the top of the inside wood spacer (the diameter of a toothpick) and into the 1/2 in nylon bushing spacer. The gear and bushing ( the bushing was glued to gear) was placed in the side upright and the wood spacer was slid as far as would go on the bushing. I pushed a toothpick through the wood spacer hole and into the nylon bushing. Once everything was tight I glued the wood spacer to the nylon bushing.

To the brass rod that will hold the “bobbin” I added 3/16 rubber grommets to hold it in place. The grommets will allow for installing or removing that rod.

I had a great time inventing what I needed to complete this “kit”. I can definitely state that there was no possible way to build this using only the materials supplied by the vendor.

 

[epicdoom]

Nicely Done Brother, Now aren't you glad you didn't use it as Firewood? lol There is always a way around we just have to figure it out.

 

[Pathfinder65]

Now aren't you glad you didn't use it as Firewood? lol There is always a way around we just have to figure it out.

Yes, indeed.

 

[Pathfinder65]

Test of Server.



Gave the “creation” a try this morning. I think it will work for what I want to do, but I think it would also be better with a motor. That way both hands are free to attend to the “serving”.

 

[epicdoom]

I have always done serving with one hand. so I'm used to doing it that way but it can take some practice. I usually in no hurry when doing serving as I was the wraps neat and tight so for that reason I probably wont install a motor on my servers, but I did leave the rods long enough that I can install a drill if I have a lot of serving to do in a short amount of time. The big issue for me with using power on the wood gears is how long they will hold up even the one I built with Plastic gears could be a problem under power for any length of time. No matter what you decide you will want a variable speed so you can dial it into your needs. that part would easily done by installing a variable resistor in the power circuit for the motor. in your case possibly using a train controller could do that task for you.

I do a good bit of hand serving on bow strings serving the ends on a machine may be possible and would probably be easier then the method I currently use which can take a considerable amount of time winding each wrap around the standing bow string by hand center serving would still need to be done that way though as you want the string under tension of the Bow limbs