Shay Trucks

This page will show how I made the trucks for the class "D" shay. Four sets of trucks will be needed to make this shay. Hopefully I can get it right by the fourth set.
NOTE: To those who have showed up here for the past 8 years to see if any progress has been made will notice a change. Read the What's New on the home page.

I had already cut the raw stock for the first set of trucks when I originally started this project. Here I'm milling the one end to make sure it's square with long sides. The other end will be squared up in the next operation.

Here are the pieces all squared at one end. They are now ready to be milled to the exact length and have the holes drilled in their proper location. But before I do that I will need to make a fixture to hold the parts.

One rainy day I decided I should cut all the raw stock to their respective lengths so I could finish all the truck parts at one time.
Next I have to make a fixture to put the parts in so I can trim them to length and drill all the holes in their proper spots.
If your interested in the fixture I built follow this link. Truck Fixture

Once all the holes had been drilled I marked the spot were the arch bar part of the trucks needs to be bent. I used the same fixture for this.

The four bars that will need to be bent for the tender trucks all ready and marked. The back side of these pieces are marked the same. Those bends are in the opposite direction so they needed to be scribed on the back side.

Now the problem is bending this straight section into.................

......this "V" sort of shape.
This calls for a jig to give more of a precision bend.

Here's a picture of the fixture I made to bend the archbars. To see how I made the fixture follow this link. Bending Fixture

The top bar on top of the archbar to check hole alignment.

The four completed archbars ready to have the corners welded up and ground.

Started to do the milling of the truck journals. I just skimmed the top to remove the taper from the casting

Here they are all done on both sides. Next will be the journals for the gear side.

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	I had already cut the raw stock for the first set of trucks when I originally started this project. Here I'm milling the one end to make sure it's square with long sides. The other end will be squared up in the next operation.
	Here are the pieces all squared at one end. They are now ready to be milled to the exact length and have the holes drilled in their proper location. But before I do that I will need to make a fixture to hold the parts.
	One rainy day I decided I should cut all the raw stock to their respective lengths so I could finish all the truck parts at one time. Next I have to make a fixture to put the parts in so I can trim them to length and drill all the holes in their proper spots. If your interested in the fixture I built follow this link. Truck Fixture
	Once all the holes had been drilled I marked the spot were the arch bar part of the trucks needs to be bent. I used the same fixture for this.
	The four bars that will need to be bent for the tender trucks all ready and marked. The back side of these pieces are marked the same. Those bends are in the opposite direction so they needed to be scribed on the back side.
	Now the problem is bending this straight section into.................
	......this "V" sort of shape. This calls for a jig to give more of a precision bend.
	Here's a picture of the fixture I made to bend the archbars. To see how I made the fixture follow this link. Bending Fixture
	The top bar on top of the archbar to check hole alignment.
	The four completed archbars ready to have the corners welded up and ground.
	Started to do the milling of the truck journals. I just skimmed the top to remove the taper from the casting
	Here they are all done on both sides. Next will be the journals for the gear side.