Milling Machine Recommendation For Lowering Freight Cars

[wvgca]

i have also used a very light drill press with a dremel mounted in it to shave down bolsters on wooden truss rod flatcars . the cutting bit was designed as a dovetail cutter for the sights on a 1911 pistol, about 1/4 inch in width ??  .. the wooden flatcar frames were milled out with a homemade cnc router / mill, and the deck seperately applied. no underneath detail was added, just foot stirrups, and on some a rudimentary hand brake wheel . the ones in the picture were 3d printed on a prusa clone printer [filament] , by the way, these were HO

[peteski]

Just to play devil's advocate: when it comes to shaving down bolsters I've had luck using a cordless drill and the frame solidly clamped to the table.

Chucks on cordless drills (and other handheld drills) are not attached using a Jacobs taper mount. They use threaded mount, and since they are reversible, they also have a bolt solidly connecting them with the drills shaft.  You can see the bold head if you open up the jaws and look inside the chuck. These chucks will not come off.

[wazzou]

Here's a quick pic of one of the 400+ cars I described up-thread using my bench-top disc sander during a campaign to lower ride height and convert to low-pro wheels.



I see that stirrup needs some attention.   

[nickelplate759]

Just to play devil's advocate: when it comes to shaving down bolsters I've had luck using a cordless drill and the frame solidly clamped to the table.

It's not pretty, but it works.

Please explain your technique a bit!  I'm trying to visualize it and failing.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Sure. It's actually pretty straight forward.

I chuck a nice big bit into my drill then clamp the frame to be lowered onto my workbench with a decently stout clamp.

Then I fire up the drill, do my best to get it square over the frame and then just drill out the area centered on the bolster.

I then come back with a file and clean and square everything up.

It is decidedly not precise but it frequently gets the job done.

[robert3985]

I've had my Sherline Mill for a long time.

I've upgraded it when upgrades were available, and it's been a fine tool for precisely removing metal from various projects, lowering cars being one of the projects.

You'll find many more applications for it if you decide to go with the Sherline.  I used mine for removing metal for DCC Sound installs, modifying car underbody details when I'm superdetailing a specific car or caboose...and when I was involved in developing tactical night vision, I used it for prototyping what I was going to sell out of aluminum and Delrin.

There are lots of other jobs that will appear if you have the tools to do them. 

Although I'm sure a fine job of removing metal can be done "by eye" with sanders, grinding wheels, drill presses and Dremels, having an actual mill will let you do jobs that require precision easily...with no guess work.

A nice thing about Sherline is the availability of accessories as it is a popular tool among hobbyists and has been around for a long time.

Mine was well worth the money, and has been on my bench for decades.

I also have a big Craftsman drill press, and I would never think of adding an XY table to it for milling operations.

Get a real mill and you'll never regret it.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore