My father and I are working on an HG/ OC-3. He has purchased a set of weld on drive sprockets. Am looking for help as to removal of the old and welding of the new, I am a Fabricator by trade so we have ideas but looking for advise from "The Guys in the KNOW".Thanks
My welder just sets up a jig (as with tire changers) to keep everything level, and the torch steady, and spins the core slowly to cut it off and to weld the new rim back on. Obviously, a few tack welds will help level everything up nicely before committing yourself.
That were my thoughts. I have all ready had it on my positioner, was just curious if there were any other ideas THANKS IN ADVANCE!!
One place you might look to find information is steam locomotive maintenance records. They had to change the "tire" of the locomotive driving wheels. The tires were some inches in thickness, were a different type of metal than the wheel core and slipped over the wheel in the same way the sprocket does on our crawlers. The way I understand it is they had to expand the tire with heat and cool the wheel somehow. They then had to slip the metal tire over the wheel and set it as the two cooled and warmed up respectively. You might find some photos or even videos on how they installed, balanced and centered that tire to allow those drivers to propel the steam locomotives upwards of 80 mph. When I was in the steam shop of the Union Pacific Rail Road in Cheyenne, WY, they were working on the boiler of one of their functioning Locos and the driving wheels were taller than I am at 5'9".
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