Keep use informed

As a modeler of 1905 in Iowa and Minnesota, I would be interested.  Let use see you finished models when done

Howard Garner

Very cool! I'm looking

Very cool! I'm looking forward to see how this turns out.

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It should be very soon.  After my marathon session yesterday, I have three wheel pulleys left at most, then I need to put the parts to trues and and do the scaling.  After that, I will have to wait and see the machines crank out.

My goal is to have the setup finished by the time I go to bed tonight, which will be between 8 and 16 hours.

​And then, I can only hope it prints out well.

​Exciting times, for me at least!

Very Interesting.

Looks great!! 

I am very interested in the end result. 

Do you have pictures of the steam tractor and plow?

Don Hopf

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Of Course!

The steam tractor is a Fowler type.

https://www.shapeways.com/product/HRF9ZEB2S/1000-1-fowler-plough-engine-wheels-1-87?optionId=40762262&li=ostatus

​https://www.shapeways.com/product/KJDX574FU/1000-0-fowler-plough-engine-body-1-87?optionId=1384580&li=ostatus

The plow would have been winched between two tractors or between one tractor and a turntable anchored into the ground at the opposite end of the field.  if there were two tractors, then there would likely also be two plows with one operating in each direction as they were winched across the field.

https://www.shapeways.com/product/5DCVVV4KL/1000-2-tilt-plough-1-87?optionId=1578519&li=ostatus

At that price, the plow is a super great deal.  I have broken off a wheel on mine, which is driving a design consideration for my threshers.  I have made the axles hollow for the purpose of using a very thin wire [perhaps 0.20 or 0.010] for mounting the tires.  We'll see how it actually works out.

​As of right now, all of my parts have passed the initial mesh check, though one part somewhere is now failing the mesh check, which is very unfortunate.  The watertight check is the hardest part of the process, especially at this point when there are so many intricate parts that need to be mounted to sprues.

​I could probably also do a version that is already built, but it would certainly make painting a bit of a bear.  If the unit framework is painted green, it's from John Deere, if it is red, it's from Farmall or McCormick-Deering or Ferguson or Case, and if it's orange, it's Allis-Chalmers, the differences between them are few enough that only a real thresher enthusiast will spot the differences.  There were also left hand and right hand setups, this on is a left hand setup.

Here's another application I found on the internet, this time the thresher is on a flat with a steam tractor and a water tender.  A nice little kit, If I dare say so myself.  And if anybody wonders, they got that flat with everything loaded on it under the cover by dragging it over bare ground using a semi-wrecker.  No rails, they just pulled it under the cover and the pulled it onto the rial under the cover.  Most interesting method if you ask me...

I'm going to bed for a few, maybe I'll have this printed by next weekend.  We'll see what the machine spits out, right?

....

I uploaded the model to Shapeways tonight.  I will have to rescale my thicknesses for at least HO scale, alas, but otherwise it's going well.  This is an unfortunate setback but not outside of the realm of what was expected.

Have you considered?

Have you considered a recess on the side frame into the body to make construction easier.  There may be other area that would benefit from alignment keys.

Is the wind stacker going to be positionable to the operating position?

Just some of my thoughts.

Howard Garner

Possible next project?

After the threshing machine, we need a good power source.

We have the SSLtd Case traction engine.

What others come to mind?

There were portable engines that got towed around by horses.  Then there were the early liquid fuel tractors.  The Rumly Oil Pull is an example.  Then into the 40's and 50's they were using the large standard farm tractors.

Howard Garner

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The only alignment necessary for the side pieces is with the edges of the body, I didn't feel pins would be necessary.  With the minimum thicknesses, we'll see if that concept survives, I hope it does but in HO it may have to be discarded and I may have to make a body with the frame already applied.  This would suck for painting but it may be necessary.

​I the two input chutes, the two output chutes, and the exhaust chute separate pieces.  I may see about printing it folded up to see what the cost difference is between an assembled kit and a parts kit.  Lots to do, though, I have to get these thicknesses tackled after work.

Steam tractors...

The Fowler Steam Traction Engine will do well for now.  It's available from another shop.   ​The SSLtd CCase is available through Wiseman on Ebay.  It's a good but pricey model.  There are also two or three models form Matchbox's Models fo Yesteryear series and that might work, though it is a larger steam engine.  I know of a couple others but I can't name who made them at the moment.

The Athearn Waterloo, the Athearn Model D diesel tractors, and the Jordan Fordson are all appropriate for the era when these were new, the Mid 50s tractors are also appropriate for late era [1940s/1950s]  Some of these tractors have the necessary output pulley needed to drive the thresher, the others will only be useful for pulling it around.

​I did not make drive belts.  That will be left to those who wan tot make them out of paper.
 

I Agree

I agree with most of your points.

The Fordson of the era is too underpowered to drive the thresher..

The Fowler is stickily British if my memory is correct.  Removing the large cable reel would improve its appearance the the US market.

From the Thomas the Train series we have Trevor the Tractor.  Removing his face makes him respectable as a model. 

Keep up the good work.

Howard Garner

@Benny

Benny, I really like the picture you posted on this thread showing the steam traction engine, water wagon, and threshing machine on the flat car. When I lived in Northern Minnesota, over 20 years ago I was a member of the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion, and spent many Labor day weekends there, operating their 0-6-0 Alco steam switch engine on the nearly three mile oval of standard gauge 1:1 scale railroad. I also operated some of the large stationary steam engines there.

My Mom still attends the annual event, and operates a live steam ride on model train. It's bigger than the seven inch live steam models, with around 15 inches between the rails, and is kind of like the Walt Disney ride on model trains at their amusement parks. There is also so many more exhibits to see there, with antique cars, trucks, and tractors, steam traction engines, working threshers, stationary gasoline and oil fired engines, buildings built to replicate old time stores, a working steam powered sawmill, two actual railroad depots, roundhouse, turntable, and so much more. If anyone reading this post has an interest in these historical artifacts actually used in operating condition, it would be worth your time to attend this Labor day weekend show, in Rollag, MN. The nearest airport is in Fargo, ND.

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So this is exciting...

For kicks and giggles I went ahead and threw the Assembled Model file at Shapeways to see what would kick out.  There's a couple thing missing due to how Shapeways works with objects, but at least it gives me an idea what I'm working with.

​And then the sadness.  ​After the initial upload, it stated my walls were too thin and I was sad because I thought it meant perhaps the whole thing.  I then moved on to going to work, which meant I couldn't wait for the render.

​I had time to wait for the rendering this morning, to see where the actual issues are in my design file.  If you have never used Shapeways, the support software is beyond amazing at least versus anything I've ever played with.

 
​

All I have to do is 1) make these areas in red thicker and 2) finish the kit file so that there's an option for those who would rather paint and then assemble, versus trying to paint a completed piece.  I was born in the right era, I like this technology a lot!!!

I think we're very, very close.  Friday, maybe? As in Friday, January 26, 2018?  Full release, as many scales as as one might want...  I can dream, right?! 

Looking through my records, I started in August and finished the rough file by no later than November, and then took two months off.  I reckon I had the original design file done in about a week, and then like everything else, this project got put on the back burner.  I really need to stop doing that.

​Does anyone have recommendations on the hitch?  It's currently just a peg, but that could be changed...
​

...

Howard, you may be correct about the Fordson lacking the horsepower to drive the thresher - at least, if it has the output pulley at all in the first place.  That's the kicker, if there isn't an output pulley, it won't be driving anything.

​Scratch that thought.  I decided to search for Fordson Thresher and see what might come up.  Lo behold, there's a Fordson driving a thresher...albeit this is a European thresher...Polly...I guess that puts that debate to rest.

http://www.traktorstory.com/eng/fordson.htm

 
Turns out 20 HP is plenty for running a thresher. 

Here's another, my thresher will look just dandy behind a Jordan Fordson!

 

As for the steam engine...

​The Fowler with the cable drive is primarily a British thing, cable drawn plowing never really caught on in the US.  This discussion that I found a couple months ago while doing my own research is definitely worth reading if you're interested in the subject:

https://www.smokstak.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46780

Great read

Thanks for the link above.  I enjoyed reading all of it.

Howard Garner

...

It's Tuesday morning and after a couple hours of work, there are exactly 5 wheels that may need to be corrected and the Exhaust chute need to be thicker at one critical point.  Otherwise, it's 95% ready to print in Frosted Ultra Detail at roughly $35 a piece.  If I can get this to print in White Strong and Flexible [like the cable drawn plow I ordered a couple months back] this would bring down the price to about $20 each.  Another avenue I am exploring is separating the delicate pieces into separate files so that the large pieces can be printed in the cheaper Strong Flexible material while the more delicate parts are done in the finer Frosted White.

​ 

If I can get in one more good solid session here in the next could days, We'll have this out the gate.  I'm holding fast to my target of January 26th!

Belt drive

I've seen one of these portable threshers in use at the Great Steam Up! at Antique Powerland in Brooks, OR. Takes place on the last weeknd of July and first weekend of August each year.

I forget which tractor was powering it, but they had what must have been a 100' leather belt in a figure 8 between a big flyweel on the tractor (which appears to have been steam) and the thresher.

They had a large pile of wheat nearby that they ran though it - I think it was then hauled off to a flour mill on site.

I wish I had better photos of it. Click on the photo for a larger view. 

Belt

Nearly all of those old tractors have a belt pulley, or more like flywheel. They were made to do a great deal of work including threshing, running a small sawmill, etc. They were excellent mobile power plants!

Old Thrashers Reunion

Another great one in Mt Peasant Iowa. Narrow gauge Steam locomotives, trolleys, tractors, cars, trucks, ect. 

http://www.oldthreshers.com/

Another Good book

Another good book is "Steam Power on the American Farm"  There are a couple copies on ABE for around $10.

It mentions that about 4 of the Fowler Ploughing Engine were imported to the US.  But because to the larger fileds here in the US the cable system was not that workable.

Gives a good history of the development of steam power from portable steam engines, to self propelled but horse steered, to the likes of the Case and others that we know well.

I worked one day thrashing.  I was probably about 7, my job was to keep the grain the in wagon leveled off.  In the late 40's the neighbors were still using horses by 1950 the horses were gone and the field pickup was by tractor drawen wagon.  A couple years after that, it was combines only.  This was in Minnesota, just south of St Paul.

Howard Garner

Cool stuff!

Nice work here, Benny! There are a number of old tractors on display in a Murfreesboro, TN, city park. I snapped some photos last November. Here's a 1923 Fordson with a pulley.

Click on the image to view the full size. 

I don't know if this is an original part or something that was added later. This hardware looked larger on the Case and John-Deere tractors.

Eric

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So the brilliant part about being stationed in Korea is that even though it is 9:00 AM on Saturday, in my home state it is still 5:00 PM Friday....

And that means I have made my deadline!

​I made the final set of changes early this morning and reloaded the project to Shapeways, it's now up and ready for printing.  I need to order a couple myself to see how they print, but it looks like it's just a matter of shipping time now!!

https://www.shapeways.com/product/6CYJNAJ87/grain-thresher-model-kit-ho-1-87?optionId=64653616&li=shop-inventory

​I hope everybody enjoys it.  My next goal is to add a couple options to bring down the price, starting with making the detail parts separate files for printing the more detailed mediums, and then thickening up the larger components so they can be printed with the cheaper mediums.  I'm also considering a couple units that are fully assembled for those who don't want to assemble them, or set up so that assembly is even easier versus the current separately applied wheel and pulley setup.  Projects for later!!​

Pulley - Fordson Original Equipment

Eric et al:

http://www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/000/2/1/217-fordson-fordson-f.html

Based on the information above, the pulley appears to be original equipment.

Scroll down the page to the right for pulley information.

Possibly of some interest

Here is a video made by Huell Howser of old-fashioned harvesting near Modesto, CA.

Shows two ways of gathering the hay and stacking and threshing.

WOW this is great! Just what

WOW this is great! Just what I was wanting. I scratched a Case steam tractor a few months ago and wanted a thresher for the scene. I ordered your design from Shapeways last night; will report back Thanks so MUCH.

Bill