Coach 9: 2018 Updates

August 2018 Update

Harold Downey reports: “I am adding all the details to the top side mold. I thought this would be easier. But many of the edge pieces have 3-D curvature, and I couldn’t just bend them out of thin pieces. For example, here is one of them. I start with a cube that contains the part I want, and glue paper patterns to two sides. I cut it on a bandsaw in one plane, then keeping the stack together, cut it in the other axis.”

Here is the cube with all the cuts done.

Then the cube is separated into the three vertical stacks. (The part I want is in the center of the middle stack).

Here is the current progress. Most of the edge pieces had to be made the same way. Everything is just loosely placed at this point. I will glue everything down once all the pieces are done. All that remains on this part of the pattern are the edges to the legs, the feet, and the lettering.

Here is the final pattern of the back side. It is complete other than finish (polyurethane). I put the actual seat frame next to it for comparison.

And here is the final front side pattern.

I added up my hours … 230 so far for this pattern. About a third of the time was measuring and creating drawings to work from.

There are eight total patterns needed for the seat:

Aisle side frame – this pattern
Window-side frame – done – see earlier progress report
Two link arms for the seat back
Plate for the seat back attachment
Two different bottom plates for the linkage
Armrest

July 2018 Update

Harold Downey reports: “Here is what the seat side frame pattern is looking like so far. This will be the top side pattern. There are 17 separate pieces here, all loosely assembled on a base plate. Many of the pieces required curves to be cut in two different dimensions. Once this is glued up, all the features get added, such as the lips along the edges, the lettering and the feet.”

“There will be a corresponding core that will form the underside of the seat frame. There is a corresponding piece to each of the 17 pieces which will form the same parting line for the core, but looks like an impression of this top side pattern. You can see the pile of them just to the left.”

“This is the most difficult pattern I have done. It has been a crazy amount of time so far — over a hundred hours. A lot of the time is set up, measuring and creating drawings. I am trying to make it as robust as I can, since this will be used for more than a couple of seats — 24 just for Coach 9.”

This is the frame or skeleton that will become the core box. It is ready to be glued to the 17 pieces that mate with the top side mold parts.

Now this frame is placed on the assembly, with glue to attach it to the pieces it touches.

After the glue dried (actually its epoxy, so it was an overnight cure), I cut 5 degree angles on all four sides. This was not as simple as it looks, but I did it on a large bandsaw after a couple of different setup attempts.

Then I attached 4 sides to the top half, to form the core box.

Then I finally was ready to separate the two halves. Shown first is the mold half, which will form the top of the seat frame. Since this mating assembly as I constructed it, splits on the back surface of the seat frame, this mold will get built up by the thickness of the frame (about 3/16″), and also the side webs and other features will be added.

This is the core box which will form the bottom side of the seat frame.

Here is another view of the bottom side core box, with the seat frame sitting on it, so you can compare. As you can see there are lots of features to be added to this. But the hard parts are done, and the rest will just take some time.

June 2018 Update

What do you think of our colors?

Full size mock up of the lettering on brown background with varnish covering all…just a rough bit of plywood

May 2018 Update

Harold Downey reports: “I’ve started on the biggest seat part, the main side frame. Since the silicone mold making seemed to work well for my first try with letters, I thought that it might allow me to make the most intricate part of the side frame pattern, the open basket weave. I backed up the weave area with a waxed piece of acrylic, and brushed on a thickened silicone mixture to make the mold. After curing and peeling it off, it didn’t seem all that great, but I decided to go ahead and make an epoxy casting with it, to at least learn something. The basket weave is on a curved surface, which doesn’t lend itself to making an epoxy casting very well. So I flattened the silicone mold, and put plaster on the back side to keep it flat.”

“I made a dam around the silicone with molding clay, mixed up epoxy and poured it yesterday. I unmolded it today, sanded down the back side to get it to the correct thickness, and did a little clean up with a paring chisel and files. I am very pleased with how it turned out. No need to do it again.”

“Here is the silicone mold I made to reproduce the Hale & Kilburn lettering. I am stoked about how well this is working. The new seats will look very authentic.”

February 2018 Update

The silicone mold peeled off the letters. It seems to have worked really well.

And with the epoxy letters placed on the pattern. The pattern is a little further along. The core box for this is taking a lot of time.

This pattern is a one-sided pattern with a cover core. It will be molded completely in the drag (bottom half of the sand mold flask). The cover core forms the back side indent and takes care of the offsets in the parting plane.

On top is the pattern — the darker wood backing is the core print. Below is the core box.

Still have lots of finish work to do — filling holes, fillets, etc.

January 2018 Update

Craftsman Harold Downey reports: “I am starting work on the patterns for the Hale & Kilburn seats. This is the window side casting that supports that side of the seat, and where the flip-over mechanism attaches as well.”

“It is very challenging, even though it doesn’t look too complicated. I also need to make a complex core box to form the back side cavity. This is just a warmup for the aisle side casting — that one is giving me nightmares.”

“The first picture is the pattern in process. I am gluing on the first level of core prints in this step. You can see the actual part just above it.”

The second picture is showing something I am trying out. The original casting has a part number on it – 71M-3. The letters are very similar in size and detail to the Hale and Kilburn lettering that definitely needs to be reproduced on the aisle side casting. I got some mold making silicone rubber. I poured this over the letters. Once that hardens, I can peel it off and use it as a mold to make letters out of epoxy. Then I can glue the epoxy letters to the pattern. I hope this works!

Thanks for your continued support and interest in the WW&F!
The Coach 9 Team