Subject: Hiraoka's Shay book: A review

From: [email-masked] (Greg Lewis)
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 05:06:18 GMT

In an earlier post, someone was asking about Hiroaka's locomotive
building books. And as I predicted then, there was a copy of Hiraoka's
book Building the Shay under my Christmas tree. Here is the review I
promised. My comments below should be tempered with the fact that I
consider myself a beginner, and haven't built any of his engines.
Therefore I can only make assumptions about his accuracy and technique
based on what I have seen and tried elsewhere. Perhaps someone who has
built an engine following his directions can add some comments.

The hardbound 194-page book is divided into 23 chapters and an
extensive appendix that includes detailed instructions on silver
soldering, making ball check valves, hex bolts and wrenches, and a
wobbler center indicator. Some chapters are only a few pages while
others are about 14 or 15, and each chapter deals with one aspect of
building the Shay. Trucks, Square Shafts, Engine, Main Frame, Hand
Pump and Headlight are some chapters.

If you are familiar with Hiraoka's work in Live Steam magazine, this
follows his style. There is a minimum of narrative and a maximum of
detailed plans for each part as well as step-by-step drawings showing
how each part is made. The Shay is built up from bar stock; no
castings are used. Hiroaka makes all the parts for the loco, including
needle valves, whistle valve and water glass. He creates
complicated-looking parts by building them up from smaller pieces and
silver soldering sub-assemblies together. For example, the drive
wheels are made by attaching separate spokes and a rim to a backing
plate with tiny screws. The assembly is then silver soldered together
and the backing fixture is machined off. Other parts are made in a
similar fashion. The crankshaft has three throws and six eccentrics
and is machined on the lathe. He shows the builder how to offset the
crank in the lathe by the use of end caps into which center holes are
drilled at the necessary offset. This is one spot where his
thoroughness falls short, as there is no suggestion as to how these
caps can be made short of a rotary table. While the expert probably
knows a dozen solutions, a suggestion to the beginner would be
appropriate.

The Appendix includes a tour of Hiraoka's workshop, which consists of
a 7-inch Emco lathe with milling attachment and the usual basic
assortment of hand tools. It seems that many of the craftsmen we
admire have simple shops and a minimum of tools. This has always made
an avowed toolaholic like me uncomfortable, as I operate under the
rule that he with the most tools wins. We all know that better cameras
take better pictures, right?

Dimensions are all metric. Hiraoka makes a case for the metric system
in the Appendix and includes extensive conversion tables. As an
American builder, I'd rather skip the twelve pages of tables and have
more text or a lower price, as the conversion information is already
available in standard references. Further, those who are living under
metrics don't need the conversions. A builder in the U.S. would
probably prefer to convert all dimensions to English units. The
difficulty in working with metrics is not in the system itself, which
is much simpler than the English system, but in the fact that all our
American lead screws and readily available materials are in English
units. Getting raw materials is enough of a challenge without trying
to find them in metric sizes. 

I am amused at times by writers of letters of complaint to the editors
of various model magazines. These persons say some particular series
of articles is of no value to them. But I have found that even though
I may never build the item presented (in this case a Shay locomotive)
there are new ways of doing things that can be adapted to other
projects. Such is the case here. In my opinon, the most valuable
aspect of Hiraoka's work is the concept of making complex parts from
sub-assemblies. Overall, if you are willing to take the time to study
his drawings and instructions, there is a wealth of information here
for anyone building working mechanical models.

___________________________________________________________________
[email-masked]
Photojournalism sequence, Department of Mass Communication and Journalism
CSU Fresno, Fresno, CA 93740-0010