After making the crosshead guides, it was time to move on to the "shoes". The 2900 has a 2-part, well actually 3-part assembly that makes up the entire crossshead. There is the "shoe" - the part that is grooved to fit into the guide and is the piece that slides back and forth while in actual contact with the guide, and then there is the crosshead itself which is made up of 2 symmetrical halves bolted together while kind of sandwiching the shoe.
First up was to make the "shoe". Residing under the bandsaw in a pile of old metal chips, dust, and cobwebs was a grimy, worn-looking odd-shaped piece of golden-hued metal. Ed identified it as 1/2 of a former diesel locomotive traction motor bearing and perfect for use as the crosshead shoe. So in the interest of doing my part to save the environment, it was time to recycle old diesel train parts into new steam engine parts!
First up was to cut out some workable stock from the old material.
Then it was time to machine it into something useful.
