Lyka Kit #1 Chassis

Below is an image of what I have found to be one of my most important tools -- a half round needle file.

Also used extensively were a regular flat file, rat tail file, regular sized half round file, hole deburring tool and a Dewalt right angle grinder. But by far this little half round needle file I used the most on all the small pieces parts. All parts for kits 1 and 2 have been deburred and chamfered. This took a little less than two days.



As others have indicated on their blogs, there was some difficulty with assembling the Side Stays. I found it necessary to bend them some. I used my Oxy-Acetylene rig to heat up the bend area and on a vise tapped with a medium to light force the Side Stays with a two pound hammer. Cool the part and retest the fit. I did this several times for each Side Stay until I was satisfied that the Side Stays would align and slide into the front and back Axle Assemblies.

Kit 1 trial assembly completed.

The following image shows the connection point of the Side Stay to one of the axles. I know that Steam Traction World stated that the frame is flexible and not worry about it so much, but when I completely tightened down the Side Stays, I didn't particularly like the way the framed flexed and stressed it. Below shows a picture of the relaxed Side Stay.

I probably could try and re-bend the Side Stays some more, but the studs line up nicely to the frame and axle holes. I decided to find some 1/8 inch (3mm) washers to make up the gap and braze them onto the ends of the Side Stays. This way the long Tubes are not placed under assembly stress and there is the right amount of threads exposed to allow the M10 nyloc nut to lock with maybe 1 or 2 threads exposed past the nut.