Model Railroading > Brass steam headlight castings

A long time ago (over 50 yrs) I was in the Army and anyone who has been there has heard of Brasso.
I only model steam and developed a treatment long ago in the '70s when I was doing a lot of painting.
Before I clean up an engine for painting I polish the headlight reflector. I bought a bag of wooden shank cotton swabs and cut one off to about an inch long and chuck it in my Dremel tool, dampen it with Brasso (the same can I had in basic) and run it inside the casting until it reaches a mirror finish. Usually takes less than 30 seconds, then polish it out with a dry one by hand.
Makes a great golden glow looking headlight and if you put a miniature bulb in it it's dynamite. I use a punch to punch out a clear lens and away we go. You can actually move the bulb in or out to focus it just like the prototype.
The photo shows one without the bulb lit.

---

That's very interesting…I believe I'll try that. Thanks Don.
Chris

Can you guys still get wooden cotton swabs?

What did you clean the brass with in the day when you were prepping for painting? did you have that clear Lacquer the Sammie and Ajin put on? I was always taught to remove that with Lacquer thinner or even paint stripper.

Rick

I have been making reflectors out of Aluminum cable stops and round Dremel cutting bits. I polish them with Simichrome applied to a 1" square rag over the round cutter. See pics.

Peter

---

---

---

I guess you can still get the wooden ones. The doctors all use them so they must be available. I guess you could use the plastic shanked ones if you were careful not to get too boisterous.
I've always cleaned brass engines in lacquer thinner. Remove the plastic brake hangers first.
I've always completely disassembled engines first.

herronpeter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have been making reflectors out of Aluminum
> cable stops and round Dremel cutting bits. I
> polish them with Simichrome applied to a 1" square
> rag over the round cutter. See pics.
>
> Peter


Interesting thread; what is a cable stop? It might be called something else here.

Rick

It's used to secure the loop of cable on a garage door. It consists of two pieces of aluminum, one of them being round with a small hole in the center. See Google link below.

https://www.google.com/search?q=aluminum+cable+stop&client=firefox-a&hs=Poh&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=np&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=QRZUVOnJC6-1sQTPi4HgDQ&ved=0CFQQ7Ak&biw=864&bih=414

Here's how I make them in pics.

Chuck in mandrel made from long machine screw:

Hold it against belt sander while drill runs in reverse at top speed to get the OD correct. Be careful [WEAR EYE PROTECTION] it takes material quickly.

---

---

---

Continued:

Clamp in vice. Use drill press to cut out the concave opening with the appropriate sized Dremel or other cutter

Polish with Simichrome applied to 1" square of cloth after sanding with 1" squares of finer and finer sand/emery paper.

Cut excess off and you end up with this.

continued:

---

---

---

Continued:

Drill out the center hole to 3 MM to install LED from the back. I prepare the LED"S by cutting the tails off marking the + with a red sharpie and solder 30 GA wires to it at 90 degree if wire exits bottom of light and straight if out the back. I cover the whole back with silicone to prevent shorts.

Next, I use the appropriate sized punch to make a lens. I also make the trim ring of either plastic or (if it will fit) brass tubing in a miter box with fine tooth blade. You can fiddle with the OD size by chucking the tubing into your drill and wrapping emery paper around and run it fast. Do this before you cut it! You can also increase the ID by wrapping some emery paper around a smaller piece of tubing inserted into the opening while running the drill. You gotta be a bit inventive to do this stuff but you will have fun and end up with great shiny headlight reflectors.

Need additional help, just ask.

Thanks,

Peter

---

---