
Remove any excess solder from the front faces of the bearings.
Free the fret from the working surface.
Weaken the bond of the double sided tape with a soak in methylated spirits and
slide a Stanley knife blade or a similar thin strip of metal under the fret and
bearings to break the bond of the tape without causing too much distortion.
Unfold Fold 3 and separate the individual bearing carrier assemblies from the frame.
Take care, as the top parts of the carriers are quite fragile at this stage: it may be
best to leave cleaning up the tags until after the folding and soldering stages below.
Taking each carrier in turn, clamp it
firmly into a vice (a hand-held vice is
ideal for this) across the ends of the
bearing with the bottom of the bearing
carrier protruding. File away any remnants
of the tag from the lower edge of the
carrier.
Working against a hard, flat surface,
make the fold to form the bottom flange
of the bearing carrier.
Then, invert the carrier in the vice so
that the carrier top is projecting. Fold in
the ears at the top of the carrier. You may
find that the ear catches against the top
flange: do not apply brute force, but adjust
Fold 2 and/or the direction of the applied
force, and you will find that it folds easily.
Folding against a block, as shown, gives a
good, tight fold.
On the inner carriers (the ones without
a hole in their back face), apply a small amount of flux (cocktail stick!) to the folds
and butt joints around the top of the carrier and flash in some solder to reinforce the
folds and form a fillet between the lower edges of the ears and the top of the carrier
body. Clean off any solder which adheres to the outer faces of the ears. Ensure the
holes in the ears remain clear of solder.
Bearing Carrier Instructions for Six-wheel Bogies
12/52
(c) PenBits Model Railways, All Rights Reserved
04/05/2017