Harvey Diversified Trades LLC

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Harvey Diversified Trades LLC After nearly 30 years in the Tool & Die trade Matthew Harvey is taking his tool box home to blend his mechanical and historical interests into a new trade.

For those of you that showed some interest in the case corners… finished welding them in today still needs some rivets, ...
10/06/2026

For those of you that showed some interest in the case corners… finished welding them in today still needs some rivets, stay bolts , some caulking, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and then she’ll be ready for steam…HDT re-engineering.

Looking back, I saw I posted in July…. So going back in my photos I’ll offer up a small collage of stuff that we’ve been...
09/30/2026

Looking back, I saw I posted in July…. So going back in my photos I’ll offer up a small collage of stuff that we’ve been working on. The summer has wizzed by and we attended many steam shows with the old 75 also. Picture is some fire box mud legwork. Cross head work on the 1385 midcontinent locomotive and the lS&I 21. The resurrection of a froze out Lawson gas engine head and some work on the 35 horse Minneapolis project. Along with working through the annual FRA inspection on the 1003 locomotive things have been busy! Plus many many more mundane and challenging jobs along the way. HDT. Re-engineering. 

Since we’re on the subject of machining… here is one of those tricky set ups. The cross head casting for the Chicago Nor...
07/10/2026

Since we’re on the subject of machining… here is one of those tricky set ups. The cross head casting for the Chicago Northwestern 1385 locomotive had a problem with a out of round and abused piston rod taper hole. On locomotives, they rely on a taper on the piston rod to lock exactly like a Morse taper in a drill press with a wedge knocked in to hold everything in a death grip. When the hole is damaged, the cross head would have no grip on the piston rod taper, so we had the ticklish job of turning the very minimal amount of material out of the crosshead, which was a very difficult job of getting centered perfectly straight with the center line of the piston rod, and at the exact, to the hundredth of a degree, taper!!
When I was an apprentice, my foreman said that we needed 1000 hours on running machines, and 9000 hours of patience…I guess this is what he was talking about. 
This is a step-by-step of getting the crosshead set up in the lathe, straight with the centerline of the piston rod. The last picture is test, fitting the piston and rod into the cross head while still mounted in the machine. Just for a scale the piston is 20 inches in diameter. And the Chuck on the lathe is 28 inches in diameter. HDT re-engineering. 

One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. At least that’s what they say. Here’s another little infomercial because there...
07/02/2026

One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. At least that’s what they say. Here’s another little infomercial because there is a lot of folks even in the metal working biz that don’t really know what’s possible as far as repairs go. I sometimes take on repairs for the mere reason that I don’t want anybody to say that HDT could not fix it! So here is a froze out injector. The bottom cap was not removed to drain the water out and Wisconsin winter extruded the threads and split the bottom of the body. So after scarfing the crack and removing all of the threads from the bottom, I welded the entire thread area up, set up and rethreaded it, and also had to do a repair on the strainer portion of the bottom plug. The threads in the plug were not perfect, but definitely serviceable so I did not need to repair or make the bottom plug new. But they did need to make a height adjustment so that the delivery jet washer was held  tight against the step in the body. Should be a good injector! HDT re-engineering. 

It occurred to me that there are folks out in the steam world that maybe do not know this sort of work has to take place...
06/23/2026

It occurred to me that there are folks out in the steam world that maybe do not know this sort of work has to take place to keep our boilers working. Recently, I finished up, forming and welding the thermic siphons for the LS&I 21 locomotive. But because of the way there were constructed, they needed to have full radiograph or x-ray taken of all the weld seams to ensure their quality. It is a hair bit stressful but I kinda like thinking of it as a retest of some of my welding skills. I included a few of the pictures of the Thermic siphon assembly and a couple of pics taken with a ceiling light in the background for the x-ray film. When following all the rules with the x-ray test, these weld joints are given 100% joint efficiency. Which means that these welded joints are as strong as the plate with no weld at all! The welding on assemblies like this is painstakingly monitored inch by inch, because the x-ray man will find it…..I’ll guarantee you! HDT re-engineering. 

For those of you following along on the locomotive 21 restoration. With the rival of our newly cast cross head slippers....
06/06/2026

For those of you following along on the locomotive 21 restoration. With the rival of our newly cast cross head slippers. We decided to jump at it and see if we can get them machined and fitted up! We are also machining up a new set of bottom guide bars because the lower guide bars were particularly worn and one of them was steel and one was wrought iron…. obviously fitted from parts of other engines. Also, last week we finished tacking up our fire box patches and turned the boiler on its side and are waiting for the completed siphon weldments and door ring to come back from the x-ray lab. Steaming right along! HDT re-engineering.

Picture number one shows re-cutting the sealing surfaces on a 7 1/2 inch sellers injector. I’ve had a few inquiries late...
05/28/2026

Picture number one shows re-cutting the sealing surfaces on a 7 1/2 inch sellers injector. I’ve had a few inquiries lately on if we work on injectors and various other locomotive and traction engine of accoutrements. So I picked out a scattering of stuff. Included is hydrostatic lubricator chokes steam turret complete rebuilds with complete brand new bonnets and valve stems out of ASME code compliant material. We also can build and rebuild cylinder drains, steam governors, and of course, wash out plugs and fusible plugs. Just to keep things fresh in everybody’s minds! HDT re-engineering. 

Been working on a lot of forming here! Flat boiler sheets are a cakewalk compared to flanges arcs and curves with non-st...
05/22/2026

Been working on a lot of forming here! Flat boiler sheets are a cakewalk compared to flanges arcs and curves with non-straight joints. Here’s a pic of the door sheet patch going into the number 21 locomotive along with the fixture that we made for the hydraulic table for lifting it in and out. It was a lifesaver and a finger saver. Photos showing a very vague step-by-step process, but it is fitting up very nicely! HDT re-engineering! 

Just a little infomercial on these old-time buckeye throttles. And a shout out to the hungry Hollow club with their thro...
05/10/2026

Just a little infomercial on these old-time buckeye throttles. And a shout out to the hungry Hollow club with their throttle from a 25 horse Minneapolis. I’ve heard of a few of these throttles hitting the scrap can and being replaced with ball valves. These are actually very nice throttles and I think have a place on about every engine that has one. They are a bit of a bu**er to cut and lap all of the seats, but is still cheaper than re-piping a ball valve onto your engine. For the machinist minded, you can see the angles that need to be set up to re-cut the inside valve faces. Kind of fun actually ….. HDT re-engineering. 

04/29/2026

A little short notice, but, due to HDT shipping out a bunch of three-quarter fusible plugs I am getting a little low on stock. But we’ll have a few of them for sale at the Baraboo swap meet and WHSEA Membership meeting !!!! So if you’re in Baraboo and need a fusible plug see Asa Morey.. he will have them, still $125.
Thanks HDT. Re-engineering. 

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Badger Drive
Campbellsport, WI
53010

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