# K-28 dome whistle installation



## lenicheck (Jan 8, 2008)

As a big favor for carting my engine to DH for me, I just recently finished a dome whistle installation in Matt Abrue's K-28. This is basically the Larry Bangham design with a few tweaks, the main one being that I had to make an 1/8" extension for the dome because the valve took up more vertical room than the dome allowed.

Some pics:




























It's a rather big resonator so the sound is beefy and low. This does not really do the sound justice but a video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zYdxLC_KcQ

Rob Lenicheck
SA #271


----------



## Dan Pantages (Jan 2, 2008)

Very nicely done Rob.


----------



## rkapuaala (Jan 3, 2008)

Sweet! Rob, how would I go about getting those plans?


----------



## RP3 (Jan 5, 2008)

Nice, innovative installation Rob. I used Larry's drawings to do a similar installation in my K-27 but I had to make a whole new steam dome to house it since the interior space in the machined K-27 dome was too restrictive. I'm in the process of doing it again in my K-36 since that dome has more internal space than the K-27 with plenty of room for the resonator and possibly the valve too. But your whistle valve looks a bit different. Did you make it yourself or buy from someone else? Inquiring minds want to know. 

Ross Schlabach


----------



## Chris Scott (Jan 2, 2008)

Rob: 
Did you hog out the dome (then add the 1/8" extension)?


----------



## lenicheck (Jan 8, 2008)

Guys,

The whistle design and construction was printed up by Larry B in SiTG several years ago. I did have to hog out the dome cap for the addn space needed, both in height and a bit in ID. It's a bit of a chore getting the dome clamped up in the lathe but it's possible. The scary part is guessing how deep you can go without cutting the dome in half (!).

The whistle valve is Larry's design - it might look a bit different because you are noticing the retaining cap on the top. I bought the valve and whistle top parts from East Branch Trains several years when he was still in business. Those are the only parts which would be really tricky to make yourself. 
Rob


----------



## steamboatmodel (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By lenicheck on 11 Mar 2010 09:16 AM 
Guys,

The whistle design and construction was printed up by Larry B in SiTG several years ago. I did have to hog out the dome cap for the addn space needed, both in height and a bit in ID. It's a bit of a chore getting the dome clamped up in the lathe but it's possible. The scary part is guessing how deep you can go without cutting the dome in half (!).

The whistle valve is Larry's design - it might look a bit different because you are noticing the retaining cap on the top. I bought the valve and whistle top parts from East Branch Trains several years when he was still in business. Those are the only parts which would be really tricky to make yourself. 
Rob



Do you know if the article is still available?
Regards,
Gerald.


----------



## David BaileyK27 (Jan 2, 2008)

If anyone is interested I can supply the Whistle Parts assembled, and also the parts for the Valve, you will have to make your own rsonators to fit the space available. 
David Bailey www.djbengineering.co.uk


----------



## Chris Scott (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By steamboatmodel on 11 Mar 2010 10:30 AM 
Posted By lenicheck on 11 Mar 2010 09:16 AM 
Guys,

The whistle design and construction was printed up by Larry B in SiTG several years ago. I did have to hog out the dome cap for the addn space needed, both in height and a bit in ID. It's a bit of a chore getting the dome clamped up in the lathe but it's possible. The scary part is guessing how deep you can go without cutting the dome in half (!).

The whistle valve is Larry's design - it might look a bit different because you are noticing the retaining cap on the top. I bought the valve and whistle top parts from East Branch Trains several years when he was still in business. Those are the only parts which would be really tricky to make yourself. 
Rob



Do you know if the article is still available?
Regards,
Gerald.





Link to Steam In The Garden Articles indexed by Author:

http://www.steamup.info/pdf/Authors-108.pdf



Any problems, link to SitG web page with links to Authors and Titles index links (at top):

http://www.steamup.info/links.html


----------



## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

Rob, that is a really neat looking installation. You do such fine work.


----------



## Kovacjr (Jan 2, 2008)

Very Nice! 

I also had some trials with making the whistle for my K28. Started with a whistle using the Shay design. Wirked great but in my rush to solder some parts I grabbed drill rod not stainless from my stock for the apeture rod. So worked great for a few steamups but is not rusted. No longer blows, well it blows just silent! 

Rob- Did you make any other resonators? Or was that the only one? Mike E was working on a whistle for my K28 but he seems to have forgotten about me and actually has a friends whistle that he was reparing too. He was having issues getting the correct note he wanted and be able to fit into the dome. Did you cut out the top of the jacked that sits under the dome? Thats is what we were going to do to get the extra height.


----------



## lenicheck (Jan 8, 2008)

Jason, 

Good questions. I basically hogged out as much as I could from the dome cap, taking it as high into the dome as I thought I could. I tried to be rather conservative about the depth since I didn't want to split the dome. I then had to make the extension because the valve still would not fit.

As to the resonator, I didn't calculate the size of the resonator but I made it as big as possible because the bigger the size, the lower the frequency (tone). And I wanted it as low as I thought I could go. Yea, it's the only resonator I made. Notice the shoulder cut-out where the steam input to the top of the whistle is. That's a cutout I had to make to solve the fit issue with the whistle. (So, I did remake it twice to get it to fit.)

If you want to know how to calculate the resonator size for a particular frequency I can give you the formula.

Rob


----------

