# Gölsdorf



## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Well -now that I am feeling better... 

I have returned to building locos. However as is my habit it will not resemble anything that you will be familiar with. This loco is a KKSTB or MAV "Mogul" as designed by Dr Karl Gölsdorf. It will have the Clench steam drier and the tailed pistons typical of his builds. The loco will be powered by LPG and have a "Brotan" water tube boiler.

Unlike the original this will have "Stephenson" launch link motion as this will be easier to work out compared to the "Allan" straight link system.

This will be both a Gauge '3' locomotive (pulling model coaches) and N2.5GA loco (pulling people). The design will be based on some massive modifications to the 0-6-0 LBSC design "Southern Maid". I have already drafted and had laser cut most of the plates for the model out of 2mm and 4mm thick mild steel. The first batch has arrived and I spent most of yesterday making the launch link for the motion. Valve throw will be 7mm using slide valves (internal) to steam cylinders (external).

I will have to turn the wheels and the eccentrics -plus all the boring of cylinders and pumps. The latter will be new for me as I am unfamiliar with working Bronze -Brass is more my preferred alloy for these things. The model will stand circa 23cm from the rail and weigh in at around 15 Kilogrammes (dry).

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

I have scoured the net and found two images of what I am trying to build. The first JPG shows the running side of the loco. You can see the two steam domes with the connecting steam dryer ("Clench") that is normally a "dead giveaway" for a Gölsdorf design. The steam regulator valve (of the "Stroudley" type) is operated from a crescent lever on the running side of the front dome. The steam pipe then runs down the side to the slide valves with their projecting "tails" as does the piston assembly below. The mechanical oil pump is sited on the running board. There is a vacuum reservoir tank near the front of the loco. It has the typical "bread oven" doors and the four section buffer surrounds. The exhaust port from the steam vacuum pump can be seen at the rear of the spark arrestor.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/image002.jpg

The next shot shows the driver side of the loco.The Westinghouse vacuum pump can be seen at the front of the loco. At the rear of the second dome is the vacuum relief (snifter) valve to admit air when the regulator is shutdown. Most of the linkage had been removed -but the use of external gear shows this to have been made after 1920. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/image002-1.jpg

This is the model that I plan to use for my conversion in its original form at a running day at Chesterfield MES track. This is coal burner whilst mine will burn gas. The coal burning boiler is different to the one I intend to use which is a water tube boiler -more in keeping with a MAV loco.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/smaid.JPG

regards

ralph


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)




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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)




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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Sorry Ralph, the last pic was too big, I deleted....

Size it to 800 bytes wide and then use it's url from your site, use the yellow sky post card icon and paste in the url when the box opens.
John


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## derPeter (Dec 26, 2010)

*Gölsdorf KKStB 60*

Hallo Mr. Brades,
here are some pics from this loco ..
greetings from derPeter


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## derPeter (Dec 26, 2010)

..and more pics from the museum-loco at Strasshof ..


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## wigginsn (Jan 9, 2008)

Hi Ralph,

Glad you're feeling better.

Ok - dumb q but someone has to ask: Why the (presumably insulated) large pipe between the steam domes. I say steam domes because I can see a relief valve on top of the front one, and the whistle on the rear..

Cheers
Neil


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Neil.
The whistle is on top of the cab. The L bend on the rear steam dome is a snifting valve to equalise pressures when the regulator closes and the condensing steam produces a vacuum. The Pipe between the two domes is the "Clench" steam drier. Inside the outer pipe is a pierced length of pipe feeding steam to the regulator.

John.
The reason I use directed URLs is because of the time taken to load all the JPGs etc.

derPeter.

Thank you for the JPGs -they will be most useful.

regards

ralph


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Duly noted.


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## Great Western (Jan 2, 2008)

An most interesting thread Ralph, it will be watched, by many, with interest I am sure.

Good to hear you feel better and renewing old haunts.


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Right as I said above this is a water tube boiler. The original water tube boiler for "Southern Maid" was a classical "Smithies" type. My boiler is more in line with the Brotan Defner style except I only have one set of water tubes running from the base of the water wall to the cross drum above. This type of boiler is very strong compared to the classical fire tube boiler as there is very little requirement for staying or flanging, and what staying there is is "short and fat"...

As this is both a G3S and an N2.5GA loco the "Certification ritual" for the boiler is somewhat awkward. I have to have FULL N2.5GA certification to pull people (ie me!) to have it run on a MES track. NO G3S boiler tester will look at it as it is a "foreign boiler" design. Thus they will not certify it for running on G3S events. However if I get N2.5GA certification then the HAVE to let it run at G3S events!

The next series of JPGs show part of the paperwork submission to have the design assembled. UNTIl the design is approved no work is allowed to begin on it. I can doodle away to my hearts content and buy the materials as my wallet allows but UNTIL I have a "GO" from a boiler tester I can do nothing!!!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/100_1770.JPG
http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/100_1771.JPG
http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/100_1772.JPG
http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/100_1773.JPG

I submitted my boiler construction specs and I have a "GO" from the tester. It is tragic that the boiler is the last thing that I have to build and the first thing to have to design...

The specs all have to be in IMPERIAL and I am a METRIC brat. It has been like trying to work with one hand stuck to the ceiling. I even had to program my CAD system to work in 1/64ths of an inch to deal with the 9/32ths and 11/16ths etc that the original design by K.N.Harris used. 

Fortunately I have a complete set of steam tables in metric and this made the slide valve design like sitting in the sun in the park!!! The bore of the cylinder is 20mm and the stroke is 30mm. Which is a typical "long stroke" english ratio. It is not going to go very fast but it has to produce high torque (yes @100Kg I do have a waistline!!!) and the Stephensons link motion will produce good economies in the performance on the MES tracks.

I have worked out that I don't need it to turn faster than 500RPM and the steam pressure will be 5BAR absolute.

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Before I start work on the linkage I suppose that I should show you the part that provides the essential information to the valve -the die plate. The shape of the slot in the die plate is similar to that of the profile of an automotive cam shaft in that it provides lift and lower information. The Stephenson's link motion provides a simple sine motion about the pivot point and the amount of valve motion is a direct result of the amount of of the position of the central pivot.

Here is how I made mine.

After some maths to work out the lengths of the arms from the eccentric... This is not really "that" important but you have to use either the "Loco" motion if these are long or the "Launch" motion if these are short. The normal "cut off point" for the choice of the two is if the arms on the motion are shorter than 1.4m (scale), then you use the "Launch" motion -longer and you use the "Loco" motion. The "Launch" motion increases the valve motion and the "Link" motion decreases it. The ideal place to take the eccentric drive from is the Driven Axle which in the original would have been 3. But in the modified "LBSC" design I am using the Driven Axle is 2. The original plans use a "Slip Eccentric" for the valve gear -something that to me has always seemed to be wrong...

The first JPG shows the pieces of gauge block clamped together and a rough curve spotted out on the surface. Gauge Plate was even harder to work with than I remember and I had to to use my collection of TC drill to get "under the skin" of it!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/00146.jpg

The next shot shows the partially drilled Gauge Plate with mouse holes of 3mm dia. The two bolts fit through the holes in which the arms from the motion will fit. The plate sits on a drawing showing some of the "trig" needed to make sure that nothing bashes together during running. The "Trig" shows that although there is enough room for "Loco" motion I didn't like the distance from the the axle (10mm dia) to the lifting point. The M8 bolt is crucial -see below!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/00147.jpg

Don't laugh -but this *is* how they where made originally! The Gauge Plates are clamped to the length of wood and the length of wood pivoted at the radius of the slot.. The whole lot is locked solid in the grooves of my milling machine and then the 6mm TC cutter wound up to 2,000RPM.... At these sort of RPMs you *have* to use a collet and all mine are ER32. It looks a little silly with a 2mm cutter but "the business" with 19mm cutters! As you will see the process of making the curved die is simply, lift -nudge it a little and then drop the end mill (ignore the painful schrapnel). Then when the slot has been ploughed, simply dragging the end mill through the slot polishes it off.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/00148.jpg

After some work with the green grit wheel (yes it is that tough!). The plates were very simply case hardened by heating to dull orange with an arc torch and then dropping them into brine. A little cleaning up and then they were fitted with three Oilite Bronze bushes.. I have come to like "Oilite" bushes despite some of the problems. They have to EITHER taken out and re-soaked in oil for a few hours once a year -or supplied with oil during the year.

These I can easily take out with a press and soak. The bushes for the conrods and piston rods will be supplied with oil from the oil pots drilled into them and then the oil ways will feed the ring grooves around them.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/00149.jpg

The "Top" (thumb side) of the die is the forward gear of the die. The central hole is both the pivot point of the die and the lifting bar for the reach rod to couple to. There is some debate was to were the central hole should be in relation to the other two. Ideally the hole should be equidistant from the other two on the same line as the ends of the curved die slot. This is often impossible to do! I have elected to position mine halfway between the curve of the die and the curve of the motion points. I lose a little RPM at the top end but I gain a little more torque at the bottom end. An acceptable trade off as it will not be an express loco!

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

I have a shipping date for the parts ordered from the laser cutters. This should be before Xmas -but at this time of year postage times are little vague! So, I have been thinking. The front axle as can be seen by the JPG posted by Der Peter is an Adams Radial type. I have never built one of these and I admit that that the task is appealing. I was initially surprised at this as I had (naturally) assumed a Bissel pony truck. 

The last loco I constructed a "Peak" (BR Class 46) has a slightly different "take" on the lading axle problem. OV Bulleid designed the bogie with a front axle held in place by four arms in a trapezoidal linkage with the apex of the arms pointing towards the centre of the leading driving axle. It actually works beautifully and takes corners with ease. Rather than faff with producing curved sections, (but the jig for making the die plate will do that), I am going to use the OVB 4 arm system.

This is the original drawing for an OVB 1-C0 bogie, which became during the 60's the std BR bogie for all its mainline locos.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/ixion1.tif

Here is the one fitted to "Ixion" (my loco).

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/ixion2.jpg

At this time there were a group of four of us building the Peak loco from the plans of Chris Barron. The first builder decided he only needed the top arms, I decided I only needed the bottom arms and the two others are as yet undecided! 

As you can see the 4 arm link is a lot simpler than two curved radial sections and I am SO lazy!!!

regards

ralph


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## Garratt (Sep 15, 2012)

Ralph, I'm having trouble viewing the 'tif' file on my browser. It wants to download the file instead.
Perhaps 'tif' files are not a registered MIME types on the server, not sure. 
I'm using Google Chrome. Can you anyone else view it or is it just at my end?

Andrew


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## hcampbell (Jan 2, 2008)

The TIFF files works fine with my old Safari browser.
This is a most interesting loco, by the way.

Harvey C.


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Hopefully you will all be able to view these(?) I have exported a few of the CAD files to PDF. 

This shows the eccentric strap to the axle pumps. It is cut from 4mm thick steel. The central hole is 22mm and the stroke of the eccentric is 5mm. This provides action to the water pump and the oil pump. As is normal the strap will be drilled to 2.5mm and then sawn in two. The long half of the strap will then be tapped to M3 and the strap held together with 3mm Allen bolts.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/SMAID7.pdf

This PDF shows the main conrod for the loco with the pivot link at the end. The flat sections just before the holes are the sites of the oil pots which will be drilled in with a diagonal bore to the oilite bronze bush. I am going to "ring cut" the outer diameter of the oilite to enable oil to reach all parts of the bearing easily. This is a somewhat fiddly operation and not done without "words"!!!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/SMAID9.pdf

This is the other half of the conrod.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/SMAID10.pdf

The final PDF is of a very strange looking object -but this is because it is normally seen sideways on... This is the "Motions Bracket" which holds the upper and lower bars that guide the cross head as it dashes to and fro at the end of the piston. The cut out sections are for the two square bars and the nut assembly of the cross head. The ends of the square bars are turned round and then threaded. These then screw into the end of the cylinder cover. It sounds strange -but this is a common LBSC technique!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/SMAID13.pdf

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Both the original (Gölsdorf) and the model (LBSC) use slide valves. These are very simple to design and build. The problem lies in the maths.... The amount of steam admitted to the cylinder is dependant on the amount of time the admissions port is open. This is very logical and obvious. The amount of time that you give the steam to expand and use its energy -isn't!!!

In a Stephenson Link Motion the two eccentrics (if the steam did no expansive work) would be directly opposite to each other. They are actually slightly canted towards each other to allow the steam to expand in the cylinder. In an express locomotive with constant high speed running the angle that each eccentric makes to the normal line is often 75degrees, whilst in a shunter this is nearer 85degrees. 

At the ends of the slide valve are the two "fat edges" that are termed "Lead and Lap". These also allow the steam in the cylinder to expand by closing the valve slot early.

The last part of the mathematical maze is; how wide and how long -do you make the valve slot?

Are there any real mathematical formulae that can help? The answer is of course NO.... There are however some very definite "Rules of Thumb" -depending on whose Thumb you are looking at!!! I have elected to use the Thumb of *L.D. Porta* -the builder of "Argentina". My slots are long and thin -giving fast opening/closing and a long time at full opening. The volume of the steam chest is over 50% of the cylinder capacity. The exhaust port is 2.5 x the width of the inlet ports and the ports are matte ground and smoothed to allow good flow. The ports are 75% of the width of the cylinder and 10% of the diameter of the piston. The ends of the port are round as square edges produce turbulence reducing the effective area of the port.

If you follow the Thumbs of Henry Greenly and LBSC himself -these dimensions seem huge. If you look at the directions for cylinder ports dimensions by David Wardale, the builder of "The Red Devil" -then they are *tiny*....

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/slide valve.png

This is the working drawing for the valve and steam chest. Each cylinder will have its own steam chest -despite the fact that the valves are internal and the cylinders external. Each steam chest has dedicated oil feed and connection to the superheater spear, (there are two of them). The oil is pumped into the chest rather than at the start of the superheater circuit. This prevents the oil burning before it reaches the cylinder. The snifter valve is located on the rear of the two domes, this admits cold air into the superheater system during shutdown of the regulator -without allowing the cylinders to cool.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/magyar.PNG

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

More parts have arrived from the Laser Cutter. But as yet I cannot begin assembly.... I require the 20mmx3mm thick angle that is used for the buffer beams on the two ends of the loco and the tender. But I have been able to "play" with some of the parts and get the general assembly order correct in my head. The plans I have from LBSC have no assembly order since he assumed that; 

"If you have bought the plans -then you should know how to assemble it!" 

Which I suppose is all well and good in 1923 -but nowadays there are very few magazines like the one that the plans and articles came from. There are a few photostat pages available but I have to admit that they are less than useless as the type etc has degraded into smudges....

The first thing to do with the parts that I have is to drill the holes for the shafts and the bearings. The bearings for the reach rod lifting gear fit perfectly straight from the laser -so that it one job I don't have to do. I KNOW that (somewhere) I have the other 4 bronze oilite bushes for the conrods -but can I find them??? I can quite easily go to town and get some more, they are 35p each, but it will take me nearly an hour to get there and back(!) The boring for the bushes is going to have to be "handed" as the left and right sides have to mirror.

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

The following shots show the drilling and pinning of the pump and valve sheaves. 

The parts from the laser cutters arrived on Saturday morning -but due to other things it is only now that I can start work on them. The first shot shows a PAIR of valve sheaves clamped in the vise. The drill is 3mm and the arm of the sheave is 4mm thick x 5mm wide. The laser "spots" the position of the holes with a cross and then it is up to you to drill the holes.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/drill1.jpg

The next shot shows the pump sheave being drilled with a 3mm. As yet I don't know the shaft of the water pump (I have yet to build it!) but 3mm is a good size to start with. The spot marks are quite clearly visible.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/drill2.jpg

Now the start of the "painful" part... The sheave is 4mm thick and it requires a 2.5mm hole putting through the "ears". Laser cutting is superb -but there is ONE major problem. The cut is not square to the face of the plate. There is a slight but definite camber to the cut. This causes thin drill to want to slide down the camber. There is no easy solution other than to files the camber flat....

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/drill3.jpg

Once you have drilled the holes the sheave is then split through the ears and then anM2.5 nut and bolt hold the two parts back together. This enables the sheave to be fitted inside the groove on the eccentric.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/drill4.jpg

Finally a "test" of the valve linkage. The two arms are put into position with the die plate to show how it would look.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/drill5.jpg

The next steps are to drill the oil pots and oil ways on the conrods.

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

As the sun sets (3:35pm GMT) on the first day of the new year I have been busy in my shed. The conrods and motion arms have been milled and brackets silver soldered into position. I have done a "half lap" rather than a "fork" fitting on the motion rods as this will permit a more flexible lateral movement. I have tight (3.3m) curves on my layout and this will ease the side to side motion on the axles...

The next two shots shows the sawn and bolted water pump sheave being "centred" on the lathe. The saw cut to part the halves of the sheave leaves a non circular hole which you just ease back to true with the boring bar.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/sheave1.jpg

The completed sheave.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/sheave2.jpg 

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Things are starting to arrive through the post! This morning I had all the nuts and allen bolts for the sheaves, and some steel angle and brass bar. The first shot shows one side of my shed with the bigger of the two lathes in the background. You can see the laser cut pieces from my CAD drawings and (most importantly) the plans that I will use to build the loco from. The sheet pegged to the lathe is sheet two (of five) -which details the loco frames and motions. Unfortunately the original plans would have been printed onto "elephant" size drafting paper -not A2. Thus all the sizes and dimensions are ever so slightly out....

I had been using the lathe previously to make the buffers ends with -hence the high impact safety glasses still out. I look ridiculous in them -but they totally cover my eyes.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/beam0.jpg

Having sawn the beams to 4 3/4" out of the 20x20x3mm steel angle the next step was to drill the holes for the buffers and the coupling hook. Here you can see the angle being drilled with 3mm holes (3mm seems to be my "default" hole size???). The buffer holes will be drilled larger and tapped to M6. This is because the Buffer used by Gölsdorf is a sectioned cone not a cylinder as per UK railway companies of the time.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/beam1.jpg

This shows the rear beam of the loco with the holes for the "drag bar" which will sit in a slot after milling it out. The angle has been sliced to allow the frames entry to it, (they will bolt to the internal brackets that are silver soldered to the beam).

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/beam2.jpg

The next shot shows how the beams hold the frames. The large round holes at the front of the frames (R) are the portals for the steam cylinders.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/beam3.jpg

This shot shows the tapping of the front beam. The buffers are mounted on M6 stainless steel "coach bolts" that have been lathed to the correct shape. The draw hook mounting is tapped to M4. The hole size and tappings sizes listed in the plans ARE still available... But to be honest this started out as a metric loco and thus all the fitting are metric!!!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/beam4.jpg

The "coach bolts" have a square section at the back of the head to dig into the wood and stop the bolt turning as you tighten it up. I will use the square section to graft the four sections of cone to the buffer. An M6 nut at the rear prevents things moving while I hit it with the torch.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/beam5.jpg

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Today has been a day at the Mill! The front and rear rods and the piston conrod all require oil pots and oil ways drilling from them. But first I finished off the half lap connection at the rear of the front rod. This was a simple "wipe across" at the back (where no-one sees!) and then "nudge in" the end mill along the rear rod to produce the curved pocket for the half lap to sit in.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/oilway.jpg

The laser cutting leaves a slight incline where the steel is blown away. I needed to mill a 3mm "pocket" into the steel and then drill a 1mm hole from roughly halfway down the pocket into the bearing hole (or bearing material). This gives a well full of oil and the motion rod the rod slops oil down to the bearing. The original would have had corks in the tops to keep out muck -but I don't think that I will require them!

The sheaves for the valve motion are due back from a friends on Monday Evening. They had to be done on his 70 year old+ lathe as the radius of throw for them was beyond what my big lathe is capable of, I think he has a "Drumond"(?) as it does not look like any "Myford" I have seen...

The next big problem to rear its head will be making the eccentrics for all the sheaves, (5 of them). There are several schools of thought on how to do this. The first is to use a 3 jaw concentric chuck and then wedge a suitable shim between the bar and the jaw. The jaws grip the bar at three points -with an offset dependant on the thickness of the shim. I like this as it is both easy and obvious!!! The other schools recommend a 4 jaw and a dial gauge (super accurate -but I have to make 5 of them...) or using a Keats clamp and sliding the assembly across the faceplate. YES I can see how the Keats clamp works -but I am doubtful of the dynamic stability of my lathe with circa 3Kgs of clamp rotating off centre!!!

Fun and Games....

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Before I start machining the eccentrics I decided to have a test assembly to see if the basics were in the right area... Some tape holds the water pump plate in place, (actually it sits between axles 1+2). The next pic shows the (inverted) frames. The front buffer beam is at the front(!) and the two motions brackets stick out like ears just in front of the horn slot for axle 1. The die plates for the link motion sit with an upper and lower arm either side of the axle. The valve rods will mate with followers to the curves cut into the die plates. In the top right hand corner can be seen the brackets for part of the linkage lifting gear to select fwd/rev direction. As seen here the fwd arms are the outer ones and the rev ones are the inner. With the linkage as it is now with the fwd arms "high" -the linkage is in reverse gear...

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/test1.jpg

This is a detail shot of the five sets of sheaves as they would be on the axle (OK -so it is a length of steel plate!)
Each sheave has to sit in an 8mm wide eccentric in a 1.5mm deep trench that is 2mm wide. The eccentric is going to be cut from 25mm dia brass bar.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/test2.jpg

The last shot is a detail shot of the front. The motion brackets have been silver soldered to a length of brass angle prior to being riveted to the frame. The square sections for the upper and lower guides can clearly be seen.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/test3.jpg

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

This is how I built the water pump eccentric! The first thing to do was to slice the 25mm brass bar into five 8mm thick discs. Each one was faced and a 4mm Slocombe used to bore the centre hole for the mounting bolt that the disc would be nutted to. 

The long arm of the sheave was pressed up against the disc and the width of the sheave transferred to the circumference of the disc. The chuck is turned by hand!!!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/eccs1.jpg

Using a "Parting Tool" -yes honestly! The square channel is cut into the brass disc by swiping the cutter tip across the channel -the base is "cleaned up" by reversing the disc on the bolt. The finish left by the parting tool at the bottom of the channel is best described as DIRE!!! So every now and then the sheave is put into the channel and the base scraped clean. Again this is a job done by turning the chuck by hand.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/eccs2.jpg

Eventually.... The channel is deep enough to take the sheave and it is tested in position.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/eccs3.jpg

The disc is taken out of the chuck and a spacer shim placed between a jaw and the disc. After several "words" I eventually CA'ed the 6mm thick shim to the jaw. It never moved during the next part.... VERY VERY VERY delicately, a 10mm Slocombe is introduced to the face of the disc. The 2mm diameter of the point of the cutter JUST misses the already cut 4mm centre hole. Once the cutter has cut to the second angle of the "bell" then you know that it is going to work. (There *IS* a reason why Slocombes have two cutter ends!!!)

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/eccs4.jpg

The finished sheave and eccentric. The remains of the central bolt hole for the channel bolt can be seen. There is an M4 tapped hole from the third finger side to the eccentric to the centre which has a grub screw in it.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/eccs5.jpg

The water pump is the easiest of the three assemblies that have to be squeezed in there. The valve eccentrics not only have to go through the same process -but have to precision angles with respect to each other. I have opted to use 85 degrees -which is rather conservative. An express engine would use 75 degrees -which would allow more time for steam expansion. But, I would prefer a safe reliable starter and I don't need to go that fast!

Sorry for some of the pictures being slightly blurry -but it is a Blackberry -not a Nikon.

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Last day of work in the shed before a great deal to do in the garden (i.e. more track). The sheaves have all be mated to their eccentrics and run it with the lathe as the driving axle. Normal routines of cleaning out the swarf and cleaning the grooves and sheave change the oil etc. Slow, boring and there were five of them to do...

But, once it was done the hard part had to be done. This is aligning a pair of eccentrics. The more the axis of each eccentric moves away from the vertical -the more time that the steam has to expand -thus closing the valves early. This is called "the cutoff".

Now as I have said I have chosen 85 degrees -thus the cut off happens 5 degrees before the time that the valve "should" close. The first task is to find the farthest point of travel on the eccentric with a dial gauge. Delicately you breath the eccentric around until you find the point at which every motion *increases* the value on the dial. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/dial.jpg

You mark this with a knife. Then you do the same for the other eccentric. You measure 170degrees from the mark and score the eccentric radially. Align the score with the knife cut and CA together...

Hopefully you now have a fwd and rev assembly(!)

The MP4 that follows is circa 2.6Mb and only lasts 6 seconds. But it shows what all the work prior to it has been about.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/stephenson.MP4

That is the progress so far and will remain so whilst I build baseboard for the track and then nail to the track to the baseboard.

regards

ralph


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## John Allman (Jan 2, 2008)

Ralph - I am always impressed with your skill. Very nicely done.


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

At the end of the first afternoon back in the shed will admit to having accomplished -very little indeed!!! The problem I have at the moment is to align all the four sheaves. The axis of the fwd and rev eccentric of each piston have to be aligned 170 degrees to each other. THEN the two sets of eccentrics have to be aligned so that the focus line of each set is at 90 degrees to each other....

Anyone who has tried to align the camshafts on a Jaguar XK series engine will know the problem coming next.

There is no easy point of reference for the focus line of each set of eccentrics. I will have to mill "flats" onto the drive axle to lock each eccentric into position as I tighten the grub screw at the back. Most definitely NOT a nice operation but one that will have to be done.

Now that I have some more steel angle I can start swing the brackets that hold the frames to the the buffer beams. Hopefully by this tie next week I will have something more than a stack of steel plate.

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Sorry -been a little busy making track! but I have the two castings for my loco -the cylinders. I bought them at the G3 AGM yesterday. These are bronze castings I have just given the "the once over" with a wire brush and scraped out the casting sand with a sharpened bamboo skewer. Some thought is going to have to be done as to the procedure for drilling all the ports. The entry port to the piston valve is the 45deg angled stub and the exhaust port is the stub that sticks out horizontally.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/cylinder1.jpg

The cast "bore" is a *very* rough 15mm and I will need to take it out to 20mm with a boring bar. The inlet and exhaust passages will need to be drilled out and the connecting steam passages to the cylinder drilled through and the tops plugged and soldered. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/cylinder2.jpg

I also bought the fire door and door surround for the loco. It is going to need some work on the handle!!!!

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Well after having applied the ice cubes to the ends of my fingers....

I have been busy silver soldering in my shed and the frames have been erected and nutted up.
The first shot shows the cut sections of angle bolted to the frames and the clamps holding everything in position for the torch. I do have a "surface" but a sheet of glass is a lot easer to pick up and move around. The frames in this shot are for the tender. The nuts and bolts are M3 and the angle is 3mm BMS.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/frame1.jpg

The next shot shows the "after". The jar of marmalade contains my flux mixture. The remains of my stick of solder can be seen by the clamp.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/frame2.jpg

The last shot shows the two sets of frames with the cylinders in "rough trial" position!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/frame3.jpg

Sorry but there is going to be another "pause" in construction as I have to file drill and fettle the castings. 

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Ok -so the pause might be longer than I expected.... SO, I will explain what has happened and what has gone wrong. I had great difficulty in getting the casting to "clamp" in my lathe. Initially I tried the old doges of using a length of dowel wrapped up in tape. The shot below shows one of the later attempts -yes that is ER32 collet being used to hold the dowel.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/boring1.jpg

The rotating mass was so off centre that it wobbled visibly and shook the lathe (the lathe weighs in at 38Kg!)
Once I had got the casting sand shale and other rubbish out of the original bore I could start the cylinder cut. 

This is when Murphy said hello....

Because I had so little (4mm or so) of the jaws actually in contact with the casting it wobbled so much that the end of the boring bar was visibly moving and the saddle was well "bucking bronco like"! 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/boring2.jpg

I unlimbered the casting stuck it in the maw of my milling machine and faced the two ends that way. I am not a great lover of my milling machine -I find it very messy to use and it throws swart and chipping everywhere. But it did its job with the biggest end mill that I have (16mm) and I had two parallel faces. The lathe would then give me a "normal" bore to them.

I pulled out the "Keats block" and put the casting in position. I then had to fish around the draws to find 70mm M8 nuts and bolts as the ones that I normally use with it were too short. Looking at the now rigidly mounted casting told me that my troubles were not yet over... A quick measure showed that *YES* -every face plate I had was *too small*.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/boring3.jpg

Well the I await my new (maximum size!) face plate in the post.....

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Having ordered and fitted a 300mm face plate... On Wednesday I was ready! The casting was bolted into the keats plate and set up nice and square with gauge blocks. The fitting of the Keats block to the faceplate was well "UGLY" is too polite a word for it. I had three bolts at the top. one at the bottom and the side and one at roughly the SSW position.... Old gears were bolted to the face plate in an attempt to "balance" the rotating mass. Pride I will admit has forced me to discard the JPG that showed how it "fitted" together. BUT 15 minutes after having begun the boring operation with a 20mm Slot drill fitted to the tail end collet chuck -it was done.

After all the madness with the 4 jaw and massive wobble of the lathe throwing all the gear levers out of mode -it was embarrassingly simple!!!

This JPG shows the casting after having been cleaned up with a boring bar. The inset cut ring is for the sealing gasket on the end cap. The flat section is the part that will have the cylinder drain tap fitted to it

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/keats1.jpg

This shows the two castings faced and bored.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/keats2.jpg

The bores then had to be "reamed" to the required size. This is again one of those "simple" things that is glossed over in the books of HG and LBSC... I reamer is a parallel fluted cutter that you drop down the hole and turn until it comes out of the other side -leaving you with nice polished surface.

The one below is a variable diameter one -very useful -but it has 6 cutting faces to savage your fingers with!!! The principle of setting it up is that you unwind the bottom nut, then the top nut is unlocked and given a complete turn and then every thing is locked up tight again. The top is now fraction of millimetre wider than it was.

Sounds easy doesn't it??? 

The cutters left parallel grooves in the welding gauntlets that I had to use to hold it with. I have a savaged Left Index Finger despite wearing them.. The next problem was the amount of torque required to turn the reamer in the 20+mm hole. The end of the reamer had a 1.5cm square end to take a tapping bar with. Not having a bar with that size of gap. (I do have one with 1.2cm). the only alternative was to use a socket and a "knuckle bar".

PLENTY of oil was required as the thing cut its way through the casting. Each time you widen the cut -thus more of the gauche metal is removed and the smoother the bore -BUT this means that more metal is now on the cutter edges.... The only true satisfaction you get is the knowledge that the HARDER it is getting to turn the smoother is the bore!!!

Eventually both bores were 21mm.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/keats3.jpg

The next thing to do is make the mandrill to hold the casting while I cut the steam passages. This will simply be a length of bar with a couple of rubber washers

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

The Royal Mail has been a bit slow this week... So I spent the time on other parts of the loco. I had a length of 25mm copper pipe that I hacked a 100mm and a 125mm length of and began work. This will become the transverse header and the top drum respectively. I have worked copper before -and for those who have not it is really nasty!!!

Cutting it with power tools causes it to expand and distort the cut when completed...

The img below shows the header and top drum. The header has 6mm holes in two rows. The lower row has a slight "S" shape that is deliberate -as this will make final assembly with the torch easier. The idea is the not all the flame is in the same direction -thus the previous solder joints do not melt as easily... The top row is straight as this will be the first installed with a higher melting point solder. (Silflo30S)

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/shed1.jpg

The two pipes cross each other and there has to be a communicating hole. I used my Mill and a 16mm end mill to cut the holes. The Mill weighs in at 38Kg. I DELICATELY lowered the end mill into the cut. As expected the Mill then danced around like a live thing and after 5minutes of dodging the flying schapnel from the cut... I then had the "pleasure" of doing the other pipe. The question that some of you might ask is "Why an End Mill and not a hole saw"?

The reason is that the copper being so soft rapidly clogs up the saw teeth and progress stops. When fitting boiler connections the rule is to solder in Bronze rings and tap them instead of the copper. I have tapped copper and I agree that the perfect cutting fluid for doing this -is milk!!!

A little work with a wooden dowel to round out the ends and remove the majority of the "dings". Some file work and "polite persuasion" with a hammer and a rubber dolly -the edges of both holes are within 1mm of each other.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/shed2.jpg

The two are clamped together with some lengths of M3 threaded rod and drilled scrap. I am going to have to go shopping at the welding suppliers as I don't think that I have enough Silfo30S to complete the joint(?) It makes quite a good fillet and should bridge the gaps easily. Once tis is done I have to take it to the local Boiler Inspector for him to examine and "Pass"

The next thing on the list was to start the cab for the boiler back head to sit in. The steel plates are 2mm BMS -which was cold rolled in oil -until you start cutting it it never rusts. So I began by CA'ing lengths of 6mm brass angle to the sides of the cab. This held the angle in place while I drilled the 2.5mm holes for the "pop" rivets. Some may question my choice -but these are A2 (Marine Grade) Stainless steel and far stronger than the tradition iron rivets. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/shed3.jpg

The next stage was to cut the blank face of the cab. This is not as easy as it sounds.... The boiler and its position must FIRST be worked out and the position of all the knobs and levers known. The water tube boiler has to be externally "disguised" as something that it is not. The Brotan Defner Boiler has a rather individual shape and is instantly recognised as such by "Students of Locomotives". Much in the same way as a Wooten is obviously different to a Bepaire.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/shed4.jpg

Into the cab I have to fit the end of the water tube firebox, this would be a semicircular section with vertical walls in the original design. The top drum fits to the apex of the "boiler barrel" and the transverse header has to fit across the width of the vertical section. The pipes run along the length of the loco rather than across it.

For more information follow the link here.

http://douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/brotan/brotan.htm

The standard technique of chain drilling (with the already fitted 2.5mm drill!) gives me my "boiler" shape.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/shed5.jpg

A few minutes with a std hacksaw (and nearly half an hour with a Jewellers saw!) give me the sides and curve of the front of the cab. In theory when I need to service the boiler, fiddle with controls etc I can simply lift the cab straight off.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/shed6.jpg

I suppose I had better start making up a shopping list....

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Sorry for the late update -but I really haven't been very well!!! But, limited though my movements have been I have been busy (honestly).

The cross header is now complete (after 3 attempts). It was an absolute ******** to make and even after advice from a "Coded Welder" it took 2 attempts. The main problem was the flow rate of the solder being used. If I used a std solder like "55" then it just didn't hold together as I rotated the union and (very expensively) it just dripped off the joint. The other end was so sluggish that it looked like terminal warts... The solution was the "tin" the lips and then wrap a solder ring of "302" around the union and torch it slowly around. Fortunately "302" has a wide flow temperature of between 665 and 730C and really doesn't go anywhere.

The other things I have been "allowed to do" are to make the formers for various parts of the brotan boiler. The boiler barrel will be 7.5cm wide and 180cm long. It will have a water tube area of 10.0cm long with a total length of 1.9m of 6mm copper tube. I have (hand cut) the wooden tube formers from plywood with a coping saw and my Swiss army knife. There were complaints from other ward members -but I hid their whiskey and cigarettes from the nursing staff for them...

The formers already made are; The boiler end, The front plate and end plate, The water tube former and The boiler flange former.

I will try and get you some pictures uploaded -probably tomorrow!!!

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Right! the first JPG shows the union joint between the cross drum and the top header. These are 28mm diameter and of 1.6mm wall thickness. This is a common commercial water pipe size -what I do with the rest of the 2m length I don't know!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan1.jpg

The next shot shows the hand crafted and varnished formers -whose whole future is to be bashed with a hammer and a sandbag... They are made of layers of epoxied marine ply set at rotational angles (marine ply layers are at 60 deg). The open grain edges have been sealed with more epoxy and the polyureathane varnish slopped all over it. The surfaces then "wet and dry" sanded to 800 grit. This may seem overkill -but to be honest there was little else I could do whilst being pinned together.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan2.jpg

The end plate former will produce the faces of the "water wall" that the boiler tubes feed from to the smoke stack. The base of the fire box "water wall" will have the feed tubes to the burner and the return top header tube. This is going to have to be made from 2mm thick copper (ouch my wallet!)... The front plate that mounts the boiler tube is first going to have to be flanged on the end plate former and then the hole for the boiler tube cut into the centre. The hole then has to be flanged (using the boiler flange former) to give the union to the boiler tube. The layers are curved on the inside at 30, 60 and 90 degrees. This is going to have to be made from 1.5mm thick copper sheet. Finally the end cap for the boiler tube will have to be flanged on its former -this is 2,mm thick copper.

I predict a lot of hot copper cooking on the hob in the near future!

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

I have built the "dummy" that will hold the pipes in place whilst I solder them.
The first JPG shows the cross drum and top header in the position that they would be in the finished boiler.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan3.jpg

The next JPG shows the dummy side on and you can see the relative positions of the water and fire tubes.. The two rows of water tubes at the base are 6mm dia, the five fire tubes are 10mm dia and the two superheater tubes are 22mm dia.The top header is 28mm dia. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan4.jpg

There are two gas burners that can be seen at the base of the water tubes route. The rear burner is the more important as this intersects with 70% of the water tube length as it curves and rises to the cross drum. The front burner feeds the exposed lengths of the superheater spears ad the fire tubes. The total heating surface is a little over 63,000mm2. The boiler barrel will be 150mm long with a 20mm throat plate extension. There is no "back head" as such. 

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

This morning the postman delivered the 6mm brake pipe. The alloy is a nickel copper one (known in the UK as Kunifer). The pipe has a rating of 215BAR…. The pipe first had to be cooked on the Wok burner until "pink" and allowed to cool naturally. On one of the hottest heat waves for 10 years I am annealing copper -don't you just love living in an oven!!! The coil was unwound and the pipe tapped and bent to straightness. some rolling on a flat surface showed where the lumps were and some polite work with a rubber mallet removed them. 

By now of course the shocks and movement has neutered the copper -so after some more annealing….

The next JPG shows the bending jig. Annealed copper is soft and pliable but with some delicate power I bent the pipe into the former always remembering to put the straight section in first and then bent around the corner. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan5.jpg

The next JPGs shows the partially loaded dummy with the inner row of water tubes mounted, (after due "words"), into their respective holes. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan6.jpg

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan7.jpg

The outer row of water tubes is shown fitted in the next JPG. These will have to removed and reinserted when the inner has been soldered and "pickled" in acid

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan8.jpg

The last JPG shows the assembly as it will be in the position above both the burners. As above it should be clear that the rear burner contributes more to the circulation of the water.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan9.jpg

I now have to await the next instalment of copper -an A4 sheet of 2mm thick C103 grade. Thicker metal can be flanged far easier than thinner metal as there is less chance of it working through! But despite this I am going to have to borrow the ears of my son to tell me when the copper has neutered and requires re-annealing.

regards

ralph


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## Scott (Jan 29, 2008)

You're doing a very good job despite the summer heatwave. Maybe you should come to Australia - you'll be acclimatised.


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Scott -rather more acclimatised than you might think...

I am Rhodesian!

regards

ralph


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## Scott (Jan 29, 2008)

Oh a transplant. My high school teacher came from Rhodesia as well. The old adage is true. "Old Rhodesians never die, they just go into exile."


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

While I wait for more supplies I thought it was time to dig out the parts that I had pre-fabricated in the months of forced idleness…

The first JPG shows the stand and the two tubes that will hold the regulator rod, (upper), and the reach rod, (lower). This is how it was done on the original and it does make quite a lot of sense. The first test rods were Stainless Steel 2mm ones from model aeroplane actuator rods. They did look a little flimsy in the 4mm dia tubes. The next step was 3mm silver steel and that did both look right and feel nice when it moved.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan10.jpg

The lifting gear for the linkage and other bits have now been test fitted. The cross rod is 8mm silver steel and runs in bronze bushes. The lifting arm will point back to the cab whilst the reach arm will point towards the front. This lessens the amount of effort required to move from forward to reverse. The Stephenson's linkage will sprung loaded into forward gear, (top arms of the sheaves low). At the moment the gear is always in reverse!!!!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan11.jpg

The next JPG shows the cab end of the rod work. The tubes are not soldered at this end and I think that I really should do that for added strength(?)

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan12.jpg

The reach rod is now connected to the lifting mechanism. A simple screw! The end of the reach rod has been silver soldered to the M8 nut. Two further M8 nuts, (bored out), form the end stops of the screw. It takes 16 turns to travel the 40mm between the end stops. The linkage can thus be set to any position and cut off.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan13.jpg

regards

ralph


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## John Allman (Jan 2, 2008)

very nice work Ralph.


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## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

This is quite a project!


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Well after some research, doodling on sheets of graph paper and finally picking up the courage to BUILD the weird thing…. This is Golsdorfs "trombone" lifting gear. It has arm lengths that are far too big and the lengths are going to have to be reduced to fit it under the boiler. 

But it works beautifully and I have to say it is effortlessly smooth in operation!!!

The reach rod PULLS on the reach arm and this has a pin which slides up and down the reach rod end. The second arm (at 100deg) PUSHS up the connector rod and this PULLS on the lifting rod. 

The lifting rod slides against the cross rod using it as a fulcrum. As the rod slides across the cross rod the mechanical advantage increases… Since most of the effort is used to lift the gear the reverse action is almost accomplished by the weight of the Stephens link motion alone.

The starboard side -gear forwards

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/gear1.jpg

The starboard side -gear reverse

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/gear2.jpg

The port side -gear forwards

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/gear3.jpg

The port side -gear reverse

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/gear4.jpg

OK -so it is back to the graph paper -but to be honest I am "As happy as Larry"…. This is the first time I have ever seen the gear in anything other than reverse!

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

There are two metals that I *HATE* working with… One of the is Aluminium -the other is Copper. The first shot shows the A4 sheet of 2mm thick copper with the first "long cut" down the length of it. This took nearly an hour to do. Not because the metal is hard -but rather that the metal is SOFT. The Copper clogs up the teeth on the hacksaw and it grips the blade. If you saw too fast the teeth clog and you have to check how much distortion the gunge has forced on your nice straight saw line, you are therefore forced to saw SLOWLY with a wet sponge dripping cold water over the piece. 

The water serves two functions ; One to wash away the Copper dust and Two to keep the Copper cool. In the UK we are having a heat wave and trying to saw something that absorbs sun and is thus too hot to touch is painful at best (note the watering cans!) In case anyone thinks the clamping looks strange I am left handed and I work from the edge towards the door.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan14.jpg

The three pieces can be seen scratched onto the Copper surface, one hour, (and a watering can), later I have three pieces. Each one is 5mm larger than required and the fly edges will be annealed and beater over the formers. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan15.jpg

The normal technique of heating the Copper sheet until it is "pink" and then fast chilling it with water (from the watering cans!) The rather more pliable sheet was then dropped onto the dummy and the bashing began. The three bolts lock it into the same position each time. Being deaf makes panel beating both easy and hard… Using a "cloth and hide" mallet I did the initial forming of the shape over the dummy. I did the heat, quench and bash cycle five times. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan16.jpg

I trimmed the edges to fit and dug out my "Repousse" hammer to finish the edges with. This is a strange looking hammer that you can "flick" very fast at metal to get it to the right shape. It has a broad flared head and a ball pein end.

The finally shaped piece was drill from the back of the dummy and the resulting piece has a sort "Pre-Columbian" look about it, (why -I don't know).

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan17.jpg

The last shot shows the cutting out of the boiler end plate using a lathe. OMG this was horrible!!!! The cutter was just useless as it was buried in Copper swarf and the cutting heat distorted the plate so it had to be cooled down and repeatedly beaten flat!!! But eventually I did do a simple 2mm deep plunge cut…

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan18.jpg

The end plate will be drilled from the dummy later tomorrow afternoon. I do feel very apologetic towards the dummy which has in the past 12 hours been repeatedly bashed and drilled and then bashed again. I have had to glue it back together twice now -all it has to do now is survive tomorrow!!!

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

After having been sworn and spat at the copper plates are now finished!!! The final holes were the easiest as they are simply the two M4 holes that will form the stays at the base of the water wall and the throat plate.

I know it is one of the "subjective" things but when I looked at the Superheater tubes they did not look *THAT* big until I put them into the holes on the water wall and the boiler end… I looked and went, "They can't be only 22mm wide???"

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan19.jpg 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan20.jpg

The inclination on the firetubes is 1 in 15. The next shot shows that some of the water tubes have been inserted into the base of the water wall and we now have some idea of just how long the boiler system is.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan21.jpg

The remaining firetubes are 10mm. In the background f the shot you can see the steam feed to the Superheater and the "L" shaped take off from the steam drier. I now have to do some maths to calculate the flow through the Superheater and match that to the flow through the normal fire tubes. The steam from the boiler then has to expand into a header for the Superheater spears to feed from. 

What is called in the UK a "snifter" valve has to be fitted to the Superheater header tank as there will be a massive pressure drop when the throttle is closed and the vacuum formed can rupture the plumbing -which is designed to take pressure. I am going to use the std snifter that admits air not steam into the Superheater circuit.

This means that although there is some cold air in the system the cylinders and the spears still remain hot.

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

The top drum has now been "unified" with the water wall plate. The hole for the top drum could not be "drilled" into the water wall as it has a curved surface. This means that the hole had to be cut with a jewellers saw and quite a few broken blades! The hole was trimmed up with a selection of files until a grind in fit was established and the joint "mechanically" held itself together. The solder used was the same one as the joint at the cross header and top drum -silflo 452.

I know I should have used a lower melting point solder, but given the distance between the two joints and the cooling draught, (rather like a hair drier!), that came up the top drum would prevent the top joint from "loosening".

Having got everything to a nice dull orange with the torch the flux bubbled , went clear and I started dabbing with the rod. I have to say that I personally HATE this solder. It is very good at producing a fat fillet but I am never really that sure that I have a good joint as the dabs are still there when the solder cools giving a very "lumpy" looking joint.

After about an hour of dabbing and slagging the dabs smooth I was reasonably confident I had a seal. So, I quenched it and then dunked the joint in Citric Acid overnight.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan22.jpg

This is what it looks like in the morning -with its burnt flux and grime eaten off of it.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan23.jpg

The next step is more pipe bending and thinking. I have the steam connections to manipulate into position. The steam take off will have to come down the top drum to the "fountain" and then return to the front to connect to the "wet" side of the super heater system. A "displacement" lubricator will be fitted to the steam throttle at the start of the return circuit from the fountain. The water gauge needs a dedicated return to the water wall and (now) must have a "blowdown" valve fitted to the base of it. 

Then of course there will be the fun and games of the cold water plumbing from the tender pump and the axle pump and the clack valves to the two domes…

Life was so much simpler when I made models from wood and plastic -but I have to admit nowhere near as much fun!!!

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Being inherently very lazy and a cheapskate -the steam domes are std "end feed" 28mm pipe end caps…. I had to buy a bag of 10 which is not unreasonable since i am going to use 8 of them. I have decided to use the ME series ¼" x 32TPI thread size as my std. Thus I can buy threaded bronze bushes by mail. Trying to thread copper is the stuff of nightmares and soldering in a bush is a dream!

The first shot shows the steam take off dome, the rear one, with a bush for the safety valve (LHS) and the dome for the snifter valve (RHS). These are of course imperial sizes…. Fitting the nearest metric to the hand brace and cutting the initial hole was without problems. Using a cutting broach, (lethal things!), I opened up the blind hole to the correct size.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan24.jpg

Once around with the solder and a 10 minute dunk into the acid bath gives me the two finished domes.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan25.jpg

The next shot shows the cross header with two "modified end caps" squeezed onto the ends of the header… The "S" shape of the top row is clearly seen. I am not proud of the method used but the tin opener was old and about to be thrown out anyway. The end caps were then force fit with the aid of my right foot, (yes I stood on it!). 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan26.jpg

I have a new "toy" in the soldering dept. I bought myself a Sievert torch and I have a had a short play with it. The 7.7Kw rated torch is extremely good and an order of magnitude more powerful that my bottle torch -I have set fire to the workmate twice so far….

regards

ralph


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## wigginsn (Jan 9, 2008)

Great watching your progress Ralph

Cheers
Neil


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

Great work! That is a very complicated piece of machinery and I have to admit that I really don't understand it so far.


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Once a teacher -always a teacher… 

I have been studying this for nearly 2 years trying to figure out how to get it to work -so don't feel worried!!! Dr Karl Gölsdorf was the CME of *all* the railways in the Austro Hungarian Empire. He designed some 60 types of loco and some very beautiful locos -but he had no idea until he came to the UK and met "Churchward", what "Western European" designed locos looked like. Thus his designs are singularly Eastern European until 1910.

Hungary had very poor copper reserves and so they made their boilers from steel tubes. The Brotan series of water tube boilers is by far the most common application of water tubes to locomotives. The other one is the Yarrow water tube boiler. The combined surface area of the water tubes is higher than that of a standard design fire box and the circulation rate is far higher. In effect each of the water tubes is a Nicholson thermo syphon.

The bulk of the steam generation takes place in the water tube firebox. The remaining heat is extracted into the boiler barrel by the firetubes. The steam generated from a water tube boiler is "wetter" than from a Stephenson design boiler. Thus the superheater spears project into the firebox.

The first shot is an "early doodle" which gives a rough arrangement of everything and where it ":should" fit!!!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/magyar1.jpg

The next one is a "working doodle" of the boiler arrangement.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/magyar2.pdf

I am awaiting the post to deliver more tubing and solder -but I will keep you all updated!

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

One of the more bizarre problems I am having in building this loco has to do with the steam fittings that I plan to use. The system has been in use since the early part of the 20th Century and it shows…. The threads are rated in TPI -turns per inch, which is not unexpected, and the pipe sizes are rated in multiples of 1/16th of an inch, (again not unexpected). What is flooring me is the fact that all the tapping drills are specified (now) in metric.

Viz:

⅛" x 40TPi requires a drill size of 2.4mm.

I do have a "jobbers set" of drills and I can go up in 0.1mm increments from 1 to 10mm -so that is not really the problem. The problem more relates to the pipes fitted to the fittings -as it were… ¼" is 6.4mm which is still available -but as a brake pipe size. Thus I am going to have to plumb my live steam fittings with pipe rated at 215BAR…

In case you are wondering suppliers are having problems too. If you scour the catalogues you *will* find Imperial sizes -but nowadays the model engineer is more to found at the local plumbing store than an ME supplier. A telling example can be seen by the pipes used by my loco.

Viz:

6mm Microbore central heating -used for water tubes
6.4mm DOT5 rated heavy goods vehicle brake pipe -used as steam pipe
8mm Microbore central heating -used for superheater spears and steam return.
10mm Microbore central heating -used for boiler flues
15mm water pipe -used for superheater header and clench steam drier
22mm cold water mains feed -used for superheater tubes
28mm gas mains feed -used for steam domes
75mm smokeless fuel boiler flue -used for boiler barrel

I *am* going to have to use "pukkha" Imperial pipe sizes for the water and steam system but these are going to have to ordered from the ME suppliers online. There is nowhere locally that I can obtain these.

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

After a slight pause to start getting the harvest in from the garden….

I have begun "fine tuning" the fire tubes for soldering. The assembly jig consists of a 200mm length of M10 threaded rod with suitable washers. These keep the water wall plate rigidly locked and parallel to the boiler tube end plate. As you can see in the shot below the superheater tubes have been installed into position. The fine tuning part is to slightly "bell" out the ends with a steel cone and a rubber mallet to ensure tightness. The solder I have to use now, (silflo 55), does not bridge gaps as well as the more sluggish alloys that I have been using prior to this.

The spirit level is a simple check to show that there is a gradient to all the pipework leading to the boiler end plate. This helps to produce a circulation current in the boiler and improves the steam generation. The superheater and fire tubes are all in the same inclination plane 1:15. Once the superheater tubes are soldered into position I can unbolt the threaded bar and then install the fire tubes.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan27.jpg

The next shot shows the end plate with its "penny washer" holding it. The lifting gear arm is in the "reverse" position and this proves, (despite my quiet fears!), that the lifting gear will *not* crash through the bottom of the superheater assembly!!!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan28.jpg

The next part of this entry regards research and applied theory. NONE of this research or theory has, (to my knowledge), been applied to a Gauge '3' Society or National 2.5 inch Gauge Association locomotive….

The loco is going to use piston valves rather than the slide valves that I was originally going to use. These are easier to move and can pass far greater volumes than slide valves. Most of my modelling books for this scale of locomotive date from the "mid wars period" and Edwardian era. There is only one entry for a piston valve design…. as is usual with both HG and LBSC they both expected the reader to know what they were writing about and to follow the drawings (no matter how incomplete!) The shot below is the HG design for a piston valve system. The instantly obvious thing is the fact that there is no steam return -the steam simply seems to vent to atmosphere!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/drawing1.jpg

The next shot is from Da Portas book on steam -very informative and written by the author himself in reasonable English. But you can tell that his native Spanish keeps creeping in. It is this design that I plan to use despite the fact that the ports for it are HUGE!!! The steam port works out at 4mm by 12mm, (48mm2). A typical slide valve steam port for a Gauge '3' loco would be 2mm by 15mm, (30mm2).

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/drawing2.jpg

FInally an explanation of some the extremely strange design thinking that is the fire box for the loco. This is the drawing for the "cyclonic" firebox. In the original the coal is not burnt to provide energy -but rather used as the source of the gaseous fuel. The "fire" is black, this is a thick layer of hot but not glowing coal, normally the fire would be thin and bright -incandescently hot. Compressed air and alternatively steam are blasted into the hot coal to produce Hydrogen, Methane and Carbon Monoxide gases. These are then burnt with more air in the fire tubes. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/drawing3.jpg

I am using the part of the firebox after the gas production part! From my bottle of butane/propane mix I then inject the gas steam into a blast of air (from a fan) and then burn it in TWO cyclones rotating in opposite directions. Thus the blast pipe system does not really have to be in the classical design patten -but since I have the design data it should be possible for me to scale down the Kylala exhaust system.

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

The first dry assembly of the superheater system is complete. I now need to obtain all the steam screw fittings and pipe terminators. The first shot is a side view of the system. Here you can see the primary steam feed from the top drum end (where the regulator is -to the wet header. The empty hole is the connection to the snifter valve. The wet header has two 8mm pipes from it that travel the length of the superheater tubes and emerge into the main firebox. The next set of pipes then carry the steam back the length of the superheater tubes and enter the dry header that feeds the two cylinders. The top of the dry header has a pilot hole for a screw plug to enable the system to be pressure tested.

Side view:

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan29.jpg

Front view:

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan30.jpg

Underside view:

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan31.jpg

Now that all the major parts of the boiler have been made it is now a case of slow fine fitting of the tolerances and then step soldering the whole thing together.

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

After having cleared up after the party, get together and train running yesterday -it was back to work in the shed. I had a chat with a member and he pointed me in the direction you are about to follow (hopefully!)

There are no "official" guidelines on what you make pistons from when you have "Gunmetal" castings… The guidelines given by the sages are Brass (LBSC), Colphos Bronze (Evans) and Cast Iron (HG). So I ignored the lot of them and went for 316 stainless steel. This is cheap and really common at any stockist. I bought a 200mm length of 25mm bar for less than a quid. I had spent most of the morning fine reaming the bores to 21.75mm with a variable reamer. I then honed them to 22mm using a length of dowel wrapped with wet+dry. Each casting took about an hour.

The first shot shows the length of bar set up in the "big" lathe. Only just visible is the pencil mark for me to cut up to with the feed screw. The exhaust port of the casting is facing you, the inlet port is vertical.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston0.jpg

The second shot shows the bar turned down to 22mm and the casting slid onto it to check for travel. This will initially be used for the "mandrel" for turning the end faces of the casting "normal" to the bore -thus giving two parallel faces.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston1.jpg

The mandrel (piston to be!) is then bored to 4mm the provide a piston rod that is truly concentric to the piston.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston2.jpg

The next shot looks somewhat scary -and was!!! The casting is "glued" with wax to the mandrel. The main problem was the highly off centre mass of the casting thumping around. Thus rotation could not be more than 200RPM. If I cut too deep then the casting got hot and refused to go around until the wax had set again….

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston3.jpg

At the end of the process I have a piston that is fitted to the bore.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston4.jpg

A few minutes under the hot tap separate the mandrel and casting. A little saw work and I have a piston for the casting.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston5.jpg

The chunk of machined bar will be taken down to 7mm. It will have two piston rings each 2mm wide made of HNBR, ( a type of rubber!).

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

As the saying goes "Do you feel lucky Punk?" and Yes this morning I *did* feel lucky. Having spent most of yesterday evening with a profile gauge and graph paper I thought I knew where I could drill my steam passages in the castings without "blowing into fresh air"….

The steam piston valve diameter is 12mm and the exhaust port diameter is 8mm. These are shown using milling cutters on the casting (they have nice flat ends!). The castings seem to have been designed with the steam passages in line with the limits of the cylinder bore. So, if you keep within that limit -there should be no fresh air (he says….)

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston6.jpg

One of the problems I have with this mill is that there is not really enough "throat" to get a long drill into position. The trick is to use the EM-32 collet and shove the drill as up as it will go! The clamping system will win no awards for artistry -not even a "Turner Prize" but it works. The exhaust port (8mm) is being drilled here. The travel on the quill is only 30mm and the casting is 40mm deep -each hole had to have the head lowered twice.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston7.jpg

Next shot shows the finished passages. At this point I am amazed that everything has gone so well!!!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston8.jpg

The mating faces of the port stubs have to milled smooth before drilling and tapping. Here you can see the inlet stub has been milled flat and the infamous 7.1mm drill put down it. This will enable the stub to be tapped to ME 5/16th x 32TPI.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston9.jpg

Here is a casting fresh from the kitchen sink -machining them makes them VERY hot! The exhaust stub has been drilled to 8.5mm to take the ME 3/8th x 32TPI fittings that will connect to the exhaust system.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston10.jpg

Here is a tapped casting with an exhaust connection on it. The projecting end has a cone that is silver soldered onto the end of the pipe and the cone is forced into the fitting with the nut.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston11.jpg

Here is a shot of something that was BOUND TO HAPPEN. It is annoying -but not at all critical….

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston12.jpg

The drilling for the inlet passage way has broken into the exhaust passage way!!! This means that I will have to drill down the exhaust hole and "sleeve" it (*SIGH*)

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

After a heavy night of cocoa and ginger nuts, (thinking in this house is powered by ginger nuts), some applied maths, and resolve…. I started to drill the steam passageways in the castings. The maths said that an inclination of 20 degrees would give me 4mm clearance at the end of the piston way. So, armed with a 4mm end mill I set to assembling the casting in the mill. The bore is a centre to centre one. Thus the two bores are parallel to the axis of the two centres. Each bore is 4mm wide and the second one off set 1.5mm to the rear of the other. The technique is simple -the practice at a stress above instant heart attack…

The end mill is simple positioned in line with the axis and then cuts either side of it giving a "ledge" for the twist bit to bite into.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston13.jpg

A very seconds -but it seems FAR longer the twist bit breaks into the valve bore.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston14.jpg

The next step is to make the end covers for the cylinder bore. This is made from 3mm thick 316 stainless steel plate… The shot shows the front and rear end plates for the port side assembly. I thought I was in better condition than this as it took over an hour with a hacksaw to produce the four 30mm sq pieces from the 100 mm sq plate. The main problem I have found with working stainless is that it is very strong and ONLY at the last saw cut does it "go". Thus it seems to be as strong as ever -then nothing! My left hand is a mess of bloody lines from the sharp edges too…

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston15.jpg

After having bored the piston rod hole and used the lathe to scribe a deep line on the plate the piece is the duly ground on a wheel to a rough round shape

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston16.jpg

The disc is nutted up to an M4 bolt and spun in the jaws and turned down to around 30mm and test fit.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston17.jpg

The disc will be secured to the casting with six M2.5 cap heads. The large scale drawing shows that there *SHOULD* be enough room either side of the twin steam ports to drill and tap the holes.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston18.jpg

The end caps are going to have to be slightly dimpled to take the 12mm brass rod that will be the stuffing boxes for the piston rod and the "bobbin" that will be the piston valve. I will need to design the end vents for the piston passages. These will probably be made from brass stock and the connecting shape milled into them.

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

The first of the piston caps has been made. The first shot shows the plate clamped (roughly!) to the top of the rotary table. A pre scored circle, (via the lathe), provides reference for the drill to bite.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston19.jpg

The series of 2mm holes are drilled at 60 degree intervals and the cap then transferred to the casting and the same disc is used as a pattern for the holes in the casting. The dots align the position!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston20.jpg

The holes in the plate now have to be enlarged to 2.5mm and the holes in the casting tapped with a 2nd and a 3rd to M2.5… I am now out of 2mm drills as I broke two doing the plates. More are on order!!!

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

The drills arrived by post and I continued! There are now 4 plates drilled to 2.5mm and they sit on M2 threaded holes. Gunmetal is not hard to tap but doing it 24 times does get rather monotonous… Each hole is 1st, 2nd and 3rd(plug) cut. The TiN over HSS taps are beautiful cutters -but at £9 each rather expensive to break and as brittle as glass. 

Having got the caps bolted into position and a little "persuasion" getting everything concentric -I began the construction of the mounting plates. These will carry the guide bars for the cross head to move in. These (according to the plans) are made from square section silver steel bar, (US= "drill steel?). There is only one easy stockist of this and they will sell a 300mm length.

The mounting plate is made from another off cut of 316 steel and sort of looks lozenge like! At 20mm spacing The square section bar is turned round and threaded to M4. This is simply to hold it in place while I hit it with the torch and solder. The shot below shows the test assembly.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston21.jpg

Once I had ground enough off to get the mounting holes parallel to the frame plate I bolted it up and hit it with the torch. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston22.jpg

The seals have come from Holland and I am going to have to make some form of piston ring compressor to fit them. They are a hard rubber that is too hard for me to squeeze small enough to fit the bore with my fingers -there is always a bit stuck out!

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Having dunked the assembly in a bath of acid for ½ an hour -it comes out looks far prettier… The next step is to build the "stuffing boxes" that seal the end of the piston rod. These are "compression" fittings and originally would have been greased rags in an hemp sack with a hole through it. I am using rubber "O" rings which are high temperature and are abrasion rated. I used a "bell" slocombe to bore an 8mm hole with a nice taper end to it into the end plate. The shot below shows the cleaned up assembly with the piston rod, and its "O" ring.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston23.jpg

The "O" ring is held in place by the simple trick of soldering an M8 nut to the plate and then drilling an allen bolt to act as the compression screw. The allen bolt as thousands of you will recognise -is a genuine IKEA product!!!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston24.jpg

The nuts, pierced bolt and plate are then assembled and held together with a long M4 bolt. Having leant from bitter experience the thread on the M8 bolt has been rubbed heavily with pencil lead. The reason is simple. The flux and solder will not attack the graphite covered metal however high the temperature. It worked four times even though I did have a good "orange" on the parts.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston25.jpg

The last shot is one of the newly assembled piston block. It will need SEVERE cleaning and then (ugh) line boring to ensure that the piston rod moves smoothly between the two stuffing boxes…

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston26.jpg

That is me for today! Time for a large mug of tea to nurse while I relax on the chesterfield and think about Sunday Afternoon "tea and cakes".

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

The past couple of days there has been a lot of "ouch finger" times…. The laser cut motion racket has been hauled out of the box and work begun on it. Laser cutting seems to leave a slightly raw edge that slices skin nicely….

The lengths of 5mm sq steel where cut at 70mm then ground to 45 degrees and smoothed off with a file. These dropped into the slots with a just a kiss of the file to take off the edges. The torch then unified them. I had to use high temperature solder because of how the next bits were going to have to be done.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston27.jpg

The guide arms and motion bracket were offered up to the rear plate of the cylinder and "persuaded" to fit nicely -or else!!!! Each arm was set to 23mm parallel to the table. The studs screwed into the M4 tapped holes and the matching 4mm holes in the guide arms slid onto them. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston28.jpg

The whole lot was then "unified" with Silver-flo 55 -which is God Awful Expensive at 55% silver… But the "support system" which was a carefully planed piece of pine -lasted long enough for the joint to be made and freeze before the wood had burned too much!!!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston29.jpg

This is the shot that shows the front of the loco with both cylinders attached. YES some of the mounting holes need "easing" to the right position (more needle file work) but it at last gives me the view of the completed loco that I have been waiting for. This is the point at which I know what my loco will look like -I now have to make things fit the vision…..

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/piston30.jpg

The next stage is "advanced plumbing" -there is no other phrase for it. The "inlet" stub of the casting is drilled and tapped to ME 5/16th x 32. I plan to tap a length of 8mm pipe to this and screw it into the stub. There is no way that this will ever seal so the pipe will be silver soldered to the casting -giving me a casting with a metric piece which is far more useful. The same thing will happen to the exhaust stub except the thread is larger ME 3/8th x 32 and it will end with a 10mm pipe. This will finally give me something that I can "see" and work with. The cross head is going to have to be hand cut from a length of 20mm brass square rod -while I am there I will also have to cut the ends of the superheaters from the same bar. There is a lot to be said for a metal cutting chop saw…..

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

After having studied the plans and the works of LBSC I finally decided how he got his cross head made… After having hacksawn a 20mm sq bar of Brass I then split it with another hacksaw cut. Translating the Imperial to Metric I then knew how much to mill off the blocks to get the correct Imperial sizes. Since the guide bars are 5mm sq steel I simply loaded a 5mm end mill and made a couple of passes until it slid between the guides.

Applying a piece of masking tape over the face of the cross head that would connect to the piston rod I duly drew around it with a 0.2mm stylus!!! Loading the block into the mill vise I patiently aligned the slocombe and (delicately) punched a starter hole into the block. Thankfully no part of the starter hole lay outside of the inked ring. I then changed over to a 3.5mm twist bit and drilled straight through from one end to the other.

A quick test fit showed that the hole and the piston rod did line up. I then duly (and boringly -no pun intended) tapped the hole to M4… I had bought a special TiN plated HSS tap and die for this part and I have to admit that they worked awesomely well.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/motion1.jpg

Now it was time to turn a block into a crosshead measuring back from the piston rod face I then had to drill a 4mm hole through the block which intersected with the already drilled 3.5mm hole. NowI had to hang the "head" in my mill from a drill to a collet chuck. Because neither the X or Y wheels had been moved the 10mm end mill was now in the same axial plane as the 4mm hole. (Hopefully!!!)

The next stage was to lower the end mill down through the block until I hit the end of the 3.5mm passage. The last part was to push the end mill towards the opposing face of the piston rod. At the end of this madness you are left with a U shaped slot with a concentric hole. The final stage is to rotate the block 90 deg and shear off a gap 5mm axially from the hole centre.

Resemble it and the whole mess does actually work(????)

The conrd "small end" fits smoothly in the U shaped pocket and the 4mm hole provides its location on the cross head. The thrust from the piston rod is in the same plane as the conrod and there are no torsional forces at all.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/motion2.jpg

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/motion3.jpg

The coupling rods have been fettled to a 5mm dia hole and a 6mm hole in the driving axle. I have soldered in a stud fitting for the equalising link and the ½ nut fits on the frame side and will at a later date be soft soldered into position.

Now that I am "happy" that the motion system is on track and I know what to expect with it I have to deal with the next problem on the horizon -the superheater circuit… There are several "official' methods of making a superheater. I favour the "spear" type of superheater. Thee poke down the fat fire tubes and are "side by side" to intersect with more moving hot gasses. If you think about it a wide object will absorb more heat than a narrow one. The main problem is how to terminate the ends of the superheater tubes. The std method (circa 1900- 1950) was to bend stainless steel tube and file a flat and then bronze weld the the seam at the end. I have tried this -and I can't do it!!! The "Modern Method" is to cross drill a block and seal the hole thus giving a square U bend. All this has to be fed from the infamous "Clench Steam Drier" of which I have a part assembled one….

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/clench1.jpg

In principle the steam drier is very simple(!) Through the horizontal tube runs a thinner tube sealed at one end with holes at the TOP. The sum cross sectional area of the holes has to be 130% of the of the cross sectional area of the tube they feed into. Basic Maths -no real problem. The holes have to be inclined at 60 degrees to the direction of travel. (errmmm…) The spacing of the holes has to be in an increasing ratio of 1.37.

The question I can see in you minds is *WHY????*

The answer has more to do with MUSIC than steam trains… As the steam passes through the drier it will whistle or more correctly behave like a flute in reverse. These things worked very well and were simpler and easier to build in the early 1900's than a more technically demanding superheater system. I will need to buy some bronze "blank bend" casting to make the two right angle bends to get the"flute" into its tube.

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

The first shot shows the steam flute with the marking lengths on the tape. The sealing M6 screw is as yet not soldered into position. The lengths can be seen on the graph paper.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/clench2.jpg

This shot shows the flute in the V blocks on the bed of the mill. Once a small pilot hole is made I canted over the head of the mill to 30 degrees and fitted a 3mm end mill. This seemingly simple operation took three people… There is no way that the person inclining the milling head can see the graduation on the pivot. Also with both hands holding the mill head you cannot tighten the locking bolts!!!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/clench3.jpg

The last shot of this section shows the flute being fitted to the transverse tube. I did suck on the flute and "sort of" got some form of note -but I was told it was not al all melodic.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/clench4.jpg

The he next stage of the construction of the boiler is to install all the steam fittings and make sure they are "tight" as at the finished point they are going to be VERY had to fix. The first shot shows the fitting in the water wall that will connect to the bottom of the water column. The fitting takes 1/8th inch pipe. How it works can be seen in the larger 1/4inch pipe fitting on the lower RHS. The sleeve fits over the end of the pipe and is soldered there. This is then force fitted to the conical section by the co-axial nut. The fitting has been "ring soldered" with silver solder. This entails threading the 2mm thick copper plate and screwing in the fitting. The fitting is then silver soldered to the plate and the solder penetrates the thread and (hopefully) you have a perfect steam tight seal.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/fittings1.jpg

The last shot shows the boiler front plate with the steam fitting that will supply live steam to the superheater system. The rear of the fitting has been bored out to 6.5mm and the 1/4inch pipe will be force fit and then soldered into place. I cannot risk the nut coming loose INSIDE the boiler!!!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/fittings2.jpg

This is as far as I can take the boiler before I begin final assembly. The boiler barrel will have to wait for cooler weather. This is because the flame from my torch is invisible in direct sunlight and I really want a nice cloudy day to see where the flame is...

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

When I was a teenager I told my mother that I wanted to be a poet when I left school. She suggested I try being a plumber…. Was she correct -yes in a way she was!!! I went on to design liquid cooled computers. This familiarity with curves in 3 space has served me well. 

The connection between the cylinders and the superheater system is a complete pigs ear -I confess this with no pride and the only saving grace that it has -is that it works. The inlet stub has been tapped to ME 5/16th x 32TPI as has the 8mm pipe that screws into it. The exhaust stub has been tapped to ME 3/8th x 32TPI. Deep breath -reach for nitroglycerine tablets… Onto this now METRIC pipe has been fitted an 8mm "end stop" compression fitting. The pipe curved in a hand bender to 45degrees. The olives have been crimped into position with two spanners, (they are going nowhere!), and the hole on the outside of the retaining nut enlarged to 8.5mm, (this makes it easier to slide around the curved pipe).

This shot shows the "pristine" fittings -before I got hold of them….

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/fittings3.jpg

I had I will admit dearly wanted to use a Kylchap exhaust system in my loco. however I did try the curving cloverleaf shapes and made a complete mess of it. There are other forms of blast head and I chose the "pepper pot" type. This works more by moving a large mass of air relatively slowly but constantly as opposed to a single blast pipe which moves a small amount at very high speed. 

Details may be found here:

http://www.alanstepney.info/page14.html

So following the details found in my copy of "The fire burns more brightly" I built myself a pepper pot. This will be fed by a 10mm pipe and it has seven 5.5mm jets from the chamber below it. The disc is a piece of "clock brass", (it is tough!), and some offcuts for 8mm pipe. The blast chamber is an end stop fitting for 28mm pipe.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pepperpot1.jpg

This is the completed pepper pot.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pepperpot2.jpg

Today was dull wet and overcast -perfect!!! I took out my bits and parked them on the pieces of fire brick on the workmate. I first made up the "wet header" of the superheater system.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/superheater1.jpg

The bronze tops the fittings to the cylinders were then duly maligned with an 8.5mm drill and the return pipes of the superheater soldered to them. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/superheater2.jpg

I had also hoped that there would be room for a dry header but alas not…. This doesn't really affect the constant running of the loco but will make it more sluggish during take-up. I have to start the wheel preparations as the supplier has just e-mailed me that they are in the post. I will have to make some horn blocks and horn guides to keep everything in place. But everything is coming together nicely!

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

The next part of the build was the superheater "club ends" which link the feed and return pipes of the superheater spears. After having cut of a length of 25mm bronze bar, I trued it up in the mill and began work. The superheater firetube has a bore of 19mm thus I had to start will a fairly thin slice of 10mm. The pilot holes for the tubes was duly drilled at 10mm centres and to 10mm depth. The 8mm end mill was then dropped down the holes giving a flat bottomed socket. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/superheater3.jpg

The wall between the two sockets was breached with a 4mm drill cut from each side at 45 degrees.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/superheater4.jpg

Theo were "capped" onto the ends of the pipe and some grindstone and file work later produced a shape that would fit down the 19mm holes of the firetubes AND come back out again!!! They look a lot prettier here -something about red heat and flux does not improve the photo…

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/superheater5.jpg

The wheels have arrived. These are simple "blanks" that will be turned into the loco wheels that I need on the lathes. The bigger ones are 65mm and the smaller ones 50mm diameter. The drivers are 63mm diameter and perhaps I should have gone for 70mm blanks as the "hard layer" of the rolling mill will still be there as I cut the treads and tyres. But on the other hand -they will not chip as easily. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/wheels1.jpg

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Saturday morning dawned bright and breezy!!! I had persuaded my Son to attempt something on the small lathe and desert Cyber Space for a short period…. I picked up the lathe and deposited it in the kitchen. I installed the various things that we would need and I awaited my Son….. Two and a half hours later he cam downstairs.

After having drilled the centre holes for two wheels he went back upstairs….

I marked the radial ring for the centres of the holes in the tender wheels and completed the remaining four.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/wheels2.jpg

The driver wheels are of the "Scullin" disc with holes type -but turned from solid not a two part wheel. The number of holes and their position depends where on the loco they are. There is a radial registration line cut on all the six wheels to help position the holes. The driven wheel has two less holes than the connected wheels. Here the counterweight hole is being drilled.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/wheels3.jpg

In the real wheel there would be a matching hole on the driven wheel -but packed with lead. To make any difference at this scale you would have to use something like Osmium! The next shot shows the drilled wheel.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/wheels4.jpg

The last shot is of the tender wheel on the rotary table. Yes, I know that it should have eight holes but I personally think that is removing too much metal and still having a solid strong wheel.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/wheels5.jpg

Drilling the driving wheels for the connecting pins is going to be nasty. Not because it is hard -but rather I will have to unwrap and install the 4 jaw. This weighs in at 2.3kg not that much but just enough to be awkward when you are trying to hold it into position with one hand and nut it up with the other!!!

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Tuesday afternoon and two sets of wheels later… The small lathe was turned into a set of compasses to carve in the "orbits" of the holes and masses. There are three orbits and rather like a horoscope the positions of the holes and masses depends on position of the wheel in motion.

If you look at the JPEG below then you can make out two reference lines. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/wheels6.jpg

One of which is the "normal" a 0deg line radial from the axis. 

The counterweight hole is -15deg and the edge of this touches the innermost orbit. 

The second orbit has the first mark at -110deg from the normal and three further marks at 60deg intervals from it.

The conrod pin hole is centred on the first orbit and should just touch the second orbit.

The maths is fearsome but actually quite simple(!) You are looking at a "moments of force" diagram cut onto a disc rather than drawn on a sheet of graph paper. The angles of the holes produce negative (upwards) force and the centre of balance of the wheel is moved. The net effect is that you have produced a heavy counter weight by making the other side of the wheel lighter. If you roll the disc the thing stops with the counter weight hole upwards every time.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/wheels7.jpg

This shot shows the drilling of the conrod hole in the lathe. To mane sure nothing moves a slocombe is fitted to my ER-32 collet milling head and when it has gone deep enough it is replaced with a 10mm drill. No -you are eyes are not playing tricks… One of the jaws in the chuck IS upside down with respect to the others. There jaws form a cup and the upside down jaw locks the thing solid.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/wheels8.jpg

My Son was persuaded to help and he cut two of the six tender wheels. The G3 wheel spec is different to that of G1MRA. The cone angle of the tyre is 3deg and the taper angle on EACH SIDE of the flange is 10deg. The back of the wheel is "blind bored" to take a roller bearing. I like the wheels to be independently rotating as this permits them to take far tighter curves than would be possible with a fixed wheel and axle.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/wheels9.jpg

I like to make my wheels as matched pairs… Here you can see the "back to back" method I use to ensure that each pair are the same. The cone angle for the front has been cut (10deg) and the two are "unified" with a couple of 6mm bolts. (Don't knock it -it works!!!)

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/wheels10.jpg

Finally the wheel sits on the bench -looking very pretty -does it know what happens next????

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/wheels11.jpg

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Having spent some times looking at the wheels on my loco -something wasn't quite right…. Like the Morris Minor it turned out to be a subtle amount of spacing, (although I didn't saw the car in two and spread the two halves until I was happy). The front axle was too far out and needed "tucking in" closer to the main wheels. This means that the "conventional" pony truck cannot carry the axle, but the shorter, (and more in keeping era wise) -Adams axle will have to be used. I have never made one of these…. Nor to be honest do I know anyone who has(!)

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/adams1.jpg

The mechanism is simple, (honestly), it relies on having the wheel bearing sitting in two crescents that force the axle to move through an arc. The shallower the crescent the more easier it is to get the axle to move across, but the wider the curve it can take. The tighter the crescent the the tighter the curve the axle can take -but the more difficult it is to get it to slide across!!!

In reality the sideways movement is only going to at most 5mm, (+/-2.5mm).

A cheat would simply copy the scale curvature radius -but unfortunately this being a Gauge 3 loco I cannot… If I adopt the std BR radii for a tight curve which was 6 chains (121m) then I end up with a curve radius then I end up with a curve of 5.34m. Which would be magnificent!!!! However this is the Peak District…. So, I have curves of 3.3m and 3.6m. Recalculating the design parameters from the books should give me the correct theoretical radius to machine the crescents to but I am not too sure that my loco will be able to "generate" enough side force to get the axle to slide(?)

The other thing that it driving me insane is the linkage…. everything fits as it should do and the damned thing BINDS in certain places!!! So, it is take it apart three swift strokes with a needle file -put it all back together (and find where it binds THIS time….)

The first shot shows the first test assembly. I did know that to install the Stephenson Link motion I would have to "savage" the frames. My Son looked on and shouted "Dad -do you know what you have just done???" I had to saw off the end beams off the front of the loco. But now the connection of the slide rods to the ends of the piston valves is going to be that much simpler.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/linkage1.jpg

This shot shows the modified (ouch!) end of the frames with the projecting side arms. The "plug" of 12mm brass rod that is due to become the piston valve is seen sticking out of its bore hole. The valve is going to be 25mm long and have 4 rings, (made of HBC rubber), The required "throw" on the valve is well within the range of the linkage.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/linkage2.jpg

The slide rods will move between two parallel sets of brass angle -which should help cut down on "wobble". In this shot you can see the ends of the slide rods connected to the curved section of the Stephenson linkage. At the moment I am using easy removable nuts -the finished thing will have brass bushes. The holes at the top of the slide rods are of course the oil pots.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/linkage3.jpg

regards

ralph


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## livesteam5629 (Jan 2, 2008)

Ralph,
Beautiful work and great picture tutorials. Please ask the moderator to move this subject to Live Steam Forum. I am afraid too many are missing it.
Noel


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## Great Western (Jan 2, 2008)

My view is that it is best here. 

If it were live steam posts I would probably not have continued to read the thread and benefited from the pleasure in seeing something truly creative being achieved. Great work Ralph - your skills are far beyond my capabilities.


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

I feel truly embarrassed!!! I do not consider that I have any skills worth a damn… I can "just about" run a lathe -despite having two of them. The mill is used and and I think I am getting to use it correctly -but I still have to bash the jigs with a lump hammer to align them truly. I am fortunate to have lived in parts of the world where heavy engineering skills are common -thus I have had the luxury of seeing how it should be done since childhood.

I know people who can make a lathe and a mill dance flamenco compared to me. In the Gauge '3' Society (about 200+ people) we are mourning the loss (August 25th) of one of our most talented members to a brain tumour. It was HE who persuaded me to try and build a steam loco and devised the now "standard" method of getting a G3 steam loco to work Radio Controlled. HE was in awe of another member who he considered "stratospheric" compared to him…

If you were to ask me I would class myself as a model maker who has to use model engineering techniques to build his scale of models. Thus I would say that this thread belongs here in the Model Making section. 

The only live steam at the moment belongs to the kettle on the Aga!!!

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Well the rules now say that a steam loco has to have two independent sources of water. This normally means a manual tender pump (or tank pump) and an axle pump (or an injector). The injector is something that I will "pass" on this time around!

The axle pump sits (on my loco) towards the third axle and is driven from an eccentric on the second axle. This is going to be held in position by a stretcher and side brackets. The shot below shows the stretcher plate (a 50mm sq piece on plate) with an M12 nut and the side brackets made of 5mm sq steel bar. This is rather overkill for a pump bracket but is explained by what the pump bracket is going to have to support as well as the pump -the boiler! You CAN buy this as a casting it is not that expensive -but I have these scraps to hand in the bits box…

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pump1.jpg

The bottle torch makes a complete mess of the nice looking metal as usual -but it IS very strong!!!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pump2.jpg

The next shot shows the original LBSC drawings for the pump -again a commercial casting is (cheaply) available. But as this is me I will use what I can find!!!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pump3.jpg

I have some 12mm brass bar to make the piston valves with. Although it is not really recommended you can use brass to make "simple" non pressure devices. If this water pump lasts a couple of years then it is worth the £1.10p it costs to make it! The main part of the pump body is a Tee shaped casting…. Yes mother was right I am going to use a plumbing fitting.

The brass bar needs boring to 6mm to take the silver steel rod that will become the plunger. Here you can see the 4mm slocombe making the centre hole for the drill.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pump4.jpg

Once the hole is bored I need to make a step cut to connect the brass bar (now tube) to the Tee fitting and I can solder it in

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pump5.jpg

I am currently having problems getting the brass rod to thread. Not because of physical prowess but rather the damned thing is too small and simply goes around in the jaws of my vise!!! I think some "modifications" to a 6mm bolt are going to be required….

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

I have put aside the pump for a short while as I may have to "think about this!" for a couple of days… So with nothing else to do I have sat down and begun to plan the Adams Radial Axle for the loco. As I said before these things are very simple in idea -but somewhat less so in practice.

I have based my design ideas on the two design books that I have in my collection. The first is "The Locomotive of To-Day" published in 1894 -I paid through the nose for it as it still has the "tissue" fold out plans intact in it. The other is "Steam Locomotive Design: Data and Formulae" published in 1936. The latter may be classed as the paramount design book of its era and all the LMS and later BR "Standard" steam locomotive designs can be traced to it. This was thrown into the waste bin at BREL Derby London Road….

But first a practical look at the victim for surgery!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/adamsaxle1.jpg

The axle has to sit slightly forward of the (remains) of the original buffer beam and thus have clearance of the projecting "tails" of the pistons. A bit of drawing shows that the side to side play is a maximum of 8mm (+/- 4mm) so the flanges of the wheel will not graze the sides of the frames.

I do not now how many of you have read up on the Adams Radial Axle but this is the design (E) that I am going to use. The JPG below comes the 1894 book as does the one below it.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/adamsaxle2.jpg

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/adamsaxle3.jpg

My father always told me "Son there will be a time when you work things out and you have two perfect answers -choose the one that you think is best for this problem". He was of course totally right!!! If you examine the design formulae in the JPG below then you will see two formulae nos. 280 and 281.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/adamsaxle4.jpg

D = 12 inches
B = 8 inches

If you follow through the "280" formula you arrive at an answer of 3.33 inches

viz: ( 144 - 64 ) / 24 = 3.33 inches

If you follow through the "281" formula you arrive at 3.00 inches

viz: 0.5 { 8 - (16 / 8) } = 3.00 inches

I have decided to go with the 3.00 inches distance as this will enable me to take tighter curves at the expense of being slightly harder to corner due to the lower "moment arm". 

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

The question -"Why do I not know anyone who has made an Adams Axle?" has been quite firmly answered….. They are almost impossible to make at the smaller gauges!!! After having experimented and screamed at the thing for over two days I admitted defeat. I pieced up the bits box and less than two hours of work later -I had a functioning pony truck.

The first shot shows the layout diagram on graph paper. The von Borries distance is shown by the green "X" under the M8 nut and the Baldry by the other green "X". Measuring the distances and drawing in the trace and wheels -it did seem that the von Borries distance (3.33 inches) was the better. I did some quick checking on the G3 membership and I would appear to have some of the tightest curves around…

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pony1.jpg

The 6mm sq section bars have been cut to 45deg in the jig and the nut has six sides -nothing that a little brazing could not deal with. The axle rod is 10mm dia steel and is bored and tapped at both ends to M4 and then it is brazed to the angles arms of the truck after they have been filed flush to the bar with a "half moon" file. I have cheated somewhat and the 10mm bar has been cut and ground to 58mm -which is the back to back distance of the wheels as per G3 spec.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pony2.jpg

The M4 bolts (now to become running axles) are CA'ed into the threaded holes and a slight amount of saw work is all that is required.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pony3.jpg

The assembled pony truce does (I am ashamed to say) fit like it was always meant to be there!!! In the shot below it is held in position by a length of M8 bar which also shows where the pivot point will have to be located. There will have to be a little "polite" surgery to ensure free lateral movement….

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pony4.jpg

One thing that is starting to concern me about the loco is the balance…. It is distinctly nose heavy. I do not know if when all the bodywork is fitted there is an even distribution of weight over all the six driving wheels. The pony truck will have to be sprung from the remains of the front beam and sideways springing for steering done more towards the pivot point.

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Sorry for the delay in progress -but the Px made me not trust my eyes -something that has proved true after the events of this morning…

The original aim was to make the six hornblocks for the tender. I had previously sawn flat bar to suitable lengths and I had got the pile awaiting! So, I armed the Milling machine and prepared to do battle.The next shot shows the mill facing off the sides of the hornblocks to 12mm.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/hblock1.jpg

The next shot shows the mill cutting the slots for the frame.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/hblock2.jpg

The cut hornblock.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/hblock3.jpg

Which then slides (up and down) the slot on the frame.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/hblock4.jpg

Now some of you are wondering -"Surely Aluminium will never take the strain of bearing a bearing block?" Well no -it won't. The journals from the axles will sit in ball races and there will be no rotational component to them. According to the specs the ball races will take 495N each at a rotation of 12,000RPM… This would (in theory) give the tender the capacity to carry 307.2Kg of fuel and water at a speed of 9.42metres per second!!!

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

The problem with small metric tools -is that they break. You run out. The supplier runs out. Thus the boring(!) wait for new supplies to use -for you to break….

All the horn blocks on the tender are now milled and bored. As stated above the bearings sit in the wheels not in the axle journals. A test push and the tender scoots across points and halfway around the bend. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/hblock5.jpg

The horn blocks for the loco are however rather more nasty to build. Whereas the tender horn blocks simply take the weight of the tender -the loco horn blocks have to take the power of the loco as well. I am using std 16mm ball races with a 10mm bore. These will take 4.1kN at 5kRPM. Buying 10 was cheaper than buying 6(???)

I hate Aluminium. I have a feeling that the feeling is mutual!!!! I had intended to do a simple "plunge cut" with an end mill in the milling machine. I duly aligned the head with a 10mm slocombe and then swapped over the collets to the 16mm end mill.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/hblock6.jpg

I wound up the mill to 1,000RPM and lowered the head. The cutter cut a beautiful hole. however swarf having stuck to the flutes caused the hole to be TOO LARGE. 

Some Loud Words Later….

I sawed off another piece and cut the 3mm grooves in the sides and after a good cup of tea and mounted the 4 jaw into the "Conquest" lathe, (I also have "Cobra"). Faffing around with a 2.3Kg lump of ice cold steel in late October while trying to nut up the back used up most of the days "allowance" of happy thoughts… But having defrosted the right hand on the radiator -I began. Twiddling the jaws centred the horn guide and I spun up the lathe. The shot below shows the lathe chuck fitted with a 13mm drill (my largest).

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/hblock7.jpg

Packing the tool to the right height in the post allowed me to get the boring tool into the hole and couple of passes cut the hole to 16mm.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/hblock8.jpg

The bearing is press fit into the hole with a vise.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/hblock9.jpg

One down -five to go!

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Now the axles have wheels on them it is time to get the power from the cylinders to the wheels…This is done via the crankpin which has to be both delicate and STRONG!!! The Scullin Wheel that I am using will take a lot of abuse and it does have a raised crankpin so the task for today was to start to produce the pins. There are (of course) two types of this loco. The pin which takes the power from the cylinders and those which take the power from the driving wheels.

I would have liked to use ball races in the pins but the required loadings are impossible to find at this size -so I am using sintered bronze.

The outer sleeve of the pin is made from 10mm mild steel bar. This is then bored to 6mm and the main pin inserted. The process is detailed below. In the first shot the 10mm bar is being centre drilled with the slocombe.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pin1.jpg

The 6mm hole is then drilled into the bar for 14mm (the sleeve has to be 11mm long). This forces the conrods to sit outside of the rotation of the wheels.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pin2.jpg

The end of the sleeve is cut square to provide a perfect bearing surface for the conrods

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pin3.jpg

The completed sleeve is then cut from the bar with the parting tool. The end of the tube held steady with the revolving centre. My father always said when using a parting tool the first thing you do is to sharpen it -he was right!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pin4.jpg

The next shot shows the completed crank pin in its sleeve. The pin itself is a 6mm dia length of "silver steel" bar. It has been drilled to 2.5mm and then tapped to M3. This operation is a nightmare -as the tap seems to want to twist like it was rubber whilst doing it!!!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pin5.jpg

The completed assembly was then fitted to the driving wheel. The lengths of the cross heads are adjusted by twisting the piston rod until a satisfactory length has been unwound from the cross head.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pin6.jpg

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Well having got all the pins inserted into the wheels the next problem was how to get the things to go around… I know it sounds very simple -but the rotational aspect means that even the slightest amount of contact causes the whole thing to lock solid! Added to this there is the split "compensated" connecting rods. So unfortunately the distance between one set of wheels and the other varies on how far the axle moves up and down.

I spent three hours going insane trying to get this to work on Friday morning. After having gone outside and had a scream at it I came back inside and re-assembled it. I looked at what I had done and found I had assembled one of the connecting rods the wrong way around. At this point the whole lot very nearly had a repeated impact from a 14lb sledgehammer -when I nudged it with my elbow and it rolled smoothly along the test track…

Needless to say after a few *LOUD WORDS* it has remained that way and has performed faultlessly ever since.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/loco1.MP4

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

You are quite right! It is interesting to find another "student of locomotives". Where are you from?

Regards 

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Sorry about the delay in getting back to the project -but some changes in how "boiler testing" now works meant I have had to some recalculation… However the maths have still worked and with a couple of minor mods to the plumbing -everything should now work legally again. The "Southern Fed" now require a "blow down" valve fitted to the base of the water column and getting one to fit in the space allowed has meant some "inspired" improvisation. Procrustian had a bed to fit everyone and it is the same principle that I have had to use!!!

Phase 1 of the build is now complete. I made all the parts required to build the loco. I can retire the plans to their cardboard tube. Now begging the fabrication of the locomotive itself. 

The first part to be assembled is the Clench steam drier system. This is as you will remember a "flute" that sits within the tube connecting the two steam domes. However the steam domes do not only collect steam. The domes also have "clack" valves to admit the feed water from the axle pump, (front), and the tender pump, (rear). The clack valves feed through commercially made bronze bushes which are tapped the ME ¼ x 40tpi. They of course require an 8mm wide hole…. The first JPG shows the rear dome having been drilled with an 8mm slocombe. I use a slocombe as the three conal cutting edges will not allows the slocombe to "fall off" the curves surface.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/dome1.jpg

A quick "once around" with the de-burring tool and the bush not sits smoothly in the hole.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/dome2.jpg

The steam dome pays a visit to the "forge" and the bush is soldered into place.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/dome3.jpg

The problem that always faces you when you are making a boiler is the "step soldering" problem. You have to plan and use the solders in a strict temperature sequence. Using them in the wrong order means that your nicely soldered on part falls off as the lower melting point solder melts! The joints are made from 24. 30, and finally assembly onto the boiler will be with 55 % silver alloy.

This shows the (almost) finished drier.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/dome4.jpg

The front dome is on the left. This has the filler port and the clack valve from the axle pump, The centre bush will house the steam safety valve (the higher the pressure the smaller the area required -this one is rated at 7BAR). The rear dome has the snifter valve and the clack valve from the tender pump.

The 75mm dia copper tube to build the boiler and smoke box arrived this afternoon and I have been busy with masking tape and pencils marking out the positions of cuts and holes. I bought a 200mm length for the boiler and a 100mm length for the smoke box. I plan to horizontally section the smoke box to produce a "clam shell" opening hinged on the port side of the box.

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

This is where I left it on Friday evening… Two lengths of 75mm of seamless Copper pipe. This is a "trial fit" to see that everything does actually look right -yes I know the boiler is in back to front!!!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/boiler1.jpg

You can see the marks on the masking tape for the "dam line" the quarter points for the "spatch-****" cut, (there really is not other name for it). The hacksaw will cut through half way of the pipe and then longitudinally, the two pieces will then be opened out. In exactly the same manner that you gut and prepare a chicken for roasting.

The next shot shows the datum line and the pilot holes for the hole cutter. Cutting copper is actually very nasty. The pipe will expand during the cutting action and your nice clean hole -is the wrong size…. The standard trick is to cut slightly smaller and then open out the hole to the correct size with a file.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/boiler2.jpg

The cut 27mm holes for the domes and the 8mm hole for the snifter valve, yes there are two, one for the super heater circuit and one for the steam circuit.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/boiler3.jpg

After some squeaky work with a file the domes fit!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/boiler4.jpg

The shot below shows the "spatch-****" cut freshly done. The "wings" have to heated up and then whilst still annealed flattened out to produce the sides of the "water wall" of the Brotan boiler. It took five sessions of heating and quenching to get them flat. It sounds insane but you do actually have to quite delicate with your 1Kg rubber mallet. Copper work hardens and becomes brittle -the last thing you need is one of your "wings" breaking off...

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/boiler5.jpg

The throat plate fits in front of the wings -which will have to be rounded at the ends to follow the curves. The wings will have palm stays to strengthen them as they are a flat surface.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/boiler6.jpg

This is the start of the steam plumbing! this is a commercial bronze casting that you saw up and from it you can make 4 elbows and 2 tees. As with most things saying it was a lot easier than doing it…. BUT with a few pilot holes and ball ended milling cutter I had my parts ready for soldering. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/boiler7.jpg

This is one of those extreme ouch occasions when the only way to assemble the part -is in situ. Thus The main steam feed pipe, an elbow, a raiser pipe, an elbow (poke it through the ole in the steam dome) and then finally solder on the flute!!!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/boiler8.jpg

I have asked friends with torches to come and help me with what will be "boiler day". But when that is is as yet unknown -but it is getting closer….

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

What you see below is a printout of the "LemPor" steam exhaust system. This is a derivative of the Lemâitre system by da Porta -hence "LemPor". 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/lempor1.jpg

Most early 20th century system worked by producing the draught from a high speed high pressure blast through a conical venturi -thus lowering the pressure in the smoke box. The LemPor works more like a "tunnel ram" carburettor manifold. The steam mass draws the air with it and a large mass of fairly slow moving air is ejected. This produces a more constant draught on the fire. The coals remain on the bed and less ash is drawn through the fire tubes…

The problem is not the complex looking shaped pipework a the base of the smoke box -but rather the the blast pipe and its venturi. This is going to have to be machined from a length of solid 30mm dia bar. As to how I begin -to be honest I don't have a clue!!! 

However, I do have a plan of attack, and despite the warnings of Schliefen I will give it a go. The brass rod is going to be bored to 16mm throughout its length. I then cut the internal taper. Then I cut the external taper. How I make the funnel collar is at the moment is most definitely: "I will let you later!" 

The plumbing part at the base is the simple part -this will involve just sectioning copper pipe and soldering it together to produce the petticoat.

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Most of today was spent carving copper to fit a snuggly as possible together. The shot below shows the end plate mounted in the chuck of the lathe. This had to wait to be cut to size as (for obvious reasons) I did not know the internal dimensions of my boiler barrel. I knew that it "should be" 72mm… But to be on the safe side I cut the disc to 74mm. I turned off 0.5mm and then began the tedious game of file work!!!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/boiler9.jpg

The strange lump like fitting already soldered to the plate is the fitting for the 6mm steam pipe that connects to the super heater circuit. This is going to have to be soldered FIRST before another pipework as it cannot come apart once the boiler is sealed.

The next shot shows the progress after the mornings work and several clogged files later. The plate now slides smoothly up and down the barrel bore and the throat plate now nestles the underside of the barrel. The remaining wings of the spatch-male-chicken cut have to be annealed and bent to follow the curve of the base of the throat plate.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/boiler10.jpg

The last shot is a view down the internal length of the smack box and boiler barrel. The smoke box has been longitudinally sectioned to produce the clam shell opening to allow access to "the gubbins". The lower half will require a 30mm dia hole cutting into it to take the lower part of the Lempor blast pipe and side holes to admit the piping from the "dry side" of the superheater circuit. The twin domes have been test fitted to see how easy it is to fit them (and the answer is that some form of cradle is going to be needed to hold both ends whilst I hit it with the torch). You can see the steam feed pipe from the rear dome pointing back through the top drum of the water tube part of the boiler. This will feed "the fountain" and the regulator valve. Although the front dome will have a mock Stroudley type of regulator the actual regulator will be a needle valve at the top drum.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/boiler11.jpg

I am going to have to fabricate some union bands for the boiler barrel and the two halves of the smoke box -and source some hinges that can be bashed into the correct curvature for the smoke box.

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Busy day for the step drill… The first shot shows the lower half of the clam has been drilled and opened up with a file to 30mm to take the "business end", (the ejector), of the Lemâitre Porta exhaust system. This will be soft soldered (tin/lead) to ensure a sealed fit.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/boiler12.jpg

The shot below shows the ejector as it will sit in the smoke box void. It looks VERY empty at the moment but it is about to get quite cramped…

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/boiler13.jpg

This is the START of what has to be crammed into it! The boiler end plate has been wedged with cardboard and the superheater system system bolted up to it. The wet header does fit inside the upper clam and the lower clam has to be pierced in the correct positions to get the plumbing through. Paradoxically -the holes have to be easy to seal up again once everything is installed.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/boiler14.jpg

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/boiler15.jpg

After some trial and error (and a couple of cornflakes packets) I made a template for the holes and duly hacked through the pipe with the step drill. One of the main problems was the fact that there had to be room enough to fit a spanner into the gap to tighten the unions. Once everything is in position and soldered solid the holes will be packed with something like P40 glass fibre putty. Then I have to fabricate the down comers from the lower clam to the tops of the cylinders to keep the steam hot. the front of the smoke box has to hold the feed water heater and the oil pipes from the pump to the cylinders.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/boiler16.jpg

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

You can tell that winter is coming and I don't mean the fact that yesterday there was 5cm of snow everywhere… After having cooked and eaten Sunday Lunch father and son decamped the greenhouse and started work. I have a range of solders and fluxes in my collection. All the Bronze (B) solders (AKA Spelter) require HT5 flux whilst the Silver solders (S) require a simple borax paste.

After having set fire to the workmate before we tried dampening down the radiant area. It didn't work and half of the workmate is now charred to ash… However we have successfully perfected the technique required to get a good joint!!! The throat plate HAD to be the first piece that was joined up as it is the "foundation" of the water tubes. After about 5minutes of "cooking" the joints showed no inclination of the solder "getting interested" in the copper. I ran up the regulator to 500gph and slowly it began to spread along the joint. I asked my son to go and get my MAPP bottle torch and played the flame on the reverse side of the joint. The solder moved like water!!!

Well after having watered the boiler down to cold it was out with the chip hammer and acid bath. The first run through showed some pin holes where the joint "turned the corner" and after cleaning we hit it with the solder and sealed them. This has shown that B9 is just usable with a propane torch but when you add MAPP to it -is when it really flows. Unfortunately it does not produce a "pretty" joints. But some file work will tidy that up.

The first shot shows the external of the water wall and the wings have been rounded down to follow the curve of the base of the water wall.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/boiler17.jpg

The next shot shows the interior of the water wall -the yellow of the B9 having nicely penetrated the joint.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/boiler18.jpg

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Evil mathematics time! Now that most of the boiler is "known" the next problems that stack up relate to the burner. I have cheated and I am using std domestic burner jets for LPG based cookers. The details of these are very well defined and their sizes and consumptions are listed.

Being a "metric kid" I have only european cooker manufacturers to use. UK made ones all have BA threads and are rated in BTU per pound of gas. SMEG nicely have Metric fine threads and Metric hole sizes and are rated in Grammes per Hour usage of LPG.

I have chosen a 2.5 mm jet with a rate of 70 GpH. This means that std domestic "bottle gas" which is "60/40" by weight Butane/Propane can be worked out.

Butane is C4H12 thus giving a molecular weight of 58.
Propane is C3H8 thus giving a molecular weight of 44.

So, in a bottle there is roughly equal molarity of Butane and Propane. Thus to consume a molecule each of Propane and Butane requires enough O2 molecules to consume 28 Carbon and 18 Hydrogen atoms which equates to 23 O2 molecules.

This gives a weight of 102 Grammes of fuel needs 368 Grammes of Oxygen. This means that (assuming STP) the volume of gas /air that has to go through the burner system is:

22.4 Litres of Propane, 
22.4litres of Butane, 
(23x22.4)litres of Oxygen, 
plus 
1,916Litres of Nitrogen, 
22.08Litres of Argon, 
and finally 
15.45Litres of Carbon Dioxide.

Which is: 2,513.53 Litres 

So far so good… However to ensure complete combustion you require anything from 50 to 100% more air!!!

The 100% figure thus becomes: 4,982 Litres. 

To make the maths easy I will call this 5 cubic metres of gas air mixture going through the burner per 102 Grammes of fuel burnt. Thus per hour through the flues goes (70/102) x5 = 3.43 cubic metres of mixture per hour. Resolving that down gives a flow rate of 0.95 Litres of mix per second. This has to feed down a 15mm bore pipe thus the flow rate down the pipe is 53.7cm/S

Now that the speed and volume of the "intake" gasses are known I now have to calculate the "exhaust gasses"… This is hot unburnt air and (hopefully) Carbon Dioxide with a good addition of steam. Added to this the pressure in the smoke box will not be constant as the Lempor lowers the pressure and blasts gasses out of the stack. 

Back in a bit!!!!

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

If you have a child who quite rightly (in their viewpoint) says to you "What is the point of me learning all this rubbish as I will never have to use it again in my life!" Well here is the proof -yes you will…

Probably the first time in at least two(?) decades I have had to do a Universal Gas Equation calculation, a Specific Heat transfer and finally a Flame Speed resonance… The UK crowd will remember these with horror from their "A"level Physics papers.

BUT after a day of rust breaking I have retrieved the required mental abilities!!!

The amount of exhaust gasses ejected (purely by the cyclone) is 1.45 Litres per second with an additional 0.56 Litres per second of steam from the Lemâitre ejector. 

((p1 v1) / t1) = ((P2 V2) / T2)
((1 x 0.95) / 293) = ((1.1x V2) / 493)
(0.95 / 293) = (1.1 xV2) / 493
V2 = 1.45 Litres

The gas speed through the 16mm Da Porta exhaust is 72cm per second. The amount of heat put into the boiler is 0.92KW. 

Propane 47.7 MJ Kg + Butane 47.1 MJ Kg = 94.8 MJ for 2Kg = 47.4MJ Kg
therefore 0.07KG / 60 / 60 = 0.92166R KJ per second

The amount of energy delivered through the pistons is 0.582KJ per second.

((100 x 0.09840 x 0.486 x 60 x 5) / (3300 / 1.341 ))KJ

This gives me a thermal conversion of 63.25% -which is HIGHLY UNLIKELY in practice!!! If I get 30% I will be laughing.

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Tomorrow is the start of (two or three) "Boiler Days". This means a lot of fettling and cleaning. The problem with Copper is that it forms one of two Oxides…. The normal black Copper Oxide and the pinky red Cuprous Oxide. The black one is formed in plenty of air and the latter in low air. Thus once you have scrubbed through the messy black layer -you have now to scrub through the pink layer before you reach the actual metal.

The shot below is the product of two hours of wire brushing, wet and dry, and hot soapy water. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan32.jpg

My Metal Work teacher at my Gymnasium always said "You have to be a Saint to Solder!". As yes -it is true. The flux will not flow onto a greasy surface nor will the solder flow onto a contaminated surface. This does however allow allow you to "protect" parts by drawing a ring around them with a thick graphite pencil. Unfortunately the grease off your fingers will also halt the flow of flux. So you have to assemble everything and then degrease.

The shot below shows the boiler end plate and the water wall clamped together using a length of M8 threaded rod and a number of nuts and washers! The huge washers should (hopefully) hold the ends straight whilst the superheater tubes are installed. The problem is that once the Copper gets hot it anneals and becomes rubbery. The last thing that I need is the water wall or the end plate becoming floppy...

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan33.jpg

The rod allows the accurate spacing of the two ends (18cm). The fire tubes that run through the boiler are technically speaking "economisers" rather than heating tubes. So, rather than having the water circulation by conduction and congestion -the water is drawn over them as it circulates through the water tubes and out of the top drum. Thus they are more tightly packed than would be found in a standard Stephensons boiler. 

Hopefully by this time tomorrow I will have the fire and superheater tubes in place -so I can do some more cleaning…..(ugh!)

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Tomorrow is the start of (two or three) "Boiler Days". This means a lot of fettling and cleaning. The problem with Copper is that it forms one of two Oxides…. The normal black Copper Oxide and the pinky red Cuprous Oxide. The black one is formed in plenty of air and the latter in low air. Thus once you have scrubbed through the messy black layer -you have now to scrub through the pink layer before you reach the actual metal.

The shot below is the product of two hours of wire brushing, wet and dry, and hot soapy water. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan32.jpg

My Metal Work teacher at my Gymnasium always said "You have to be a Saint to Solder!". As yes -it is true. The flux will not flow onto a greasy surface nor will the solder flow onto a contaminated surface. This does however allow allow you to "protect" parts by drawing a ring around them with a thick graphite pencil. Unfortunately the grease off your fingers will also halt the flow of flux. So you have to assemble everything and then degrease.

The shot below shows the boiler end plate and the water wall clamped together using a length of M8 threaded rod and a number of nuts and washers! The huge washers should (hopefully) hold the ends straight whilst the superheater tubes are installed. The problem is that once the Copper gets hot it anneals and becomes rubbery. The last thing that I need is the water wall or the end plate becoming floppy...

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan33.jpg

The rod allows the accurate spacing of the two ends (18cm). The fire tubes that run through the boiler are technically speaking "economisers" rather than heating tubes. So, rather than having the water circulation by conduction and congestion -the water is drawn over them as it circulates through the water tubes and out of the top drum. Thus they are more tightly packed than would be found in a standard Stephensons boiler. 

Hopefully by this time tomorrow I will have the fire and superheater tubes in place -so I can do some more cleaning…..(ugh!)

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Well "Boiler Day" dawned bright and clear. The ground was dry and there was not too much wind, (itself a minor miracle!). 

As planned the super heater tubes went in first using S30 and with the aid of both the Propane torch and the MAPP torch everything glowed nicely and the flux ate into the Copper and the Alloy flowed around the joints. The shots below shows the Water Wall end and then the End Plate. There has been good penetration of the joint and a generous fillet surrounds each joint.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan34.jpg

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan35.jpg

The fire tubes are now screwed into position and then "bonged" with a steel cone to open out and force the tube ends to grip the joint. A little mechanical fixing always helps….

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan36.jpg

This next shows the Endplate about to meet the torches! The "Work Mate" has caught fire (again). The jam jar lid holds the flux and there are a couple of S30 rods on the fire brick. The orange Propane tank and hose can be seen through the greenhouse door.

After a good clean and some "Umm… Not sure about That One…" All the joints did pass inspection and we moved on to the water tubes. I had never expected to get this far but the faffing and fettling of the inner layer of tubes produced a reasonable fit and we began in earnest….

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan37.jpg

The inner row complete another hour passed as we brushed and scrubbed for all our worth as the time was fast approaching 3pm and sunset. JUST before the light faded completely we had stitched in the last tube of the last row.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan38.jpg

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan39.jpg

The spare ends of the water tubes have to sawn to length and the fire tubes "gas flowed" with a needle file. What is amazing is that it all went together so easily???

regards

ralph


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## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

Looks like an interesting project.

If you can could you post the photos so they show up in here? Click the little picture icon and insert your link...


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Eric,
The reason I use links rather than images is because the thread is faster to load. According to my FTP client there are 251 JPS in the directory I use for MLS -imagine how long that would take! Being mostly text does have the advantage that even slow WiFi systems, (like those at a school...), can access the thread on their phones. 

I have been building and planning this loco for over 15 months now I want to get it into a presentable condition for the Gauge '3' AGM at Biggleswade in February. So -No Pressure(!!!)

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Now that the internals of the boiler are done it is time to start making the physical connections to the steam circuits -both "wet" and "dry". The union that sat on the front of the boiler end plate is now (very) firmly connected to the superheater "wet" header tank. This will get a "dob" of solder on it to make sure that it never ever comes undone….

The main problem is the two connectors to the cylinders -these have to be soldered in and the cylinder is basically a HUGE chunk of bronze. These are going to have to be connected using the lowest possible melting silver solder that I have -Silverflo55. The "patch pieces" that hold the cylinders to the frames are going to have to be soldered in -then the frames (thus re-enforced) can be cut to accommodate the new plumbing. 

Once the 10mm exhaust pipes from the cylinders are in place then this "locks" the position of the Lemâitre ejector to the base of the smoke box and thus everything now has a point of reference to work from. People have asked me why I am not using a "dry" heater to my superheater system as there is obviously a "wet" header(?) Well the reason is -I don't think that I need one. The swept volume of the cylinder is 9,425mm3 and the volume of just one of the superheater spears is 15,120mm3. According to "Whardale" the volume of the steam chest should be equal to the swept volume of the cylinder. As you can see the volume of the superheater spear is 160% of that of the cylinder. Plus it means that the steam HAS to flow through each of the spears -equally.

Once everything is connected there will a chance to see exactly how much room is left to construct and install the feed water heater!!!

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Now that the basic plumbing is complete it is time to start connecting things together… The fed pipes from the super heater have to silver soldered into the stubs on the cylinders and the same with the exhaust stubs. Some "mild" modification needed to be done to the frames though. The cylinders are not the originally specified ones by LBSC but ones bought off the "bring and buy stand" at the G3 AGM earlier this year. The frames thus needed "polite surgery" to get them to fit and a spacer plate soldered into place.

The shot below shows a partial before the frames show some burning from the spacers….

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/cylinder1.jpg

The method used was to pin the inlet pipe to the stub by using the 1/8th inch dia oil injection tube and probing through the walls of both the stub and the pipe. The exhaust pipe is held in lace by drilling and tapping an M3 hole then putting a screw down it.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/cylinder2.jpg

The cylinders have visited the torch and are looking distinctly the worst for it! The entire cylinder block has to be heated up to 600C+ for the solder to begin to melt. It was one of those jobs in which you sent 20 minutes heating it and 20 seconds soldering it.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/cylinder3.jpg

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/cylinder4.jpg

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/cylinder5.jpg

The weekend task is to build a Lempor from a solid length of 30mm dia steel bar. I just love sawing steel with a hacksaw…..

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Well having sawn through my 30mm thick bar of steel -I began. a little facing was needed at each end of the bar to ensure perfect normality. I loaded the ER32 collect into the tailstock and then used a 10mm slocombe to pilot the hole.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/lempor1.jpg

Using the longest drill I had (a 12mm) I then slowly over 20 minutes drilled through the entire 150mm length. The problem was that the end of the drill kept getting choked with swarf and every 5mm or so it had to be unwound, cleaned, then repositioned at the face of the bore.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/lempor2.jpg

After the long bore the lathe had to cool down as the chuck was too hot to touch!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/lempor3.jpg

The next phase was to load a 16mm end flute into the ER32 and begin the throat boring for the venture. This took only seconds as there was plenty of room for the swarm to pour out of the face. and the throat was cut to a depth of 40mm from the base of the Lempor.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/lempor4.jpg

The base of the throat now had to be turned down to 28mm and "stepped" to 22mm to produce the "milk churn" shape.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/lempor5.jpg

The base of the throat is now opened up to an angle of 40 deg. This will have the "petticoat" fix to it.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/lempor6.jpg

The completed base of the Lempor. The top now has to be opened out and tapered to 5 degrees.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/lempor7.jpg

This shows the top being opened out with the boring bar. It was actually a deeper bore than any of my boring bars has length! So, a quick mod with the welding plant and I had a longer bar…

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/lempor8.jpg

The completed Lempor. The taper section finishes (internally) where the base of the middle fitting ring is.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/lempor9.jpg

OK so I just "dropped them in!" but it shows the Lempor above the Lemâitre in the smoke box. The fitting ring will be soldered to the top of the smoke box and rigidly aligned…

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/lempor10.jpg

The day dawned bright and sunny -no this is England it was cold wet and raining!!! and having nothing better to do I decided to do some experiments with my system. The first two tests gave me exactly how much "over pressure" my fan was delivering. I bored a 40mm hole in a jam jar lid and a length of tube gave me a manometer(!) The water climbed the tube as the voltage to the fan was increased

At 18Volts I had 17mm of water pressure or 1.7x10-3 BAR or 170 Pascals m2

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/expt1.jpg

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/expt2.jpg

The next experiment was to test my "raw" Lempor I used a modified chow mien box (it was my Sons lunch)… Having no blast measuring equipment I simply used the hairs on the back of my hand. The fan was turned at various voltages and the distance from the back of my hand to the top of the Lempor was measured by my Son. 

At 6V it was 23cm, at 12V it was 53cm and at 18V it was 63cm.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/expt3.jpg

I have got the parts for the gas feed equipment on order and I have a rough working drawing of my "cyclone" that will feed them. I will however need to make some form of "butterfly" to balance out the rates of flow between the two burners.

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Sorry for not having updated the thread for some time, but having to coach my Son for his exams and deal with the festive season -have left little time for locomotive building….

Grabbing the daylight (such as it is) we have put together most of the boiler barrel. The two domes for the clench are soldered in and the water wall seam to the back plate is nearly done. The delay is quite simple -we have run out of MAPP gas and the next supply date is next Tuesday. 

Nil Desperandum I have a few shots of the partially completed "progress so far"….

The first shot shows the parts of the burner that have to be installed -the shaft and the two end tubes. A 6mm hole has already been bored through the burner just forward of the rear burner (left).

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/burner1.jpg

The next shot shows that the two end tubes have been silver soldered into position, with quite a lot of "pencil lead" scribbled over the shaft to prevent the solder sticking to it.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/burner2.jpg

A flat has been milled onto the shaft and a "penny washer" silver soldered to the shaft. More pencil lead was used to prevent the solder wandering!!!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/burner3.jpg

The last shot of this series shows the burner in position between the frames. The butterfly will move the balance of the flame between the front and the rear burners. There will have to be, (as yet unknown!), method of connecting the shaft to the throttle lever.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/burner4.jpg

This is the gas jet and bottle connector that will inject LPG to the cyclone that will feed the burner. This uses std 4mm dia pipe. The cyclone could in theory be made of anything, (even wood!) that will take the correct shape. Incase you think that I am joking about using wood the original DIY gas turbine for model jet aeroplanes used a centrifugal compressor made from 1mm thick plywood….

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/burner6.jpg

How to fix the Lempor to the top of the smoke stack was a problem that had a messy solution. The epoxy would stick to the steel but not to the copper. So I smoothed it around and chopped it to size until I had a neat "collar".

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/smokebox1.jpg

Some tape, a sponge and stick aligned the Lempor with the Lemâitre whilst I tweaked the setting epoxy.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/smokebox2.jpg

Onto the main event, (as it was supposed to be). An hour was spent scrubbing scraping and wire brushing things to a nice shrine. The two domes are held at the right distance above the boiler barrel by the, (soon to be cremated), sacrificial piece of wood….. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan41.jpg

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan42.jpg

After some extreme smoke and fire the two domes were "in" and the people doing it -felt like they had been turned into kippers!

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan43.jpg

With there being no possible progress until next Tuesday I have spent the intervening time "priming and prepping" my parts. The "beige" is a std anti rust primer and the "red" is a special metals primer. The loco will be finished in two tone grey i.e. the std KKStB "Pewter + Pearl" livery.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/paint1.jpg

I have been amassing the required fitments for the boiler. I have the water column and the two "Clack" valves for the domes. The "Snifter" valves are on order as is the 7BAR Safety Valve, the Syphon and the 8BAR Pressure Gauge to fit to it.

The G3S AGM is at the end of February. I would like to have something more to display than a collection of parts by my kitchen sink...

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Happy New Year everyone!

The boiler construction nears completion. There are two joints to make on the boiler and the equivalent of a "foundation ring" to be fitted. The shot below shows the boiler with its collection of "fittings" (some still to arrive).

On the left is the "snifter" valve for the superheater system. The left dome has a "clack" valve that is fed from the feed water heater in the smoke box which is in turn fed from the axle pump. The top of the dome is where the safety valve will fit (5BAR) on the clench steam drier is an inspection port. The right dome has the "snifter" valve for the boiler on top and the "clack" valve that will feed cold water straight from the pump located in the tender.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/plumbing1.jpg

This shot shows the gas cylinder fitted with only one of the two no.8 burners that will supply LPG to the cyclone. The shaft with the gas jet on it is 8mm thick and the gas cylinder is a 175 gramme size. This should provide the loco with about 30 minutes of running time.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/plumbing2.jpg

I am going to have to do some drawings to show how the cyclone will work and (unfortunately) demonstrate some of the maths behind the thinking of it. But anyone to whom the word "intercooler" is known and understood or has some knowledge of the supercharged Mercedes Benz W125 and Auto Union 'C' racing cars of the inter wars period will know EXACTLY what I am planning on doing!!!

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

I sort of got "carried away" with this drawing.... It is rather big -but hopefully you will be able to see how everything is supposed to work.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/plumbing3.png

Now that the majority of the seasonal madness is over, (yes I know tomorrow is Christmas day!), HM Customs and ER-Mail should be back to full flow. I am expecting things to b delivered this week. The cyclone is going to be built from one massive lump of Delrin 60mm wide and 5mm deep. I have a few ideas on how to make it, (3 "sliced" sections looks the easiest), but the whole thing is going to have to be bolted together and, (of course), completely *flame* tight! This despite a 40mm hole at the top and a 16mm hole at the bottom...

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Well it has been a busy couple of days… The stuff ordered prior to the holidays has started to arrive -much to the dismay of my postman… The shot below shows "the posties bag" for yesterday.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/cyclone1.jpg

Top row are (L>R) a "valves" castings, The tender pump casting, and the the smoke box end ring casting. The next row show the twin fans that will power the cyclone, the block of delrin that will form the cyclone body and the length of PTFE rod that will supply me with steam temperature seals etc. The PTFE rod was surprisingly heavy…

On with making a cyclone! The 60mm dia "pom" chucked into the small lathe and the central shaft bored down its length with a 6mm drill. There will be two size holes -one of 38mm and the other of 15mm. 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/cyclone2.jpg

The initial 38mm hole is opened out with a 38mm Forster bit.. A strange tool to use I know -typically I use them in making guitars and modding the kitchen cabinets. This is the eased through the pom until the top of the cutter is flush with the top of the pom.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/cyclone3.jpg

A slice with the saw (a bit of cleaning up…) and I have the top of my cyclone

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/cyclone4.jpg

Now to start on the cone itself. The 6mm hole is now opened up to 15mm (UK gas pipe size)

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/cyclone5.jpg

The cone is opened out by plunging successively larger sizes of forester bit down the axis. This leaves a stepped cone inside. Having made the cone 20 degrees it was easy to work out how far to wind the bit down the axis.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/cyclone6.jpg

The major problem with working with "engineering plastics" is the amour of swarf that it generates plus the static. This means that not only are you bombarded with suicidal bits of scouring pads they -also stick to you as well…

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/cyclone7.jpg

A quick pass under the pillar drill with an 8mm spoon bit and I have my conical cyclone.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/cyclone8.jpg

You will see some scribbles on the graph paper and the final figure for the speed of rotation of the cyclone as it exits the cone is 488,923RPM. This is only at the VERY centre -but it does neatly show why "cyclone vacuum cleaners" are so good at centrifuging the muck out of their air stream.

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Well been busy time for the postman! I now have all the laser cut plates to form the tender from. These are 2mm thick "Bright Mild Steel" , (BMS). This type of tender is normally called a "snow tender" as it has a roof extending the engine cab. Eventually. (when the plan has been found!), there will be a snow plough on the front of the loco.

Here is the first "rough assembly". The steel is still oily and the clamps hold it in place.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/tender1.jpg

OK a bit of explanation of what you are looking at in the shot below. The tender rear plate has the mounting hole for the red lamp. The front plate of the tender has the "window" for the crew and below that is the round hole that will provide me, (after a little saw work), with the access for the gas tank and the gas valve system.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/tender2.jpg

After some work with the pillar drill (and a couple of blunted bits!) the holes for the rivet are all drilled. These are 2.4mm stainless rivets, (I do seem to have a few!!!). These go into the aluminium angle that will hold the sides etc together. Unfortunately they do not make the lovely 10mm brass angle anymore -so I have to use the clumsy looking 25mm aluminium. Still it is all going to be "buried" in "brown coal" (probably polystyrene "beans" painted with brown paint to resemble the lignite that the loco would have used).

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/tender3.jpg

The bulk of the riveting is done. The 20mm holes at the rear of the tender will pass the gas/air feed from the cyclone and water from the tender pump respectively. In case you think you eyes are playing tricks on you -the ruler marked "METRIC & IMPERIAL" is a Gauge "3" scale ruler -everything is 1:22.6 

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/tender4.jpg

I have had to "modify" (as expected) the gas tank port to enable easy access of the valve stem. Yes I could attach the tank to the valve -but the amount of spitting compared to doing it it externally and then refitting makes for a safer option. (And no-one will know anyway!).

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/tender5.jpg

The next step will be to "degrease" and prime.

regards

ralph


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

Sorry for not been updating the thread recently… The G3S AGM is at the end of next month and have been busy "shopping" and "bashing" things in preparation. If you are in the Biggleswade area next month on the 27th -pop in and see us!

The shot below shows the hand formed two layer intercooler. The 1/8th inch dia copper pipe is supplied a a coil which has to be annealed and then straightened -before being bent(!) The ends of the loops are soft soldered together to prevent bubbles rattling the pipework. The feed pipe and exit pipe have been sleeved with 4mm "heat shrink" which insulates the LPG from the metalwork. I only want it to get "warm" in certain places.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/cyclone9.jpg

This shot shows how the intake for the second fan which will draw air over the intercooler. There will be some ducting to encourage flow over the coils. The design has been modified so that the first fan "pressurises" the tender cowling. This means that if thee is any leakage of gas -the positive pressure will force it to flow towards the cyclone and still get burnt

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/cyclone10.jpg

Yes I know it looks like the level 2 starter for "3D Pipes"… BUT it did take some doing with the pipe cutter. By EU law -since I am "pumping" a flammable explosive mixture the plumbing MUST be silver soldered, and painted RED. The first 90 degree elbow connects to the rear of the cyclone, the long tail pipe sits under the tender and will connect with the burner.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/cyclone11.jpg

like this:

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/cyclone12.jpg

This shot shows that the liquid gas tank has been fitted (after more than a few "words"). When I ordered it I specified the mounting threads on the base be M4. I eventually found after having visited an electronic supplies shop -that the threads were 4BA…

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/cyclone13.jpg

The gas valve is at the top of the gas tank in the picture and the "Ronson" filler valve at the bottom. The tank holds 125ml of LPG, this "should" be enough for 45minutes of running -but I will let you know afterwards…

regards

ralph


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## John Allman (Jan 2, 2008)

wow. that is impressive. not sure I understand how it will all work, but I am looking forward to seeing it.
John


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## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

This is an interesting project! 

The seems a lot of complication, I assume to give greater operating efficiency?

It looks to me as if you are pregnant mixing fuel and air in the white cyclone device, then piping the mixture to the burners. Is the perforated plate on the burner enough to keep the flame from flashing back into the pipe?


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

First of all -answers!

John:
What you are looking at is a gas air mixer. This operates on a cyclonic system. The two gas pipes spin the air and are carried down the cone shape by the blast of air from the fan. The twists and turns cause the mixture to compress and slow down.

Eric:
Not exactly complication…. The technique has been used on full sized coal burning locos in Argentina. The cyclone is vertical and the gas is produced by red hot, not incandescent, coal. This is "burnt" by blasting a mixture of steam and compressed air into the heated coal bed. This produces Hydrogen and Carbon Monoxide leaving coke, the burning of which actually provides the heat for the reaction. Further compressed air is blasted into the gas stream and it burns.

As to improved efficiency -the answer is a most definite YES!

The flames will heat the water tubes directly and the residual hot gases then pass through the flue tubes and heat the remaining water.

Not sure I understand "pregnant mixing"(?) but the perforations on the burner plate are 1mm and the flame should burn in an "elevated" manner i.e. burning in mid air in the blast stream from the cyclone. There will no chance (I hope!) of travelling wave explosions!

Secondly -update.

In preparation for the AGM I dunked the boiler assembly into a bucket of Citric acid overnight and gave it the "once over" with a stubbing brush. And like Cinderella -she can now go to the Ball.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/brotan44.jpg

I plan to have the boiler examined by all the G3S boiler testers that I can grab. Although the basic design "Number 14" has been around and published by KN Harris (Model Boilers and Boiler making) since the 60's -this is the only one that I know of…. Which does actually surprise me as it is a really easy boiler to build(?)

Well with just a few joints to solder I now need a pump to pressure test it (and perform one of the "two independent sources of water" for the boiler). This may sound bizarre 0but I intend to run the loco as a G3 loco at 3BAR (45PSI) and a N2.5GA loco at 6BAR (80PSI). Thus I need it certifying at 6BAR via the rules and regs of the infamous "Green Book" as used by Southern Fed…

This is the pump design that I am using -a standard LBSC design. the castings are very common and £8 bought me the one I wanted.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pump6.jpg

Yes -the dimensions are fractional imperial…. These have been converted to nearest Metric sizes! after having attacked the casting with a leading file and a grindstone I ended up with something I could load into the vise of the mill.

This shows the pump casting inverted with the squarish "foot" at the rear and the vertical extensions of the valve housing.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pump7.jpg

This shows the castings for the "valves" that have to be fitted to the pump (ugh!). Grind and file to a shape that the lathe can grasp , then drill and tap them...

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pump8.jpg

This shot shows the "after" of the mill having faced the foot and the ends of the pump casting. The M4 holes for the bolts have been drilled and the longitudinal bore for the water passage way has been drilled. This will be enlarged to 7mm and then tapped to 5/16th x 32, (pause whilst I go away and cry!)

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pump9.jpg

This is the pump travel shaft cut to 6.5mm. As you can see it has nicely broken into the water passage way.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pump10.jpg

This last shot shows that the valve ends have ONLY JUST taken a 5/16ths tap - I now have to buy a "3rd" tap to get enough thread on it to grasp the valve body….

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.webspace.virginmedia.com/pump11.jpg

regards

ralph


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## redbeard (Jan 2, 2008)

Almost hate to ask.....anyone know if Ralph is OK?


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## redbeard (Jan 2, 2008)

one more try........anyone know if Ralph is OK?


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## Scott (Jan 29, 2008)

Nothing heard mate, I agree with you as Ralph was quite a prolific poster on here. I hope all is ok with him.


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## redbeard (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks Scott! I started a thread in the Public Forum, maybe more people will see it there. Larry


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## Scott (Jan 29, 2008)

Hope so mate, sometimes if something happens to someone - a family member or partner won't know the logins to post updates on their situation.


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

One of the things they did warn me about the treatment was that it would affect my vision. So, apologies for worrying people -but there were times when I could not tell a hand from a foot. I simply have not been able to read anything. To give you some idea I am typing this with one eye closed at 400% magnification.

But I have been building bits for my loco slowly and sometimes with several attempts -but I think I have got there in the end...

So, mid September I should be drug free and able to warm up my shed tools. One of the first things to do is to hydraulic pressure test the boiler shell to TWICE its working pressure which will be (12BAR) for 30 minutes. This is followed by a boiler plus steam fittings test at 125% (7.5BAR) which will (unfortunately) show how well all my tapped and died threads are. I have one "union" that I made in May that has an almost corkscrew thread -but the nut still locks!

regards

ralph


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## Tomahawk & Western RR (Sep 22, 2015)

glad youre OK  BTW when i click on your links it says webpage cannot be found


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Glad to see you're back. Get well.


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

He shut everything down in February -because (to be honest) he was not overly optimistic... It will take some time to re-load all the site and get it up and running again -so you will just have to be patient.

Dan XV


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## Tomahawk & Western RR (Sep 22, 2015)

no hurry, just worry about getting better


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## Scott (Jan 29, 2008)

Yeah mate - Ralph hope you're healing ok. Good to hear things are on the mend. Look forwards to you firing up the tools and posting again.

Best wishes cobber.


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