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Post by Oily Rag on Mar 18, 2019 22:17:37 GMT
Is that just to keep the dust levels down? I suppose it doesn't affect how well it burns when it goes straight into a furnace... Hi Nobby, Yes, that's right.....just imagine how much heat is contained in half a ton or more of coal burning.....any water will instantly "flash" away to become steam ( an invisible vapour ) and goes straight up the chimney.....especially when that loco is hard at work when the fire becomes white hot and incandescent ...You may have seen some Firemen wearing welding goggles ?? Obviously the physical size of the fire has an influence on things ie}--- that same quantity of water on the coal in the shovel would quench a Bar-B-Q fire for instance...... That's the "Slacking Hose" that Oily Rag is using there.......... The UK term is a "slacking hose", the Queensland Railways call it the "Coal Spray Hose". We wash out the cab with it as well and also use it wash the ash off the loco when we drop the fire. Ours works off the fireman's side injector.
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Post by Oily Rag on Mar 18, 2019 22:22:21 GMT
If the coal is dry the big lumps go in the firebox and the dust gets scattered to the four winds You would think the dust goes to the four winds, but my experience is it normally targets the crew, especially me! When the loco moves the back of the cab becomes a low pressure area and so the dust will be lifted and drift into the cab. Also the first couple of carriages get a dust coat as well, so wash down at each turn around is the proper job. When we coal the dust goes every where, so the first thing the fireman does is wash the cab out before me move again. If we have good rain then the coal pile gets a wash down which helps when coaling,but it has been dry of late but we got some good storms last weekend.
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Post by delaplume on Mar 19, 2019 5:18:04 GMT
Quote}--"Ours works off the fireman's side injector.".........Same here, at least with the Ex-GWR and LMS types......not sure about the others...
Do you guys get much trouble with line-side fires in the hot season ??
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Post by Oily Rag on Mar 19, 2019 22:13:27 GMT
Quote}--"Ours works off the fireman's side injector.".........Same here, at least with the Ex-GWR and LMS types......not sure about the others... Do you guys get much trouble with line-side fires in the hot season ?? Yes, it can be a problem. We have a fire trolley follow some days. (it travels under the same staff or ticket as the train) It can be hot and humid but if there has been storm or rain from an ex cyclones there is a lot of green growth. But that becomes bad if that dries out as it was of late till the rain came recently. We had a decent storm Friday night at the railway, if you know what a sub tropical storm rain is like then you know it dumps down so that eases the fire problem for a while. Some times there can be a fire ban and so no steam, out comes the Diseasel (hence we have to be passed on both steam and diesel to become class 2 drivers, my diesel time is wanting but I will be on a tutor train soon) So far the Rattler has evaded a fire ban since the restart 6 months ago. The poor sods at Southern Downs Steam Railway which is a few hundred miles south and inland has been on a fire ban since November last year.
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Post by delaplume on Mar 23, 2019 12:54:51 GMT
Here's something from the annals of "The Dark Side"........... As well as a couple of "Steamers" I also operate a 5" gauge freelance-style 0-4-0 Diesel shunter running as an N.C.B. loco with a 10 ton coal truck in tow..... Last year I motorised the coal truck and fitted a second high capacity battery.........The result was that I can now pull 3 passenger trucks with full load !! ( albeit at proper shunter speed ) but it does give the desired illusion that this diminutive little loco is pulling all those folk !! Summer saw a 4QD sound system fitted---I chose the Perkins heavy oil engine sound rather than the high speed Diesel one.......it gives a more realistic slow "thump" noise...... This Winter arrived and it's time to fit a John Dutton smoke unit.........Due to lack of space in the actual "Engine Room" this will have to go in the cab which is not a problem in itself but getting the flexi delivery pipe from the smoker to the base of the chimney is !! The part attached to the chimney must be a permanent fitting but the pipe from the smoker going forwards must remain attached to the smoker when the body is lifted on or off....thus a detachable joint must be incorporated in the pipe such that pipe may be split in 2 parts.......... Looking at the pipe' route the obvious place was just above the Battery...........So last week I cut a 4" x 6" access hole in the roof using a small slitting saw, hand filing skills and a Mk.1 eyeball alignment unit......This hole is covered by removeable, oversize Brass plate held approx. 3mm above the roof itself....This gives the effect of a cooling air exit seen on some of the Industrial shunters back in the 1950's etc... Finally yesterday and to day saw the removal of the Engine Room / Cab bulkhead, again using hand tools ( Pad saw, mini-drill, files) but this time in a very confined space AND with the drill going through a "Composite" of 4mm MDF and 3 layers of 18g steel !!.......Desperation, Perspiration, Activation, Determination, Realisation ......and frequent recourse to Anglo-Saxon words of distress saw it done !! We're off to Reading, Basingstoke and Maidstone now..........more later when we come home.. PS}---- Don't worry I also spent a working day at the Club tracksite and put a few hours in on The Bear and a Simplex..
Here's the assembled train in action last year at the Sutton Coldfield track..........
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JonL
Elder Statesman
WWSME (Wiltshire)
Posts: 2,912
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Post by JonL on Mar 23, 2019 17:40:23 GMT
I've been to my local MES again today for another workshop teaching session. Learned a few techniques on their Myford, quite valuable.
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Post by delaplume on Mar 23, 2019 18:55:44 GMT
I've been to my local MES again today for another workshop teaching session. Learned a few techniques on their Myford, quite valuable. Here's a couple of "workshop wizards" that have been of use in the past}---- a) The pitch of a 16 tpi hacksaw blade is 1/16" or 0.0625"......the back of a hacksaw blade makes a handy straight edge .............. worn out hacksaw blades make ideal tool shims.........the laminated Iron core of a Lucas HT coil makes ideal shims for a mini-lathe.. Similarly a 24 tpi blade gives you 41 thou. b) Clamp a lathe tool in the toolpost then using the tool's tip lightly pinch a 12" steel ruler ( or similar ) against the outside round edge of the chuck.......Now view this set-up from the tailstock looking along the length of the lathe.................If the top of the steel ruler is pointing in towards the lathes' centre then the tool is set too high........and if the top of the steel ruler is pointing outwards the tool is set too low..........Correct setting is when the ruler is perpendicular or very slightly outwards.... c) Blu - tak and a shirt pin make a very accurate wobbler !! d) With any gear wheel divide the No. of teeth by 360 to give degrees per tooth .. e) 1 gallon of water weighs 10 lbs........ I'm sure there are plenty of others out there Alan
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Post by delaplume on Mar 23, 2019 19:00:08 GMT
The most important control on any powered machine tool ??----------> ------------> -------> The STOP BUTTON !!
Locate that first before doing anything else.......
and then just do a simple check to ensure the NO-VOLT switch function is actually working....
Sorry matey---- that's just my Apprentice Master grade talking...... haven't done that for over 10 years now---
Just to blow my own trumpt for a wee while}---- I was at the ABRO Donnington workshops doing Base Overhauls on R/R CV8 and CV12 Diesels, Alvis TN15 Semi-auttomatic gearboxes and then a long spell in the Armoury on weapons de-activication ..... ( POSitively vetted for the former then Home Office Approved for the latter ),.....That was over an 18 year spell.....
OK--rant over..
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Post by ettingtonliam on Mar 23, 2019 19:01:40 GMT
d) Divide 360 by the number of teeth on the gear, surely?
b) Can also be used in the milling or drilling machine to align the spindle with the centre of a shaft before drilling a cross hole.
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Post by delaplume on Mar 23, 2019 19:11:53 GMT
d) Divide 360 by the number of teeth on the gear, surely? b) Can also be used in the milling or drilling machine to align the spindle with the centre of a shaft before drilling a cross hole. Good !!........... at least one of you spotted my deliberate mistake ( He said with tongue in cheek !!) -- Koff--Koff.....LoL !! My way gives you tooth per degree--- whatever use that may be ??
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Post by ettingtonliam on Mar 23, 2019 20:32:44 GMT
Yes, always know where the stop button is! I was taught never to operate any control unless you know how to stop the machine doing what you've just made it do. Don't pull a lever or press a button out of curiousity just to see what happens.
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JonL
Elder Statesman
WWSME (Wiltshire)
Posts: 2,912
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Post by JonL on Mar 23, 2019 20:35:13 GMT
Sorry matey---- that's just my Apprentice Master grade talking...... haven't done that for over 10 years now--- Just to blow my own trumpt for a wee while}---- I was at the ABRO Donnington workshops doing Base Overhauls on R/R CV8 and CV12 Diesels, Alvis TN15 Semi-auttomatic gearboxes and then a long spell in the Armoury on weapons de-activication ..... ( POSitively vetted for the former then Home Office Approved for the latter ),.....That was over an 18 year spell..... OK--rant over.. Something similar here, I was an instructor in Avionics at MoD Boscombe Down for the aeronautical apprenticeship there (having done it myself a good few years before hand). I think that sort of trade is naturally attracted to Model Engineering. I taught Motorsport Engineering at a college for a while after, but I wasn't very good at it. I didn't bother doing the paperwork required and sooner or later it all mounts up and they get understandably grumpy... Thanks for the top tips, I especially like the steel rule against the chuck one.
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Post by Oily Rag on Mar 23, 2019 20:53:13 GMT
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JonL
Elder Statesman
WWSME (Wiltshire)
Posts: 2,912
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Post by JonL on Mar 23, 2019 20:56:44 GMT
Lovely job. Beautiful finish!
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Post by Oily Rag on Mar 24, 2019 0:56:48 GMT
Sunday morning, all cooked, three more oil pots to clean up. 7 days straight in the workshop cave, bikes, steam locos, but no model engineering. MAM said is was good practice for the boiler cookup that is booked in my mind for two weekends time. Next weekend is off as I am again on the 12" to the 1' scale choo choo at the Mary Valley Rattler.
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Geoff
Hi-poster
Posts: 171
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Post by Geoff on Mar 24, 2019 6:07:10 GMT
Ive been trying to learn a few skills in Fusion 360 by drawing a parametric design of a wheel pattern. I should be able to print any wheel with any number of spokes and any dimensions (as long as it fits on the printer bed). There are so many little things to trip on that I'm sure you CNC blokes know about! www.flickr.com/photos/142763958@N04/40487672443/in/datetaken/
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Post by David on Mar 24, 2019 10:09:41 GMT
Looks good Geoff. You've got further with modeling a wheel in F360 than I have. I'm struggling with blending the spokes into the hub and rim. Oil pots looks beautiful Daz. I've been working on these tender axleboxes for my father in law for most of the week. I kept changing the programming as I went along so the different batches had different amounts of manual machining. I think the last pair didn't have any manual work. A new 6mm carbide cutter, 1500rpm, 120 mm/min feed, varying doc and woc. Didn't break a cutter this time so that was good. The first pair were scrap due to me forgetting to add the radius of the tool after touching off to set zero, and I caught a second instance of this when I thought a spotting drill hadn't gone in the correct location. One other stupid mistake that wasn't avoided but is not visible or functionally important. Brass bar (not sheet!) is by far the easiest thing I've cut on the machine. So these are probably both the most complex and most successful project so far. Axlebox keeps for that loco next, and then drilling all the holes in the tender bodywork for a friend who is building the same loco I am. All this allows me to avoid starting the firebox cladding on my mogul.
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Midland
Elder Statesman
Posts: 1,871
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Post by Midland on Mar 26, 2019 9:14:48 GMT
. . .' and now for something completely different, what I did Saturday. Last minute phone call, would you like to go to Verdi's vespers? Well ok, something different, I knew his Sicilian Vespers but not plain vespers, so we went to Winchester Cathedral. IMG_1329 (2) by David Goyder, on Flickr Turns out to be Monteverdi's Vespers from 1610! Wife not impressed, seats got very hard but we survived, I suppose we can say we were there but we did rather walk into that one!!!! David Edit PS A bloody awful noise most of the time but the place was packed out!!
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timb
Statesman
Posts: 512
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Post by timb on Mar 26, 2019 17:22:18 GMT
'A bloody awful noise most of the time but the place was packed out!!'
ROFLMAO!!!!
Tim
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Post by delaplume on Mar 26, 2019 20:19:47 GMT
Drove back to Telford from Maxitrak in Kent via a call-in at Reading to visit David and Lilly------much impressed with all his tech stuff, much GWR green with envy at his buying Trevor Shortland's own Large Prairie !!
Many thanks David and Lilly for your hospitality....I'm hoping to bring my Keith Wilson Mogul to Reading later on towards the end of this season for a week-end steam-up..
Hi David ( Midland ),...nice choice of avatar photo....mine being the "Great Grand-daddy" to yours....
Best regards to one and all
Alan
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