|
Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2019 12:38:11 GMT
Hi John Sorry to hear of your woes, it's good to see you back in action, admittedly it may be a while before you feel fighting fit but nonetheless, you have begun that long road to recovery. Hopefully, not too long a road, my 'like' was in seeing you post again, not, of course, that you have been unwell.. Kind regards Pete
|
|
barlowworks
Statesman
Now finished my other projects, Britannia here I come
Posts: 874
|
Post by barlowworks on Sept 24, 2019 13:53:27 GMT
My like is also in the same spirit as Pete's. Just to show how something that is suppose to be straight forward can change your life. Hope you have a speedy recovery.
All the best
Mike
|
|
stevep
Elder Statesman
Posts: 1,070
|
Post by stevep on Sept 24, 2019 14:46:44 GMT
My best wishes for a speedy recovery John.
|
|
millman
Part of the e-furniture
Posts: 297
|
Post by millman on Sept 24, 2019 17:43:50 GMT
I also would like to add my very best wishes for a speedy recovery
|
|
JonL
Elder Statesman
WWSME (Wiltshire)
Posts: 2,909
|
Post by JonL on Sept 24, 2019 17:52:22 GMT
My best regards on a very nice bolt! As you have said, the body compensates, and there are plenty of tools with large clear displays for those of us whose vision isn't what it was.
My very best wishes, get well soon, and welcome back.
|
|
|
Post by Jim on Sept 24, 2019 22:00:35 GMT
All the very best for full and speedy recovery John.
Jim
|
|
don9f
Statesman
Les Warnett 9F, Martin Evans “Jinty”, a part built “Austin 7” and now a part built Springbok B1.
Posts: 960
|
Post by don9f on Sept 25, 2019 7:57:05 GMT
Hi John, best wishes from me too....
Cheers Don
|
|
|
Post by cplmickey on Sept 25, 2019 8:10:14 GMT
And best wishes from me too. I was with Martin at the L&B working weekend and he said you hadn't been very well so I'm pleased to hear you've turned the corner. Ian
|
|
johnthepump
Part of the e-furniture
Building 7 1/4"G Edward Thomas
Posts: 494
|
Post by johnthepump on Sept 25, 2019 8:13:31 GMT
I would like to thank everyone who has sent me there best wishes and kind thoughts.
best regards John.
|
|
Midland
Elder Statesman
Posts: 1,870
|
Post by Midland on Sept 25, 2019 9:05:51 GMT
John Just read of your entering decreptude and recovering. Keep up the good work recovering, we need people like you to keep us sane!! David
|
|
uuu
Elder Statesman
your message here...
Posts: 2,811
|
Post by uuu on Nov 28, 2019 19:56:22 GMT
We've had the club's Hercules 7 1/4 loco in for attention over the last few weeks. This was a recent acquisition from Station Road Steam. It had been described as a good steamer, but asthmatic with some blow by on the valves. That turned out to be a fair description of how it ran on test.
Alas before we could get our hands on it, someone at the club decided to "have a go" at the valve events, by shifting the return cranks. This made the loco run a lot worse, and backwards!
So we had a few things to address. To add to this list, we found the snifting valve sealed in both directions, the drain cocks leaked a bit, the fire hole door was a bit stiff. Holding a torch below the smokebox exposed some sealing issues - we could see light inside. We also discovered that to get to the valves we had to get the footplates off. And to get those off the tanks had to come off. And the cab. So we also decided to split the footplates over the motion brackets, so for future valve chest investigations we could leave the back half of the loco intact. Oh, and we thought that adding knurled caps in the middle of the valve chest covers would make it easy to lubricate the cast iron cylinders after a run. With Julian's favourite - Ensis oil.
While the minor items were addressed, John did some investigating on the valve blow-by. He found that this is a known problem with this design - and there are some videos on YouTube with locos sounding just like ours. The consensus seems to be that if the valve lifts it can stick to the bottom of the drive nut.
The drive nut is just a rectangular block of bronze, with the valve as a U-shape riding below it. When the valve is seated properly there's steam above it - between it and the drive nut - so it's pressed down onto the port face. If the valve rises to contact the bottom of the nut, the gap disappears, so there's now steam below the valve, but none above, so it stays up. Any sticky steam oil hanging around would just add a stiction effect.
One suggested fix was to make holes in the nut, but we thought that would still leave more area exposed to steam below the nut than above, in the lifted condition.
So we devised a fix that involved relieving the bottom of the nut with stripes, cut with a 6mm ball-nose end mill, so the contact area was just the narrow ridges between the troughs.
All this took up quite a few of the evening sessions, but eventually the loco was reassembled and sent off for test. Results are encouraging. The loco runs nicely, it notches up well, and has none of the blow-by previously experienced.
Now we can get back to working on proper loco building!
Wilf
|
|
mbrown
Elder Statesman
Posts: 1,720
|
Post by mbrown on Nov 28, 2019 20:22:27 GMT
Very interesting Wilf.
You mention Ensis oil. I have had no luck getting hold of it in small quantities (i.e. less than several gallons). Do you have a source you can recommend?
Thanks
Malcolm
|
|
uuu
Elder Statesman
your message here...
Posts: 2,811
|
Post by uuu on Nov 28, 2019 20:56:55 GMT
I suspect the club got hold of some a long while ago. I'll ask around.
Wilf
|
|
johnthepump
Part of the e-furniture
Building 7 1/4"G Edward Thomas
Posts: 494
|
Post by johnthepump on Nov 28, 2019 21:44:05 GMT
Very interesting Wilf. You mention Ensis oil. I have had no luck getting hold of it in small quantities (i.e. less than several gallons). Do you have a source you can recommend? Thanks Malcolm Hi Malcolm, I'm sure that the clubs Ensis oil ran out years ago, but the oilcan with ensis written on it is still in use although filled with lubricating oil hence the confusion. most use WD40. Regards John.
|
|
johnthepump
Part of the e-furniture
Building 7 1/4"G Edward Thomas
Posts: 494
|
Post by johnthepump on Nov 28, 2019 23:03:18 GMT
As Wilf has just explained work in the Pumphouse on Wednesday evening has been to sort out the clubs 7 1/4"G Hercules. As I was recovering from my hospitalisation and knowing that I would not be working on my loco build for quiet sometime. I offered the Committee the use of my workshop to sort out the problems with Hercules, provided we could find a team of three or four to help with the work. Wednesday morning I loaded the loco into my car and returned it to Broadfields and after lunch when the rain left off it was steamed and to the relief of all present the asthmatic problem was cured. I have to add that having mates around in my workshop has greatly help my recovery and encouraged me start back on my own loco. So Wednesday evening it was back to where I left off at the end of May when I drilled the first of the cylinder drain holes. But before we got started on that another member turned up with a chassis wanting the teams advice on valve gear problems, it didn't take very long to convince him that all was well and off he went not even stopping for coffee something that my wife has cheerfully brought down to the workshop for over twenty five years (thank you from all us). With a large angle plate mounted on the mill the cylinder was set up at 26.5 deg. held in place by 2 bolts with large washers into the cylinders mounting holes and a large G clamp for luck. Once the X and Y was set, a 1.5mm endmill was used to make pocket and then a No.52 drill to drill the hole to the drain cock hole, once all the remaining holes were done it was time to retire to the local for a pint and chat. Regards John. IMG_20191127_213904 by John The Pump, on Flickr
|
|
johnthepump
Part of the e-furniture
Building 7 1/4"G Edward Thomas
Posts: 494
|
Post by johnthepump on Nov 28, 2019 23:17:26 GMT
I have just been in contact with one of the team who took a photo of the modification to Hercules valve nut and here it is. 26.11.2019 by John The Pump, on Flickr The nut is upside down to show the mod. Regards John.
|
|
stevep
Elder Statesman
Posts: 1,070
|
Post by stevep on Nov 29, 2019 9:40:04 GMT
Glad to hear you are back in action John.
|
|
twombo
Seasoned Member
Posts: 119
|
Post by twombo on Nov 30, 2019 3:27:01 GMT
As Wilf has just explained work in the Pumphouse on Wednesday evening has been to sort out the clubs 7 1/4"G Hercules. As I was recovering from my hospitalisation and knowing that I would not be working on my loco build for quiet sometime. I offered the Committee the use of my workshop to sort out the problems with Hercules, provided we could find a team of three or four to help with the work. Wednesday morning I loaded the loco into my car and returned it to Broadfields and after lunch when the rain left off it was steamed and to the relief of all present the asthmatic problem was cured. I have to add that having mates around in my workshop has greatly help my recovery and encouraged me start back on my own loco. So Wednesday evening it was back to where I left off at the end of May when I drilled the first of the cylinder drain holes. But before we got started on that another member turned up with a chassis wanting the teams advice on valve gear problems, it didn't take very long to convince him that all was well and off he went not even stopping for coffee something that my wife has cheerfully brought down to the workshop for over twenty five years (thank you from all us). With a large angle plate mounted on the mill the cylinder was set up at 26.5 deg. held in place by 2 bolts with large washers into the cylinders mounting holes and a large G clamp for luck. Once the X and Y was set, a 1.5mm endmill was used to make pocket and then a No.52 drill to drill the hole to the drain cock hole, once all the remaining holes were done it was time to retire to the local for a pint and chat. Regards John. IMG_20191127_213904 by John The Pump, on Flickr
|
|
twombo
Seasoned Member
Posts: 119
|
Post by twombo on Nov 30, 2019 3:55:39 GMT
John, that photo and description. Plants the seeds to solving. The dilemma of drilling Steam passages, and such, on my Marie Estelle cylinders!
I have an angle plate in my cabinet. Just like that one. The 9/16”-26 drilling for the Exhaust fitting. Should serve nicely to set the angle of the casting on the angle plate. A Machinist jack. Between the casting and table. And a Large,5” Kant Twist clanp, should. Prevent rotation.
I enjoy watching your experience in action. Yet, one more time, Snatching. The Hare from the Hat! Presto Change O” I am sure that you find. Time, well spent, in the shop and at the bench As Recuperative as I have!
Mick
|
|
stevep
Elder Statesman
Posts: 1,070
|
Post by stevep on Nov 30, 2019 15:05:35 GMT
Here's another solution, using my homemade 'sine table'
|
|