rolling road

[chrislwg]

hi,
 i'm new to this site.
 i built a simplex between 1995- 99. we then moved house, so it was under the stairs for 3 years. then i painted it and went back under the stairs. i fetched it out just before xmas and am looking at getting it running again. i realise i will have to have the boiler re tested, for my safety, but was looking at making a rolling road for it . i was wondering if there were any plans / drawings i might get to point me in the right direction.

[cplmickey]

Hi, welcome to the forum.

I don't know of any plans but would suggest that if you can build a Simplex you should be able to design and build a rolling road with no bother. All I did was buy some 50mm x 5mm steel angle and drill for ball bearings so that there were 2 bearings to each wheel. then set the angles apart using simple rod stretchers - I threaded mine to give an element of adjustability.

The only things to watch out for are that the bearings are small diameter (think mine mounted with 8mm bolts through the centres) and that they are thicker than the wheel tread so the wheels don't rub on the angle.

Alternatively there are often some on ebay which could suit.

Ian

[chrislwg]

thanks ian, that sounds like what i'm looking for. i'm 3 yrs from retiring so i thought doing something with the simplex should keep me occupied, unless the wife has other ideas !!

[peteh]

The wife will ALWAYS have other ideas

[Deleted]

I bet she DIDN'T say}---"Why don't you build a 5g" Duchess next and I'll buy all the castings for you" ??

[chrislwg]

she dosn't really know i'm thinking of building another steam engine

[Deleted]

I see!!--------eggs, walking on, etc ??