|
Post by Doug on Jan 21, 2024 14:43:45 GMT
That's a great result and a sensible compromise. There's nothing to stop you adding dummy fittings at a later date using Soft Solder or mounting them on a shim held under the adjacent bush if you really want to. It's a huge amount of effort to add all these details, for little benefit. Very true and good idea I may add them as dummies later as I have them all machined up. It is a never ending rabbit hole you can fall into chasing details. If I had kept to LBSC design I would almost be finished but there is no rush and as long as I am enjoying the journey then it’s good fun. Tried a dry fit and I like the look of it just going to make up the last couple of bushes one will be a spare in case I want to add a clack if I cannot get the top ones to work I can have one at the bottom and one halfway up. The top bush will be for the blower. Top fountain is tested and leak free will make the fake fountain pad once the boiler is soldered up. Attached to the square pad below the manifold. For the taps the right side will be the blower the middle the steam brake and the left the injector.
|
|
|
Post by Doug on Jan 21, 2024 14:51:34 GMT
So all the blackhead bushes are complete The top right has a sneaky link pipe to the front of the boiler for the blower it’s a standard 1/4x40 bush with a pipe attach to the back so it looks like another boiler bush but it just feed to the front will make a small elbow fitting for it and pipe it to the tap the one below is a spare but it will have a blank that attaches the very odd steam brake valve assembly (fake version) I want the brake valve to be something like this. It’s very complex and should be a great challenge will have to decide how functional it is when I do it. Obviously the steam will have to come from the top valves but doesn’t mean I can’t make the valve do something got to think it through a bit before committing.
|
|
|
Post by Doug on Jan 29, 2024 7:21:28 GMT
This weekend I soldered all the blackhead bushes in place Then did another heat up and soldered the mud ring section to the bottom and see the two small rivet holes at the bottom I used to hold it together when it was soldered overall very happy with this but I had a bit of an escape on the large regulator bush as you can see above, at least it soldered well with no gaps. I didn’t use Tipex this time, lesson learned u guess. Next up superheater’s and tube plate bushes, got some issues here I need to think about. The blower I want a 1/4x40 male sticking out so that should be reasonably easy to sort. There is lots of room in that area so should be easy to undo and do up in the smokebox. However the steam hot header bush looks like the hole is too high on the tube plate so need to adjust this with the bush to put it centrally in the space between the top and the big tubes for the superheaters. The superheater tubes also look like they are too big and I may need to baffle them a bit or the other tubes won’t be seeing much activity.
|
|
|
Post by simon6200 on Jan 29, 2024 10:53:49 GMT
You could always put two elements in each flue and get more superheat.
|
|
|
Post by Roger on Feb 1, 2024 20:23:00 GMT
Whatever you add, you still need to be able to get a brush in there. Maybe a removable baffle would work. Slowing down the flow of gas in the flue will surely aid heat transfer?
|
|
|
Post by keith1500 on Feb 4, 2024 23:37:40 GMT
I would be inclined to send the steam down the centre then back to a header then from the header down the outside and back into a cylinder.
The down side of that arrangement is a fair amount of pipe to charge up before steam starts to work on the pistons. Not so good for shunting but you would get used to giving it slug of steam and backing off. However, would suit general running and should work nicely.
Keith.
|
|
|
Post by Doug on Feb 5, 2024 7:13:39 GMT
I would be inclined to send the steam down the centre then back to a header then from the header down the outside and back into a cylinder. The down side of that arrangement is a fair amount of pipe to charge up before steam starts to work on the pistons. Not so good for shunting but you would get used to giving it slug of steam and backing off. However, would suit general running and should work nicely. Keith. No harm making two types of superheaters see what works best, definitely like the idea of double superheat. I am at the point of making the tube plate bushings next, so have some time to ponder 🤔. I just made the wet header feed fitting and interface bush this weekend then ran out of enthusiasm for doing anything yesterday so will have to now wait till next weekend to make some progress. As I couldn’t make a nice thread on the pipe I made an end fitting from phosphorus bronze 3/8”x32 and a bush 3/8” female to 1/2”x32 male so next I need to make a 1/2” female bush to solder into the tube plate with studs or bolt holes for the wet header. Obviously off plan here as screwing into the tube plate is not acceptable. I am also trying to make it as easy to maintain as possible.
|
|
|
Post by keith1500 on Feb 6, 2024 7:33:58 GMT
Hi Doug,
I found the tricky bit was tucking the header up behind the petticoat. The reason I did that was to ensure each tube could be brushed out.
I made that bush in two pieces. The initial piece screwed onto the boiler, then. The second half (plus super heater tubes) butted on and seal via O ring. Three screws clamped it in place.
Would a banjo type arrangement work for you?
Keith
|
|
|
Post by Doug on Feb 6, 2024 21:04:30 GMT
Hi Keith not really as the tube has to be terminated at the flange plate, I do like the idea of keeping it all tight at the top though as having good access to the tubes for cleaning is really good, my other loco has good access to the tubes especially the lower ones that seem to get blocked up. i now have 2/3 done with just the boiler bush to make was thinking of o ring seal but I was concerned about the heat. I guess silicon O-Ring is the weapon of choice?
|
|
|
Post by keith1500 on Feb 7, 2024 6:29:46 GMT
I brought a range of O rings, sometime ago, from Polymax a good supplier of quality O rings. I haven’t experienced any issues and that includes the one on that steam connection from the boiler.
Yes, Avoid the unknown and there’s a lot of rubbish out there. I made that mistake finding a lot of rings in the boiler fittings soon went hard and leaked! Hence the Polymax route.
I’ll have a look to see if I have any info or photos that might give you a few ideas to go.
Cheers Keith
|
|
|
Post by Roger on Feb 8, 2024 9:13:16 GMT
Hi Keith not really as the tube has to be terminated at the flange plate, I do like the idea of keeping it all tight at the top though as having good access to the tubes for cleaning is really good, my other loco has good access to the tubes especially the lower ones that seem to get blocked up. i now have 2/3 done with just the boiler bush to make was thinking of o ring seal but I was concerned about the heat. I guess silicon O-Ring is the weapon of choice? Silicon O-Rings have good high temperature characteristics, but they're very soft and easily damaged. Viton is much more robust and goes up to 205C which should be fine. That's what I'm using on the Regulator. The temperature of Steam at 90PSI is 166C
|
|
|
Post by Doug on Feb 8, 2024 18:09:00 GMT
Hi Keith not really as the tube has to be terminated at the flange plate, I do like the idea of keeping it all tight at the top though as having good access to the tubes for cleaning is really good, my other loco has good access to the tubes especially the lower ones that seem to get blocked up. i now have 2/3 done with just the boiler bush to make was thinking of o ring seal but I was concerned about the heat. I guess silicon O-Ring is the weapon of choice? Silicon O-Rings have good high temperature characteristics, but they're very soft and easily damaged. Viton is much more robust and goes up to 205C which should be fine. That's what I'm using on the Regulator. The temperature of Steam at 90PSI is 166C Thanks I have a bunch of Viton ones I got for my bike will see if any are a useable dia. Failing that I do have a great supplier at work that gets us all our orings.
|
|
|
Post by Doug on Feb 15, 2024 7:55:22 GMT
Had a bit of a play putting bits on the loco to see how it looks for space and sizes etc. the drawings aren’t very good so a lot of it is left for “fitting” Had to adjust the reverser as its position as per drawing made the handle hit the boiler so made a new spacer to put it in between the side and the boiler. Need to make a new angle bracket and I think I will add a web as well, just because! Not essential as it feels really solid with half the engagement and only two of the four bolts but I like overkill so. Need to do some work on the tanks, think I will enjoy that once I get into it.
|
|
|
Post by Doug on Feb 18, 2024 17:51:32 GMT
Ok so this weekends project is the new reverser bracket So I have chopped up some steel to make the bracket First job is to square up the stock Then lots and lots of milling, had to setup a pocket program so I could walk away as it took about 4 hours to mill all the metal out Then it was just a copy over of the holes, which of course weren’t square or true so I had to make some adjustments. The original bracket was made in 1971 so way before the kind of accuracy that I am now chasing Original bracket And the new one So while I was waiting for this lot to finish I got on with some metalwork cleading (prob not correct spelling) And soldered some rings up for the lifting eyes (Thanks Adam Cro)
|
|
|
Post by Doug on Feb 26, 2024 7:19:32 GMT
Small update today as I haven’t gotten much done this week Have just trimmed the second tank up to fit this is still a bit of a rough fit but I can now look at the support beams and attach the pads to the bottom of the tanks that attach them to the frames. Just ticking off some of the jobs, still have some serious boiler work to get on with but every job done is one step closer to getting it running.
|
|