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Post by Jo on May 2, 2022 6:49:27 GMT
We have no regrets about leaving Turin for the vineyards of Oltrepo. And with home working positively encouraged everything has so far gone to plan. Next job is to get the workshop back in action and a start on the railway. I have convinced the wife that we need a mini excavator to sort out the neglected garden. Now comes the fun of finding one at a price I can afford! Having seen the pictures I can see why you brought the new workshop and it had the added bonus of having a house attached You have to think about the purchase rather as a long term rental with a rather large deposit, refundable at the point of sale. Jo
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jem
Elder Statesman
Posts: 1,065
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Post by jem on May 2, 2022 16:21:49 GMT
ilvaporista build one, I did and that was really so very interesting.
Jem
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Post by jon38r80 on May 2, 2022 18:23:35 GMT
when I moved further away from London as house prices where I lived were ludicrous I looked for a house with a double garage. Not to put cars in but I wanted a bigger workshop as well as a better house. It was worth the longer commute I had to put up with for about 20 years as most of the projects I worked on were in central London, a place I despise. Market towns are much nicer.
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Post by ilvaporista on May 3, 2022 5:22:33 GMT
ilvaporista build one, I did and that was really so very interesting. Jem Maybe later on I will make some changes but for now I do not have everything set up in the workshop to be able to manufacture parts. I need so many jobs doing now it seems more time efficient to buy one. The land slopes so it needs to be reprofiled to turn into useable space. A short list of work is: Remove 15 tree stumps, from tiddlers to 40 year old pine trees. Dig level base for above ground swimming pool. Dig and install underground rainwater harvesting tank. Service trenches to connect the well to the water storage tank. Create level pad for greenhouse. Create level area for vegetable plot. Dig footings for a conservatory base. Dig footings for a retaining wall. Create level space for the railway. Dig cutting and tunnel to allow larger radius curves on the track. That will keep me busy for a while!
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Post by steamer5 on May 3, 2022 5:38:58 GMT
Hi Adrian, Sounds like need to buy 2!
Cheers Kerrin
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JonL
Elder Statesman
WWSME (Wiltshire)
Posts: 2,909
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Post by JonL on May 3, 2022 5:45:27 GMT
Yesterday I made a new whistle valve for "Jamie", the commercial item was very substandard. I sometimes buy these things in a hurry and regret it at leisure. Open it up to find a rusty spring and a very poor quality seat. I was going to repair it but figured I've only made one in the past and it would be good practice for the Britannia, so made another.
One thing that has made life easier is having a better stock of odds and ends of brass and bronze. When I was very new to it all every thing I needed required ordering in.
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Post by dhamblin on May 3, 2022 14:10:29 GMT
That reminds me I need to replace the steel whistle valve spring for a stainless or bronze one.
Regards,
Dan
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dalboy
E-xcellent poster
Posts: 235
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Post by dalboy on May 3, 2022 19:07:46 GMT
Spent today in lazy mode after a long weekend at a transport rally. Sold plenty of my woodturning and then spending it. So today was clean up what I brought, best buy was two sheets of brass 3/32nd thick which was the correct size for the plate work on my loco. I know that is still a long way off but except for a little more needed which is thicker I grabbed it at £18. The one I found that will get plenty of use is the little Presto booklet lots of info in that a shame that companies don;t hand these out much if at all now. I was fed up of coiling my airline so a cheap retractable air hose was found. Plus a collection of other bits and pieces. Hopefully back on the Rob Roy tomorrow DSCF2441 by Dalboy, on Flickr
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kimballthurlow
Active Member
Interested in railways and models from TT to live steam.
Posts: 13
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Post by kimballthurlow on May 4, 2022 7:50:07 GMT
The dismantling of the 1/16 scale NER Tennant 2-4-0 which I purchased in May 2021 has paused.
Having got almost to the point of removing the boiler for test purposes (after about 10 hours work), a friend whom I have known for 40 years suggested a short cut. The time has not been wasted because I have learnt a lot.
To cut a long story short, I now aim to get the locomotive running at home on rollers or similar. This removes any necessity for immediate boiler certification, and allows me the chance to understand and appreciate the operating characteristics. Firstly I intend to test hydraulically in situ - we will take it from there.
Kimball in Brisbane.
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Post by steamer5 on May 4, 2022 8:46:22 GMT
Courier driver turned up today, push the door bell, dog went nuts! He dropped off my new mill tram tool! It came from Boring Research…….off to the workshop! Getting sorted to see how the mill tram was…fired up my compressor, air leak ….. oh bother…. Or some such words! Decided to tram the mill first…. It’s now nicely tramed! Next air compressor…..mine has an adjustable working pressure outlet & this was were it was leaking, take out the regulator, pull it apart clean it out, reassemble, all good!
Cheers Kerrin
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smallbrother
Elder Statesman
Errors aplenty, progress slow, but progress nonetheless!
Posts: 2,269
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Post by smallbrother on May 4, 2022 14:23:42 GMT
Alan, sorry to hear you missed out on driving. I took Bridget to the club today for steam test. Passed test OK then she did about 60 laps, four drivers I might add, one drives mainline as a job, one drives for Severn Valley the third is ex BR retired. The forth one was yours truly, had to make sure I got it right in that sort of company. Regards Paul. Nice to know she is still running well! Pete.
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Post by delaplume on May 5, 2022 1:20:50 GMT
Maybe the change of environment will encourage a change for the better in your health as well ??-----
Those "3 M's" in a persons life eh..}--- Marriage ( or versions thereof )....... Mortgage .............. Moving (House)....
In any event--best of luck..
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Post by coniston on May 6, 2022 17:52:18 GMT
Good day today, B1 passed it's steam test, so I took it for a half hour run to see how the new grate performed, glad to say at least it isn't any worse than the old one and although only myself on the train the coal did seem to burn thoroughly with soft ash remaining. Also I re-timed the valves a few weeks ago and I can now run it on shorter cut off more smoothly so that seems an improvement. All ready for IMLEC at Guildford this summer. We have our own club efficiency competition next week so it's a good opportunity to see how it runs with a load and what load I can pull since all the work adjusting the axle weights a while ago. We have similar of not steeper gradients on a tight curve as Guildford so it will be a good try out for me.
Chris
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Post by steamer5 on May 7, 2022 1:14:22 GMT
Just been round to a fellow club members. A few days ago I heard that he was looking at replacing the main belt on his Myford 7R and wasn’t sure how, so a quick google brought up a YouTube video by Keith Appleton doing his. Keith used a Twist lock belt. So I rang up fellow member & had a chat & sent him the link. He was all keen to give it a try, I sourced him the belt, 1 meter min length, he needed 800 mm. So today was fitting the belt, took less than 5 minutes! Runs quieter than the old belt, we figure once it has run for a while it will probably quieten down some more. The alternative A section belt looked like it would be a real mission to replace! So if you have a belt to replace that requires the removal of a shaft between bearing, I would totally recommend that you buy Twist lock belting, yes it may cost a bit more up front, but you will be up & running by the time the jug boils,let alone the time it will take to remove the shaft ( or as in this case 2!) fit the belt reinstall the shaft then set all the clearances etc!
Cheers Kerrin
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Post by delaplume on May 7, 2022 18:32:13 GMT
have been overhauling and generally re-setting the cylinder drain cocks on my Speedy-------originally had short extention pipes fitted as well, but they keep snagging at the slightest excuse---so have removed them altogether and trimmed-up the remnants......here we see my bananna fingered attempts at replacing the linkage and it's 10BA bolts....
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Post by delaplume on May 7, 2022 18:42:51 GMT
Just been round to a fellow club members. A few days ago I heard that he was looking at replacing the main belt on his Myford 7R and wasn’t sure how, so a quick google brought up a YouTube video by Keith Appleton doing his. Keith used a Twist lock belt. So I rang up fellow member & had a chat & sent him the link. He was all keen to give it a try, I sourced him the belt, 1 meter min length, he needed 800 mm. So today was fitting the belt, took less than 5 minutes! Runs quieter than the old belt, we figure once it has run for a while it will probably quieten down some more. The alternative A section belt looked like it would be a real mission to replace! So if you have a belt to replace that requires the removal of a shaft between bearing, I would totally recommend that you buy Twist lock belting, yes it may cost a bit more up front, but you will be up & running by the time the jug boils,let alone the time it will take to remove the shaft ( or as in this case 2!) fit the belt reinstall the shaft then set all the clearances etc! Cheers Kerrin When I worked as a Diesel Tech. on BR we used to change the dynamo belts on the DMU's........I think it was called Brammer Belts and it was a form of twist lock belting ---- only problem was that each pulley had 4 runs of belting so the dynamo had to be pulled back to give some slack before shortening or changing could begin------- this called for a long length of scaffold tubing and 2 of your mates hanging on whilst you did the deed !!
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Post by jordanleeds on May 7, 2022 22:44:12 GMT
Started the repair of a Hielen lassie boiler and had it bobbing around in the citric acid bath for a while. Stage 2 of the repair hangs on me making some bronze studding
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Post by gwr1509 on May 8, 2022 7:02:38 GMT
Last Sunday we went to a friend's house to have start steam. Speedy is now in its seventh season. Andampfen_2022 by Helmut Jarosch, auf Flickr Regards Helmut
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dalboy
E-xcellent poster
Posts: 235
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Post by dalboy on May 8, 2022 22:20:17 GMT
Managed to turn and part off the 4 eccentrics for the rob roy still need to reverse them and face off to the correct thickness as well as drill and tap a hole as well as drill and ream or turn the bore to fit the axle. The next part is more of a question I picked up some metal over the weekend at a very good price 3 pieces of brass a piece of bronze and two rounds of ali. There is also a piece which is 2 1/2" diameter X 12" long which I was not sure what grade of wither brass or a bronze. Maybe someone can help as when I turned the end instead of the normal brass colour it has a copper hue to it(I just noticed the first picture at the bottom left you can see the slight copper colour). I did try to photograph this but it just did not show the true colour. This is pictures of what I picked up the piece in question is the larger diameter piece before turning. DSCF2449 by Dalboy, on Flickr DSCF2450 by Dalboy, on Flickr DSCF2454 by Dalboy, on Flickr
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Post by John Baguley on May 9, 2022 13:39:50 GMT
It could be something like PB102 phosphor bronze. That goes copper coloured on the outside but is more golden coloured when you machine it. It could just be copper bar - I've got several lengths of various diameters that I acquired some years ago. I thought it might be useful for machining firehole rings for boilers.
John
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