Britannia 70047 "Derek Stokes"

[JonL]

I've watched other peoples build threads with interest so I suppose some other amateurs at my level might be interested to see how a complete novice gets on. Before now I've not made anything too complex other than a Stuart 10H steam engine, from which I learned a great deal. I stress that the quality of my engineering won't be anywhere near that of the other Britannias on this site, but hopefully I can learn and improve over time.

Tools I have at my disposal, my Grandad's old Myford ML7 lathe with vertical slide, a Walker Turner pillar drill and a workbench! 

I'd been trying to think of an engine to build for a while and had almost settled on a Q1. I had a few castings my Grandad had left me when he died (I'm very lucky to have got to nearly 40 with him still around and encouraging me) for a 3.5 Britannia, but not enough to be worth doing much with. Then I found this on eBay:




A set of frames ready made, including axleboxes, a started bogie and a few other bits. Most importantly, virtually every single casting required to complete. I won this lot for £100.

I have spent most of my time between purchase and now trying to get things right. The bogie I ended up redoing the axleboxes, bending it straight and re-brazing (it was severely twisted) and the other axles I have had to tweak to fit and in one place redo completely. The tolerances on everything was all over the place: these are two axles that should be the same length:



However I've now got it close to being where I want it to be. I don't think the loco will be a gorgeous looking machine when finished, but I am aiming for a practical and easily looked after load hauler.

The pony truck is the first part I could really claim to be all mine: I machined all of this myself. The Previous owner hadn't got around to this bit. I'm quite pleased with it, it boosted my confidence getting it finished.



I've since made the water pump, made a start on the lubricator and plan to have the wheels/axles sorted shortly. There is much more detail on the instagram account in my signature if anyone is interested, but I'll try to update this with anything of interest to the other newbies, and it might give the more experienced engineers on here a good laugh!

[Deleted]

Always good to see the beginnings of a new build...we are all beginners in one form or another and we can all learn from each other. I look forward to your future updates, the pony truck looks superb...

Pete

[JonL]

I've had quite a nice evening just fettling to try to get the coupled wheels all perfectly aligned. I've finally got everything somewhere I am happy, it took quite a bit of metal removal from some bushes and the ends of the axles but the end result is all wheels aligned to no-light-under-the-steel-rule tolerance.

No pictures this time, not much to see, but its a little nibble closer to seeing daylight!

[JonL]

Tonight I've lumped all the axleboxes etc together ready for quartering. I've put a tiny bit of loctite on the outside of the races to lightly retain the bearings with the eccentrics on the axles. I have a recurring nightmare about getting the wheels nicely quartered (with SimplyLoco's kind assistance!) and then getting home to find an eccentric staring back at me from the workbench...

[92220]

Good luck with the build Nobby. As Pete says, we all have to start somewhere, and can learn from each other. That pony truck looks great!

Bob.

[JonL]

Thanks Bob. The nice thing about a photo is I get to choose the best side to show!

[ilvaporista]

Looking good and keep going, the important thing is that you must enjoy it. After all it is a hobby! I still learn something every day I go in the workshop, yesterday was always look at the soldering iron when you reach out to pick it up...

[JonL]

As mentioned on the "what have you done today" thread I quartered the axles today with expert assistance from SimplyLoco. He was also kind enough to lend me some filing buttons to assist with the motion work. It's handy having someone in front of you in the construction queue!

Next up I plan to fit the axles to the frame and start thinking about connecting rods.

[JonL]

Tonight I've been practising my swearing. Installing the axles resulted in one wheel spinning off easily in my hand. Not sure if the adhesive was contaminated with something, or not thick enough, but the end result was it didn't stick. 

I had planned to mark each axle with a scribed line onto the wheel so that in the event of this happening I would be able to return the wheel to its correct position easily. Guess what I hadn't got around to yet.

[simplyloco]

Nov 27, 2018 19:07:33 GMT JonL said:

Tonight I've been practising my swearing. Installing the axles resulted in one wheel spinning off easily in my hand. Not sure if the adhesive was contaminated with something, or not thick enough, but the end result was it didn't stick. 

I had planned to mark each axle with a scribed line onto the wheel so that in the event of this happening I would be able to return the wheel to its correct position easily. Guess what I hadn't got around to yet.

Oops! Was it the tight one? I'm quite sure that you applied the stuff correctly. Post me the wheels and I will redo them. A dowel pin is always a good idea...
John

[Deleted]

Hi Nobby

May I suggest that these wheels are best pinned, if they came apart when installing they will certainly fail once running. Considering the stage you are at, perhaps the best thing to do would be to re-quarter the failed wheelset, loctite in place and once cured pin it. probably the easiest method would be to drill a hole equally on the split line between wheel and axle and drift in a silver steel pin. Others may have pictures to show what i mean or maybe a better suggestion than mine..

regards

Pete

[JonL]

Many Thanks both of you, fine suggestions both.

I'll take you up on that John, It took me a couple of hours to fight my way home from yours, the traffic was appalling! Thank you.

[Jim]

Nov 27, 2018 19:21:24 GMT @greenglade said:

Hi Nobby

May I suggest that these wheels are best pinned, if they came apart when installing they will certainly fail once running. Considering the stage you are at, perhaps the best thing to do would be to re-quarter the failed wheelset, loctite in place and once cured pin it. probably the easiest method would be to drill a hole equally on the split line between wheel and axle and drift in a silver steel pin. Others may have pictures to show what i mean or maybe a better suggestion than mine..

regards

Pete

I'd agree with Pete.

I quartered the drivers using a slower setting Loktite then drilled in on the joint line between the wheel hub and the axle to accept a pin. Pete suggested silver steel but I used plain steel wire that was a light tap fit to drive home.

The photo shows it all far more clearly. I should add the mark at 9 o'clock is a casting mark.

Jim

[Cro]

I agree key ways or pinned wheels are best but an earlier concern would be how easy the wheels came off in your hand, loctite is a great adhesive but its not a gap filler so it maybe you need a new axle with a closer fit on your wheel bore, double check everything carefully before trying to glue them back as you don't want to end up with a 5 wheeled Brit half way round the track!

Adam

[simplyloco]

Jon
When I get back next week I can post the jig to you: I'm not in any hurry for its return!
John

[JonL]

Nov 28, 2018 11:36:38 GMT simplyloco said:

Jon
When I get back next week I can post the jig to you: I'm not in any hurry for its return!
John

Thank you John, that would be really helpful. That allows me to get each one glued prior to pinning with margin for rework if needed!

[JonL]

My Birthday today, so I treated myself to some proper time in the workshop after work rather than housework!
Thanks to SimplyLoco (John) lending me his 3.5 gauge quartering jig I've been able to quarter my wheels. To lock them in place I've used loctite to get the initial hold, then a 2mm piece of silver steel rod pinning the wheel to the axle as previously discussed. However as I had almost finished it occurred to me I'd missed a trick... these wheels have bushes... so I had to put two in per wheel. One pin indexes the wheel to the bush, and the other indexes the bush to the axle... I think LBSC used bushes as a way of conveniently spacing the wheel from the ball races. I'm not sure if this is the correct way to do it but I can't see why not. 

Incidentally my photos always seem to be of items on top of my drawings. The drawings are actually under a sheet of glass I use as a crude surface table.

[JonL]

A little nibble of progress today (but worth noting if only for when I look back!), today I got all the axleboxes in and lined up. Checking with a straight edge along the wheels says they are all sat where they should be (I hope!). I've currently got the pre-load on the springs maxed out so the axle boxes are hard against the lower stops to enable me to make the motion work with all the axles at a definitive datum. Obviously I will set the correct midpoint in the travel at a later date.

[Jim]

Hi Nobby, I think your build is coming along nicely and with the attention to detail that you're giving it I'm certain you'll end up with a beautiful miniature of 70047.

I may have missed it somewhere but is there a story behind the name "D Stokes"?

I'm really enjoying your build thread as among other things it reawakens memories of the early stages of 'Boadicea's' journey.

All the best for Christmas and the New Year.

Jim

[JonL]

Thank you Jim, very kind, especially bearing in mind the quality of your workmanship.

D. Stokes was my grandfather Derek whom I was very close to, an excellent engineer and very altruistic man who died a few months ago. We always planned to make a locomotive but never got round to it. He left me the contents of his workshop when he passed away, most importantly containing his Myford ML7 which he had me using from a very young age. We restored my first car together (bought when I was 15, a 1959 Morris Minor!). He was interested in Stirling Engines and designed equipment to irrigate farms in Africa but ended up being used in many other places (including in the emergency preservation of some sinking buildings in Venice!). He was curious about everything, constantly inquisitive and keen to learn about diverse subjects right up until his death in his 90s. I was lucky to still have him around as long as I did (I'm almost 40) but his passing has left a huge hole in my life. Building this engine is a way of remembering him in a way I hope would make him proud. He worked most of his life at Boscombe Down, where I did my apprenticeship as an aircraft engineer and still work. Thanks for asking, sorry for the long answer.