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Post by tommadbiker on Sept 28, 2009 9:59:11 GMT
I am thinking of building a 2" minnie as my first traction engine as i can just get the flywheel on the lathe at 9" dia obviously i will have to borrow a lathe to do the rear wheels i have the book on minnie i was wondering about boilers do people still use copper for the boiler on the 2" or do they make it in steel and if you make it in copper do you just double up the thicknesses as well also where can i get 18" of 5" copper tube for the boiler and at what cost as money is tight
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jasonb
Elder Statesman
Posts: 1,236
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Post by jasonb on Sept 28, 2009 11:57:10 GMT
At 2" copper will give a better boiler as it conducts heat better and due to not having to worry quite so much about wastage the plate thickness can be less than steel which gives more room for water to flow around the firebox You could also think about rolling the rims from flat steel and welding in the rings or some people use the somilar sized wheel castings from the 2" Fowler that M.J Engineering sell as these are cast to finished size and don't require turning Its not quite as simple as just doubleing up the sizes, the tube numbers and size can be altered to give a more efficient boiler. Pop over to Traction Talk Forum and seach back through the posts in the model section on 2" minnies and engines for beginners there is a lot more posted there as the model section is far more active. Look out for Kevins Minnie, one of the best 2" ones about and he's a club boiler inspector and can advise on the boiler. www.tractiontalkforum.com/Jason
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Post by tommadbiker on Sept 28, 2009 12:27:10 GMT
i have a set of gears that will give me a low ratio of 12.68 and a high of 10.44 do you think this will be ok cos i dont want to buy new ones if i can help it
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jasonb
Elder Statesman
Posts: 1,236
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Post by jasonb on Sept 28, 2009 12:57:15 GMT
Provided you don't have to make drastic alterations to the gear centers to accomodate your rations they should be OK. The 2" Minnie is qite powerful so you will only loose a bit of low down pulling ability that may affect performance on rough rally fields when pulling two adults, water and coal
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jasonb
Elder Statesman
Posts: 1,236
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Post by jasonb on Sept 28, 2009 15:45:14 GMT
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Post by baggo on Sept 28, 2009 18:22:25 GMT
Macc Models have it at half the price: www.maccmodels.co.uk/index.php?cPath=262_100_106LSM might be cheaper still but they don't give a price in the catalogue. You'd have to give them a ring. It definitely pays to shop around for this sort of stuff John
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Post by albert on Oct 1, 2009 6:58:23 GMT
Hello , If I built this T/E i would change the ratio's to be about 9to1 and 14 to 1.This you should be able to do without changing the shaft centres. Albert
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