70036 Boadicea

[Jim]

Hi Andrew,

I was very lucky that in high school I as able to do 5 years of Technical Drawing, a subject that has long vanished from the curriculum..sadly.
I still have and use, my set of Conti drawing instruments I got while at school.

Boadicea has ball races on all axles and I was very lucky in finding two matching small ball races for the return cranks. Early on I had Boadicea on the club track to check clearances etc and found out just how freely she rolled as she quietly slipped away while my back was turned.

Jim

[Jim]

At last Boadicea's valve gear is finished.
I managed to connect both cylinders to air and with about 20 psi Boadicea ticked over in both forward and reverse using the delrin test valves.
The next job will be to make the final working valves.

s272.photobucket.com/albums/jj163/Jamandmarge/70036%20Boadicea/?action=view¤t=70036BoadiceaonAir.mp4

With luck the link should go to the video clip I made today of Boadicea running on air.

Jim

[Smifffy]

Fantastic :-)

[Deleted]

Well done Jim.... Great stuff..

[jgb7573]

Sweet!

[Andrew C]

I think that is one of the most satistfing moments in loco building or restoring when it turns over for the first time.

Well done Jim

Looking at the video the reversing screw looked to run very freely. Is there much resistance to movement in the piston valves? I'm just wondering if my PTFE rings are too tight.

Andrew

[Jim]

I must say it is a thrill to see everything doing what it is meant to do and it makes the pain of splinters in fingers and worry about turning cross feeds the wrong way all fade away. Thanks to Don and Keith I now have the valves in more or less the right spot at the right time which is not where they were when I started out
Based on the data from the test valves the next job will be to make the proper valves then the boiler calls .

Jim

[Jim]

Aug 24, 2011 21:25:22 GMT Andrew C said:

Looking at the video the reversing screw looked to run very freely. Is there much resistance to movement in the piston valves? I'm just wondering if my PTFE rings are too tight.

Andrew

My apologies Andrew I missed your question. The free movement is a bit misleading as I'm still using the test valves I first made to check lap etc.
I expect things to tighten up a bit when the working valves with PTFE bobbins go in. Apart from the valves there are still a couple of spots where the radius rod sticks as it raises and lowers which needs attention too.

[Shawki Shlemon]

Very nice video Jim , well done .

[Jim]

After almost a year of sitting in bits Boadicea has started to go back together again. Sad to say I'd forgotten where some nuts and washers went and had to pull down and restart after discovering the wrong part in the right place....old age strikes again.

The whistle fits neatly under the smoke box and is all piped up for the day the boiler goes in and the front covers to the valve cylinders are temporarily attached as the proper valves have yet to be made. With summer on the way the boiler can't be put off any longer as I've run out of excuses.

[Smifffy]

Wow, that really does look superb!

What's the plan for the boiler, are you going to make it yourself or buy on in ?

Cheers

Smifffy

[Jim]

Much as I keep avoiding it Smiffy I'm going to have to build my own. The plans have been approved by the club boiler inspector and the copper sits in the shed along with the tubes and rod for the stays etc.
At one stage I took in a bunch of homeless workshop gnomes who said they'd do it but they were useless, hid all my tools and drank my ale before nicking off to a better offer in the UK. So give them the heave ho if they knock on your door.

[Deleted]

Hope your not accusing me of stealing your gnomes Jim, I have enough problems with my own leprechauns....Boadicea looks fantastic and I take my hat off to you for attempting your own boiler, your a braver man than me..

Pete

[Smifffy]

That's the spirit Jim - and good luck with the build.

Gnomes are banned from my workshop - so don't worry, they'll be given the heave ho if they appear here. Greenglade can have them :-)

[Jim]

Hi Smiffy and Greenglade,

I like the sound of that "spirit" Smiffy especially if it's the soothing kind.
As for those workshop gnomes I wouldn't wish them on anyone.
Poor Greenglade took in some smooth talking leprechauns and look what happenend to him! He went from one project to two in the twinkle of a leprechaun's eye. For anyone else following this thread if a bunch of little 7" tall hairy blokes in blue singlets, shorts and thongs (aka flip flops) with aussie accents turn up offering help in the workshop, slam the door quick.
Actually now they've gone I got the left hand lubricator fitted today and came up with an idea for fitting the oil line.
I can't post a picture because the little twerps hid the camera as a parting shot.

[Andrew C]

Those raskles have turned up here! Not only have they been messin about in my workshop but My email server crashed on Saturday, I've had to get a new mother board.
So watch out. They are using the Internet to move about!

Jim do you paint your loco's as you go along? I'm always worried about the colour shade changing.


Andrew

[Jim]

Crikey Andrew that sounds as if the gnomes from here have linked up with Pete's leprechauns, his lot were smarter than my gnomes who wouldn't know an internet from a flynet

On painting, yes I do paint as I go. For one thing I couldn't stand pulling it all to bits to paint it when completed, but the main reason I do it is because it gives me a sense of what it will look like when finished.
I only paint components when they are completed and so far things like the smoke box and smoke deflectors are units in themselves that lift off without damage to the paint.
The only time I've had a problem with paint shades changing was when I accidently bought the same named colour from a different manufacturer and against SWMBO's advice.

[Shawki Shlemon]

Looks great , Jim , I am sure you will get all the help you need from Barry , he is one of the best men I know in boiler field and helpful .Have a go there is every thing to gain and very little to lose .

[Jim]

I was almost tempted to put a warning in this post to say' "If nudity offends please do not continue!" as the picture shows poor Boadicea stripped of all her dignity to reveal her bare and exposed, warts, dings, dents and all.

There were two reasons for doing this, one was to enlarge the holes in the smoke box for the revised steam pipes and elbows to slip through a job that would surely damage the paint. The other was to strip off the original paint with it's red oxide primer prior to respraying with a heat resistant paint.

Following a series of steam ups and a hard road run I had the black paint on the Burrell's chimney blister badly and not wanting to repeat the exercise especially with Boadicea I asked the advice of club member who had worked extensively in the automotive paint industry. He pointed out that the red oxide used was mostly chalk which readily gave way under heat. The solution was to spray a heat resistant paint directly onto the cleaned bare metal. Three years later with a rally and numerous steam ups under her belt the chimney is still a lovely and now well baked glossy black which is just the finish I want for Boadicea.

Back to Boadicea, the Perrier drawings had a double ended nut and tail assembly to connect the steam pipes either side of the smoke box but with two small neat elbows available I decided to use them instead with single nut and tail connections from the elbows to the regulator.

While I'm at it I also intend to fit a second petticoat pipe below the main one as shown in the sketch below.

All this should keep me safely out of SWMBO's sight for a while

Jim

[Shawki Shlemon]

From my humble experience extending the petticoat pipe will improve breathing and therefore steaming . Many years ago I did this on a pacific C38 and improvement was noticeable and since then I always have my petticoat longer than the drawings .