Author Topic: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine  (Read 183756 times)

Offline Divided he ad

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #250 on: September 05, 2009, 11:56:16 AM »
Quote
I did a lap round the garden when she fired up,


Good job it's a small garden Stew.... If it'd been Bernd's you'd have had a marathon on your hands  :lol:







Ralph.



I know what I know and need to know more!!!

Offline sbwhart

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #251 on: September 06, 2009, 03:18:18 PM »
Hi Chaps

Ran the loco on air for over three hours loosened up nicely had to do a little bit of tuning the reversing rod was catching the crank so had to reshape it a bit :hammer:  and make a new reversing lever, apart from that everything was fine.

I'm going to tuck her away under the bench for a months or two and get on with a few other projects.

So her's a video of her running over slowly now that she's loosened up.



Enjoy

Stew

A little bit of clearance never got in the road
 :wave:

Location:- Crewe Cheshire

Offline arnoldb

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #252 on: September 06, 2009, 05:46:18 PM »
Stew, EXCELLENT!!!!!

I just love that p-c-chuf p-c-chuf sound!  :) :)

Offline NickG

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #253 on: September 06, 2009, 06:01:55 PM »
Stew,

Running superbly and can hear a good strong exhaust beat, that will give you a roaring fire!!!

Nick
Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline Stilldrillin

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #254 on: September 07, 2009, 02:10:39 AM »
By `ek Stew, that`s very nice!  :thumbup:

And yer still wearing that big smile, from ear to there!  :D

David D
David.

Still drilling holes... Sometimes, in the right place!

Still modifying bits of metal... Occasionally, making an improvement!

Offline rleete

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #255 on: September 08, 2009, 07:28:47 PM »
Shame to hide that mechanical ballet behind side plates.
Creating scrap, one part at a time

Offline NickG

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #256 on: September 09, 2009, 05:00:18 AM »
Rleete, you're right, all you see is 3 wheels rotaing either side with a coupling rod! Not as exciting to watch as some engines that have outside wallscharts, lubericators and all the rest of it on view.

Still as exciting to drive though.

Nick
Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline sbwhart

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #257 on: October 10, 2009, 11:14:52 AM »
Her we are again as happy as can be etc etc:-----

Whilst I find a suitable motor for my tool post grinder build, I though I'd make a start on the lubricator for my loco.

The design as drawn is a ratchet driven osilator pump similar to the little engines we make but instead of driving its driven, so you can use it to pump. I'm going to follow a design recently posted in Model Engineer (22nd May 2009) that uses a much more efficient friction clutch instead of a ratchet and instead of having sprung balls for the none return valve uses a Nitrile rubber valve like the bicycle valves.

The first bit I made was the stand.



The diagonal groove is where the oil is sucked up into the piston, it then swings over and pump out the other hole on the return stroke.

Next bit to be made the piston.



Thats it for now dropped on a motor for the post grinder i'll get back to this later.

Stew

A little bit of clearance never got in the road
 :wave:

Location:- Crewe Cheshire

Offline NickG

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #258 on: October 12, 2009, 07:01:44 AM »
Stew,

Good planning that, because on mine I noticed the ratchet is configured such that it can only advance 1 tooth each time with full swing on the ratchet arm ... and I mean full swing as something actually gets in the way at the end of each stroke. I'm sure I had problems with this when I ran it on air all those years ago, it will be very difficult to adjust to get it to do that. So I may need a friction clutch too.

Yes they are just like a little oscillator working in reverse. Bit like fish tank pumps too. It must be a pretty strong spring though as it has to pump against 80psi of steam. Is there an o ring on the ram?

Nick
Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline sbwhart

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #259 on: October 12, 2009, 07:04:53 AM »
Hi Nick

Yes there is an O ring on the ram the chap who wrote the article recommends getting them from gas fag lighters.

Stew
A little bit of clearance never got in the road
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Location:- Crewe Cheshire

Offline sbwhart

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #260 on: November 17, 2009, 04:11:15 PM »
Picked up the lubricator build over the last couple of days.

I wasn't too happy with the O ring on the piston, I'd seen another build where the chap had fitted a small stuffing box on the cylinder, so I re-made the cylinder to this design and used PTFE tape to stuff the gland, it seems to work Ok, finished off the other bits so this is it all together.




Fabricated an oil tank up, my first attemp from copper was a disaster I think the copper was too thick to get nice neat bends, so re-made out of some nice thin brass I had, this is the lubricator squeezed into the the tank.





I'll give it a try in a couple of days powered with a drill, I'll probably have to do a bit of  :hammer: but we'll just have to see how it goes, cant connect it up to the loco as I drop one of the slip bearing into this lot  :doh: and I don't fancy clearing my shop out just yet has its been simply hissing down.



There we go

Have fun

Stew
A little bit of clearance never got in the road
 :wave:

Location:- Crewe Cheshire

Offline sbwhart

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #261 on: November 18, 2009, 06:52:58 AM »
We wer'e going to a wildlife reserve to see Whooper Swans and Pickfooted Geese over her from the artic for the winter but its p*****g down and blowing a gale so spent some time trying out the lubricator, and yes it does work




 :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Have fun

Stew

A little bit of clearance never got in the road
 :wave:

Location:- Crewe Cheshire

bogstandard

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #262 on: November 18, 2009, 10:28:22 AM »
How do you expect it to work when oil is dripping from a leak at the bottom.  :lol:



John

Offline Divided he ad

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #263 on: November 18, 2009, 12:52:56 PM »
Quote
How do you expect it to work when oil is dripping from a leak at the bottom.   :lol:


And on another note.... how you gonna fit that drill chuck into the loco frame  :scratch:    :ddb: 




Good stuff as always stew  :thumbup:




Ralph.
I know what I know and need to know more!!!

Offline sbwhart

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #264 on: November 18, 2009, 12:53:52 PM »
 :doh:
 

:lol:

Thanks for taking the trouble to give some feed back John even if it was a p**** take.


Actually it started to pump no problem I was half expecting to have to fiddle with it but no it kicked in straight away, don't know how it will perform with the ratchets under power from the loco but I won't try that until I've got the water pump made, then I can strip it all down and fit the both pumps at the same time. I used some of that magic PTFE gasket sheeting stuff you gave me John to make sealing washer under the bolts on the tank they seem to be working OK left the tank full of oil this afternoon and there doesn't seem to be any leaks.

Have fun

Stew
A little bit of clearance never got in the road
 :wave:

Location:- Crewe Cheshire

Offline sbwhart

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #265 on: November 18, 2009, 12:58:01 PM »
Quote
How do you expect it to work when oil is dripping from a leak at the bottom.   :lol:


And on another note.... how you gonna fit that drill chuck into the loco frame  :scratch:    :ddb: 


Good stuff as always stew  :thumbup:


Ralph.


HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA    I'VE JUST BEEN RALPHED
A little bit of clearance never got in the road
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Location:- Crewe Cheshire

bogstandard

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #266 on: November 18, 2009, 01:06:29 PM »
Not much to go wrong with that design Stew, all it is an oscillator (wobbler) running the wrong way around. It should run a lot more efficiently when it goes a little slower, it will allow the oil to fill the cylinder a little better.

They can also be used for pumping water into boilers and for inflating and deflating ballast tanks with air in model submarines. A very versatile but bombproof sytem.

Nicely done.

John

Offline Darren

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #267 on: November 18, 2009, 05:41:45 PM »
All you need to do now is pipe it to the mill slides .....


Well done, nice to see it working in the vid  :clap:
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Offline shoey51

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #268 on: November 19, 2009, 04:00:44 PM »
bout time I caught up with this thread. wonderful work there Stew Im so jealous of your workmanship.
I havent progressed any further on my loco as Ive been having too much fun on my 7.25 gauge loco. I have had to rebuild a couple of parts tho.
keep up the great work mate

Offline sbwhart

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #269 on: November 19, 2009, 04:44:45 PM »
Thanks Shoey

 :wave:

Stew
A little bit of clearance never got in the road
 :wave:

Location:- Crewe Cheshire

Offline sbwhart

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #270 on: November 20, 2009, 01:50:19 AM »
 :offtopic:

This is about lubricators but a bit off topic.

When I was first setting my shop up I was short of kit and and cash to get it so I started to make bits for L. Masons Mini Traction engine I had noticed that nearly all the engines that came up for sale on fleabay didn,t have lubricators, there small and tricky to make, so I set too and made some in batches of five.

Her's a batch of five





Just to give you an idea of size the tank is 5/8" square, her's a ratchet against a UK penny.



They commanded a good price, and I was able to get some good kit for my shop, a lot of the people who bought them started to ask me for other bits, but thing started to get too much like work  :hammer: and not a hobby, so I gave that particular enterprise up.


Cheers

Stew
A little bit of clearance never got in the road
 :wave:

Location:- Crewe Cheshire

Offline shoey51

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #271 on: November 20, 2009, 02:58:42 AM »
nice bit of work there Stew and I agree when your hobby starts to feel like working something has to give

so back to the hobby mate :D

Offline NickG

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #272 on: November 20, 2009, 03:27:52 AM »
Great stuff Stew, bet this one was like a doddle compared to those then ... you are a lubricator guru!  :thumbup:

Would it be possible to give a bit more info on the roller clutch things? Where did you get them and how are they mounted?

Thanks,

Nick
Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline sbwhart

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #273 on: November 20, 2009, 04:25:35 AM »
Hi Nick

I got the roller clutches from Arc Euro  http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Bearings/Needle-Roller-Clutches, the design calls for two I think you assemble them so that they work opposite to each other, they just slide down the 1/8" shaft and work, I've not tried them on the lubricator yet as I need a reciprocating action and I'll only get that when I've got it assembled in the loco, which won't be for a little while as it requires a complete strip down so I'm going to wait until I've got a few strip down jobs waiting then do the lot together. One fits in the main body of the pump the other in the activating arm.

You can see in the pic



I'll PM you the drawings tonight if you like

Cheers

Stew



A little bit of clearance never got in the road
 :wave:

Location:- Crewe Cheshire

Offline NickG

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Re: Building a 31/2" Gauge Locomotive Engine
« Reply #274 on: November 20, 2009, 06:58:14 AM »
That'd be great, thanks Stew  :thumbup:

So it's a sliding fit on the shaft is it a tight fit in housing or doesn't it matter? Oh just looked at your link and it says it is a press fit.

They look a better and easier job than ratchet and pawl and as I said there's an issue using the ratchet and pawl on this design. Thanks again

Nick
Location: County Durham (North East England)