Member postings for FMES

Hi Julian, hard water in the Portsmouth area comes from the aquifers under the south downs which are chalk based and contain around 350 ppm Total Dissolved Solids in the form of calciates and other minerals.

Rainwater is slightly acid and does not contain the calciates that comes from the domestic taps so therefore no scaling takes place. It also helps if the boiler is blown down before it fully cools if hard water is used to prevent the formation of scale.

MAISIE and Tich were completed around 1990 and have been steamed regularly, MAISIE regularly pulling passengers on our club track for three to four hours at a time. Tich was the large boiler version but was not a particularly good steamer so was mostly used as a showpiece.

Neither have required any form of chemical clean.

In addition to our rainwater collection facilities (four gutter fed IBC's) we also purchased a mains water softener which I can heartily recommend as a valuable asset to any club inventory.

John, if he had it on the truck it's a common problem.

How about discussing the six year rule with the guy?

We use filtered rainwater (just a mesh and simple filter to stop the leaves and beetles etc) and any further south I'd be paddling to the Isle of Wight.

Never had a problem with scaling from a 3.5g Titch and Maisie, up to the larger 5" locos and associated steam wagons.

Heat fast, repent with condensation at leisure.

better to keep a low background heat, my de-humidifier keeps the internal temp at around 10 - 15 degC when its freezing outside, then just a small fan heater to top up if needed.

This is in a 22' x 16' building.

Julian, re loco name Maisie, why the emphasis on MAISEE? just curious.

Re the earth bonding to water pipes, when I had my workshop built about ten years ago, the electrical installation was carried out by Southern Electricity and comprised of a fully conduited individual wire system i.e seperate live neutral and earth.

The Earths were provided by new rods sunk to provide the correct potential (?).

There were no earthing cables connected to the copper water pipes and when I queried this, the installer replied that as the feed from the house (some 50 metres away) was by plastic pipeline would not provide an adequate earth, which is why the additional earth rods had been installed.

He then pointed out that if a fault should occur and the water pipes in the workshop were connected to the earth being copper, the whole water system would become live.

I don't pretend to know the technicalities of it, but it seemed logical to me and considering the majority of new installations these days are using a plastic type of piping for all of the internal pipework you wouldn't be able to bond to it anyway.

Hi Les, current legislation states that domestic water systems are NOT bonded to the electrical Earth system, especially as many new installations have a PTFE water supply pipe.

If there is a failure of the earth itself if relying on the water pipe system then any fault could go directly to anyone handling a tap or associated part.

Best regards

Lofty

Personal view only, it doesn't look clean enough to me, and I guess the heat has been applied to the rod rather than the copper.

If the flux goes black, you have either burnt it or the job just isn't clean enough.

I will normally pickle in Sulphuric Acid after first gently warming the components, not too hot or the fumes get a bit overpowering, and then wash off under water.

I'll repeat this until the copper is a peachy colour all over, and then apply the flux mixed with water and a little meths which helps to further degrease the surface without leaving a residue when you heat it.

The heat is initially applied away from the area to be soldered using some good firebricks to give some reflected heat on to the job.

The flux should dry, and then form a clear liquid, at this point it is just about time to apply the ss rod, if its hot enough and clean enough the solder will readily run into the joint and flash into any gaps.

If the flux goes black, stop, and repeat the pickling process.

The hotter you can get the job before pickling helps to clean it better but watch the fumes.

When the soldering is completed, allow to cool and pickle and wash again. If further soldering operations are required apply more flux straight away, but this is only for protection and should be washed off, repickled and reapplied so that its fresh.

Hope this helps.

Wow, some lawnmower engine

**LINK**

Hi Steve,

I've replaced some of our lube systems tubing with nylon pneumatic hose from these guys **LINK** its not transparent, but seems to do the job and you can get adapters to suit the lubricator.

I would also affirm that the Colchester pump is more a 'stirrer with attitude' than a pump per se.

Not so John, as I said before, and wandering around the machine shop at work yesterday, all of the Colchesters and Harrison pumps that were in use were venting from the slot in the drive shaft housing.

One pump that was out for cleaning had no provision for any seal nor any bearing in the pump housing and had a fairly large clearance around the pump shaft.

Even at 2000 Rev/min Robs pump should be more than able to lift a meter or so with a good flow PROVIDED the pump housing is fully immersed, I think my single phase pump runs at about 1500?

And it vents up the shaft.

As there seems to be a fair amount of concern with regard to eyesight or lack thereof, I would point out that I am unable to read a standard vernier without a magnifying glass as well as standard glasses, and have been finding it easier to use the digital versions of the magazine where I can zoom in as required.

If everybody is having so much trouble reading the printed matter as supplied why not just print out what you need from the digitals?

Surely this would be more planet friendly than storing masses of printed matter, and save a few pounds on subscriptions?

Just a thought.

Edited By Lofty76 on 10/11/2013 20:23:30

As the pump seems to be running at approximately 2/3 of rated speed could a phase winding in the pump motor have failed? I'm not an electrician but it seems a logical idea.

Rob, as Dave says above, the pump housing must be fully immersed in the fluid being pumped, most run with fluid covering the pump by a good couple of inches.

Most of these pumps (that I've seen) do pour out a fair bit of fluid from the shaft housing when running, this is to prevent cavitation (and the noise that ensues) when the pump outlet is stopped off and also helps to maintain a good mix of coolant fluid.

Edited By Lofty76 on 09/11/2013 22:43:41

As most of us have also received the same aforementioned copies and noticed the changes mentioned, wasn't this just another comment for comments sake?

Quite frankly I couldn't give a damn as long as what I want to read is in the magazine.

I wouldhave set it up in the vice on parallels and machined all three sections with one setup.

Here's a pic of the nearest I can get to a recent setup, reducing a piece of 12mm steel plate down to 10mm.

This might be worth a read **LINK** followed by a revisit to the store concerned.

Hi Reg,

If you look at the top of the post box you will see what looks like a camera - Insert Image from File, and follow the instructions.

Hope this is what you're after

Lofty

My point exactly Jason, no good for a center hole, and to date the simple center drill and follow up drills have always sufficed in the lathe.

I think I said I wanted a 1mm pilot hole, my chuck doesn't close down that far and will not hold a 1mm drill, so the center drill with its larger shank was used - no probems.

I can understand that if running a CNC setup and having to drill a large number of holes to correct size in one go rather than two is far more practical.

Edited By Lofty76 on 14/10/2013 14:12:32