Member postings for John Rutzen

Thanks for the replies everyone, for some reason i didn't get notified. I've done them by turning them from 3/16 brass rod. This was strong enough to take the stress. It also meant I could make them about 1.2 mm thick. I have tried automatic ones but I like another lever to fiddle with! I'm making a Jeannie Deans compound so I will have plenty of levers. Thanks for the pictures Luker, I do like your articles having done some castings myself including iron wheel castings and I make my own boilers.

Well here's a problem. I thought I would make a batch of cylinder drain cocks, they are quite expensive to buy and I had all the materials to hand. There are drawings of them by LBSC, Martin Evans and Don Young and probably more. I have come unstuck though trying to make the brass washers with 5/64 square holes in them. I made and ground a punch on my Quorn and tried to square up the holes in 10ba brass washers but the things just stretch and even split. So has anyone successfully made cylinder drain cocks?

Incidentally I notice that in most of these descriptive articles there's no end of descriptions about how to machine a wheel, an axle or simple things but they never seem to mention the tricky bits like these drain cocks or bending the curved flare on the top of a tender side.

Hi, you need a steel stand and when you bolt it down have a DTI in the toolpost and a test bar in the chuck so you can see if you are applying any twist to it. I made my first lathe stand many years ago using angle iron from old bedsteads welded into a U section but you could get the steel cheaply enough if you go to a steel stockholder who sells black mild steel for building construction. The tray can be anything but the stand should be steel all the way to a concrete floor. Wood really isn't suitable for lathe stands because it will move.

Thanks for the reminder Robert, I've just ordered some fuel stabilizer from Amazon.

I watched a video on removing the petrol by adding water and then syphoning off the water plus alcohol. It suggested that the result might not ignite as well as the petrol plus alcohol and you would have to add some octane booster. Anybody tried the alcohol removing trick and does the result work as is?

Hi Jason, no it's a copper fuel pipe and the float is made of copper foil. The fuel in the stainless steel tank seems ok. I wonder if it is reacting with the aluminium float bowl, that seems to be where the gunge was concentrated. Robert, what is fuel stabiliser please?

Thanks , I didn't know any of that. I'll look into getting something else but maybe not available here in Belfast.

Hello again, I'd left my Rumely over winter with petrol in it. When I tried to start it this spring it wouldn't go. Eventually after a lot of fiddling around I stripped down the float chamber and found a sticky gungy mess in the bottom that had blocked up all the passages. I was using normal unleaded 95 petrol. Does anyone know if this stuff can turn into a sticky mess or did some other substance get in there to cause this?

Hi, I bought my DingDong over 50 years ago in Bradford. Still going strong.

Cat's eyes? So you can see where you are going in the fog?

Hi, I think Loctite is ok with steam for say screwing a thread into a boiler to hold on a support bracket but it does lose it's strength as I found out. I had screwed my regulator rod into the cam it used to operate the device and sealed it with loctite. I steamed up and wondered why the loco wouldn't move - the thread had unlocked itself! So I don't know of any thread sealant which will do anything other than seal inside a boiler.

Hi, I've had some success with electro etching nameplates for locos. I use Press n peel blue [ebay]. The print has to be done on a laser printer. The etching is done in copper sulphate solution, I found it best to do it face down so the material etched away falls off. It doesn't take long or much current, I used a small variable power supply. There was a good article about it in MEW some years back.

So they say but my 5 inch Crampton 'Le Continent' runs perfectly well without one. B Terry Aspin [Chuck] never used one as far as I know and says they are not worth it in his book ' The Model Locomotive from Scratch'.

Hi Polly models sell the springs for them and also a drawing for the particular one you are making . I think the drawing was 50pence a couple of years ago. I've made several, they work well but I wouldn't describe them as very Pop.

Hi, I've done brass casting but for the time and effort involved it's probably not worth it. Could you semi - fabricate them, using different diameter brass bar for the different parts, pegged and soldered together? That way would use much less brass and be cheaper.

Edited By John Rutzen on 04/01/2022 09:54:04

Hi, I'm happy to be corrected, so he did build one. Daggers please could you send me copies of those articles if you have them? I don't have them, I haven't any LBSC articles about this loco.

Thanks for replies everyone. I think some of these old designs should come with a health warning! I had similar trouble when I built a Lion but I eventually got it running. I think one of the problems with the Jeannie Deans was that LBSC never built one and like most of his designs they were knocked out in a hurry. Our little locos will run with even poor valve events but it would be nice to get it as good as possible.

Hi, further to my recent post about the valve gear for my Jeannie Deans I have another problem. The valve travel just isn't sufficient. The total valve travel is 5/16 inch. The ports are 1/8 and the lap is 3/32 so the valve travel needs to be 7/32 x 2 i.e. 7/16. With the current valve travel the ports will only open 1/16. What is your opinion please? Would I be right to reduce the lap to get more port opening? It is not possible to get more valve travel, the angle of the slide is about 48 degrees from reverse to forward, the books say don't go above 50 degrees. I solved the other problem, just cut away the connecting rod back end so it can be slid over the crankpin with the bush removed.

Hi, I'm building a Jeannie Deans and have hit a snag assembling the valve gear. It seems to be impossible to assemble the Joy valve gear[ which is press fitted together] onto the engine. Because the big ends aren't split the connecting rods have to be assembled onto the wheels first and then the whole thing somehow fitted to the engine. The con rod/ valve gear assembly somehow has to go through the motion plates.. Anybody made one of these?

Thanks Jason, John, I don't know how many of them got a shock but I got one today! Gave me a jolt, I'll have to put some insulation on the nut. The other day the top of the spark plug blew out. The plug is one I made, the insulator is Corian and is just superglued in.