Member postings for Dan Jones

Thanks for the responses chaps, sound like 0.35mm is the size to use.

Cheers, Dan

I’ve been slowly putting together a steam plant over the years consisting of a Stuart 10h, 504 boiler and a dynamo from PM Research. I’ve steam tested the set and found the spirit burner for the boiler was a bit of a faff, so I’m currently switching over to a gas fired set-up.

I’ve purchased a bix 008 burner from Forest Classics (great service and good quality product!) which needs a no. 16 jet according to the FC website.

My question- does the no. 16 refer to the hole size/drill size (no. 16 drill = 0.177”/4.5mm)? This sounds way too big for a gas jet to me!? Or am I missing something obvious?

Equally I’d like to learn more about this so any pointers to literature about figuring out what size holes etc. would be gratefully received.

Cheers, Dan

Thanks for the replies guys. Out of interest should it ever be necessary to regrind the flanks of the chasers? Or would grinding the rake and face normally be good enough to bring the quality of the finished thread back?

Cheers,

Dan

I’ve got a couple of sets of chasers for an 1 1/4” die head that I use quite regularly but are starting to blunt off now and affect the finish of the threads. I don’t have any proper grinding machines, only a pedestal grinder. Can anyone recommend a company to touch up the chasers? They aren’t chipped or damaged, just blunt!

Cheers,

Dan

I’ve found recently that grumpy old men who are ignorant to the younger generation get me grumpy.

Brian,

It looks like you’re holding it up too high or there isn’t enough clearance between the bottom of the radius link and the die block. You might find that when you hook it up to the reversing lever it’ll hold itself in place and allow you to set your notches/time it all properly.

It all looks good apart for that, good work!

Cheers,

Dan

I’ve been wondering this for a little while but I haven’t really investigated it much. Does anyone know how they originally machined the valve faces on the compound over head slide valve cylinder block? The valve faces are both inclined in towards themselves but also inclined downwards towards the crank. To be able to reach right down into the furthest depth of the block/valve face must require a particularly long tool or a machine with a long reach.

Further to this, despite how they did it back in the day, how would people machine it with access to modern techniques and equipment?

Cheers,

Dan

This may be 10 years too late, but my grandfather owns this locomotive.

The following link shows the engine not running but in steam at our local ME club in westbury, wilts.

Ive driven the loco a few times and it goes very well indeed. A real credit to Austin Heyden.

Im always impressed with the turn of speed you get from a single wheeler!

**LINK**

Cheers,

Dan

The boiler is 2 1/2” diameter and 8” long. Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Dan

I’ve had one of these boilers for a while, 10 years or so, and have recently come into the possession of another. I know they’re stuart boilers, presumably from the 500 range. What I don’t know is which of the 500 range they are? There are 3 water tubes underneath the boiler barrel but no markings, other than the stuart logo on the bulkhead.

Following this, does anyone know what the max working pressure is for the boiler? I’m looking to run a stuart 10H and dynamo with the hope to get some useful power out of it; I estimate the engine will need to run at about 650rpm for as long as possible, will the boiler be capable of keeping up with the demand of the engine?

Cheers,

Dan

Hi John,

This looks like an early version of the No. 1, also made by Stuart’s but yours seems to have a homemade base.

Stuart’s still produce this model, it’s quite a fine engine in my opinion.

Dan

Hi Barry,

I think you may be worrying about nothing (although I also can't see the pictures). My grandad has almost finished building his wagon and the distance between the regulator and the engine is far enough that any flex that might be present would be taken up by the pipe, but the design of the chassis is quite robust and very unlikely to flex....you would have to hit something bl**dy hard or have a chassis loosely bolted for it to flex.

Keep us posted with your build, I'd be interested to see how it turns out!

Cheers,

Dan

Hi Steve,

RC stands for Reg Chambers, an ex-commercial boiler maker in the UK. I have one of his boilers in my 3.5" gauge Juliet.

I'm not sure if he's still about, maybe someone else on here would know?

Dan.

Finally made a start on the engine, the short term plan is to get it through a steam test so I can take it to a local show at the end of May. I steamed the engine shortly after it arrived (December 2015) and I found that although it runs, the pump didn't seem to work, the injector didn't work and the hand pump was useless against the boiler pressure.

All of the pipe work is completely wrong for a Fowler so that is one of the things to be sorted out whilst getting the pump and injector to work. First I focussed on getting the pump to work; it hadn't had the bypass machines into it, instead it had an external quarter-turn valve in the pipe work to turn on/off the bypass. So I removed the clack body of the pump (where the bypass is supposed to be fitted) and set it up in the 4 jaw ready for facing and machining. The drawings for this engine are pretty poor in terms of detail and clarity (although they are double-dimensioned for 3" and 4" scale), so I had to do a small bit of design/guess work. For example, the gland nut is described as having a 9/16" Fine thread; I know I haven't got any 9/16" dies or taps so any near equivalent for this strange size was out of the question. Instead I used 1/2" x 20, still unusual but I had both tap and die and was close enough for my requirements.

Once I had turned and threaded the gland boss, I then had to bore a hole though it into the first clack chamber then into the wall between the first and second clack chamber. Before I could do this I had to design the valve spindle but this was a fairly straightforward task. After I had bored the hole, I then replaced the 4 jaw with the 3 jaw and turned the valve spindle until it fitted nicely into the pump where I then drilled the bypass hole through it. Next was to make the gland nut, also a fairly straight forward task. I filed a square onto the end of the valve spindle and fitted a handle which I made from 1/4" thick steel plate, which more or less completed the important part of the pump.

This afternoon I assembled the pump back in the engine and rebent the old pipe work to suit traditional Fowler looks; the holes need drilling in the footplate and the pipes dropping through. I also need to rebend the pipe from pump to clack valve which once done will mean I can steam up and give it a test!

Check out my 3" Fowler album to see progress pictures...

Cheers,

Dan.

As a 19 year old engineering apprentice I think I can make fair comment. I'm standing evidence as the new generation of manual machinists, which disbands the theory that middle aged people (or however old) are the last generation. I have completed several previous projects which have all required some form of machining work, including tool grinding and making jigs as well as actual components.

I started my apprenticeship at 16 with 3 others in my year (although 1 later dropped out), all had completed a-levels or college equivalent where as I came straight from GCSEs. I still remain the youngest in the company after 3 years, with the newer apprentices being the same age or older, but despite this I think I can confidently say I'm the most practically able out of all the current (and some earlier) apprentices.

Money is a great incentive of course, but in a lot of cases the same amount of income can be gained from doing "clean-hands" jobs, something which does seem far more appealing to my generation. I've been able to purchase numerable projects and live quite comfortably, have my own car etc. Which a lot of my friends who have gone to sixth form or uni can't afford as they haven't had the same income that I have.

So in my opinion I would say that the largely diminished but still existant new generation is the way it is because of the attitude of the modern generation. Why give up an easy and inexpensive (from a teenage perspective) lifestyle for one which means you give up school holidays and nights out with mates to spend your entire time working for money to buys things you would get given anyway?

I personally can't complain, I get paid to learn, earn well respected qualifications and enjoy doing it. The end result means I've been able to achieve an initially long-term goal of owning a steam roller- now I'm the proud owner of a 1925 aveling and porter...

Food for thought from the "frontline "

Dan.

Plumbing pictures are added for those interested...

Dan.

A couple of videos to prove it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl7leLmEFP4&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJV0bJrBt00&feature=youtu.be

I've also uploaded a couple more pictures to my album for those interested in seeing it. I wish I had taken a video of it on the rails...! Oh well, next time.

Oliv, good idea- I'll take some later on this evening.

Cheers,

Dan.

Lots of progress has been made on the Juliet in the past few weeks, however this does mean that the build thread is coming to a steady close.

As the time draws closer to having the loco in steam, I thought it was about time to start taking things off, cleaning, painting, sealing, gasketing, gland packing and eventually reassembling. So off came everything more or less, I started getting into the motion and packing the glands with graphite yarn and I packed the pistons with yarn as well rather than rings. I made gaskets for the cylinder covers and the valve chests and reassembled the inlet and exhaust pipes to test the chassis on air for a quick check. It was luck I did this as nothing worked, no power to the pistons at all, just going in and coming straight out of the exhaust. My thoughts were that the valves weren't seating properly so I stripped the valve chest off and had a look; this is where I found that I hadn't cut the hole in the gasket large enough to let the valve pass through it and so it was resting on top of the paper, letting the air blow past. So recut the hole, put it back and I tried the air again, power this time but no motion running. So had to time the engine again although I'm sure I didn't touch this when I took it apart!? Oh well managed to get the chassis running in the end.

Next up I set to painting the running boards, smokebox, door and saddle using some halfords spray...not bad stuff really. Once these were finished with they were fitted back to the chassis. All looking a bit posh now!

So on with the job (the aim to get it instead before a full paint), and started sealing the boiler fittings like the blower union and the wet header union. The super heaters were fitted and the blower put into its correct position (not a vital position on the Juliet- just don't block the blast pipe). I then marked out the boiler bands on brass sheet and cut these with the hacksaw, filed, drilled, tapped 7BA and bent round and fitted. They look good as they are made out of heavier gauge brass than standard bands.

The side tanks were then fitted to the running boards and sealed with a form of car windscreen sealant. The pipe work was fitted to the pumps and sealed up with ptfe tape (had to make the bypass and clack feed pipes for the axle pump). Once these were all fitted, the engine was basically ready for water and fire.

So outside on blocks, blower fan on and a fire lit. Within no more than five minutes the loco was in steam and running nicely. There were a couple of steam leaks from fittings but nothing that I didn't expect or already know about. The engine ran so well that I quickly made the decision to take it down to the track. Bundled my way down there, lit the fire, got a head of steam, got on the track and I was off. The loco didn't really struggle pulling me at all!

So in general, I was extremely impressed and very happy with the result...not bad for 2 years and a complete loco novice with a beginners engine!

Cheers,

Dan.

Not to worry, progress has been made on my own engine.

Over the past week or so (whenever the last update was?) I have been dedicating some time to the LH side tank and the axle pump. I made a right angle union for the bottom of the axle pump and made a union with piece of gauze soldered on top and fitted this in the bottom of the tank. The gauze used is fairly fine stuff and made of brass so soft soldered on to the union. The union was kept as close to the inside edge of the tank as possible (close to the frames). This is fairly important if you want neat pipe work otherwise it's quite a struggle to bend the necessary angles. So I bent the suction pipe from the side tank to the bottom of the pump and silver soldered the nipples into the ends. I must say I am quite happy with the results I've had with the pipe work so far, imho it makes a huge difference to the appearance of an engine if there is neat (-ish!) pipe work.

Next I made the top pump union. This is a double 45 degree "Y" shape job, but see the pictures in the album as they describe it easier than I can. It's 5/8" long x 1/2" dia brass cronstruction with two 1/4" x 40 unions silver soldered in. In made sense to me to do it this way rather than a tee piece because it uses one less piece of tube and no more brass and solder than making a tee (plus it looks fancy! ).

I just have to make the by pass pipe work and the pump-clack valve pipe work to finish off that LH tank and pump assembly.

I've made the whistle clip and whistle plumbing which looks good so in terms of plumbing only two more pipes to make.

The ash pan and grate have been fitted into the frames and the pin made to hold it all up. The pump eccentric only just clears the ash pan which is somewhat a relief but not much work to get extra clearance.

Photos uploaded soon!

Cheers,

Dan.

I must admit, for a small loco you won't do much better than a Juliet. The lbsc "Tich" is a small and complicated engine to build and run for a complete beginner and is so small that if you really are restricted with its pulling power and running capability. The 3.5" "Rob Roy" is a worthy contender for Juliet but is in a different class in my eyes as its just that tiny bit larger. So Juliet is a great choice of beginner loco in my opinion!

If you have access to basic metal working machinery and the confidence to have a go then your project should give some good enjoyment, I wish you luck with it and would love to see some progress photos (if you manage to figure out how to post them! )

Cheers,

Dan.