Member postings for martin ranson 2

THOMAS ... there are many ways you could finally end up rewiring the workshop ... difficult to tell from a long distance ... keep it as simple as possible ... as well as fluorescents, look in the supermarkets for LED lamps ... a bit pricey but some of them supposed to last 20 years ... some look like chunky light bulbs but they are remarkably bright ... some look like 12 volt halogen spotlamps and are a direct replacement .. some even work on 12 volts DC as well as 12 volts AC ... the ones I have recently fitted in the workshop are made by OSRAM or TESCO`s own make.

JON ... you talk about the electricity board lowering your supply from 100 amps down to 65 amps ... did they talk about installing a meter that registers KVA instead of KW ... in other words an industrial installation rather than a domestic one ... a lot of old fluorescents and induction type mains motors have no power factor correction capacitors ... lots of current, but out of phase ... were they worried about all the lights going dim when you switched anything on ??

Alex ... I can think of 3 options ... someone else may have a better idea, if so please sing out ... ask 6 people the same question and you could get 6 different answers ... I love experimenting ... how much you want to do I do not know ... "plan A" is to keep your existing boiler and try to squeeze everything onto the left side of the boiler ... "plan B" is to keep the existing boiler and swap the cylinder onto the right hand side of the boiler ... "plan C" is to scrap the old boiler and start again.

The first 2 plans assume the boiler has passed a pressure test ... for "plan B" I forgot to say the water pump also needs moving across its axle `cos it is not central to the frames.

martin

Alex ... looking at your photo above ... you seem to have fitted the lubricator on the left of the boiler, not the right hand side ... you seem to have used the rear boiler bush to collect the steam from the boiler ... if it can all be squeezed in this would give you a shorter run of steam pipe to the cylinder ... probably better than mine ... if it does all fit, are you going to take the steam pipe into the rear of the cylinder block instead of the inside edge ??

If it does not fit, were you going to swap the cylinder onto the right hand side of the frames ?? if this is what you were planning make sure the 2 mounting plates are swapped ... the gear train with various bushes would need to be reversed. The check valve would need to be crossed over as well to make it all line up.

Alex ... reference GLASS BALLS ... I am never derogatory to anyones ideas ... anything better than my random brain firing I will use ... if it is a good idea then spread the knowledge ... so what can I say about using GLASS balls in a check valve or a water pump ... erm, erm ... did you know our recycling bin for glass is collected on a Thursday ??

KENNIONS or BLACKGATES or REEVES or POLLY sell stainless balls ... as an example, KENNIONS price is only £ 1. 75 for a packet of 5.

It is also possible to use nitrile rubber balls, but they are a bit more expensive.

IDRIS ARTICLE, part 3 in the M.E. magazine ... look at page 745 at the top left of fig. 10 ... there are two dimensions shown of 0. 312 and 0. 165 ... somehow these have been swapped over ... 0. 312 is the larger distance of the two.

Alex ( and Neil ) ... SWMBO has assisted by prising the sledgehammer out of my hand and can understand what is required ... hopefully there are now 2 sketches included that you can see ... one is a typical drawing of a check valve and one is the actual valve fitted to IDRIS ... I made this one and did not measure anything ... I just got stuck on automatic mode and built it ... shows what an old dinosaur I am ... anyway back to the 21st century, these should be of some use to you ... let me know if anything else is needed.

Alex ... thanks for your tip on "albums" ... so far no success ... nothing shows up as happening ... no indication of what I am trying to send ... will go and ask god ... see if she knows ... sledgehammer is twitching in hand ... will let you know.

martin

Alex ... the easiest way to find brass bar 1/4 x 1/ 2 inch would be from KENNIONS in Epping ... the man on the phone is very helpful and their speed of posting is very fast ...www.glrkennions.co.uk ... possibly other suppliers would be able to help ... as regards the check valve ... well spotted ... I have made many. many similar valves over the years and the last time I actually drew a picture must be about 20 years ago ... the 2 important measurements are the lift of the ball off its seat and the diameter of the hole under the ball ... the rest depends on the particular model.

I have a typical drawing from a long time ago ... most of the sizes can be varied to suit the needs of any model ... all I have to solve is how to attach it to this message ... any ideas ?? cannot find a "paperclip" image or how to set up an "album" will go and ask God.

martin

Alex ... just a thought ... if you are taking the boiler to Chelmsford M.E. then would you consider asking someone there for some sulphuric acid ??? If you look at M.E. page 427, down at the bottom, there is a picture of my boiler straight out of the pickle ... no scraping or sand blasting needed, just a wipe over with a cloth ... the brown-pink colour is a very, very clean surface ... ideal for any extra silver soldering.

Safety precautions for handling acid are commonsense really ... old clothes, rubber gloves, glasses or goggles, do not rush anything ... always work with a large bucket of clean cold tap water handy ... turn off the TV or mobile phone !!! I have used old ice cream tubs and old cups from the kitchen for many years ... these happily hold the dilute acid with its item being pickled ... get a plastic funnel to pour the acid back into the container ... if you mix concentrated acid with water remember to add ACID TO WATER slowly .. never the other way round ... if you are interested I am sure someone there would give you some ideas.

Alex ... if it is tested by the Chelmsford society make sure they know it is a SMALL boiler ... much smaller than the 3 bar - litre sizes they may be used to .... the size of this one is approximately 0. 53 bar - litres ... i. e. pressure in bars times the volume in litres.

The test for small boilers is little more than a pressure test ... for a LARGE boiler it is much more complex.

Unless all the rules have changed recently ???

If you take the boiler to them it may be wise to have already made lots of blanking plugs to fill up all the threaded holes ... one of the holes will need an adaptor to match whatever pipework they use on their force pump.

hope all is O. K.

martin

Alex ... have you got somewhere locally to do a pressure test on the boiler ... probably to 80 P.S.I. ( about 5. 5 bar ) assuming the safety valve is set to 40 P.S.I.

martin

Alex ... your post on 4th. May ... asking how to radius the inside of the2 bushes for the water gauge ... please use bronze not brass ... my method for the task is a large half round file ... I have no separate milling machine ... as regards a hearth I have been using DRY house bricks for decades ... I repeat, DRY bricks, some left intact and some chopped in half ... a question for you ... what sort of acid do you use for a pickle ? I always use 10% sulphuric acid and leave the items in it for 30 minutes ... BLACKGATES sell concentrated acid ... if you could find someone locally to share it with, then you do not end up with storing strong acids in the workshop.

If you end up having to fasten the water gauge bushes on after the boiler is complete, be careful drilling the copper as it will be very soft after silver soldering ... a hollow sacrificial bolt may be a useful method to clamp the bush onto the boiler ... when finished the bolt could be drilled through ... hopefully the centre hole wil stop your drill wandering too much.

if you try to dismantle a silver soldered boiler it can be dangerous ... it is very easy to have a piece of red-hot metal bouncing round the workshop !! for me I would not do it ever again ( don`t ask ) ... also the copper tube can easily end up getting squashed out of shape.

Looking at your lubricator photo ... the piping looks a bit different from mine ... what is the long piece of piping on the right hand side please ? Can you still use the lathe to drill the small communicating hole into the cross-bar ? or have you already drilled it ?

martin

Alex from martin ranson ... years ago I bought two ROTHENBERGER blowlamps from the local plumbers merchants ( B and Q also sell them ) ... wonderful creations ... they use the yellow cylinders of MAP gas ... NOT the red cylinders of propane ... now I can melt brass and copper if I try ... be careful where you point it !!! do not set the shed on fire !!!

martin

Thanks Neil ... I did not know that ... have now given my number to Alex ... martin

Alex ... hopefully the editor will give my phone number to you soon ... much quicker ... the gas tank is a square shape ... coming up later in sketches 19, 20, 21, 22 ... it was a best fit for the space available ... next engine I make will have a round one ... much easier to make ... I am just cutting the frames for it.

Regards martin

Reference IDRIS 16 mm loco. From martin ranson, sorry for the delay but my old computer is dying. Farewell to the old tower with the lovely large screen. I am using my wifes laptop with a tiny screen. I do not know why Diane Carney has been unable to contact us, especially by phone. On most days one of us is in, sat very near the phone. I have said to Diane that I am very happy for her to give my phone number to anyone interested in the IDRIS loco. In this case, especially to Alex Collins. For us to start a technical discussion by Email will take a very long time. It will be far quicker by phone, any evening after 6.30 PM. Assuming both of us have the ME magazine open at the appropriate page we should be able to sort out his problems. Probably I will learn a lot as well.

ALEX COLLINS 19/3 ... using metric taps is perfectly OK and easy for things like the pressure gauge elbow. However for something like the stainless spindle in the gas supply valve be careful. Assume a thread of 3 x 0.6 mm was used it may change the characteristics of the valve opening. Using a size of 3 or 4 mm metric thread gives a choice of 3 different pitches. Using a size of say 5, 6, 8 or 10 mm diameter gives a choice of 4 pitches available. Be careful which one you use to match any particular ME thread.

ALEX COLLINS 24/3 ... using loctite on the rectrictor may be awkward if it gets too hot. Possibly use 2 nuts locked hard against each other, or silver solder one nut on the end of the thread. The thread sealer was intended for the thread inside the fitting. As regards the smooth point of the valve spindle I always use a smooth needle file and then some very fine emery. Try 400 grade then 800 then 1200 grade. A bit of oil on the emery helps with producing a smooth surface. If you do not think it is safe to do this on the lathe then try using a cordless drill instead. The fire tube inside the boiler should be as low as possible, just clear of the inside surface of the flanged boiler end. Your first guess for the water gauge bushes was correct, they are drilled through into the boiler. The 4 or 6 BA bolt used as a temporary clamp was deliberately rusty so it could be removed later. The top end was then plugged. As regards the slots in the burner tube, the 0. 5 mm slitting saw is better and quicker than my method with a small hacksaw ground down. Providing the saw did not have any sideways wobble the slots will only end up a tiny bit wider than mine, can I suggest that you fire up the burner in a spare bit of 22m tube and see what happens. I have always used bronze or brass for the tubes, what will happen with the copper long term, I do not know.

ALEX COLLINS 13/4 ... for a supplier try Roundhouse in Doncaster. tel 01302 328035 or www.roundhouse-eng .com. I wrote this article in the spring of 2014, I have since discovered that the wheels and axles started life in the Roundhouse factory. I have purchased more items from them very recently. Diane carney has my phone number on file. There must have been some mix-up with the number, I have said to her that I am perfectly happy for her to give the number to anyone interested in building the loco. Much quicker than endless Emails. I would love to talk about model engineering, sounds like I will learn something new.

DRAWING ERRORS ... issue 4506, figure 7, down at the bottom of the picture are the words "2BA thread" . Just on the left of this is a strange lump of metal with a left hand thread, I have no idea what this is, certainly I did not place it there. A computer gremlin has added it. Going up the drawing to the top of the lubricator body in the middle, there is the word "drill" .. just under it was an arrow pointing downwards to indicate the location of the small hole 0. 021 " diameter. This is drilled carefully into the crossbar. Lastly in fig 5 there is an error which is mine, very sorry. At the top there is a measurement given as "distance between flanges nominal 1.232 " The vertical lines show this as the measurement of the inner flanges, obviously it should indicate the outer edge, the bit where the wheels fit onto the track.

Regards, martin