Member postings for Perko7

Our club has both 7-1/4 and 5 inch gauge locos but all riding cars are 7-1/4 inch gauge with couplings at AALS-regulated height, so all coupling bars need to be at a height to suit, regardless of the loco. Consequently we have a good stock of cranked coupling bars with a wide range of offsets to match various locos to the riding cars.

Our daily electricity consumption during April to July (effectively our winter months) was 5.11kWh/day for a 4-bedroom house with a swimming pool. We have gas hot water so that helps. My workshop is only 4.5m x 3m but has light-coloured painted walls and ceilings. I have four 1200mm long LED battens which are switchable between 18W, 25W, 30W and 36W. I currently have them set on 18W which I find more than enough. I think the machines in the workshop would consume considerably more energy than the lights.

Had to cut up a parts of a steel travelling crane frame to make bridge girders for our club track, used a petrol demo saw with metal cutting blades. Made quick work of it but with lots of noise, heat and sparks and to my mind the best DIY option if you don't have access to an oxy kit.

I have a normal backplate as in the photos posted by others, but also have a backplate intended for wood-turning. It is a blank disc with an array of small holes in it, a bit like that in a dividing head but symmetrical. It is great for odd shapes that can't be easily attached using the normal slots. The holes are only big enough to take M4 bolts but enough of them can be fitted to make it safe for low speed work.

I like Dave Allen, but reckon the Eccles/Bluebottle discourse ( **LINK**  has to be the classic 'time' piece.

Not sure what scale you are working in, but for window frames in my 1/8 scale diesel loco I used OO/HO scale rail annealed and bent/cut/soldered together. It gave me a lipped recess which my acrylic windows would click into so they only needed minimal glue.

Most OO/HO model railway track is nickel-silver these days, which is what I used, but there may still be some brass track available second-hand. I know some of the early OO scale Hornby track used brass rail.

In Australia, clubs affiliated with the Australian Association of Live Steamers are covered by a common insurance policy. Any member of an AALS-affiliated club can therefore visit any other AALS-affiliated club with confidence that they are fully covered. AALS provides clubs with suitable membership cards for all members registered with the club, which through normal courtesy should be shown to any club visited to verify membership.

Many clubs also have some operating requirements which need to be attended to before you can run your own loco (safety briefing, signalling system orientation, club protocols etc). Like others have said, turning up on a public running day may not provide an opportunity to run your own loco unless you have previously been in contact. Some clubs will allow visiting locos from other clubs to assist in hauling passengers, some don't.

If in doubt, a phone call is the best idea.

We've had E10 95 Octane in Australia for many years now, been using it regularly in my 2003 Subaru Forester, done about 120,000km since I started using it. None of my fuel hoses or other fuel system components have shown any signs of deterioration, and neither has the catalytic convertor or exhaust system. Fuel consumption and general performance on E10 is almost identical to straight 91 Octane unleaded. Only difference is the smell of the exhaust. Only reason I use 91 Octane unleaded is if E10 is unavailable, which is common in country areas. Changing fuel types on a part-full tank resulting in running a mix of E10 and regular unleaded does not seem to make any difference.

If kept stored in a vented container the ethanol will evaporate slightly faster than the petrol so the ratio of ethanol will change over time but it does not 'go off' any faster than regular unleaded.

I used E10 regularly in my 1973 VW Kombi before I sold it, and in my wife's 1975 Ford Laser and her replacement Toyota Yaris with no problems. I've also used it occasionally in the mower and line trimmer with no apparent ill-effects.

Seems like there may be a few furphys out there in relation to ethanol blend fuels.

Reminds me of an overnight coach trip I did many years ago from Brisbane to Sydney. The aircon was so cold that all the windows on the coach were covered with condensation on the outside and it was more than just 'mist', it was running down onto the body panels. And that was at 2AM on a Saturday in September! Australia can have hot humid nights even in early spring.

I spent most of my pre-retirement working life in a consulting engineering office designing fire protection systems. The sprinkler fitter hooking the pipes together to my design was getting about 50% higher income than I was.

Here in Australia driving long distances is much more common simply because we are more spread out. Just returned from 4400km caravan trip to central and western Queensland over 18 days with no problem, no fatigue, rest stop every 1.5-2 hours, driving at 90km/hr most of the way because that's the speed the car and caravan seem to be most comfortable at while still giving reasonable fuel economy (11.4L/100km for a 2.5L Subaru towing a 1100kg ATM pop-top caravan). Find that since I took up driving for a living (school bus) I drive a little more carefully and cautiously (which generally means a bit slower) but only because that's the way a school bus needs to be driven, so it becomes habitual in my normal driving too.

PS: the 'slippy leather belts' is a much overlooked safety feature as anyone who has had a dig-in or caught their coat sleeve could verify.

Perhaps this might give you an idea on how much?

Don't know what the equivalent Myford/Zyto/Drummond/Boxford/etc would be at that time.

In my limited experience I have found I get a better finish on interrupted cuts running at higher speeds, not lower, and with nice sharp tools and light cuts. I've done this on castings in CI, aluminium and zinc, and on various shapes of brass and mild steel with acceptable outcomes in each case. In some cases I also found it better to turn the toolpost around and start from the centre of the piece and work to the outside instead of from the outside to the centre. Don't know why but it seemed to help.

My 1929 Ideal has similar 4mm dia holes in the headstock with short brass cups of the same diameter and maybe 3mm tall sitting in them. There is no indication that anything else sat on top, so I assume they were just oil holes that were replenished every time the lathe was used, which is what I do. There are similar 4mm dia holes in the cast iron bushes supporting the layshaft.

Like Hopper I use good quality 20W50 motor oil which in the Brisbane Australia climate is thin enough to penetrate and provide a good film but stiff enough to not get flung around at operating speeds provided I don't overlubricate. Usually I fill the available holes, start up and run with no load for a couple of minutes until that oil has spread, then top up before using the lathe for actual turning.

So far I have not experienced any problems and there is always a good meniscus (if that is the correct term) of oil around the shaft and outer ends of the headstock bushes while running which shows the oil has spread through the whole bush. Similar for the layshaft bushes.

Thanks gents for the quick reply. Sounds like it would work but is perhaps not the best solution. I like the sound of getting full torque at half speed at minimal risk of overheating, and yes it would be a simple 2-speed system. With the introduction of resistors that could be switched out it would provide more speeds but the penalty would be a lot of energy wasted as heat through the resistors.

I know that trams having 4 motors usually had them connected in parallel as pairs, with the pairs then being connected either in series or in parallel. This gave them 2 controller settings at which they could run without additional resistors so giving a full torque low speed setting for hill climbing and a higher speed setting for level track. That is the sort of thing I was wanting to emulate. The controller settings that incorporated resistors were only used in accelerating to a point where the series or parallel operation could be sustained without tripping the over-current breaker. In practice they spent little time in operation with resistors in circuit so there was not a lot of lost energy. TIme to try a few experiments I think.

I've built a PWM controller long ago for model trains, found it difficult to find a frequency that did not emit objectionable humming from the motor in operation. Ended up running at around 550Hz from memory. Most other model train controllers I built were standard transistor types. They all worked fairly well.

Geoff P

OK, one for the electrical boffins......

I understand the fundamental differences between series and shunt-wound DC motors and permag DC motors. I also am aware of the range of electronic controllers available for use with permag DC motors powering locos.

What I would like to know is whether a group of permag DC motors connected in series/parallel configuration like in a full-size 'old school' diesel-electric or straight electric loco/EMU or tram with drum controller would exhibit similar performance as series-wound motors in that application.

I'm happy to experiment a bit on this but wondered whether someone has already been down that road before I start buying motors, resistors and control switches.

Grateful for any feedback.

Thanks all for those responses, the verdict seems to be that it is quite likely to achieve a successful outcome provided I treat the assembly as if it were a casting and incorporate some extra meat where needed to allow for fixings and for machining to final dimensions.

Now to draw it up and see how I can fit it together with suitable locating tabs to maintain alignment while welding.

Should be fun.......

I'm told there's no such thing as a stupid question, so here goes.....

Has anyone on this forum ever tried making an i/c engine crankcase using pieces of steel sheet and tube of suitable thickness welded or silver-soldered together? I'm thinking of a water-cooled 2-cylinder ohv about the size of an ETW Wallaby or similar. Reason I ask is I have an idea for an engine i'd like to make but there are no castings available for it and it's a bit too complex to machine from solid. I've seen plenty of descriptions of guys fabricating steam engine cylinders and valve chests silver-soldered together and can't see any reason why the same approach would not work for an i/c engine. Prepared to have my naive musings shot to pieces but be gentle .

Alternatively you could turn up a separate tyre from steel tube and shrink or press it on.