Member postings for Jon Lawes

I'd like to know more about the car if you have a link to some info about it, Thanks

I don't see why people would start being attracted to a hobby that seems to generate such hostility. I've been lucky; at my local club people have been very welcoming, but if you were to gauge the hobby by some of the posts on online media you would feel very intimidated. It's no wonder teenagers feel more comfortable with gaming, which provides lots of constant positive feedback (beating a level, winning a multiplayer game). Some of the interactions here would put beginners off.

I find myself resorting to google on my phone for the most part. Anyone else find their speakers attract swarf!

I think it should be mentioned that the discussion with my inspector was more of an informal chat; I'm a while off boiler making yet. I am primarily trying to keep him involved at every stage both from the point of view of making sure I do things correctly and to enable him to sign it off with confidence when the time arrives.

It's raising some interesting points, I'll follow this with interest.

More than anything else I think this highlights my lack of understanding of various principles! Back to the library for me.

It's raised some very interesting discussing, thanks all.

I've been discussing the boiler build on the Britannia with my friendly club boiler inspector and he suggested that the thermic syphon design may just increase complexity for not much advantage. I can completely see his point from the point of view of reducing the complexity, and will probably take that advice, but I did wonder just how effective the thermic syphon is at our scales? (In my case 3.5 gauge). Some things seem to scale down and still work very effectively, such as superheaters, what are peoples opinions on the efficacy of the thermic syphon when scaled down?

Actually I suspect its not actually a thermic syphon in the Britannia, just diagonal cross tubes. Again this highlights holes in my knowledge!

Lovely job there Andrew.

January 1970 ME, adjusted for inflation, costs the equivalent of £3.80 in todays money. People earn on average about £80 a week more than they did in 1970 (I googled it. Lots of variation in the data but it seems about right). I don't think thats a bad price rise for a dwindling hobby.

RevStew, You can bemoan today or you can be part of the movement that improves it. ME has had to evolve, and to my eyes its done very well. It's a very specific audience, and it increasingly has to appeal to a new audience or dwindle as the older audience does. Maybe you could submit some articles or suggest some to cover in the future? Because at the moment its just open complaints with no tangible suggestions for making things better.

I had a feeling that was the modern way of doing things, thanks. I've even got some from my last stationary engine, so that's all good, though I won't need it for a few years yet!

Thanks to all who replied.

Light a candle or curse the darkness, it's up to you. Magazines and societies were started by people who didn't have one to read/attend. They improve through peoples contributions. One day, when I have something I can share (I'm very much an amateur now, entry level at best) I hope I can bring something to ME to help others out or incite their interest.

I'm putting this in beginners because I feel I should know this but am having trouble finding reference to it anywhere.

On model live steam locomotives, how are the wheels mounted to the axles? Is it just an interference fit? As the drive is applied directly to the wheel and not via the axle I can understand this working but feel there should be more to it than that? On the Britannia rolling chassis I have the wheels are not exactly a loose fit on the axles but they can be removed by hand without any tools. Obviously any permanent method of fixing would make maintenance harder but I don't see models using visible keyways or similar?

I realise its a bonehead question.

Just thinking outside the box, what about using brushless motors and lipo batteries? There are a lot of good speed controllers in the model car world, places like HobbyKing have a huge variety. I used one in my boat that worked out as almost 4hp powered by two 6S lipo batteries, good battery life and power. Only downside was the motor and speed controller both needed water cooling (which I achieved using a small pump).

Welcome!

Braimes maybe?

Just to further complicate things, remember that older cars especially have very "noisy" ignition systems, from an EMC point of view. The simpler the circuitry the less likely this is to be an issue.

I received an aquarium pump to see if it would pump enough air to turn over my Stuart 10H (once its complete). Tested it on an old Wilesco traction engine which rattle around beautifully, although the piston is a fraction of the size.

I will see how effective it is once the Stuart is complete. Busied myself with painting castings in the meantime.

The LiPo charger I use for charging my kids (ok, mine and my kids) radio controlled car batteries is completely programmable to charge any kind of battery and runs from a 12v supply (in my case my shed lighting is the same setup as you, LEDs and Solar). You can choose to charge a Pb battery of any set voltage (up to a point!) at any charge rate you wish, or automatically changing it to suit demand.

It's a Turnigy Accucel 6 if that helps. Charging the RC cars from a car battery and solar panel does make it completely "Green" as well!

Edited By Jon Lawes on 10/08/2018 21:46:42

If you want to keep it simple just use a bridge rectifier on two of the three output wires. It's not the most efficient way of doing it but its the most basic.

If you don't mind making things very slightly more complicated then a 3 phase rectifier can be wired up, its very simple but not near as simple as option 1!

**LINK**

Obviously this gives you unsmoothed DC, so depending on what you want to use it for you might want to add smoothing capacitors.

Some really excellent ideas and solutions; I'll be trying out some of these in the future. I've actually got some Hard drive magnets sat on the bench, I'll pop those into some poly bags.

Thanks for the interesting replies.

Maybe I should invest in a better oil gun. The one I have isn't that effective. Also I don't oil it that way every time, I think I'll start.