Member postings for Boldminer

Can anyone tell me if there is a way to alter a gloss finish paint ( supplied wrongly by a UK supplier to me here in Thailand) to produce a Flat finish. The main cause for concern at the moment are the wheels of the loco that have already been painted. Can I simply spray over them with a 'flat' lacquer and would this be OK on the boiler? Your replies would be greatly appreciated.

Michael G, Bazyle , Michael M, John Haine, Dick H and Russell, once again thank you for your support and assistance and again in order of posting :- Michael G that screen shot is a great help and will be used to produce a new anchor. Bazyle thank you for the explanation of the 'proc cess' it has gone a great way to lifting the fog that surrounds the black art. John Haine I really do appreciate you help and advice. To clarify my information about 'the drop' the pallet nib drops approx. 30% down the face of the escape wheel tooth. The face of the teeth were not attacked with a file, merely polished with Crocus paper and still retain their flat tops. Dick H the clock is fitted with an adjustable eccentric, the use of which has been tried (to no avail) , all the arbors do 'rattle' from side to side and the free wheeling action is not impeded by pinching the frames. Russell as I explained to Dick H., there is an eccentric and has been tried, but I must admit that I did not wipe the residual oil from the pallet nibs (will do in future). So gentlemen, after reading your comments I think that the obvious way forward is to produce a new escape pallet with the help of Michael Gs' screen shot and to double check the other relevant dimensions, many thanks , watch this space ! Colin

Many thanks to Russell, John and Michael, I will try to respond to your posts in order but please bear in mind that I am in no way an horologist or experienced clock maker. RUSSELL, my apologies, the clock is a John Wildings 'large Wheel' clock. The spring thickness does conform to the suggested thickness of .40mm . I have tried the movement with the pallet nibs both wet (not excessive) and dry using 'clock oil' from Meadows and Passmore, all to no avail. JOHN, there is no recoil what-so-ever on the escape wheel. I have tried the clock fully wound but don't get any improvement at all. I have also applied extra torque by increasing the pressure on the large wheel but all that seems to achieves is a louder click as the pallets engage with the escape wheel, incidentally the pallet drop is approx. 30% of the escapement tooth. MICHAEL, you are of course correct, the clock is a John Wildings' Large Wheel clock. Thanks to all, Colin Standish Ps. excellent video !

I have been trying for two weeks or so now to get this clock to run. All the pivots are polished and free in their respective holes, the train falls from side to side with the 'audible click' the arresting faces of the escape pallet have been brought to a mirror finish as have the corresponding faces of the escape wheel. The spring barrel is free to rotate on its' spindle, the pallet arbor is free and the clock set in beat using an ' amplitic' audio device. When set going there doesn't appear to be any force in the escape wheel that would result in a recoil action sufficient to maintain the momentum of the pendulum. The only thing that I can find at odds with the designed plan is that the spring purchased from Rite-Time for this model does not conform to the spec. quoted by J.W. ie it is aprox. 60thou. down on width. With the escapement disconnected and just one turn on the spring the clock will 'free wheel' for the equivalent of 36hrs. or so, with the escapement engaged ( with several turns on the barrel ) it will not run passed the naturally decayed swing of the pendulum. ANY IDEAS PLEASE ?

England is floating on several layers of coal including anthracite and 'best steam coal'! It's a fact that most of our present inferior coal supplies are imported from the USSR and other eastern block countries as well as 'some of Mr. Magregors' ( remember him? ) coalmines. It's correct that there are well over 150 years worth of coal left under GB and that just a few mines where ' mothballed ', Assuming that we now have the technology to BURN coal rather than just set fire to it doesn't it make sense to open the mines again. Apparently we are running out of petrol,but, didn't the Germans crack petrol from coal during the war? and this is just one by-product!

Thank you very much to everyone that took the trouble to reply to my ' division ' query. After reading through all the replies it became obvious to me that what I have is a simple BSO dividing head with no possibility of compounding. So the information in the 'tables' is correct when you can compound using the rest of the infomation for the particular application. The clock I am making is a 'Large Wheel' skeleton clock by John Wilding but again what I overlooked was the fact that he was using a Myford dividing head with a 60:1 ratio.

After following Mr Jones's example using a 99 hole plate I have calculated that the equation results in an error of only .000011 per division which as I used to say is "good enough for the pit". So, now all that remains to be done is to visit a local engineering co. for material for a new plate.

So once again thank you Les and the rest of you gentlemen for you time and trouble.

I wish to index for 198 teeth using a BSO dividing head with a 40:1 worm-wheel. The problem is that the supplied dividing tables give the same results for both 198 and 197 ie. a 20 hole plate at 4/20. This cannot be correct for both, can anyone help please ( 198 ). Do I need to make a special plate ?

thank you Julian, I'm just about to check my actual measurements using auto-cad.

Hello Julian, thank you for your intrest/reply to my query. With regards to the type, size, and spec. of the engine, I hope that the following can be of some help.

The engine is a 31/2" K4 to Matin Evans design. The cylinders have a diameter of 1.125" x 1.625" stroke and the boiler barrel is 4.375" dia, barrel length is 8.4" The boiler capacity is approx 2.2ltr and is noted as 12bar litres. The smoke-box as a volume of 56cu.in.( ie. 4.375"dia. x 3.75"long). From the boiler to the top of the chimney the height is .883", the chimney opening is .875"dia. The total length including pettycoat pipe is 2.195" The pettycoat opening is 1.3125" dia and the choke dia. is .75". The choke height is .75" from the bottom of the pettycoat or approx. 1/3 the total height of the chimney

regards, Boldminer

Thanks a lot Eddie, that was just the information that I was looking for.

Regards, Boldminer

can anyone please advise me of the ratio of blast nozzle dia. to chimney "choke" dia. and the distance between them