Member postings for nipper

When I received a reply to a sale item there was no e mail address to reply. What happens if I reply to the alert itself. I suspect it will not go anywhere.

Hi Peter. Mine did run using glow plug. Plenty of noise and it filled the workshop with smoke. I also used a solid iron piston after honing the cylinder to a perfect fit and used a 12" prop. All the best with it. Best regards David Murray.

Hi Jason. I have long finished the Lynx and it has run but is too big, too heavy and underpowered to do anything with . I put a oil filler plug an the rear cover. I did fit bronze valve guides but had a real problem getting the valves to seal and get good compression. One major problem with the engine, for me anyway, was setting the tappet clearance, you cannot get feeler gauges in there and there is no adjustment anyway. I looks good on the shelf. Best of luck David Murray

Hi Pete. Many thanks for the reply I have ordered parts from the company on the link and have reduced the cost from £59, and this may not have included VAT, to £21 including VAT. Now I may be able to afford the ignition system. I will press on and it should be finished by next Spring, unless a railway engine gets in the way.

Hello. Sorry to get onto this forum very late but I am building the Lynx and come to the part of ordering the pulleys and belt from HPC gears. An order for the 2 pulleys and 2 belts came to £49, which was bad enough, but then the cheapest shipping cost was £9.60. This for a few items in the smallest jiffy bag. I rang them and pointed out the post office will ship a small parcel for £2.90 but they would not budge. Any suggestions as to where I can get it all at a sensible price.

Hi Nick. This my last post on this subject. My best friends father was an engine driver, many years after he retired I asked which was his best day as a driver. ' The day the diesels arrived' Nuff said.

Hi Julian. Thanks for the note, I am David Murray of Staines SME. I am sorry if I seems a bit sharp in my reply but the purpose of my comment was to warn other people of the pitfalls of using charcoal briquets not start a forum on advising me on how to start a locomotive. Thanks anyway.

Hi Bazyle. Thanks for the reply but I have been driving engines since 1968 so while I felt obliged to warn people about charcoal briquets I do not need advise on how to run them myself. As for water in the tanks , always drain them is my advise.

Good Morning Peter. I have read your post and it was well done but I have a couple of comments. The reversing lever does not alter the piston travel only the valve travel but of course you knew this and it's a pity it passed the edit. The other, more pertinent issue is about charcoal briquets . I and another member of my club used them and while they got the fire started they clogged up the grate and ashpan, due to the excessive amount of ash, so that the fire went out once coal was added and it could not be recovered. Lump wood is a much better option. Best regards David Murray Staines SME

HI julian and Bri. Thanks for the comments perhaps I will replace them as there is no way they can be repaired. Best regards Dave

I have a 5" locomotive but the superheaters have failed. There are only two anyway and I am considering not replacing them. If I decide not to replace do I leave the flue tubes as they are, block them off or put a restricter in them . Any suggestions.

Thanks Julian for leading me to Don's Speedy dimensions. It looks as if I need to make a new drop link, combination lever, radius rod, return crank, lifting arm and maybe move the gear frame. A lot more than I hoped for. I think my cylinders have already been moved forward so that's OK but there is still a lot of work bearing in mind I have all of these parts already made as I am overhauling (bringing back from the dead) a finished chassis. Don's dimension drawing is not very clear but i managed to work out the imperial dimensions by converting the metric drawing back to imperial. Two dimensions were not covered on the metric drawing, the valve head width and the position of the expansion link to eccentric rod attachment. I could not decipher these from the drawing. I assume also that Don does not require any changes to the expansion link size or radius. It would be a great help if these dimensions are available.

Cheers Dave Murray

Edited By nipper on 09/10/2014 22:46:23

i seem to be coming into this forum rather late but I would like to know which Speedy valve gear design requires the minimum of changes to the original and where can i find a copy of the Don Ashton design.

Nipper