Member postings for Maurice

My conversion to CAD was forced on me after a surgical operation on the top of my spinal cord. I made a very good recovery, but it robbed me of the pleasure I used to get from pencil and paper drawing. Just too clumsy now. TuboCad came to my rescue, fortunately. I wouldn't change back now. My only complaint about TurboCad is that for some reason, the version for Apple is so different from the Windows version that I am unable to use it, and have to keep my old PC just for drawing. I can see no reason why they can't be the same.

There is one "trick" you might like to try with TurboCad; I drew a lens in 3D then rendered it, and made the material clear glass. It actually behaves like a real lens, and magnifies an object drawn behind it! I suppose it should be no surprise, as it has to know how light is effected by various materials, in order to render them correctly, but I still think its clever!

Try annealing it. Find a friend with a coke boil er or stove. Put the cast iron into the centre of the fire. Bring to red heat, then cover with fuel and let it "cook" for a few hours, then let the fire go out. Leave the casting in there till it has all cooled down. It worked for me on a set of Clarkson casting that I had, which were un-machineable.

Maurice

I agree; it is an early No.1 It would be interesting to find out how early. I have an old No.1 that I restored, with one standard and a steel column, the same as present day. All the threads are Whitworth. I called Stuart Turner, and they said that they changed to B.A. threads in 1918; so I think it reasonable to assume that mine predates this date, and that Ian j's engine even older than that. It might be worth contacting Stuarts to see if they can tell you when the design was changed. They were most helpful when I called.

Thanks Jason, that sounds promising. I'll try that.

I recently acquired a Stuart 501 Boiler. It still had the asbestos boards on the inside of the side plates. This has been safely disposed of. Can anyone suggest a replacement material, and where to get it please?

Maurice

Thanks for that gents. Now you have told me what it is, I recognise it from my apprentice days with the G.P.O. (telephones). One of the construction engineers demonstrated one to us, but I can't think what work he did that would have needed one. That's probably why that was the last one I saw! Thanks again.

Maurice

I recently saved the brass container in the photos from going for scrap. It is 1 1/2 inches in diameter, and 4 1/4 inches to the thread. I am unable to get a readable picture of it, but it has " Moore and Wright, Sheffield, England. " engraved on its side. I assume that the larger cap is to allow ease of filling, and the smaller one to dispense the contents; but what? There are no seals or places for seals on the caps, so presumably not for a liquid. I would be very interested to find out what is was for.

I am not Rod, but this method may help. I first "loctite" the crank pin into the webs with a piece of shaft material through the other holes for alignment, then leave it to cure. Meanwhile, I clamp a piece of ground bar into a matching pair of Vee blocks that are sitting firmly on a ground surface, with a gap between them, a little larger than the width over the finished webs. I then lift the whole thing and put a little "thread lock" on the underside of the Vee blocks, and temporarily "glue" them to the ground surface they were sitting on. When the thread lock has cured, the round ground bar is removed, and the two shaft parts of the crankshaft are inserted into the web assembly, and the whole thing clamped into the glued down Vee blocks. When all has cured the crankshaft is removed, and a light tap with a small hammer(with a piece of brass interposed) will remove the Vee blocks from the ground surface. Any thread lock on the Vee blocks is easily removed with a sharp blade.The last crankshaft that I assembled like this, I held in a collet at one end and clocked the other end for runout. It was less than half thou.

I agree with Martin about the solder. I intend to faux it well and reheat it. I also agree with Jason about the superheater. I may have to make a new top as the one that came with it only has about a quarter of an inch parallel with which to fasten it down and seal it. Have to take a closer look and do some drawings. Thanks for the feed back gents.

Does anyone recognise the design of this boiler please? It is 13"high to the top of the barrel and 6 1/4" in diameter. I acquired it recently and wish to finish it, but I have several questions about it.

First, there is no bush fitted for a safety valve to screw in. There is room for one in the top tube plate, but it would have to emerge through the smoke box lid. I assume the smokebox should be airtight, and this may be difficult to achieve. I suppose that the safety valve could be fitted on the side, at the top of the barrel, but I have never seen this.

Secondly, what is the purpose of the large tube in the centre of the tube plate. it would seem to be either to accommodate a couple of hairpin superheaters fed from the steam fitting on the tube plate, or it is normally covered with a lid, and is used to scrape ashes into, and thence to the ash-pan, when cleaning the boiler, having removed the chimney.

Lastly, how should the smokebox lid be fixed; should it be a semi-permanent fixture, only remover occasionally to what?

I would like to finish it off with a full complement of fittings, but the absence of a drawing makes it a little problematical. Any suggestions will be welcome.

I thought this at first glance and from a distance, but hollow cast iron buffers seem unlikely. If the quality of the iron matches the obvious care with which they were made, I think they would be a nice source of cylinder liners.

I am helping to clear the workshop of a friend who died a little while ago. I have found the castings shown in the pictures. There are six altogether, three with the cylindrical projection and three without. The hollow cylindrical portion is 15/16" diameter, with a bore of 3/4". The parallel part is 1 7/8" long. The part that closes the end is 1 5/8" diameter 5/32" thick. The projection on three of them is 1/2" diameter and 7/16" long. They have a very smooth finish and seem too good to discard or mutilate without trying tom find out what they are. Any suggestions please?

Edited By JasonB on 05/08/2017 19:42:18

With reference to the Mamod wheels, if you search among the drive belts for Hoovers etc. in Homebase and the like, you can find rectangular section drive belts that are a tight press fit on Mamod wheels; two on each back wheel, and one on the front ones. Sorry I can't remember exactly what machine they were for, long time ago, but I found the ones I have by taking a wheel with me and holding it by the packets. Same bands for all the wheels. It is quite hard getting the rear ones on, but that's no bad thing. Fitting these improves the appearance of the standard Mamod steam wagon a great deal. Good luck with your build.

Hi Stewart. As in my previous post, I have lost your address and so haven't posted the photocopies that I promised. I have sent you a couple of PMs but had no reply. Sorry about this. Blame my computer! Please PM your address again, and I will post immediately.

Maurice

I have just fitted "Oilite" bushes to my Super Seven countershaft, and had to ream them to size. The "Olite" website says they may be reamed with a sharp reamer.

Hi Stewart; I promised you some photocopies, and I have lost your address! Could youPM it to me again please. The copies are all ready to go.

Maurice

Just a quick update to round things off. I have learned a few things.

(a) Oilite bushes do get smaller when pressed in. With my lathe in bits I couldn't make a pin to keep it to size, and I expect that it should be ground anyway. I did try a piece of ground bar that was a very close fit; it still ended up undersize, and I had a hard time getting it out of the inserted bush.

(b) Yes, Oilite bushes can be reamed as several people and "Oilite " themselves say, as long as the reamer is sharp.

(c) Don't buy an adjustable reamer for fifteen pounds! I did; all the blades are different heights and the rear of the parallel portion had sharp corners proud of the rest of the blades, that dig in. I wish now that I had bought a Dormer one for nearly seventy pounds, as this would have made a set I have complete.

(d) When the bushes are just a nice fit with now shake, when assembled and run, they over heat and start to seize. I took a barely perceptible amount off and it now runs very nicely; even on the higher speed range. My lathe has never been this quiet!

Thanks to all those who responded to my questions. As ever they were a great help.

Hi Stewart. I have copied some pages from those books as promised, but I have been having computer problems, and it has deleted all my messages! Can you PM me your address again please, and I will get them in the post. Sorry about this. Thanks

Maurice Cox

Thanks for that gents. I did think that, as they were casting the iron round the cold ends of the spokes, it may be some sort of preheating from the radiant heat. It is a pity that there is no commentary.

This is a bit before the 1930's, but I have four bound volumes of "Junior mechanics and electricity" from 1914 and 1915. The range of things that were undertaken with very simple tools is astonishing. Of course, some of the readers had access to lathes, but not all by any means. One contributor made a model of an electric railway locomotive, one of the double ended type with a cab in the centre. He says he had to file the buffers from bits of brass, and "it took a long time to get them sufficiently round". The books also contain dimensioned drawings for a couple of rubber powered model aircraft; a "rise off the ground tractor biplane" and "A model airplane that will fly for five shillings". The latter has a sort of "A" shaped frame and twin rubber motors and propellors. There also drawings and instructions for a gauge 1 spirit fired 0-4-0 steam loco which the author says "that a lathe is not needed but would be useful for turning small parts". If these are of interest, PM me with your address, and I will copy them and post them to you. It may take me a few days to do it due to "stuff", but you will get them.

I also have a Stuart Turner No.1 engine dating from before 1918 (Whitworth threads) in which the slide valve cavity was produced with a hammer and chisel. There is also a 1/32" keyway in a 1/8th" shaft, produced in the same way. It is not perfect by any means but I would not care to attempt it.