Member postings for Simon Collier

Looking at the boards, they look the same except for the relay being present or absent. How does the new board work without it? Is it a cost cutting measure perhaps?

I bought my SX3 from Hare&Forbes in late 2006. The control panel board has been replaced but main board is original. It does not lack power. I have found it very good generally, but I hate the speed “buttons” and would love a rotary knob instead. The Z axis readout is cheap and nasty with the battery often needing jiggling to make contact. The tapping switches in the handles have not worked for years and I was told this is a main board fault. Perhaps I should buy an old style main board from Ausee while still available?

I always greatly value Ketan’s expert contributions to this forum.

I can’t buy a small tin of Phoenix paint to obtain the correct colour for my loco to then colour match locally as it cannot now be shipped (flown) overseas, presumably because it will spontaneously blow up and bring down the plane. I wonder how the hobby paint in the rapidly vanishing hobby shops get here.

Great photo that shows the set up perfectly. The long radius rods would reduce angularity problems so perhaps why you find it works well in practice. Yes, with 4 links, you’d want them laser/water/wire cut.
The boiler scales to a little under 4”. Did you use 4” tube or roll the barrel?

Lovely animation; horrendous valve gear. I enjoyed the article. Double expansion links. What a pain!

Thanks Luker, that makes it clear. It could be a quick build because it only has the essentials, but it is quite a smalll loco at that scale.

Thanks for your design of this interesting loco Luker. I know that it ran on 3’6 gauge, but what scale did you use? I can’t find it in the articles. Dividing 42” by 5” gives 1 in 8.4, but what did you do? f

Parting 2” stock on a Ml7 is a bit of an ask. I like the T profile parting tools. I use a 1 mm one a lot on small brass fittings. They come in 1, 1.6, 2, 3 mm and possibly more.

I have never owned sedan cars, only station wagons. I see no disadvantage. When my old Camrey 1993 got rusty, I bought my brother’s Subaru Liberty wagon. However I discovered to my absolute horror that the rear seats don’t fold flat, as they always have done on wagons. Traditional wagons like Holdens and Falcons had longer chassis than the sedan equivalent and could fit heaps of stuff on a flat deck. None are made anymore, giving way to these so called SUVs which are no substitute at all.
I can get my Simplex in the Subaru alright, but not my Sprinkbok. I built a raised plywood deck for it but it is a poor solution. Club members have wagons, trailers, hatch backs, vans and SUVs. Not one lifts a loco out of a car boot.

I paid for a digital subscription of ME last Thursday and was emailed to expect a subscriber number within 24 hours. It is now four days later and no email.

Lovely story, thanks Michael. I have a dog in my lap as I type.

If you are building injectors for the first time, get Derek Brown's book. It can't be recommended highly enough.

Here is a Regent Bowerbird at O'Reilly's, 900 metres up in the ranges behind the Gold Coast. It is a bird watching resort and as they feed the birds, they are quite tame. This was October 2019.

I'm a bird watcher but a fairly passive one. I don't photograph them except to snap one with my phone, such as yesterday when a male King parrot was feeding in a bush just outside my workshop door. I should make a list of birds I have seen in our fairly small yard over the years. Quite a few.

What are you using for the piston seals and gland seals? If using Viton O-rings, you want very light squeeze. They expand when hot and may well get too tight. The official, specified squeeze from charts for a dynamic application is far too much for use in our locos. A friend recently made a pump in the style of a Westinghouse compressor for his 5" gauge engine and it works fine. I have one on my Simplex built by Warwick Sandburg which works, but is very inefficient as a serious water feed. I intend to make one fairly soon.

Under " view edit" the dimensions used are shown. Also look at "valving". To test a valve gear design, you really need to draw it in Cad, with the x axis being the line of the motion, not the frames. Then you can derive dimensions not specified, on eg, plans. It is a fair bit of work.

I was frustrated by not being able to analyse Stevos, recently, with the " wrong" driveline, ie, launch links with direct drive to slide valves. I first used Don's Excel sheet to get close with correct suspension pin offset, but can't go forther with Wallace. It is the only simulator I am familiar with. I suppose I could contact Allan Wallace.

The Wallace program has some examples of Stephensons and Walschaerts with most of the dimensions shown. Perhaps you could try some of these in yours. The program takes a bit of familiarisation if you haven't used it.

I have long thought the name of this forum should be changed to The Workshop Machinery and Tooling Forum or something similar. Ask about a pair of pliers or a Myford lathe and you'll get pages of replies. I suspect more than a few members don't make models at all. That is absolutely fine; just make the title reflect the content.

Another member, Jim, is building the other of the pair but much more slowly.

Ross is the best and smartest model engineer in our club. He has built some fine locomotives and now his interest is traction engines. This is his Fowler ploughing engine running on air, a real treat.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1hTMxAJ3FoY

Edited By JasonB on 20/08/2021 13:12:52

I have a pump pack of sorbolene cream and roll of paper towel in the workshop and do a pre wash with this when leaving the workshop. I also put these in my tool kit when I run my engine. Gets most of the stuff off your hands and easy on the skin as well.