Member postings for Bruce Voelkerding

Steve,

be sure to stay away from steels with either sulphur or lead. Both of these elements will lead to cracking.

Bruce

Bill,

in such a situation, I would mill the opening as you mention, Then I would clamp a steel bar to each side of the steam chest in the bench vice (horizontal). The bars would be aligned to the machined opening. They will act as guides to limit the file's cutting depth. I have done this just recently. I guess if you are really unsure of your filing, you could also clamp a set of bars vertically in the corner you are filing. These bars would be clamped with a toolmakers clamp.

If you are really worried, you could machine two plates with an internal corner (or two corners to do one side of the steam chest at a time) and use as described above.

Bruce

A late member at our local track had a beautiful original Royal Scot in 3-1/2" gauge, an absolute delight to drive. His driving truck had a very simple brake. There was a lever on the side atached to a cross-shaft mounted on the frame. I do not remember the detail construction, but it just swung a "brake" pad (approximately 5" square) down onto the rails. I seem to remember it was suspended at its trailing end by a swing link of same radius as the leading operating arm, so the pad remained horizontal as it swung down paralllel to the track (but forwards so it would not grab and de-rail the driving car). A spring was used to hold the brake off.

Since our track was close to dead level, one could apply a light pull to the brake and load up the locomotive. Due to its size and chamfered leading edge, it never caused a derailment. Since it wasn't a bunch of tiny parts rubbing on wheel profiles, one never felt guilty using it lap after lap.

Bruce,

North East Ohio Live Steamers, USA

Jason,

I tap holes in my shop like you show - with the tap wrench in the MIDDLE of the tap. However, I find it a nuisance adjusting the drill chuck, so over the years I have turned up "bushings". The OD is just a clean-up cut for concentricity then I drill to fit the tap shank diameter (actually I relieve the tap hole till the guiding surface is one diameter long - don't know if this is required). At first I thougth I would be making one for each tap, but some do work for multiple taps.

Bruce

I heard once that at power stations (here in the US) they had a synchronous clock in the turbine control room driven from their generator. In the early morning (around 4:00 eastern time) all the Power stations would compare their time to a nationally broadcast time clock. The time diference would indicate how many extra or fewer their particular turbine/generator sets turned. The speed was then altered to zero the count difference.

It seems hard to believe that that actually works, considering the Power stations are all connected via the Grid. Perhaps this was before the Grids.

Does anyone know if this was actual the case or an urban legend ?

John,

with regards to the Boiler dimension / Wheel dimension, on the LBSC drawings for his 2-4-0 Web Compound "Jeanie Deans", there is a note to dent the boiler locally to clear the Driving Wheels. I don't know if this helps you as your boiler is lower into the Wheels. But may be considered. I would reason if the boiler passes a hydraulic test after the disruption (especially if it were made from drawn tubing, even better if done before silver soldering), I wouldn't think it would be unsafe.

As I near completion of LBSC's Netta (0-8-0), I would really like to embark on a 4-2-2 Stirling in 3-1/2" gauge. But it appears there are no wheels out there ??

Bruce

I am an engineer in the States. While sketching a repair part for a Japanese machine which is endowed with BSPT pipe threads, a question arose wih regards to pipe sizes (NOT the difference between NPT and BSPT sizes). What is the outside diameter of iron pipe used in England ? In the USA, ordinary, non-galvanized, black iron pipe is as follows:

1/8" = .405" OD

1/4" = .540" OD

3/8" = .675" OD

1/2" = .840" OD

3/4" = 1.050" OD

1" = 1.315" OD

I found some references on the web, but the values were different than the OD's shown on some of the Japanese drawings. One reference, did state there was an OD difference, but it did not affect threaded joints. Interestingly, I have come across pipe from Chinese sources which at times have been .015" smaller than the values above.

thanks in advance,

Bruce