Member postings for Kevin Norman

I was also very interested in the articles in M.E.about the Rosebud grate ,nothing is gained by going to the expense of stainless steel for its construction , either M.S. or cast iron is sufficient.I have just constructed one for my Sweet Pea ,it is 4 1/2" x 4 1/4" x 1/2" MS and have drilled 156 holes on a 8mm square ,drilling from the underside first with a BS-4 centre drill to the full depth of the cone part and then completed the drilling with a 3.4mm drill which gives 11.8% of the grate area for air.I realise that with the old grate to much air was passing through and with all this excess air it wasn't burning the coal completely resulting in to much ash /unburnt products.I have taken onboard all the remarks made about rosebud grates and just wait to see if there is much improvement when running my Sweet Pea.Referring to Peter Griffiths article in M.E. 4523 he has used the grate on his Stafford with good results and the Stafford firebox is very similar to the Sweet Pea one I have.

Thanks Jason, my GLR 4" vertical should be OK then.

Kevin

Thanks Jason,

It matches the Syd Owen one to a tee , I will e-mail Canadian for more details.

By the way what size of boiler would I need to power this size of engine?

Kevin

The original design was by Ebeltoft but the drawings that I have are for the one serialised in ME Nov -Dec 1965 , I have the extracts from these issues.

The size of the engine is 13" long x 13" high x 61/2" wide and has 8 1/4" diam flywheel.

Kevin

Thanks for your answer Ian , the supplier that David mentioned was Brunell and the Grasshopper Engine they do is not what I require.

Kevin

Thanks for your answers,

I already have the drawings for the Syd Owen Grasshopper Engine and the two that have been mentioned from Bruce eng & Brunell do not fit the bill.

My question was does anyone know of suppliers of castings for this particular engine , if not I have found a suitable flywheel and would machine the rest of the components from solid.

Kevin

Does anyone know where I can obtain castings for the Grasshopper Engine by Sydney Owen, I know that Brunell do a similar engine but I do not really want to go down that path.

Kevin

Nigel,

GLR have not been lost they are now trading under new ownership in Roydon , Essex.

The new owner Richard informed me that they would be a couple of weeks or so getting the website up and running, it can be reached at modelengineeringsupplies.co.uk

Bregds Kevin

I have only had good service from GLR all of which has been mail order.

Perhaps we should wait and see what the new owners perform like.

My main point was that I would not like to see the Charles Kennions designs disappear , I still have an original catalogue from 1960.

Kevin

I have been keeping tabs on the GLR website and noted last week that they had changed the address to Northampton , however this morning the address had changed yet again to Roydon , Essex.So I rang them and spoke to the new owner of GLR who informed me that they were still trading and he thought that it would be a couple of months before he would be able to put a new catalogue out.

This has to be good news that the Charles Kennions designs and castings will be still available

Kevin Norman

Thanks Jason,

I have now purchased the required gears from HPC

Kevin

Can anybody suggest a supplier of ready made gears for the Martin Evans design of bending rolls.

Kevin Norman

Hi Mick,

Have you considered second hand machines,I have a Boxford VMC which is single phase fitted with an inverter , it was purchased for £1500 4 years ago and has given me great service since ,it has a 30INT spindle for which there are plenty of accessories.The only drawback was the distance between spindle and table occasionally was not enough.

Kevin

Thanks all again for your comments,

You are right Fizzy too many builders are frightened of tackling boiler making for their models,I spoke to quite a few experienced people at shows before attempting the Sweet Pea boiler and some of these people were of the oppinion that it was necessary to use oxy / acetylene for the job,however I researched all about boiler making before I started even building the GLR vertical boiler for practice from which I learnt a lot, all done with propane torches which were found to be adequate for both jobs.

I also think that it is a great feeling when you have completed the boiler yourself and it passes the test without leaks( which was not the case with my first attempt with the GLR boiler).I had the same feeling when first running the completed Sweet Pea chassis on compressed air.

Kevin

Thanks all for your comments,

I agree with Michael Williams although it is only my second boiler I have full confidence in my own workmanship and as he says who are these people qualified to pass judgement.

I was a Chief Engineer on ships for 25 years and have carried out many hydraulic tests on boilers and presented them for survey by a classification society surveyor who was fully qualified.I also held a certificate from Lloyds allowing me to carry out surveys on ship's machinery but not on pressure vessels.

It seems that if you want to insure the boiler you first have to get a certificate from a possibly unqualified boiler inspector , surely the insurance companies should have their own fully qualified inspectors.

I have again carried out a pressure test on the boiler to 160psi and it dropped 1psi in 4 hours!

Kevin

Hi Mick,

I have already had a look around two local clubs , York and Rydale and liked the look of both .

At Rydale I actually witnessed them testing a 31/2" Brittania boiler.

However I did not get around to joining either clubs as I have my house on the market and hope to relocate close to where you are living,actually I am going to view a property in S.Lincs this Thursday

Thanks for your help I will make a decision on what to do in the next couple of weeks

Kevin

Just got your latest post , yes I think it would be best to join a club

Edited By Kevin Norman on 12/11/2012 21:56:47

Hi Mick,

Thanks for your info , yes this I this is what I require a boiler inspector to test and certify my boiler.

Do you know of anybody local to me that can carry out this I live in Reighton near Filey , North Yorkshire and how much should it cost?

Kevin

Hi Dave,

I am based in Reighton close to Filey North Yorkshire

Kevin

Thanks all for your replies,

The points that Dennis WA brings up,

1) I did not use a calibrated pressure gauge but two new ones that I calibrated against each other.

2) I did not have an independent witness

3) I followed the building instructions to a T and all the materials were bought as a boiler kit from Blackgates Eng. including flanged plates.

4) I used cadmium free 455 silver solder throughout and am positive that there was full penetration on all joints except the two that it is impossible to see , the throatplate to outer firebox and the front tubeplate but going by the amount of silver solder used on these I would say full penetration was achieved.

I am satisfied in my own mind that the boiler is OK as I have tested many full size boilers to present for survey but I suppose as was suggested for complete peace of mind it would be best to have it certified by an insurance company.Has anyone suggestions for this and what would be the cost?

Kevin

I have completed my Sweet Pea boiler and tested it to twice the working pressure which is 2 x 80psi and it held this for longer than 15 mins which was recommended.My question is as I am not the member of a club and do not intend to use it on a public track is it worth getting an inspector to verify the test and supply a certificate or would this be a waste of time and money.