Ballaarat construction series

The valve glands on the steam chest as well as the piston side cylinder cover has some interesting detail...

Luker, that's a fine little engine you've made and in such a short space of time. Enjoyed the video doesn't she run well.

If I was 30 odd years younger I'd be tempted to have a go, but not now, not enough time and too many other things to do.

In the 20 or so years I have been visiting Australia I have been to the coastal town of Busselton on many occasions. First spotted the full size Ballaarat in 2018 not longer after it took pride of place in the visitor centre. A handsome engine beautifully restored. At the time I commented that it would be suitable for modelling and low and behold here we are. I like others will enjoy you're build series.

Are you an Aussie Luker? All the best

Geoff

Thanks Geoff, she is a lot of fun on the track. One of the benefits of virtually checking everything before building it. No I'm not from Aus but I have done work there. Some of the local vernacular was used in the series to make it more interesting. I hope you and the readers find the series of interest. It’s always tricky writing a construction series; I try to keep it interesting enough so that non-builders won’t get bored.

I was invited to the 150 Year anniversary this year in Busselton, but unfortunately I could not attend. Maybe one day I'll get to see the old girl!

For everyone following the Ballaarat construction series here's a nice video showing the frames and linkage in motion.

Very Nice Luker !

I notice on the Drawings on the digital format of M E their are a few dimensions missing around the horns on the frames . Am I too keen or will these become apparent later in the series !?! Before I cut metal I prefer to model it in Inventor .

Enjoying what I have seen so far !

Chris

Hi Chris, yep you right I missed a few there. All the articles are written to complete a section of the build so I generally won't go back and say drill holes in a completed frame. If you find any dimensions missing please let me know and I'll add the drawings to the forum and update mine. Most of the missing dimensions will be because the item was laser cut using a DFX or 3D printed for the patterns.

Please post some pics of your progress! Can even add it to the series as a post script...

Thank you Luker for your prompt reply. Yes will post some photos / images as I progress. I was planning to mill the frames on the miller at work, the controller has the facility to convert DXF files to coordinates Hint !

Chris

Edited By Chris Perkins 3 on 18/08/2021 07:20:49

hi my name is tom hardy and i propose to build a 5 inch ballaarat i am a member of the northern districts model engineering society in perth west australia i live an hour and half drive from the original ballaarat in busselton is it possible to obtain dxf file of the frames and other components to give to a local laser cutter.

regards tom

Hi Tom, the DFX files for laser cutting are rather extensive and contain all the process specific tolerance and machining allowance built into the files. There is enough information for an unscrupulous commercial entity to use them to make kits at ridiculous prices to the detriment of the designer (and builders). I therefor will not give out the DFX files, but there is more than enough information in the series to draw them up yourself, or even better just let the laser cutting guys do it for you.

hi luker

understood

thanks luker

hi luker

information on the ballaarat there is a book titled steam in the forests by mrh southecombe available from the chart and map shop fremantle wa this gives a comprehensive account of timber logging in wa

if you are looking for another project 3 steam whims were made in yarloop wa around 1900 a modeller in the netherlands loek proper built one in 1918 and there are 2 videos on you tube he got his information from the pickering brook heritage web site when googling steam whim model i have started to do a whim

maybe of some use

tom

Hi Tom, my next project is well on its way. Design complete, boiler, frames and all castings done. But these Whims look great! I won't tackle multiple projects at once but these will be added to my possible projects list!

The little Ballaarat goes to our track often, but last weekend there was a quiet time when I could play around a little. I raked the fire bare and waited for the pressure to dip below 30Psi (roughly, the loco has a commercial ME gauge soon to be replaced!). Added cold anthracite and set off... It kept that low pressure for a while on our long track then slowly started to build pressure and at the end of the run was on working pressure. I was pleasantly surprised by that little boiler and loco!

For the Wahya and Ballaarat I did some simulations and design work on the boiler and front ends; comparing these locos to the other locos I've built it looks like it’s paid off...

The young lad mentioned in the beginning of the Ballaarat series is moving along nicely with his build. Bearing in mind he never went to a technical school, nor has he decided to follow a career in engineering, his model engineering skills are moving along incredibly fast. I asked him to write a piece for our little club newsletter and one of his statements struck home and I thought it was rather inspirational: “This hobby sucks when you do things wrong the first time or two but it’s amazing when you finally get it right.” He sent me a picture of one of the wheels, machined according to the instructions in the articles. The picture shows him checking the profile with a gauge I designed to make life a little easier. Looks pretty good to me (in fact spot on!). The eccentrics came out nicely as well. Well done, young man!

Anything that encourages some continuation in this hobby sounds fantastic to me. He's made a lovely job there.

hi luker

is it possible to give me measurements of the motion plate

tom

Of course! I think I've added the missing dimension you're looking for, and updated the drawing (and mine). There's bound to be more as you go; please give me a shout and I'll update the drawings, and add it to the forum. Please post pictures as you go!

I see the guys at ME have posted the Ballaarat GA (very good quality) on the front page of this site, thanks guys! Should print out nicely...

As a side note my drawings have the design tractive effort, cylinder sizing etc. on the GA but this is generally removed for print.

Check the 'look out for...' blocks at the bottom of the page or click the link below (this should work)...

Ballaarat GA

Edited By Luker on 13/10/2021 12:22:08

Hi Luker,

In your intro to the Ballaarat you mention having your mentee complete a "wobbler". Do you have an article you've already written on that, or a drawing? Seems like a good idea as an intro machining project.

Ron

Hi Ron, I never did an article on the wobbler. It is very simple! It was designed to be made by sales guys that had never machined anything, for a course I presented many years ago (for fun). There are many better designs out there, but if you want the drawings you are welcome to them. I might need to make a few notes for you, as the drawings specifically omit one dimension that was up to the class to work out (and find). There were a couple of other outcomes of the course besides the machining for example engine balance, low vs high rev's etc. One of the builds are in the video below...