26/2/18 - Britt

Today's work was to make the smokebox steam lance valve, bracket, and to extend the plumbing to it. The plumbing is quite visible behind the deflector so I couldn't really run it into space, and the valve is visible from the front. The plumbing comes from the tee piece below the whistle.

The bits were scaled off a couple of pictures and machined and silver soldered together. The bracket was made from 1/2" brass angle and heated and bent by hand to profile with the smokebox. The whole lot is secured by 10BA screws.

I have trialed the look of things with the existing smoke deflectors.

Happy steaming!

Nigel

23/2/18 - Britt

Plumbing for the whistle steam finished today. The bottom of the smokebox was drilled for a bulkhead elbow fitting I had made. The new plumbing nuts and tails made in house worked a treat. The plumbing was run insode the smokebox and to the whistle. The whistle is on an incline to automatically drain. It is placed between the frames under the smokebox saddle. The end of the whistle was already tapped 4BA and a plug was made to block it off so the whistle can sound.

The system was tested on air to prove it and it is very good. The whistle valve works well and looks the part.

Happy steaming

Nigel

22/2/18 - Britt

Some more fittings were manufactured for the Britt smokebox. The plumbing union nuts were manufactured on my capstan lathe, instead of buying more in. I don't like fitting different style unions to plumbing (they vary between suppliers) so I have decided to make my own from now on. The union nuts will also suit other upcoming jobs so some extras were made while the machine was set up.

The capability of being able to produce my own stock for upcoming work using the capstan lathe has been a dream for the last few years since I bought the machine off a friend. It required an overhaul and adjustments and converting from 3 phase to single phase. That has been done over the last few years.

The common bits that seem to keep turning up so to speak are threaded nipples, plugs, nuts, basically anything repetative within the job that becomes hard to do with speed and efficiency on the centre lathe with any sort of volume. I was glad to be at the bottom of the box of plumbing nuts so I could use the machine to make some. Definitely Made in Australia. Very satisfying fitting these to the job and having some to spare for upcoming needs on the Britannia. A few more of the larger size will be made at a later stage when it comes to injector plumbing.

Happy steaming!

Nigel

19/2/18 - Britt

The whistle steam supply was finished today. The steam comes from a big piece of hex that is situated between the boiler and the regulator valve. This was drilled for a union to be silver soldered.

The plumbing run was then done to the union at the front adjacent to the chimney where there is reasonable access.

A phos bronze spring was wound around a 1/16" drill, and ends ground square. It was then fitted to the whistle and the plug drilled to acommodate it. A 1/8" stainless ball was fitted to the valve. The plumbing was tested on air with a whistle hooked up to a piece of hose. The valve works well!

Happy steaming!

Nigel

R766 fundraiser

Just to mention that Victorian Railways steam loco R766 is having a fundraising appeal to buy the ICE radio for it's return to service. The ICE radio is required for all mainline engines, and they have a crowd funding appeal to raise funds to purchase it...the final big-cost item before the loco is ready to operate.

The people running the job are friends of mine and from time to time I have assisted them on some work on the loco restoration. The loco is in NSW and has been gauge converted from 5' 3" to 4' 8-1/2". This has been a mammoth task and the first completed of its type on a Victorian Railways steam locomotive. The future of standard gauge steam trips behind a VR engine is exciting indeed!

They are in a position where government heritage grants hasn't been an option, and it is amazing what they have been able to achieve on a shoestring budget. However the cost of the ICE radio gear and fitment is a large fixed cost and must be purchased to be able to run the locomotive on the network. 

If you can help donate to the crowdfunding campaign I have included a link below where you can watch the video and there are links to donate to the project appeal.

https://www.gofundme.com/steam-loco-r766-restoration

Happy steaming!

Nigel

16/2/18 - Britt

The internal smokebox plumbing for the whistle steam requires an elbow union  towards the front for access. It's impossible to have this connection closer to the back due to no room for fingers and tools. And also requires an elbow to bring the union where it's easily separated with spanners from the front of the smokebox. This portion of the elbow has to fit through the hole where the whistle cover plate is as it's soldered to the plumbing.

The elbow was milled from 5/16" brass down to 1/4" x 5/16" and put in a collet to turn and cut the thread. The chuck on my lathe has heavy jaws that won't grip 5/16" square so a collet was made to do so at another time. Works well and for the 3 jaw chuck gives a quick concentric setup for holding square. In this case it was set up off centre to do the thread.

You can see the access to the fitting within the smokebox. There will be another pipe coming off the live steam before the regulator valve.

Happy steaming!

Nigel

15/2/18 - SMR track jack

A quick job that came in from South Maitland Railways was to machine a couple of parts for their track jack so it could be repaired. This was to machine back some welds the boiler maker did to repair the wear on the shaft. And to machine a new bearing cap out of steel. A grease nipple was also fitted.

Happy steaming!

Nigel

14/2/18 - Britt

The plumbing for the whistle valve was progressed by constructing a tee piece out of brass bar and silver soldering that to the plumbing. The tee was turned and a hex put on the end to represent the union nut.  Have later found out that the forward pipe run of live steam goes to the front of the smokebox. Couldn't tell where it went behind the smoke deflectors!

The steam supply was also done, it is a convoluted bend in the plumbing. There is a small stop valve right next to the gland but it couldn't be fitted if I was to fit the gland studs and nuts after the fact, which I did using tweezers. The gland and plumbing was silver soldered and the elbow and a forward pipe run done for the whistle supply in the smokebox.

Dummy bolts were fitted top and bottom of the cover plate and it's really held by the 4x 10BA screws either side. The whole assembly fits well, looks very complicated when it's off the smokebox, and will be able to be removed as one unit.

Happy steaming!

Nigel

13/2/18 - V class

The smokebox shell design and drafting for the new build loco in Victoria (V499) was completed so the plates can be ordered and fabrication done. The money for its construction has already been raised via crowdfunding and the requirement was to complete the drawings started some time ago. 

The chimney base was also dimensioned so it can be quoted. The top of the smokebox will be removable for accessability to the smokebox as per the same style as Puffing Billy's NA class.

Happy steaming!

Nigel

12/2/18 - Britt

The bolt holes on the smokebox for the whistle steam supply cover were drilled and tapped 10BA.

The elbow for live steam supply to the valve was also made up out of brass. This will go insode the smokebox to bring the plumbing forward for a union where it can be accessed.

The hole in the smokebox was opened out to clear the whistle supply plumbing. This was done with a rotary burr in the drill and files.

As mentioned last blog I have also included some pics of the whistle valve lever and spindle. Basically works the same as a normal model whistle valve pushing a 1/8" ball off a seat.

Happy steaming!

Nigel

9/2/18 - Britt

Some pics from today.

I made the whistle valve lever and machined up some 10BA pins and nuts for the valve as nothing off the shelf looked the way it is on the fullsize. The valve spindle was made also.

To hold the lever in the milling vise to drill the holes I didn't have packing of the correct dimension for underneath it. So I super glued a piece of scrap across the top and it brought the job to the top of the vise nice and level.

I haven't got a pic of the assembled valve, I shall do that next update hopefully!

Happy steaming!

Nigel