The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

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Old Man Aaron
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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by Old Man Aaron » Thu Dec 31, 2020 2:11 am

G**damn we have it easy with today's RH kits. But you're taking this one all in stride, hat's off to you. That Duplicolor eng. enamel is good stuff, I use it on my locos and Mamod stationaries too.
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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Tue Jan 05, 2021 9:05 pm

Overdue update on account of temporarily killing my laptop over the holidays... :oops:

I decided to bite the bullet and get to soldering the bodywork. The cab and side tanks were basically the same as my Lady Anne, so no surprises there. The smokebox and saddle tanks took some creative setups to clamp everything in place whilst I soldered everything, but it wasn't too difficult:
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Roundhouse don't have the instructions for these older models anymore, but I'm muddling through. It looks to me like the rear lamp brackets are intended to be fixed on using these 'rivets.' The only way I can think of fixing these is by hitting the shaft of the rivet from the backside in order to round it over though?
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The other mystery is what I believe is the battery box. I think it goes on the underside of the cab roof as on my Lady Anne, but it's a very different shape, and I'm not sure how it accommodates the likely 4 AAA batteries...?
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I did have the realisation that, in with all the screws are what I thought were 2 1" 6BA hex head screws. In fact, these are two lengths of 6BA threaded rod with nuts on the end. I guess either Roundhouse's or the previous owner's intention was that these each be cut in two 1/2" lengths for mounting of the cylinders. However, the limited space between the frames makes me a bit nervous about this approach as there isn't room to get pliers or other tools in there should I need to extract something, so I'm inclined to be patient and wait for the right screws. BA screws have been procured and should be with me in a couple of weeks. Might tackle some painting in the meantime...

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Fri Jan 22, 2021 5:38 am

Another overdue update...



A care package arrived with some 6BA bolts courtesy of my Dad, so the cylinders were mounted. Upon mounting the motion bracket these fouled the front cranks, so some material was filed away for clearance. This has been one of the biggest differences between building this and my modern Lady Anne. Roundhouse were clearly more of a cottage industry at the time, with everything being handmade with quite a bit of variation. Nothing the file couldn't fix.
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Edit: Having trouble adding more than two images, despite compressing them down thoroughly. Will split post instead...

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Fri Jan 22, 2021 5:44 am

Another overdue update...

My kit was missing one firebox end. Simon at Anything Narrow Gauge had warned me of this. The front and rear ends are similar, but differ slightly to clear the inside valve gear. Still, it was pretty easy to figure out the necessary shape of the missing rear end from the front. Now, sure, I COULD have cut one by hand, but where's the fun in that? Instead, I took the excuse to learn to use the laser engraver at work. You have to slow it down to cut through the 0.4mm brass sheet I'm using, but you get an incredibly accurate part out at the end...
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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Fri Jan 22, 2021 5:46 am

With the cylinders mounted, I could now set the valve movement and timing via the eccentrics. I confess, this is probably my favourite part of building a loco as it's very satisfying once you get an understanding of what's going on and therefore how to adjust things to optimise performance. With a few tweaks, and liberal oiling, I was able to get the chassis to run on air remarkably smoothly in both forwards and reverse using the old bicycle pump method.
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Whilst pleased, this actually surprised me as the chassis still feels very stiff when trying to roll it by hand. So much so that one of the wheels came unglued from it's axle when I tried to reverse the direction of the eccentrics. $#^#$%^!!!

So I had to buy some penetrating Loctite after-all. Permatex is a more common brand over here. The equivalent to Loctite 603 is a sleeve retainer 64050. There are two products, both called sleeve retainer, with 64050 being much less viscous, and therefore more suitable. With this fixed, and a bit more effort, here's where I'm at as I type:
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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Fri Jan 22, 2021 5:52 am

Next, onto setting the wicks in the burner. I decided to discard the original asbestos string wicks in favor of a modern equivalent. The included "Roundhouse Guide to Spirit Firing "was very helpful here. One thing I found helpful was to actually let the burner run dry once or twice before the final setting of the wicks, as the ends of the straggly bits of wick tend to get burned off, which calms the flame down considerably.
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So, at this point, I'm ready for a steam test! I will leave this for the weekend however when I have more time and daylight.

I've still a few unsolved problems on the bodywork. I still need to figure out the battery box and rear lamp irons. I also need to figure out my servo mounting. Since the servo sits slap bang in the middle of the cab doorway, I'd like to hide it somewhat. I've bought a HiTec HS-82MG, which is the metal gear equivalent of the HS-81 of what I'm reliably told is the servo Roundhouse use in their factory R/C installations. However, it's a micro servo. My Lady Anne definitely used a full-size servo, so something doesn't add up here? Still, I'm going to try and use the micro servo. I think I'm going to install the servo mount as intended in case I want to fit a standard servo later, but then build a box/adapter to fit my micro servo and a receiver inside. We'll see how that goes!

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by FWLR » Fri Jan 22, 2021 11:08 am

You really have done a superb job with the laser engraver/cutter Ted. You persistence will have its rewards with a very fine and excellent loco when you have finished it. :salute:

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by Old Man Aaron » Fri Jan 22, 2021 11:35 pm

Looks great. A nice job you've made of setting the wicks, too.
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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Sat Jan 23, 2021 4:22 am

Old Man Aaron wrote: ↑Fri Jan 22, 2021 11:35 pm Looks great. A nice job you've made of setting the wicks, too.
Appreciate this. My only experience of meths firing to date is with the old mamod trays, so setting wicks was new to me. My wicks actually sit slightly below the tops of the tubes, but the Roundhouse instructions say they shouldn't be "more than 1/8 above" the tops, so I guess I'm ok? Sort of? Certainly seems the flames are giving the appropriate size & color...

There's also a lot of debate about what fuel I should be using, as nobody sells "methylated spirits" or "denatured alcohol" here. Best I could find was "methyl hydrate" which sounds like it has a much higher methanol content than stuff used in the UK. Again, we'll see how it goes!
Last edited by big-ted on Sun Jan 31, 2021 4:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by GTB » Sat Jan 23, 2021 12:12 pm

big-ted wrote: ↑Sat Jan 23, 2021 4:22 am There's also a lot of debate about what fuel I should be using, as nobody sells "methylated spirits" or "denatured alcohol" here. Best I could find was "methyl hydrate" which send like it has a much higher methanol content than stuff used in the UK. Again, we'll see how it goes!
Methyl hydrate is one of the older names for Methanol. Also known as wood alcohol and methyl alcohol, among numerous other names. Methanol is the correct chemical name though.

I would imagine methylated spirits/denatured alcohol supplies have dried up with the ethanol being diverted into making hand sanitiser. That said, here in Oz you can still buy methylated spirits from the local supermarkets and hardware stores.

I've read about methanol being used in small steam locos, but it wouldn't be my first choice of fuel.

1. - it's very toxic. A fatal adult dose can be as low as 10ml and only 5ml can cause blindness. It can be absorbed through the skin as well.

2. - it has a lower heat of combustion than ethanol. What that means in English is that, relative to ethanol, you will need to burn a third more methanol by volume to boil a given amount of water.

I guess that the burner would need to be set up specifically to use methanol. Maybe by packing the wicks less tightly, so the methanol burns faster.

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Graeme

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Sat Jan 23, 2021 5:43 pm

Hmm. Very interesting. Thanks Graeme. Yes, I was aware that it had at least a much higher methanol content. I suppose it makes sense that methanol is more readily absorbed through the skin than ethanol given its a shorter molecule.

My other options seem to include a naptha (petroleum) based stove fuel, lacquer thinner(!) or I did find this stuff:

https://www.staples.ca/products/2980779 ... kcQAvD_BwE

It claims to be 80% ethyl alcohol, but it also claims to be moisturising. & It's eye-wateringly expensive...

Needless to say, none of these options seem appealing!

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by GTB » Sun Jan 24, 2021 11:58 am

big-ted wrote: ↑Sat Jan 23, 2021 5:43 pm
It claims to be 80% ethyl alcohol, but it also claims to be moisturising. & It's eye-wateringly expensive...
Methylated spirits/denatured alcohol is about 95% total alcohol. Apart from the stratospheric price of hand sanitisers, they don't have enough alcohol to make a decent fuel.....

Some campers/bushwalkers still prefer to use spirit stoves, instead of gas. Check the local camping/outdoor shops to see what fuels they have available. From a few things I've read, I suspect that in North America spirit stoves are set-up to burn methanol, as it's difficult to get suitable ethanol based fuels.

The way forward is probably to set your burner up to use methanol. Petroleum fuels like naptha, kerosene, etc. don't burn cleanly in a burner designed for alcohol.

......unless the local moonshiners can supply 190 proof white lightning. 8)

Regards,
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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Mon Jan 25, 2021 3:40 am

Well, the first steam test was....


A total failure.

It gets up to pressure, but opening the regulator just sends jets of steam out the exhaust pipes & the wheels show only mild inclings to turn over.

On the one hand, I'm not surprised, as the chassis feels very stiff. To the point where one has to press down on it to generate enough friction at the wheels when pushing it along a block of wood. This is in stark contrast to my Lady Anne which positively glides along. There's also a few obvious steam leaks around the valve chests. Again, not surprising given the seals have sat dry for 20+ years. I have a cylinder rebuild kit ready. But it runs so well on air?! Granted, the gauge on my bike pump isn't super accurate but past experience suggests it over reads, & everything turns over smoothly at 20psi?!


Also the matt black paint I used on the firebox (Tremclad high heat) is garbage & wiped off as soon as I wiped off the first drops of hot oil with a cloth...

So... I think I'll strip off the boiler & see if I can free things up a bit, rebuild the cylinders, then try again. Next weekend...! :D

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by Jimmyb » Mon Jan 25, 2021 8:57 am

Sad when the first test fails, but then, sometimes the joy of the hobby is the investigation, solution and final fix. Failures (for me) always provide learning curves in a new area of the hobby.

So, good luck, and I am sure you will find the solution.

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Sun Jan 31, 2021 4:38 am

Minor update: turns out my cylinder rebuild kit doesn't fit. My Dylan has the smaller (1/2”?) cylinders. I didn't even think to check. I'm a bit surprised, to be honest, as Roundhouse's museum section says the modular kits were introduced in 1987, but they switched to the 9/16” cylinders in 1984. So now there's a question of how old my kit actually is?!

The stiffness seems to be in the eccentrics. I basically 'lubricated' it with a mild abrasive & gave it a few air pumps to try & loosen it a bit. It seems to have worked moderately, as I did have a slightly more successful steaming attempt in the week, where it ran for about 20 seconds under its own steam before running out of puff. There's a few steam leaks from the old hard gaskets & fiber washers. I'll cut some new paper gaskets on the laser at work next week & see if I have some replacement washers for the safety valve & boiler plug.

I'm still hoping that, once I can get it to run under steam the stiffness will subside as it breaks in.

We keep plugging away...

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Tue Feb 09, 2021 5:51 pm

Another minor update.

New cylinder gaskets cut from a non-glossy Christmas card. I wonder how my friends and family would take a request that all future cards be on non-glossy paper to allow for easier 'recycling?!'
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Having disassembled and realigned everything several times I've gotten a lot of the stiffness out... And it runs!



In the video, it would run for a few minutes before pressure dropped and I would have to close the regulator and allow pressure to come back up. Since this video, I've put in the new cylinder gaskets, and gotten even more of the stiffness out. Each tweak has it running even easier on air so I'm hopeful we're on the home straight. I may also still have some tweaking of the wicks to do to help generate more steam.

Other than that, I'm playing with ideas for mounting the micro servo in the standard location, whilst providing a bit of space for a Deltang receiver. I thought about 3D printing something, but the idea of putting plastic in the cab of a spirit-fired loco seems.....unwise. The idea is that this would be cut from sheet metal using the laser cutter. There's a few problems to fix. The top tab needs to bend from behind the servo instead of the front as the front corner is very thin in the current design.

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by Jimmyb » Wed Feb 10, 2021 8:20 am

Christmas cards, interesting choice for a gasket. during my apprenticeship one of the tasks was to make gaskets, and brown paper was what we used, and a ball peen hammer to "tap" them out, no cutting implements allowed.

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by big-ted » Sun Feb 21, 2021 5:04 pm

OK, brace yourselves for the next saga in the roller-coaster ride that is my Dylan build...

Over the last couple of weeks, the chassis has been disassembled, rebuilt and steam-tested several times trying to work some of the stiffness out of it. Each time the paintwork was touched up to keep it tidy. It will now run constantly at < 20psi for what seems like a reasonable run time. One of the main culprits making things stiff is the right hand valve end connection to the rocker arm. For whatever reason, the ball-end is a very tight fit in the valve end. I used a Q-tip and metal polish in a drill to remove any burrs and break things in a bit, but I'm being cautious, since I've also read that these parts wear over time, and spares are no longer available. I figure best to leave as much material on there as I can! The other thing I realise wasn't helping is that I was testing outside at about -1 ceslius. Once I took advantage of the wife being out for the evening and steamed it on the kitchen counter things went a lot smoother...

OK, so I'm reasonably happy with how it runs. I wanted to have a go at lining. I used an old-fashioned bow-ben with humbrol enamel for the red and Testors for the brown. As someone raised on Humbrol, it pains me to say it, but I much prefer Testors. It's also much easier to buy here in Canada. After lining, I sealed everything with SprayMax 2K clear glamor. I know mixing paint brands, let alone chemistries was always a big gamble. However, I used the SprayMax 2K product on my Lady Anne, and it's simply amazing how hard and durable it is. The clear coat ALMOST worked perfectly. There's one small spot on the saddle tank where it ran, and took the lining with it. In time I might try and repair it, but for now, I've got bigger problems...

It's not perfect up close, but I'm damn pleased with the result:
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Looks good, right?

(Anyone of a nervous disposition is advised to stop reading now...)

Unfortunately, whilst bending the pipework to fit the body, this happened:
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That's the steam line to the pressure gauge. I was sensible enough to remove the gauge before bending the pipe, as I know the gauges are fragile, but obviously I was expecting the pipe to be more robust.

I've no idea how to go about fixing this. Best idea I can come up with is breaking it off completely, cleaning it up, then fitting a sleeve over the break and silver soldering the whole lot? Would this work, or is it better to cut the pipe short and somehow create a new fitting? Or remove the pipe and replace it at the connection to the boiler? (No idea how I would do that).

Devastated to have fallen this hard at almost the final hurdle doesn't even begin to describe it...
Last edited by big-ted on Sun Feb 21, 2021 5:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by philipy » Sun Feb 21, 2021 5:22 pm

big-ted wrote: ↑Sun Feb 21, 2021 5:04 pm
It's not perfect up close, but I'm damn pleased with the result:



Looks good, right?
It certainly does look very good. Welldone.
As for your fractured pipe problem, I'm not qualified to answer but I'm sure somebody will know the best course of action.
Philip

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Re: The Reading and Squamish Light Railway Stock Thread

Post by Garethh » Mon Feb 22, 2021 5:42 am

Lovely looking loco! As for the pipe, why not just cut it off and solder a new nipple on? Pressure gauge will sit a little lower but not a big deal? Otherwise you could fit a new nipple and a union to a bit of pipe with a nipple each end?

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