Wilberforce's whistle

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hussra
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Wilberforce's whistle

Post by hussra » Wed Nov 24, 2010 8:09 pm

For some time I had been eyeing the DJB Engineering web page on resonator whistles, and wishing that they did one that would fit "Wilberforce", my Roundhouse Millie. I had read from the esteemed Mr Gorton that he had managed it but with a custom, long thin resonator. I didn't fancy that at this stage.

Then I espied the variant for the Roundhouse Fowler, with a long thin resonator designed to fit around the right hand side of the boiler just behind the cab sheet. Aha!

Ingredients:
  • 1 Roundhouse Millie (already fitted with pressure gauge)
  • Whistle kit comprising:
    • Fowler whistle
    • Silver Lady whistle valve, banjo fitting and pressure gauge syphon
To give you the idea of the components involved, here is the Fowler whistle (bottom left - image from DJB's site):
Image

And the Silver Lady whistle valve, banjo fitting and pressure gauge syphon (again, image from DJB):
Image

More of this tale later once I have done some of my other jobs for this evening. (Lest the suspense should be too much, be reassured that the story has a happy ending.)
Richard Huss
in sunny Solihull

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Step one: plan carefully

Post by hussra » Wed Nov 24, 2010 9:40 pm

The first step was to plan carefully. I made a mock-up of the weatherboard from 40 thou Plasticard and plastic angle, and tried arranging the whistle components on it. Actually, I ended up making two - one with the holes in the wrong places, the other with them in the right places. Plasticard is cheaper than a replacement weatherboard.

Image

Image

Image

You will note that the right hand lug that secures the weatherboard to the side tank has had to be trimmed slightly (to 12mm) to allow the resonator to fit.

The final dimensions I settled on are shown in the 2nd photo. The two 3/16" holes need to be in a reasonably straight line. The 8BA clearance hole is to secure the resonator to the weatherboard - drill to suit once the other two holes are in place. The last photo shows the resonator tucked in somewhat under the boiler - in the end I trimmed the securing lug a bit more (to 12mm wide) and aimed the resonator straight down.
Richard Huss
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Post by Bill/Rubery » Wed Nov 24, 2010 9:44 pm

Hello, For what its worth I fitted a whistle to my 'Millie'. I used the Regner one. The joy of this whistle is that it is a LOW pressure needing one. The one you have needs (I gather) 40 pounds or the like to operate! This is all very well if you like the pressure valve blowing off all the time but I do not!
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Fitting the whistle valve

Post by hussra » Wed Nov 24, 2010 9:46 pm

Next up, fitting the whistle valve. Slight hiatus here as my Roundhouse pressure gauge did not want to attach to the DJB syphon. Rapidly sorted out by posting both valve and pressure gauge to DJB - it was back here, with a new cone and nut, in a couple of days.

Here is where I elected to put the whistle valve in the end - pointing just slightly to the port side, with the pressure gauge right up against the backsheet:

Image

Image
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Post by hussra » Wed Nov 24, 2010 9:47 pm

Bongo Bill wrote:Hello, For what its worth I fitted a whistle to my 'Millie'. I used the Regner one. The joy of this whistle is that it is a LOW pressure needing one. The one you have needs (I gather) 40 pounds or the like to operate! This is all very well if you like the pressure valve blowing off all the time but I do not!
Seems pretty happy on 25-30psi from my experience so far. Not a peep below 20, it's true.

Off to eat some toast now.
Richard Huss
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Post by Bill/Rubery » Wed Nov 24, 2010 9:50 pm

Just remembered! Look at the message on this section of the forum titled...."Just finished my Millie... (I hope"....You will see a picture of the underneath of my engine.
Regards, Bill/Rubery

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Post by Bill/Rubery » Wed Nov 24, 2010 9:53 pm

Solihull?! I live at the bottom of the Lickey Hills.
Regards, Bill/Rubery

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Post by hussra » Wed Nov 24, 2010 10:17 pm

Bongo Bill wrote:Just remembered! Look at the message on this section of the forum titled...."Just finished my Millie... (I hope"....You will see a picture of the underneath of my engine.
Aha, this thread. Interesting, thank you.

Always good to see another way of doing things - if your whistle works for you, and mine works for me (which it does, even without the loco blowing off all the time), then I guess people have a couple of options to consider. Which can only be a good thing.

Interesting to know of someone else nearby. (There's also David Rowbotham's line in Meriden.) I was once told that I shouldn't be running on 32mm in Solihull as it was "G Scale Society territory"!  :shock:
Last edited by hussra on Thu Nov 25, 2010 12:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Out with the hacksaw

Post by hussra » Wed Nov 24, 2010 10:23 pm

Time to attack the bodywork with the junior hacksaw. Whilst I have built a reasonable number of rolling stock kits and have a largely scratchbuilt battery diesel, there's something different about taking a saw to your expensive Roundhouse.

Anyway, I eventually decided to go for it and "amended" both the weatherboard and the top of the right hand side tank to allow the previously-determined space for the resonator.

Weatherboard:
Image

Tank:
Image

Back together showing newly created space for resonator:
Image

So far, so good.
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Missed a stage

Post by hussra » Wed Nov 24, 2010 10:26 pm

I missed a stage earlier. After fitting the whistle valve I connected the whistle (just hanging freely on the tube) and steamed the loco. Satisfying result, but found I needed a thicker fibre washer under the banjo fitting.

Did a second steam test, all was well. (And then another test, and another, because it was just so much fun blowing the whistle.)
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Drill time

Post by hussra » Wed Nov 24, 2010 10:34 pm

Out with the drills. Back in the summer I bought one of those cheapo pillar drills from Lidl, which did the job just nicely here.

Out with the masking tape, apply to weatherboard, mark out positions of the two 3/16" holes, centre punch them.

Found some spare bits of steel to practice drilling on - think they were something to do with the bicycle rack for the car. I think they were spare bits for if we had some different model of car. Anyway, they now have some bonus holes in.

Confidence gained, time to figure out how to hold the weatherboard on the pillar drill. Set it up carefully. Check alignment of drill bit with centre pop. Check again. And again.

Drill.

Repeat for the 2nd hole.

Clean up, try whistle for size. It fits! Phew.

Offer up resonator, adjust to desired position, mark position for 8BA fixing bolt, and drill that. (Feeling much more confident by this point!)

Attach whistle and resonator to weatherboard - here is the result:

Image

Image
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Back together

Post by hussra » Wed Nov 24, 2010 10:40 pm

Time to put it all back together, and trim the flexible tube to suit. Must get some hex-headed 8BA screws for the front of the tanks.

Image

Image

Image

Still some tidying up and painting to do, and the whole loco is coming apart again soon for some more winter jobs. But, it all fits together and looks good to me.

Then I went and made dinner.
Richard Huss
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Post by Pendo Pilot » Wed Nov 24, 2010 11:03 pm

Fantastic stuff, just proves theres always a way (or two) to get things done.
I have been eying up the DJB whistle I admit, so far though I need 3 (Fowler,Edrig & Countess) then I will have to bodge one up for my Carrie I guess.

Very nice step by step guide, very informative.
Tommy Dodd may have an ARS key but I have a TASS button & a Rope Ladder, just like pirates, except the TASS button bit.

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Post by TonyW » Wed Nov 24, 2010 11:50 pm

Well done!

I've fitted a number of DJB whistles, and every one has turned out to be more work than originally anticipated. HOWEVER, none of the issues encountered were anything to do with the DJB product and all were caused by other unforeseen factors.
Tony Willmore
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Post by hussra » Thu Nov 25, 2010 7:27 am

TonyW wrote:I've fitted a number of DJB whistles, and every one has turned out to be more work than originally anticipated. HOWEVER, none of the issues encountered were anything to do with the DJB product and all were caused by other unforeseen factors.
Yes, entire satisfaction with the product here. I'm very grateful to David Bailey for putting up with my stream of emails, for very rapidly sorting out the one problem I found, and for his excellent product.

David and I had spent some time staring at the cab (or at photos of one, in David's case), comparing dimensions, and concluding that "well, it ought to fit". But there's nothing quite like actually having it in place and working to prove that it does fit. There really is quite a lot of stuff in the cab now.

And just to prove it works... Sounds better in real life than on video - I blame the camcorder!

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/W6KOT_5tyTI?fs ... ram><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/W6KOT_5tyTI?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

A little higher pitched than some I have heard; I think the pitch is a function of resonator volume.

Will try to get some outdoor footage some time.
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Post by hussra » Thu Nov 25, 2010 7:48 am

Pendo Pilot wrote:Fantastic stuff, just proves theres always a way (or two) to get things done.
I have been eying up the DJB whistle I admit, so far though I need 3 (Fowler,Edrig & Countess) then I will have to bodge one up for my Carrie I guess.

Very nice step by step guide, very informative.
Thanks for that.

There are some photographs of one on a Carrie in Tag Gorton's Live Steam Workshop, chapter 5. It's hard to make out which whistle variant he used but it seems to be the standard cab-front one with the resonating chamber squeezed in between the gas tank and regulator turret. Whistle valve on the pressure gauge banjo fitting. Perhaps Tag could confirm if he sees this?
Richard Huss
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Post by DolwyddelanLightRail » Thu Nov 25, 2010 9:39 am

I have to say i really enjoyed the progress and the steps that you laid out here! Very informative! :D and nice job on Wilberforce! :D

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Post by Narrow Minded » Thu Nov 25, 2010 9:42 am

Bravo! Very inspiring thread - and yet I was so sure that I wasn't going to fit whistles to any of my loco's :roll:
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Post by hussra » Thu Nov 25, 2010 12:18 pm

Narrow Minded wrote:Bravo! Very inspiring thread - and yet I was so sure that I wasn't going to fit whistles to any of my loco's :roll:
:D

Do take note of the info in red on this page - whistle manufacture is moving from DJB Bracknell to DJB Tuxford. Mine was one of David Bailey's last batch.
Richard Huss
in sunny Solihull

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