Whistle for Millie

[SimonWood]

Nice job, your obviously completely hooked now Simon.
 Have often wondered why Roundhouse don't provide a manifold as an accessory, perhaps too much leverage on the banjo bolt! All sorts of reasons for an extra steam line or two though.
Grant.

I am, Grant! The new piece feels very solid, but on the Millie it cannot be symmetrical in order not to block the other direct take-off from the boiler. It would be a useful accessory if Roundhouse provided it, although in this case DIY may have been appropriate anyway as the valve has an M5 thread.

You are very fortunate to have someone who is willing to teach you to use a lathe, I would love that opportunity.

Regner whistles need to be mounted at a slight angle so that any water can pour out and also the whistle must not be touching anything as this can alter the tone.  Any crap in the whistle from dirty water can change the tone as well so give it a blast out on air or carb cleaner.

I am. Even just watching Tony at work is a treat!

Thanks for the advice on the mounting. The whistle is not at an angle, I did not know it needed to be. We will have to think how we can do that, especially at horizontalness seems currently to be the most likely culprit.

The only thing the whistle is touching is the brass bracket you can see (where the inlet pipe is). It's mounted close to, but not touching, the inside of the buffer beam. When we first steamed up, the whistle didn't 'whistle' at all, so blasting it with air got us to the point we're at... But when testing it with air, we left it in situ (i.e. still mounted with the little bracket) so we know it works on air mounted as is.

[Big Jim]

Having seen the work in progress I am impressed. I am sure you and Tony can work something out to alter the pitch.

[KNO3]

From the picture it looks like the long bolt is exactly in front of the whistle's mouth. It shouldn't have any other objects very close to it, or it could affect the sound.

[SimonWood]

From the picture it looks like the long bolt is exactly in front of the whistle's mouth. It shouldn't have any other objects very close to it, or it could affect the sound.

Thanks. I think what I will try, when I get a chance to steam up, is removing the bracket altogether and angling the whistle down, just for testing purposes whilst stationary. If that improves things, I'll at least have somewhere to go with making adjustments!

[KNO3]

The bracket itself shouldn't affect it. It is just objects in the path of the air flow at the whistle's mouth that should be avoided.

[Dr. Bond of the DVLR]

The whistle sounds a little restricted - as if it isn't being fed a high enough volume of steam. Is the pipe run particularly long or have any kinks in it which would cause a large pressure drop? What pressure are you running at? Could you supply a picture of the mouth of the whistle?

[SimonWood]

Is the pipe run particularly long or have any kinks in it which would cause a large pressure drop?

I don't think so. It's the length supplied by Regner - the sharpest bends are shown in the photograph, it then snakes through the side tank to the whistle.

What pressure are you running at?

I've no pressure gauge, but I assume 40psi because that's what the Millie's safety valve is supposed to blow off at. We tested it on air and got a good tone at far lower than that, but as Tony reminds me, with air the pressure you see is the pressure you get, it might be less with steam.

There was a Regner whistle fitted to the coal fired Billy at Cardiff on the weekend, nice loud sound, but at 60psi.

Could you supply a picture of the mouth of the whistle?

I'll do that over the weekend. Thanks for your thoughts Mr. Bond.

[pandsrowe]

Strangely enough I have just finished fitting a Regner whistle to my Accucraft Ragleth and tried it out at my local 16mm group a couple of days ago. I am pleased with the result, but when I add up the time and effort that has gone into getting to this stage- its just not worth the effort. Besides the fact that it is very loud as you can see from this clip.

https://youtu.be/wCDstuDEovY

The Regner whistle is certainly very good value compared to some others on the market but it is designed to fit Regner locos and certainly was not an easy installation in my Ragleth. I spent a long time deciding where it would go and an even longer period of time in making the mounts for the servo, whistle valve and obviously the whistle itself and then the pipework to suit. I don't think that it's a job for the faint hearted, I nearly gave up on several occasions, but then I suppose thats one of the reasons that we do the hobby.

[SimonWood]

That sounds excellent pandsrowe. I guess that's also higher pressure (60psi?) than my Millie, and a good clean sound it makes.

I didn't manage to find the time to steam up and do some testing over the weekend, but I did get a couple of shots of the whistle mouth

[pandsrowe]

As the two whistles are from the same manufacturer I think as you say it may be down to a lower operating pressure. What boiler pressure does your Millie work at? You are correct in assuming my Ragleth is running at 60psi.
One thing does occur to me, make sure that your whistle is not in contact with anything apart from the bottom mounting bracket as this will affect the natural resonance of the brass tube. In your photos the end of the whistle does look as if it maybe in contact with the rear buffer beam, just a thought.

[SimonWood]

What boiler pressure does your Millie work at?

40psi

In your photos the end of the whistle does look as if it maybe in contact with the rear buffer beam, just a thought.

No, it's close but it's not touching.

[KNO3]

A whistle will have a narrow range of pressure it sounds good at. Any lower and it won't sound, any higher and it will overblow.
The pressure it sounds at is proportional to the height of the whistle "mouth". A low opening will make it sound at a lower pressure.