Garden Railway Forum

Hi, thought I would post a new build on this forum and have started this thread to simply put some ideas up and to show maybe some different techniques than those in the book
As a little intro .I have loved playing with model engineering for nearly 47 years gosh suddenly I seem old. My main interest for several years has been Hot Air engines in various forms and currently rescuing some 2inch Rider Ericsson castings.
When building more challenging models I like to have several simpler builds on the go just cannot help myself a complete scatter brain this often means they get put to oneside for a while although this little loco has grabbed my attention
I have searched through my scrap bin and have enough to make a start but today in my unheated shop I gave up at -8c just to cold for this wimp
Well thats the idea for this thread lets see if we end up with a runner or crash and burn
Please feel free to jump in or question anything you may see
Im a little dyslexic so forgive my poor grammar and or very bad spelling usually both.
kind regards
frazer

Always happy to see new ideas and projects. Keep us posted.

Thanks Jim
A wee update and not a lot to show mainly due to the rather cold temps in my shop
The frames have been hard soldered up
The two uprights and spacer come mount are riveted together as Iv found in the past if it can move when hard soldering it will
The 1/4 block for the ports is now 5/16 as my stock was undersize for the 1/4 40 thread a shallow 5/16 grove helped also hold this in place when soldering it up
The mains have been made to 1/4 dia and phos bronze bushes fitted
The cylinder pivot was made to 3/16 and again a bronze bush pressed into the upright
When machining these holes after hard soldering the port face was given a light skim without disturbing the setting the idea been that this way the crank and cylinder pivot all should be at 90 degrees to the port face and may save having to give mamod sized fits to the pivot and big end
The other reason to fit bushes is that when they wear they are easily replaced
The crank will be next and should have been made today but my one and only 5ba tap dropped behind the mill into the abise and I had to move the mill to recover it
The ports will be drilled using a simple jig as it takes out the guesswork
cheers

Hi all, just a little update
Ellies engine is now finished and she is a very sweet runner.
The porting was drilled using the jig shown to the left in the pick and all holes are to 2.4 mm dia. I started at 2mm and kept increasing them until I had the engine running the way I wanted it to, 2.4mm leaves 0.1mm either side of the holes at TDC and BDC.Thanks to Tony Bird for the info as I was going to leave them at 2.2mm
I found the piston at TDC covers most of the cylinders port so reduced the length by 1mm
As you can see she now has a Cracker type cylinder as Iv found this to be long lasting on engines in the past
So onto the boiler next or maybe the simpler lubricator
For some reason my files are to large so thats the end of that for now
cheers

Looks good. You can use MS Paint to resize images.

Pictures need to be under 500KB, resolution does not matter:

https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 33&t=11543

Thanks for the info. Im not very good with these computer thingy am bobs so until I can get my thick head round it or find another free photo imaging site Im stuck for now
cheers

If you need help please PM me.

Thanks for the kind offer
Lets see if this works

OK maybe back on track
In no way am I knocking the original design and believe the author and the publisher should be congratulated on bringing a new simple build to the tyro builder
The idea of the thread was / is to highlight any errors and just a few simple mods that come to my mind whilst building her
Iv no idea why I like to build these little engines as I dont even have any track to run them on once finished guess the joy for me is in the building
Thanks again
kind regards

guess the joy for me is in the building

As with many of us I suspect, and some like to run a railway, but it doesn't have to be. There are so many pressures in modern day life, a hobby should be a joy.(frustrating yes, maddening at times) but in the end doing something which brings us joy.
Grant.

I fully agree .Some days its a joy and others I doubt my sanity but its all part of the fun
One day I will get some track for at least a simple loop although the supreme being wouldnt be amused taking over the garden and the wee dogs would cause mayhem
cheers

fcheslop wrote: ↑Fri Dec 22, 2017 10:41 pm The idea of the thread was / is to highlight any errors and just a few simple mods that come to my mind whilst building her
Iv no idea why I like to build these little engines as I dont even have any track to run them on once finished guess the joy for me is in the building

Looks like you figured out how to resize photos. Maybe you know more about 'puters than you think......

The first parts you've made look good. You do nice work.

Half the fun of building your own is that you can make changes and end up with something different. I like to build locos., but tend to lose interest once they are working properly and have been run in. I don't have a track, just a rolling road on the workbench and occasional running rights on a friends track.

I was looking at the drawings, and the cracker type cylinder looks like a good design for single acting cylinders, as it takes the sideways force off the piston.

Regards,
Graeme

Hi Graeme, I think we are very similar in that once they run well the challenge is over and its onto the next conquest
The trunk guide for a better word Iv used on double acting engines with great success.I need to dig my books out to find the original builder of this style of wobbler Im pretty sure he was from New Zealand and he also did a lot of experimentation for porting but just cannot remember his name
The photo resizing was pure luck and some swearing well a lot of swearing Im not very savvy with these contraptions and dont find them intuitive
I made the simpler lubricator today and its as per the drawing other than a T bar fitting for the fill drain a pic will show the very simple mod once I get one done
Thanks for the interest shown
kind regards
frazer

Watching this with interest, thanks for the updates.