Running on Air

I have achieved an important milestone today by running my Foden on compressed air for the first time. Whilst setting up the valve gear I became suspicious that the instructions were wrong. It was a case of Deja vu as the cylinders were set to run in opposing directions just like my POP. I corrected this and made final adjustment to the valves, sealed the spare holes and connected my compressor. This video shows what happened.



As you can see the engine sprang into life as soon as the air was applied. This video shows the very first time I tried to run the engine. I have a little work to do as it sounds line the engine is missing a beat.

I will soon be updating my website so check out Foden Builder's Diary

Well done! I can hear a squeak so I wonder if something is a bit tight? (Not that I'm a expert!)

Paul

Julia

That is good news. Unfortunately I believe it will be quite a while before I achieve what you have. I have been waiting 10 months for a cylinder block and now the new batch has been scrapped it will probably be a long time before the 3rd batch will be completed. Also I don't have a crankshaft and todate have been given no assurance when I will get one - hey ho!

My Foden has been on its wheels for most of the Summer and recently I have constructed wooden sides and back and now I am trying to source some suitable hardware to attached these to the load bed. To keep the project moving on I have tried to purchase a cab roof but without sucess so far so I may set about making one myself providing I can get a copy of the plans for it.

I am hoping to attend the Bedfordshire Steam Rally in September with my Foden so hopefully I will be able to have a chat with other owners and begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel for the project.

Julia,

Good to see you are up and running, a definite motivator to get moving with the parts I have.

Gulfstream,

I was speaking to Steve at GDSF and all the Foden builders should be getting a letter fairly soon with schedules etc. The lead time on the new block castings and the suppliers commitment to QA sounded promising, hopefully things will get moving soon.

I hope to visit Old Warden at some point so I will see if I can find you.

Kieran

Hi All

We should have a trade stand at Old Warden, by which time we should have a much better idea about the situation with the cylinder blocks and cranks. We've at last had a commitment from the Administrators to give us a letter transferring the ownership of the gear order to STW.

The problems with the cylinder blocks was a big disappoinment to us. As I'm sure it was to those Foden builders without one. It was also a double edged sword because not only did we loose the potential revenue we were hoping for but it cost the use of a mill for a week plus of course all the tools it used up, just to produce some more scrap! You can put the violins away now.

Regards

Steve