Road Loco - 'Blackbeard'

Good interesting post Brian, so much to learn about these engines
I wonder what I'll find when I get going!!
Regards,
Tony

Tony.

When you get to that point. I could bring Crystsl down for the weekend and help

Could be a while Lynn, but you got yourself a date!!
Would be great to have someone about who knows what she's doing!!
Thanks,
Tony

Tony King wrote:I wonder what I'll find when I get going!!
Regards,
Tony

A lot of cleaning and polishing to do even on a plain black engine.

Congrats Brian, I remember those early sessions well, been there with not realising the eccentrics will lock up, especially on the LP side, and yes it will run just like a single cylinder on only the HP side!!! Get those other straps sorted and give it a proper go!!!! Take a video so we can see!!! Then the fun really begins.

Dont know if you'll need all that regulator!! It'll scare you sh**less, ask Tim!!!

Another milestone yesterdsay, the V5 arrived Also, I ordered some boiler treatment which arrived this morning so I will get some in before this coming weekend's steaming session. It should attract all the crud and oil to it and help remove all the impurtities when draining down.

You may notice there is a bit more colour on the engine now, a blood red colour as is appropriate for a Blackbeard.

Waterpump also fitted last night, fitting the water pump road was quite a challenge to find a way to get it through the specatacle plate with the adaptor fitted that goes inside the ram. It was fitted before putting it through the hole as the holes for the pin were too big which allowed the pin to rotate in the adaptor rather than the bush. Therefore, I decided to use bearing fit on both sides to retain the pin and I must remember this when it comes to changing the bush when it wears out. I stood the part on its end to ensure the pin set in the working position with the pressure pushing it against the rod.

You may notice some marks around some of the joints on the pump body, that's caused by a bit of jointing compond weeping out during the powder coating process. I took the decision to assemble the pump first then poweder coat the assembly after checking the temperature that Heldite was good for - 350 degrees. I just need to get a bit of red paint the right shade and touch up, I will probably just try to darken the Halfords engine red I have with a spot of the engine black in it so get it to a closer match for touching up. I was very careful in the pump assembly and in particular the setting of the balls in their seats etc.. hopefully I wont regret that decision.

I did put the flywheel brake on and the water pipe to the clack then realised I could not acutally find a route for the drain cock operating rod so I will take out the flywheel brake shaft tonight and feed the drain cock rod into place readty to connect then put the water pipe and flywheel brake back on.

Brian,

Looking good! I have just received kit 24 the water pump and am interested if you have any advice on assembling the water pump and getting good seals etc.

Ian

Held ire to Kellogg's packet. Both work wery well

Ian

I used Heldite and I also used silicone grease on the by pass valve and also the ram to aid sealing and in particular the movement. The by-pass has a very nice action with the grease on it as well as the packing. And make sure you get everything deburred well, even the sealing faces have burrs from the bolt holes etc.. Fine everycloth on a known flat surface like a drill table or surface plate (if you dare) and a careful rotarty movement to makes sure there are no burrs in the surface from being knocked agaisnt something else and it is flat. Hopfully, I will find it all works this weekend when I steam up again.

Brian

Brian many thanks for the tips

Lynn I assume the Kellogs box was used as a cardboard gasket?

Ian

Yup

Cheap skate.

Brian:
I was advised NOT to put water treatment in new boilers until they have settled down. Otherwise Blackbeard will be blacker than black from all the muck from priming!

Tim

I did see that in the final instructions that Steve sent although I hadnt had them when I started in the summer and have used it from day one and havent really had any issues with priming at all. I did however blow down the boiler after each of the first sessions and didnt do much more than tick over so perhaps that cleared it before I really started to run properly.

Tim

Are we talking three or four blow downs before starting treatment? It was suggested to me to put some in straight away as it would attract the oil and help suspend it and the muck in the water and aid removing it. However, I do recall the instructions saying not too. Too much advice out there sometimes.

Thanks

Brian

Spent a very busy week and weekend getting a lot of thinngs completed on Blackbeard inlcuding removing the valve spindles a few times sorting out the issue of the HP end hitting the block - god do I know how to get them out quick now!!

Timing set cold by eye based on the expansion when hot calculated at 40PSI and 170PSI which gives anything from 1.2mm to 1.8mm expansion in the boiler between the crankshaft c/l and the cylinder c/l. Fire lit Sunday afternoon and I finished fitting the lubricator inards and testing it as Bleckbeard warmed through, last wick put in for LP big end which was finally fitted only the day before.

Blackbeard was still leaking steam up the blastpipe which was dissapointing as I spent time cleaning the last bits of foliac from the regulator block and chamber and oiling it with steam oil. After a lot of thought I am thinking it is now the starting valve stuck open as it did not seem to repsosnd as it daid a week ago. I suspect foliac in their too now so will need to take it off completly next weekend and probably blank the holes for a test run without it fitted to prove it. I am away all week on business so Friday night is the first chance I will get.

The steam blowing past also comes out of the drain cocks and the HP chest as I had a weep from the HP valve chest cover this time, coming from the hole in the cover where you put a bolt in to pop the cover off if it sticks. Thinking of putting a grub screw in here with PTFE. The steam could be coming through the starting valve as it goes into the LP chest it will go out of the drain cocks and also travel the wrong way up the HP to LP exhaust passage. The engine would not run on what was passing though.

I also had the slightest weep from one of the blanking plugs in the cylinder block, the one in the hole on the front of the block between the blower output and the HP cover, this will come out and be re-sealed to be sure.

Took the pressure to around 120PSI this time but the blow past made it sound quite dramatic as it pulled the fire like mad at that point - like having the blower on all the time.

I opened the regulator and pushed the flywheel round and Blackbeard finally turned over pumped water all over the manstand (return pipe was still attached to the hose pipe from filling the boiler via the left hand clack). It was very satisfying to see it turn over under steam and the exhaust beat did sound nice and even despite the sound of steam already going up the chimeny from the blow past.

Photos and video will be posted at some point when I get the chance during the week.

Brian

Don't give up. He will quieten down soon enough.

Crystal has moods also. Last year during some of the test firings she hissed out the blast pipe all the time, other days she was silent, then another time she sat and whistled to herself when not tuning over.

Once she also blew the gasket out of the blast pipe joint at a lower pressure than she was at the day before. Check the nuts on the valve rods and make sure the they have not tightened up and holding the block off the face. I had to give the starting valve a 2nd dunt on the ball and shorten the rod by 10mm as it was pre-tensioning and holding the valve open. Mine passes steam until about 80 then stops and works correctly for the rest of the day after that.

Easiest way to check the start valve is to take off the LP cover and see if the inlet is letting in. You need to take the covers off when hot anyway to really set the timing so you need to be brave!!! If you know the regulator is closed then the engine wont do anything and once the covers are off it cant run at all. It runs totally differently with the reg working properly, I have now steamed twice with the start valve in place, certainly runs a little more fruitily with it but was easier to pull away with it in situ, probably needs the ball whacking againg to relly get a good seat. Might take it off again.

If you want a chat then send me a PM and I'll send you the phone number and you can call, get through at lot more in 10 mins on the phone than going back and forth on here.

I can still remember the first run of HM and it was such a feeling of joy and relief!!! Once you get started you cant help yourself, Andy and I already want to have a run again, watching DVDs of steam stuff and cant wait to get to a do. Best way to get a video on here is to upload it to youtube and then use the icon above ( looks like the ladder in the middle of the bar ) and it will paste the video on the page.

Here are a couple of photos of Blackbeard taken a week ago when I had my first steam up just to show him with all the motion assembled, lubricator connected, drain cocks, pump pipe etc...still clean before the fire was lit!!!

This week I have discovered a new problem and confirmed the probable cause of another one.

First, I was putting the valve chest covers back on this weekend in anticipation of a second steam test to see if removing the starting valve and blanking off the holes would cure the steam blowing through and up the chimney and acting like a blower. Last week I had felt what I thought were a couple of the nuts starting to strip so purchased some stainless steel nuts that would be stronger. As I was tightening them down in sequence like you would a cylinder head, I was getting to the final tighten and when I came to the one of the lower row of nuts I again what felt like the nut starting to strip. However, when a looked at it from above I noticed that one of the studs was obviously protruding further than the one next to it which made me suspect that the thread in the cylinder block was failing. I removed the nuts and the cover and was shocked to find that I was correct, there was a crack in between the thread and the steam chest and the stud had pulled the thread out a little. The fact that there only seems to be 1.5mm between the stud and the edge of the steam chest probably caused the weakness and means there is no chance of helicoiling it plus it would have to be welded first which could make it to hard to drill and tap again anyway, a real downer.

I was really disappointed at the time and left the engine for 10 minutes to go get a brew. I then had a brainwave - I looked to see where the passage way was, the one that has a blanking stud in the front face of the cylinder block and it was lower than the line of studs. Therefore I removed the two studs that exhibited the problem and drilled the holed deeper but for an M5 thread. I ended up going in about 12mm deeper. My rational was that if I take a long 6mm stud and turn one end down and thread it to suit the 5m thread of the deeper hole then there would still be a 6mm threaded stud to put the cover on with so nothing would look out of place. For the steam test that day I used two 5mm bolts with washers and put the 6mm nut under and the washer and bolted the cover on that way - it worked and the engine was steamed later that morning. I did take a video and I just need to find a way of editing to make it smaller then I will post it here - you can see Blackbeard running then and you will here the sound of steam going up the chimney like the sound of a blower along with the soft beat of the engine.








The second problem could be more serious. I had blanked off the holes for the starting valve to eliminate this as a possible cause and also left off the LP cover - a) to hopefully watch and listen to the HP exhaust beat entering the LP steam chest and b) to see if steam from the regulator was the cause for steam blowing out through the exhaust if it was not the starting valve.

Steam did escape up the chimney again but on looking at the LP steam chest area it was not coming from the HP exhaust inlet which it would have been if the regulator had been leaking through. Steam was escaping from behind the LP slide valve which could only mean one thing, live steam is getting to the exhaust chamber and going up the chimney plus entering the LP steam chest from behind the slide valve entering the wrong direction from the LP exhaust port. This probably means there is either a fault in the casting allowing this to happen and/or a passage way has been machined close by and broken through. I will need to call Steve to discuss this further as it could be quite serious. I do not wish to remove the cylinder block at this stage.

Here is my first video posting of Blackbeard running at the weekend. You will notice what sounds like the blower being on but it is the steam escaping through the exhaust passage. I need to remove the block fur investigation and repair/replacement so very disappointed at the moment but at least I have had Blackbeard running which was so satisfying.

I will post some photos of the parts of the engine that got VERY HOT due to the fire being drawn so hard with running the engine plus having the "blower" effect - Blackbeard was HOT this weekend!!!

Put the direct URL in the text box after clicking on the movie film icon should do it. You also need to enable "embedded" in YouTube clip properties.

You do have a problem there. I take it your piston runs are ok?

I got a little blow past but was due to timing.

Thanks for the guidance on youTube, edited the post now and the video is there.

Pistons bores are fine, no holes in there. It is likely to be a core problem during casting after discussing it with Steve this morning, this has happened only once before with a cylinder block. It will have to come off to verify it and if it can be welded it will be, otherwise I will have to wait for the new batch of castings to arrive and be machined - mid March at earliest to get one back if a new one is needed. It will be frantic when that arrives!!!

Giveds me time to finish other bits like planking the roof, making the RH motion cover fit and doing the gear guard which has been ignored so far. Also, get the seat frame finished how I want it. A coulple of wagons to be getting on with too.

Looking very smart, but a shame about the cylinder, I noticed in your video the water pump eccentric oiler is not fitted. I am trying to fit mine at the moment and have found it fouls the front spectacle plate and will not allow the drive to rotate. I know this was mentioned on the forum do you have a work around solution I have just emailed Steve so he may have a recommendation. What is your plan.

Ian

A bend is needed to clear the plate.

Yes I spoke to Steve about it recently. The solution is a short piece of copper pipe threaded to fit the eccentric tapped hole and the oiler, this can then be bent slightly to point the oiler cup vertical and clear the spectacle plate. He did say they had not made any yet as some people had made there own solutions to this problem but he did say they would get it sorted. I would give him a call unless you have something in stock to use.