Road Loco - 'Blackbeard'

bjwlancashire wrote:Blackbeard is now on a trailer in my garage ready for his 11am appointment with the DVLA tomorrow - just a formality as all the documents are accepted so wish me luck.

Good luck I am sure all will be fine.

Good luck with the inspection,.

What are they looking for, did they want to see the boiler number, or a VIN plate which was what they did when I took the Cobra in to be inspected.

So will you get a 62 or wait for an 03 plate, assuming you avoid the dreaded Q.

Ian
yes oopps 13 not 03 just ten years out, its my age you know

It would be a "13" plate I guess. Wonder how well taken up they will be. Unlucky for some and all that!

SUCCESS - Blackbeard now exists on the DVLA system so any speeding ticket will duly be sent to my home!!!


Regarding the plate I had't thought of waiting for a 13 plate which would have been more appropriate as it is our house number too - rather a dark combination that would have been, especially with the pirate name too. We are actually looking for self adhesive numbers that can be applied to our postbox on the gate post that have a gothic look or a horror movie font but no luck yet. Maybe Rob can paint some on with his new found signwriting skills.

They wanted to see:

1. It was a new vehicle
   
2. The VIN number which in this case is the boiler number.
   

What a struggle just to do that, there are no steering chains on at the moment and the trailer I hired had no winch!!! Two teenagers at the front pulling on straps attached to the front axle to keep the wheels pointing the right way and I was lucky that my drive has a short slope down to the road level accross the path. So with the trailer reversed to the edge of the road and tailgate down the end of it was near the top of the slope minimising the effort to get it up and down on and off the trailer. The chocks I made worked very well and the engine was moved 6" at a time and the chocks followed, placed there by one of my assistants.

Just need to get the boiler certificate which is planned for the end of February and we are off!!!

Brian

Brian,

Fantastic news and congratulations yet another step completed.

Proving it was new just as well you had not lit too many fires in her belly or she would have looked used!!!

Great news

Ian

Excellent. DVLA are getting good practice.

Fantastic news, and another major milestone achieved. I understood the year would be the date of the boiler, but in my case I'll be a 57 plate in any event.

Mine was date of boiler manufacture as shown on the hydro test certificate. As this was the date of chassis building and the only official recognisable date.

Met the lady that did the paperwork the other week. She asked how the engine was doing.

Rob why is yours going to be a 57 plate?

Ian

Private plate

RF 57EAM

Not allowed personal numbers on vehicles without MOT. I had enquired also.

That's what I thought.

I went in to the DVLA in Portsmouth and explained what it was for and they said it shouldn't be a problem, BUT has to be registered with it at first registration, it can't be transferred later unless as you said it has an MOT. Usual rule also applies that the year prefix can't be newer than the vehicle actually is. May worth looking at with your chosen offices when you come to register in case they change the rules or someone else applies them differently.

Hopefully when the time comes it won't be a problem.

In order to have an age related plate rather than boiler manufacturing date there was a second form I had to fill in, I cannot remember the form number but it is described on Sonic45's post on his DVLA application he described the form and what to put in it.

Cheers

Brian

Certificate of newness.

Well, that was a mad, busy weekend after my trip down south. I had a super evening with Tim while in the south discussing all things steam/model engineering. Fredrick looks even better up close too - thanks Tim, more food for thought on the extended regulator idea and the reinforced seat frame too.

My friend did a superb job in getting all the powder coating back for the weekend in case we got snowed in, as you can see a little more red has gone on the engine. I got the gear change and regulator fitted and also made an additional piece for the regulator to prevent the slow start block from sliding to far therefore restricing the main opening, something that has been pointed out on here. My regulator only uncovers the first slow start hole now. Finally dropped in the fill in plate between tender and firebox as it got powder coated with all the other items. Gear guard with reverser now back on too, just need to cut the slots in the quadrant.

Also, fitted the second shaft oilers and the blower but I have not any pictures of this, too busy. Water pump now all coloured and awaiting final fitting. During the refitting of a lot of these parts I took the oportuinity to paint all the bolts/nuts etc. that would be less accessible so Blackbeard is starting to look like the fiinshed article in places. One thing I relaise is needed is chains on the gear lever locks, on the full size engines these are on chains to stop you loosing them or falling into the gear train, must investigate some suitable chain.

I also had a steam up on Sunday late afternoon but more of that drama in another post later. Sorry about the quality of first couple of pictures, they were taken on the phone in the garage light.

I crimped on short wires with a hole in the lever. So when the lock is undone the lock stands up on the slight spring effect of the wire. So no chain to foul the motion.

lynnr wrote:I crimped on short wires with a hole in the lever. So when the lock is undone the lock stands up on the slight spring effect of the wire. So no chain to foul the motion.

Ah, found a picture with it on and cropped it. I think I will still go for chain for authenticity, it only needs to be long enough to reach the relevant holes.

Nearly there then Brian!! When you set the full forward and reverse on the quadrant dont forget not to set it as far forward as you can get it as it puts a very big strain on the lever as the motion tries to pull the lever back and forth. You should not need to cut the slot into the spacer as myself and Tony had done, I think the instructions are not clear on ensuring you get things in the right place for this. Basically as the engine is in forward you will find the lever will rock and back forth slightly, you need to set the notch at the point where the lever rocks back towards centre as this is the point where to motion is comfortable, if you set it at the furthest point of travel it will try and stretch the metal which cant be done and cause it to run poorly due to the strains. Also and worse it can try and push the whole lever mech off the hornplate in reverse causing it to twist and in my case break one of the many gauge glasses I have had. If I havent made this explanation clear let me know and I will try and post some photos or even a video.

Julia Explainied it to me at the first rally we were at in steam and it made sense to what I had done then and the engine ran much better for it after adjustments. If you are in a position to be in steam and can get it running its is very apparant where the the full forward sweet spot is especially if you have no slots in the quadrant at all and can just slide the lever back and forth to find the point where it "over cooks" it. Hope this makes sense.

Kev.

Kev

I think I understand but it will become clearer once I am in a position to set the engine in the correct position. The half thickness collars for the valve rods also arrived last week while I was out. So now I need to finish fitting the water pump, put the LP motion back on and fit the collars to allow full travel of the valve rods. If I am struggling I will have to PM you and maybe have a chat on the phone with you. Did Julia describe this in her build guide? If she did it is available online to download so I will have a look at that too.

Cheers

Brian

Kev,
That's an interesting post you just put up about the reverser quadrant slots........... Is it because the boiler expands lengthways thus the reach rod effectively becomes too short, resulting in "straining" of the reversing mechanism?
As you know, my engine ain't got hot yet, but it all runs OK on compressed air, with no apprarent strain on the reverser when in full forward or reverse!!
Regards,
Tony

Tony, that is probably it. However, it makes sense to set it warm including the slide valve position too for accuracy and I intend to do this.

At least with coal it is easier to keep it constant, I picked up a bag from the garage, the smokeless briquettes and apart from having to break them smaller it went very well. We do use this stuff on the Steam Yachts at some of the events and it is good stuff and tands to last a bit longer than steam coal and burns better when your are not doing anything, Steam Coal also tends to dull off unless you working it and it is very dusty and can clog a fire your trying to build up if your not careful,

Its partly to do with the expansion but its more to do with the inaccuracies of the Stephensons link. If you look at the the expansion link as the crank rotates its describes a sort of wavy circular motion which causes the link to then pull the reverser back and forth. The reverser needs to be set at the back point of travel to ensure it doesnt pull on the link. It is much clearer and easier to see with the engine running and moving the lever, it reaches a real sweet spot and then if you go a bit further it causes the motion to labour as it is working harder. Very easy to see at low pressures as the engine cant overcome the resistance.

Dont know if its documented by Julia.

On Sunday afternoon I finally plucked up the courage to raise steam instead of just boiling water and what an eventful afternoon it turned into as you will see below - warts and all. However, more things tested and working, and one piece of the engine for the black museum.

First I had forgotten to put the packing into the regulator glands - dohh!!. Made it more interesting to do it with steam coming out I can tell you but hey, good practice and I sure won't do it again.

Secondly, I had forgotten to blank off the tender water entry/balance pipe elbow so when I realised I needed to use the injector I poured water into the tender only for it to come out all over the floor. That was the fastest bit of pipe cutting I had ever done!! Water in, injector on and managed to get it to pick up at 50-60psi. The reason for not having any more pressure on the clock was the fact that there was steam passing through and out of the blast pipe up the chimney so it was not raising pressure so quickly.

And finally, I had jiggled the regulator to a) get the oil one way valve ball to set (which did work eventually) and b) to see if the regulator would close - I found that with only the HP cylinder connected, no valve setting done, no flywheel and just 20PSI in the clock the reversing lever had slipped forward a little and Blackbeard turned over for the first time, or tried to. However, as the LP eccentric rods and connecting rod were missing the eccentrics rotated with the crank and one of the LP eccentrics jammed against the water pump shaft - DDOOHHHHH!! I could not turn the crank by hand after that, the eccentric had locked itself against the shaft so I left it until the engine had cooled a little. Loosening the crankshaft bearing bolts a couple of turns allowed me to lift the crank in the bearing which unlocked the eccentric and there was a clunk as the oiler pot fell onto the top of the firebox. So, crank bolts done up again, all turning smoothly thank goodness and the only thing damaged was on oil pot - that was lucky, a little like Kev when he had a water pump problem and the thing that broke was the plastic gear if I remeber correctly.

What did I learn apart from the above? The starting valve did not leak and operated very smoothly, the only leak on the engine was the pressure gauge globe valve handle housing which I have now resealed ready for next time, the injector works at quite low pressures and the clacks are sealing.

Regarding the steam blowing through I was already suspecting foliac contamination and took the cylinder covers and the safety valves off and discovered it was everywhere, it must be what squeezes out from the gasket and over the steam holes in the boiler - a result of following the instructions to liberally apply foliac paste. I had ended up with a good lump of it near the regulator a week ago when I just boiled the water and thought that was it. This time I discovered more in both steam chests and again some had stayed in the regulator chamber. This was sticking near the regulator valve causing it to stick a little and twist the main body round the smaller inner piece which meant it would not close the slow starting hole and probably held the main block off its face a little. I cleaned it all out tonight and oiled the area including the valve components and now I have a silky smooth regulator that opens and closes properly. Lets see what happens this weekend when I have another go.

I have taken a couple of macro photographs of the regulater back in place to show the opening I now get and also the packing piece. It fits under the rod and there is a protrusion on it the fits in the slot the rod passed through therefore hanging it in place so it does not touch the main block and affect the working - it is short of the main block by around 1mm. It also has a round groove filed in to match the regulator rod so it is comfortably retained with out being tight. I should have took a picture while it was out but the camera was elsewhere and I just got on with cleaning and refitting it. It felt like being an apprentice again, no machine to mill it out so hack saw and files only.

You will also note Blackbeard finally has his nameplate on properly ater tonights workshop session.

Incidentally I lit up on wood and then steamed on smokeless briquettes from the garage nearby. I have just ordered half a ton of Dry Steam Coal from Andy Holmes after discussing it with him so I will need to make a space for it.











FULLY OPEN!