Road Loco - 'Blackbeard'

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!

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