The Night Mail

[Compound2632]

25 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

That's not a large man cave.......

 

It'd probably do for a small man.

[Oldddudders]

1 minute ago, Compound2632 said:

 

It'd probably do for a small man.

ISTR a civil engineering contractor called McWeeney Smallman. 

[Compound2632]

1 minute ago, Oldddudders said:

ISTR a civil engineering contractor called McWeeney Smallman. 

 

Are you sure you've not been reading too much Pratchett? Shades of No'-as-big-as-Medium-Sized-Jock-but-bigger-than-Wee-Jock Jock.

[Oldddudders]

https://www.na3t.org/road/photo/VS01614

Edited April 19, 2021 by Oldddudders

[coastalview]

7 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

Are you sure you've not been reading too much Pratchett?

Is this possible? 

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

Th at's not a large man cave.......

 

Jamie

Don't rub it in.

[simontaylor484]

Good luck for your exams Douglas

 

 

[Canal Digger]

Have spent the morning clearing one corner of the garage onto the drive, the forecast is dry for the next few days, so had better cover it up now before the rain, hail & frogs fall. Anyway from underneath the debris and disappearing under the one corner of the pool table that I can get to is a flat, solid thing that SWMBO tells me is called a floor. Have any of you got such a thing? Back to bench building ...

 

[Happy Hippo]

3 minutes ago, Canal Digger said:

Have spent the morning clearing one corner of the garage onto the drive, the forecast is dry for the next few days, so had better cover it up now before the rain, hail & frogs fall. Anyway from underneath the debris and disappearing under the one corner of the pool table that I can get to is a flat, solid thing that SWMBO tells me is called a floor. Have any of you got such a thing? Back to bench building ...

 

I can confirm that muddy hollows do not have  a floor.

[jamie92208]

4 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I can confirm that muddy hollows do not have  a floor.

But most floors connected wit model railways have entrances to that black hole that's full of small springs, 12BA nuts etc, though the entrance to such holes are usually very well disguised.

 

Jamie

Edited April 19, 2021 by jamie92208

[Happy Hippo]

30 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

But most flors connected wit model railways have entrances to that black hole yhat's full of small dpri gs, 12BA nuts etc, though the entrance to such holesvis usually very well disguised.

 

Jamie

I've got into the habit of putting any loose spring onto a small lump of Blutack so if it does fall on the floor it's easier to see and does not disappear into the farthest corners of my realm.  If possible I use the Blutack to retain springs whilst I'm trying to refit them for exactly the same reason.

 

I was speaking to the Illustrious D Hunt today.  Two old retired officers bumping their gums together:  A conversation between a pair of Rowley Birkin QC!

 

Nyda didn't have a clue what we were talking about.

 

For those who don't know Rowley:

 

 

 

 

 

[Oldddudders]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I can confirm that muddy hollows do not have  a floor.

You were bound to say they are flawless.

[simontaylor484]

More like Waldorf and Statler 

 

 

 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Afternoon all,

 

The exams went well, (thank you all for the well wishes) but I’m afraid that’s all I’m allowed to tell you. Afterwards I went out to lunch, and now I’m off to solder a pipe Union. 
 

On the subject of floors and crevices full of 12 BA bolts, you wouldn’t believe the stuff I’ve found in the 3mm tall gap between my book shelf and the floor right next to my modeling desk. 
 

Douglas

[Dave Hunt]

Jamie, when it comes to man caves, compared with your railway room/workshop, Luxembourg is small......,

 

Dave

Edited April 19, 2021 by Dave Hunt

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Well chaps the mystery of the my Bassett Lowke mogul not running properly has at last been solved. 
 

 

Deep within an article on USA denatured alcohol, it was discovered the USA meths spirit contains less alcohol than UK meths, hence why the burner was not able to steam the boiler correctly! 
 

So, now we know. Although it’s not terribly useful as the engine still has the broken backhead fitting. 

Douglas

[Dave Hunt]

But at least it may provide the impetus to resurrect the Mogul project Douglas.

 

Just why were you reading an article on denatured alcohol, though?

 

Dave

[Florence Locomotive Works]

4 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

But at least it may provide the impetus to resurrect the Mogul project Douglas.

 

Just why were you reading an article on denatured alcohol, though?

 

Dave

I was watching a Keith Appleton (very big live steam YouTube) video where he showed what meths he was using for his engines, and it showed part of the chemical makeup on the label. I wanted to compare it to the USA makeup so went to Wikipedia, where it states that USA meths oftencontains less than 50% methanol. I can see why that might be an odd thing to read though. 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

So,

 

As the Illustrious (I believe that’s his title now) Dave Hunt predicted, my Bassett Lowke Mogul project has been resumed (only been going 18 months now). 
 

Currently, this Stuart Models drain tap is stuck into the whistle bushing due to the threads being stripped. I believe I’ve tried every trick in the book to get it out, heating it up, spinning it very fast, etc. It’s also got a small tap sheared off inside the drain hole, leftover from a previous removal attempt. 
 

 

 

 

The fitting cannot be turned by hand, but if you get a small pair of pliers on it it spins fairly freely with some side play. 
 

Soldering the thing shut has been suggested to me, but it has an O ring behind which would need removing, and it’s also extremely close to the boiler end cap seam. 
 

So, all opinions, whether they be useful or not are wanted. 
 

 

Douglas

Edited April 20, 2021 by Florence Locomotive Works
Horrific spelling.

[J. S. Bach]

2 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Afternoon all,

The exams went well, (thank you all for the well wishes) but I’m afraid that’s all I’m allowed to tell you. ...snip...

Douglas

The test were administered by the CIA, NSA, FBI, MI5, or BMT??

Edited April 19, 2021 by J. S. Bach

[Florence Locomotive Works]

6 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

The test were administered by the CIA, NSA, FBI, MI5, or BMT??

No, the ACT Corporation, I kid you not. They have all manner of things that get read to you preventing you from speaking to anyone about the content of their tests. 

[polybear]

7 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

But at least it may provide the impetus to resurrect the Mogul project Douglas.

 

Just why were you reading an article on denatured alcohol, though?

 

Dave

 

Oklahoma + alcohol.  Bear reckons young Douglas is taking the logical next step and using his experience with boilers and lengths of copper piping and knocking up a still....

'Shine here we come.....

 

6 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

The fitting cannot be turned by hand, but if you get a small pair of pliers on it it spins fairly freely with some side play. 

 

Soldering the thing shut has been suggested to me, but it has an O ring behind which would need removing, and it’s also extremely close to the boiler end cap seam. 
 

So, all opinions, whether they be useful or not are wanted. 
 

 

Douglas

 

A broken tap? Ah, that does make things trickier....

How deep is the tap inside the fitting?  If it's not too deep then maybe using a small cutting disc in the end of a Dremel or similar to cut the fitting off very close to the backhead - hopefully the bit that remains won't have any tap in it.  Then you can consider drilling it out using very small increments of drill size each time - if you're really lucky then you might just save the thread.  Be worth seeing if you can dig the o-ring out first somehow - it might just release the pressure on the thread enough to allow it to turn, so try this before cutting off the fitting.  When you turn it with the pliers are you pulling it as well as turning it?  Might be worth trying if you can.

May the Force be with you.....

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

How deep is the tap inside the fitting?  If it's not too deep then maybe using a small cutting disc in the end of a Dremel or similar to cut the fitting off very close to the backhead - hopefully the bit that remains won't have any tap in it.  Then you can consider drilling it out using very small increments of drill size each time - if you're really lucky then you might just save the thread.  Be worth seeing if you can dig the o-ring out first somehow - it might just release the pressure on the thread enough to allow it to turn, so try this before cutting off the fitting.  When you turn it with the pliers are you pulling it as well as turning it?  Might be worth trying if you can.

May the Force be with you.....

Douglas, I would concur with PB about  drilling out the offending part.  If it's loose and you cannot secure it then it has to come out.  However, what you do not want is to be applying a drill to the errant fitting as you'll just end up spinning it as the drill bit bites into the materiel. I suspect you will need a drill a bit larger than a Dremel.  A pillar drill would be ideal.

 

To do it safely (both for yourself and the boiler) you need to remove the boiler from the frames and clamp it securely in a vice.  Metal on metal is not a good idea, so you need to make a pair of wooden V blocks that hold the boiler securely in the vice without any chance of distortion.  Then either hold the errant component in a pair of pliers and get a trusted aide to carry out the drilling operation, or swap roles and you drill. As the bear writes,  use a step drilling technique.

 

Of course you are going to need to make a plug for that hole as all the drilling and previous spinning will have destroyed any threading in the bush.

 

For this you will need to drill the bush out until it is to tapping size, then thread the bush again.  After that you turn up a solid plug with a matching thread and screw it in, using an annealed copper or fibre washer to seal it.

 

If you want to fit some form of fixture to the bush, then perhaps making a small external turret to fit into the newly threaded bush might be a better option as continually working on an elderly boiler, that was originally made for the toy market to now outdated construction standards, is not what I would want to be doing.

 

As I have written in the past, once you get into live steam you eventually get to the point where you need to start building up a workshop  capable of carrying out minor repairs, or you have to sub it out to a contractor.  I would suggest that all the money you have spent on the continual flow of parts  and replacements might well exceed what a local model engineer would have charged you to sort it out.

 

Had you been over here, then it would have been a simple case of arriving at my workshop with copious amounts of cake and myself and Dave H could have had a glorious shouting match about who was going to hold it whilst the other drilled it.

Edited April 20, 2021 by Happy Hippo

[Stubby47]

Is it possible to use a wheel puller or similar cork-puller type apparatus ?

[Happy Hippo]

Time for a quick giggle:

 

Yesterday I received a letter from HMRC informing me that I was no longer required to submit a self assessment tax return, as I no longer meet the criteria for such.

 

Today from HMRC I received a notice to complete a self assessment tax return!