Model Engineer THE MAGAZINE FOR THE MECHANICALLY MINDED ONE SHILLING 23 APRIL 1959 VOL 120 NO 3022 oeri | Model I OTe B ILA a Incorporating Mechonce (Home Nechoncs and Engigh Macho: i Esjod Sipe ond Ship nos IN THIS ISSUE 489. Smoke Rings 41 4 “7 498 500 502 Ju 6in. circular saw Workshop hints Astronomical telescope steam exhi Talking about steam Lasc HMS Matabele | 504 507 510 In the ME workshop 512 Reade queries 514 Postbag 518 Club news HOU NEXT WEEK Lady of the Lake Vertical slides The Strive ‘The Vulean beam engine HANNAH ONE SHILLING + 23 APRIL 1959 VoL 120 + NO 3022 Published every Thursday _ || Subscription 65s. (USA and Canada $9.25), post free tecempanied_ by. fr drawings and sul bar Sddrewed“ envelope for their recorn || i inaatabler"Noresef the eoneemee || er TROSEL ENGINEER may te ree || © Peecival Marshall & Co Lid, 1959 19720 Noe! street, London, WI ‘GeRrard 8811 IA responded to my Smoke Ring about the "early Percival Marshall handbooks was Ti-year-old Mr A. W. Gray, a retired engineer of East Ham. For 55 years Mr Gray has been an enthusiastic model engineer, his chief interest being the con: struction of gauge O steam engines for his twin sons. He showed me one of these when I visited him recently to. pick, up 22 volumes and 2 handbooks which hhe has very generously donated t0 ur library at Noel Street, It was a 24.0 tank with the single cylinder ‘engine mounted in the cab and driving the coupled wheels through bevel sears. De-clutching device He chose this design for two reasons. First, by fling a hinged back to the Gab inde ering of the, ower tail extremely cay, seconds incucing te tiny jacks, one each Side of the. locomotive. the engine could” be ited free of the trans: fission system and moved freely on the track for the ocedsions when the boys did not need to ralse steam. Tn the course of half a century of ‘model engineering one equires ‘a few knack and ruses. and Mr Gray vas pleased to show me some of the Aevices he had thought upto make Helen "Thee were, for example, aero.” Whet tiny amounts BF sofia required he stacker Shippet of solder to the end ofa piece of electric hire. element, held. ina Swooden handle, and by this means he Toe sh cette” solace whee needed with great precision, but 480 tses the absolate minimun—an in portant” point with an’ oldage Pensioner: O: of the many readers who Planing in the lathe Trick mumber two which he showed me was a simple method of cleaning small-bore copper tubes. This simply involves brazing a piece of Swiss fle, or the threaded portion of a wood screw (according to the size of the tube) on toa steel rod then poking the assembly into the tube. ‘The third trick is one which is probably used by some model en- -A WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Smoke Rings By VULCAN: gincers but I must confess it was now to me. By juggling with the im- pressive backgear of his pedal-oper- ated lathe of somewhat obscure vintage he could de-clutch the chuck and traverse a planing tool by the Teadserew. ‘Yes, 1. spent an interesting and informative afternoon in the cellar workshop of Mr Gray. Model home ? HAVE recently changed residence and am considering moving uD ‘the social scale by appending a name tomy house, The eanventioal type gorge appeal to me: what I peer isthe drily humorous ‘name which sends the pompous but amuses the ordinary mortal. have Ben sarching my mind for ‘a name which has a model enginee Comnotation but I find. the subject Singularly lacking in’ suitable titles. ‘Any bright ideas would be appreciated, and T will award a Percival Marshall book voucher for what I consider the most appropriate suggestion. Why don’t you? [ican ingriting sienbour who is full of bright ideas, ie realy has sme big things in his iad, e'thinks that making: models is a Shocking waste of Une, nett e fo make fe hngs Tass Aliough he’s never made a single ‘hong that worth a sou ne ei always telling Just what he thinks I ought to do. Why don't you make something that really iss nocd, Life # motordeven mangle with an automatic feed? Instead of petrol engines with a Tot of fuss and hols, Why "nota "supersonic cane for Spanking lite boys? You spend a lot of tine in building mode! aeroplanes, ‘You love 0° auneh "em in the ait— hen pickup the remains! While you might be building robots, Wn rat ootl . bring you up a cup of tea, oF take he dog out fora sto ‘Why dont you give some thought to seri achines. 9 sprinkle fertile or plant cabbages and beans ? a ssThe steam you use for driving those piffling lite trains Could be better used for washing up, ‘or flushing out the drains. Why not build @ model laundry, for T'm sure you will agree Tt would be just the very, thing to ‘wash out baby's lingerie? ‘Why not make a solar battery, to drive a motor ca Or a fully-automatic, self-refuelling ‘cocktail. bar ? At last I followed his advice, and all my skill applied To build 2 nuclear rocket ship and invited him inside. Then having battened down the hatch, chuckling aloud with glee, 1 just lit the blue paper—and retired ‘immediately ! I beliove he's now in orbit, just outside the Milky Way ‘And there is only one more thing that T would like to say— If hear: “ Why don't you ” any more Tl probably see red ‘And retort: “ Why don't you go and ‘jolly well drop dead | Another Tich DON'T know who our oldest reader is but I am pleased to introduce you to our youngest— Simon Wood, eight month old son gf Mr FN. Wood, of Amersham, ‘An enthusiastic reader of LBSC, ‘Simon “has just started building his P. V. Baker—with Dad's help. understand be is very pleased that the date of the Model Engineer Exhibition has been put back four months for he will now be able to attend in person instead of depend ‘on the reports in ME. In extending a hearty welcome to MODEL ENGINEER four youngest reader, and_ wishing Hime suerssful ‘and happy model engiteering life, 1 wou to prophesy that in a few. months time he will be even more adept than his father atone particular’ skill— chucking “Obviously he was born on a lathe bed ! To be restored THERE, is every, possibility that another old sailing ship is to be restored. "A cutting from. the San Diego independent of March 15, enclosed. in a recent letter from Mr Steeb of California, gives the inter~ esting news that a’ movement is foot to restore the fullrigged ship Star of India. John Bate, port director of San Diego where the ship is ving, reports that many people have approached him with the suggestion that if the ship was restored she would become a great, tourist. attraction. Last autumn Karl Kortum, ditector of the San "Francisco. Maritime - Museum, made a study of the ship with this view, and reported that the restora- tion’ would ‘be practicable. although expensive, Te is estimated that the cost would be about $100,000. and that $40,000 would. be required to deydoek the ‘sip and scrape and aint it PTL is also estimated that if pro restored the ship could earn al $80,000 a year and that the cost of ‘maintaining and insuring her would be about $50,000." On these figures there should be a reasonable prospect of the scheme being adopted. ‘The authorities have the advantage ‘of a comparison with the cost of a similar restoration when, ‘three of four years ago, the Star of Alaska, a Some people are born with a silver spoon in their ‘mouths. "Simon Wood, aged’ eight ‘months, was born with ‘silver steel 490 Cover picture The illustration featured on our cover this week is of a model of the famous American vessel, the USS coxstrUNON. When shown ata. recent Model Engineer Exhibition it won a Commendation ‘Award for its bullder, Mr Bernard G. Phillips, of Slough, Bucks. similar ship, was restored, given her original name, Balclutha, and placed ‘on. exhibi ‘a berth near the San Francisco’ Maritime Museum. ‘This restoration was described by Alan Villiers in Ships and Ship Model in June and July 1955. Copies are still available from this office. History of the ship The Star of India and the Star of Alaska were both units of the Alaska Packers Co's fleet. For 30 years or 30 ‘the company had been buying up old sailing ships, and in 1922 the fleet consisted of 22. sailing “ships and six steamers. “These were used to bring salmon from Alaska to San Francisco every season. The fleet was disposed of in 1934, some of the ships going to trade under other flags, one or two to become training ships—the four-mast barque Star of Greenland ex-Hawailan Isles which was re-named Abraham Rydberg was one—and some to be floating cabarets. or muscums. The film industry used some for film. settings. The Star of India was built as far back as 1863 by Gibson and Co., of Ramsey, Isle of Man, with a tonnage of 1,197 and to dimensions 205.5 ft x 35.2ft x 23.4 ft. Originally she ‘was named Euterpe. From 1871 to 1899 she sailed as a cadet cargo ship, training boys for the Shaw, Saville service, and under her name Euterpe was well known throughout the entire ‘Merchant Service. In 1901 the Alaska Packers Associa- tion bought her and ran her until 1926 when she was sold to the Zoo- logical Society of San Diego, Cali- fornia, to be converted into a maritime museum, As the society was, unable to carry out its original intention, ship was handed over after the war to the _ newly-formed Aquarium Society. However, nothing was done with her, but in spite of the fact that she has’ been neglected for several years and is now almost a hundred years old, her condition is still reasonably’ good. . For some of the information in the above paragraph I am indebted to Harold Underhill’s excellent book Sail Training and Cadet Ships. 23 APRIL 1959wis week we make a start I on the boiler for Jubilee, but before doing so let us ‘take a look at the design of the full size boiler. On the Stanier 2-6-4 tank locomotives, the barrel is not tapered all’ the way from the smokebox to the firebox, the first section being parallel, followed by a steeply tapered section up to the throatplate. As the lagging and cleading is tapered gradually all the way, hardly worth while making the barrel ‘of our 34 in. gauge, job exactly like the. prototype. The difference in performance would not be noticed “The reason for the tapered barrel is, T imagine, fairly well known. The sreatest cross-sectional area is obtained hext to the firebox where, the heat Nalue i at its greatest, while there is the’ added ‘advantage’ of increasing the space in the upper part of the barrel available for the collection of steam. “As the products. of com- Dustion ae drawn through the tubes and flues, their temperature is drop- Ping, and itis, therefore, only natural that’ one. should. arrange ‘for the volume of water to be heated to drop ‘Taller chimney ‘Another point is that the distance from the rail to the top of the smoke- tor is reduced, giving an opportunity {9 Increase the height of the chimney. ‘This helps the clearance of the exhaust steam and smoke from the locomotive 30 ia clear forward lookout {or the driver. No doubt this accounts for the fact that no GWR engine ever needed a pair of smoke deflectors! ‘The requirements of the modern locomotive boiler are exacting, as it Nae to ititand” anything op to 300 psi with a large margin of sae combine ‘wih Scena ad economy of space and. weight, In ‘modern practice, welding is. being resorted {0 in an increasing extent, though many boilers are still riveted, hydraulic oF pneumatic tools being 23 APRIL 1959 JUBILEE The 3} in. gauge LMS 2-6-4 tank locomotive by MARTIN EVANS A start on size types, on suitable used. ‘The hydraulic riveter will give 4 pressure of over 100 tons per sq. in on the rivet head. "This great force ensures the complete filling up of the hole and the bringing together of the plates in.a_mannet that "yas not Posse with the oid hand Rammer. in this country copper is generally used ‘for the anner firebox, being extremely ductile and able t0 stand ‘Upto the great fluctuations of tempera ture, It ls also a better conductor of the heat from the furnace into. the ‘water surrounding it. Steel freboxes fare offen used abroad, and have been fied wh succes tO some Bash locomotives. ‘When considering the design of the model. boiler, itis important {0 Femember that mere size does. not Droduce the steam necessary. Tt is Brazing joint of tapered barrel the proportion of the various parts of the boiler that matters. In full size practice it has been calculated that 1'sq. ft on top of the firebox will evaporate water six to ten times as quickly as 1 sq. ft of average tube surface ! ‘Thus the length of the boiler barrel must not be too long in relation to the surface area of the firebox. Grate area, too, i important, yet the grate area’ must not be too large i proportion to the total internal volume 491 the boiler, with a glance at the design of full and observations brazing equipment Continued from 9 April 1959, pages 436 to 438 ofthe fisox, thers the last settee eer tid oii fu tated ene aes Heat Sarees Si race sg tent than a large one that is not burning properly. . "RE uetin of bier sropoton explains why several full size locomo- eet well known case in point was the large boilered GCR 4-6-0 engines, the Pe Eitnin cae Spee aC heen Sa oe ease eae eae uaa Chel aa ee was only 26 sq. ft, the same, in fact, Tiel cis SE ete He pecan ere Seema era ee by Gece afr sr omiae tn he eS ae weet pt of ete tee poppe etsy aes HEME" Ste Sea ts at hao PM Rs eee atte Int uta ae ae Bile of Alte aa 223 san Se ces te 8 SP Stag em ian eer abs este Se an onl be usted SOEs ete ee Rane ae Mak vn NEE, 2a ef contin tah ation Should be between 50 and ass be seman siream amen be ese ee ea ae no under consideration, this fraction works out at 64. Superheater Regarding the superheater,, I am specifying three separate“ spear- head” elements of tin. outside diameter in 3 in. 0.4. ‘flues. This ‘means that the cross-sectional area Of the superheater is more than that of the main steam pipe, as in fact it should be, being 0.083 sq. in. as ‘against 0.075 sq. in. for the steam pipe. ‘Readers will ‘note that the top of the inner firebox is rounded. Although this is slightly more difficult to MODEL ENGINEERproduce, it gives a greater surface area, and being “ convex” towards the pressure of the steam, is a lot stronger than a fiat-topped. firebox. ‘The firehole is circular, as on the full size boiler, and of large area, so that the driver can at least see the furnace when he wants to, but anyone who prefers the more. usual oval firehole, should have no difficulty in fiting it. "The question is often asked as to whether steel could be used for boiler construction in this scale. 1 cannot claim to have built a boiler in steel myself, but have driven, overhauled and repaired locomotives up to 74 in. gauge fitted with steel boilers, some factor of safety of seven if worked at 90 ps.i. The tubes, however, would safely siand four times this pressure, and, therefore, may be of extremely thin gauge, the real limit to their thickness being the danger of burning the metal. I would suggest that beginners use 22 s.w.g., while experts could use 24 s.w.g. which would be slightly more efficient The stays may be of copper, though a good quality drawn gun: metal is quite satisfactory and is much nicer to thread. As’ regards. the crown stays, Ido not think the plate type as used by LBSC could be improved upon, and they cut out larger nozzles must be felt to be believed, and they are far more con- trollable than any paraffin blowlamp. Some kind of brazing pan or forge will be needed. If nothing of the kind is already available, it is well worth while knocking up a suitable brazing forge from angie iron and. black sheet steel. In my opinion an ideal size would be about 30in. long x 1Sin. wide x 9in. deep, so that the back can be lined with’ bricks and thete is plenty of room for the coke fo be piled up as required. The height should be adjusted to suit the operator, so that the brazing torch can be held at a comfortable angle, > rules 2°00, x 20.5 eM Lowe ane) BOWER cae being at ae hear a impression is‘that thot may be sound enough, they are not fo ‘ficiont ftom the'stean raising point of view a5 boilers bull entirely GF copper This tno doubt because the plates and tubes have een mae othe thick side to allow for wastage from rusting and gorronion Tr seems fo\me that the only real advantage that steel can ‘have. is Shesomee; fom Sieg her pint of ew copper fs preferable ith Pepa 10 the strength of the tubes themselves, the barre, if made as recommended. from 4} in. o.d. Scamisn copper tube, would have & MODEL ENGINEER aS some of the fiddling, work. Justa word now about brazing equipment. Few builders will have the full oxy-acetylene equipment, so there_are really’ three choices, the paraffin blowlamp, the air-coal gas (or oxy-coal gas) brazing torch, and the propane brazing torch. The first ‘of these alternatives would need to be of the usual five-pint capacity, @ fearsome machine if ever there Was fone! The second would be of about Lin, dia. nozzle, while the third is probably the best. The propane brazing torches ‘made by Sievert of ‘Sweden are ideal for’ the model engineer. The heat given out by the 492. Bending up the firebox wrapper 23 APRIL 1959in a strength of about 1 to 100 parts, Finally as to the brazing material itself, I really don't think one can do better than B6 brazing alloy plus Easyflo for the tubes and bushes, and these T am using myself. The first part of the boiler to be tackled is the tapered barrel. There are at least three ways of making this, If could be rolled up from 3/32 in, thick sheet copper, the joint being riveted and brazed, or it could be made from seamless tube by two distinct methods—by using 44 in. outside diameter tube, cutting a V- piece out of this and pressing together, or by using 4 in. tube, cutting right distortion. All that is then needed isa. butestrip of 3/32in. copper about, # in, wide laid on the inside extending full length minus in. at ‘the small end. This strip can be slightly radiused to match the curvature of the barrel, and it is then riveted in position on the inside with a few 3/32in. copper rivets T find the best way to do this is to make up a horizontal type riveting foes, ‘This might consist of a length of Lin. square bm. about 16 in. long, the actual dolly’ being a separate ‘turning pressed in at right-angles to : _-----+18 4 | A good size pair of tongs will be required, to grab the boiler when hot, and’a piece of steel rod sharpened at one end is useful, for scratching the job while brazing. Finally, a large bucket or tank will be needed for. pickling the boiler after each brazing job. Large rubber buckets canbe obtained which would save making up a special tank, ‘The Pickle consists ‘of sulphuric acid, which can be obtained from an old car battery, or from a chemist. “If buying from a chemist ask for centrated commercial acid, as this is cheaper than the pure. ” The con ‘centrated acid is added to the water 23 APRIL 1959 through longitudinally, and_ forcing a separate V-shaped piece into the Personally, 1 prefer the second method, and think it is the easiest. Start by cutting a length of the 4 in. tube somewhat longer than required and saw out a V-piece, the size of this piece measuring 15/33 in. at the wide end, tapering to nothing at the other. Te will be found that an ordinary 12 in. hhacksaw frame will saw this length of cut without trouble. Anneal the tube by heating the whole gradually to a dull red and quenching in cold water. Tt will now be found that the sawn edges can be pulled together without 493 Tian nae | the bar at about 4 in. from one end, and standing about Jin. proud of the bar. “The recess for the snaphead rivet can be formed by drilling and then hitting the recess with a hardened steel ball of the appropriate diameter. To use the dolly, the bar is clamped in the Vice at one end, while the other end is supported by’ a suitable bar stood on the bench. "This now brings us to the first brazing operation, but my space is ‘up, $0 welll have to leave this (0 the next instalment. To be continued on May 7 MODEL ENGINEERContinued from 9 April 1959, pages 429 to 81 A 6 in. CIRCULAR SAW BENCH In this article, N. KETTLE tells how to make the riving knife assembly and guard, and m: facilitate the positioning of I the pilot hole a piece of din, silver steel was held in the collet chuck and the work adjusted by the slides until it Just passed into the pilot hole. All slides were then locked. ‘The pilot hole was, then carefully ‘opened up to admit a boring bar and both plates bored to ft in. dia. The gear plate was removed and the bore in ly plate opened up to size. The control wheel and the shaft housing were machined as already described for the corresponding com- ponents of the tilt assembly, the shoulder of the shaft housing being a forve fit into the bore of the gear train plate, “The shaft was turned in a collet ‘ghuck, the shoulder forced into the bore of the third gear and pinned with tr in silver stee] peas. ‘Afier the meshing of the gears had been tested the whole assembly was repositioned on the front body plate, the control wheel added, and the completed rise and fall mechanism tested. It proved firm in operation and small adjustments in blade height could easily be made. ” ’AS these’ gears lie immediately in front of the saw blade they. would undoubtedly get fouled with dust, so it was decided to fita totally enclosed aluminium guard. This was machined from a solid length of Zin. x. Tin. aluminium by endmilling in the lathe: ‘The 4 in. bore for the worm shaft and the tapping holes were then drilled and the guard fitted in position, the clearance holes for the -hold-doven screws in the body plate, being. posi- tioned from the tapping holes in the guard. Before final assembly this Buard was packed with grease MODEL ENGINEER dust guard As will be seen from the drawings, the riving knife slides into a block fastened to the rear body plate and is locked by a handle anid locking pad. If the motor drive is. from under: neath, this handle just clears the le hand ‘ide of the table but if the drive is to be from the rear, the handle must be made smaller to work underneath the table and not foul the driving belt. ‘The block was machined by end- milling but the recesses in the rear ‘edge which allow clearance for the rear hinge shroud were not. machined until the exact location of the block ‘on the rear plate had been determined, ‘The locking pad was cut to size, placed in position in the recess of the control mecharitsm block and the oles drilled through both plates; "The top hole’ in. the Jocking. pad! was carefully tapped to ensure squareness and the screwed rod ‘added. "The small retaining. pin was forced into the lower hole of the block fiself. The function of this was merely to prevent the pad rom rotating as it was released or tightened, The handle vyas then completed as shown in the Grawings and fited into position ‘The tiving ‘Knife was cut. ffom stainless steel and locked in position in the" block ‘whieh was, positioned against the rear body plate. The block rests on top of the rise and fall hinge bracket so that the riving knife is vertical and immediately in line cusno Rise and fall control assembly 494 23 APRIL 1959 Components form ing’the rise and fallwith the saw blade. The position of the tapped holes was scribed through the appropriate holes in the rear body plate. ‘When these had been drilled and tapped the recess was milled to allow clearance of the rear hinge shroud which was then ready for fitting. The {able centre plate was removed and both shrouds fitted. Note that the rear shroud has the radial slot only to miss the top holding-down, bolt of the riving knife block and the flange slot filed to the profile of the riving knife slot in the tabletop. When these had been fitted the riving knife block was screwed into position on the rear body plate and the radial slot adjusted so that it did rot bind as the table was tilted and also gave the full 45 de, it ‘The guard was made from two similar lengths of 4 in, ms. which were cut to profile and riveted to- gether with a Lin. spacer between them. "For this purpose, 3/ rivets at j in, centres were used. ‘The locking bolt, handle and spacers were then machined to size and the completed guard slid into the appro- priate slot on the riving knife, ‘The main dust guard is positioned to the left of the blade and held in position at the rear by + in. Whitworth ‘huts and washers on ‘the protruding threads of the bolts holding the rear ‘worm bearing assembly together. The front point of attachment is by a bolt ‘and spacer which screws into the table tilt point. As this had not. been Jocated ai this stage, the front hole could not be drilled but the rest of the profile, including the radial Slot and the rear holes, were all machined. air? oO ean TAM PURE 1 OFF % ach set @® vo MLL © vom ow nfo ron vee Soume aean" Somme: mares He een sd YJ. iw Las | +] tom Autor 23 APRIL 1989 id =| | | i @ « Details of the rise 495 ‘and fall control assembly MODEL ENGINEER‘The location of the radial slot was checked from the positions of the spindle at different stages of the rise and fail as slight variations from the drawings could mount up and throw it out of the calculated position. ‘The holes at the rear used for bolting down were made slightly oversize 10 allow for adjustment. 3 To be continued on May 7 ‘nen FULTON, born in America in 1765, was experimenting. with paddle-wieels at the early age of 14 ‘Always interested in things mechanical, fhe learned the trade of a watchmaker, bat eventually” became a skilled portrait painter, He went to England ‘when he was 21 to study” painting, bat ‘changed. his occupation again, becoming an engineer. Going to Paris In 1797, he come meneed experiments with Submarines and torpedoes, and achieved sufficient Success to cause alarm in Britain, then at war with France, 4 ‘model "side-whcel "boat, "having Conducted “towing experiments (0 ‘determine the best form and propor tions of the hull. “His first steam vessel was completed in 1803, but broke in two and sank in the Seine. "Salvaged and rebuilt, the 66 ft boat was successfully steamed up the Seine on.9 August 1803, ata Sheed of 21 to 3b knots. Receiving ‘Ro encouragement in France, however, Falton returned to England in 1804, having. previously ordered an engine from Boulton” and Watt, with a cylinder 2ft dia. = 4ft stroke. This Was to be installed in ‘anew boat to be built in New York State, where MODEL ENGINEER, his backer, Robert Livingston, had obtained a20-year monopoly. * ‘The new boat, launched onthe East River, New York, early in 1807, Fulton having left England the previous year, and the “machinery was August. The vessel was 133 ft long with an 18f beam and 9ft depth, and shortly made the first long distance steamboat journey in the world— 300 miles to Albany and back in 496 Above: Riving knife and ‘guard assembly” details Lefts "Rong. “knife, ‘saw guard and block, Before’ milling recesses First long distance steamer went 300 miles | | | 62 hours’ running time, without using | the sails. It was soon running @ ‘Clermont, was regular service. in the engine, the piston drove up to a cross-head, whence side-rods pasted to. side-beams, pivoted at ‘installed “by _ their centzes with balatce' weights at y the other end. From the top of the vertical member of cach ‘side-beam Gihich: thus in effect. was a bell- rank), a connecting-rod drove to the crankshaft bebind.—W. J. HUGHES. 23 APRIL 1959WORKSHOP HINTS AND TIPS Cutting special gaskets via car which is ol, of TW ‘atest mate, ox wisn was originally made only sal ‘numbe is Sometines neseniy to renew ‘a damaged cylinder head gasket, and it may happen that no gasket is available commercially, The same difficulty Svcs ft, vied sight 13 fais compresion on some enince without taking the irrevocable step of machining the cylinder head, when a special thin gasket is not aati ne Temjorary sepicemen!, a srt of ee eee Se Drove pts eat os Sth Sin Hale "Cane «athens er ost valet wean ahaha begat cere Get wie’ S' al Sethe Sats RE "eng it Sass Sih fantes and weed ck os Bo? Piel doe be well pled Sour of ty ran wie Segoe bar eae “Onan engine of modest compression SPRING. ADJUSTABLE, SHOP 23 APRIL. 1959 ratio, and which is not driven hard, such’a gasket can have a life of a few hundred. miles or even one or {wo ‘thousand miles; but in most cases, it eventually buras or blows through between two. cylinders—for it is without the copper sheathing which protects the asbestos interior of the normal gasket. Copper gasket ‘A, much better gasket, whether needed because no other is’ available, ‘or for modest tuning, can be made from sheet copper, 1/32 in. to 3/64 in. thick. With this there are problems ‘of production, for punching and hammering, which are likely to distort, stretch or thin the sheeting locally. cannot be safely employed, and drilling of any but small holes is risky. ‘Ih making such a gasket, experience suggests that, the holes for holding bolts or studs should be produced by a hand-operated. cutter, rather than by drilling. The other openings should be marked and cut with a saw file, or ‘made by careful small-hole chain-drilling and filed to templates. The set-up for producing the holes can be as at A, using a cutter as at B. The copper sheeting for the gasket, slightly larger than the head all round, should be clamped firmly to it with ‘wood. Where the holes ate to be cut, the backing should be a flat steel bar held by clamps and a valve spring compressor. This last has a forked tend, so the end of the adjustable stop ‘on the cutter can abut to the cylinder head. Silver steel cutter ‘When two or three holes covered by the steel bar have been cut, it can be moved (together with the wood); but burrs left by the cutting too} should be filed off, and cut marks arranged so as not to come im- mediately under other holes, "The silver steel cutter, turned to center the head holes, should be drilled for the shank and bored at the end to about 3/64 in. wall thickness. ‘Three ‘or four teeth can be filed, and a cross hole drilled and countersunk for a rivet. Tempering should be to dark straw colour after hardening. Shank and handle should have a fine thread to secure by Jocknuts. If the thread is 26 t.p.i. (cycle rate), the advance per turn’ is 0.038 in.! 497 By GEOMETER ‘and eight holes in the flange of the Stop provide adjustment steps for successive cuts of just under 0,005 in. Which is about correct. Thus, a cut can be taken, the stop re-set, and another taken. — Faster_ adjustment fhan by a screw in the fang of the stop is given by a spring. lever, as at C, where the index holes aré ut out io the edge. AS holes are made, the wood can be drilled and bolts used for holding. ‘When all holes are finished, a thick paper pattern, marked on the head and carefully, eut, can be placed on the gasket, and waterways nd. combustion chambers. marked, With a wood backing the size of the gasket—and the two bolted together these shapes can be saw filed from starting holes. Alternatively, steel _part-templates locating from holes, as at D, can be made for chain-drilling and fling. Preferably, there should be a template bolted each side of the gasket which should be ona Wood backing with packing wood of suitable thickness, asat E i MODEL ENGINEERAstronomical telescope w prismatic eyepiece The construction of an easily made and inexpensive instrument which will give good service is described here by C. B. REEVE |ALLING on a friend interested in optical ( matters, I noticed a 3: glass in its cell, and he the instrument. ‘Although brass is the correct metal for the main tube it was ruled out ‘on the grounds of expense (a suitable length of brass tube would have cost £5'to £6.) From a local builders’ merchant I purchased instead, a 5ft length of aluminium alloy rain-water Pipe of 3in. dia, complete with socket. ‘Truly circular The diameter of the cell of the object glass was 4 in. but, it was considered that the Jin. dia. pipe ‘would do owing to the narrow angle of the object glass lens, The alloy tube cost £1 and its diameter was truly circular throughout its length. ‘The socket, which was removed, proved to be quite a good casting. ‘The two retaining lugs were sawn off with a coping saw (which cuts alloys better than ‘hacksaws), care being taken to avoid cutting into the main casting. ‘The socket was then gripped in the three-jaw chuck with the jaws inside the casting and the free end skimmed true with light cuts inside and ‘outside, the tool in the slide rest reach- ing as far as it conveniently could. MODEL ENGINEER telescope object, suggested that I should make a telescope. We argued about the Possibility of turning true the ends of the main Jong tube, and to prove that it could be done on a short bed lathe such as I possess, I agreed to build The casting was next dechucked and the opposite end given the same featment, It-was noticed that. the Sleeve portion of the socket that fitted the tube was quite wide so half its width, was cut off t0 be used later. Gne end of the main tube was then tumed true in the lathe, The job was ull simple, one, g of “ete Gaside By the jaws of the seleeering ‘chuck, “the other end being held in the hand. The ‘mandrel was, then_made to revolve and the ffee end-of the tube adjusted $0. that it rotated ‘easonably” true, ‘Aterwards it was temporarily propped ‘up with a plece of wood which rested fon the bench beyond the end of the lathe “(he lathe “bed. being about T8in, tong). Foilowing this, a V-cut was made i ‘of wood so that the free end. of the tube could. rest. in the fhotch. ‘The wood was then fixed 10 the workbench with a couple of nail, fand’a tum of the mandrel proved {hat the tube would run reasonably fue at its free end, A knife tool was placed. in the slide rest anda cut made through part of the thickness 498, th a of the tube) ‘The final parting was done. with @ fine fretsaw a8 this was considered ‘safer. ‘The Sit length of tbe revolved quite: steadily and_a litle off in, the ‘Venoteh eliminated the squeak. The socket was then refited to the true end of the tube and holes drilled into it through the sleeve. Small screws were inserted, to the protruding ends of which nutg were fitted. “The next job was to' mount the object glass and sll to the socket. ‘The latior was too small in diameter to take the cell, so.1 found a round tin container, the diameter of which was @ perfect fit to the lens cell, Tt ‘was the type of tin without a join, ts open end was gripped in the chuck and the base parted through with a fine tool. ’A marin of tin was left to cover the thickness of the socket casting, which Was about in. ‘The tin was carefully centred ‘with the end of the socket fand five No 8 BA screws put through the marginal. diameter of the bottom nto” the "thickness of the socket, Some care is needed in tapping the alloy casting’ a8 the metal ‘will easly 23 APRIL 1959drag and tear, but lubrication of the tap during the cutting will overcome this difficulty. The, five equally spaced BA. screws firmly attached the tin to the end of the socket. ‘The Object glass cell was then placed in the open end of the tin. Five cross-binding screws equally spaced around the circumference of the tin and threaded into the thickness of the cell, made a good and simple Joint, The diagrams, Fi show how this was done "Attention was now given to the other end of the main tbe. Among the ex-government surplus items. on tle ave angle gunsigis made, by Sims, ‘Troughton and Cooke, These are actually small complete telescopes cach, being fitted with a. prismatic eyepiece, But although’ they give 00d, ciear definition there ¥s ‘not much magnification, " One of these gun-sighis was purchased and careful 23 APRIL 1959 Land Fig. 2 4 A ‘examination of the instrument revealed that the main tube was fitted with an outer tube of thinner metal. The outer sleeve was carefully removed and put on one side to be used later. ‘The object glass of the gun-sight was taken out of the main tube, and a key made from a piece of ‘mild steel filed upto fit the two slots positioned each side of the lens cel. With the ‘aid’ of this, the object \ lass was easily unscrewed from the lube, "Behind the object glass’ was another cell containing plain glass with diagonal lines for centring. purposes, ‘This was also removed The. large Hin ‘thick baseplate was then cut away (Gee Fig, 3) with a hacksaw leaving only the prismatic eyepiece and main tube of the instrument. ‘Two wood discs, each 4 in. thick, were cut and their outer circum: Ference made a good fit to the inside ‘of the main tube of the telescope. 499 After this, concentric. holes were made in the dises to At the outside reumference of the tube of the gun Sent. They were then pushed into the Tube Othe tknpe form, temporary seating for the tube of the unsight Tho ater “was inserted for. temporary focusing, a. mean focal ‘position found, and the main telescope tube marked off, This proved tobe approximately 43 in. The’ temporary “rig up was then removed and the end of the telescope {ube shortened, the end of the tube being afterwards turned true by the inethod previously explained. "A brase csc ym. thick was turned ypona mandrel The diameter of the bc was made a good push-in fit 0 the telescope tbe, the dive afterwards being chucked in the three chuck ‘A hole was bored to & tight ft to the oul "Seeman ote ‘ate sleeve which was previously Femoved._ While the dse was stil in Position in the chuck, the tube was manipulated’ in the bored hole and iis free end adjusted to rotate con- centrally. ‘The disc was then earefuly Gechucked and soft soldered to the tube ‘with the aid. of the. Bunsen bumer Goldering iron methods would fot ‘be suitable for. this. operation). "Another and similar dse was tumed. up out off in. brass, i diameter being Justa rile larger than that of the outside diameter of the telescope. tube. The disc. vas turned down jin. to form a spigot to Fi the intemal diameter ofthe telescope tabe and a similar sized hole bored as in the first dise. ‘While still in the chuck, the other end of the tube was {inserted in this hole and again adjusted torrun concentrically. Afterwards the assembly was carefully removed from ihe duck ad st sold in postion ig. 4). To improve the appearance, {he narrov shoulder of the dsc fitting against the end of Ue telescope tube ‘vas knurled "The complete assembly was then pothed ‘into the telescope tube and Four ‘equally "spied No "10. BA Countersunk’ screws, used” as cross- binding serews were put through the {ube into the thickness of the spigot of the dtc. ‘This made 4 neat, strong Joint. “All that was now needed. wat to slide inthe gunsight eyepiece tube. Goarse focusing was done. by -ad- Vancing or withdrawing the tube and Fine focusing by ‘using the. kaurled Ting just below the ‘eyepiece. lens Gig. 3). This completed the making Of the telescope itself, but a telescope of this length (about 4f1) would be {Quite useless without a proper mount- ig and suitable stand. was decided that the altaimuth type ‘of mounting ‘would be easier 1Ormake.”" The design was sketched © Continued on page 501 MODEL ENGINEER| otal, T'Spoke to ‘sich ‘visitors from as far aay as Crowds flock to LIVE STEAM DISPLAY at Birmingham museum, where things are static and sometimes even moribund, but this could never be said of the Birmingham Museum of Science and Industry. 5 Here the exhibits are displayed in an imaginative and attractive manner, not too crowded, and with a “well looked after air. All the steam engines, for example, look as they must have done in their heyday, when their individual “ tenters” spent many hours in keeping them clean, with well polished brightwork and paintwork. Similarly the veteran and vintage cars and motor-cycles are beautifully kept. “The museum really became alive on a recent weekend, when several engines were run under live steam, and other exhibits were also put in motion. The live steamers tae pot already Seen iiusrated and described rch 19] and need not be mentioned again here. Ruston Procigr double-etindered portable Fretdntatyy seas, obvious frm the vitor book ‘engine No 18188 is nearly fully restored that a great’ many of the 6,000 visitors to the live steam weekend owed their pre-knowledge of the event to this Tr: too many instances a museum is a™place ‘Middlesbrough arid Devon, who agreed that their long journeys had been well worthwhile. | Regulator of the Ruston Proctor portable engine ‘Apart from the engines in steam, there was a fine works in the dome casting which carries also Pollit- and» Wigzel tandem compound Corliss. engine the Salter and lock-up safety valves. The which was run at intervals under electric power. It dome casting is in front of the eylinder block had cylinders of 74 in. and 15 in. bore » 24a, stroke, intended to work at 200 psi, and giving from 60 ish at 70 rpm. to 100 ih.p. at 130 r.p.m. “The flywheel is Bit 6 in. dia., and a spring loaded Whitehead governor regulates the cut-off to the high pressure cylinder. ‘Another grand exhibit, though not in motion, was the Ruston Proctor double-cylinder 12 n.h.p. portable engine No 18188. This has been reconditioned in the ‘museum, and, indeed, the process is still not quite com= pleted. Perhaps on some future live steam occasion, we ‘might have the pleasure of seeing this engine running too ! Like many other enthusiastic model engineers, NORTHERNER went to this splendid exhibition which presented some fascinating machines at work MODEL ENGINEER 500 23 APRIL 1959 ee aIn addition to the compound con- densing Easton Amos beam engine (described previously) which was run- ning under steam, a smaller beam engine was in motion under electric ower from time to time. Of about Gin, bore x 24 in. stroke, it was self contained, and mounted’ on a cast open-work, base, being known. init time as a" semi-portable " engine. Tt hhad been presented by John Hall and Co., of Stourbridge, and was restored by Cadbury Bros Ltd, in 1951, Interconnected engines ‘Another beam engine, which was not working, is probably unique in ils” arrangement." Originally, - the Wychall_metalroling “ml, “King norton, was powered by water-wheel, but, about 1820 the wheel became inadequate for the inreasing produc: tion. Accordingly, a beam engine was dnstaled, and geared in 10 the sytem fo augment the water-power. Some 20 10-30 years later, production had again overtaken the total power, and 4 second but smaller beam engine was installed and geared in to the system. The two interconnected engines are now in the museum, to which they were presented by Burman and Sons, Ltd, of Birmingham. In between inspeeting these ex- Pedestal, overhung crank, big end, and lubricator “of” ‘the Polit. and * Wigzel tandem compound ‘engine, with eccen- tries ‘and fiywheel ibis it was delightful to be able to tiich the other steam ‘engines the Soll Tanye colonia the larger Galloway snifow, the: Massey fans er the compound beam ens, and the’ tiny "Savage organ. engine Working under steamy and Wo: heat overall the orshestton playing fousing mass. "To tany of the visitors, as to me, the. sipreme exit JS inva all Blas ease placed. inconspewousiy Against the va Ts the origina! Small model road locomotive. bull by William Murdock at Redruth in 1781, and purchased from his great- grandson by Richard and George Tangye 102 years later. Today, almost any model engineer could duplicate the work, but it is due to the genius of Murdock and his con- femporaries and successors that we have the knowledge and the tools to do such a job. ‘The exhibition was a great ex- perience for model engineers, and it 1s to be hoped that it will become a regular institution, a Astronomical telescope Conta amps 49 and the crutch built up in # in. sera alloy, care being taken to Keep all surfaces square. The parts of the ‘rutch were screwed together with No 2 BA mush-headed steel screws which produced a strong job. Tt will be remembered that_ when tuming the socket in the lathe, a portion of the sleeve was cut off and ut aside. This was now used as the ‘connecting link between the telescope tube and the crutch. Two short Tengths of brass rod were fitted diametrically opposite each other into. ‘the thickness of the ring to act as ‘trunnions (a ‘tight. screwed “fit is, necessary here)... They can, with advantage, be locked by the insertion of across-pin. Fig. 6and Fig. 7 show the clamping of the trunnions to the top of the crutch. No 2 BA screws were used for this purpose. The ring was slipped along the telescope tube until a position was found where it would balance and four small eross- binding screws were then inserted to bind the former to the latter. A cone was then turned up from mild steel and screwed and. fitted centrally into tho base (Fig. 8). A. second cone was made from a small cast iron chuck backplate which was taper turned internally to fit the cone attached to the crutch (Fig. 9). A 23 APRIL 1999 side view is given in Fig. 7, and Fig. 8 dives the front view, and’ in Fig. 10 there is a plan view of the crutch, As a really strong stand i esential for a telescope of this type it was decided to make one up. What might bbe described as the table of the stand (ig. 11) was cut from 1 in. hardwood. A hole was bored centrally for the internal cone fitment (Fig. 9). "Three countersunk screws were used to Ax ‘this item to the table. "Three } in. dia. ‘coss-holes were then drilled through the table to take three bolts (as used in woodwork). The legs ‘of the stand were of Japanese oak, 1}in. x fin. After being tapered and rough-planed they ‘were fine finished. “The bottom ends were screwed together and distance pieces fitted and screwed into position about half way up the length of the leg. “Holes were bored in the tops of the legs to take the bolts, a square was formed in the hole in One section of each leg to fit the square on the bolt, nuts and washers being fitted afterwards. When these were tightened up_a rigid stand resulted. Finally, Pointed lengths of serewed rod were fitted into the base of each leg. ‘One or two matters relating to the optical parts of the telescope. should, bbe mentioned. It is usual to blacken the interior surfaces of all tubes. For this purpose a mixture of vegetable black with French polish considerably diluted with methylated spirits makes 501 @ splendid paint. Tt sticks well to alloy, dries quickly with a matt surface and does not rub off. It is usual to. fix evenly spaced stops (say about four) inside the tube the smallest being positioned near the eyepiece end. These stops ate Prepared and blacked and pushed into position inside the tube while the black paint of the latter is still wet. ‘The effect is that when the paint has dried out, the stops are automatically cemented’ into position. ‘Although it seems 10 be recognised Braeties (0 ft stops T am not sure there is any great advantage in doing 80. On being tried out the telescope gave reasonably good definition but it was noticed that a certain amount of halation or flare was always resent, whether the telescope was used tefrestrially or astronomically. I eventually decided “to ft a. stop approximately 14 in. dia. at a distance of Idin. behind the object glass. ‘The improvement was remarkable, Not_ only was halation completely eliminated but definition was all that could be desired and there seemed no loss_of light power Since doing this I have asked an ‘optical firm about it and they agreed that even good achromatic objectives could be improved in this way. In use, the prismatic eyepiece will be found a most comfortable and con- venient improvement on the direct view eyepiece. MODEL ENGINEER4 Semi-portable R W. J. HUGHES , about a prime | which: embodied effective governor apprecatedn cou where ‘elo scarce and exp TALKING ABOUT STEAM End and front elevation of the Semporable engine which the Ineratond Edibtion, ‘HE semi-portable engine is a ceric perhaps because drawings of thisjvaluable prime mover are not Sen ee i ay ‘help to redress the balance. The cite Se atin at ios SOR el inery court at the International Exhibition of 1871 at South Kens- ington. It was manufactured by Robey and Co., of Lincoln. Beet i fi, co a Sao ee IMA sn ad Sa dda at a et sees ard Se Sins RRP Se Seo ane a hee th Sa 5ft 6 in. flywheel Scaling from these dimensions, we gan find others, of course. "The flywheel was Sft Gin. x Bin, the smokebox shell 1ft ‘Sin. tong x 3ft 6in. dia. The boiler centre line was 4fi high: tho crankshaft was 94 3m, ong and din. di being forged. prot from a 4} in. dia, bar before the journals were machined. ‘The cylindér was 10F in. bore x 16in. stroke, which incidentally, by portable and’ traction engine practice is rather big for a 10 np. engine. Normal revs per_minute were 110, controlled by the Robey and Richard: MODEL ENGINEER son crankshaft governor or variable expansion gear, patented in 1869. is is shown on a larger scale in the diagram supplied by Mr John W. ich, It will be seen that the cocentric had a rectangular slot, set ‘on a square section of the crankshaft. ‘As the governor balls moved outwards, they pulled on a collar attached to the two opposed wedges. These slid from right 10 left (in the elevation), thus being of the Salter spring-balance type mounted on thg steam-space at the top of the cylinder block. The other was of the “lock-up” ‘variety, en- closed in a casing so that the setting could not be tampered with by the attendant. | ‘This is on the firebox ‘wrapper, close to the cylinder. ‘The regulator is of the rotary type, and the boiler-front also carries the usual water gauge and steam gauge, ‘Self-adjusting expansion gear as used on Robey portable engines sliding the eccentric upwards, and varied the cut offof the slide valve, and thus the degree of expansion of steam, It was a highly eflective method of ensuring that as the load on’ the ‘engine varied, so the consumption of steam was in proportion to the demand. ‘Such methods of control Were to prove popular in countries where fuel was scarce and dear, being ‘more efficent than the ordinary type of governor. ‘There are two safety valves, one 502 besides two water-level try-cocks to the left. Centrally at the bottom is the blowdown cock. ‘There is a large manhole on the left-hand side of the firebox, and a mud-hole at each corner’ against the foundation ring. Note that these are not placed sym- metrically, but so as to allow the rake to be passed along each side. On a ‘model boiler the manhole and mud- hholes might well be dummies, but should be there if the builder wishes to achieve true realism, 23 APRIL 1999 —‘a 2 Robey I0 h.p. overtype engine HUGHES writes a prime mover embodied a very : governor much atedfin countries uel sypplies were and expensive levation of the 10 h.p. Robey Ine-which was displayed at ‘Exdibition, 8. Kensington A useful scale for a model would be Jin: 1ft, giving an overall length a little under a foot. ‘The boiler barrel could be 3 in. long x 16-gauge tube, allowing comfortably for a working pressure of 60 ps.i which would be ample for any requirements. No supetheating would be called for, of course. ‘The cylinder would be f in. x 1} in. ‘the crankshaft might’ well be dia., which is a little over scale, ut would not be noticeable. it lesired, a normal type of governor could be substituted for the Robey ‘expansion gear. A Watt-type would be most suited to the period of the engine, o JASON EapERs will be sorry to hear that Commander Craine, author of the monthly feature “ Jason's Notes,” is iL He had haemorrhage a fey weeks ago, recovered quickly, ani returned to his beloved task of searching out information of interest to ship modellers. But he went back to the helm too soon and as a result suffered another, more severe, hae- morthage. At the time of going to press he is ill in hospital vas in Wembley hospital and though Sil very weak wae maling slow recovery. "He gallantly offered to trnte fs notes {or tho May Tass But the Editor told him that this was ut of the question, Ship modelers Want Jason to. get-well quickly” and Keep well, andthe finest road’ to recovery is unworred rest ‘We understand that, where facilities can be granted, he would be pleased to have’ friends visit him in hospital THE CASE gross inefficiency. of the I steam locomotive has for Jong been 2 serious problem and during the last 150" years, hundreds of different devices have been patented in connection with this matter, Few were satisfactory and those only mildly so. Tm recent years, however, there has Sblongejects destned by an Rust oblongejector an Austrian, Dr Giesl-Gieslingen, ‘The design is $0 successful that the Austrian Railways Row recognise it as a standard fitment fon their locomotives. “It is also being {ested ‘on locomotives in 13. other 25 APRIL 1959 FOR THE GIESL EJECTOR ‘countries spread over four continents. device was turned down by the British ‘Transport “Commission, and the manufacturers, certain that the Commission did not know what the ejector would do, asked the Talyllyn Railway in Wales if they would care to experiment. “The offer was accepted and the results have recently been published by the Talyliyn Railway Company in the form of an illustrated pamphlet containing an atticle by Dr Giesl himself. From this it is apparent that the benefits of the device are many. ‘They include ease of installation, Towered coal consumption, the fact 503 that lesser grade fuels can be used, easier steam raising, a less noisy xhaust, and the fact thatthe exhaust Tis only disadvantage is that if it were fitted to British locomotives all the chimneys would disappear in favour of the rather austere embellish- ment required by the device. But if this means the extension of the life of the steam locomotive few railway enthusiasts will complain, ‘The publication is available from the secretary, Talyllyn Railway Pre- servation Society, 344 | Lordswood Road, Birmingham 17, price 1s—R.0. ‘MODEL ENGINEERA BOILER ror THE 3} in. GAUGE PANSY LBSC gives specifications for a new firebox and tube arrangement N fulfilment of a promise made at the end of the Pansy serial, deta 34 in, gauge version. The arrange- ment of firebox and tubes is exactly the same as fitted to my Webb compound engine and the Brighton singlewheeler. Both locomotives are free steamers. ‘They also have an extremely soft blast—the blast on the compound is imaudible when running—and T run them with an exceedingly thin fire. The cylinders on the Brighton’ engine are bigger than those of a 3}in. gauge Pansy but pressure is maintained with ease. ‘The compound has no pump, relying on her injector for ‘boiler feed. I put it on’ when she starts blowing off. It just checks waste of steam, the pressure remaining normal, The singlewheeler has a. cross-head pump with a fin. ram. With the by- pass shut, the water creeps up in the gauge, and she will blow off if the firehole door is shut, even with the cold feed going in, The foregoing is pretty good proof that there is nothing amiss with the firebox and. tube arrangement. If the 34 in. gauge Pansy is furnished with a cross-head_pump Of the same type as specified for the Sin. job, but with a 5/32 in, ram, it should take care of the feed under any conditions of working. “Ample heating surface Both engines have, boiler barrels i'n. dia. with round-topped firebox wrappers. “As Pansy's bolle has. & typical Great Western Belpate firebox, Poul have specited a larger inner box with dierent tube arrangement, but there would. have. been ‘no ad: vantage ia “doing 0. The heating Surface as. showin i amples 'AS I have described. the building of locomatie ‘bers in ull deta So. many times, there is no point in zoing over the whole procedure again. Kbrief resumé should suffice. Be- inners can Took up the instructions forthe fore sptied for the 5 if they need more de- {ale information than is given here. First, make the two forming plates, which can be sawn from £0. steel MODEL ENGINEER or iron plate. ‘The job is rendered ccasy if cutting oil, as used for turning iron and steel, is applied to the hack= saw blade. Round off one edge of each. Take care when marking out ‘the tube holes on the firebox former, fo have the spacing correct. ‘The boiler barrel is a piece of 33 in. % I6-gauge seamless copper tube with both ends faced off to a finished Tength of 8in. Put a disc of hard wood, or a wheel casting—anything hat Will fit tightly—in one end of the tube, and grip it in the three.jaw chuck. Run the outer end in a steady. One can be improvised by screwing ‘wo pieces of wood together in an Lishape. Cut a 3$in, hole in the vertical part, level’ with the lathe centres when the horizontal part is bolted to the lathe bed with a coach Bolt. Use a roundnose tool set eross- ‘wise in the rest, and apply cutting oil. Shaping the copper Tay the bigger former on a piece of 3/32n. sheet copper, serbe @ lie Sltround except at the bottom, a full fin away from the former, ahd saw icvoutlin, “Anneal the copper well, lange it over the former by Bib: Ping them together in the bench vice Gnd beating down the projecting edge of the copper on t0 the former. File the flange smooth, and. temove any ragged edges. Repeat operation of & pisce of bin, copper for the backhead. Finis ‘thickness is used, fitings may be screwed in direct, and no bushes are required.” Cuta hole 34 in, Gia, in the thinner plate. ‘This ca be dove ‘with a roetaleniting. fretsaw. Dil and tap the holes shown in the Pin, hctad, oot" don't cut the Achote opening. The wrapper shoct for the Belpaice casing ts made irom le-gauge copper Sfint wide. ‘The exact length can be Obtained by running a piece of soft Sure around the backhead flange and Mirnightening it out. Bend the shect to the shape of the backhead’ and throatplate. Mark the piaces on the Sheet where the sharper bends re to te made, puta picce of fin. round fod'in ihe bench vice with about Sin. projecting from the ‘ide of the Jaws, lay the copper on the projection, nda. good hearty press down. with oth hands wil do the trick. Attach the bent wrapper sheet to the throat plate flange by a few 3/32. copper 504 : rivets, Only sufficient are needed 9 hold the sheet close to the Range while brazing Fit the barrel into the hole. It should only just enter, and fit tightly. Line it up ‘with. the’ wrapper, then stand it, barrel upwards, n'a pan of Small coke or breeze. Pile up the coke almost. to ‘the level of the barrel, inside and. out, Put some. wet Mux all-over the joints. Boron brazing compo is as good as anything, mixed talent paste with water AE iat blowlamp or an equivalent ait fas Dlowpipe will do the job eal. Feat up until the coke glows red, then concentrate on one bottom corner of the throatplate. "When. bright. apply 2 strip of easy-running speltet in'the flame. Ifthe heat is right, this will melt and run right through the joint. Move the flame slowly along and apply more brazing stip. When reaching the joint between barrel and ‘Athroatplate, Keep the heat, well up and feed the brazing strip into both Joints all the time that they run parallel When: reaching the point where they diverge, carry on with the joint under the barrel until. the whole ireuit is completed. Then make a fresh start at the other bottom comer of the throatplate and work up to the barrel. Give an extra heat-up at both places where the throatplate joint Comes up to the barrel joint. Run ina Little extra brazing material, as these are the places where leakage is likely to occur in a beginner's attempt, Tet the work cool to black, then carefully immerse it in acid pickle. ‘This is one part of commercial sul- phuric acid ‘poured “into” about 16 ‘parts of water in a lead or earthenware container. Leave the boiler shell in it for about 20 minutes, then wash well in running water and clean it with a handful of stee] wool or some domestic scouring powder. ° ‘Lay the firebox former on a piece of L6-gauge sheet copper, scribe a line 23 APRIL 1959MODEL ENGINEER sos 23 APRIL 1959around the sides and top a full 3 in. away, cut out the piece and. flange it over the 4 former. Before re- moving it, drill No 30 holes in it, using gy those in the former for a. guide out "those for the Smaller ‘tubes with Bien del, am them slintly with te lead’ end of a 4 in: parallel eamer, tad cht hen on the side. opposite the fange. Use 33/64 ing dell” and. fin amet for the "bg Roles Repeat the ‘Operation forthe door Plate but don't drill ny holes For. the frehole ring, chuck a short plese of If in. fin. Eopper tube, face the | end and tun ji fenath to ‘If india Part off'at 13/33 in from “the shoulder, feverse aad. ture | SiSzin, of the other end 10 18m. dia ‘Anneal the’ ring sn Squeeze it ‘oval in the bench vise. Lay Htvon the doorplate_at 14, in. from the "tops on the’ side opposite 10 the flange, Keeping it central, Seribe line around i, cut out the pice, push the 3/32 in) ange through the Rote, and beat it outwards and down as shown in the part section. ‘The top and sides of the firebox are in oné piece, made from 16-enuge sheet copper 3yf in. wide. Get the Jength by runnide a soft ite around the tubeplate Hange. Bend it in the same. way. as the’ outer, wrapper, Fiver i fo the tubeplate and doorplate flanges, fit the crown stays as shown fn tho ‘drawings, and braze the joints bythe process “described foi the Betpaire Taike care (0 avoid directing the ame on to the metal teeen the fubeholes, or it wil melt and ruin the job.” When. doing the doorplate end, rin a filet of brazing material allround the fiehole ring. A coarse grade slvr solider may be used for these joints if desired, but don't use best grade or Easyio. ‘These are only used on the final Jobs There ig-a nak of cracking the dst joints when doing the lst, if the same grade (i used throughout. For the Ft ot of ts ba ay i god it has a” higher meting temperature than’ Easyfio. After pickling. and washing, clean the tubeplate well £0 fnsure ‘good tube joints. Slighely MODEL ENGINEER countersink the holes. ‘The ends of the tubes should be faced off in the chuck to the given lengths, and slightly bevelled so that the ends cannot be pushed through ‘but will just enter the holes in the tubeplate’very tightly. Don't on ay account screw ther ‘A piece of 3/32 in. copper sheet 4in, ‘dia. will be required for the smokebox tubeplate, The former on ‘hich this is flanged should be 3} in, dia An old chuck. plate, wheel casting or anything. similar ‘can be used. After flanging, chuck with the flange, outwards and turn ‘off. the ragged edge. Rechuck with the outer steps of the outside chuck jaws inside the flange, which can then be turned toa tight fit in the boiler barrel. “To locate the tube holes, clamp the fitebox former to the tube: plate om the side opposite to the flange, Setting it centrally and with the bottom row of holes located as shown in the Grawing, Dri, open out and ream as described for the firebox tubeplate, bus this time put the reamers in full depth, “so. that the tubes will pass through the holes. Slightly’ counter- sink the holes on both sides of the plate. Fit the tubes into the firebox tubeplate and put the smokebox- tubeplate on the Guter ends to support 506 ! c ass = them and act asa spacer. Line up the tubes with the firebox and see that they are level. Apply plenty of wet flux, covering the whole tube area. Either drop a few small pieces of best grade silver solder or Easyfio among the tubes, or put a ring of Easyflo wire around each. Stand the assembly in the coke with the tubes vertical, pile up some coke both inside and outside the firebox, and carefully hheat the whole tubeplate. ‘Keep the flame off the tubes as muchas possible at first, finally bringing the whole tubeplate and tube ends to. medium red. The silver Solder will then melt and form a fillet around each tube. A little extra can be applied to the tubes on the outside. ‘Beginners and inexperienced copper- smiths can do the job in two stages if they so desire, the first stage being the two larger flues and the small tubes. between them. Pull off the smokebox tubeplate before pickling, and heat the tube ends to anneal them for expanding into the smokebox tubeplate when assembling the boiler. ‘The assembly is carried out exactly the same way as that of the ‘Sim, gauge boiler. Fit the front ‘ection of the foundation ring, slide the frebox-and-tube assembly into the shell, fix the firebox tubeplate to the © Continued on page 509 23 APRIL 1959Building a radio- ee An account, in two instalments, of how J. NORRIS constructed an admirable model of HMS Matabele HMS Matabele was first conceived in 1954 in the form of a wish to utilise the magnificent warship drawings which Mr Norman A. Ough had recently begun to publish, A scale of } in. : 1 ft was decided on and the Tribal class chosen both for their good looks and large displacement. I wanted’ to adhere strictly to ail underwater dimen- sions and incorporate radio control, which was something I then knew nothing, and still know little about. A letter to Mr Ough brought the Information that the scale displace- ment should not bein excess of 6 bs T: model of the destroyer and using the formula V= jE ey where V = speed of model, $ = speed Of real ship = length Of real thy and {= lengih of model, the sca speed of 35 knots would equal 3 knots and the wave making would be the Same as the real ship- Professional look Tt was decided from the beginning to attempt a_glasvease nish with scale displacement and full rudder and. speed. control both ahead: and astern, Stability and weight would be ihe problem and this seemed to make tinplate. construction a ‘necessity, be- cai ofthe combined. adage light, weight, correct appearance Of the plating and ability 40 keep the main weights really low down in the hull 23 APRIL 1959 At this stage inquiries were made about Venner silver zinc accumulators which seemed to be the only batteries capable of giving the necessary output without undue weight. ‘These were decided upon together with either Ever-Ready or Mighty Midget electric motors for both main and auxiliary engines. It was felt that the small ‘motors would give sufficient power if driving each shaft directly ‘without the frictional losses imposed» by coupling the two shafts together, any difference in shaft revolutions being Fig. 1: Plating the hull easily corrected by the radio control Of the steering Yellow pine was obtained, and using the bread and butter method ‘based on the hull lines, a wooden mould was built. No allowance was made for the thickness of the plating as this appeared to be an imper- ceptible method for gaining a slight increase in displacement. ‘The mould was painted and the run of the plating marked out on. it, each alternate strake being painted a contrasting colour. Since I viewed the project with some 507 trepidation, T then made patterns in tracing paper of all the plates on one side and was considerably. heartened to discover they fitted equally well on the other side also, “The next item was tinplate which I eventually found at a firm of tin printers. 1 wanted 10 thou but had to use 15 thou and felt this would permit leaving out any intemal “framing. Although the plates on this class of destroyer had end laps and not end butts, I felt it would be much easier to make the plates as long as possible, so each strake was made of two pieces of tin, the butts, of course, being. well staggered, Cutting the strakes After sticking a paper pattern on to the tinplate, I ‘snipped out the first strake which at once coiled up like a spring and had edges like a hacksaw blade ! After a little experi- ment with two old ball-bearings, one held in the chuck and the other on the vertical slide to form an elementary rolling mill, the burred edges were easily flattened and slight errors in the ‘curve of the plate could be corrected. Holding the strake in the vice, the edges were then filed fo the final smooth outline. ‘When the stem piece had been let into the mould, enough plates had been made for the keel and the to garboard strakes, and butt straps had been soldered on ahd the mould relieved to suit. The garboard strakes were then held in position with rubber bands until they had been drilled at roughly 3 in. centres and thin wooden strips tacked over them. ‘The keel MODEL ENGINEERHMS sataneve with deck removed 10 show power and control mechanism strake was similarly fixed between them and soldering began. 1 used cored solder and filed a rebate in the end Of the iron so that it easily followed ‘the edge of the plating. Since all the strips were thoroughly tinned on the ‘edges before being held down, the Soldering proved “surprisingly ‘easy. ‘A certain amount of buckling took place but was reduced a8 much 38 possible by drawing pins stuck along the edges and in any case it dise appeared on cooling. Plating continued in this way, the inners being fixed to the hull and the outers bridging them as in Fig. 1. ‘At bow and stern as the cross-section diminishes, stealers are worked in to educe (wo strakes to one as in the diagram. Where the bottom plating Converges at the stern, tabs of about Yin. were turned up and, in due course, covered by the vertical plate Fig. 2: At the sterm, where bottom Plating converges, tabs are turned lip and covered by vertical plating hich ts then soldered on fo them that was soldered on to them (Fig. 2). Side scuttles were punched in. at this stage and then covered inside with Cellotape and angle pieces, let into the mould at main and fo'e’s'le deck evel, both to stiffen the plating and to form ledges for the removable decks. ‘By the time all the plating was neatly finished, considerable aptitude had been acquired in forming the phates to foliow the contours of the mould which, in my case, was done MODEL ENGINEER by carving a channel of decreasing radius in a hardwood block and using f wooden handle to form the plating in (Fig. 3). ‘The last plates fitted were at the top of the fo'e's'Ie. These had to bo hammered rather brutally. to form the knuckle, which is so typical Of destroyers, and after two or three failures, a reasonable result was produced. All the strips were removed Jind the tedious and exasperating job of soldering up the nail holes, carvied out. ‘The beams and brackets, ‘When the hull was completed, the wooden mould, which was in sections, hhad to be removed. piece by piece ‘The error of painting it was soon discovered for the heat had caused the paint to stick to the plating and rot until a Jot of paint remover had been run in and’ my nerves were reduced to shreds did the hull come off. Its weight at this stage was a mere 8 ozs. Five or six deck beams were soldered in, together with a Short piece of deck at bow and stern, Holes for the stern tubes, were filed out, the A brackets fabricated, and 43/33in. dia. stainless steel shafts fitted with three-bladed counter-rotat~ ing propellers of scale diameter, The blades were intentionally soft soldered ‘on, as the stern gear is rather fragile. ‘Reamed bushes at each end of the stern tubes effectively prevent the 508 OO ingress of water but they demand careful lining up with the bearing in the A bracket. ‘A rudder Of correct section and size was soldered up in tinplate and Bed. ‘Then a control test in the bath was made with batteries, receiver and motors, and it was found that all-u weight could be 74 bs when the hull ‘Was brought down to its full load dis- placement. The Ever-Ready motors Produced more power on 4b. than the Mighty Midget on six and these were adopted as the main engines power put out being perlecth Adequate. | "Their brushes ‘are not fccessible and s0 the pair of motors ‘was. fitted ona platlorm which is easily removable it replacement ‘be- comes necessary. ‘The Mighty Midgets wwere put on one side to drive the Secring and the speed selector units. Since the shaft line was so low it was necessary {0 introduce additional shafts with universalsat either end between the main’ shafts and the motors eo “Two. reduction gearboxes were ‘obtained "from the surplus market, One was mounted to drive a tiller Via a Mighty Midget to give & total of 65 deg. of helm with cut-out Switches at the limits of travel. An ED3 Reed receiver had been pur Chased and two of the relays were tused to operate the. steering, motor jn either direction. This, of course, Fig. 4: Direction control windings 25 APRIL. 1959Fig. 3: Method of forming plates to follow the coniours of mould gave progressive steering control and ‘the time taken to move the rudder through 65 deg. is some five seconds ‘which seems about right in practice. The standard ED control box has ‘one push-button and one lever switch which is quite suitable, giving star board helm when pushed to the right, and port when pushed to the left. When no signal is being sent. the rudder remains in whatever position it was last moved to. ‘The third relay operated by the push-button on the control switch is in circuit with the solenoid which, on receipt of the signal, clicks through’ an eight-tooth ratchet controlling a four-way switch. ‘This alternately starts, stops, reverses and stops the other Mighty Midget which, through the other reduction gearbox, rotates an arm across two resistance windings arranged as segments, ‘One “of these windings controls * ahead" speed, the other “astern” with” two stop segments between them (Fig. 4). Thus it is necessary to remember which signal was given last in order to know whether speed (ia cither direction) will be put on or taken off. If the motors are turning at half-speed for example, and an increase in the revolutions is wanted, three signals must be sent. “This may sound complicated, bt in practice it is made easier by the ringing of a fell, when ‘the: arm moves from the “stop” segment to either "ahead ™ or “astern” and vice versa; and also momentarily before the arm reaches the “*full-ahead ” “position. To be concluded on May 7 WORKING DRAWINGS FOR JUBILEE HERE are now four sheets of working drawings avaliable 1 the 34h. gauge locomotive Subltee’ "witch is being. cure rently uilt"and. described: by Marcin Evans. They are: Sheet. ts General assembly, buffer beams, ail wheels, frames, hornblocks, and. ‘axle- Bones, axles and crank pins: Sheet 2: Pony truck and boi general assembly, stretchers, Frames, hernblocks, axieboxes. Brake rigging, eccenerics, reds and. straps, “axle. feed. pump, coupling rods and wheel bushes. ‘Sheet 3: Cylinder crosshends vale rontheady” side "bars Connecting rods, motion plates Sha brackets ‘Sheet 4: Valve gear, mechan- ical Tubrleator, exhaust steam Pipes and ports. "The sheets are 5s 6d, each and are available trom. Percival Marshall Plans ‘Service, 19/20 Noel Street, London Wi. 33 in. GAUGE PANSY Continued from page 506 piece of foundation-ring by a couple Of rivets, and rivet the crown, flanges to the wrapper by four 3/32 i copper rivets in each flange. Make sure that the firebox is located centrally in the casing. Fit the smokebox tube- plate, flange inwards, line up the tube ‘ends with the holes, and’ drive the tubeplate into the barrel until the tubes project a bare pin. through the holes. "They can then be expanded by driving a taper drift into each. ‘The circumferential joint and’ the tube ends may then be silver soldered, using coarse grade for the joint, and fine grade for the tubes. Silver solder gan also be used forthe crown stay flanges. process was fully described for the larger Pansy boiler, to which beginners can refer. Make sure that the melted metai sweats clean through the joint between flange and wrapper. ‘ Measure the distance from Wrapper sides and top, to the firehole ring, transfer the measurements. to the backhead, and cut the hole. The backhead’ can then be fitted, and the projecting lip of the firehole ring beaten down on to it. The wrapper should be, in close contact with the backhead flange. If it isn't, fx it with 23 APRIL 1959 8 few screwed stubs of 3/32 in. copper wire. ‘Don’t use brass screws, as they ‘may melt on the brazing job.” Fit the remaining three pieces of the founda- tion ring, taking care with the corners Any inadvertent gaps can be plugged ‘with splinters of copper. Four rivets in each side and two'in the end will be plenty to retain the pieces of copper rod_in place while silver soldering. Fit the dome and safety- valve bushes, which should be made from copper. Brazing up Sct the boiler on its back in the brazing pan, and pile up the coke almost to the level of the foundation ing. Put some asbestos cubes, of pieces of asbestos millboard in’ the firebox. to. protect the tube ends. ‘Well flux the joints, both foundation ring and backhead. Heat the job ‘evenly at first, then concentrate on one corner of the ring, feeding ‘in Silver solder as soon as it glows medium red. After completing the Ting, up-end the boiler and do the Joint between backhead and wrapper, running a fillet around the firehole ing when you reach it. Finally do the bushes with best grade solder. Avoid splashes when lowering the boiler into the pickle bath, - Splashes fon clothes can be neutralised with ammonia. Any on the skin should be 509 immediately washed off with hot water and soap, to avoid unpleasant corrosion. Leave the boiler in the pickle for about half-an-hour, then wash thoroughly in running’ water, inside and out, and clean the outside steel wool. rhe two longitudinal stays and the ive cross-stays are fitted with blind nipples at each end as described for the bigger boiler. The small stays in the firebox are made from } in. copper rod, Mark out the stayholes as shown, drill No 40 and tap ¢in. or SBA, using a pilot tap, as the threads must be continuous through both plates. Screw the pieces of rod so that when Tight home, they will project a full Jin. into the firebox. Put brass ocknuts on the projections, snip off the rod about qin. from the wrapper, and rivet over to form heads. Finally, sweat over all the stayheads and Jocknuts with soft solder. Brush over them some liquid soldering flux, heat the boiler to the melting point of solder, melt a few blobs among the heads ‘and nuts, and brush the molten solder all over them with a wire brush, ‘Well wash the boiler to remove ali traces of flux, “Test by water pressure to 160 p.s.i. The fittings can be made like those’on the 5 in. job but a little smaller. LBSC writes every week ‘MODEL ENGINEERMiniature 35 mm _ projector In this week’s article, KINEMETTE deals with the base tray and lamp-holder 'N the structural parts of this projector, the simplest methods of fabrication are employed, but these are largely optional, and neither the processes, materials nor details of design ‘are rigidly laid down, So far as essentials are concerned, the structure is nothing more ‘than a method of holding the optical components in their correct relative positions, and enclosing the illuminant to avoid undue escape of light. An efficient. projector can be “made from old biscuit tins, if one is concerned only with the practical result, and no doubt a good many have been produced in this way. But most constructors will prefer to build something which is reason- ably workmanlike and shapely. fe a 1m previous articles on minizture projectors, I showed. (wo different Sesigns, one built from castings and ‘the other from sheet metal, ‘Both have been quite satisiactory and are. stil Siving good service. - Most construc- {ors will prefer” the. shect metal zmethod, as the materials are generally easy to obtain, Tt is also possible 10 Produce a lighter structure, though I's doubtful whether this is areal advantage, A certain amount of ‘weight assists stability, and for this feat, extemely th) mater, thougit amply strong for the purpose, Js not advised. Within limits, the bending and forming of the sheet metal is no more dliicult if it is fairly thick (ap to, say, 2-gauge) for parts which do ly encounter stress. Tin plate is. suitable for most of these parts, and can teadil where required. be soldered TE riveted construc- MODEL ENGINEER 9-48-00 > vernon os a] 510 tion is adopted, there is «good deal to be said in favour of aluminium, which is ductile enough to bend easily, and has a low elasticity, so that it does not tend to spring or buckle so readily as tinplate. ‘The overall dimensions of thie projector are greater than those of some of the commercially made types. ‘One reason for this is that, although designed mainly to suit the optical components mentioned, it is also intended to be adaptable to others which may call for different adjust- ments in relative location. It has also been considered desirable to avoid cramping the lamphouse, which may interfere with proper ventilation and cooling. The sleek elegance of some modem projectors, in which ‘optical elements are carefully matched, and the extemals are “tailored " around them, might be rather difficult to emulate in a home-produced effort, am Ss GENERAL ARRANGEMENT OF MINIATURE PROJECTOR Fig. 5. (Constructional methods are ‘subject to modification) 23 APRIL 1959Wxtix Tame Sone war ee serouts Hom O-O9-6-0-0-0 rege pi Fig6 Details of structural components for miniature projector though there are possibilities in fibre- glass construction for those who care {o ty their hand. ‘The foundation of the structure is made. in the form of a tray ‘with deep upstanding sides, to the front of which is attached a vertical bulkhead or stage. plate, ‘made of thicker Material, to carty the condenser and slide holder. In many projectors, the complete objective system is “also carried on this plate, in the form of an extended draw tube’ Tn this machine, an open stage is adopted, to make the system more “adaptable and also isolate the objective from conducted heat which ‘can,.in certain. circum= stances, be troublesome. The object- ing terefore, is cared in a erate older, arranged -to fit slide bars extended from the front of the stage plate. To take the strain of the over- hung weight from’ the latter, these bars are carried back inside the tray, and fixed at the inner end to an angle strip, which may also be used to Support a heat filter, where this Is used. See Figs 5 and 6 23 APRIL 1959 Most projectors nowadays employ pre-focused lamp, which calls. for the use of a special form of-lamp- holder.” Where the lamp-holder is obtained as a separate fitting, it is rather bulky and takes up, more than its fair share of room in a. small Tamp-house.. ‘There is mo special virtue in this form of holder. Any form of, lamp-holder can be pre focused if desired, though there. is often some advantage in being able to adjust it to some extent, I have therefore used a standard Edison screw lamp-holder, which is more ‘compact and also a'good deal cheaper than the pre-focused type. A further advantage is that it is readily obtain. able anywhere, and a wider range of projection lamps are available with Screw caps. Whatever type of holder is em- ployed, it is essential to position it so that the centre of the filament lines up exactly with the optical centre of the ‘system, and the most effective part of the filament faces the con- denser. With the Edison screw lamp- su holder, rotational adjustment is nec essary to ensure this condition which is obtained by using a hollow screw with a large knurled head, to clamp it ia position in the lateral sit in the base of the tray. ‘A number of holes are drilled in the tray to provide an ample area for ventilation in. the lamp-house, The bottom plate is turned down ali round for fixing, by. riveting or otherwise, to the sides. These may be made in the form of a single continuous strip extending around the two sides and the back, plus a little extra round the front comers to clamp behind. the stage plate. ‘The top edges are turned slightly inwards as shown, to facilitate fitting the lamp-house, It will be seen that two feet, made from } in. round ‘bar internally tapped for fixing to the fray, are fitted at the rear end, to hold the projector clear of its support- ing surface and provide, in conjune- tion with the front tilt screw, a three- point mounting. Rubber pads may be fitted at these points, if desired. ‘To be continued next week ‘MODEL ENGINEER‘Mechanical lubricator ‘A. professional engineer left me a half-completed 7 in. gauge Royal Seor, together with’ the necessary ‘drawings, This engine was designed by Henry Greenly and there are no details oF drawings of the very neces- ‘sary mechanical lubricator. The steam ‘of course, superheated and on the Keading axle of the driving wheels there is an eccentric already turned. Ylassume this is for the mechanical lubricator, because on the main driving axle there is an eccentric which. is Clearly shown on the drawings for the mechanical feed pump to the boiler, in addition to which there is an_injector. $0 far as T can see, T have all the information I want with the exception ‘of a mechanical lubricator. On enquiring at Bassett-Lowke, of Man- chester, I understand they do not stock LBSC drawings for a suitable lubricator, but can supply one at a cost of £70, which is completely beyond my pocket. Tewonder, therefore, whether you could help’ by advising me of a Suitable mechanical lubricator, bear- ing in mind that the piston valve eylinders are 2bin. bore x 34 in. stroke—JEJ., Kippax. ‘AA drawing of a mechanical lubricator which would be suitable for ‘your Thin. gauge locomotive is avail ‘able from our Postal Sales Department. This is actually intended for a 5 in. ‘gauge model, but provided it is driven a@t_maximum stroke it. will deliver plenty of oil. The drawing is No. LO 80/6 in our catalogue, price 3s. 6d. Kennion Bros. of 2a’ Railway Place, Hertford, can supply you with a finished mechanical lubricator. Working drawings Please could you tell me. where could get drawings for a #in. scale, Shin, gauge working model of a LMR Patriot and. tender (Fowier’s type)? I have tried Bassett-Lowke Ltd, but without success. Also, where might I get stainless steel in Small quantities, square and rect angular bar? 1 must be able to turn it'and file it—A.F.W.S., Oxford. A There are no drawings available MODEL ENGINEER, of the LMS 4-60 Patriot class. in 3b in. gauge. You could get an outline drawing of this locomotive in 7 mm. scale from J. E. Skinley, 132. High ‘Street, Southend. "To. work out the detail of exlndrs an wae gear Jou Wwill find the 3k in. gauge drawings of the LMS class 5. DORIS very’ usef There are ten sheets available at 3s. 6d. each from our Postal Sales Department. “For the stainless steel you require, we suggest you try the Mulberty Co., Sekforde Street, London, Ec. Lubricant stockists Tam interested in getting hold of the ‘two lubricants Molyspeed and anti- seuffing paste and shall be obliged if you could let me have the names of any distributors or stockists in my area—C.R.B., Eton. A Aniscfing pate 18 supplied by Rocol Lid, Suilington, Lee We have no exact information on the makers of Molyspeet, but other forms Of this lubricant’ are’ supplied by the bow company, and “abo by KS. Paul) Led.” Great "Western Trading Estate, Park Royal Road, London, NivIG. Making boxjoint pliers There is one problem that has for years puzzled me—the method em- Dloyed'in the manufacture of boxjoint pliers. The ordinary lap joint is, of Course, elementary. But T cannot see by what method boxjoint could be made. From the price, charged for hand tools $0 jointed, it appears to be a straightforward. process and adds ‘comparatively little to the price of the finished article. ‘Naturally have thought of swaging and forging, and ‘even welding, but if, as appears to be the case, these tools have a true box joint and the side plate of the hollow jaw has not been subsequently welded om, then indeed, it is beyond me, and Your advice in clearing up the puzzle would be appreciated. —IVE.V., King ston, Jamaica. A We have no exact information on the processes adopted but it would ‘appear that the outer member of the Joint is welded after the inner portion 52 “This tree advico services open to all renders. series mast be ofa practical atee on wbjects tithin the scope ofthis Jounal. The replies Dublshod are extracts from fuller replies ent {hroosh the pos: queries must ot be sat with seat ion of mod Mark envelope clearly Query Bnuineer” 13-20 Noel Sueet, London, Wal. has been inserted. It would seem to be a somewhat highly skilled operation fo carry out without welding the whole Joint up solid. In view of the fact that this. particular joint seems. 10 be less popular nowadays, it would also seem that the operation was found too expensive ‘for modern practice, or ‘that operators sufficiently skilled cannot be obtained. Seal petrol engine Tam building a 15 cc. Seal petrol engine and since this is my first such projeet, 1 would be grateful for the Explanation of a few details. with ‘which T am Unfamiliar or which are fot too clear on the drawings. Tr’ Are any gaskets required, and if so, where and of what thickness should they be ? 2, What is the clearance of the piston in the cylinder ? 3. What is the clearance between the contact ends of the high-tension terminals, and the brass’ wiper on the rotor’? 4. Why. are spiral gears used instead of bevel gears, to transmit power from the camshaft to. the Yertical driveshaft for the pump and distributor ? Are not, bevel gears ‘easier to cut, and don’t they have fetter wearing qualities ? 5. When casechardening, which ives the best finish, and least distortion and expansion: carburis- Sng, or eyaniding ? 6. Slow many screws are re, quired ‘on each connecting. rod? Gere appear to be two, but since there is m0 end view, there could Wwell be four) T'would ike to advise anyone building the ISc.c, Seal against making the same mistake as 1 did ‘when I machined the crankshaft Referring to the drawing, the erank- webs at the outer ends. of. throws, umber" one and number four are perpendicular to the centre line of the Crankshaft, ‘These. webs are shorter than the inner two and squared off fat the main shafts. On the drawing they are shown machined right down fo the edges of the washer faces. [ ie Ming even longer Tor good measure but still not fong enough to ake the crankshaft balance. "AS near as 1 can judge, these webs should’ be roughed off ‘about } in. 22 APRIL 1959