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Haha nice to have you along for the very long protracted rife! 😂

Hey Bianca!!

Yes thanks mate! The both of you have at least given me confidence I've done it right haha!!

Mate, I started building at 16 without any skill!! You can start with literally a file and hacksaw!! I recommend LBSC's TICH. You can get the book online here and he talks you through everything!! Nice little engine at the end of it too!! I'll help and advise if you need!! Get this book, you won't regret it! www.amazon.co.uk/Simple-Model-Locomotive-Building-Tich/dp/0852427867

Haha if only I had a way of filling with hot water. Yes I start it very low with the blow torch!

I'll look forward to seeing yours progressing mate!

Haha trust me, that whistle was a nightmare to make 🤣

I just don't understand how it re-circulates when it doesn't have a check valve after the bypass. As you say it seems to work well though. Maybe it something to do with the smaller bore on the bypass line 🤷‍♂️

@johnlintorn6768 it doesn't really need to actually circulate. It is just ast as a path of low resistance so that it does not pressurise and pump into the boiler. But as you said, it works. And the one on our Tiger worked since 1922, so it works well. It also had a test valve on the top. My uncle used to put his thumb over it and squirt people at steam rallies. Love you are doing, just wish i had the marients to build one. I am a professional welder and experienced machinest, just not enough patients and drive to build one.

@sw793 Goodness me I think your lucky enough to have a full size Fowler haha!! You've definitely got enough on your plate without have a model one to muck with!

@johnlintorn6768 used to, not for many years now. Was a family thing with my dad and uncle. All gone now, problem is the full size ones take over your life. We had to re-firebox it and destroyed a few marriages within the group.

@sw793 Such a shame but what a great experience!! Youre right about patience though! This has taken me about 10 years so far!

Maybe a little longer depending on work in 2025

Going by the cylinder top I'd say R3 Fowler, but I could be wrong :)

Yeah it's the R3

Must have been nice!! Hold onto those memories ad I don't think steam fairs will be around much longer!

Cheers buddy!

Thankyou!!

Haha its being pulled up next week so I wasnt too bothered 🤣

It currently weighs about 100kg but once fully assembled I estimate about 300-350kg

If you are suspending from the rafters, just make sure they are strong enough! Even 100kg is a lot if the ends of the rafters, like the ones above my garage are only supported by by thin metal clamps.

@@johnlintorn6768there will be a unistrut in the loft on each side and another unistrut under the ceiling on each side. The two rails are bolted through in between each of the rafters. So the weight will be taken on all rafters rather than point loaded. It is a bit like flooring out the loft. The rails will then serve as a trackway for the cross traverse which holds the hoist. Still in planning phase though so there may be changes.

@OthamJohn A lot of effort for a 100kg engine haha! I guess if you wajt to build bigger in the future you will be in a good position to do so!! Reason I couldnt do exactly that set up is the garage rafters dont extend across the brick work at the ends 🙄

@@johnlintorn6768I'm a bit too old to lift 100kg and I don't want to drop it of course.

Cheers Derek!

Yes, I fabricated every part, and silver soldered the entire thing!

what shell thickness, 2 inch tubes?@@johnlintorn6768

All plate work is 5mm thick copper, the tubes were 1" O/D and 10s.w.g, if I remember correctly

@@johnlintorn6768 I am trying to build a boiler. VFT 24 in dia. steel shell 3/8 thick copper is expensive.

Well that's very interesting!! Do you intend to use it at shows/events/public occasions? I ask as there are a lot of annoying rules about welding steel boilers?

I'll have to have a look back through to re-aqauint myself haha!

0.031" does sound about right just pictuing it in my head though! I assume you are using gear cutters and the rotary table to set it up?

@@johnlintorn6768 I have a dividing head but pretty much the exact same setup.

Ok so looking at my drawings I had to re-design the bevel gears. The drawing calls for: Large bevel - 44T 9/16" C.P. 7.89" O/D Small bevel pinion - 9T 9/16" C.P. 1 31/32" O/D Unfortunately C.P is used instead of D.P and is taken from behind the bevel and is used for cutting bevel gears with a shaper. If we want to use 6 D.P cutters on a mill, which, I assume you do, you havr to completely re-design the 2 bevel gears! I suspect this is why you are struggling to work it out using Ivan Laws book. He shows us how to design and cut "Incorrect" bevel gears.

I would send you a picture of my gears but I can't seem to upload a picture on this response so I'll just tell you the info. Following details are using 90:1 ratio rotary table. Crown wheel - 37T 6 D.P. 0.360 depth of cut. 0.131 offset for 2nd/3rd cut with 2deg 25mins 55secs turn. 37 hole dividing plate, 2 16/37 turns per tooth. Pinion - 9T 6 D.P. 0.360 depth of cut. 0.130 offset for 2nd/3rd cut with 1deg turn. 20 hole dividing plate. 10 turns per tooth! Obviously check all these calculations but they worked OK for me as you have seen! If you want, I can email you pics of the drawings! Just send me your email address!

Well, the bushes are bronze, which expands more quickly than the steel shafts. There should be a nice running clearance once they warm up!

Axle bushes got 0.003" I've always worked by 0.001" per half inch

@@johnlintorn6768 I have always been curious as to the rate of expansion if the horn plates transmit heat.

I expect on a larger engine, the longitudinal clearances would be very important. I doubt on my axle that even 0.010" of elongation would affect very much!

​@@johnlintorn6768I went to the bother of making dummy rivets to bolt my hornplates on, a lot just use regular steel bolts.

@union310 Good on you! I used countersunk stainless bolts haha!

I leant it off an old guy on TH-cam! Look up Old Steam Powered Machine Shop!

I have had to fettle a lot of things! The eccentric roda were definitely too long! The centres between valve rods and the centres between expansion links weren't the same either. But I couldnt work out where that error came from as ive checked the drawings and re measured what I have done and all seems fine!

Good idea! Maybe I'll think of an air heating coil for future testing 👍

@@johnlintorn6768 its one of those simple things they did back then that is oft neglected these days. amazing the temperature drop you get from expansion... and the logical extension of that is that cold stuff doesnt expand as much as hot stuff... do it with all my air tools too. only needs to be 80-90C to make a big difference. bucket of hot water will do it...

Haha ive no idea how you stayed awake 🤣

There interesting buddy! Keep them coming

Thabks Derek! Proof will be in the pudding when she steams up... if she steams up haha!

Unfortunately I'm deployed at the moment Derek! I'll be back to it later in the year!! How is yours progressing??

Im not sure about the mods to the cylinders. While building the cylinder block I have noticed the ports are often quite small so that may have something to do with it. There isnt really much room to increase them in size though. If you have a CNC shop with CAD, it may be worth you doing a CAD model and seeing if you can re run the ports in some way better and then have a custom casting poured from your own patterns? I uprated my boiler to 150psi though as 110psi as stated on the drawings isnt really enough for the compounding.

I hope you are going to upload your journey so we can all learn about CNC and see your models come together!

For the size of work we do down the workshop, I was planning on making a 3D model then just milling the cylinders from a solid block of steel 😅 so will check the drawings and see what can be done I like the idea of documenting it all, but I suck at remembering to film stuff and editing haha

@@fowler_steam Amazing!! Where abouts is your shop then?

Not too far from Bath :) in a little village in the @ss end of nowhere, do all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff in there

Hey there! No, they were just pushed together and soldered. Silver solder has a tensile strength of something ridiculous, like 20000psi, so there is no real need for extra notches.

@@johnlintorn6768 thanks very much for reply. I'm following your build and very impressed

@@steam_fan Video to be uploaded soon 👍

I know what I will do but just haven't done it yet. Unfortunately I haven't found a Non-Chinese table which is around 6". The Non Chinese stuff is all far too big for my little Warco.

Haha me too! I was actually working today on setting the valves so the first air test might not be too long away!

Thanks, mate! I'd love to see how yours is coming along! I've just found a video on my phone I made a couple of months ago but forgot to upload! I'll put it up now!