COLUMBINE'S BOILER

[joe d]

Robert:

That is turning out a treat!

Still happily following along

Joe

[Don1966]

I agree just a beautiful job on the boiler. ............

Don

[K.B.C]

Once again thank you George, I will certainly PM you if the jets don't work out.  I did do a build log for the engine, you can find it under the Engine builds FROM PLANS it is on page 7 titled "Windermere steam launch from scratch" I had original plans but I needed to make it to a different scale to get it looking right for the boat. The scale of the launch will be 1:7 as I wish to have my model 1metre long and the prototype is 23 feet. I redrew all the engine plans to the new scale on CADD and still have them all. If you wish I can email them to you, the same goes for the boiler plans.



Robert

Hi robert,
Thanks for the offer of the drawing but it wont be neccessary to send i, I am still a bit of a Dinasor as I can't handle Metric dimensions, I have also had a look thro' my drawing file and found a twin cylinder double acting engine of 7/16" x 7/16" stroke either slide valve or piston valve.

I found your build of the engine, very well machined, I like building from stock materia, , thanks, if I could make one comment and that is of the Video of the engine running, there is a lot of vibration on the reversing lever and I would suggest that you fit a servo saver if you are to operate using a servo, otherwise you will wreck the servo.
Here are some pics of a saver that was posted by Sandy Cam some time ago and it works well, the springs used are from ball pens and are very effective..
I tried it on a very Heath Robinson mechanisim to self start , forward and reverse a 10 V  with slip eccentric using a small geared motor which worked very well .

The servo saver is also fitted to a D10 that is in a steam tug and to be double sure the servo has steel gears and a very high pull.

Have a look at ther drawing and the other pics.


George.

P.S.

Robert I had to take a pic of the servo saver which is a pdf and wouldn't post,so  took a photo to turn it into jpg. which is quite clear.

[Robert Hornby]

George, Thank you for the idea and drawing for smoothing out the movement of the reversing lever. I had given it a little thought but not too seriously as it will be quite a while away yet, I was thinking that maybe the servo might have some  cushioning inbuilt. I also have the original plans for the engine drawn in imperial dimensions. I will pm you shortly as the new jets have the same orifice as the first one i.e. too large.
Robert

[Robert Hornby]

The third band is now on however I found it quite difficult to get the bands tight enough to prevent some lateral movement and as I do not wish to have them come loose over time I am thinking of placing two rivets in each of the lap joints and into the slat and glue them into place which should prevent slippage.
 


Whilst I am awaiting delivery of some new gas jets all the way from Bonny Scotland I have made a start on the steam pipework from the boiler to the engine. The valve at the bottom of the engine will control the steam for speed and stop/go.





Robert

[Ramon Wilson]

Hello Robert - only just caught up with this  but better late than never 

Just like to say what a lovely plant you have put together here - your boiler has come together extremely well and the whole thing looks very professional indeed. Bet you cant wait to get it in the hull.

I'll look forwards to seeing further progress - at this rate you will soon overtake the WaW but I do intend to get back on that soon

Happy New Year to you

Regards - Ramon

[zeeprogrammer]

Beautiful setup. The boiler looks mighty fine too.

[Robert Hornby]

I thought I would indulge myself before the year ends by adding a bit of bling to the power plant in the way of pipe insulation. (I really shouldn't be doing this after a few pre NY eve wines.)



Robert

[Robert Hornby]

I am now thinking about a boiler water feed pump. My original idea was for a hand pump hidden below the cabin of the launch and I would fill up the boiler for each run. However the size of pump I am drawing up will only pump 2.2 cubic cm's per stroke and to raise the water level 3cm in the boiler will take 100 strokes !!!!!!!!! far too many. So I am now thinking along the lines of a pump that can be driven by a battery screwdriver, still filling up after each run. Any thoughts out there on a small rotary type pump about 25mm dia.?
Robert

[K.B.C]

Robert.
I can give you a few suggestions for a boiler feed pump.

Pic No 1

you could machine an eccentric on the flywheel of your engine which has plenty of meat on it and you could have the pump valve box either Vertical or horizontal.

No 2.

You could have an elctrically operated feed pump using a small G/Box and the rev range being 120 r.p.m. pump ram 1/4" dia x 1/2" with Scotch crank on adjustable disc drive. this pump fed my 4.75" dia x 6" long Scotch marine return flue boiler which driove a D10

No3

Is for a TVR engine of 7/16" bore x 7/16" stroke and can be driven by the eccentric fitted to the main shaft.

No4 & 5
Pump fitted to TVR in a Vertical position 1- driven by G/Box and the other mounted vertical and driven from the main shaft.  (G/Box is by MFA-COMO.)

On all of these pumps a bypass valve is fitted between the pump delivery valve and the boiler to adjusted and balance the boiler requirements with excess water pumped over board or into an on board tank.

For the TVR engine the ram is 3/16" dia x 3/8" stroke.

Hope that this is of interest.

George.

[10KPete]

I like that pump and the very versatile mount! I think even I can do that. 

Pete

[K.B.C]

I like that pump and the very versatile mount! I think even I can do that. 

Pete

Pete,

Easy enough to make , the tricky part is getting them to work.

George.

[Robert Hornby]

Thanks George for the suggestions and photos for the boiler fed water pump, I will give this some more thought. In the mean time with the help from Sandy and George posting me some gas jets from half way around the world I have made some progress in getting an acceptable flame on the burner. The tile is not fully red but I am thinking it will be sufficient as on test it brought up steam with a full boiler (water level at the top of the gauge glass) in just 5 minutes. The engine ran on steam for the first time and continued to run at a reasonable speed for 15 minutes until the water level dropped to close to the bottom of  glass. (I would post a photo of the burner here but since I upgraded to Windows 10 my photo bucket has gone wonky and I cannot seem to be able to upload a photo to it)
Robert

[Robert Hornby]

Computers sometimes drive me nuts. All of a sudden Photo Bucket has reverted to what I had prior to updating to Windows 10. So I have the photo of the burner. (but still not able toad emotions)

Robert

[Robert Hornby]

It has been a while since I made any progress on the project, mainly through lethargy on my part. However I have decided that the required water pump will be a hand driven one and may or may not actually fitted into the boat, I can make this decision later on but It will be built so if I do decide to fit it, it will (or should) be OK. The piston dia. is 12mm with a 20mm stroke.



Robert