Author Topic: Tug's Corliss Tandem Compound Project  (Read 92410 times)

Offline Ramon Wilson

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1942
  • Suffolk in the UK
Re: Tug's Corliss Tandem Compound Project
« Reply #210 on: February 28, 2018, 09:25:00 AM »
Morning Willy,

I think mine may be developing a similar tendency as I notice the blade is slowly eating its way through the back cover  :o. Nothing serious to prevent working at the moment but something that does require attention. Much too cold out the back shed for that..

Off topic I know but though we didn't get two feet but we did get more than we've had for many a year ....


and it's a long time since the car saw this much too


Met office give 5C on Sunday so it should all be gone by then -I hope so as I should be going to Peterborough for a model show.

Bertie - hope it all goes well for you tomorrow and you get away on your break okay.

I'm off to do some screw cutting - hope those heaters have lived up to expectation overnight

Tug
"I ain't here for the long time but I am here for a good time"
(a very apt phrase - thanks to a well meaning MEM friend)

Offline Bertie_Bassett

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 152
Re: Tug's Corliss Tandem Compound Project
« Reply #211 on: February 28, 2018, 01:56:25 PM »
thank Tug, im sure ill get out one way or another!

enjoy the screw cutting, once iv got all my change gears made ill have to see if i can remember how its done.
one day ill finish a project before starting another!
suffolk - uk

Offline Ramon Wilson

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1942
  • Suffolk in the UK
Re: Tug's Corliss Tandem Compound Project
« Reply #212 on: March 01, 2018, 05:30:17 PM »
Hope you got away Bertie - enjoy the sun (and the warmth)

Today has not been a good one!

First off I tried the fan heater on the compressor to thin the oil. While waiting for it to warm began turning only to blow the fuse again. To be fair I was overloaded  :zap:

Come in to replace fuse. "Tug" - 'There's water coming through the patio :o - 'Bugger'  For a few days the bathroom sink has had a slight gurgle - I knew the cause, just didn't think it would manifest itself so quickly.

Phone Water company - accepted as (I quote) 'Emergency Commitment' but, due to weather conditions affecting everything can't come until Tuesday - WHATTTTT  :o

Waste goes to sump under patio slabs - from there to another sump on neighbours property and from there about 40 ft to main drain at foot of my drive.

Previously I had a neighbour with drain rods and means (and strength) to lift the heavy (very) cast iron cover. He moved last year!

All other neighbours to old - yep  - so had to call on a mate - enter Sue (should be 'Super Sue' guys) With guile, a pry bar and two screwdrivers we manage to get said cover out of deep recess and expose first problem - no details , use your imagination. Go to mid sump on neighbours and expose second problem (definitely no details)

Bear in mind wind is getting up with snow all round when another neighbour - much too old to help physically, brings out an unused  set of rods. He deals in old tools at car boot sales just happened to have bought them recently.

So - workshop time is on hold and spent rodding and K'Archering a 40 foot long drain with an intrusion in it - felt like a brick and obvious cause of said malaise. Two hours later the two of us cleared away in triumph if not a bit smelly and totally bloody freezing.

Showered again and had an early nap - now I'm off to see if I can finish that bit of turning. Oh yes - I did get a full tank of air in the end  ;D

Happy days eh, ah tomorrow is another day  :D.

Hope you don't mind the diversion - lifes like that  :Lol:

From the ol shid - Ol Tug

PS I've heard comments good and bad about K'Archers. Well I can only say that even with the rods, without that today I really would have struggled. An amazing tool that really does the job.

PPS Good news ? - Bought a good set of rods -'only used the once'  ;) - from my neighbour :D
"I ain't here for the long time but I am here for a good time"
(a very apt phrase - thanks to a well meaning MEM friend)

Offline Jasonb

  • Full Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9463
  • Surrey, UK
Re: Tug's Corliss Tandem Compound Project
« Reply #213 on: March 01, 2018, 05:56:29 PM »

PPS Good news ? - Bought a good set of rods -'only used the once'  ;) - from my neighbour :D

Trust you to come up smelling of roses ;)

Online sco

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1693
  • Location: Northants UK
Re: Tug's Corliss Tandem Compound Project
« Reply #214 on: March 01, 2018, 08:54:47 PM »
Why do those kind of jobs always occur in the worst kind of weather :toilet_claw:

Glad you got it sorted.

Simon.
Ars longa, vita brevis.

Offline Steamer5

  • Global Moderator
  • Full Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1272
  • The "Naki" New Zealand
Re: Tug's Corliss Tandem Compound Project
« Reply #215 on: March 01, 2018, 09:08:43 PM »
Hi Ramon,
 I’m another who reads regularly but on comments occasionally.
Maybe the vacuum of responses is caused as we are all sucking up all the hints & tips & LOTS of other useful information.... :lolb:

The engine is coming on very nicely, like your air fittings, it’s in the coming in useful file. Nice score on the “ only used once rods”.......now you have them what’s the chance you will need them again...... :naughty:

Cheers Kerrin
Get excited and make something!

Offline Tennessee Whiskey

  • Full Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3781
  • Springfield, Tennessee. USA
Re: Tug's Corliss Tandem Compound Project
« Reply #216 on: March 01, 2018, 11:56:15 PM »
Tug, as us “old boys” say: if’n it ain’t one damn thing it’s another. Been there with the septic (sewer) thingy. We’ve had one of the wettest Februarys on record and the ground is having a great bit of trouble absorbing any extra. At me ol’ hoose, it plain stinks outside and at the business, which is also on a “tank and trunk line” system, catering to a couple thousand a day, it’s consuming near 6 acres for drainage and right now, that’s overburdened. It’s got to be from all the greenhouse emissions we model engineers are producing  :lolb: :lolb:. Snow: remember; don’t eat the yellow snow  :lolb: :lolb: :cheers:. Y’all come see us now you hear

Whiskey

Offline b.lindsey

  • Global Moderator
  • Full Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13860
  • Dallas, NC, USA
    • Workbench-Miniatures
Re: Tug's Corliss Tandem Compound Project
« Reply #217 on: March 02, 2018, 12:13:13 AM »
Even the diversions are interesting Tug. I missed a day or two, but am caught back up again now ;)

Bill

Offline Dave Otto

  • Full Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4693
  • Boise, Idaho USA
    • Photo Bucket
Re: Tug's Corliss Tandem Compound Project
« Reply #218 on: March 02, 2018, 12:58:02 AM »
Wow, not a fun day, glad that you got it sorted.

Dave

Offline Ramon Wilson

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1942
  • Suffolk in the UK
Re: Tug's Corliss Tandem Compound Project
« Reply #219 on: March 02, 2018, 08:31:53 AM »
Morning guys - yeps life little diversions can bring you some pleasant :o  surprises at times  :Lol: but hell, Whiskey - I'm real glad we didn't have to deal with yours though  :ROFL:

As you've seen I've had a slight diversion into those couple of diesels - the progress of which has surprised me as they only need a couple of bits left. While the 'shop has ali swarf all over it I've taken the opportunity to rough out the ali its for 'Jefs engine' too but I will be back on this project next week.

Thanks for looking in and if you're surround by the white stuff - stay warm, stay safe or, as they'd say in these parts

'Dew yew loook arter yersel bor'

Regards from Snowy Suffolk - Ol' Tug
"I ain't here for the long time but I am here for a good time"
(a very apt phrase - thanks to a well meaning MEM friend)

Offline Ramon Wilson

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1942
  • Suffolk in the UK
Re: Tug's Corliss Tandem Compound Project
« Reply #220 on: March 03, 2018, 10:53:57 AM »
Guess who turned up yesterday morning - emergency drain clearing crew  :Lol: Too late, I said me an the missus have cleared it - should have seen the look on their faces  ;D To be fair I had phoned and explained so they knew it was dealt with but they'd come to make sure everything was alright. Diagnosis is a cracked and misaligned pipe to be dealt with later.

Made some good inroad on these ali bits only to come out of the workshop to find another 2-3 inches of the white stuff. Looks like it should be the last though so cleared it all again this morning - it was already beginning to thaw thank goodness.

The model show at Peterborough has been cancelled however so I'll make use of that to finish this ali and get back on the engine on Monday  :)

Tug

"I ain't here for the long time but I am here for a good time"
(a very apt phrase - thanks to a well meaning MEM friend)

Offline b.lindsey

  • Global Moderator
  • Full Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13860
  • Dallas, NC, USA
    • Workbench-Miniatures
Re: Tug's Corliss Tandem Compound Project
« Reply #221 on: March 03, 2018, 12:47:09 PM »
That is s shame about the model show being cancelled. Seems from what you folks in the UK are saying the number of shows is dwindling as well. At least it will give you more shop time though assuming you don't have to deal with the white stuff!!

Bill

Offline J.L.

  • Rest In Peace
  • Full Member
  • *
  • Posts: 2113
Re: Tug's Corliss Tandem Compound Project
« Reply #222 on: March 03, 2018, 01:37:53 PM »
Hi Guys,

It looks as though you have had a go with a bit of snow. As you all know, I live in Peterborough on the other side of the pond and also live with snow!

Love this thread Tug.

Cheers...John

Offline Ramon Wilson

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1942
  • Suffolk in the UK
Re: Tug's Corliss Tandem Compound Project
« Reply #223 on: March 12, 2018, 09:55:38 AM »
Morning guys - Wheres that week gone?

Bill, the model show was a 'plastic' one but unlike the apparent diminishing of ME ones they seem to go from strength to strength. Very frequent, always well attended by exhibitor and visitor alike the hobby is flourishing. The sad part is all that organisation for what is a very good show having to be cancelled at the last minute - must be gut wrenchingly disappointing for the guys who have spent so long putting it together.

John - Living in 'your' Peterborough I can well appreciate how well you are used to snow. I lived in Newfoundland for a time and saw a 'fair bit' of it there  ;). When we do have a good fall here though it bemuses me how, as a nation, we seem so surprised by the effect it has. As a newly trained soldier in Jan 1963 the first place I went overseas to was for further training at Fort Churchill in Manitoba - now that was snow  :o

Well - things are back on course on this project. The ali swarf has been cleared but it was worth the effort to make a bit more before doing so as the major machining on the main ali parts for Jefs petrol engine have been done so it was worth the digression :)


These have been boxed and stored for a later date and attention returned to the Corliss.

First up was to deal with something that was overlooked when machining the bedplate - the mounts for the handrail stanchions. The base was drilled and small pads turned and JB'd in place. The pads were reamed and the stanchions will eventually be Loctited in place 


One of the things that has been bugging me is the drain valve situation - there are drain valves shown on the drawings but shown only for the slide valve cylinder - I cannot see anything relevant to the Corliss cylinders.

Though this will only run on air there is always the possibility that oil could build up and hydraulic. Having studied every pic of stationary engines of the type in several books of George Watkins I can find little evidence of noticeable drain valves on Corliss engines per se. There are a few that have pipework with quarter turn valves but having spent sometime drawing one out as small as possible it would still look over-scale. However, there are quite a few that show pipe work coming from the sides of cylinders and disappearing into the foundation, possibly to finish at an isolated valve somewhere. That is what I have decided to emulate.

The cylinders were drilled through about 4mm in from each end the hole ending about 2mm deep in the end cover. The covers then had a channel milled to connect the hole to the cylinder. (They are offset from the centre line so as to miss the lower, centrally located, stud)


The hole positions were transferred to the bed-plate using hardened pins in the holes and these centres picked up and drilled on the mill. A recess was milled for O rings to act as a seal. Holes were drilled from the side to intersect and counter-bored to take tapped bosses JB'd into place



That doesn't seem like much for a weeks attention but a lot of it was spent making my mind up how best to go about it. The pipework coming from the cylinders will go through the base top and from there will be connected to a point on the exhaust pipe after the Condenser outlet. I'm working on that now so more pics a bit later.

The weather is still not conducive to painting outside but I did manage to get some on the outer pedestal yesterday as a test.  I can't say I'm over enamoured with the colour - it is decidedly different to the label  :-\

Tha's it frum the ol shid fer now bors


Regards for now - Ol' Tug

"I ain't here for the long time but I am here for a good time"
(a very apt phrase - thanks to a well meaning MEM friend)

Offline steam guy willy

  • Full Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3238
Re: Tug's Corliss Tandem Compound Project
« Reply #224 on: March 13, 2018, 04:07:05 PM »
Hi Tug, is your boat called Wide  Wake because you can 'Roll out the carpet' with it as it goes so fast ??  !!!
Just wondering ?!!!!
wily

 

SimplePortal 2.3.5 © 2008-2012, SimplePortal