30ft 1890's navy steam launch 1/6th scale

[tghs]

maybe in his younger days,, at this point I'm thinking along the lines of wolverine crossed with a horseshoe crab,, add larger fangs and less friendly temperament.. I think he got into the house once and had a confrontation with one of the cats,, lately he has had a taste for 7BA nuts,, "imported treats?"

[ddmckee54]

The killer rabbit, was that Bun-Bun?  Or am I in the wrong decade?  After a while they kind of blur together.

Don

[tghs]

received a nice email from Stuart Turner, they are standing by their product and sending new rings...

[tghs]

turned and threaded the top end for the piston rods, will use them as arbors to finish the pistons,, will be away from the shop with other things for a few days,, waiting on new rings,, will be drawing out the links a little better,, knowing that the block will get brass side cover sheets, what would be good choices for insulation to take up the space?

[derekwarner]

Have watched on with this thread  from day one.......with great interest

The cylinder head has a sizeable volume of heat contact area that [heat] can be partially saved/contained, hence helping to maintain the desired working temperature within the cylinder block, and not continually lost to atmosphere

By example, my steam discharge valve on the boiler top approaches 206 degrees C when the boiler relief valve is set @ 2.5 Bar.......

I have insulated the boiler steam discharge 1/8" [3.17 mm] OD tube with a wound cotton twine, covered with a Celulose domestic filler, sanded & painted with domestic primer & gloss enamel. The outer diameter of the insulated tube is ~~10mm OD

The temperature of the outer insulated tube surface 25mm away from the valve nut is ~~95 degrees ...or an 11 degree variation in temperature that is then being exposed to atmosphere

I have reported in earlier threads that this insulation provides steam to the engine some 220 mm line length at ~~ 4 degrees C hotter than with an uninsulated tube

You could consider laying pure cotton thread vertically within the voids of the engine block, then filling and sanding off with a domestic celulose filler.....[would take a few fills & sands and can get dusty, however once done is complete]

The final sanding of the cellulose filler will follow the upper & lower profile of the cylinder head  prior to the final vertical wooden lagging strips

You could use an inexpensive digital pyrometer to confirm surface running temperatures of the engine pre and post the insulation, which displayed the ~~ same temperatures 

So this is naturally very difficult to quantify, [as this type of insulation contributes to a lower heat input requirement to maintain a desired temperature]

I used this same engine insulation method [as above] with my Saito Y2DR 12 x 20 horizontal twin, however used the original Saito brass shim cylinder covers, then wooden slats

Naturally I cannot confirm a unit reduction in gas heat input to maintain the ~~ 2.5 Bar WP, however I believe the gas input reduction must be in hidden in the total heat load equation of my steam plant

[an Scottish Toolmaker trained in London once told me [55 years ago for me as a 1st Year apprentice] that if you removed the cylinder head lagging on certain steam engines, you could find refractory brick chips, with the remains of pages from the London Daily Chronicle  mixed together with a [now hardened] lime slurry] 

Derek

[tghs]

started on an attempt to make the navy style links,, using stuart drawings as a guide drew up what might work and started working on the stock that will form the two main halves,, had a brass piece in a stash that was large enough the hole in the center for chucking up was a bonus..lots of milling and I have a ring that the sections can get cut from.....

[tghs]

one last shot for the evening,, all center-punched, it will be easier to do the drilling before cutting them out and apart.. not quite watchmaking but small,,each one will have to a boss soldered on dead center,, have to make 4 drilled spacers and 4 sliders that will fit inside..

[Johnmcc69]

 
 Looking good!

 John

[tghs]

replacement rings arrived today,, they look much better!!!  drilled and milled the sections and cut them apart,, drilled some 3/16th rod and cut it to length to form the spacers,, worked on just one to start with.. micro belt sanded and filed,, a little hand sanding.. this might work!!!

[tghs]

sun was shining on the big table this morning, laid out some of the navy boat steam engineering plans to review for work ahead,, the mutant footed yeti monster decided he needed to help..

[crueby]

How many toes DOES that yeti have, anyway? Looks like some spares on there...  The coloring is just like a cat we had when I was a kid - got up to around 25 pounds, liked to chase dogs and mailmen.

[tghs]

he's a 26 toed monster 2 toes short of tying the record,, polydactyl's were historically ship cats , ships had mascots, but cats were crew..

[tghs]

worked on the second link box,, it looks like the first one (always good when that happens),, started looking at the pivot studs for the drag bars,, made some threaded spacer disc from some 1/4 rod,, I'm thinking some loc-tite during the final assembly and it should be good..

[tghs]

started the four drag bars,, drilled out brass rod on the lathe, milled and drilled cross holes, soldered up as one unit, cut the sections apart with a jeweler's saw,, reamed to fit,, still have to clean up the end lengths .. one fuzzy photo,, camera operator needed more coffee this morning..

[tghs]

got the four drag bars cleaned up and adjusted close to the final fit..