Author Topic: Stephenson's Rocket  (Read 28552 times)

Offline Brian Rupnow

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Re: Stephenson's Rocket
« Reply #210 on: July 01, 2020, 01:45:06 AM »
This afternoon, while I had everything disassembled, I decided to paint. I've been dithering for a month, trying to decide whether to paint this thing or not, but finally decided to go with more or less "traditional" colors. Semi gloss black on everything except the boiler and wheels, which will be "Knock your eyes out yellow". So I painted--cleaned up---found another part---painted--cleaned up--found another part. I went thru about 5 or 6 rounds of this before I had most of the black parts painted. Damn, there are a lot of parts!!! Haven't painted the boiler yet, because I haven't Loctited the boiler rings in place, but maybe tomorrow. The only thing left to fabricate are 6 "stay rods" of various lengths. I know the engines run, because they ran on the test stand.

Offline Brian Rupnow

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Re: Stephenson's Rocket
« Reply #211 on: July 01, 2020, 03:40:22 PM »
This morning I Loctited the boiler rings in place. This isn't really a big deal on three of the rings. The fourth ring may be a challenge. It is split around the engine mounts, and split again on the bottom half below the motor mounts to clear the pivot support bar. If the Loctite doesn't want to hold on this ring I may have to "pin" the individual ring sections in place with 0.039" diameter pins inserted thru the ring sections and into corresponding drilled holes in the boiler body.  I wanted to paint the boiler today, but may have to put that off until tomorrow depending on how rapidly the Loctite sets up.

Offline Brian Rupnow

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Re: Stephenson's Rocket
« Reply #212 on: July 01, 2020, 09:23:14 PM »
While I was walking today---I was thinking about stay rods. The smallest size socket head capscrew I carry is a #4, which has a 0.182" diameter head. If I spent a little time making up rod ends from 1/16" mild steel, then I can silver solder them to the ends of the stay rods. I think this is the best solution I have came up with yet, and since the stay rods will be painted black, I think it will work quite well, and give a good solid attachment between the stay rods and the rest of the machine.

Offline crueby

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Re: Stephenson's Rocket
« Reply #213 on: July 01, 2020, 09:47:05 PM »
Fun how ideas can come while doing something else - though you can look fun while frantically scrambling to find a pen/paper to write it down before forgetting it....  Not that I have done that.... today!   :ThumbsUp:

Offline Brian Rupnow

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Re: Stephenson's Rocket
« Reply #214 on: July 01, 2020, 10:30:56 PM »
I try and think about "what comes next on my project" while on my "fat man walks". If I don't consciously make a decision to think about something specific, then I find myself counting footsteps. I feel like "the count" from Sesame street.

Offline Brian Rupnow

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Re: Stephenson's Rocket
« Reply #215 on: July 02, 2020, 01:38:20 AM »
I think my bolted stay-rods are going to work out just great. They are (I think) the last parts to be fabricated, painted, and assembled before I start earning my living as a wheelright.

Offline crueby

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Re: Stephenson's Rocket
« Reply #216 on: July 02, 2020, 02:12:11 AM »
Are you going to build the tender as well?


 :popcorn:

Offline Brian Rupnow

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Re: Stephenson's Rocket
« Reply #217 on: July 02, 2020, 11:19:28 PM »
No, I'm not going to build the tender.---The shape of things to come---


Offline Brian Rupnow

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Re: Stephenson's Rocket
« Reply #218 on: July 02, 2020, 11:51:39 PM »
The driver is the fellow I put into all my production machine layouts for custom built machinery. Customers always want to see an operator shown at the correct scale. He is five foot nine inches tall and weighs 160 pounds. He is "North American Standard size." I didn't design him. Another engineer did, and I stole him from a set of engineering files years ago. My software package has the ability to scale him larger or smaller, but all the work I have ever done for customers is always done to "full scale". I had to calculate the scale I wanted to make my Stephenson's Rocket to and then scale Elvis to the correct size. He looks to be too small in relationship to the Rocket, but if you look at any You-tube videos of the rocket, the operators shoulders are about even with the top of the boiler. My cylinders are larger than "real scale" because this engine is going to run on air. Without the extra power gained from the "change of state from steam into liquid vapour" I was afraid that the cylinders running on air might not be strong enough, so I oversized them by about 30%.

Offline Art K

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Re: Stephenson's Rocket
« Reply #219 on: July 03, 2020, 03:47:43 AM »
Brian,
Would that be Presley or Costello...Elvis that is. :lolb:
Art
"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you" B.B. King

Offline Brian Rupnow

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Re: Stephenson's Rocket
« Reply #220 on: July 03, 2020, 06:02:52 PM »
I am a firm believer in welding fixtures. I find it impossible to hold things at a specific angle and rotation and expect them to stay in place while being silver soldered.  This shows  firstly, a two part welding fixture for attaching the stay rod to one of it's foot plates. The jig has to be two part so it can be disassembled to remove the part after it is silver soldered. The second fixture is a simple one piece jig for welding the second foot plate in place. There will be clean up after the welding is finished, and final shaping on the footplates to make them match the drawing.



Offline Brian Rupnow

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Re: Stephenson's Rocket
« Reply #221 on: July 04, 2020, 07:47:45 PM »
Slowly I'm getting closer to the end of the end. The short stay rods are finished, fitted, and painted. The only outstanding things to build now are the two stay rods that stabilize the tall smoke-stack. Then I will reassemble everything and get started on the wheels. I tried to buy material for the outer rim of the drive-wheels on Friday afternoon, but the man at the metal suppliers was way behind schedule, having been shut down on Wednesday for Canada Day. He told me he would check it out Monday and let me know if they have any extremely heavy wall tube. This is kind of a sucky picture, but black doesn't photograph terribly well.

Offline Brian Rupnow

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Re: Stephenson's Rocket
« Reply #222 on: July 05, 2020, 09:19:24 PM »
Today all of the painted pieces were reassembled, with thankfully no major "gores" in the paint. That always seems to be an issue for me. The longest stay rods that help steady the smoke stack will be done tomorrow. Then I will jump head and shoulders into the wheelright business. Each drive wheel will be built up from 15 individual pieces, which include 12 spokes, a two piece inner hub, and a rim.---And yes Sparky, I will be using my tig welder for that.




Offline crueby

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Re: Stephenson's Rocket
« Reply #223 on: July 05, 2020, 09:23:58 PM »
Looking great!  :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

Offline Brian Rupnow

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Re: Stephenson's Rocket
« Reply #224 on: July 06, 2020, 07:57:25 PM »
TA-DA!!!--The last two stay rods are painted and installed. I'm just waiting for a call back from my metal supplier to confirm that he has the material I need for the outer rim of the two big drive wheels.

 

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