Freelance 3/4” traction engine

[Roger B]

Looking good     

[Team ricky]

Thanks gents

I’ve ticked off a number of small jobs to get closer to assembly

The speciall boiler ring now fits the frames, I’ve replaced one of the boiler valve disc handles, Fitted fully the fire hole door, Drilled oil ways and securing bolts fit the main crank bearings….

I’m at the stage now where I have to decide on how to fire the model !

I have built the boiler to take a grate as pictured
The plans do offer a method of meths burner with tank
And I have got a gas burner but need a tank

I’m open to suggestions!!

[Roger B]

I've always wanted to run my engines on prototypical fuel, my diesel has to run on standard pump diesel, but I know there are scaling problems  Coal in the grate would be good but there are potential problems 

[MJM460]

Hi Ricky, I’m enjoying following along your attractive little model.  Always good to see them running on steam, so looking forward to that, but all in good time.

Regarding fuel, I am a strong supporter of meths.  It’s safe, not likely to explode and easily extinguished with water, it’s clean and readily available.  You have the plans for a burner and fuel tank, so why not try it out? 

I have not tried coal, but understand from others that it might be a challenge to operate in a smaller model.  But, already having the grate, again worth trying out.  Make sure you have a suitable brush to clean out the tubes regularly.


MJM460

[nj111]

Lovely model, well done!

[Team ricky]

Thanks gents

I will make up the meths parts It looks straight forward!

Here’s the slide valve set up with the valve rod, I will add a little gland to the top of the valve chest later on , I did opt for a silicone o ring in an internal groove within the valve gland nut …. Nice and smooth

[Sanjay F]

That's all looking very tidy - nice work 

[Team ricky]

Here’s a fair bit more done ✅

I had a bit of a push and mounted the cylinder, put the frames back together, mounted the manual water pump , made up the eccentric rod and eccentric….

Also I had a gas tank around and wondered if it would fit ! And it did perfectly without a hair to spare ! So the first test runs will be on gas ..

The crank turns nice and free

I went with valve travel of 2x the ports just as a starting point, If needs be another eccentric can be made with more travel 😁

[Team ricky]

Another good day

I managed to modify and fit a commercial cam style lubricator and set it up off the eccentric to give a small drop which looks perfect!

I soldered a brass pad to the boiler over a dent I put in the boiler earlier so that’s great 😀 The water tank mounts to the pad, I got the tank fully fitted and the inlet pipe connected, Also fitted the eccentric gear complete which went well….

I’ll machine up the valve chest cover in the morning and test run everything on compressor, See how good the timing is and run in a fair bit

With the lubricant pump I’m guessing just make a fitting to go into the valve chest cover!?

The exhaust fitting and pipe needs making up along with the water pump outlet pipe to clack

Close now and surprised at the number of little things that need completing

[Roger B]

Very nice     

What is the water tank, part of the engine or from another source?

[Team ricky]

Hi Roger,


It’s a commercial aluminium conduit box 😁 I think I found it on AliExpress…

It’s pretty much the size as per the drawings ! Lucky …. It will certainly be needed as the boilers very good at steaming

[Team ricky]

All up and running 🙂


There is some running in to do ! The big ends intentionally not fully tight but is very close about an hour of running and I’ll fully tighten everything

I’ve not made any effort to seal the cylinder to mount and mount to valve chest or made and fitted the small end valve rod gland , Still with that it will run at 10 psi so I’m not expecting any problems going forward!

Next jobs are the valve rod gland and more pipe work 😀

https://youtube.com/shorts/nDaB-_F8e2Q?si=Bzn8LVsZc-ep0RzX

[Kim]

Very cool!  It runs! 

Beautiful!
Kim

[Admiral_dk]

Congratulations - always great to see them take off     

Per     

[Team ricky]

Cheers Chaps

I’m definitely at a point where the bulk of the work is completed !

Today I fully fitted the gas system, Pipe work to the blower and exhaust complete, Water pump pipe work completed, final fitting of the right side frame completed, Running in complete

The gas burner I had in the back of a draw ! Luckily it fits well and has a number 8 gas jet , As long as the boiler warms the gas tank a bit it will provide a lot of heat and will be able to be throttled

Here’s a video at low speed on air at 10 psi

https://youtube.com/shorts/y39600M5dDA?si=oBhTxsYpWwzagLJO

https://youtube.com/shorts/5ZPQMm5SAO0?si=iasip_J2ZfV7iS0N