The regulator valve is a standard 15mm isolation ball valve. This makes a good, perfect sealing regulator and one I have used
before. It is easily mounted on a plate welded across the steam dome mid-section. In the past, especially with the
Romulant, I had a problem connecting to the wet header. Threading and screwing in the copper tube. Not this time.
I was able to make an elbow joint using a plumbing right angle bend, and feeding it down the steam dome and out through
the wet header bush. To rotate the valve, I've used the conventional method as used on a Stroudly. The whole lot being
a very rigid construction. An 8mm stainless rod connects to the regulator handle. Having the ball valve in the open makes
it very easy to maintain. The ball valve is plated brass and previous use on the Romulant has not shown any signs of
de-zinking as yet. This being its fourth season.
A four foot by two foot sheet of brass is just about enough to do all the remaining cleading. Cutting the sheet is
always a problem. This time I went to a sheet metal supplier locally who used his guillotine for a nominal fee.
The edge is straight but is always rounded. This doesn't matter as most are under the boiler bands. He even
cut these bands from the remaining bits. There are always two problems; the first is to cut the holes for the clack
valve bushes. A certain amount of guess work but they are quite reasonable. The second is making a tight curve to
go round the firebox. The outer edges are always a tighter curve than in the middle. Hopefully they're not too bad.
There was also the additional problem of cutting holes for two of the sand box plinths and one for the manifold bush.
I used the carpet as the insulation but have found this to be no good. Not so much that it melted, but that it shrank.
I did a lot more testing. So, I've still to find an insulator. Making the panels which infill round the front of the
firebox are individual. A complication because the firebox is not quite symmetrical, being 6mm wider on one side.
These panels are held in place with 5ba screws which screw into a thread tapped into the panels. There is just enough
thread to make this viable.
At the moment, I'm re-making the bunker tank. I wasn't happy with the previous one as it would have made driving difficult. This is a long job but, I hope, worth it.
I finished the bunker tank after a lot of work. Very little could be salvaged from the previous one, so a lot of brass sheet
got wasted. Hopefully, I've sealed it but I won't know until it's been fitted. I've made it easier to get to the firehole door
and also changed the way the bottom is fitted to make a better seal. I also sprayed it with etching primer and primer to see
what the finish would be like. I've made it so that the front panel can be removed if necessary without affecting the sand
boxes. The whole of the bottom section is now a water tank served by the axle pumps.
The cleading is finished but I had trouble finishing off the beading round the backhead. The a-symmetry didn't help, but the main
problem was fitting a finishing edge to the corners. I happened to have a piece of copper 1/2 x 1/4 which I used as beading.
The carpet for insulation was discarded not so much because it melted but because it also shrank. I found my local DIY store
had a kit for insulating garage doors. Rather expensive and much more than I needed, so I took a gamble and bought it. Probably
enough for the next six engines! It is made up in layers. The two outside layers are foil, then two layers of a fibreglass type
insulator and then in the middle is a very thin, shiny foil, with the whole lot sewn together. I cut a piece off and put it in
the oven set at 170C which is the temperature of steam at 100psi as a test. There are lines of adhesive to stick to the doors
which melted but shouldn't be a problem on the loco. In the kit was a roll of foil tape which was ideal when fitting to the boiler.
I've used two layers of insulation which will just about compress under the brass sheets. The squares are thin lines of adhesive.
Just one or two more jobs to do. I've rolled a steel sheet to make the cover for the steam dome. Quite hard work, but welded and ground off is a nice push fit. Now I have to make a curved top. I thought I'd make this from brass or copper and make it so that it will press fit on to the top of the steel barrel and I will leave it polished.
I fitted the windows into the spectacle plate and made sure that they opened. So far, I haven't made a surround on the plate.
At the moment, I can't make up my mind. The full size doesn't, but the plate looks very thin without it.
There aren't too many big jobs left to do. The sandbox being one of them. I could have just made a dummy one which would be quite
a quick job, but I really wanted to see if it were possible to make a working model.
I made the base from a piece of 3mm brass so that the lugs were substantial as the box would be quite heavy. The actual
body is rolled from 1.5mm brass and silver soldered together. However, this was soft soldered to the base as I wanted to be sure
that there was no distortion which might have happened with the high heat for silver solder besides which, I floated in the soft
solder which made an excellent seal as well as being strong. Next job was the lid with its domed top. Looks just like a biscuit barrel.
The actual beating to shape was very time consuming and I'm still not happy with it. I finished the edge with a piece of beading.
All parts being soft soldered together. The actual bands were silver soldered to join them. The end product being a very tight fit.
The floor in the full size is pitched like a roof to help the sand slide to the exits. I've copied the same idea. Problem being that
the shape of these two parts are parabolas and I haven't found out how to draw these on my CAD, so it was a question of cardboard and
cut and try until I hit on the shape.
I couldn't fit them when joined together as the side bushes were already soft soldered in place.
So to support them I put in a bolt from underneath and then with a pencil gas torch I soldered them together. I daren't risk sealing
them with soft solder as everything would fall to pieces, so to seal them to stop the sand running into the bottom cavity, I used
plastic padding! Not very elegant, but then it will be buried under the sand. Two flaps seal the ports and the simple lever system opens
and closes them. The bolt removed from the base leaves a convenient hole as the air inside will expand with the boiler heat and
needs an escape.
I completed the spectacle plate. The problem being the boiler being unsymmetrical and also closing the gap between the plate and the cleading, in particular, at the corners. This I've managed to do with some thin brass angle. The whole thing when joined to the sides is only held in place with four little screws. To make a much stronger set up, I soldered a piece of the brass angle to the tops of the side tanks. A free floating piece on the front and then the whole lot bolted together. The last picture shows just one bolt in place. The steel rod going through is the sandbox rod. I'm glad that's the last of the rivets. Always a problem to hold both sides and the plate all together on top of the rivet snap and the hit it with a hammer. I do call on my wife from time to time.
Not a great deal to show but I've certainly been putting in the hours.
With the side tanks in place it was obvious that there wasn't room to operate the reverser handle. As well as that, the lever on the
cross shaft was fouling the cleading. So everything has had to be recited including the position of the lever on the cross shaft which,
no doubt, means that the timing will have to be checked which also means taking off the top of one of the steam chests.
It's a pity but the handle has to be moved back and it now appears in the middle of the gangway. The photo shows just the bracket. It
also shows the lever system for the front damper control. I've made the handle and connection for the draincocks lever as well. The
bracket for which is soldered to the inside of the side tank. At the moment, all the controls are on the right hand side so I will try and
have one of the brake controls on the other if possible.
The regulator handle and bushes shown in the next photo show a long inner bush which seals the rod. I made this long so that when the two
nuts used to tighten down on the packing are screwed down, they cannot put more pressure on one side than the other as can happen with
short bushes which would cause stiffness in the regulator use.
It also needs to allow for the clearance of the bolt heads.The ball valve regulator already has quite a stiff action. The full size handle is quite a long one so this might help with extra leverage. To seal, I use PTFE tape as when this needs replacing or usually just adding to, its a simple job. An 'O' ring however, would mean breaking the seal on the large bush and removing the whole unit from the boiler just to get the old ring out. I've made the handle with a tufnol roller as my other engines have always proved to be too hot to hold.
I've made use of another isolation valve for the blowdown. This passes out through the frame and I also use this as a means of filling the boiler. The valve is on its side because the handle just projected above the floor level. The connection into the boiler is a bespoke piece of stainless steel 10mm to join the valve and a 1/4 bsp thread for the boiler. I felt that a bronze connection might not be strong enough. I've left the plastic handle on for the time being but it may need replacing if it's affected by heat.
That completes the major work. Now I start painting and fitting which is where I start to change my mind about various bits! Hope the weather doesn't get too cold as my spraying is done in the garage.