Model Engineer Magazine issue 4733 **20 PAGE FREE PREVIEW** by Mortons Media Group Ltd

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THE ORIGINAL MAGAZINE FOR MODEL ENGINEERS Vol. 232 No. 4733 29 December 2023 – 11 January 2024

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Huddersﬁeld

We visit a long-established club

Butterside Down Model engineering mishaps

Dynamometer Measuring efﬁciency

WILLIAM ADAMS

Innovative locomotive engineer

102

EDITORIAL Editor: Martin R. Evans MEeditor@mortons.co.uk Deputy editor: Diane Carney Designer: Druck Media Pvt. Ltd. Club News: Geoff Theasby Illustrator: Grahame Chambers Publisher: Steve O’Hara CUSTOMER SERVICES General Queries and Back Issues 01507 529529 Monday-Friday: 8.30am-5pm Answerphone 24hr help@classicmagazines.co.uk www.classicmagazines.co.uk

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Vol.232 No.4733 29 December 2023 –11 January 2024 68 SMOKE RINGS

ADVERTISING Group advertising manager: Sue Keily Advertising: Craig Amess camess@mortons.co.uk Tel: 01507 529537 By post: Model Engineer advertising, Mortons Media Group, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6JR PUBLISHING Sales and distribution manager: Carl Smith Marketing manager: Charlotte Park Commercial director: Nigel Hole Publishing director: Dan Savage SUBSCRIPTION Full subscription rates (but see page 66 for offer): (12 months, 26 issues, inc post and packing) – UK £128.70. Export rates are also available, UK subscriptions are zero-rated for the purposes of Value Added Tax. Enquiries: subscriptions@mortons.co.uk PRINT AND DISTRIBUTIONS Printed by: William Gibbons & Son, 26 Planetary Road, Willenhall, West Midlands, WV13 3XB Distribution by: Seymour Distribution Limited, 2 East Poultry Avenue, London EC1A 9PT EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTION Accepted photographs and articles will be paid for upon publication. Items we cannot use will be returned if accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope and recorded delivery must clearly state so and enclose sufﬁcient postage. In common with practice on other periodicals, all material is sent or returned at the contributor’s own risk and neither Model Engineer, the editor, the staff nor Mortons Media Ltd can be held responsible for loss or damage, howsoever caused. The opinions expressed in Model Engineer are not necessarily those of the editor or staff. This periodical must not, without the written consent of the publishers ﬁrst being given, be lent, sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of in a mutilated condition or in other unauthorised cover by way of trade or annexed to or as part of any publication or advertising, literary or pictorial manner whatsoever.

News, views and comment on the world of model engineering.

69 ENGINEERING’S LOCAL HEROES Roger Backhouse tells the story of William Adams, one of the finest late Victorian locomotive engineers.

72 A NEW WORKSHOP Peter Seymour-Howell takes a break from building Flying Scotsman to build a new workshop.

75 HERCULES – A TWIN CYLINDER COMPOUND ENGINE Chris Walter describes a condensing marine engine first featured in Model Engineer 100 years ago.

80 EMERGENCY LIGHTS FOR YOUR WORKSHOP Julian Sturdy explains how to avoid being plunged into darkness when the mains fails.

83 REPAIRING A CARPET CLEANER Roger Backhouse attempts the repair of a domestic appliance.

85 BOOK REVIEW Roger Backhouse reads Brian Janes’s biography of Colonel Stephens, proprietor of an odd collection of light railways.

87 CDSME’S DYNAMOMETER CAR Brendan Gill constructs a dynamometer car for the Chichester club.

90 RICHMOND LIGHT RAILWAY Mark Smithers continues his survey of the locomotives on a narrow-gauge railway in rural Kent.

See page 66 for details.

91 BOOK REVIEW Roger Backhouse reads Neil Wyatt’s book about the use of small workshop tools.

92 POSTBAG Readers’ letters.

93 A FIVE-INCH GAUGE 0-4-0 PADARN RAILWAY TENDER LOCOMOTIVE Luker builds a tender for Fire Queen, a Welsh slate quarry locomotive.

97 WE VISIT THE HUDDERSFIELD SOCIETY OF MODEL ENGINEERS John Arrowsmith visits a long-established club near Leeds.

100 BUTTERSIDE DOWN Steve Goodbody returns with further tales of the trials and tribulations of a model engineer’s life.

102 CUSTOMISING MODEL CARS Henk-Jan de Ruiter recalls the joys of miniature go faster stripes, body kits and spoilers.

104 BISCUIT TIN STEAM ENGINE Tony Bird takes a punt on a battered biscuit tin in a sale and turns the contents into a thing of beauty.

109 LNER B1 LOCOMOTIVE Doug Hewson presents a true to scale fiveinch gauge model of Thompson’s B1.

112 CLUB NEWS Geoff Theasby compiles the latest from model engineering clubs around the world.

115 CLUB DIARY Future Events.

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THE ORIGINAL MAGAZINE FOR MODEL ENGINEERS Vol. 232 No. 4733 29 December 2023 – 11 January 2024

ON THE COVER...

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Huddersﬁeld

We visit a long-established club

Butterside Down Model engineering mishaps

A beautiful T3 class locomotive by William Adams seen on the Swanage Railway (photo Matt MacManus).

Dynamometer Measuring efﬁciency

£4.95

WILLIAM ADAMS

Innovative locomotive engineer

www.model-engineer.co.uk

This issue was published on December 29, 2023. The next will be on sale on January 12, 2024.

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Happy New Year!

MARTIN EVANS Editor

All of us here at Model Engineer would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year, with the hope that the coming year will be an improvement on the previous twelve months. There is no doubt that we are living in interesting times, as Confucius might have said, but I think the times are plenty interesting enough at present and a little boredom for a while would do no harm. I hope the gods read Model Engineer and will take note.

SMEE

DIANE CARNEY Assistant Editor

This week Geoff’s Club News column (page 112) includes news from the Society of Model and Experimental Engineers (SMEE), our nearest relative, sharing, as we just have, our joint 125th birthday. We hope this will become a regular feature in Model Engineer.

Butterside Down We’ve all been there, haven’t we? Trying to manoeuvre a tiny screw or nut into a tight space, we drop it and – tink, tink, tink – it vanishes, never to be seen again. We know it’s somewhere on the floor but can we find it? No, we cannot. I am quite sure there must be dozens of assorted fastenings on my workshop floor but I have never seen a single one. My theory is that they pass – foop! - into a parallel universe, in which there exists an alternate Martin Evans, who’s wondering to himself ‘where do all these screws and nuts come from? I’m sure I’ve never dropped a single one’. If he needs a slotless, round-headed lefthand 3BA screw, all he needs to do is sift through his floor sweepings and he knows he’ll find one. He is probably also married to Julia Roberts, has completed three gold medal winning locomotives, wins IMLEC every year and receives cash from the National Lottery every other month. I hate him! Don’t you? Of course you do… Why is it like this? I think it’s just part of the Universal

Cussedness of Nature. Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, at least most of the time – it’s a law of nature. The spanner you need will be the only one missing from the toolbox, one or two pieces will drop off your work as you solder another piece on or your toast at breakfast will fall off the table and land – aaargh! – butter side down. That’s life. Perhaps it’s nature’s way of making us better people – there’s nothing quite like a little adversity for building character, is there? Alternatively, it could simply be proof that Mother Nature possesses a sense of humour. And we just love to compare notes on the latest indignities inﬂicted upon us, don’t we? - perhaps in the secret hope that others are suffering more than we are. It’s very good news then that Steve Goodbody is back with tales of the trials and tribulations suffered during a lifetime spent labouring in the workshop. Your regular dose of Schadenfreude begins on page 100.

The contents of Tony Bird’s biscuit tin - before.

The contents of Tony Bird’s biscuit tin - after. week’s car boot to supply an opportunity to get rid of it again. As with many things, the greatest treasures may be found in the most unprepossessing containers. Tony Bird tells us on page 104 what he found in a battered old biscuit tin at his club ‘bring and buy’ auction and how he turned it into a thing of beauty.

Flying Scotsman

Club Secretaries

As you will see (page 72), Peter Seymour-Howell has now got his new workshop into a workable state and Flying Scotsman has once again taken up residence. The build will now resume, starting from our next issue, with the construction of the reversing stand.

Now is the time to make sure I have details of your events for the coming year for the Club Diary. Please send details of any club events to which readers of Model Engineer are welcome. Please also include details of the time and place of the event and also contact information for any queries.

One Man’s Junk… …is another man’s treasure. It seems that a favourite pastime, at least in England, is a visit to the local jumble sale, car boot sale or auction house. Somewhere in those disorganised heaps of junk there must be – surely – buried treasure! The thrill of imminent discovery keeps us going back over and over again, even if we almost always emerge with nothing more exciting than an art deco toast rack or an unused oil ﬁlter for a now-extinct motor car. If the fascination fades by the next morning there’s always next

Martin Evans can be contacted on the mobile number or email below and would be delighted to receive your contributions, in the form of items of correspondence, comment or articles. 07710-192953 MEeditor@mortons.co.uk

Model Engineer 29 December 2023

Engineering’s Local Heroes –

William Adams of London and Genoa Roger Backhouse tells the story of one of the best of the late Victorian locomotive engineers.

illiam Adams was a Victorian locomotive engineer somewhat overshadowed by contemporaries, yet André Chapelon said he was the last British steam locomotive engineer to wield any influence abroad. Thanks to an excellent new biography by John Woodhams we now have a rounded picture of this well respected an. ost of this article is drawn fro the book (photo 1). Adams’ achievements were remarkable. Claimed as the father of the suburban train , a pioneer of continuous train brakes, designer of a transfor ative front bogie and innovation with the first ritish 2-6-0 and the vortex blast pipe, he is described in the book as probably the finest late Victorian locomotive engineer’. He did not start on railways, however. Born in Bromley-

Book cover - William Adams: His Life and Locomotives.

www.model-engineer.co.uk

by ow in his father was lerk of orks to the West India Dock Company, later becoming resident engineer. ducated in Margate and Broadstairs, William became an assistant draughts an in harles Vignole’s civil engineering practice but then oved to a ﬁve year apprenticeship with shipbuilders, iller and Ravenhill at Blackwall. He then worked as a ﬁtter on steamships, in 1849 going to Philip Taylor’s shipyard in Marseilles.

Joining the Sardinian Navy Philip Taylor was invited by the govern ent of ardinia to establish an engineering facility. Italy was not then united. illia went to enoa as an assistant works manager where the port was then more industrialised than ost of Italy. nfortunately business struggled so illia oined the oyal ardinian avy as an engineer serving on one of their ﬁve stea ships. He described this later as hard work but he found ti e to go shooting on ardinia and learned to speak good Italian. fter he arried Isabella ark, the daughter of an nglish fa ily he lodged with, the couple oved to England in October 1852. Here a signiﬁcant engineer entered illia s life. Henry Daniel Martin had taken charge of works at the ast India Docks, later appointed consulting engineer. Henry

Martin became engineer to the orth ondon ailway and later carried out surveys for railways on the Isle of ight.

North London Railway and Bow works he orth ondon board asked Martin to design ten new locomotives and also new engine sheds for their works at Bow. He asked illia da s for help and he was subse uently appointed as loco otive fore an in after the une pected resignation of the for er post holder. His first loco otives for the were tank engines, then 4-4-0 tank engines with the bogie pivoted on spherical bearings. Front driving wheels were flangeless. prings of both coupled a les were linked by compensating beams, a feature later used in other Adams locomotives. This design for ed the basis for the first loco otives built directly by the at its ow works. His salary went fro to pa. he was very uch a co uter railway, opening a line to road treet in ne t to iverpool treet tation, now de olished. In 1862 he was a pioneer in the regular use of gas lighting. he spirit of innovation continued with his locomotives; his Class engines built between and were the first to have a boiler pressure of lbs per s uare inch, when psi was nor al for the ti e.

Delightful model of an elegant Adams LSWR 4-4-2 tank engine made by Martyn Blackburn of York Model Engineers. Examples of this class survived until the 1960s in regular use on the Lyme Regis Branch where they could cope with the sharp curves. He also tried an 0-4-4 tank engine and even an early crane locomotive. One William Bridges Adams, no relation owned airﬁeld engineering works at Bow. He was the inventor of the radial a le bo used by illia Adams later in his career. This guided loco otives round curves better and allowed lateral side-play with a lateral spring on each side. It is interesting to note that he used a central India rubber block as early as 1852.

Great Eastern times illia da s resigned fro the in to ove the short distance to tratford orks of the reat astern ailway as oco otive uperintendent. Here he ac uired a reputation as he father of the co uter train with close coupled, high capacity coach sets and tank engines capable of rapid acceleration. He adopted Webb’s chain brake for the whole train under the control of the guard. his was non auto atic but was then probably the best of its kind. t tratford he oversaw substantial e tensions to the works including a new boiler shop and doubling the foundry si e. he chair an, Charles Henry Parkes, wanted to ove the towards greater self sufﬁciency. he later na ed arkeston uay after hi , their ter inal for ferries to the ontinent. Among Adams’s existing stock responsibilities were the

class of which twenty had been built at e reusot, France. He designed a 4-4-0 class which gave i ed results but lasted in service for twenty years. nfortunately his , the first on a ritish ailway, was not a success, probably due to inade uate boilers. Had he stayed at tratford he ight have been able to sort out the proble s but that was not to be. He is also said to have influenced the design of the ondon ilbury and outhend tank engines, attributed to Thomas Whitelegg, which beca e the first successful loco otive of that wheel arrangement in the UK.

s at the he developed oil gas lighting on the Pintsch syste in place of oil la ps previously used.

Adams’ vortex blast pipe, the first annular blast pipe used in the UK. It led to savings in fuel costs. Seen in the warehouse at the National Railway Museum it is now the museum’s only link to Adams as the NRM disposed of the T3 locomotive.

Revitalising Nine Elms Maybe William Adams was gaining a reputation as what might now be described as a turnaround specialist . He oined the ondon and outh Western Railway in 1878 to succeed the inade uate illia eorge eattie. he locomotive department was then based at ine l s and he found it badly anaged, for example there was a practice of not keeping spare boilers. He organised the rebuilding of

various classes and designed 4-4-0 tank engines, soon to be rebuilt as s. He later used the same wheel arrangement for his celebrated radial tanks. With side play in the bogies and a radial rear axle, these were versatile loco otives used ﬁrst on suburban services but later spread around the network. They have a classic elegance. a ples of this class were used on the sharply curved y e egis branch until the

Adams designed 0-4-4 tank engine Calbourne now beautifully restored on the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. It worked on the island for forty two years until 1967. Photo, John Faulkner 2022.

Model Engineer 29 December 2023

LOCAL HEROES

Superbly restored T3 class no 563 now running on the Swanage Railway. Photo, Matt MacManus 2023. 1960s; remarkable longevity (photo 2). Innovations continued. Adams tried a Webb-Von orries syste co pound but ore signiﬁcant was his introduction of the auto atic vacuu brake on trains. With his nephew, Henry Adams he patented a vortex blast pipe in . his annular blast pipe was new in the UK though so ething si ilar had been tried in wit erland (photo 3). lthough illia da s was reportedly reluctant to try the new blast pipe it was found to produce a or fuel savings and anticipated blast pipe experiments by Chapelon and others in the 1930s. uch of the network was built on chalk rocks giving hard water and scale problems so, in another innovative move, he employed

the ancaster born rofessor Edward Frankland to analyse water uality. s a result of this scientiﬁc approach da s introduced aignen s water softening process. ith trafﬁc increasing and the ever present need for ore rolling stock, the oard decided to set up a new carriage and wagon works at Bishopstoke, later renamed Eastleigh. Adams was closely involved and this allowed loco otive work at ine l s to expand, only to move to astleigh after da s s death. His locomotive develop ents continued. He tried an 0-4-2 tender locomotive and in 1889 the 02 0-4-4 tank engine. This class proved successful and long lived, working on the Isle of ight until ece ber . Calbourne is preserved on the

Isle of ight tea ailway (photo 4). he yard shunter was a low proﬁle design but another success. ne re ained in service until at ling harf, outha pton. lthough he toyed with the idea of building a single driver e press loco otive he had built a instead. His X2 class was throughly tested with a detailed report given to the Institution of ivil ngineers, probably one of the ost detailed analyses of th century loco otive perfor ance and, once again, an e a ple of how da s de onstrated a scientiﬁc approach in his work. artly due to his ability to speak at least two uropean languages, da s had a high reputation abroad. He was asked to be a reporter for the International ongress of ailways held at t. etersburg in 1892 and helped prepare a paper on the use of high pressure boilers but for so e reason he never attended the conference.

Locomotives and carriages in preservation Besides the preserved 4-4-2 radial tank engine and the O2, Calbourne his best known express engine was the T3 class. u ber has recently been restored to service on the wanage ailway photo 5). Examples of of the 0-4-0T class are preserved at Bressingham and on the luebell ailway. o e da s carriage designs are still in existence including a four wheel reat Eastern coach at the East nglian ailway useu and one fro the orth ondon ailway on the Isle of ight tea ailway. His oyal aloon fro is preserved on the Embsay and Bolton bbey ailway as part of teve iddleton s tately rains ﬂeet. It is a classic carriage, beautifully restored photo 6).

Family and personal life London and South Western Railway Royal Saloon built in 1885 . It was used by Queen Victoria for journeys between Windsor and Osborne House. Now in occasional use on the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Railway as part of Steve Middleton’s Stately Trains ﬂeet.

www.model-engineer.co.uk

Williams Adams seems to have been a well liked man throughout his career. lways keen on usic and a good

baritone, he encouraged the use of part of ow ailway tation for concerts and evening classes. When he died in engine en erected their own memorial to hi a re arkable tribute. Adams had eight children of who three sons went into engineering. Victorian engineers could e pect to work abroad for part or all of their careers and his eldest, William John was no exception. He was apprenticed at Bow, oved to eeds and then took up a partnership in a orfolk engineering fir before anaging the acuu rake Company. He then emigrated to ustralia holding various engineering positions and was oined by his brother lfred. John Henry worked on Brazilian railways and then moved to become Assistant orks anager at shford. He beca e oco otive, arriage and agon uperintendent of the orth taffordshire Railway. William Adams had an impressive legacy and thanks to John Woodhams’ researches and first class biography, we can now appreciate ust how significant he was.

Acknowledgements hanks to teve oughty and att c anus wanage ailway rust and to ohn aulkner and teven ackhouse Isle of ight tea ailway for use of photographs. hanks to aul avies for locating the vorte blast pipe. ME

REFERENCES John Woodhams, William Adams his Life and Locomotives: A Life in Engineering 1823 to 1904. Pen and Sword Transport. 2023. Hardback. 212pages. £25. ISBN 978-1-39907-196-3 John Woodhams is a volunteer driver on the Isle of Wight Steam Railway and knows the Adams 02 engine Calbourne well.

A New Workshop

PART 7

45 Peter SeymourHowell builds a new workshop before continuing work on Flying Scotsman Continued from p.647 M.E.4729 November 3

There is some boarding up still to do. ’m getting closer to being able to recommence working on 4472 again and in fact will do so before actually finishing the workshop, not so uch the internal areas but the outside which still needs tiling and painting. nce that is done, I can decide on the colours, or should I say those railway colours that I can get past senior anage ent. aturally, I want but ay have to settle for idland as the red atches the house s front door he walls of both the house and the workshop will atch being a crea which can cover both and idland liveries... anyway, we shall see... o, back to the inside and a few bits and pieces to do. irst up is the last of the internal insulation sheets, this one being the truss over the large door (photo 45) - I’ll board it later. his photograph also gives a good view of the curved inch white hardboard running along the iddle. I ll add the larger side sheets to cover the rest of the roofing insulation later I think there are going to be a few of these laters ... Some small items are now finding their ho es. irst, we have the rather dirty looking

spray booth used for spraying s all detailed parts along with general odel aking (photo . he ﬁlter and perspe will be changed later. lso, we have the bra ing hearth. y old one, ade up of ﬁreproof and heat bricks, is being replaced with this lovely bra ing hearth which I recently bought fro a fellow e ber of

(photo . his is perfect for the re aining bra ing sessions re uired for , all relatively s all now, and also for so e of y other things to build, for e a ple, a arretts ing one day. he ﬁrst ob for the hearth will be the reverser. ore on that with the ne t article for . his ne t stage was ost welco e. I ﬁnally have a good light source, four strips using daylight bulbs that are nice and bright, no good for painting I need natural light but perfect for everything else, at least I can now see what I doing. orgive the photograph

A well-used spray booth.

Recently acquired brazing hearth.

Model Engineer 29 December 2023

WORKSHOP

Lighting installed and working

WM300T lathe in position.

A general view of the workshop. (photo 48 it is actually ust the one picture taken fro the far corner but due to the shape gives the i pression of being two i ages oined together.

y hu ble lathe is now on its stand. uckily for e two of my sons came to my aid and anhandled it into position photo 49 . his arco lathe co bi

has served e well since but to be honest needs reconditioning. he bed is a little worn and there s far too uch slack in the cross slide. ne day.

ith ost of the tools now in their ho es, I ll show a couple of general views to give a better idea of y working area. his end where the hoist is situated (photo 50 will be where ost asse bly work takes place along with the spraying and bra ing stations. Here I can lift the loco otive to work under her, spin her around, and also to lower her to the ﬂoor using the swinging gib. ou can also see that so e of the hand tools are now easy to ﬁnd. ow, this area photo 51) will be where I spend ost of y ti e. I have ade this as nice

Another view of the workshop.

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Flying Scotsman awaits attention.

Recently acquired brazing hearth. a place to work as possible, with plenty of light, both fro the s but also natural light through the three windows, the largest of which is directly in front of the ain sitting area. Here is a list of the ne t obs written out on y whiteboard ob sheet that lives on the inside of the s all door (photo . I ay not tackle

the in this e act order but I do plan to ﬁnish what s on this list before oving on... fa ous last words. Photograph 53 shows that is indeed back where she belongs, with lots to do before co pletion but at least I now close to being able to work on her again. ne ﬁnal picture photo 54) shows the outside and perhaps if anyone has any ideas of what to paint which colour they ay let e know. I a uite pleased with yself in how this is all co ing together not only have I built a reasonably si ed workshop but also have

the space for a carport to cover y classic car. I have oved the picket fence over to give e roo for the carport which will sit to the right of this picture along the picket fence. he gate seen will be replaced with a large sliding gate with one of the fence panels being re oved to give a larger entrance and the two posts seen behind the gate will be re oved to give clear access to the carport, well at least that s the current plan. ooking at the painting, if I get away with being allowed I ll paint the concrete panels in crea , and also the wooden

cladding on either side of the doors and the truss panels. he green will be on the facia boards and bea above the large door and the roof will be slated in black tiles. I ay have to concede to the picket fence not following green but I ay get away with using the crea or I guess that I could do it in white to atch the workshop doors which will also be white. ther options for the green are aroon red for idland or perhaps chocolate brown for . ecisions, decisions... ME

All that remains is a lick of paint.

Model Engineer 29 December 2023

HERCULES

A twin cylinder

compound condensing marine steam engine. PART 4 70

Milling out the fork.

Connecting rods After considering my still accurate but somewhat elderly Myford ML7R lathe I decided to make the connecting rods in three pieces. The end result would be as durable and

71 Chris Walter builds an engine described in Model Engineer 100 years ago. Continued from p.42 M.E.4732 December 15

i ishi

www.model-engineer.co.uk

o the ro ded e d o the or s ith fili

b tto s i the vi e.

much kinder to the lathe than machining completely from the solid. The two forks were cut from steel bar and then cross drilled to form the bottom of the fork. The remaining metal was gradually milled out to form the rest (photo 70). After this the wrist pin holes were drilled inch and this enabled the rounded ends of the fork to be finished using filing buttons (photo 71). The stem joining the fork and the bearing was a piece of steel rod reduced at either end to fit into reamed holes and secured with high strength adhesive. The big end bearing was made up of the two halves of the split bronze bearing and the steel cross bar which would form the bottom of the stem. This cross bar was drilled and reamed to take the stem, and also drilled >>

immi

he t o bi e d beari s prior to bori .

he i

that both rods are exa tl the same.

the taper o the rod.

and counterbored for the big end bolts. The head of the M4 Allen screws used for this had the diameter of the head reduced slightly to allow a better ﬁt in the counter

a es.

he ompo e ts o the bottom e d o the rod.

r i

the beari

etti bore. Once this was done the bearing components could be assembled and machined together as a block (photo 72). Following this they were held in the fourjaw chuck then

the rod i the o r a

or drilli

drilled and reamed ½ inch to ﬁt the crank pins. he outer bearing surfaces could then be relieved to leave a rubbing ﬂange photos 73 and 74). The three main sections of the rods

or the rist pi b shes.

could now be united, but before being secured together with the adhesive they were checked against each other, to ensure they were the exactly the same length (photo 75).

Model Engineer 29 December 2023

HERCULES

All the rod ompo e ts.

81 ori

the b shes in situ.

i ished rossheads a d the slide a s o the ol m s sho i

the oil a s.

82 he t o mai

rosshead bodies.

After being secured in the fourjaw chuck the conical section of the fork was machined until it merged with the stem. Now tailstock support could be provided and the stem itself taper machined (photo 76). Again, in the fourjaw chuck the rod was held sideways and the wrist pin bearing holes opened out slightly (photo 77) before being drilled out to size in the mill. Four stepped bronze wrist pin bushes were turned in the lathe and were secured in position with retainer, before being ﬁnished to si e by boring on the mill (photo 78). The complete connecting rods are shown in photo 79.

Crossheads and piston rods The crossheads are made with steel bodies (photo 80) and bronze slippers which run on the machined surface of the rear support columns. Steel keeper plates bolted to the columns either side of the crossheads retain them in

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contact with the slideways. The wrist pins for the connecting rods run in bronze bushes secured in the crosshead bodies by high strength retainer. Lubrication to the wrist pin is via an oil way from a ‘V’ slot cut in the face of the bronze slider working in the rear column. The slideways on the columns have three horizontal oil channels machined across them to assist with lubrication and the upper channels have a 3/32 inch oilway drilled through the columns which connect to a pipe union fed from one of the lubricator feeds. The bronze slippers are held to the bodies with two 6BA Allen cap head screws sitting in counterbores in the bronze (photo 81). A ‘V’ shaped shallow channel is machined across the sliding face of the bronze slippers and at the base of the ‘V’ a 1/16 inch oil way is drilled through to lubricate the wrist pin bush. (The ‘V’ shaped oil channels were done a lot later so don’t

lippers mo ted o the t o bodies be ore separatio . appear on the photographs.) The two bronze slippers were machined as one piece and were attached to the steel bodies whilst the machining of the rebates took place (photo 82). The piston rods were made from 5/16 inch ground stainless rod and both ends were reduced to ¼ inch and at one end threaded ¼ inch x 40 for the piston. For the joint to the crosshead, the body and piston rod were cross drilled and reamed for a taper pin, which in turn had a 6BA nut threaded on its smaller end as additional security. As it was hoped that the two slideways would receive adequate lubrication, small brass box oil catchers were

il at her box slide.

der the rosshead

made and attached to each column immediately under the bottom of the slideways (photo 3). For draining they were connected by copper pipe

rial fitti rossheads a d the o e ti

o ompleted rods.

rods.

ie o both pisto s in situ. ote these ere the ori i al pisto s made i t o halves so that ast iro ri s o ld be fitted. later dis o ti ed ith these a d o have ri s.

a hi i the derside o the lo press re pisto . oth pisto s are o i al i se tio to mat h the shape o the li der overs. his allo s more room or the pisto rod la ds i the bottom li der overs.

a bori

tool to e erate the i ter al o e.

ompo e t parts o the earlier hi h press re pisto .

Pistons

to small draincocks on the rear of each column. hoto ph shows the complete piston

I decided to make the pistons (photo 86) from aluminium as I was concerned about weight and balancing. I have found in

rods and crossheads and photo shows them added to the engine.

previous steam engines they work very well, providing that clearances are not made too tight. As I intended to use cast iron piston rings the pistons

Model Engineer 29 December 2023

HERCULES

etti

the over s are i the milli

vi e.

illi

the steam passa e rebate i the over re ister.

the ill vice using the ﬁ ing hole positions (photo 90). This allowed these clearance pockets to be milled (photo 91) and also the slight ﬂat on the covers where they overlapped between the cylinders.

Bottom cylinder covers and piston rod glands oth overs fi ished ith the pisto rod la ds.

lea i

isto rod la d ompo e ts.

p a ter bra i .

were made in two halves secured by brass screws and dowels. Both pistons are conical in section, matched by the cylinder covers (photo 87). This was to allow me some much-needed extra space in the bottom cylinder covers within which to ﬁt the piston rod glands. Machining was straight forward, just needing care to get the angles correct and the piston ring groove clearances right (photo 88). fter so e trial ﬁtting I decided as an experiment to try PTFE piston rings. These were made in a similar manner to the cast iron ones being inch

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All the fi ished la d ompo e ts. square, and have so far proved to be excellent. I may well go back to cast iron at some stage by trying two thinner rings in each groove.

Top cylinder covers These were made from cast iron round supplied as a length, and were easily sawn to the dimensions required in the bandsaw. This was Meehanite and it had very little hard skin so machining was easy. Both the top and bottom of the covers had to be conical in shape (photo 89). As mentioned, this was pri arily to provide sufﬁcient space for the piston rod glands, as I found myself short of

clearance. In addition, a drilled extension is required in the top covers to provide clearance for the piston rod nuts. After completion of the external shape the covers were transferred to the mill where the DRO was used to generate the ﬁ ing hole centres, for the LP, and 9 for the HP cylinders. In addition, three No. 43 (6BA tapping) holes were needed in both for the forcing screws to assist when removing the covers. A suitable register was provided on the bottom of the covers but this needed to be relieved around the entry of the steam passages, so the covers were set up square in

These have an obvious similarity to the top covers - same material and same nu ber of fi ing studs but the conical bits face inside the cylinder and the piston rod glands are machined on the underside. Again, they need the register relieving opposite the stea passages and a flat on the rim where they meet in the middle of the engine. In addition, the flange of the low-pressure cover required a semi-circular relief to clear a portion of one of the cylinder support brackets (photo 92). Manufacture was also virtually the same with the addition of the counterbore to accommodate the piston rod gland. The gland itself was made from PTFE rod and would have an additional ‘O’ ring if it were found to be necessary. The gland cover was fabricated from brass (photo 93), silver bra ed, finished in the lathe (photo 94 and finally in the bench vice using filing buttons (photo 95). The length of the PTFE and the brass gland itself were ad usted after a trial fitting. To be continued.

Emergency lights for your workshop?

Candles are not the only option! Julian Sturdy looks at ways of keeping the lights on.

e all tend to assume that the electrical supply will always be there but what would you do if you were standing in your workshop, perhaps in the middle of doing something a bit tricky, and everything went dark? Whilst you could carry a torch, or leave a lighted candle burning all the time you are at work (probably not the best idea), there is an easier way… We have all seen emergency lights ﬁtted over the e ergency exit doors in shops and other public places. There are many different types and systems, some with a central battery and many with individual batteries, often showing a little green or red light to indicate that all is well with the light.

For use in public areas, these have to be installed to comply with various regulations (as you would expect) but you can buy a simple unit that can be wired to a normal plug and ﬁ ed up where you like, then if the supply fails (or you unplug it) the light will come on almost immediately. These are available for around £1215 including VAT from many suppliers and are very easy to connect up and use, as I will explain. ut ﬁrst a warning. ny emergency light for use in a public place where it is a legal requirement to have such a light MUST be properly installed in accordance with all the various regulations. What I am about to describe

is how you can rig up a perfectly satisfactory domestic emergency light that will work and that doesn’t need connecting into any permanent part of the electrical installation or require electrical skills and knowledge beyond that re uired to fit a plug to a new piece of cable. If, after reading through this article you do not feel confident to tackle any part of it PLEASE do NOT attempt to make up this light asse bly, but find a friend with the right skills/knowledge who can help you do it safely and successfully. So with the warning dealt with, how do they work? Inside there is a small circuit board with a battery charger circuit and a mains sensing switch,

Emergency light, as purchased.

Model Engineer 29 December 2023