I see some Steam Enthusiasts on here!

[bigwood]

Last time I was in York the Sterling didnt look as pristine as yours. Thats the sort of finish that came out of Doncaster works on day one.
Its seems a shame to have done so much work to produce a stunning model and then sell it.
I dont see my standard of work ever going to auction. Its ok in my eyes but not up to close inspection. I didnt inherit my fathers clock building skills.
My Clayton has ground to a halt for a bit of a breather plus changing the workshop layout .
Recent family problems dont justify time in the workshop. Once things have gone back to some sort of normal I will re start out there.

 

[John Barrett]

Last time I was in York the Sterling didnt look as pristine as yours. Thats the sort of finish that came out of Doncaster works on day one.
Its seems a shame to have done so much work to produce a stunning model and then sell it.
SNIP

Hi Dave
As I've said before, I'm not sentimental over my models. I get the joy of building something nice, and also enjoy the fact that someone else gets to enjoy it too! There's also the mazola to be considered...

 

[The Coops]

As others have said, better than York NRM! By any chance did you catch the Fred Dibnah programs last week on BBC 4 he mentioned the Sterling, Take it off your hands Mister for £20

 

[John Barrett]

Browsing in a Model Engineer from 1935 I found this little gem. Did people have a sense of humour in those days or was this quite innocent?

 

[olley]

I think its your mind.

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[John Barrett]

I've put the Stirling Single away until the spring and I've made a start on the part badly built Stuart major Beam engine I bought recently. I won't bore you with the preliminaries, as it was a right dog's breakfast, but it is starting to look the part now. When finished it will weigh about 20kg!

This what it will look and run like when finished.

 

[John Barrett]

Just a little update on my beam engine. I've clad the cylinder with mahogany strips, and started on the valve gear. Great fun!

 

[bigwood]

Looking good so far John. I have thought about cladding the top half of the Clayton boiler above the cab floor in mahogany. Maybe it would be a bit too fancy for a working wagon.

 

[John Barrett]

Looking good so far John. I have thought about cladding the top half of the Clayton boiler above the cab floor in mahogany. Maybe it would be a bit too fancy for a working wagon.

I would consider it as the wood is a good insulator, and also decorative.
John

 

[bigwood]

I think the bottom half around the fire box would need to be metal cladding due to the heat. The boiler fittings will have to be polished to match the banding.
Any suggestions for a supplier of mahogany strip.

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[Spriddler]

Exquisite! I love the movement, sound, and hypnotic muscular plodding of beam engines.

 

[Two of usI]

I am an engineer and can turn & mill and everything else that is required, but would love to have the skill to produce some of these engines, that is not a skill, its a ........ can't think of the word but its brilliant

 

[John Barrett]

I think the bottom half around the fire box would need to be metal cladding due to the heat. The boiler fittings will have to be polished to match the banding.
Any suggestions for a supplier of mahogany strip.

My strips are maple hardwood, stained mahogany. I have lots so tell me what you want and I will send them. Do not forget to specify the bevel angle...

 

[bigwood]

Thanks John I am going to have to have a think about this. I am taking the boiler out again soon to re plumb some of the pipes so I will look into this.

 

[olley]

Did you make the engineers clamp John? I had to make 3 different sizes in the first year of my apprenticeship, long lost I think.

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[Two of usI]

of course

 

[bigwood]

When I was posted to Germany I left my apprentice pieces including two cast aluminium regimental plaques for my regiment and my Grandfathers regiment along with tools I made.
When eventually I settled in the U.K. after leaving the army the only thing my father still had was a pin hammer I made at school and a funnel. I know it was a long time but I hoped he had kept them for me.
When we emptied his workshop after he passed away we discovered he had given away a lot of his engineering tools including an American Rivet Lathe.
Since setting up my workshop I have made some of the apprentice tools alongside the projects. When I bought my milling machine I made lots of clamps and other useful bits to get used to using the milling machine.
Part of the model engineering hobby is making things to make other things. I have a growing collection of jigs to hold things.

 

[John Barrett]

Did you make the engineers clamp John? I had to make 3 different sizes in the first year of my apprenticeship, long lost I think.

I made a couple in the dim distant past, but they are lost and I use Eclipse ones now! I do not worry about getting them warm...

 

[John Barrett]

I've been keeping busy in my workshop, especially so given recent events.
The design of this beast is functional but not very pretty, in complete contrast to the Victorian idiom, hence my the wooden cladding on the cylinder, and now I've altered the valve chest design, adding more studs and a shiny cover plate to give it some 'Bling'! I'm very pleased with it thus far, and it's keeping me sane...

 

[bigwood]

My workshop activities have seemed a struggle recently so I have left it for a while. I have run out of gas to test the Clayton boiler. A trip to the Calor shop isn’t really essential.
Our son has offered to buy me castings for my birthday next month. I know it’s something from Stuart’s because the parcel arrived here but I have been good and only know it rattles.
Is the beam engine a Stuart. I thought the beam engines models I have seen had a fluted column.
I have some house work to do before then so I will have a full clean up ready for the new project.

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[olley]

No metalworking from me just a bit of plastic working via 3D printing. It's a gutter downpipe adaptor from metric to old imperial.

 

[John Barrett]

My workshop activities have seemed a struggle recently so I have left it for a while. I have run out of gas to test the Clayton boiler. A trip to the Calor shop isn’t really essential.
Our son has offered to buy me castings for my birthday next month. I know it’s something from Stuart’s because the parcel arrived here but I have been good and only know it rattles.
Is the beam engine a Stuart. I thought the beam engines models I have seen had a fluted column.
I have some house work to do before then so I will have a full clean up ready for the new project.

There are two Stuart beam engine sets of castings. The smaller set which I built some years ago costs some £350. The one I am working costs some £1440 with the drawings, so you might have got lucky with your pressie!

 

[bigwood]

I forgot Stuart’s produced two sizes of beam engines. It could have been the smaller one I was thinking of.
The cost of Stuart’s castings seems to have gone up a lot recently but they are good quality. It’s not often you find blow holes and chill spots. One of the reasons for building the Clayton was the cost of castings. The cylinder set was about the same price as the smaller Stuart engine castings.
I don’t get too excited about birthdays but it’s nice to know I will get something to take my mind off the current situation.

 

[bigwood]

I got a nice birthday gift as a side project for my birthday from management and the kids. They bought me castings for a Stuart 10H. To my surprise the address on the drawings was Gurnsey. It been a while since they moved back to the UK.
I visited there factory in Henley on Thames during the seventies whilst I was serving my apreticeship in the Army.
I cleaned off the flash this afternoon and they look nice castings. This will be a nice addition to the 10V and the S50 I have already built.

 

[John Barrett]

I got a nice birthday gift as a side project for my birthday from management and the kids. They bought me castings for a Stuart 10H. To my surprise the address on the drawings was Gurnsey. It been a while since they moved back to the UK.
I visited there factory in Henley on Thames during the seventies whilst I was serving my apreticeship in the Army.
I cleaned off the flash this afternoon and they look nice castings. This will be a nice addition to the 10V and the S50 I have already built.

If I already had a 10V and was given a 10H I wouldn't take that lying down!

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[bigwood]

I dint have the milling machine when I built the 10V but I kept all the jigs and fittings I made from Harold Hall,s build details. The underpinnings are the same for both engines. With the clamp plate and angle plate I made it will be as good to build as the S50.

 

[John Barrett]

Another pic of the work so far. I've added the dummy studs to the cylinder cap, thus making it more like the treal thing, and the shiny brass steam valve will sit there on the base, feeding the butterfly valve.
Progress!

 

[bigwood]

Up to youre usual standard I see. The beam engine I was thinking of was the Sanderson Beam engine that Blackgates sell the castings for.
The 10H is up to Stuarts quality of castings. I have done some tidying up on the bed plate and the main engine bed. The castings are lovely to machine. There are no nasty cold chill spots so far but the mill and me are covered in a black powder.
Being a different orientation to the 10v I have made one new jig for clamping the main bed.

 

[John Barrett]

Up to youre usual standard I see. The beam engine I was thinking of was the Sanderson Beam engine that Blackgates sell the castings for.
The 10H is up to Stuarts quality of castings. I have done some tidying up on the bed plate and the main engine bed. The castings are lovely to machine. There are no nasty cold chill spots so far but the mill and me are covered in a black powder.
Being a different orientation to the 10v I have made one new jig for clamping the main bed.

My thanks for the compliment, the thing is keeping me sane! Did your gift come from modern Stuart or were they sourced elsewhere? I ask because I see lots of pictures of dodgy castings being supplied nowadays!

 

[bigwood]

It was ordered on the Stuart’s web site via Brideport Foundry/ Plastows.
With the address on the plans being Gurnsey I feel sure it’s a genuine Stuart set of castings. This possibly means they are just old drawings. They are very British drawings in imperial and some odd sizes.
The crank is 9/32“not 1/4“ diameter. In a logical world it would make sense to use nominal sizes. Saying that most of the screws are 7BA.
The old British thread system must baffle. modern metric engineers. BSF, UNF, Cycle Threads, Whitworth, BSP and others that won’t come to mind.
When I came out of the army I had to learn using metric spanner’s. The AA took all the imperial spanners out of our tool boxes but my Sargent said they are being skipped so take what you need. I still think imperial as taught.

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