redbeard
1st Class Member
Gonzalez, Florida (Pensacola area)
Foreman
Posts:110
Send Message
 | | 07/09/2008 11:33 AM |
| Hi Winn,
Absolutely Beautiful! What a great job you have done. I HATED to start the painting process on my Ruby conversion, but now I am glad it's done. For what its worth, I had a leak I could not find when I got the running parts of the engine together. I never found it with steam! I hooked an air line to the goodall valve and ran the pressure up to 45 lbs and used soapy water to find the leak. (45 lbs is 10 lbs over my operating pressure so I removed the pop-off valve for this test and was very careful with the pressure) My leak was between the steam outlet bushing on the boiler and the "manifold" that came with the Ruby. Since I had insulated and wrapped the boiler, the telltale water/steam was inside the wrapper. Using a LOT of soapy water I found "leaks" from the bottom seam of the wrapper. When I took the wrapper off I was able to pinpoint the leak and take care of it.
Maybe this will help.
redbeard AKA Larry Newman | | | |
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placitassteam
1st Class Member
Placitas NM 20 miles north of Albuquerque
Foreman
Posts:134
Send Message
| | 07/09/2008 4:04 PM |
| | Hey Larry, Thanks for the kudus and the suggestion of using soapy water. I don't know why I hadn't thought of that. I've used it often when checking for gas leaks around the house and even on the loco's gas lines. I have been messing around putting RC on my C16 and Ruby/Forney. I also made a spit valve for the C16 which can direct the exhaust out pipes under the cylinders when cold starting. Thanks again. | |
Winn Erdman Steamaholic 291
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placitassteam
1st Class Member
Placitas NM 20 miles north of Albuquerque
Foreman
Posts:134
Send Message
| | 08/31/2008 9:02 PM |
| I'm still here!!! It seems that a lot of things keep getting in the way of working on the Bogie. I tore it down to just the cylinders and valves with the steam feed pipe and applied air at 20 psi. There were numerous leaks around the heads and and considerable blow-by on the right cylinder. I doubled up on the head gaskets (oil soaked dollar bill), did some additional honing of the cylinder and made a new piston with a slightly larger ID for the O-ring. I reassembled the power bogie and ran it on air. It seemed like it was running mostly on one cylinder. I disconnected the piston rods and found that the right piston was stopping at the end of the stroke and upon reversing the valve it would not move. The was a lot of blowby. I disassembled the cylinder and found a nick in the O-ring. A new O-ring rendered a very smooth running engine. There are still a few leaks around some of the screws which should be easy to seal with some silicone at final assembly. I am waiting for a 1/8th end mill to do some work on the running boards to cut down on heat transfer. I already did this on the pilot deck where the cylinders attach, but broke my end mill.
Here is a picture of the thermal break on the left side of the pilot deck
Next job is to reassemble and try steaming. By the way, I used a modified stethesocope with a thin tube to locate leaks. It worked very well. | |
Winn Erdman Steamaholic 291
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Rich Schiffman
1st Class Member
Conroe, Texas
Brakeman
Posts:48
Send Message
| | 09/01/2008 5:38 AM |
| Winn,
I am glad to see you back on the project. I highly admire the work you do. I look forward to more, so please keep it coming.
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Rich Schiffman
dartco381@consolidated.net | |
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placitassteam
1st Class Member
Placitas NM 20 miles north of Albuquerque
Foreman
Posts:134
Send Message
| | 09/07/2008 8:10 PM |
| I have been spending a lot of my time on the extension to my RR and battery powering a couple of Geese, but I got the end mill that I needed so here goes. As mentioned earlier I have been chasing steam leaks and have them under control. In the interest of conserving heat I am also attempting to minimize the heat transfer to radiating surfaces. In the previous post I showed one of the slots in the pilot deck. I have now completed both slots in the deck and now have added slots to the running boards.
Here is the main frame with one slot done.
With both slots completed.
Now the only path for heat transfer to the running boards is through the frame cross members instead of having the entire length of the running board in contact with the boiler. Now to reassemble everything and see how it works under steam. | |
Winn Erdman Steamaholic 291
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placitassteam
1st Class Member
Placitas NM 20 miles north of Albuquerque
Foreman
Posts:134
Send Message
| | 11/15/2008 2:47 PM |
| Today I ran the Bogie 4 laps around my 217 foot main loop. The fire lit on the first try and never faltered. At 30 PSI I put her in forward and opened the throttle. By the time the cylinders were cleared the pressure was down to 15 so I turned up the fire a little and waited for the pressure to
build back. The RC controlled J-bar was working fine, with it in forward and the throttle opened, a little nudge and away she went. After one lap I added 50cc of water and let the pressure build to 30 PSI then made 3 more laps before shutting her down.
After shut down the flue was just uncovered, it takes 80cc to cover it. Total boiler capacity with 30cc of head space is 210cc which leaves only 130cc usable. After adding the 50cc that brings it to 180cc to make 4 laps or 45cc per lap. Looks like I will need a water pump or stop every lap to add 45cc of water. The modifications I made to the pilot deck and the running boards seem to help cut down on the radiated heat.
I was quite pleased how well she ran even in reverse and she also seems to respond well to notching back the J-bar. A little more tweaking and some break-in time and I think she will run very nicely. Time to disassemble, paint, add decals and do the final assembly!!! I also need to design the installation of the servo for the throttle. By next Spring I should have a finished locomotive if I don't have too many interruptions.
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Winn Erdman Steamaholic 291
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Don Howard
1st Class Member
Brakeman
Posts:93
Send Message
| | 11/15/2008 6:39 PM |
| Congratulations!
You've gone beyond where many of us can even dream of going. | | | |
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