Giles' misc. Work bench.

Giles

Giles

Western Thunderer
Leaf springs are fitted, but you can't see them in the photos! But in real life you can see them when you look below the boiler. The side control was a bit too strong, so I stretched the springs and then trimmed them back - thus weakening them - and they appear to be about right now. Certainly when I push the loco through the points it follows through nicely, rather than just relying on the drivers to bring it round.



20240613_171511
 
Giles

Giles

Western Thunderer
Springs in situ, and bevel gear on the driving axle. A 3v N30 70rpm gearmotor will do the driving.

https://flic.kr/p/2pXrxZp

The cab back sheet took a lot of delicate soft soldering to get square without unsoldering anything else right next to it! However, it now looks like a Tattoo (with a dropped boiler)

https://flic.kr/p/2pXJQ1s

this rather shows how small the quarry Hunslets are....

https://flic.kr/p/2pXHUfp
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
That does rather beg the question of whether it could be arranged so that the cylinders pump the steam (or air I guess) to add a bit of ”chuff”.

I recall my Battle Space Jinty (olive drab livery) was equipped with a similar device, which if memory serves, was a piston with a reed valve built in, driven off a plastic gear engaging with the top of the worm. I was too young to realise that one chuff per revolution would not be super useful…
 
Giles

Giles

Western Thunderer
simond said:
That does rather beg the question of whether it could be arranged so that the cylinders pump the steam (or air I guess) to add a bit of ”chuff”.

I recall my Battle Space Jinty (olive drab livery) was equipped with a similar device, which if memory serves, was a piston with a reed valve built in, driven off a plastic gear engaging with the top of the worm. I was too young to realise that one chuff per revolution would not be super useful…
Click to expand...

I remember that system! I had that on something..... can't remember what though. Just shows I never grew up.....
 
PhilH

PhilH

Western Thunderer
Giles said:
I remember that system! I had that on something..... can't remember what though. Just shows I never grew up.....
Click to expand...

Like this ?

Smoke Units.jpg​

The gear wheel sits on top of the worm and drives a small piston inside the box. Inside the box is a pad with a heating element on which you add the fluid in the capsule, and the "smoke" comes out of the hole at the far end which is under the chimney. I must have had these for 40-50 years at the back of a drawer in case they might be of use, but no doubt they never will. I'm not sure now whether they came out of a loco or were extras and I can't recall ever using the system. The fluid is possibly toxic and something they wouldn't be allowed to sell today.
 
Bill Campbell

Bill Campbell

Western Thunderer
The Tri-ang system was known as Synchrosmoke. The oil was vaporised by a heating element in the cast block. The oil also made a nice mess of the loco's paintwork and I seem to remember it being difficult to clean off.
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
That’s the beast. Some kind of oil, I guess. Probably not toxic per se, but as pleasant as following a smoky diesel.

The piston incorporates a valve so it blows and doesn’t suck, bit like a bike pump.
 
Giles

Giles

Western Thunderer
We have steam..... I printed a 4-magnet axle disc for the chuffs, and fitted a reed switch on the compensation bar. As with the Hunslet, I have fitted a miniature relay, but I can see a way of simply doing without this, as this particular unit only seems to be drawing 0.16A. The little control board need a constant exciter current supplied via a 1K ohm resistor to allow it to fire up immediately - otherwise there is a significant delay if starting from 0v. The 'steam' voltage is via the the relay, but really needn't be, the way things have worked out.


The tippers are exactly the right size and actually look really nice with the Tattoo

https://flic.kr/p/2pZHrrU
 
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