Giles' misc. Work bench.

timbowales

timbowales

Western Thunderer
As my machine tools consist of a Unimat 1 plastic/aluminium lathe and a minicraft drill with a vertical drill stand I think I'll stick with the machine from solid method :)
 
Giles

Giles

Western Thunderer
We had a mixed time at Uckfield (good to meet you Simon!). I'm glad to say that I remembered to take everything, but on the negative, we had significant loco problems on the Sunday. First of all the Hunslet failed within a quarter of an hour - still to be put on the bench and diagnosed - and then the Tattoo just got weaker and weaker throughout the day till it would hardly drag itself along..... I wondered what was binding (nothing obvious) but as it was the only loco running, I couldn't take it off to investigate - simply hope for the best, and lube it up a bit.

Getting home and after unpacking, hospital and shopping, I finally had a look at it yesterday - taking it apart - to find that the N30 gearmotor was mechanically OK (I thought it had run its bearing - but no...) but the motor was as weak as a kitten. I had had the foresight to buy two gearmotors at the time of building, so I was able to compare old and new under power, and whilst the new one was vertually unstoppable, the one I had just taken out was easily stopped between my fingers........ so over the course of the weekend, the motor had failed!?! I know its working fairly hard, but not that hard.... so i have replaced the gearmotor with a beefed-up motor mount to prevent the slight twisting that the bevel gears were imparting to the cross member.
under test, the motor works very well..... however, the receiver/ESC keeps blacking out..... it is rated at 1.2A, and whilst it is fine most of the time, at slow revs the ESC obviously can't cope.... it wasn't a problem with the last gearmotor. Aargh!!
It finally dawned on the that the motor may be happier working at a different frequency, and so I reprogrammed the receiver to output at 250Hz, rather than the 160Hz it was set to. This finally sorted it, and it appears to be happier, and drawing less through the receiver.
So the Tattoo is back running - just the Hunslet to sort. I know the servo in the driver has to be replaced to a start....
 
Greengiant

Greengiant

Western Thunderer
Giles said:
We had a mixed time at Uckfield (good to meet you Simon!). I'm glad to say that I remembered to take everything, but on the negative, we had significant loco problems on the Sunday. First of all the Hunslet failed within a quarter of an hour - still to be put on the bench and diagnosed - and then the Tattoo just got weaker and weaker throughout the day till it would hardly drag itself along..... I wondered what was binding (nothing obvious) but as it was the only loco running, I couldn't take it off to investigate - simply hope for the best, and lube it up a bit.

Getting home and after unpacking, hospital and shopping, I finally had a look at it yesterday - taking it apart - to find that the N30 gearmotor was mechanically OK (I thought it had run its bearing - but no...) but the motor was as weak as a kitten. I had had the foresight to buy two gearmotors at the time of building, so I was able to compare old and new under power, and whilst the new one was vertually unstoppable, the one I had just taken out was easily stopped between my fingers........ so over the course of the weekend, the motor had failed!?! I know its working fairly hard, but not that hard.... so i have replaced the gearmotor with a beefed-up motor mount to prevent the slight twisting that the bevel gears were imparting to the cross member.
under test, the motor works very well..... however, the receiver/ESC keeps blacking out..... it is rated at 1.2A, and whilst it is fine most of the time, at slow revs the ESC obviously can't cope.... it wasn't a problem with the last gearmotor. Aargh!!
It finally dawned on the that the motor may be happier working at a different frequency, and so I reprogrammed the receiver to output at 250Hz, rather than the 160Hz it was set to. This finally sorted it, and it appears to be happier, and drawing less through the receiver.
So the Tattoo is back running - just the Hunslet to sort. I know the servo in the driver has to be replaced to a start....
Click to expand...
Good to hear you have found the cause of the Tattoo running problem. Sunday was certainly interesting getting the loco to reach the end of the day, but it did.
The layout was great fun to run and a lot busier to operate than I had expected, surprisingly little time between operating procedures.
Photos do not do it justice, looks even better in the flesh and larger than I expected.
Martin
 
Phil O

Phil O

Western Thunderer
Giles said:
Thank you John!

Phil, I've not seen any mud-hole doors above the foundation ring on any of the variants only washout plugs - do you have any information on them?
Click to expand...

Sorry I'm late responding, but things non railway have got in the way.

I don't have any definite information, only that as a boilermaker, washout plugs make little sense, whereas mud-hole doors make a lot of sense, to facilitate the removal of sludge that will build up on the foundation ring, especially during a washout.
 
Giles

Giles

Western Thunderer
Hi Phil,
These only had washout plugs at the foundation ring (and in fairness, as have nearly all the locos I have washed out - but most of those have been industrial types). I wonder if fitting mudhole doors to the foundation ring is a post-war feature?
 
Phil O

Phil O

Western Thunderer
Giles,

If that's what they did on the prototype, then that's the end of the subject. Most of my experience is marine boilers of all persuasions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
What's New?
Top