Table of contents for Issue 4731 in Model Engineer

Traditional Skills “Well, of course, the old traditional skills are dying out”. How often do we hear that? Sadly, though, there is much truth in it. There are many reasons for that. Firstly, in our technologically sophisticated world, there is not the same demand for these skills that there once was. Robotics, computer controlled machinery, 3D printing and other technologies have, in many cases, rendered traditional skills largely redundant. Consequently, companies (with notable exceptions) do not offer apprenticeships to the same extent as they once did, as the profile of their workforce has changed. Secondly, there is undue pressure on young people to go to university, as if this is the only way to ‘get on’. This, I believe, has been proved to be false. So many young people end…

R. Finch shares his researches into this workshop essential. Introduction In a recent Monthly Bulletin of Bradford Model Engineering Society (ref 1), a member had some problems replacing some of his cutting oil when his stocks were running low. He raised quite a few questions about them. He had purchased some ‘soluble oil’ from a supplier at one of the model engineering shows, only to find that when he mixed it with water, it was not ‘soluble’ at all! This was despite diluting it correctly by adding the oil to the water and stirring. He was then left with the predicament of just what he should buy ‘soluble oil’, a neat cutting oil, a semi-synthetic soluble cutting fluid or a fully synthetic soluble cutting fluid. In the end he opted…

Continued from p.701 M.E.4730 November 17 Main bearing standards The four main bearings are split bronze shells carried in steel standards which are themselves held in position on the bed plate by M5 studs, nuts and 1/8 inch steel dowels. The bronze bearing halves are flanged to slide onto the standards and are retained by a steel cap bar. Shim washers can be used on the cap bar studs to provide adjustment to the bearing shells when necessary. The cap bars are drilled and tapped in the centre for a standard 3/16 x 40 inch pipe union for the oil feed and the underside of this hole is counterbored for an O-ring seal. The four standards are made from ½ inch steel stock and were initially machined to their overall…

Continued from p.676, M.E.4730, November 17 To continue! Before we get stuck in, can I just say that when I have been judging locomotives at exhibitions I love looking in people's cabs. Some of them are quite basic and do not interest me that much. I can appreciate that some are built for ease of operation and I am afraid that those do not interest me too much but good for them as they make the exhibitions well worth the visit. Some engines are absolutely the bee's knees to look at until one gets a little closer and some are quite exquisite from both the outside and the inside. Now these are the engines which really interest me the most. It only takes a few weeks’ extra work to turn…

And the tocsin tolls, relentlessly, one Club News after another. Is there no way of stemming the flow of Club News columns, before we go off up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire? There is a green hill far away without a City Hall, where you and I … (see page 93). In this issue, RLS, not slot cars, robot wars, a weekend away, shock waves? Souped up family saloon cars, odd number plates and disciplining children. B&DSME News, from Bournemouth & District Society of Model Engineers opens with editor, Brian Merrifield, anticipating the Midlands MEX in Leamington Spa. Debs and I would be going on the Saturday. I see that Barry Linger is disposing of many tools, including a biscuit cutter. I tried one but found that although they last…

After last year's excellent show, it was perhaps to be expected that participation in the 2023 event may be less simply because many model engineers had not had sufficient time to finish their projects. However, what this year's event lacked in numbers it more than made up by the great quality on show. There were also two special anniversaries being celebrated which did add quite a lot to the show. The Society of Model and Experimental Engineers (SMEE) were celebrating their 125th Anniversary with a great display of current members’ work and many items from their archive which have not been seen for many years. The other anniversary was that of Model Engineer magazine which was also celebrating 125 years of publication since Percival Marshall started it in 1898. When…

Mark Smithers visits a two foot gauge railway in Kent. Situated in rural Kent, roughly halfway between Staplehurst and Headcorn, is a 2 foot gauge railway ‘gem’ that is normally only opened to the public once a year. This is for the Annual Charity Gala which normally takes place on the second Saturday in August. The story of the railway goes back to April 2007 when Richmond Farm, which had hitherto been used as a piggery, was acquired by Jeremy and Jenny Martin. Jeremy had always been interested in railways having grown up with his father's 7¼ inch gauge railway (Wayside Light Railway) but for him 2 foot gauge was always the real attraction. He likes the history associated with each engine, be it in working on the light railways…

Continued from p.688 M.E.4730 November 17 Note: imperial dimensions follow metric dimensions and are in brackets. References are listed in part 1 (M.E.4728, October 20). Aset of Clupet rings was made up and then put in the muffle for 30 minutes, before it was turned off and allowed to cool, after which the tube was dismantled and the rings turned right side out. Whilst the rings ‘flipped’ back alright it seemed there were still issues/problems that needed resolving. Problem 4 I'd noticed that the rings after being heat treated and turned ‘right side out’ had a very slight visible gap between the two separate sections of the ring either side of the ‘dog leg connecting bar’ (photo 10). This showed up when turning the final diameter, by the lack of…

Some context When it comes to model live steam cylinders we are all familiar with gunmetal and cast iron. These two alloys not only proved themselves in the hobby but also in large scale with the largest of locomotives successfully running with superheated steam using cast iron cylinders. So why mess with a proven formula? Well, not all cylinders are suitable for cast iron, especially if the locomotive will stand for long periods. My current project has cylinders that are slanted at an angle so any condensate will accumulate on the piston and I suspect oil squirted into the top tallow cock will only displace the problem. Gunmetal is of course the logical alternative but due to rather unfavourable local conditions the availability (and cost) of granulated tin has become…

December 1 Rochdale SMEE Talk by Bob Hayter, Castleton Community Centre, 19:00. See www.facebook.com/RochdaleModelEngineers 2 Tiverton & District MES Running day at Rackenford track. Contact: Chris Catley, 01884 798370 3 Canterbury MES Public running. Contact: ginapearson@btopenworld.com 3 Guildford MES Open day, 11:00-15:00. See www.gmes.org.uk 3 North Wilts MES Public running at the Coate Water Railway, 11:00-dusk. See www.nwmes.info 3 Warrington & District MES Running day at the club track. See www.wdmes.org.uk/events 6 Bradford MES Film night, Saltaire Methodist Church, 19:30. Contact: Russ Coppin, 07815 048999 7 Sutton MEC Bits and Pieces evening 20:00. Contact: Paul Harding, 0208 254 9749 7 Warrington & District MES Projects/natter night, St Mary Magdalene Church, WA4 3AG, 20:00. See www.wdmes.org.uk/events 10 Canterbury MES Public running. Contact: ginapearson@btopenworld.com 10 North Wilts MES Public running at the…

Continued from p.707 M.E.4730 November 17 The cheating! The right side of the model is as close to scale as can be expected for a working live steam model that needs to pull a ridiculous scale load (me!) at break-neck (scale) speeds. Having just the two crosshead pumps, like the original, was never an option for our track. The old guys like to chat in the station regardless of the queue and who can blame them, I do the same. For my model I substituted the left-hand pump for a live steam injector with a period specific steam valve at the top of the boiler to match. If the locomotive had run into the era when injectors where used, I suspect the configuration might have looked very similar (photo 172).…

Continued from p.679 M.E.4730 November 17 This is one of the less used valve gears. It was invented by E.W. Twining (1895-1956) who was initially associated with Bassett Lowke but later set up as a model maker in his own right (ref 25). As far as I can tell this gear was only fitted to three locomotives, Katie (1954), Sian (1963), both built by Guest Engineering of Stourbridge, and Wroxham Broad (built by Guest 1964 as a diesel, converted to steam 1991 by Winson Engineering). Photograph 4 shows a general view of Wroxham Broad and photo 5 is a close up of the valve gear, both kindly supplied by the Bure Valley Railway. Figure 84 is a schematic of the gear and the results running forward. It is clearly based…

Continued from p.692 M.E.4730 November 17 When the parts arrived (photos 4 and 5), I found myself somewhat intimidated. The level of detail was as good as I could have hoped for and the fear of ruining some rather expensive parts led to me procrastinating for quite some weeks over exactly how to best minimise the risk. My fear was in part driven by the fact that bringing the holes out to size was a one-shot operation; the first I would learn about how this material machined was when I was putting the sizing cutter through the first hole. I chose to start with the pivot pin hole in the hook, on the grounds that it was the shortest hole, in the most rigid and easily held component. I could…

Continued from p.697 M.E.4730 November 17 Using modern technology in a traditional craft One of the objectives of this project was to make the best possible use of available modern technology to achieve the required traditional results. EDM (wire cutting) A major contribution was the use of Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM). This is an electro-thermal production process where a thin single strand of metal wire is used to cut through a workpiece (fig 10). A low DC voltage applied to the wire produces sparks where it contacts the metal workpiece and this erodes away the metal. De-ionised water provides a dielectric medium around the spark gap that washes away the oxides and debris from the spark erosion process. The workpiece is fixed to a table, which is moved past the…