Kit 23 - The last kit!

ModelWorks 4 inch Scale Burrell Agricultural Traction Engine
Kit 23 (less safety valve) was delivered 31st October 2005

Monday: The arrival of the kit today caught me on the hop as I am in the middle of fitting the boiler cleading.  An initial check of the contents revealed BU42330, Seat Base Metal, to be missing.  

Tuesday: Steve has confirmed that the seat base is missing and will be supplied with the other delayed items.  The missing item can be seen here when I "tested" the seat at the Guildford Rally.

Wednesday: After assembling the whistle valve I tested it on my airline and was disappointed to discover it leaked.   After a lot of messing about I concluded that the leak was between the valve seat and the stainless ball.  I was able to "fix" the leak using the time honoured  technique of gently taping the ball into the seat.

When I fitted the whistle bell I found that it pushed against the operating lever causing the whistle to sound.  To correct this I had to unrivet the operating lever and shorted the operating rod.  Fortunately ModelWorks supplied a couple of spare rivets.

When I assembled the lubricator I cut the spring down to 8mm without checking. Unfortunately it was way too short and I had to replace it with one from stock.  With hind sight I should have started off with the full length spring and cut it down 1mm at a time.  The spring wants to be as long as possible but not so strong that it pushes the ball through the O ring.  I found I had to reduce the diameter of the spacer between the two 'O' rings so that it would fit in the bore.  Having had trouble with a similar lubricator on my POP I decided to fill it with steam oil to check that it worked.  I was out of luck - it did not pump a drop.

During assembly I noted that the ram was a sloppy fit in the cylinder but I assumed that the 'O' rings are intended to provide the seal.  I striped the pump down and measured the cylinder bore at 1/8" (0.125) and the ram at 0.115" ie 10 thou clearance.  As an experiment I made a new ram dead on 0.125" and on reassembly the pump worked fine.

Running the Burrell without adequate lubrication is a no no and I strongly advise constructors to test their lubricator before fitting to the Burrell.  A small drop of oil should emerge from the outflow for each revolution of the operating wheel.  If the delivery pipe is connected it can take some time to fill so be patient.

Thursday: Today I assembled the lubricator linkage and fitted the lubricator to the cylinder.  I found that the M3 bolts to secure the lubricator Drive Lugs to the linkages had been omitted from the kit.  Fortunately I was able to find suitable bolts surplus from a previous kit.

As a final test I part filled the lubricator and gave the engine a run.  After a while I was pleased to see that the level of the oil going down indicating that oil was being delivered into the cylinder.

Saturday:  I started off by fitting the water hose.  When I came to screw the hose onto the tender I found that I had to shorten one of the lugs on the connector as it was hitting the side of the tender.  The plastics hose supplied by Modelworks is a bit too shiny for my liking and I am musing over ways of distressing it to loss the shine.  

I tried the seat bracket in position and my thoughts immediately turned to working out how I was going to prevent it scratching the paint.  

If I can get hold of some, I plan to use cork pads between the bracket and the tender.  This will work well for the top angle but I am concerned the curved bracket at the bottom will push thought the cork.  My scheme is to place a cork faced steel plate between the tender and the bracket.  I have loosely fixed the plate to the bracket.  I hope that the plate will stay still and all movement will be between the bracket and the plate.

I was fortunate enough to be given an old cork dinner mat - so cork it is.

Thursday:  I have been busy painting the seat and the walk board supports.   When I visited Modelworks recently the control model was sporting what looked like handle bar grips at the end of the footrest. I was disappointed to find that none were included with the kit as the ends of the rests could give someone a serious knock.   I set off to my local cycle shop but discovered that handle bars ore 7/8" diameter whereas the footrest is 1".  After a a rummage though the display stock I found some which were made from soft rubber and on returning home was pleased to find that they would stretch over the ends of the rests.

The engine is back in its centrally heated cupboard at the top of the garage awaiting the final components to complete construction.  My gut feeling is that, because the safety valves have to be steam tested and certificates issued, we are in for a long wait - I hope I am proved wrong!

Friday: Thanks to all who contacted me; I now know that ModelWorks did supply handle bar grips for the footrests to some lucky customers.  

Monday:  The mystery regarding the footrest is finally solved.  No footrest rubbers were planned to be supplied with the Burrell kit.  Steve says:- "The Likamobile has a central tiller steering and we needed to supply a rubber handle bar grip for it. The ideal size could only be purchased as a set of two with different ID's because of the twist throttle on a motorbike. Co-incidentally the unused size was ideal for the Burrell footrest. Rather than throw them away, we put them in some of the Burrell Kit 23's. We are only making 50 Likamobile kits so there were 25 'lucky' Burrell customers."

Wednesday 30 Nov: I have just heard from Steve and the safety valve springs have finally arrived at ModelWorks.  Next week he will be using his Chain Engine to generate the steam so that they may be preset under steam.

The water gauges are currently being reseated and it is hoped to send these out with the safety valves late next week or early the following.  Unfortunately the toughened glass for the water gauge is being elusive, but at least that won't stop anyone wanting to raise steam before Christmas doing so.

Weekending 4th December: I have been slowly doing a few jobs on the Burrell.  When I came to fit the tool box I found its fixings no longer aligned with its supports.  I am sure I checked this prior to varnishing and this reminded me that as wood is a natural product it will change size in response to temperature and humidity.  To prevent any trouble in the future I filled small slots in the fixing holes to accommodate any future movement.

I had previously observed that one of the clack valve was leaking.  I inspected the seat and ball and could see no obvious problem and so decided that the time honoured tap on the ball was called for.  It is possible to hit the ball 'freehand' with the aid of a drift but my experience with my POP has taught me that it is vital to hit the ball cleanly and squarely at the first attempt.  A crooked blow can distort the valve seat beyond saving. 

To guarantee success and because I like turning brass, I made up a bush to hold the drift squarely.  This is treaded 9/16 x 26 to screw into the valve body and bored 1/4" to accommodate the 1/4" steel bar I used as the drift.  One sharp tap will a light hammer did the trick.  Overdoing it can make things worse and can even cause the ball to get stuck (yes I learnt the hard way on my POP).  When I tested it on air it no longer hissed.

I decided it was time to permanently fit the water gauge.  On my first two attempts there was a loud hissing from the bottom of the glass (not the end shown it the picture).  I noticed that the glass was not going squarely into the lower fitting despite it being perfectly in line - it was as if the whole fitting was tipped back slightly.  There is a ferrule on the glass tube which seats onto the bottom fitting and I conclude that the slight tipping was preventing this making a good seal.  The instructions ask that this ferrule be wrapped in PTFE tape and I now understanding the reason.  On my third, successful, attempt I applied the tape thick enough to provide some give to form a good seal despite imperfect axial alignment.

It is sometimes difficult to locate the exact location of a hissing sound especially within the confines of the tender.  I found it helpfully to brush soapy water onto the fittings and observe the bubbles.  The bad leaks  blow the water off and it is not long before there is none left to form bubbles.  The picture above shows slow leaks which I intend to live with for the time being.  Once I have steamed a few times I will be able to access what really needs fixing.

I have one remaining "hissing" leak to fix and that is within the pressure gauge stop cock itself.  Unfortunately I painted it as an assembly with the steam head and am reluctant to remove it from the Burrell. 

I believe that it is impossible to eradicate all leaks but am unsure how small a leak needs to be addressed.  My current standard is that if it hisses I attempt to fix it.  I will only know for sure once I have steamed.  As an indication to other builders, if I charge the boiler to 80 PSI, the pressure only slowly drops.  (Will stay over 70 for a couple of minutes).  I find I can disconnect the compressor and go for a drive around the garage. 

Wednesday 7th:  Studying photographs of my Burrell I was struck that the nuts on the hornplates stick out like a sore thumb.  This is because they are bright steel against a dark background.  I decided it was time to get my brushes out and give them a coat of maroon paint.  Whilst I was at it I also painted the smokebox rivet bolts black.

   
Before                                                                       After

The nearly complete ModelWorks Burrell 1600x1200

For comparison the Burrell at the beginning of March this year

Tuesday 20th December: I have just heard from a frustrated Steve.  Delivery of the safety valves has been thwarted by the Pressure Equipment Directive.  Perversely these are a different set of regulations to the Pressure System Safety Regulations which will apply once the safety valve is fitted to the boiler.  The upshot of this is that official testing witness by Royal Sun Alliance is required before any safties can be dispatched.   This is scheduled for the 3rd January and if all goes well we will get delivery in the first week of the new year. Since the Pressure Regulations have a track record of causing unpredictable delays I don't regard these dates as firm.