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Halley restoration


DAN THE STEAM

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It looked pretty finished when I saw it......

 

Actually this is is the one in Alford Transport Museum seen last month:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]105801[/ATTACH]

And they have a Halley fire engine chassis hanging from the ceiling:

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]105802[/ATTACH]

 

Thanks for the pictures, infact if you look on the info board besides the Halley chassis there is a picture of my one before i got it ( well way before i was even on this planet).

 

 

so news flash: on monday i went to the sawmills and ordered the wood for the rear body floor joists, i couldn't afford Ash so have ended up getting the joists done in a hard wood the same collcolour as mahogany, i can't remember the name of type of wood (i must be getting old ) :o

 

Pictures still in progress of uploading :) sorry

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Hi all.

 

Well i have been getting on with making parts for the Halley, so Friday i decided to machine the steering box arm which needed two tapered holes machined into it, the large end ( wayshaft end) was 1 1/2 id with 10 degree taper and the other end ( track rod end) had a 1 1/8 id with a 2 degree taper, this casting also needed to be machined down to some nominal sizes before i started to put any holes in it.

 

I did make one mistake that caused a bit of an annoyance, machined the taper on one of the holes the wrong way, meaning that the drag link would hit into the tyre before full lock was achieved.

 

So ended up machining the taper parallel with a step on end then machining up a top hat bush with the taper machined into it then pressing this into the new hole to rectify the mistake.

 

Also i have machined the steering wheel casting that was supplied by the Goslings, this also has a tapered bore but only 1 degree and id of 1 1/8th, so this and the steering arm can now be sent off for keying, then i can start to draw up the steering worm and pinion.

 

I am hoping to try and machine the steering worm and pinion myself for the challenge of trying, i just hope it turns out ok, so if anyone has any tips on machining such a thing or even how to figure out the parts of correct practices your advise will be much appreciated.

 

i did try to upload some more pictures but am having trouble doing so, so bear with me on them.

 

Dan.

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I am hoping to try and machine the steering worm and pinion myself for the challenge of trying, i just hope it turns out ok, so if anyone has any tips on machining such a thing or even how to figure out the parts of correct practices your advise will be much appreciated.

 

A worm has straight-sided teeth, it is just a screw thread with a shallower than normal thread angle. (In fact for a 14.5 degree PA the profile is the same as an Acme thread (14.5 degree half-angle) though the tooth height etc are probably oddly proportioned for the diameter/pitch. It is unlikely that you have a lathe that can single-point your worm using an Acme insert, though.

 

If you have ever wondered why the threading table on your lathe includes MOD and DP pitches, this is why. It is so you can cut a worm thread to suit a standard gear tooth pitch.

This assumes a non-enveloping worm and wheel, things get more difficult if the wheel isn't straight-toothed, you need a cutter with the same radius as the worm, or a machine that can generate such a curve.

(Ponder, I haven't thought about that before, but my CNC milling machine in hobbing mode can probably generate wheels quite nicely, except that most of my hobs are bigger than any worm I would be using)

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi all, just thought i would bring you up to date, I have n been working on the Halley getting it ready for a few events, one of which is Dorset steam fair.

 

All the bits for the steering box has been machined excluding the worm and segment, i have started figuring out the angles and ratios for the worm so should soon have the information i need to look at manufacturing.

I also did some more on the engine block, namely cleaning and preping the crank case for welding/ welding up some cracks that i believe might have been caused by a thrown con rod?

 

Also my dad and i made and fitted the floor frame work for the body, it is really starting to look like a truck.

 

20150816_170457.jpg

 

ps sorry if this turns out horrible, im seeing if i can do uploads from a moble phone

20150812_175523.jpg

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20150816_162345.jpg

Edited by DAN THE STEAM
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Hi, unless I missed a post you haven't made an engine ID have you? I am quite sure I know the foundry mark showen in the post of the S in the triangle. I have seen it on lots of engines here in the states. I don't want to post an incorrect answer, but if you have not locked down the ID I will post my information. Ed.

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Hello adinmass, i have found an engine ID number [ RU.76847] also most of the casting numbers start with the letters RU.

 

Any infomation or help would be very appreciated indeed, and maybe if identification can be verified then the quest for missing parts on the engine can begin/ continue on a new chapter.

 

The parts that are my biggiest bug at the moment are the con rods and pistons which are missing, so to even get some measurements from one would be very helpful.

 

Thankyou.

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  • 4 months later...
  • 2 months later...

Hi all, sorry it's been a while, i have now finished all the loose ends and the Halley is now centre stage in our workshop.

 

One thing i have done of recent was to find a magneto and have it rebuilt.

 

It is a Simms mag, not the correct one for this engine but it will be fine nether the less.20160229_192046.jpg

20160229_192053.jpg

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  • 2 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Hello rusty followers, has anybody used belzona to fill in pitting inside a cylinder bore?

 

I have had the cylinders machined out to match the 0.040 over sized pistons, but the pitying in one cylinder is still queit bad, i don't want to fit liners if i can help it for one cylinders sake, so was wondering if anyone has done this and if it was a sucsess?

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Hi Dan, I suspect that the temperatures might go way beyond the limits of Belzona, and it is a pretty tough environment in the cylinder with its pressure waves, combustion, scraping and so on.

 

However, if you happened to know someone with a similarly pitted engine of no particular value that you could try it on, I would be interested to see the results. :)

 

trevor

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I have had the cylinders machined out to match the 0.040 over sized pistons, but the pitying in one cylinder is still queit bad, i don't want to fit liners if i can help it

 

These old engines run very low compression ratios. I would be tempted to just run as-is as long as there is still a decent bearing surface.

 

Or you could try the Belzona to make yourself feel better, but make sure you never check that it is still there, as I am pretty sure it won't still be after a few miles.

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Hi Dan, I suspect that the temperatures might go way beyond the limits of Belzona, and it is a pretty tough environment in the cylinder with its pressure waves, combustion, scraping and so on.

 

However, if you happened to know someone with a similarly pitted engine of no particular value that you could try it on, I would be interested to see the results. :)

 

trevor

 

Morning Trevor, i only thought of this after talking to my brother in law, who works on the Bluebell railway, he said they have a loco with bad blow holes in tge cylinder bore, so to keep it going, the put belzona in it, he said its still going strong aftwr many years of working.

 

So i was keen to see if anyone had tried with a petrol engine.

 

Thanks anyway, and if i do decide to do this, i will report my findings in here as and when i remove the cylinders during its running life.

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These old engines run very low compression ratios. I would be tempted to just run as-is as long as there is still a decent bearing surface.

 

Or you could try the Belzona to make yourself feel better, but make sure you never check that it is still there, as I am pretty sure it won't still be after a few miles.

Morning Andy, i looked at the instructions ( i know,thos is rare) and the temp range isn't that good tbh, from what i remember it said it's running temp was about 100°c.

 

So your prob right in saying, it will all be out after a few runs, but maybe replaced by carbon and oil :)

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Morning Trevor, i only thought of this after talking to my brother in law, who works on the Bluebell railway, he said they have a loco with bad blow holes in tge cylinder bore, so to keep it going, the put belzona in it, he said its still going strong aftwr many years of working.

 

So i was keen to see if anyone had tried with a petrol engine.

 

 

I know which engine that is, as I volunteer there and was cleaning the bores last time we had the pistons out. I've used Belzona on a cracked lower radiator casting on a Matador, and that held up well. I had no money to send it for repair, but we had some Belzona lying around. Can't remember why we had that product (I worked for a firm that ran old busses, some parts were made of "unobtanium"), but whatever we did use it on never had problems again. It's a very good product as long as you do the prep correctly.

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Bluebell railway, he said they have a loco with bad blow holes in tge cylinder bore, so to keep it going, the put belzona in it, he said its still going strong after many years of working.

 

Interesting. I don't know how the cylinder wall temperatures differ between a superheated steam cylinder and a low-compression petrol engine. (I do know almost exactly how hot the cylinder walls get on a modern diesel engine, I have run them with thermocouples embedded, but that's not really relevant).

 

I suspect that they might not be all that different.

 

The chemical environment in the petrol engine will be rather more reactive, I suspect.

 

I don't think you have anything to lose by trying it. The absolute worst thing that will happen is that it will drop out as a lump and prop a valve open. (unless someone has a better imagination than me)

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