< Air Testing >
The weighshaft has slits to dodge the connecting
rods. The slits were cut by end-mill. The
reversing arm was glued onto the shaft and
permanently fixed with a taper pin.
Pins for the valve gear assembly. Small nut
looks neat here but is easily loosen. Therefore
I glued nuts permanently while E-ring was
employed at the back end of the pin. The
left pair in the picture shows them. The
middle pair is for the lifting links that
have no back projection. And the right pair
is for the tip of the radius rod that have
neither front nor back projection.
After finding the front and rear dead center
of the crankpins, the position was marked
out on a small plate glued temporarily onto
the frame.
The eccentric rod length and the return crank
angle are determined at a time with a jig
shown in the picture. At the front and rear
dead center of the crank pin, the expansion
link should be neutral.
The eccentric rods were started with cutting
thickness profile.
The same jig for the valve gear parts was
employed again to cut the round shape.
I found a serious mistake after all. When
taking the eccentric rod length, the return
crank had been tilted in wrong direction.
(See previous picture again!) I fixed the
problem with an eccentric bush in the rod
end.
For the valve setting, I made a jig which
measure the distance from the piston liner
end to the piston end. Finally I will adjust
it by "sound".
To bend 6*3mm reach rod blank vertically
without warp, I made a steel pulley with
a groove (width=3mm, depth=6mm). The picture
shows how to bend the blank with the jig.
Air testing was carried out. My air compressor
is so small that the wheels couldn't roll
at more than 2km/h actual speed.
I rolled the chassis also on a track in my
workshop. As it looks strong enough to haul
a passenger, I decided to run on the club
layout.
Trolley is a matter that have to be built
someday to drive the engine. To save a time,
I bought trucks and couplers from O.S. The
body was made of old wood plate. The length
of the trolley was determined from the luggage
space of my car.
First running on the club layout with air
compressor, battery and transformer in the
trolley. The boiler is just for adding weight.
She succeeded to haul me but the speed decreased
to 1.5km/h. It took ten minutes to go around
the layout. Hurried up by other trains, she
retired soon.
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