Felshampo
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Posts posted by Felshampo
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15 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:
Places that had long stretches of embankment would sometimes have swing gates at each end, so if the embankment breached, they could be swung closed quickly, possibly even closing themselves from the flow. Useful on a very long pound, where you can stop even more water enlarging the breach, destroying the embankment and flooding property beyond. Most of these are no longer functional, or so decrepit that they would probably disintegate if an attempt was made to use them for their purpose.
The ones in Nantwich still work.
14 hours ago, BEngo said:We put in the two sets in the entrance stop log at Circus Field 18 months ago, so we could pump out the chamber between and check the gate seals.
We rigged a Youngman board across the chamber for supplementary access as the normal lift bridge handrails and lift chains were in the way of llifting the planks in off the bridge..
Three planks were stacked on the Youngman. Each plank was then lifted in by two chaps, one at each end, holding the plank with log grips.
Rinse and repeat for the rest.
The planks were extracted the same way.
Things wot we now know:
You must clean the grooves and the bottom sills carefully if you want the planks to sit down properly.
You cannot pump out the chamber if there is not a proper seal, no matter how many pumps you deploy.
There is only one right order to put the planks in.
The planks float so you have to stand on the ends of the uppermost one to hold it and all the others down. Once you have them all down you need to get them all over to the 'dry' side of the groove. Wedges are then needed to hold them in place.
The right sort of ash is important to getting a seal. All fines is no good, too many big lumps is no good. I believe the K&A have a deal with the GWR society at Didcot for smokebox char and ashpan rakings. Get the ashing right and the planks will be nearly bone dry.
The buggers are a lot heavier when removing them cos they absorb water...
Industrial quantities of tea, coffee and bacon sarnies are important enablers.
N
Could you use a youngman board in a lock wing? There's nowhere to attach it or get on it once in place.
Your description is identical to how I saw it being done at a bridgehole on the Macclesfield. They had to stand on the dry planks to get them to sink so they could put in the next one. This is why I am skeptical of the suggestion that they used ropes to lower them in place.
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1 hour ago, Pluto said:
You manhandle the end of the gang plank from the towpath so that it fits into one side of the recess, with a second plank then fitted into the other side of the recess, with the stop planks dropped into the s;lot between the two walkway planks. It is pretty easy work on a narrow canal, but a little bit harder on a wide one.
And impossible on this one! I think you need to look at the photos.
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52 minutes ago, IanM said:
I can't think of any emergency where the ones at the lower end of the lock would be of any use and they really would only get used to de-water the lock.
The ones at the head of the lock would be more useful and easier to put in too.
19 minutes ago, Pluto said:If there was a breach, stop planks would be dropped in at the nearest bridgehole. They would be difficult to insert due to the flow of water, so would not have sat properly. However, they would slow the flow enough so that a further set could be inserted easily at the next bridgehole with slots.
That makes sense.
Still looks difficult to put stop planks in here. They float so you need to push them down to put the next one in.
I'd like to see it done.
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57 minutes ago, Pluto said:
You place a plank on either side of the slot and then one man walks across with one end of the stop plank and places it in the slot. After putting three or four in, they can need weighting down, due to buoyancy, to get the final ones in place. I did find this recently, in the Institute of Civil Engineers of Ireland, which describes an early example of the current replacement for stop planks.
Trans ICE of Ireland, 1849
A description of Framed and Canvas Dams; by J. Bevan, Esq., Member.
Mr. Bevan exhibited a model of a single dam, which he had used in the execution of some drainage operations. This dam was composed of strong guide piles, driven at suitable distances, with framed horizontal spur pieces and struts on the inside, to support the pressure to which the dam should be subjected to from the outside. The sheeting planks were fittedin horizontally, between the guide piles, in a similar manner to that described in a former paper on the “ caisson dams,” and painted canvass was laid over the planking on the outside, the lower part of which, being loaded by a chain, or otherweighty substitute, was caused to lie, for some feet, on the bed of the river in front of the dam, so as to form an apron.Upon this apron, and in front of it, some good puddling stuff was thrown, for the purpose of preventing the passage of the water underneath. This dam was found very effective in shallow water, being sufficiently staunch for the required purpose; and was economical in its application, as being easily constructed and removed, and all the parts being useful for otheroperations, also the absence of puddle, as used in coffer dams, was an important advantage in facilitating its removal.
This wouldnt work here, unless you could walk on water.
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I suppose I was thinking in an emergency, when you needed to do it quickly. But maybe they always had the manpower available?
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OK. Quick disclaimer, I realise that stop planks need a recess in the wall so you can put them ino the slot. I foolishly asked this question on Facebook and most people said "thats what the indents for" and even had one person draw a diagram!
This is still a daft question but...... How did the lock-keepers get the stop planks into the slot. I assume they didn't have a boat handy. Even if they did that would still seem a overly difficult task. Lowering the planks by rope is possible. Does anyone know the definitive answer or am I just being thick (again). The slots are half way between the gates and the end of the wing walls. The locks are on the run in to Chester on the Shroppie.
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2 hours ago, MtB said:
You obviously didn't check before typing that
Can't find one on RS either. Never heard of Zoro until now and they have an open-ended but no combination, so that will do. Thanks for that!
2 hours ago, jonesthenuke said:So what's this- F'ing scotch mist? Perhaps you should engage brain before letting clutch out on keyboard! Just search BA spanner in RS
Now then children please play nicely.
It seems this thread about my 2LW has been taken over by a load of spanners.
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1 hour ago, Tracy D'arth said:
BA, nothing to do with Baracus.
British Association, commonly used on electrical fittings and model making.
1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:Which I think may actually be a metric thread, but not 100% sure.
1 hour ago, David Mack said:Indeed. Wikipedia says:
"British Association screw threads, or BA screw threads, are a set of small screw threads, the largest being 0BA at 6 mm diameter. They were, and to some extent still are, used for miniature instruments and modelling.
They are unusual in that they were probably the most "scientific" design of screw, starting with 0BA at 6.0 mm diameter and 1.0 mm pitch and progressing in a geometric sequence where each larger number was 0.9 times the pitch of the last size. They then rounded to 2 significant figures in metric and then converting to inches and rounding to the thousandth of an inch. This anticipated worldwide metrication by about a century. The design was first proposed by the British Association in 1884[1][2] with a thread angle and depth based on the Swiss Thury thread,[3] it was adopted by the Association in 1903."
The bolts holding the diaphragm on are 2BA which is 4mm.
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Just thought I would follow up and let people know what has happened.
Found a chap called Eric Ward who works at Walshes and lives near me. He had a look and at first thought it might be a sticking valve on the lift pump. So he removed it and gave it an overhaul. It was leaking from the diaphragm and the the valve needed replacing. This improved things.
Still seemed to be a problem so he replaced the splayers. That has made a real difference and I have to say the engine now starts quicker than it has ever done since I've had it.
The only thing left would be to overhaul the fuel pump. Eric was reluctant to do that, especially when I said it had been done 5 years ago by Walshes. He reckons it was probably him who had reconditioned it!
I was impressed by how quickly and easily Eric and Claudia, his missus who also works at Walshes, were able to remove and replace the pump and splayers. If you know what your doing these really are easy engines to work on. Having the right spanners also helps, we needed four types including Whitworths and BA (I'd never heard of the latter)
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25 minutes ago, Stellar2lw said:
Charles Mills or Kevin Simner from Classic Maritime Diesels will probably be able to help. Charles 07712 052635 Kevin 07789 755375
Charles did the overhaul 4 years ago. Top man.
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1 hour ago, BWM said:
If you're anywhere near London, there's a place called Watson Diesel in Wimbledon. Ask for Ian, as he is very good with marine stuff.
I'm in Nantwich at the moment, but thanks anyway.
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57 minutes ago, agg221 said:
If it is the pump you may wish to speak to Cambridge Injector Services. No connection other than as a satisfied customer, mainly for cars, but the father of the current owner still comes in to overhaul vintage pumps and they are capable of manufacturing components if they are unobtainable. When I took the CAV BPE pump in from my Kelvin J2 they came back to me to ask if I was aware of the need for petrol starting before doing any work on it - having recognised the serial number designation and being sufficiently familiar with this engine to know that this was necessary and could save me the cost if I wasn't aware of it. In fact it was the pump, but it was around £100 for the service, about a year ago.
Alec
I'll bear that in mind, thanks.
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20 minutes ago, jonesthenuke said:
If the priming levers are not showing any resistance before starting after being left for some time, does this perhaps point to defective non-return valves in the injection pump? On our engine the priming levers are stiff and pumping through the injector on the first or second pull even after leaving the engine shutdown for weeks.
Otherwise, it's perhaps the injectors or the pump elements. You can get some idea of leakage through these by seeing how the priming lever slowly continues to move down after being brought to the point where resistance is felt by maintaining the same force on the lever (just less than the force required to open the injector. Gardner provided details of how to test the pump elements as shown in the attached. I made this test equipment and it convinced me to get the pump on our engine serviced as it confirmed that one of the pump elements was worn
7 minutes ago, BWM said:Definitely sounds like a leak at one end of the high pressure side, pump or injector, or connecting pipework.
I've got someone coming to replace the injectors next weekend. If that doesn't work then it looks like the fuel pump from what you have all said. It was calibrated by Walshes 4 years ago so I hope it's not that.
I'll post on here when I find out.
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2 hours ago, davidb said:
I have never pulled my priming levers past the point where they start pumping as they felt rock hard and I thought I might have be going to break something. Are they normally hard to pull? Engine is a great starter always.
To be honest I've also not had a problem starting until now. I haven't been pulling the priming before so don't know what they were like.
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1 hour ago, Clanky said:
i was thinking that the injectors might be leaking, hence it fires up after a few turns and when you prime using the levers there is no resistance and not hearing the squeak of the injectors releasing, but fires instantly after using the priming levers. Is it worth trying some injector cleaner in the fuel?
Don't know. I'll look into that.
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14 minutes ago, Clanky said:
Is it smoking any more than usual on start up? Is the oil level normal? Does the oil smell of diesel?
No more smoke.
Oil level hasn't changed since March, just a fraction under max.
No diesel smell in the oil.
Have you any ideas as to what may be the problem?
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12 hours ago, noddyboater said:
If there's air in there the levers will feel slack for several pulls, then you'll feel pressure building up and a "creak" as the injector releases.
I tried this today. The levers feel slack, other than the spring you are pulling against. I pulled them several times with no change. No build up of pressure or creak from the splayer.
Having said that I then tried the engine and it started easily.
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1 hour ago, noddyboater said:
Give the priming levers a few pulls before you start it, that will prove if any air is getting in the pump.
I have to do that on my 3L2 if it's not been running for a month or so.
How will that prove that air is in the pump? What will I notice if there is or isn't?
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I think it is returning but when it go back when I return the lever to start.
The engine does start after it has turned over several times. There is fuel in the filter. Could air have got in after the pump so that it has to get to the pistons before it starts.
There is no fuel leaking from the pump but presumably air could get in.
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It's a 1952 2lw.
There is a one way valve on the fuel pump that could have been stuck so I have had a new one fitted.
Unfortunately this does not seem to have improved the start time.
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Could be that. I will fill up and see if that makes a difference.
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Only a small amount around the diaphragm but this could have got worse! I wipe it clean and it usually stays dry until I run the engine again.
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Yes I was using the lever on the lift pump.
There is no signs of fuel around the filter casing. I used a new rubber O ring and a doughty washer on the nut.
There is fuel around the edge of the lift pump but there always has been.
The oil level seems OK.
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After getting back from our summer on the boat with no issues we left the boat for a week in the marina.
When we returned for a short trip it would not start. It turned over but instead of firing up after a few seconds it just kept on going. I pumped the lever on the fuel for a minute and tried again and it started after about ten seconds or so.
I had a look at the fuel filter, it was still clean, but changed it anyway. We went for a few days trip and each morning it started as normal.
Today after leaving it for a week, again it would not start. Pumping the fuel for a minute and again it started.
It has always been very reliable in the past, starting on freezing cold days after having been left for weeks, without a problem.
Any ideas would be welcome.
I will reply later if you have any questions.
Stop plank slots.
in History & Heritage
Posted
Presumably you could hang onto the bridge while stamping on them to push them under......