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BEngo

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Posts posted by BEngo

  1. The Kelvins used for blowing lighthouse fog horns  were standard marine engines, with the gearbox removed.

     

    Any way, is not operating a lighthouse fog horn  a marine activity?

     

    1 hour ago, MtB said:

     

    It strikes me that owners (or more particularly, sellers) are free to make up whatever tosh they like about the origins of their engine, in cases where there is no supporting documentation!

    Once upona time, if you visited Kyle St, and asked nicely they would go and dig out your engine records, provided it was a post 1908 built engine. These contain all the order details, including the accessories like prop shafting and fuel tanks,  test and set-up records, including the oil jet sizes and fuel consumption, the shipping details for the various items ordered and then a listing of the spare parts sold during the engine's life.  I have a copy of the ones for my model J.  I think these records are now in Glasgow university archives.

     

    Then you could have a factory tour.  When I went round they still had the model J2 used for setting governors, the only model R2 ever built and were assembling model S and T engines.

    N

     

  2. Being a Kelvin, mine has always been a Marine  engine.  Originally ordered for a new boat to be called Skylark,  to a Brighton address.  Tripping between the piers maybe?

     

    It was not able to be delivered by the desired  date in August 1946, probably because Britain was in the midst of post war shortages.  

     

    Delivered ex factory in  Oct 1946 it went to an East Devon boatyard, but I am unable to decipher the photocopied  spider scrawl that tells me exactly where or for which boat.

     

    What it did after that, and where it was I have no idea.  I bought it, nearly completely  disassembled,  in 1984, from a chap in Lichfield, who had taken it in partex for a JP2. It has been in Jarrah since 1989.

     

    N

  3. 4 hours ago, Felshampo said:

     

    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. 

    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

     

    • Greenie 2
  4. Google "seamseal CV" for butyl tape in various widths and butyl sealant in tubes. 

     

    Is used for caravan panel joins, lorry side and roof panels joins and IME  works fine on boat windows.

     

    White spirit is excellent at removing old butyl- it just destroys it, so no good for over squish.  Tackle that with a sharp wooden wedge, or a sharpened uPVC window wedge.

     

    N

  5. An aluminium window frame, on a mild steel side, with gaps and water is a hard environment for any grade of stainless pop rivet.  The  set up is a natural to encourage crevice corrosion and  dissimilar metal corrosion.    Aluminium rivets with steel formers are less of a corrosion risk,  but are not perfect. 

     

    The hard part with any  pop rivetted  window frame is making it pull back evenly and  tight against the sealant and stay tight.  Sides are rarely dead flat all the way round a typical window..  If there are  big gaps in places to start with, perhaps  because the builder put sheet joins through the window holes then closed cell foam tape needs lots of extra layers and butyl tape  will squeeze out so needs to be thick ish to start .  Check with a straight edge before you start and if it is noticeably not flat a  gun grade butyl may be more useful.

     

    N

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    • Happy 1
  6. 1 hour ago, blackrose said:

     

    It's an SPA882 - is that number all I need to use if I want to order couple of spares?

    Yes. 

     

    SP- Tells you it is a wedge belt  (slightly different from  a V-belt)

     

    A- the section size.

     

    882 - The pitch length in mm. (circumference of the belt at the pitch line).

     

    N

  7. IIRC the Vanette re-references the oven  low flame to a larger flame at gas 5 and above.  Hence the variation in gaps between the numbers.

     

    So any old numbered knob that fits will not do, but if you can find a clean new  knob you could step through the settngs on the old one and transfer them across to the new one.

    N

  8. If they were both molten they would not be dissolving.  Usually one, solid, metal is put into the main constituent metal in liquid  form.  The  solid dissolves into the liquid.

     

    There are a few instances where the larger constituent is dissolved into the liquid smaller constituent.

     

    N

     

  9. You could also try Bridport Foundry  and the folk in Madeley (madeleybrass castings.co.u)   that do the BCNS explorer plaques.  Procast Nottingham  (www.procast-shop.com) have also been known to do one-offs as well as their narrowboat brassware..

     

    N

    • Greenie 1
  10. Plenty of people selling Golden Film SAE 30 online.  Classic Oils usually have it, or an alternative like Beetlejuice.

    I believe Morris's do mail order.  They are not usually the cheapest.

     

    Otherwise any mineral oil SAE 30 to API CC will be fine.   Suppliers as Tracy suggests.

     

    N

  11. I would start by checking that the 240 v outpilut is not actually centre tapped  120,0,120 V. If it is centre tapped  go for option 4.

     

    Fit a different socket only if you need to, and can maintain the IP rating ( 1st digit)  of the inverter.

     

    Then if fitting a different socket just connect blue to neutral and brown to line.

     

    Keep the NE bond inside the inverter, though an external label to say it is bonded might help your heirs and assigns one day.

     

    The euro plug going in either way is not a problem,  rather it is a design  feature; -the appliance earth wire is connected either  way and AC appliances don't care about N and L.

     

    N

    • Greenie 1
  12. The River Tove runs in from the right about 100m below Stoke B bottom lock.  It runs out again over a series of big brick weirs on the left  after the lock landing/ services moorings.  The last one is near the next bridge.  Beware of the cross current. Mooring on the services should be fine, but you are in the SB  mooring zone, so read the signs  ( if they are not underwater🙂) .

     Assuming it is not forecast to rain heavily again:

     

    After the weirs it should be OK to Cosgrove, though there is another weir on the left approaching Cosgrove which may have a pull.  Depending on water levels you may be able to moor in the usual spots, but I would put good and extra pins in if doing that.  The rings in Cosgrove itself (from the fancy bridge to the services)  should be OK if the level is not too high. 

     

    At least if the water is up the wide but shallow bit near the Castlethorpe marina should be easier.

     

     

     

     

     

  13. 1 hour ago, MtB said:

     

    However, noticing the thread title I see the OP wants 12Vdc....

     

    There might be the odd circulator about with 3/4"BSP threads.

     

     

     

     

    Our Johnson has 3/4 in hose connections and is fitted to 22mm pipe in the  main circ loop , with 15mm radiator drops and risers.  It sucks from the  return pipe.

    The pump  is controllled by a cylinder thermostat on the stove output.  The stat has a bypass switch for test and bleeding purposes.  The stat switches the pump on when the stove outlet is above about 70C .   It spends most of its life off, because at low stove  firing rates the boat is warm enough from natural circulation.

     

    N

  14. A scour  of the internet for solar hot water pumps will find you several possibilities.   Some will be chinese carp.

     

    Features you want are:

    Long design  life

    Brushless

    Magnetic drive

    Quiet

     

    I have a Johnson, backing up gravity circulation from a Morso Squirrel solid fuel stove.which ticks the first three but is not really quiet.

     

    N

  15. 45 minutes ago, Floaty Me Boaty said:

     

    Would you know if their archives are open to the Public?

    As far as I know they are, but...

    Last time I looked at he online listing the Bergius stuff had not been catalogued. That means making appointments, going to Gleska and spending time looking for what you want.

     

    I think I found the details by googling Kelvin Archive.

     

    https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=http://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb248-ugd366&ved=2ahUKEwijq9qxuo2FAxX_RUEAHbx8B18QFnoECA8QAQ&usg=AOvVaw2OXhUBUvojwOvzDmdHom3v

     

     

      The above link points to U Glasgow archive UGD 366.  The National Archive also points to UGD 367, and says that contains 20th Century drawings.  If that includes the Model J,K,L drawings it would beca gold mine for spares reproduction.

    N

    • Greenie 1
  16. I think the Bergius Co originals were made from the sort of thing time served patternmakers could knock out easily, either an an apprentice job or as a time filler.  The originals were bronze.  If there ever was a factory drawing it may well be in the Glasgow University archive, where many Kelvin papers and drawings went.

     

    Dick Goble had some made a few years back.  I would not be surprised to find he still had the pattern, though he may have used an original as a pattern.  It is a very simple thing to mould.  Mine looks as though it was poured into an open mould in a single mouldbox, leaving an as-cast back.p

     

    I doubt that anyone has prepared a 3D digital drawing though a laser scan  of an original would not need much work to make it useable as a model for a digitally printed pattern.

     

     Painting in the blue sky and the green sea is fun!

    N

     

     

    • Greenie 1
  17. 22 psi is too high. For best effect the accumulator  wants to be set about 1 -2 psi below the cut in pressure , not the cut out pressure. 

     

    You can find the cut in pressure by setting the accumulator to about 10 psi,  then open a tap to run slowly and turn the pump and tap OFF immediately the pump starts to run.  Measure the presure.  This is the cut in pressure. Note it for future use.

    Open a tap until water stops. Pump the accumulator up to about 1 or 2 psi less than  the pressure measured previously. 

    Turn the taps off and the pump ON.

     

    Job jobbed.

     

    Or try Tracy's method.

     

    N

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