December 2021 - It's been a few months since our last post. But we have been making progress nevertheless. Regular steaming and constant tweaking we are getting slowly but surely quieter. The pump drive was a tad loose and was causing a bit too much noise for my liking so we have made a new 1. The boiler inspector has been, so the next step will be cutting and fitting the tyres for some road running
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August 2021 - So a few weeks have passed since our last page post. Every week we have steamed the engine. Each week tweaking and adjusting things. As to be expected we have had some issues, but all minor so far
June 2021 - Another significant milestone has been reached. We have the main ring gear back from CNC machining. The engine is now back on all fours again for the first time in 15months. We will now give the engine a good shake down before completing further work.
May 2021 - This week has seen us take a massive step forward. The diff gears are now off the 5axis CNC at Metco Engineering and they look 👌👌. We have now fitted the bushes and done the initial set up of the diff for clearance.
May 2021 - While we wait for the bevel gears to arrive, we have been ticking off a few odd jobs. A new brass water lifter strainer. The LHS wheel is now on, main ring gear is cut, the main gear hub is bored and ready. Gear guard is on to allow for us to make a new pump pipe.
April 2021 - It's been a busy week in the machine shop. We have turned the solid bar of cast iron into wheel bushes. They are now fitted awaiting scotch keying
April 2021 - It is finally starting to feel like we are making some decent progress. The axle is now all machined. The winch hub fitted and the axle in position. The wheel bushes have been removed after putting up a good fight to stay where they were. New replacements are underway and you can see why below
March 2021 - The gear guard is now painted and lined ready for installation. The diff bevel gears have been turned ready for the teeth to be machined on. We have recycled the center of the hub. The belly tank lines are now completed.
February 2021 - The 3rd shaft gears are now all finished. With just the drive plate for the compensating gear to finish and we will be onto the final shaft. The gear guard is back from sandblasting and as usual we have found a few issues.
Gear guard after sandblasting
Gear guard after sandblasting
January 2021 - In the 1st month of 2021 we have managed to make quite a visual step forward with the engine. The painter has come and laid on some colour. The axle machining is under way
December 2020 - Things have been progressing well over the last few weeks. The RHS upright has now been machined, fabricated and installed. The bottom of the tender is painted, shout out to Oilsteel Engineering for the supply of some sweet looking stainless steel studs
1st eccentric turned
All tacked together after being in the engine
Milling under way
All tacked together after being in the engine - Reverse Image
Milling under way
Fully welded, test fitting
Machining the top bush
3rd shaft RHS bronze bush
3rd shaft compensating hub
Axle bush
All assembled
Manhole in bottom of tender