Hello ,

the next big step was the steam engine. I had no experience how big it have to be and what traction effort is needed by road driving.

So my son and I made a test with grandmother s walking frame. I take seat and my son pulled with a luggage scale. The pulling force was in minimum 100 N. From traction engine coleage I know that he pulled on first gear a small car. So I ball park 500 N.

Then I calculated the gear ratio of my chain drives and added a two speed gear to the setup. In second gear the steam engine should run 500 rpm .With all these calculations and some rule of thumb I came to 42 mm bore and 60 to 70 mm stroke on the engine and a overall gear of 8 to 1. So I hoped with this setup I am in the 6 Km/h rule in germany and enough power to drive with two adults.

By chance I saw in the second hand area of Maxitrak Cylinder with piston bore ready but all other stuff I made by my self. In eastern 2016 the engine runs.

In summer I saw some rust on the steel parts, so it was clear I have to paint.

Before I tried to get all ready for the paint job.

The next picture is befor painting.

That was lot of work to do.

This is part 1 of the video with the steps I discribed and some more

All steps I put together to an video on my youtube channel javamallet. i hope you can enjoy the video

Werner

Hello ,

after the boiler was ready covered I had a big step forward.

Some time in between i build some parts like the front lamps. It was hard to decide which form I have to build ,because the original I had in my pictures are adapted several times with different lamps.

The technical change from oil to gas lamps forced other look of the lamps.

At first I made quick and dirty a cardboard lamp and found it is to big, then I made a sketch for the right lamp.

It was decided that the lamps in the model are iluminated by LED.

From a colleage I got a defect LED lamp after stripping I found that the voltage and current control chip was defective. The LED s were very well. I made than several tries to find a solution that they look similar to a petrol powered one.

After I found a solution for "the burner" I decided to make a battery holder like a fireextinguisher for 3 AA cells.On the top the handle is the power switch. And I have to found a solution for easy connection of the power lines.

The picture shows the holder and power connector.

Here is the battery holder and the handle is the switch.

And here are the lamps installed.

The firefighter was a special addition for the company Ziegler a german fire truck builder and is made by Steiff dolls.

The next work intensiv step was doing the plate work.

I was looking for Merryweather plate which are in the same time on the originals.

With the free program inscape it was possible to make and overlay from the original and the new sketch.After a good fit it allowed to separate again sketch and picture.

The used technic is the same as etching printed circuit boards , but you need much more time and new acid to get 0,25 mm deepness for the letters.

The brass is covered with a photoresistant paint. It is not easy to clean the brass and make a clean job.

After one day of driying it was 5 minute developed with ultra violet light by special light tubes.

Here is the developed plate with photoresitant.

In this improvised etching box with heating and air bubbles it was made.

After some days of work I got this result. The left plate is very good the right Mw. plate is not deep enough etched. My acid was not good anymore. I have to have a new one.

The lamps get their small plates as big as thumb nail

and the fire extinguisher

Werner

Hello ,

thanks to all for the positive commands.

On the second test ride I found that the fire water pump is not able to get water from the suction hose.

I was frustrated ,but never give up. So I investigated what is the the problem.I made a setup in my garage and put the boiler under air pressure. So I could run all for testing. After several test I found out that my compression gland is not suction tight. And I decided that I use only one water cylinder, because it was very difficult to get them out ,because the boiler is very close and it was difficult to come to the screws.

After that I tried the pump again and it worked. Than I regognized with the water pressure it can build, that my flat hose is not thight. With several steps I got it under control. Than I made a special nozzle adapted to the flow the pump can bring. Here my experience making injector nozzles were very helpful.

In normal working condition it can spray 5 to 6 meters wide. But I found that the ports to the check valves were very small. I started to rework one cylinder to get more flow and less back pressure, but this is not ready now.

On a very hot second driving day on our club track I gave the fire king a 3. test ride.

The test target was to found out how far I can drive with which amount of coal and how stable is the mechanical system. And testing my new made pop valves.

Close by our club track we can drive to the junction of the river rhine and main with a nice look to the city of Mainz. That means a trip of 3 Km in total .I started with smaller steps of a about 1.2 Km in total. After two rounds it looked very good. And I ignored in that positiv sight that on the first round the oil pump failed. I had changed my mounting system and so I was able to replace it in a short time.

On the first round we had proplems with one of the safety valves it stucked half open. The boiler hold 3 bar and we came back .With a small electronic pliers I gave a full lift and the valve was thight again and in full function.

I had the feeling that there is some dirt in the boiler from soldering.

After two rounds, water and pressure,mechanic and all was OK I decide to drive wider than before. I drove than about 1.4 Km and 100 meter to the base I ran out of water. I drove the machine into the gras on the side of the street and ran to took 5 Liter of feed water.

All systems was OK on that day. In total I drove about 5 Km that was satisfying. Then we made a fire pump session . There was lot of improvisation to adjust the water jet. The idea came up to have a firemen with a water nozzle in his hand.

The only remaining problem I have is that the rubber glued on the wheels is to soft with 65 shore. It is more a stone collecting rubber . And in winter I have to replace it. to hard rubber , but I have at the moment no idea were I can get the replacement.

Here is the video of that day

Edited By Werner Schleidt on 15/06/2017 08:41:07

Hello David ,

thank you for your reply . I looked in Germany to conveyor belt rubber or flat drive belt. And don`t laugh to heel rubber. And I emailed MJ engineering, but I got no answer. From carriage suplier in Germany I only found that they make hot moulding for a high price. But thank you for your tip I will search again ,sometimes it is difficult to find the right keywords.

I have time until winter. Good things need time.

And with my construction of the Fire King I was much faster as I thought.

Werner

Hello ,

I want to tell that my self build oil pump is now working satisfying. To get this it was unbelieveable easy. From a colleage i get the tip that he used a flat NBR rubber with a guide for the spring.

In my design, a copy of a Martin Evans design, i had a support piece to guide the spring and that pressures the stainless steel ball. And that was not perfect thight.

I was looking for flat rubber material and I found it in a large seal. I took a caliper to make holes in belts and adjust the right diameter an gave it a try.

That little flat piecet was tight at the beginning and under steam too.

This Video was made with the idea to have more driving experience and to look how much can I climb the hill track. My Firefighters are well prepared to do theire job now.

I hope you can enjoy it

Werner

Hello all,

there is an update of my last activities. Sometimes good luck and bad luck are not far away from each other.

I changed the gear ratio as I described it and the test ride was much better. It was was in the range i hoped and calculated it.

After 500 m of ride with full pressure and speed the water glas gauge cracked and I pulled the grate as fast as I could. What I had made wrong, I added a blow down pipe to the water gauge and with some vibration it helps to crack the glas. My next step was renew the glas and stabilise it with a mounted half pipe in the back of the glas retaining nuts.

Two days later I made a new ride to the water gate of Kostheim. This ride was very sucessful the only problem I have ,if I make Video during driving , I forgot some times the fire and recognize it when the pressure drops.

Driving with steam is always an adventure and there is in every time room for getting some new experience.