The final picture shows Colin’s engine landing in his back garden
next to his workshop!
A newly acquired project for Bailey Steam
is the Ruston Procter SD class light Steam Tractor. This is one of
four engines, all full size replica's that were started by Valentine
Engineering. The engine has passed several owners before we acquired
it. Here a build diary will be following progress of the new replica.
Three Originals of this Class were manufactured, Taskers built one,
followed by two examples by Ruston. None survived in to preservation.
We hope to get the Ruston competed and on the Rally field in the near
future!
I know of the locations of the other
Ruston engines that are in construction, one is Bristol based, one
is in the south east, the other engine owned by Andy Smith, which
we call Rusty 2 is in storage at present due to other build commitments.
I'm working with Andy as a joint project to complete these engines,
we will share the research and development to allow the engines to
be a truly authentic replica of the original. There is one Roller
of this class that has survived in to preservation. We have extensively
photographed this example and will use these details in combination
with the Original works drawings. If the owners of the other two project's
would like to make contact we may be able to offer them castings that
are unavailable at present. We have commissioned a pattern for the
cross head. Later a top fitting for the boiler.
04/06/2006 - Work commences on Rusty
1. Other business projects must come first so I have set a goal to
machine or make one part each week for the Ruston as a minimum task
to allow the project to move forward. So work started on the Tractor
today. I have started to machine the Crankshaft bearings with the
aim to get the crank installed. This will allow me to check the shaft
centers, then we can design the gear ratio's etc. The original gearing
will allow around 6 MPH in High, we would like to get this up to at
least 10 MPH for Road Runs etc.
Boring the Crank Bearings
Trial fitting of the Crankshaft
The bearings were originally in 4 parts,
front and rear adjusters with a separate top and bottom. One of the
previous owners had soldered the bearings together as two. I followed
on with this idea to save more work. The bearings are located in the
mount with two solid steel plates. These are a nice press fit in to
the bearings. I will add two holes in to the top of each of them to
allow extraction.
Wheels removed for Vulcanising
12/06/06 - Today I take the wheels to
get Rubber tyres fitted. Vulcanised on of course! I have found
a new company for this task, this company looks very good indeed!
Following that the wheels will be grit blasted clean, the tee ring
welds filled, then heavily primed ready for painting.
New cross head castings with pattern
08/07/2006 - Crosshead castings arrive
from Foundry. We have now made contact with the Bristol Based Ruston
owner. This engine is in build by Mr James Buchan. James will join
us obtaining castings and machined parts like gears etc.
MSRVS Memories (photo by Andy Smith)
Well so much for one job per week, I
cut my finger off in the gears on HOGWART at the MSRVS Rally, my fault.
One of the first things we are taught is never to clean rotating machinery.
We have all done it and got away with it. This was my turn to get
bit. I guess I have had around 20 mm removed to clean it up and make
it heal quickly. So maybe we should visit our safety practices occasionally.
Thank you Andy maaattteee for the photo! Ouch!
Valve spindle support castings with pattern
Vulcanised Front Tyres
08/0/2006 - So some progress has happened
while I was recovering, I have the wheels back from Vulcanising, quite
a good job. Especially the fronts! Also we have castings for the valve
spindle guides for all three Ruston's. Alan Davenport made the patterns
and arranged the castings! Nice job too. Alan is also making a pattern
for the top steam fitting and the Fire door. Were getting quite a
collection now. I must start work soon?
Top feed fitting resting on the boiler!
Top feed fitting, Pattern and core box!
We now have delivery of the top feed
casting, a photo of the casting and the patterns are shown. Another
nice job from Alan.
Andy & I have ordered steel billets
for the Crankshaft gears and final drive pinion, we will cut these
from solid. The small gear in the foreground is a 6" Mc Laren
14T slow pinion. The long yellow faced billet will be a 14T low speed
gear for the Rustons. I can only
just manage to lift by hand these pieces due to the weight. The larger
blanks are to heavy to lift, they calculate at 110 KGS, Time for the
Engine hoist. It's quite a lump to have rotating in front of you in
the lathe?
So at last we are on our way to getting a set of machine cut gears
for the Rustons.
The 14T and 25T gears will have a square cut in them, the square in
this blank (on lathe) will be 2" but with the corners left at
2-3/8" radius. We will have these cut by Wire Erosion.
The Blank diameter is 7.1", this
has to be machined to 6.496" for the gear face, the smaller diameter
will be turned to 3-7/8" so there is a lot of metal to remove.
The bore is a total of 11.5" long, to accurately bore this will
be very hard due to tool chatter etc. We plan to machine the major
diameter away (as shown) then Pre-drill the bore at 1-3/4 to around
9.5”. Then we turn the blank in the lathe, drill the other end,
then cut the gear O/D, bore the 1-5/8” accurate location diameter
and face the end square. This will let us have the largest clamping
face perpendicular to the bore & Concentric! The concentric bore
will be used by the Wire Erosion machine to find the center of the
gear. Most wire machines move and touch on at 6 or eight positions
to find the center, then cut the material.
We have chosen the following gear ratio's................
Low, 14T x 58T = 0.241:1 - High, 25T
x 47T = 0.531:1 - Final drive, 20T x 67T = 0.298:1: This will give
us 4 MPH in Low and 8.8 MPH in High gear at 350 RPM. We like the option
of a fast speed for road runs without thrashing the engine to death,
and retain a sensible low speed for maneuvering around and on the
field in Low gear!
I have made the Excel file available
that we used for the calculation, Click the link to open, if you adjust
the RPM Value it shows you the speed in the speed box, you may save
a copy and modify it for your engine to see what you have! Download
Gear Data Excel File
I will collect the other flame cut blanks
for the final drive and second shaft next week!
The blank has been removed from the chuck
turned around, then the length supported with a 3 point steady. Bore,
face and gear O/D all cut in one operation. This is now ready for
cutting the 14 teeth and Wire Erosion for the square. The gear selector
fork slot has deliberately been left out at this stage in case it
get's damaged. This will be added when the gear is finished.
25 Teeth blank being loaded
This blank was loaded in the Lathe using
the engine hoist. 110 Kg's is to heavy to load by hand. Also it was
to large in diameter for the cross slide to pass under the billet.
Multiple cuts had to be made before this was possible.
Finally ending up to look more like the
final product. I now have two wheel barrows of swarf. The blank will
be bored then turned in the Chuck. The O/D of the gear, bore and end
face will be turned in one operation. Note the polished finish for
the selector fork to operate, the Fork will be case hardened for reliable
operation without picking up!
The 25T blank is nw reversed in the jaws,
from this setting the bore, end face and diameter are machined to
keep everything correct. The blank is now light enough to remove with
one hand!
Machining the Final drive Pinion
Plough ground flame cut profiles are
used in eN8 for the larger gears. This is the 58T blank mounted on
the Webster & Bennett at Allan's workshop. The center hole has
been drilled on the radial arm drill, The hard outer skin is removed
on this machine, the bore and O/D will be turned in the center lathe.
Final drive profiles waiting to be machined.
Lots of very hot swarf here, there is no coolant on
the Webster & Bennett.
Final drive & second shaft gears. Holes
will be added to the final drive to secure it to the diff center (right
hand side of picture)
Finishing cuts being done on
the 2nd Shaft High Speed wheel, I/D & O/D turned to finish size.
Machining the base of the Valve Spindle
support Casting. The Valve rod bore will be machined when the casting
is mounted on this face.
Slitting the Eccentrics after Facing
and Drilling. The stud is there as a support for the side thrust from
the Slitting Saw.
Preparing to machine the bolt faces
Cutting the Piston Ring Grooves. Note
the strange Spider pattern that appears in the metal, I may have to
make this again.
Slotting the Crosshead for the Tapered
Wedge. Note the O/D is pre-machined and left a bit oversize. Final
cuts will be made when mounted on the Piston rod.
Crosshead mounted on the piston rod for
the final size cuts. Also the inner of the crosshead can be bored
to the correct size, this is useful to get the cutout central while
machining. It's easy to cut out with a mill to the bore diameter.
Then every thing is central.
The first thing I get when I looked at
this photo was the state of my workbench, Quite a tiring day allowed
me to get the crosshead assembly built up. The fit of the Crosshead
is still a little tight in the Support. I need to add more Diamond
past and give it the works, up & down. It is really heavy work
doing this, but it does give a really good fit for the sliding parts.
To complete this assembly I need to bore the little end pin hole,
make the little end pin, cut out the Oil box and make the lid!
The crosshead pin is a tapered pin, the
area that the little end runs on is turned in to the pin as a parallel
section. The pin is retained with a washer, nut and split pin. The
1-1/4" washer locates in to a cut out in the pin, this keeps
the pin in and stops it from rotating. Interesting method.
Fire Hole Door castings
Boiler feed check valve Castings
Another Delivery
of Castings from Alan Davenport, We have boiler feed clack valves
& Fire door & Hinge castings.
Valve Spindle support casting machined and trial fitted
with the Trunk guide assembly
Valve spindle and Valve gear support.
I have decided to make the Valve spindle from Stainless steel, this
will be screwed in. This will allow easy replacement if required later,
and I can get the steel part case hardened for long life!
Two sets of Large Ruston Gears
The Smaller gears resting on the work top!
Reaming one of the Diff Pinions, I will add some photo's
of the Diff assembly soon!
Various stages of machining the Big End Strap
Well, Christmas came and went faster
that I had hoped. I managed to get some work done on the Ruston in
between the continuous eating & Drinking. The strap for the Con
rod, adjusting wedge & bolts. Bored the Eccentric straps, made
and fitted bushes to the Diff Pinions. A Visit to Preston Services
Open days was interesting too. - Happy New Year!
The Water Gauge Frames that came with
the engine had the flanges cut off? I guess there may have been two
options why this was done, to thread them direct in to the steam manifold
or maybe the flanges were too large? Anyway, I had to make some new
flanges, drill them and secure them safely. The flanges and Water
gauge parts were machined and threaded with an M25 x 1.5 mm thread.
This would secure them mechanically. Then the parts were coated with
flux and silver soldered to seal the threads and to add extra strength.
I always enjoy silver soldering, I like to see the solder run around
the part when touched with the solder. In this case the solder went
full depth on the threads and with a nice radius fillet on each joint!
. It should be very strong! The last photo is after soldering &
pickling in Acid & Cleaning with wire wool. Now I have the other
grubby bits to clean?
The Low speed pinion's are now back from
the Wire Erosion company, a little fettling and care using a micrometer
and files allow the gear to fit nicely over the crankshaft square.
The radius in the square is accurate too. Whoever machined the Crankshaft
made a good job of the square, the wire erosion is usually good to
0.001". Andy has collected his gear set, he will get both of
the Fast Pinion's square's Wire Cut. When I get mine back I will cut
the square on to the slow pinion's for it to slide on!
Andy & I decided to buy a new replica
Foster Lubricator for our Rustons. They are the two large cast iron
box versions in the background. I posted this photo to illustrate
the differing scale of the same item. The other gunmetal lubricators
are a 6" ( for Andy's Mc Laren) and a 4" & 3" from
his stock. The 12" were supplied by these nice chaps at Live
Steam Models at Derby. I guess the smaller ones were from there too.
Very nice indeed!
Final Drive Diff Assembly nearing completion. I need
to add the pins, oiling system and it's ready to fit!
All set and ready to machine the square
on the small crank gear. The angle plate is supporting the rear of
the part during machining, also a small screw jack. Three clamp hold
the pinion to the rotary table. A threaded stud is through the center
to give as much support as possible!
First and Second gears fitted to the
crankshaft!
 |
 |
This is the first steps in manufacturing a
lifting link. A solid block of steel 2" thick. Holes
are added in the correct positions, these holes will become
radii on the finished part. Also it is easier to mill slots
if there is a hole each end.
|
The lifting link is now
cross drilled and the excess parts cut off. It is easier now
to see how the holes become part of the shape of the part. |
|
|
| Machining the inner radii blend, this radius
disappears in a lot of different directions. The inner hole is
used as a location in to the rotary table. |
Again the pin in the table is using one of the
pre-drilled centers to allow concentric machining |
 |
 |
Cutting the sides away |
Adding the Radii to the small
end |
|
And finally the
complete part! |
Low speed Pinion
High Speed pinion
Final Drive Gears
I have had the drive gears for many months
now, I have finally fitted them to the engine to check the centres.
All is good. The result is very pleasing.
"Coming on well ain't she Trev"!
- More to come!
Any information or parts for Ruston Steam
Traction Engines will be gladly received
