So where was I? Well I dunno, erm I was painting the Burrell I think? Well I found out with some invention that the shit paint problem is easily solved. Spray it and then lob it in the bottom oven of my AGA over night, carefully remove it and let it cool and the paint bakes on nicely! So it's had a first coat, must get on with that a bit more soon, get some more red for the crank and the insides of the horn plates and start getting all the bits up together, I got the latest batch of parts the other week , piston rod and some odds n'sods like a water gauge.... Not much use without a boiler!!!! So the Burrell's slowed down to a crawl at preset as I'm missing a load of rather useful parts!
So what have I been up to?....
Well......
The next project on the bench is this
A 2" Clayton wagon that's been hiding away getting moved around the workshop and never touched,
As a start the frames wheels engine Dan boiler are all there, so with a bit of pipework it was running on air... Just... It wasn't right! So I stripped it and had to learn about joy valve gear some what quick
Having stripped the crank out and checked every rod I went looking for errors and found a couple, the main rods were 1mm too long and all of the valve gear holes were around10 thou wrong.... Nothing too bad there, I fixed all those problems and carried on.
I measured the crankcase and all the holes in it that held all the motion... Nothing too far out here either ....
Hmmmmm... Getting fed up!
Well to cut the story short ( well shorter than the 2/3 weeks it took me find the problem and boom, the crank was 3mm odd below the c/l of the pistons.... It should be on the c/l...
So I had to re- drill all the bolt holes and move the front plate up 3mm and boom! Valve events were good. (Or as good as joy valve gear will get, it's always gunna be a little lop-sided because the design isn't great and I wasn't about to go re-designing the system! Claytons are small but go like the proverbial shit off a shovel! When you get them right, so this one will be a good little beast! Only water tank, feed and fittings to go to get it hydraulic and steam tested and then build the back for it and its done and I can sell it, With the Foden, and Moonraker in service I don't really need a 2" Clayton hanging around, It will only gather dust. So if anyone's keen for a Clayton ....???
Also in the recent news the TRIUMPHANT RETURN of....... PUG!!!!!! Yep! Pugs back in the workshop for a re-fit!! I'm completely re-doing the front end, new steam feeds and exhaust feeds to and from the regulator to the cylinders , and up to the blast pipe, a bigger void in the smokebox for more room for ash and soot so it don't clog up fast , more steam Into them cylinders and a new axle pump and pipework to re-do all the bits that don't work as well as it should! So with luck, she should be on heavy haulage duties soon!
So far I ain't done much but it's now got new exhaust manifolds for the cylinders, now to drill and tap em and bolt em down , so that's about it for now!
More to follow!
