Thread: Whisperings

Hi,
Funny how a couple of times in a lifetime some appropriate item will drop into your hands at the perfect time.
Regards

The thread continues ..........although in a strange manner

Here in lies another advantage of this thread otherwise you may still be in the dark like a mushroom have it piled upon you from above

Originally Posted by A Duke

Hi,
Funny how a couple of times in a lifetime some appropriate item will drop into your hands at the perfect time.
Regards

Hi A Duke,
it gets better. These publications seem to have been put out at intervals and differ slightly.
While most have the pump I am working on, I have not found one with this much info on it...until now
In my search to find info I found out that the original drawings for the exact pump I am working on were stored in the, I think, Northhamptonshire museum in England and when I contacted them about getting some copies sent out to me the response was no but I could pop in any time I liked to view them.
I got the same response when I informed them that I lived in Australia
I understand they have since been moved to the Reading Universitys' 'Museum of English Rural Life'.
Long story short, the piece of information I was after is in the book Mark gave me.

Originally Posted by wheelinround

The thread continues ..........although in a strange manner

Here in lies another advantage of this thread otherwise you may still be in the dark like a mushroom have it piled upon you from above

Hi Wheelin,
sorry about the strange manner, that's my attempt at humour
You are right about that advantage otherwise I would still be wondering if I worked out the alignment issue I had correctly or not.

Phil

Hi Phil,

I call it karma, you might have to wait for a while, but it all comes around eventually..

You might be interested in browsing the downloadable pdf's of "The Engineer" that reference Worthington. Worthington Pump Co

Ray

PS.. Mark dropped by on his way north with a very impressive collection of tool steel stock... Joe was visiting as well, so it was a pleasant afternoon...

Hi Phil, if you are drawn over the coals, you could always say that by letting people know what sort of work you do, you saved them a lot of money. As some one from here gave you details on setting the machine up properly which could have been seriously damaged. Just my 10c worth.
Kryn

Hi Phil,
That you again for your hospitality yesterday and for holding onto the steel for so long. Now to work out what to do with a couple hundred kilos of tool steel.
As for the book I knew it had to go to you when I saw your posts. And it is always a pleasure to pass something on that can be of use to someone else. Sounds like it has found it rightful home. Will follow stories of the restoration with interest.
Thanks also to Phil Fehring (Machtool)who seems to have become the forums Melbourne depot and to Ray and Josh (great blokes and great shed) and to Joe Hovell (who originally introduced me to the forum). So after an 830km road trip it was great to get back but it was worth every minute.

Originally Posted by RayG

Hi Phil,

I call it karma, you might have to wait for a while, but it all comes around eventually..

You might be interested in browsing the downloadable pdf's of "The Engineer" that reference Worthington. Worthington Pump Co

Ray

PS.. Mark dropped by on his way north with a very impressive collection of tool steel stock... Joe was visiting as well, so it was a pleasant afternoon...

Hi Ray,
It's not often I get good Karma, normally it's bad...
Glad to see Mark made it, I tried to give him directions out of Ballarat but I think I made it worse . Thanks for the link, it looks like a fair bit of reading coming up.

Originally Posted by KBs PensNmore

Hi Phil, if you are drawn over the coals, you could always say that by letting people know what sort of work you do, you saved them a lot of money. As some one from here gave you details on setting the machine up properly which could have been seriously damaged. Just my 10c worth.
Kryn

Hi Kryn,
I'm storing all these arguments for 'havachat' time but I think their agenda may differ somewhat to mine.
I have pretty much decided that no matter what the outcome is I will keep this thread going. I don't think I am writing anything I shouldn't.
I am sure they will let me know

Originally Posted by markgray

Hi Phil,
That you again for your hospitality yesterday and for holding onto the steel for so long. Now to work out what to do with a couple hundred kilos of tool steel.
As for the book I knew it had to go to you when I saw your posts. And it is always a pleasure to pass something on that can be of use to someone else. Sounds like it has found it rightful home. Will follow stories of the restoration with interest.
Thanks also to Phil Fehring (Machtool)who seems to have become the forums Melbourne depot and to Ray and Josh (great blokes and great shed) and to Joe Hovell (who originally introduced me to the forum). So after an 830km road trip it was great to get back but it was worth every minute.

Thanks again Mark,
I can guarantee that this book will get a fair work out.
A little bit serendipitous that Joe was visiting Ray and Josh. I hope your paths crossed and you didn't miss him and as you know I can't speak highly enough of Phil.
There really is 'something' about this forum.

Phil

Hi all,
I did a bit more on the pump yesterday. I had a quick look at the valve rods and instantly decided that new ones were in order. there was severe scoring in the sectionthat slides through the gland packing and on the tail section that slides through the outrigger support.
The outrigger supports had been repaired at some stage and had some misalignment issues that needed to be corrected. Because these had been converted to metric during the last repair, I had some room to play with hole enlargement and realignment.
To give me some sort of chance I screwcut all the threads to minimise any concentricity error when using a die.
Someone had used a hammer on the clevis' that screw onto the ends of these rods so I cleaned them up as best I could without making them useless.

Phil
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[QUOTE=Steamwhisperer;1737578]Hi all,
Someone had used a hammer on the clevis' that screw onto the ends of these rods so I cleaned them up as best I could without making them useless.

I hate that, some people should not be allowed near machinery let alone work on it.

Nice work Phil. Were those shafts hardened originally? They have telltale blue markings.

Dean

[QUOTE=Techo1;1737621]

Originally Posted by Steamwhisperer

Hi all,
Someone had used a hammer on the clevis' that screw onto the ends of these rods so I cleaned them up as best I could without making them useless.

I hate that, some people should not be allowed near machinery let alone work on it.

Agreed Techo.
A hammer has its place but the person on the other end quite often needs some education. In the old days a blacksmith used a hammer to shape iron but he would never use it to reshape it once it was in use.
Begs the question as to why nowadays, some people think they should.
I have a pic that I of course can't locate (at the moment) that has has an engine where it looks like a sledge hammer was used on it.
I have even worked on a traction engine that someone used dynamite on to try and scrap it. It didn't work and the engine is running beautifully.

Originally Posted by Oldneweng

Nice work Phil. Were those shafts hardened originally? They have telltale blue markings.

Dean

Hi Dean,
That's what happens when the gland is tightened up too much.
It's amazing how much heat can be generated from friction. That rod reciprocates with about 1" (approx 25mm ) of travel and not what I would call 'rapid movement' either.
I personally think it is easier to remove the old packing and replace with new rather than ruin a perfectly good rod.

Phil

[QUOTE=Steamwhisperer;1737971]

Originally Posted by Techo1

Agreed Techo.
A hammer has its place but the person on the other end quite often needs some education. In the old days a blacksmith used a hammer to shape iron but he would never use it to reshape it once it was in use.
Begs the question as to why nowadays, some people think they should.
I have a pic that I of course can't locate (at the moment) that has has an engine where it looks like a sledge hammer was used on it.
I have even worked on a traction engine that someone used dynamite on to try and scrap it. It didn't work and the engine is running beautifully.


Hi Dean,
That's what happens when the gland is tightened up too much.
It's amazing how much heat can be generated from friction. That rod reciprocates with about 1" (approx 25mm ) of travel and not what I would call 'rapid movement' either.
I personally think it is easier to remove the old packing and replace with new rather than ruin a perfectly good rod.

Phil

I don't recall ever dealing with a reciprocating rod, gland packing. I can see what you are saying tho. New packing every time seems to be the obvious solution as the shaft is always in contact with the same section of packing. "Hi, haven't I seen you before?"

Keep up the good work and education of the masses.

Dean

Well it's good news guys, everyone seems ok with what's going on here and I have even been encouraged to continue.
I understand why it has to be this way and quite frankly I agree as there are some people who use social media for evil instead of what we use it for.
I have been tackled about one post only but I didn't find out in time and the edit button was no longer available so it will have to stay.
I gotta say I'm not a fan of being watched for mistakes but as I say, I understand why.
Anyways, a little more on the pump.
The new valve rods screw into nuts that drive the slide valves that admit steam into each end of the cylinders. The old nuts were ordinary to say the least so new ones were in order.
I also did a trial 'fit up' to see how I was going for alignment.
I also did a bit of work on the 'hasty' arrangement I did a few years ago for the drain cocks but more on that later.
I am pretty much up to the stage of machining new piston rods which I will have to do off site after the necessary reams of paperwork of course purely because we don't have a lathe that would be deemed anywhere fit for purpose.
I will be heading off tomorrow to get the paperwork started and to see what lathes are available. If it is anything like the last time I will have a swag of apprentices looking over my shoulder.

Phil
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Phil

Good to see you've been let off the leash at last. The education resumes......

Rgds - Gavin