Waaay off topic - Borderer Steam Engine

[Khephre]

Hi all,

just a wee note to the group inquiring if anyone has ever had any experience of a Borderer Steam Engine.

AJ Reeves in the UK produce a couple of different castings kits that can be made up into this engine and a couple of variants - slide valve or piston valve, half inch or 5/8 inch cylinders - but they're not responding to my emails for information.

This one was built in the UK and came to NZ as part of an estate. It's workshop fresh - never been used - and comes complete with a Stephenson Reversing Gear (which is the assembly and lever - this side and both ends in the photo below).

Keen to know more about the engine's capabilities and more about Stephenson's Reversing gear - esp. for radio control

Many tks
Tony

[mjt60a]

That's a nice looking engine, but I don't know anything about them. Looks like the lever has a small hole where you could connect a servo to reverse it by R/C (the lever causes one or other of the two eccentrics on each side to operate the valves....)

[Khephre]

Hi Mick,

yes it's a lovely little engine - needs some finishing touches, like a bit of fettling, a splash of paint, a flywheel and some fine tuning, but aside from that it should be a great little runner. I picked it up recently here in NZ for a little less than the cost of the casting kit that AJ Reeves offers so a real bargain - if I can get it to work correctly.

What I didn't anticipate when I bought the engine is that it's darned difficult to find any info about it. Not helped by a non-response from AJ Reeves. The reverse lever changes the timing of the slide valves so as to put the engine into reverse - a clever lad that Stephenson!

And it's this feature in particular that worries me - the lever moves a little on each revolution of the engine. Intuitively I think that it shouldn't do this - something that can be elminated by adjustments, but don't know for sure. That moving around wld seem to me to cause some problems if I hook it up to a servo.

The second concern about hooking it up to a servo is that a servo recentres itself when the joystick returns to neutral - whereas the lever needs to be held in one position or the other - so I'm thinking that reversing is not a simple servo solution.

Paddleducks is not the ideal forum for this posting so apologies to one and all for subverting the cause but I'm hopeful that one of the more experienced crew may know enough about steam to be able to provide me with a bit of off-line guidance and advice.

Perhaps if I claim that I'll mount the engine sideways and plan to use it to run a paddleshaft via a belt drive then my subversion might be excused!

All comments greatly appreciated.
Cheers for now
Tony

[Eddy Matthews]

Paddleducks is not the ideal forum for this posting so apologies to one and all for subverting the cause but I'm hopeful that one of the more experienced crew may know enough about steam to be able to provide me with a bit of off-line guidance and advice.

That's why we created this area Tony, so you can happily post about anything that isn't paddler related. The only things that won't be tolerated in here is spam, flames, porn and foul language - But they won't be tolerated in any other message area either, so I think your pretty safe with a discussion on a steam engine! :-)

[derekwarner_decoy]

Hi PD's - yes Tony, this is a very nice twin cylinder unit - I would be going to your local model shop & searching through the cards & posters for a model steam railroad group in NZ & talking with them to resolve your questions

However from basic fundementals, I cannot see any real problem with having the crankshaft where ever you want it and inclining the engine axis just like examples of many real paddle engines - possibly just some extra or repositioned blow down valves to ensure condensate is drained etc - Derek

[PJ]

Hi from Canada, Tony!

I'm pretty sure there's a Yahoo group of model steam engineers and if you do a search in Yahoo.groups for "model steam", "steam engines" or "model engineers" etc you should eventually be able to come up with something.

PJ
Victoria, BC Canada

[mjt60a]

...The second concern about hooking it up to a servo is that a servo recentres itself when the joystick returns to neutral...

I was thinking of my old 3 channel futaba, the 3rd channel does not self centre (it's a small lever on top of the set that stays where it's put) unfortunately it has no trim either so would have to be set up carefully to start with (but could probably be done!). As for the lever moving, can it be held still or is that just the way it works? If not, how about using a 'servo saver' (see some here -  http://www.servocity.com/html/servo_savers.html  ) as used in model cars on the steering?

[Khephre]

Gee what a fantastic idea Mick!

Tks also PJ and Derek for advice and Eddy for reassuring me that my off-topic subjects are still welcome  

I was talking the other day with Roy Carre from Stuart Models. As you know he's recently picked up the Cheddar stocks and such-like. He's put me onto John Clark at Lynx Model Works in Lincolnshire. John's recently started producing a nice coal-fired boiler but also knows a bit about the Borderers and their peccadillos (I'm sure that's not a swear word Eddy!).

So I'm off to the bank today to mortgage the house and sell the first born so that I can buy a boiler and get steamed - just try explaining that to my incredibly patient and long-suffering wife!

I also found a little book in our public library last weekend - Model Stationary and Marine Steam Engines by K Harris (pub. 1958, Tee). He has around twenty pages on a vertical twin cylinder pinnace engine and Stephenson's reverse gear so that's been a real gem of a find.

In passing, this has really highlighted to me how many modelling skills are disappearing, as we become more and more consumer-oriented.

Cheers to all
Tony

[steamboatmodel]

Hi Tony,
The Servo savers work great, another variation uses coiled springs on rods with collets for stoppers, not as compact as the regular servo savers, but can be made up in your own shop. On some of the multi-channel radios there was a two position switch (used originally for landing gear) which is great for the forward/reverse on valve gear.
Regards,
Gerald

[Khephre]

Many tks Gerald. Now that you've mentioned retractable undercarriages, I know just the person to talk to. Hadn't even thought about that particular r/c application - amazin' how myopic you get with age.

Tony

[mjt60a]

....another variation uses coiled springs on rods with collets for stoppers....

That is what I intend to use on the steering servo on my model...
...Why? because it will be useful when I inevitably bash the rudder against the sloping banks of the lake while (attempting to...) maneuver the ship - but mostly because I want to get the rudder to it's 'full turn' position (45 degrees  from straight ahead) in 2/3 of the tx stick movement - therefore servo movement. The final 1/3 would operate a microswitch (either one of two depending on turning port or stbd) to introduce a large resistance into the motor supply to aid in turning.....( in my mind it will work but I have yet to determine the actual value of resistor.......and some other stuff.....  :? )