Steam powered sternwheeler ( first boat build ever )

[Hankwilliams]

Hi Derek,

the oscillating engine of "Zambezi" has a very long piston rod (nearly 280 mm, so that the angel of the cylinders are not wide.
In fact there are no great problems of tightness of steam, except the normal leakings of oscillating engines in general.
Steam consumption is very high with this engine und the power is less, compared with the Regner 12/36 engine.

The power of "Zambezi" is almost sufficient, rpm are about 60 to 70 in water at a pressure of 3 bar.

The Regner 12/36 must be in program for about 30 years, this long stroke engine is still in production.
The power is more than the oscillating engine and steam consumptin is less.

May be, it´s not well known, Mr. Regner died in Juli 2013, but the family will lead the factory in further times.

Thomas

[derekwarner_decoy]

Thank you Thomas for the explanations......

I had previously read that the founder Mr Regner senior [a dedicated steam engineer] had retired and left the Company to his children......

Certainly no example of a 12 x 36 stroke engine or components appear in their current catalogue.........the head office of Regner ignored my e-mail requests ....however in the end, they referred my enquiry to an American model steam train distributor  ....when clearly I am in Australia....

Derek

[apointofview]

Derek,
I agree, I wouldn't want to risk all that metal work to a seal of any kind.  I built the two sections as independent hulls.  They will be clamped together in a way that wont compromise the hull integrity.  The view of the seam will be minimal. Then the superstructure will be one piece placed on the top after the boiler and engines are heated up and running.  It will be built of mostly balsa to keep the weight down low.  See if these pictures will help get my point across.

Thanks for the "waterline" picture.  That helps me a lot.  I wasnt sure what 3 paddles in the water looked like exactly.

Pete

[apointofview]

Thanks !

I have been slowly working on the boat when time allows.
The rudders are all hooked up and working.  I have brass tubes that act as bearings to hold the solid brass rudder shafts.  the two forward rudder tubes are one piece from under the hull to the top of the lowest deck to keep water from creeping up the shafts and sinking the boat.  I cross drilled and tapped the shafts for a 4-40 bolt that helps transfer the torque of the shaft to the wood.  I milled out the rudders to fit the shaft and the bolt and then encased everything in epoxy.  I hope that makes sense.  I went with model aircraft hardware for the linkage and just ran a die on the ends of the interconnecting brass rods.  I thought about milling out all that hardware out of aluminum, but this was quicker, and lighter and works great.  I am running up against a weight limit so every little bit helps. 

Here is a link to the video of them running by radio control.
http://youtu.be/WxlXVk7X_ds

[derekwarner_decoy]

Hi PD's ...& well done Pete ...all looks snappy in that video but ........ maybe too snappy 

We haven't touched on scale to any real meaning here yet......but it is an important aspect of linear motion and the scale effect it has
Scale linear movement is the real value divided by the square root of the scale

So if your paddle wheeler was 1:48 scale, a function requiring 30 seconds in real time  is...... 30 divided by 6.93  = 4.3 seconds in scale time

I used this as an example of the real stern wheeler swinging the rudder set would take say 30 seconds from hard a port to hard a stdb

Going back to your scale vessel video you are able to swing the rudder in lightning speed of approx. 1.5 seconds

So the argument can be.......'I have a digital transmitter......I will be careful [and slow]'  ......when the vessel is 20 foot out on the water we loose all physical sénce of proportionality 

There is a solution  ...ACTion electronics from the UK manufacture a range on model kit electronic GIZMOS....one is a P96  ....it allows the individual adjustment [extension or reduction] of individual end points of the servo and allows for servo speed slow down 

I am so impressed with these I have 3 x for my build & all to be set at approx. 3 to 4 seconds

1 x for the steam regulator [zero to full +]
1 x for the Stephenson reversing gear [full position in either direction ahead to reverse]
1 x for the rudder [hard to port to hard to stdb]

A number of colleagues  have suggested this intentional speed slow down is a danger to safety ......I consider it as an aid to mechanical safety of components 

PS....

1. The Component Shop people in the UK are great to deal with....postage to OZ is never a problem ....would be the same to USA
2. I have financial interest in ACTion electronics nor Component shop.......just a very happy customer

Let me know what you think....................... Derek 

[apointofview]

Hey Derek,

You have a great point, the rudders do move really fast.
I am going to look into getting a servo slowdown device.  I will try to get something similar here in the US just for the ease of shipping and possible returns.   I guess it also matters how much money it will cost me.  This boat building adventure is costing a lot more than I expected. I probably have 50 bucks in rod ends alone !

I dont see a safety problem, I wont be going fast at all, should have plenty of time to steer my course.

Next up is going to be the rest of the radio gear.  I have to rig up control of the throttles, cylinder drains, whistle valve and an emergency gas shutoff.  ( I dont even have a valve built for the gas yet.)

After all that I will begin waterproofing the paddle and hull, then some time with water trials on the bare hull.

Pete

[apointofview]

Here is an update to the boat,

I did another float test to see how much weight the hull can carry when its at the depth I want. It looks like I have 24lbs to play with for the rest of the boat build. It was loaded with everything it will take to run so the rest will be fiberglass paint and all the superstructure /decorations. The shot of the cans and weights was the 'cargo' I was able to load it up with.
The float test showed me I will have 5/8 inch of free board, and after talking with Mike Jones ( Hookpilot on rcgroups ) it was decided to add a bit of permanent structure to the hull in the form of a 1/2 inch lip to the opening of the hull to give me more breathing room for a rouge wave from a duck or something. ( it wont take much )

I started on the upper decks. they will be one piece that will be easily removed for access to the engines and boiler. Mostly balsa with pine and spruce here and there. the repetition is the tough part of this stage. The second deck railing will be hard because the railing detail is intricate.  A friend suggested printing the pattern on a waterproof sticker material and just get the illusion for all those balusters. To buy them would be a lot of money. Making them near impossible.

Pete

[apointofview]

Well I have found a new definition of tedious !

I got the roof of the first level sheeting on. It still needs sanding and something to align the next level, but I got started on the posts for level 2.  48 of them are needed ( why did I go semi scale ? ) I turned them on my metal lathe using a piece of HSS that I cut the post profile into.  I went with one plunge into the wood with the cutter.  I wanted to do it that way in order to get the spindles all the same.  It worked out pretty well, I had to shave down the rings on the backside of the part as the cutter cut the profile on the front.  I found that if I just let the HSS do it all the rings were so fragile that they broke off randomly.  They arent perfect, but they are close enough.

Pete

[DamienG]

Coming along nicely Pete.

[derekwarner_decoy]

Morning Pete........as you say....."The float test showed me I will have 5/8 inch of free board".....how does relate in scale to the full sized vessel?

Waves are complex to analyse in what effect they have on hull behaviour which is also relative to the hull shaping....so depending on the waterway you choose to steam your model...you may well find that a wave four times the height of the vessel freeboard only raised the complete hull and your freeboard is maintained....or not really compromised

Sorry that may sound silly .......but you progress is good as is using a metal lathe for woodwork 

Derek

[Mike]

  Hi.
  I like the idea of turning the spindles on the lathe, looks good.
  The boat is coming along very well, good photo's as well.

     Mike.

[apointofview]

Hey Derek !
As far as scale goes, I think the 5/8 dimension works out to be a little over 15 inches ( 38.1 cm to the rest of the world )  I haven't measured the full scale boat free board but the images I have seem to indicate I am not that far off.  The only thing silly about your post is that guy pickin his nose !   

I hadn't thought about the size of a wave other than just its vertical height.  You are right, length and width will also effect the hull.  I guess I will just have to float it in a calm body of water and then evaluate from there what the hull can handle.  The lake I plan to use for the first trials is not small.  It has the potential for waves that I think could swamp my model.   I am planning on using that particular place because it isnt busy with people or full size boats. There is a small concrete boat ramp that I can use to launch from and be able to walk into the water with it while maintaining my feet on a solid surface.  I can also bring my kayak for a rescue if needed.

Mike,

Thanks for the kind words,  the lathe made relatively short work of the spindles ( it still was many hours )  They came out pretty good, I think my angles on the cutter weren't quite right for wood but it came out good enough.  I'll keep the photos coming.  I wanted to get done by January of next year for a model show in Pennsylvania but at the rate I am progressing that might not be possible.  I had no idea there was so much work involved in a boat !!

[apointofview]

More progress.  I have started on the second deck.  There are a lot of parts to make for the rails and no two are exactly alike.  Lots and lots of cutting and sanding.  The other challenge is keeping it all straight.  I ended up making a couple of jigs to keep the upper posts lined up with the lower deck posts. 
Here are a few pictures.
Pete

[DamienG]

Coming along nicely Pete.

[apointofview]

Thanks !

I finally have the railing done.  It took less time than I expected but it was still hard to keep going.  I soaked a piece of balsa in hot water and wrapped it around a paint can till it dried to get the curved pieces for the front corners.  I have begun sheeting the middle section to get ready to start the third and final level.  The posts for that level have to be turned too, but in a different pattern.  I also tested out how well printing the balusters will look.  I took a photo of the full scale balusters and then imported that image into Photoshop.  After a little cleanup of the image I scaled it down to 2 inches in width.  I made up a sheet with several rail sections and printed that as a test.  I plan on using a waterproof printable sticker material in the final version.  It looks like that will work fine.  I dont have any way to cut those kind of details into the wood so this is the best I can do.  It sure would be neat to have a cnc mill !  Really I dont think anything but a cnc laser cutter could reproduce those cuts at that tiny size.

Pete