Historic Steam Engine + Bill Gates

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Merlyn
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Re: Historic Steam Engine + Bill Gates

Post by Merlyn »

Thats a good answer and of course would possibly do the job.
But as I said leads that is the answer sought.
Looking at the age of your building I would consider that what we seek has been there a considerable time.
And although possibly in daily use for years would do the job of taking leads admirably.
Remembering The Good Old days, when Chiefs stood watches and all Torque settings were F.T.
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Merlyn
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Re: Historic Steam Engine + Bill Gates

Post by Merlyn »

As no takers for this one I maybe ought to explain to perhaps the persons not familiar with solid white metal bearings in machinery that is was not allways sprayed on white metal onto copper backed steel shells in mains / bigends / camshaft etc bearings but in older marine steam engines ( and turbines ) solid white metal bearings had to be cast via a made up mandrel, bored and painstakingly scraped in on the job.
This was a very skilled and not easy job which some of our apprentices in the early sixties never mastered the art of doing correctly.
So back to BP's steam engines in order for him to scrape in the white metal bearings without any leads in his box I enclose a photo. of my 1960 micrometer together with the necessary leads ( but not taken from his box ) which can clearly be seen to measure in imperial the leads shown, but these are taken from where and how can the intrepid marine engineer ( i.e. your good self ) save the ship/ shore based steam engine?
I was always taught a proper marine engineer would always be a cut above a normal engineer and as such would be capable of engineering himself out of ANY situation in order to show his skills off to the world out there watching.
So how can you take leads when you don't have any?
So four leads across the journal, all shims in and torque up ( if any torque shown for this old stuff ) if not F.T. to be applied.
Remember the micrometer measurement shows the oil clearance not encompassing any oil ways to be cut.

This would be approx. the running oil clearance of the journal on that size steam engine.
That is to say the measurement either side of the journal.
But back to the original question, where are these leads from?
How can you solve this problem in order to save the day?
Think about the envirement in an engine room / machinery room ashore.
As I did not research this you won't find the answer through any research but as I dreamt it up so can the reader?
Think about it and the answer will come to you.
So what is the mic. measurement show?
Where did these leads come from?
PS
It's the same as leads i.e. Lead and tin content.
Dont be caught on a lee shore here.

..
Remembering The Good Old days, when Chiefs stood watches and all Torque settings were F.T.
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Merlyn
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Re: Historic Steam Engine + Bill Gates

Post by Merlyn »

IMG_0884.JPG
Forgot the Mike
Remembering The Good Old days, when Chiefs stood watches and all Torque settings were F.T.
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Merlyn
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Re: Historic Steam Engine + Bill Gates

Post by Merlyn »

Some would say that retirement is akin to a high revving engine consistently under load suddenly and abruptly shut down to tick over possibly creating localized overheat problems etc and rendering the whole plant to happenings never experienced before.
Similarly effecting retirement by shutting down completely can bring on all kinds of health problems etc as we are all so well aware of when folk retire so I would appeal to BP to set aside those golf clubs and revert back to solving our " the taking of the leads " problem in time for his reopening party.
By sitting down and looking at those old walls containing the steam engines he has to gaze at them in an attempt to seek inspirations.
In what we seek four of is better than one of ( as we seek four of to take leads correctly remember )
A thirty one will do nicely ( multiplied by four )
He will however have to conduct the repairs in the daylight hours only.
Don't pull that throttle right back yet BP,
Continue to be a resourceful marine engineer and solve this problem.
It is a solvable one.
Or any help from any other problem solvers out there?
Remembering The Good Old days, when Chiefs stood watches and all Torque settings were F.T.
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Merlyn
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Re: Historic Steam Engine + Bill Gates

Post by Merlyn »

Cartridge ones won't fit in the oil clearance gap to be measured but the older type ones which do exactly the same job will.
You could say it's just a phase you are going through.
Remembering The Good Old days, when Chiefs stood watches and all Torque settings were F.T.
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Re: Historic Steam Engine + Bill Gates

Post by The Dieselduck »

Fascinating discussion. I have no experience whatsoever in steam, so i find it very interesting to read. There is an old steam plant open for tours in Hamilton, used to supply water from lake ontario to the town of Hamilton, a beautiful, but non functioning steam engine.

I would love to have a visit of the museum in England, but that must wait for a couple more years, luckily I can wait in my own home, unlike Big Pete. Sorry to hear about your holiday.
2011.12-Hamilton Steam Museum.31.jpg
2011.12-Hamilton Steam Museum.16.jpg
2011.12-Hamilton Steam Museum.10.jpg
2011.12-Hamilton Steam Museum.04.jpg
2011.12-Hamilton Steam Museum.03.jpg
Martin Leduc
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http://www.dieselduck.net
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Merlyn
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Re: Historic Steam Engine + Bill Gates

Post by Merlyn »

It would appear to me that owing to the lack of replies out there that the modern day marine engineer would be perhaps be spending more time in the control room nowadays than out on the job in the engine room and as such lack of practicalities seem to be a sad result of this.
The taking of leads for a prime example.
Gazing around the engine room for inspirations to solve this lack of leads problem for me anyway the eyes should alight on a fuse box/ circuit breaker on the bulkhead
I already gave the clue that cartridge ones were non applicable and the opening of the box reveals the old fashioned type which clearly shows fusewire which is manufactured from lead and tin.
In other words an almost exact substitute for bearing leads.
Should it be a three phase system the three positives and one return would be the exact no. of leads necessary to lay across the journal being boxed up in order to measure the oil running clearance present.
Should the journal being measured be a larger diameter then a roll of solder wire of approx.3/16" would suffice as solder is manufactured from lead and tin.
Looking at BP's building in which these old fella's are housed originally they could well have had the old fashioned fuse boxes fitted.
After all White metal was not always sprayed on shells.
So now BP can look forward to the grand reopening should he suffer bearing failure problems and the visit of Joe Public in disguise. (Me )
Beware of the opening speech, excuse me Mr. but .....?
That's normally the giveaway of the windup.
In conclusion hands up all those who have never gapped a ring in a barrel worn liner and successfully achieved the mean average ring gap in order to achieve a good compression ratio and to be a non oil burner hobby?
Remembering The Good Old days, when Chiefs stood watches and all Torque settings were F.T.
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