Working Stoker

[hudson]

The Stapleford Miniature Railway has a Berkshire in 10 1/4 " gauge which was built with a working stoker. I do not know if the stoker is still in use.

Check the address: http://www.fsmr.org.uk/berkshire.html for the
description of the locomotive.

Try to reach the people there on: fsmr_event@hotmail.co.uk

Best regards,
hudson

[Bill Shields]

See what you can find if you look long enough?

http://www.stihlusa.com/augersdrills/BT121.html

Available in various diameters from 1.6 to 7.9 diameters,
right off the shelf. Might not be long enough...but 2 together should be sufficient...

[UnkaJesse]

I have only had experience with one stoker auger and that was to feed sawdust into our 100hp boiler at the sawmill. The spiral for the auger was one continuous strip of metal and appeared to have been formed by rolling the metal along one edge more than the other. Basically what they did was to use a set of rolls that were not level with each other. Result was that the outer edge was stretched more than the inner edge and the strip naturally formed into a spiral. I am sure there was lots more to it than that*, but you could see on new augers where the flight was thinner on the outer edge than down near the drive shaft.

Unka(* A whole lot more I bet)Jesse

[hudson]

A further source of information could be:

http://www.saunalahti.fi/animato/3003/js.html

which shows a 7 1/4 Decapod model built in Finnland.

Best regards,
hudson

[Dick_Morris]

Here's a photo showing the high tech machine to make augers, etc. It's a variation on a lathe with a rotating ring of cutters replacing the tool bit. There are a few more photos at the manufacturer's web page at http://www.jafcee.co.uk/burgsmuller.htm

[/img]

[Bill Shields]

I'll bet it is fun to set up the tools on that 'thing'.

The screw mills I am familiar with are just a big lathe that has a live tool setup on the carriage.

The feed is programmable to any pitch you want. By changing the size of the tool, you control the 'open' space between the flights of the auger.

[MichaelReb]

While I was in London UK, I was a member of the Ickenham and District Society of Model Engineers. One of the members of the club has a rather interesting display that he brings out when ever the club puts on a booth at a model engineering expo. It's all about how to do Spiral Milling. He had worked out a method of using a milling machine to produce a spiral using a serious set of change gears and a dividing head and tail piece. Quite impressive

[Bill Shields]

I saw someone do that on a mill with a Haas programmable indexer once...same sort of thing...had forgotten all about it...which is basically what a screw mill is...

thanks for the reminder....

B

[Fred_V]

Bill, did you know David Laura? he is my wife's brother and he worked there for a long time.
fred v

Jesse:

I was in / OUT of Saudi LONG before our military showed up there and screwed things up.

[Bill Shields]

I knew a David Totten who was married to a Laura...otherwise, blank....

There were 20,000 Americans working for Aramco when I was there, scattered over an area about the size of the State of Massachusets...so it is not surprising that I don't know a LOT of the people there...

[Fender]

I have never actually seen a functioning stoker in live steam

Bill, here is your chance. Check out this on ebay (usual disclaimers):
http://cgi.ebay.com/N-W-CLASS-J-4-8-4-6 ... dZViewItem

[Bill Shields]

wrong gauge....