Search found 236 matches

by aopagary
Tue Nov 29, 2022 5:51 pm
Forum: Live Steam
Topic: filling a hot boiler
Replies: 51
Views: 14235

Re: filling a hot boiler

i'm not disparaging the tips about extinguishing a fire, but we seemed to have strayed from the topic of cold water into a hot boiler. i can't help but think about a line a flight instructor once told me... under normal situations, there's no such thing as an emergency takeoff. ten years ago my boil...
by aopagary
Tue Nov 29, 2022 11:02 am
Forum: Live Steam
Topic: filling a hot boiler
Replies: 51
Views: 14235

Re: filling a hot boiler

i have an ashpan that slopes down to a lever operated dumping hatch. i remove the grates after a few runs to really clean it out, but i have to remove the firebox door to grab them and pull them out. before i run, there are typically only a handful of unburnt coal pieces that didn't fall through the...
by aopagary
Tue Nov 29, 2022 10:46 am
Forum: Live Steam
Topic: filling a hot boiler
Replies: 51
Views: 14235

Re: filling a hot boiler

another note... i have no way of dropping the fire. i actually carry a emergency tire inflation gizmo that uses a CO2 cylinder, but like i said, i had a few minutes to let the fire die. the amount of glowing coal was simply a bit more than an end-of-the-day fire. i poked around a bit and some bits f...
by aopagary
Tue Nov 29, 2022 9:52 am
Forum: Live Steam
Topic: filling a hot boiler
Replies: 51
Views: 14235

Re: filling a hot boiler

of course not... it was about 15-20 minutes before the pressure lowered to 40 psi (it was about 60 psi when the leak became severe), at this point there were still glowing coals, but it was far from a "ripping fire".
by aopagary
Tue Nov 29, 2022 8:57 am
Forum: Live Steam
Topic: filling a hot boiler
Replies: 51
Views: 14235

Re: filling a hot boiler

i might add... the boiler is coal fired. with oil or propane i imagine it would have cooled faster. i turned off the blower immediately but it probably took a good 30 minutes or so before the embers died out completely. much different than when i come off the track, i was firing up so the firebox wa...
by aopagary
Tue Nov 29, 2022 8:00 am
Forum: Live Steam
Topic: filling a hot boiler
Replies: 51
Views: 14235

filling a hot boiler

i had to blow down shortly after firing up the other day due to a leaking blowdown valve. i capped the valve, but now i had an empty very hot boiler. i was getting different opinions on how to proceed, but i chose the safe alternative by calling it a day. about 2 hours later the boiler jacket was st...
by aopagary
Fri May 20, 2022 9:29 am
Forum: Lathes
Topic: Unimat SL1000
Replies: 6
Views: 4643

Unimat SL1000

a friend just gave me a somewhat neglected Unimat SL 1000. i found a good YouTube series and got most of it disassembled, cleaned up a bit and it seems to be in good condition. both longitudinal and cross feeds are operating very smoothly. looks like it used to have a power feed. he said there still...
by aopagary
Tue Jan 02, 2018 1:38 pm
Forum: Riding Scale Railroading
Topic: Car stability paper
Replies: 25
Views: 19802

Re: Car stability paper

I do not know if these cars have springs, if they do is also a factor. Center of Gravity is a static thing but in a moving car the springs define the natural oscillation response and that can amplify the swing up to the static tipping point. if you notice, in every mention of using a prototype frei...
by aopagary
Tue Jan 02, 2018 6:56 am
Forum: Riding Scale Railroading
Topic: Car stability paper
Replies: 25
Views: 19802

Re: Car stability paper

there is no doubt that straddle cars are the safest cars for passenger transport... RLS straddle cars.jpg not only do they provide an extremely low CG, but the bench seating allows for the best weight distribution end to end. but again, when constructed properly, there is no reason that a modified f...
by aopagary
Sun Dec 31, 2017 2:37 pm
Forum: Riding Scale Railroading
Topic: Car stability paper
Replies: 25
Views: 19802

Re: Car stability paper

math (old math) is fun!... tipping angle (degrees) = (atan ( G / (2*CG)))* 57.3 the Excel arc tangent (atan) function returns radians, the 57.3 turns radians into degrees. track gauge (G) & center of mass/ gravity (CG) are in inches. here is what Excel spit out for 7.5" gauge track... tippi...
by aopagary
Sun Dec 31, 2017 9:48 am
Forum: Riding Scale Railroading
Topic: Car stability paper
Replies: 25
Views: 19802

Re: Car stability paper

it's not that hard to calculate... when the center of gravity (same as the center of mass on the earth's surface) moves outside the wheel track, a car will tip over. i'll take back the "ridiculously" adjective in the previous post now that i see the CG/CM of a seated person seems to be jus...
by aopagary
Sat Dec 30, 2017 2:44 pm
Forum: Riding Scale Railroading
Topic: Scale size and actual size for 1-1/2" scale?
Replies: 11
Views: 9491

Re: Scale size and actual size for 1-1/2" scale?

10' 8", the typical prototype car width is 2.25x standard US track gauge, but when it comes to scale riding rail cars, although the passenger load may be typical of full scale (90 tons translates to ~350 lbs in 1:8 scale), if it is a matter of a determined passenger vs car stability, the passen...