This weekend was a surprise to some of us – cold but sunny. The day kicked off well with a number of targets set for completion. It was also pleasing to see visitors walking around and asking questions and mirroring the enthusiasm that the team have in seeing the first match being thrown in! We also welcome a new first timer John to the team.
Task one for the day was to continue drilling out and inserting new studs into the foundation ring of the boiler. As many may remember the boiler we are using is not 6029’s original boiler and it had received a number of modifications in its previous life. This meant that the original studs had been removed and/or cut off. As you may expect, there are a large number of studs that need to be replaced and doing this requires you to lie on your back and then drill out the studs above our head. Andy has worked out he gets the best results by using 3 stages of drilling and one of threading to make good each stud – how many are there to do? At time of going to press, this is a number greater than 10 and most likely closer to 30. Does someone want to guess? Even better, does someone want to help? There are few who can say they have laid under a Garrett and survived! Seriously, this task is important and if you would like to show off your ability to accurately drill heavy metal please come along and have a go. We cannot fit the grate or ashpan to the boiler until this task is completed.
The generator was also carried out of the shed and lifted into place beside the boiler on the fireman’s side. Given the Garrett was in the shed and as usual parked in a very inconvenient location, this meant an awkward manual lift was needed for a very heavy and odd shaped object. Fortunately the generated landed on its mounts correctly and safely. Alan and Howard located bolts and tightened it down.
The water pipe elbow mounted on the base of the rear tank was attached. It attaches on the driver’s side midway between the middle two driving wheels and presented another awkward lift but no where near as heavy as the generator. Made of brass it was rattle gunned into place on the tank and then joined to the water pipe leading forward to the injectors.
All valve rods have now been joined. This meant that checking and correct placement of the locking split pins could proceed. Each engine was approached with four pairs of eyes, each pin and its locking pins was assessed and noted (there are 8 pins with two locking split pins on each engine). Additionally, locking pins and nuts on the connecting rods were reviewed and checked. Missing grease nipples and split pins on the connecting rods were also identified and any split pins missing on key components were noted – the mounting brackets for the outer bearing of the expansion link being one of these items. We need 24 new locking split pins to complete the correct locking of the rods. There is great satisfaction in seeing these pins and rods joining up again. Its going to be satisfying shortly to be able to say to anyone that you worked on those shiny spinning rods – if you want to be able to say that please come along and have a go with a grease gun, spanner or an angle grinder polishing them. There are not many days left before we sign off the rods to our project manager for inspection!
Again spread the word that we need small or big change for those piston rings, we need to be able to pay for them before we order them, I am sure you can imagine that rings around 20" diameter do not come cheap. The rings are the last major milestone/hurdle for the project. Also, and this is a long shot, but if you have access to a CNC lathe or know someone who does, and would like to be able to that you contributed to the project, we need to get about 40 tapered pins produced. They are not particulary large or difficult to produce, being about 4" long, but they do need an accurate taper, so give it a thought... If you can slip a foreign order through at work, or you are lucky enough to have a CNC lathe at home, put up your hand and help us out. Drop me a line if you think you can help... mike@project6029.com
