Chaloner Stage 2
- 2nd May - Stage 2
consists of the engine, cylinders, pistons, valves and reverser.
Maxitrak supplied replacements for the missing front engine supports.
The parts of stage 2 before work commenced

- 5th May
- The stage 2
parts were cleaned up with fine emery cloth and a Roebuck block.
Sliding surfaces and mating surfaces were covered with masking tape.
The cylinders have many tapped holes which I blanked off with screws to
keep paint out. Once ready for painting I used oddments of scrap wood
to hold the parts whilst spray painting.
The bits were held whilst being painted by screwing to scrap wood.

These small
parts were baked in the oven for around 20 minutes at 200 degress
Farenheit between coats of paint and again after the final coat. Be
warned ,
that is 200 Farenheit which is definitely NOT 200 degrees
Celsius. Do not get the oven too hot.
- 6th May
- The masking tape was removed the following morning. I found paint
runs on the wing plates which fit either side of the cylinders so
rubbed
these down, sprayed again and left them baking in the oven.
Stage 2 components after painting and baking.

Fitting the pistons took quite a while. They seemed very stiff so I
extracted them to find the cause. With 'O' rings removed they slid
easily so I refitted the 'O' rings and left well alone. I
guess they will free up as the loco runs.
The
combined cylinder covers and trunk guides were fitted in place with
silicon sealant. As described in the instructions the ten fixing bolts
needed shortening. To get them all the same length I cut a piece of
steel bar 10mm long and drilled and tapped this 4mm. Each screw
was screwed into the bar and cut off using a junior hacksaw with the
bar
end as a guide.
The piston rod gland packing is an 'O' ring. I
found it best to push this into the cylinder cover and screw in the
brass gland before inserting the piston from the top of the cylinders.
I had previously failed completely when I tried to push the 'O' rings
home with the piston rod in place.
When fitting the cylinder
assembly to the loco I found that the little ends needed a touch with a
file before they would enter the cross heads.
There is still
quite a lot of work to get stage 2 complete as neither valve rods or
piston rods have yet been adjusted for length and the reverser has not
yet been fitted.
Here is Action Man inspecting progress at the end of the day.

8th May
- The reversing stand has been bolted in place today, the reach rod
drilled and cut to length.
Engine ready for valve setting.

Piston
rod length has been adjusted too. The next step was valve setting.
I had to take a break from this as my eyes got tired
peering into holes in the cylinder block. I found it best to put the
loco up on blocks and turn over the crank axle with a spanner. It got a
lot easier when Rosalie helped by turning the axle whilst I squinted
(as it says in the manual) at the valves. I think it is now right but
will check again before fixing the top cover on the cylinders.
- 11th May - First
the valve settings were checked again. This time I propped up
a
small mirror at an angle where I could see into the valve ports with a
torch. I turned the engine over by hand with a temporary plywood
spanner made fit the cranks. Stage 2 was nominally completed bybolting
down the top cyclinder cover.
I then used the lathe turned up an
adaptor to fit the steam inlet to the cylinder block so I could connect
an airline. I was hoping I would be able to get the engine to
turn over on air with the chassi on blocks. It is very stiff and I
hoped running would free it off .
Having connected the compressor I could only get small kicks out of the
engine. I really do not think my compressor is man enough for the job.
It could only hold around 30 psi against general leakage. The
instructions suggest 50 or 60 psi will be needed until the engine is
run in.
I then tried running the loco up and down then length of
board seen in the last picture. This seemed more promising so I layed a
temporary track made from scrap wood along the shed floor. It still
would not run convingly though I could get it to go a yard or so.
The
tests did reveal a tight spot with the engine binding in one particular
position. This was traced to one of the cross heads being a tight fit
in its trunk guide at the top of its travel. After easing this with
fine emery paper and cleaning off any trace of emery dust things are
working somewhat better. I am still only getting a couple of yards
travel in the
forward direction but backwards it will run the full length of the
temporary track.
Here is the completed stage 2 set up for an air test.

This picture shows the temporary track along the floor of the workshed.

- 12th May
- Today I spent some time dismantling the engine and checking for
smooth operation. It was reassembled after easing tight spots in
coupling rods, re-aligning an axle box and a little more attention to
the tight spot on one trunk guide.
It now runs on air with the chassis up on blocks though it is not self starting. It still runs better
backwards than forwards. Also the beat is not quite regular
so I do need to recheck the valve settings.
Action man supervised the air test. He now has a pair of boots found
on Ebay. I must find him a jacket and trousers too.

There is a short video clip of the chassis running on air on Youtube
- 18th May 2009 -
Today I spent a couple of hours on the valves. I have now got used to
peering into little holes to watch the valve movement. I found that the
valves were opening someway before piston top dead centre when in full
gear. I loosened each eccentric in turn and adjusted it so I could see
the valve opening just after the piston passed TDC for both forward and
backward running. It is now running much more smoothly. However whilst
it is now self starting in reverse it will sometimes stick when
starting from rest in forward gear. Clearly I have not got the settings
quite right yet so more work is required. Nonetheless I am feeling much
happier with progress.
- 19th May
- This evening I traced the problem starting from rest to the left hand
piston valve. I had failed to readjust the length of the valve rod
after adjusting its eccentrics. The engine is now running quite nicely.
This longer video clip shows the engine running on the spot on air and then back and forth along the floor of the shed.
On to Stage 3
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