Steamy Bits Projects.

Only two projects in total at the moment.

However, feel free to have a look.......

Project 1.

The Steam Engine Effects Box.

Upon completion of the Mamod TE1a rebuild, I shall set about tackling this Bad Boy !!!!

This little kit was I think about £7.00 from Maplin and it is supposed to replicate the sound of a Steam Train. It has a speed control and a whistle button.

......now I don't know the first thing about electronics or it's associated trickery so this is going to be done purely on the basis of "to see if I can do it". If I am succesful and it DOES work then I will submit a video with sound in due course.

Erm, did I say Bad Boy ?................ It's OK, the Locomotive effect is fine but the whistle is...well, erm, ahem........... lacking somewhat !!!

Well, its finished, so far as the physical construction is concerned, and yes, it does work but the whistle function is rather dissappointing.

 It took me about 90 minutes to chuck this lot together

 There's a whole host of Resistors (4 different ratings) capacitors, diodes, transistors, an IC etc on this little board. As I said, the Locomotive effect is fine and for around £7 it was an enjoyable learning curve !!!!.

A short YT video of the Sound Generator........ 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L7oPhobhOQ

Project 2.

Fabricated Steam Workshop Lineshaft.

A steam workshop lineshaft can nowadays set you back a few quid, they are steadily becoming more scarce and ever more expensive to obtain so I've set about fabricating one myself from steel plate......

.....basically, this little piece of equipment will allow the running of four (or more) steam workshop accessories via a flywheel and pulleys mounted on a 4mm shaft which will sit along the top of this little structure.

A steel plate construction with a base size of 230mm x 100mm and an "A" frame hieght of 130mm.

 After cutting the shaft to the correct length, it was time to source a flywheel and four pulleys. The red Flywheel came from an old Mamod Lineshaft as did a couple of pulleys, the other pulleys came from Meccano spares.

A video of this unit running with my SE2 can be seen in JJs Steam Videos.

Whatever next !!!!............