Of nipples and compressors

12th May 2024

If you're solely reading this to spectate at our locomotive engineering, then this week's edition may be something of a disappointment. Yes last Monday was a Bank Holiday and so I did have an extra day in the shed, but that was just it, me on my little ownsome: I didn't pop down until after lunch and then wasn't about to undertake anything major solo. The next couple of days were filled with paperwork - VAT return, etc, - in fact on Tuesday I was beginning to think I wouldn't get down to it as a number of issues cropped up, notably a job planned for Thursday and Friday this week (ahead) had to be postponed so it was back to the 'what can we do to occupy the driver's time now that he's been allocated to me?'. This wasn't a problem last year, with Adam being both Heanor's MD and my regular driver he could drop on and off as required. Now I have to be a little more - cautious is perhaps the best word.

Andrew and I had a few hours down at the shed late one afternoon, mostly moving bits of scrap loco frame up to the scrap skip with the crane. Meanwhile texts were flying to and fro with a lady in the Chester area. She is putting her late husband's affairs in order which includes emptying his industrial unit. She is the aunt of a friend of mine and I received an email from him first asking if we might be interested in a compressor and some other bits. If you are a long-standing reader then (apart from deserving to sit-down) you might recall that the compressor which provides our shop air was picked up as a stop-gap from an ebay seller and I collected it from a house within sight of the East Lancs about 7 or 8 years ago. Pictures of this Chester-area alternative looked interesting, but time was of the essence and I didn't have the opportunity and nor did Andrew, who was going to collect grandson from Norfolk on Friday. In the end he made an expedition on Saturday morning and it seems I can be on my way across to pick it all up Monday evening.

Saturday for me began with the usual half-nine opening as he had kindly arranged for someone to pick up a chain set who arrived at about ten-to-ten. My first task though was to put a battery charger on the crane's battery as it had not been at its perky-ist when it was called on. It was showing only 12.2V and the 'intelligent' charger I hooked up intimated it was only between 60 and 80% charged. Watching a train go by while using the crane as a grandstand seat, it occurred to me that a cable installed along the jib with the new SLI had been left for us to secure properly and we hadn't, so I decided to rectify it. I wasn't keen on drilling and tapping for p-clips, I'd probably find I'd invalidated the jib or something, but I had a few of those self-adhesive cable tie bases.

Trouble is, the self-adhesive deteriorates with age and the ones I had in stock are quite old. I pondered whether to find some epoxy resin but seemed to remember chucking the remains of the last two tubes away. Then I remembered the hot-glue gun. After cleaning the remains of the no-longer-self-adhesive pad from the base and wire-brushing the jib of any loose material, the base was stuck to the jib and the glue almost immediately cooled and set. The cable was then tied to it and as the result looked promising, I did a few more to stop the cable drooping, and added a fillet of hot glue along the sides and tops to ward off any rain from getting in behind. We'll see how they fare and if they stand up to the outdoors, may use the technique again.

While I was up there I noticed some grease nipples which we had yet to give any attention to. We try to standardise on the 'button' type grease nipple - it saves having to change grease guns or adaptors - but the first two were in recesses so I had to locate fittings to extend the nipple up and into the clear. The third one however was completely different. The two nearby had been 1/4 BSP, but this was much smaller, and only had about 3 threads to identify it with. Nowadays you can buy grease nipples readily in BSP and metric threads, and I have in the past seen them in UNC and Whitworth. Initially though this refused to be identified, declining to match up with any plain nut, die nut or split die I tried. Thread gauges eventually pinned it down, but with only about 3 to use for the gauge, it doesn't give much to determine whether each sample is a good or bad fit. The answer eventually turned out to be 5/16 BSF - finding one in a button headed nipple may take a while.

While pursuing this quest I did have the gem of an idea for a new television programme. 'Name that thread' will be a show where contestants have to identify the screw thread on a bolt, pipe fitting, or other component such as a grease nipple merely from sight and handling. As the game goes on and contestants drop out, the samples become more and more difficult - could you tell the difference between M22 and 1/2 BSP? Consolation prizes include a 'Name that thread' presentation gauge set or a gold-plated stud extractor. In the end, the champion is determined in a head-to-head as to whether a sample might be a UNS drain plug or a proprietory Enots fitting. Imagine the drama as the host pauses before announcing that it was in fact, an Ermeto stud nipple, and racks up the suspense as they have another go at determining the champion, the week's 'Screw King'. OK so maybe it needs a little more working on.

Late on I loaded up the van for Sunday, as according to the Met office the hot sunny weather was likely to break after lunch and I really did want to get some things done on the trailer. So this morning I headed up and set about recovering the Haldex motor-pump off T1 and fitting the Bosch motor in its place. Ideally this would be part of removing the adjacent reservoir and plumbing the whole kit from the donkey engine reservoir so that either the electric pump or the Lister can power the neck, but that is getting a little ahead of ourselves, and actually fitting the motor in to the gap in the cupboard wasn't going to be straightforward, or so I thought, as the hoses intruded and the support for the cupbard door was very close. Given that the whole of the cupboard is a bit oily, and disconnecting the hoses from the old pump added some more,stripping out the old mountings was a messy task.

Having removed the old one and lifted the new one up and in, there then was a problem of how to back mark the mounting hole and drill the cupboard base. In the end I measured as well as I could one hole inside the cupboard, plotted it on the underside of the enclosure, drilled a pilot hole up from underneath and to my amazement came up almost dead centre in the bracket hole above. I have oft repeated the old adage that the hardest job in engineering is getting a hole in the right place and the second hole wasn't perfect, but the two fixing bolts went through. The hoses though did not want to line up and I ended up rotating the pump in its strapping to get the suction line attached and then rotating it back - when I change the oil res over this hose will get replaced anyway. But the delivery line didn't want to know (the Haldex pump connections are on the opposite sides) and it occurred to me that a 90 degree elbow might assist, so I broke off and turned to the second job.

A chunk of the work in building and dismantling ramps is dragging the longer rails on and off and I have a portable roller but sometimes setting it up can take as long as loading the rail. So instead there's a roller to live permanently on the deck. It is by way of an experiment and although I have the parts for another on the other side, I'll trial this first before fitting it. Two of the fixing bolts are nutted underneath - two are tapped as the drill went through over 25mm of solid sections before open air and after opening it out to 8.5 I didn't fancy seeing whether the battery drill would last the extra pass to clear 10mm. After lunch I popped back to the workshops to get some last bits and finished the pump installation, but it is a bit of a fingers-crossed job as I have not been able to test it! The Haldex pump set may stay with me for a few days in case I have to do a rapid swap back (it came off Andrew's trailer but we may well upgrade his if this Bosch motor and pump combo prove OK).

By the time I had got all this done, the rain hadn't arrived and it seemed pointless starting anything else, so I decided to grab a shot of Cathryn passing the trailer on a PR train for no other reason that I could and shortly T1 will be off to more work and not returning. So for now that's it for this week, sorry if it is a bit below par, but something more normal should be in prospect.

Until next week, see ya then.