The Unofficial Mamod and Other Steam Forum

CCairns · Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 4:02 pm Post subject:

Seems Mamodevon has a bottomless pit of gold as he snapped up the Gauge 1 William, plus the 6 items of new rolling stock as well.

To modifications. I have just got a SP6 which basically has the same piston arrangement as William, although only 1 fitted. The exhaust on this just pours out onto the baseplate, so I removed the nuts holding the piston and valve assemblies together, removed the screw holding the valve rods together, pulled the valve rod out of the block, and rotated the block 180 degrees.

So now I have the exhaust hole on the top of the valve block, and thus Titan's idea of reversing these blocks and piping the exhaust steam to the chimney on William should be possible.

Interesting to note that the oil runs out on the SP6 as well before the end of the run, and the engine does slow down after that. Seems Mamod have wasted a very large brass block which essentially just ports the steam to the valve blocks, and could have used more of this block for a larger oil capacity.

Titan - Did you manage to get the water level reflector fitted OK? I currently need to use a torch to check the water level.

Chris Cairns.

Titan · Full member Joined: 19 Jul 2006 Posts: 753 Location: Derby

Have not done any investigation on the reflector idea yet, mind you I am starting to wonder if there might be a market for the improved lubricator, is it likely to fit the SP6 too ? All I need would be the correct die for the thread, and I could churn out a batch of them pretty quickly!
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CCairns · Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 12:26 pm Post subject:

Titan The short answer is No. I thought at first that Mamod had made the baseplates with other mods in mind (like the William cutouts), but it looks like this is the new SP5 baseplate which has been used on the SP6 as well.

Hopefully the photos show that the bottom half of the lubricator is too close to the circular cutout on the baseplate, so I think your modified lubricator housing would be too big without some baseplate surgery.

If you are going to make anymore of these modified lubricator housings for the William then put me down for one. Thank you.

Another observation regarding the lubrication. On my William I get very little in the way of water/sludge collected in the lubricator after a run, but in the SP6 I get a little of the emulsified oil left. Probably to do with the fact that the SP6 is solid fuel fired and the steam pipe is not superheated.

Chris Cairns.

Titan · Full member Joined: 19 Jul 2006 Posts: 753 Location: Derby

Interesting. If Mamod had actually made that hole concentric my lubricator would probably just about fit, albeit only just!. I am wondering if it might fit the other piston valve models - maybe the roller and the traction engine?

On my William with the original lubricator after a run it was completely full of water - not a trace of oil in it - not even so much as a film on the water or in the lubricator!

With the new one there is just a small amount of oil left.
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steamyjim · Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 5:45 pm Post subject:

Any progress on the mods Titan?
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Titan · Full member Joined: 19 Jul 2006 Posts: 753 Location: Derby

Nothing has been done since STIA, I have just got umpteen things to do! Only thing of note is that after each run at STIA the enlarged lubricator did not have any oil in it at the end of a run, so it seems that it is in fact still too small. Making one bigger still is possible, but a lot more complicated since it would be too big to simply screw in the bottom as a direct replacement, and would have to be in at least two parts. Something for another day!
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It's a Mamod Jim, but not as we know it!