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[xrad]

Awesome! Party boat!

[KBIO]

  Amazing!congratulations!

[flashtwo]

Thanks guys,

I will try and take some pics and video (if it stops raining!).

Ian.

[flashtwo]

Hi,

A very successful late afternoon steaming at the inaugural meeting of the Sevenoaks Scale Model Boat Club under the auspices of the Kent Model Boat Display Team.

The Rainbow LEDs certainly did the job, although it was difficult to video as it got darker. The reason there were so few boats on the pond, at the time of the videos, was because the Sevenoaks Council Leader was giving a speech regarding the investment that was, hopefully, to be carried out on the ponds to bring them back to a good state of repair.

This outing, I found it difficult to ignite the boiler. It was very slow to start up and was sluggish around the pond. After a while its speed improved, but still didn't perform as it might.

I took the burner out today and, testing, found the three pilot light flames were tiny. The pilot flames normally impinge on the liquid fuel evaporizer coil to turn the liquid butane/propane into a gas, but because this wasn’t happening, liquid fuel was going to the control valve and not passing as easy as the gas. This resulted in low steam temperature and caused the gas control valve to open to about 70%  - normally 15% is adequate. As the burner got hotter, more fuel was evaporated and the gas valve then closed in and the launch speeded up.

In this first YouTube video, slugs of liquid fuel entered the boiler, caused puffs of flame to exit from the stack and extinguished the burner flame and pilot light, viz:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVMLogVHOYs&feature=youtu.be

After things had warmed up, the performance improved -  the ability to stop in the middle of the pond and restart is also demonstrated, viz:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyJi6g_qtkk

Anyway, I’ve increased the pilot light flame size and hope to test it this Saturday.

Ian

[boneash]

Looks great Ian

You've said the pilot flames were tiny but not why they , presumably, have changed since you ran them earlier this season.

Is there a deposit problem with these gas canisters?

You and others seem to be experiencing some sort of gas pipe rubbish..

[rhavrane]

Bonjour Ian,


I have greatly appreciated your videos and noticed a great D10 for a small boiler and no feed pump if I am right ==> what is the capacity of your boiler and what autonomy do you expect ?

About gas, I have no problems because I use small gas refills even if they are a little bit more ewpensive, see here.

A famous English song evokes a drunken sailor, by experience, I could also sing "What shall I do with a drinking D10...?"

And do you think it would be possible to add a whistle  [size=78%]  ?[/size]

[flashtwo]

Hi Boneash,

To control the gas flow to the pilot lights, I just crimped the 1/8inch inch (3.2mm) gas pipe until the flames were to the right height. Possibly the pipe got slightly bent and constricted the flow when I reassembled the boiler after it's recent soot blow and reassembly. To increase the gas flow I simply squeezed the pipe across the crimp with pliers to open up the pipe.

I did check for contaminants and found a little bit of fluff which may have come from cleaning the gas union with kitchen towel - there wasn't any wax-like substances. The main burner gas jet was clear.

I've previously opened up an empty gas cylinder and it was clean.

Ian

[flashtwo]

Hi Rhavrane,

Thank you for your appreciation.

The steam launch has two electric pumps to feed water to the monotube boiler. Only one pump is needed and the other is a standby pump that the computer commands if the first pump fails.

The boiler's single 15m coil may contain 100g of water, but it is being continuously replenished by the pumps with water from the pond. The run-time (autonomy) can be an hour with a 230g gas cylinder using about 3.5g/min, including warming up from cold, viz:

http://www.halfords.com/car-seats-travel-equipment/camping-caravanning/cooking-dining-equipment/halfords-butane-battery-230g-cartridge

The video of the remorqueur RC Jan is impressive, what is her weight (kg?). I see somebody fired an Excocet at her!

I am thinking of fitting a whistle, but the steam pressure usually only goes to 2 Bar, which is enough to run the D10 at 600RPM with 127mm (5 inch) propeller.

Ian

[geoff p]

Beautiful!  I especially liked the reflections when she was at a distance.  Well done.

[flashtwo]

Thanks Geoff.

A news article has appeared in our local rag about the inaugural meeting of the Sevenoaks Scale Model Boat Club:

Ian

[flashtwo]

Hi,
Just a couple of additions to the project.

I’ve made the deck gratings using ¼ inch mahogany strips – I started by hand, but quickly made a milling machine jig to speed up the process.

I thought I could just slice through the mahogany with a 6mm end-mill leaving a clean cut, but I found that the grain caused rather a ragged cut.  I had to do initial cuts with the razor saw before milling the lap joint groove and then finishing off with a fine file.

All in all, I had to cut 720 grooves to make the two gratings. The first grating took several days, but the second 4 ½ hours.

I subsequently found out from a friends full size Dutch barge that the gratings are of two thicknesses of wood with a groove cut only in the lower one!
The brass jig was designed with a drop-down gate that located the wood and held it steady for the next cut.

The other new development is the replacement of the cable connected Control and Display Unit , which interfaces with the on-board computer, with a new one that incorporates a two-way 2.4GHz radio link (See thread http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,48575.25.html ).

This will enable me to fill the boiler remotely, supervise the fuel gas supply pressure and even tune the control loops when Vital Byte is in the middle of the pond (and I’ve just started on the MP3 sound system to link in with the anticipated phonograph!)

Last weekend, VB10 was displayed at the Ally Pally Engineering in Miniature exhibition on the Kent Model Boat Display Team stand.

A French couple, Francois and Isabelle, came from Paris especially for the show; they were friends of French Mayhem member “rhavrane” (Raphaël Havranek).  There were also three guys that had come all the way from Vienna!

Ian

[rhavrane]

Bonjour Ian,

Definetly a great project, mahogny gives the "final touch" ! But what a work to to it  ... Patience is not my word...


My only concern about your baby is that she has a lot of electronic and no whistle  [size=78%] [/size]

I am happy to learn that frenchies came to see you wonderful exhibition (more pictures please !) and I also notice again that the steam world is so small. François and Isabelle are so kind, funny and they are the lucky owners of a real launch as you can see it HERE or THERE.

I will send them this post 


Ian, you should come with other members of this forum to the famous international "Atlantica steam" meeting organized by Fabrice "Anton" Bretagne close to Saint-Savinien on the fourth week-end of September. Look at "Atlantica steam presentation" on YouTube to have an idea (example 2014)

[rhavrane]

Bonjour Ian,

Definetly a great project, mahogany gives the "final touch" ! But what a work to to it  ... Patience is not my word...


My only concern about your baby is that she has a lot of electronic and no whistle 

I am happy to learn that frenchies came to see you wonderful exhibition (more pictures please !) and I also notice again that the steam world is so small. François and Isabelle are so kind, funny and they are the lucky owners of a real launch as you can see it HERE or THERE.

I will send them this post 


Ian, you should come with other members of this forum to the famous international "Atlantica steam" meeting organized by Fabrice "Anton" Bretagne close to Saint-Savinien on the fourth week-end of September. Look at "Atlantica steam presentation" on YouTube to have an idea (example 2014)

[silverbrewer]

Hi Ian, it is nice to see the progress since I first saw you and vital byte way back at a show in Guildford.
Now the system has a good few years of use under it's belt it seems fair to say it is very reliable excepting where you have knocked or vibrated connectors loose.
Have you any intentions of marketing this system properly via a third party, or making them as one offs for people who ask. As discussed years ago, it would be ideal as a system to power my D10 in my lightweight geodesic aerolite covered rowing boat. ( junior Whitehall plans by GA Boats )

[flashtwo]

Hi Mayhemers,

Just had a fantastic weekend at the Model Engineer Exhibition at Brooklands.

The first time I was Brooklands, I witnessed a Vickers Vimy bomber taxiing along the runway prior to take-off; that was in 1969 not 1917 though! As part of my CEGB apprenticeship we were posted to various industries to appreciate the industrial uses of electricity.

Anyhow, for this exhibition, I entered "Vital Byte 10" for judging in working marine models class C1. This was the first time I had entered anything for judging and was immensely chuffed on receiving the Gold Medal on Saturday and then half-hour later receiving the "H.V. Evans Trophy" for research and presentation! It was made even better on receiving congratulations from fellow exhibitors.

"Vital Byte 10" was a difficult subject to exhibit, since on the surface it is just a model  Edwardian Steam Launch and it is not obvious that it uses the monotube / once-through boiler with computer control. On top of that it is Voice Controlled and has an in-built navigation function. To explain the non-obvious functionality, I stayed with the model for most of the weekend explaining and demonstrating it to the visitors.

Next to me on the stand was Colin Vass with his fantastic HMS Warspite. My father was at the Salerno Landings in Italy and experienced the broadsides from Warspite (before it was hit by a Fritz guided bomb); he said the shells were like an express train passing low over head.

I was amazed that Colin Vass had spent 15 years building his Warspite, but then I reflected that I had spent 10 years experimenting and developing the once-through boiler and control system and finally building the steam launch.

The Model Engineer Exhibition is a great place to see such a vast range of skills on show. I was very impressed by the guys who produced such intricate patterns for their various model's castings.

Two people I must thank for help in the systems development are Phil Abbott (Steamboat Phil) for telling me it wasn't possible and then giving me heaps of encouragement and Rod Laws for allowing me to bounce off various (crazy?) ideas over a pint.

Here are a couple of photos:- the first is "Vital Byte 10" with its Gold Award and "H.V. Evans Trophy" and the second is of Cherry Hill, famous for her fabulous engineering models, viewing the various exhibits, with,  in the background, the propeller from the Vickers Vimy that was the first to fly the Atlantic in 1919. Its ironic that on my first Brooklands visit I saw a Vimy on the runway and on my second visit (47 years later!) I was exhibiting under another's propeller.

Ian

[derekwarner]

Hearty congratulations from afar Ian  ........Derek

[SailorGreg]

Congratulations Ian, and well deserved, she's a marvellous model and an inspiration to us all.

Greg

[Colin Bishop]

As Chief Marine Judge at the MEX I would like to add my congratulations to Ian. Vital Byte 10 is a unique model boat in combining the traditional with applicaton of the latest technology, particularly in applying the flash steam principle in such a controllable way. Ian also built the Stuart D10 from castings. Truly a man of many talents!

Colin

[steamboatmodel]

Well done Ian. Well deserved.
Regards.
Gerald.

[Landlocked]

Some thing glitched


In an earlier reply, the question was raised -- "What shall I do with a drinking D10?"  the answer -- "Put 'em in the bilge until he boils over!"


Landlocked

[rhavrane]

Bonjour Landlocked,