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[A Model World]

Yes totally agree with you HS93 proffesional equipment is the best but of coures can come at a price 

[Captain Povey]

Hello all, Just a couple of things. I decided my 40 year general purpose soldering iron was too big for some of the recent jobs more delicate jobs and went for a solder station with small tip, holder and temperature control from Maplin all for £10. Seems to work OK. On the oiler front I do not trust myself with soldering irons or blow lamps inside a model so I have decided after all your input to go for a 'horses for courses' approach. So for the Smit Nederland where the prop tubes emerge for a short distance into a well I will glue on a tube and surround it with epoxy (Bunkerbarge). For the St Canute where the tube is deep down in a confined space I will fabricate a piece out side the model, strap it on, and then surround it with a resin (Bluebird), for the Waverider I have ordered the Gruapner (red) version from A Model Boats who do have minimum order charge unlike some others as Graupner Germany would not sell them to me direct. Cheers Graham

[Captain Povey]

  oops I was not paying attention to my typing or thinking when I made the last post so please let me correct it. It is A Model World that does not have a minimum charge. Apologies to all. Graham

[Captain Povey]

Hi all, Just a couple of quick pics of the quickly delivered oilers fitted to 8mm shaft, extension tube and flip top oiler added by me. This was easy, onto the more difficult ones next week, perhaps. During the strip down it was interesting to note that rust was starting to form on the shaft after the last sailing. So oil not only important for running but storage too. Cheers Graham.

[kiteman1]

Following my previous post,here's what I really wanted to say.

I've just soldered up my prop tubes with a 75watt iron and found it a little on the cool side.  Unfortunately, because I couldn't remove the teflon bearings due to narrow inside shoulders they popped anyway while soldering.  The result was distorted bearings which needed reaming out with a smooth file to make a good fit.  This on five inch shafts.  So much for teflon, give me brass any time.
I then filled the tubes with teflon grease which I reckon will keep them lubricated anyway, and then I'll use the oiler later to fill any voids in the shaft.  I've found that this worked well on previous models.  It has the benefit of not poisoning the yabbies because the grease contains the oil in the shaft and keeps the PC brigade quiet.

I think the next step might be to see what Maplins have to offer in solder stations............... 

I think the previous posting of bolt on oilers looks pretty cool and neat.

[Captain Povey]

Hello all, Just an update on this topic having now fitted two home made oilers to the Smit Nederland. The pictures show the limited space when fitting to an existing model like this. The oilers were made from odd bits of brass tube soldered together using a gas blow lamp outside the model. They were then tack glued into place, two washers added and the hole lot potted. The prop tube was then drilled and the plastic tube + flip top oilers added. Cheers Graham. 

[DickyD]

Nice neat job Graham 

[Captain Povey]

Thanks for your kind words Richard. You should have been around when I unclamped the things after soldering only to find that in my haste I had failed to notice that there was so much heat still in the assembly that the solder was still molten and the lot fell to pieces before it hit the floor. The word used then was close to rollocks. Perhaps this belongs in the mistakes we made section.Cheers Graham.  :)

[Colin H]

With regard to the gas/cat irons if you are in the UK B&Q depot do a set with 3/4 different bits also serves as a miniature blow lamp. All for under £20-00p. Had one a year now and found it to be superb.

Colin H.

[Bryan Young]

Buzzing through this thread I think (Probably wrong) that I posted a simpler idea. The main reason you want a prop tube oiler on a "ship" (as opposed to a racing boat) is to keep the water out. There is no need to go through all the trouble/hassle and expense of fitting whatever "oiler" you think is appropriate. I did all that, soldering grease nipples to thin tubes, wondering about the strength of the joint. Then I got to thinking...why? It is'nt as if the prop centre is 20' under the surface of the water with allthe pressure. We are only talking about a couple of inches or so. So what pressure? (Unless you build submarines). So, realistically we are only talking about keeping wayer out of a small gap at atmospheric pressure. Solution. Just drill a hole into the outer shaft tube in a convenient place, the hole large enough to accept whatever gloop you want to insert and then just slide a "Terry Clip" or a tube of sliding fit over the hole and the job is done. THERE IS NO PRESSURE! And it works. Free, cheap and easy. Don't be fooled into buying expensive "oilers" when they are not needed.
Sorry to all you retailers out there, but thats the way it is.

[HS93 (RIP)]

There may be a slight down side to that ,when the shaft bushes wear a bit at the Prop end and you forget to put gloop/oil in if the shaft is below the water line if you have a short pipe on it there is less chance of getting water drips in , also there is more chance of it getting a squirt of oil if you just have a pipe, but each to there own.

Peter

[boatmadman]

I use phosphour bronze bushes and bright drawn steel for my propshaft.  If the bushes are machined and reamed properly, very little water gets through. In fact on most of my shafts, no water gets through at all.

I dont worry about lubrication, the shafts are free enough to turn and the amount of use they get is so little that wear is a non issue, on scale ships anyway. My inner bushes never get even warm.

 Fast boats are a different animal completely!

Ian

[Captain Povey]

Hi all, I agree there is no pressure forcing water in and that was not the reason for wanting to fit oilers.  The reason was that after stripping down an old boat and noticing how corroded the prop shaft was after being in store for some time after the last sail.    It therefore seemed logical to have means of introducing some corrosion protection after sailing without stripping down.  Having made my own and fitted some bought ones I think the bought ones are good value.  After all what is a couple of quid compared with the hours spent finding material and making your own.  :angel: I suppose it depends on how much you think your time is worth and how much of it you have on hand to waste.  :-\ Cheers Graham. :)

[Peter Fitness]

Graham, regarding the problem you had with corrosion, I assume you are using steel rod for your prop shafts, or even brass, which will corrode in time. I have made it a policy to use stainless steel shafting in all my models as we sail in salt water. I use outboard motor grease as a lubricant, and have had no trouble with water accessing the hull through the prop tube. As I mentioned in a previous post, I make all my own prop tubes, and silver solder a greasing tube in them. In a recent modelling magazine, there was an article on shaft lubrication in which the author suggested that grease was not a good option, as it creates friction. I have experienced no problems in this regard, as all my models are relatively slow, but I imagine that friction would be a problem with high speed boats.
Peter.

[Captain Povey]

Hi Peter, Thanks for your input. You are correct the shaft was steel but then it was from a very old boat and probably from a time when stainless was hard to come by and very expensive. With hindsight it would have been a good idea to remake it in stainless which I can now get my hands on. I agree grease is probably ok for most of my boats which are not fast by modern standards. I have also learnt that the selection of the correct grease is important for high speed applications as we once fitted to some standard bearings in unit at work which we then ran at speeds of 20000rpm and they generated a so much heat that most of the grease was thrown out. Cheers Graham  :)