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Author Topic: Caldercraft Northlight Puffer with working Derrick Crane  (Read 109728 times)

Corposant

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Re: Working Puffer Derrick crane anyone?!?!?
« Reply #125 on: December 14, 2009, 04:59:28 pm »

Hi Angusc

Northlight is my first build too! We had a holiday on the Vic32 - brillaint experience - and I bored them all at work about it so much that they gave me the kit as a retirement present! That was over nine years ago! In fairness to myself, because of moving home, renovation etc, I only started building it about two years ago.

Like you, I found the instruction booklet geared to someone with at least some experience. Once you get started though, it's not too bad. Why they start with fitting the rudder is a bit of a mystery! Because the inner surface of the hull is somewhat uneven, I made the bulkheads out of card and made these fit first - like the first stage in making the non-existent stand! These can then be used to shape the wooden ones. Two part epoxy is the adhesive to use here.

Then - big, big problem!!

Looking at the bag of bits for the winch, I thought "Wouldn't it be nice to make this work". If you're planning to complete the model in a reasonable time, shut any such thoughts from your mind! (I also decided to make the steering gear work with the chain, which will require modifying the shape of the wheelhouse.)

So...

My advice to you is ask lots of questions on the forum - the guy's here fall over themselves to help chaps like us. They don't mind if it's been asked before, but they do like lots of pictures!

First question should be about suitable adhesives for the various materials involved. At some stage in the near future, ask about when the fittings should be painted - I haven't got round to that yet, so you can save me the trouble! I've fitted a motor from my accumulated odds and ends and I'm planning to use an ESC which I made up from a Maplin's kit about twenty years ago - this will cause the forum members to throw a wobbly - so you'd better ask them for some proper advice here too!

Quite a number of people on the forum have made this model, so you should get more useful adice shortly.

Regards,
            Mike
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Angusc

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Caldercraft Clyde Puffer
« Reply #126 on: December 30, 2009, 04:33:10 pm »

I don't much like the white metal propellor that comes with the kit. Can anybody recommend a source of brass propellors?

Thanks

AngusC
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Bradley

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Re: Caldercraft Clyde Puffer
« Reply #127 on: December 30, 2009, 04:36:46 pm »

Try this one, Angus -

http://www.gsitek-props.co.uk/

Derek.    :police:
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a3nige

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Re: Caldercraft Clyde Puffer
« Reply #128 on: December 30, 2009, 05:04:50 pm »

Then paint the white metal one and use it as deck cargo.  :-))
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Bradley

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Re: Caldercraft Clyde Puffer
« Reply #129 on: December 31, 2009, 05:13:03 pm »

Angus,
What happened to your other postings about the Puffer, did you get any replies?  They seem to have disappeared. {:-{  I was going to suggest that you ask Martin-Admin if they could all be combined into one and you may then have got more replies.  One thing you could do is to put 'Caldercraft Clyde Puffer' or even just 'Puffer' into the search box, top left, and I think you would be surprised at the number of links it will come up with. :-))

Derek.    :police:
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Angusc

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Re: Caldercraft Clyde Puffer
« Reply #130 on: December 31, 2009, 09:42:17 pm »

Thanks Derek. I wondered myself what had happened to them. I thought perhaps I'd upset somebody. I will take your advice and do a more detailed search. I'm just finding my feet on the forum at the moment.

Angus
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Corposant

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Re: Caldercraft Clyde Puffer
« Reply #131 on: December 31, 2009, 10:28:17 pm »

There's a couple in the first "Working Boats" section.

Mike
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Bradley

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Re: Caldercraft Clyde Puffer
« Reply #132 on: December 31, 2009, 10:57:26 pm »

Quote
I'm just finding my feet on the forum at the moment.

Angus,

On this forum if you're not sure, just ask.  Most mayhemmers could not be more helpful. :-) :-) :-))

Derek.    :police:
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Angusc

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Re: Caldercraft Clyde Puffer
« Reply #133 on: January 01, 2010, 06:37:19 pm »

Thanks

Angus
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Davew

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Re: Caldercraft Clyde Puffer
« Reply #134 on: January 07, 2010, 06:29:27 pm »

Hi
I am after a bit of advice just about to start the Caldercraft Clyde Puffer build and I just what size moter to use and ESC to suit.

Thanks DaveW
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Angusc

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Re: Caldercraft Clyde Puffer
« Reply #135 on: January 12, 2010, 12:09:43 am »

Hi Dave

I'm afraid I haven't got that far yet. I don't seem to have the time at the moment to get started.

Angus
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Corposant

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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
« Reply #136 on: January 12, 2010, 07:59:04 pm »

The good news is that FLJ's P44 units work a treat for operating the Puffer winch motors. The tiny dead-band problem I had with modified servos has been overcome by removing the circuitry and just leaving the motors.



Because one may wish to lower the hoist whilst raising the boom, a relay prevents conflicting signals being sent to the motor driving the winch mechanism. (I tried to demonstrate this in the video but it's virtually impossible to spot!)



Now the bad news.

After the success of using a weighted pulley system to maintain gentle tension on the secondary (dummy) line for raising the boom (shown, still in prototype form, on the right in the next picture), I made a similar system to replace the crude lengthy pieces of elastic which I was using to maintain tension on the lines used for lateral movement of the boom.

Knowing that a greater length of thread was involved, I increased the number of sheaves from three to five.



The video demonstrates the extent of my stupidity!!



The two outer sheaves in the upper block don't count, so it's a three sheave system!

I'm now in a quandry. Do I accept that I can't raise the boom quite as far as I had hoped and stick with the rather lengthy, horizontal, piece of elastic to maintain tension (I had hoped to use a spring) or do I start again using an extra pair of sheaves?

The system already has a total of nine!



I strongly suspect that, with any extra sheaves, more spring tension will be required to prevent transient slackness in the thread and this could put too much strain on the system when the boom is fully raised. My inexperience is getting the better of me!

Finally, the ugly:



Given half a chance, she'll lick you to death!

(Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!)

Mike
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Corposant

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Re: Caldercraft Clyde Puffer
« Reply #137 on: January 13, 2010, 11:48:00 pm »

Dave

It might be better to start a new thread with your question about a motor. Several members of the forum have built this model and could give you advice. I, like Angus, haven't got the right experience but it seems to me that "scale speed" is the key. I have seen a Puffer zooming round a lake like a speedboat and it made me cringe. In my case, I dug a 5 pole motor out of the "might come in handy" box and it seems about right in the bath - but that's a far cry from open water! (5 poles or more are better than 3 for low speed running.)

Most ESC's seem to be rated at 10 Amps going up to 20 or more. My motor, which I'm running off a 6 Volt battery pack, draws 1.4 Amps when connected to 7.5 V and stalled. Even at 9.5 V and stalled, it only draws 1.8 Amps. So you definitely need some advice from someone more experienced in these matters! Talk to FLJ about ESC's.

The Mabuchi website has a lot of information about motors:

http://www.mabuchi-motor.co.jp/en_US/index.html

In particular the Technical guide and Product Information/Web Catalogue/Motor Designations

Finally, I agree with Angus about the prop. and shaft that come with the kit. I have fitted them to mine but now regret it. You can hear the rust crunching when the shaft is turned! It's only been in water a couple of times - and yes, I did stuff plenty of grease in! Go for brass!

Mike
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FullLeatherJacket

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Re: Caldercraft Clyde Puffer
« Reply #138 on: January 14, 2010, 08:32:00 am »

A 12v Mabuchi 555 and a 10A ESC would do nicely.
PM me for details if you like.
FLJ
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Corposant

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Re: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
« Reply #139 on: February 21, 2010, 04:33:59 pm »

The Good:
               Have got four Hornby locos working. First trodden on (by an adult!) just after Christmas, the other three raked out of a leaky greenhouse by our eldest son - where they'd been for several years!

The Bad:
              My misgivings over maintaining light tension on the lateral lines of the puffer boom have proved well founded! The original attempt using lengths of elastic worked but was rather crude. Because of the success of a pulley system for another line on the boom, I took the same approach for the lateral lines - as described earlier in this thread but 5 sheaves (effectively 3) were not enough. Having endured some bone chilling sessions in the garage making a 7 sheave system (effectively 5),






I now find that the extra drag created means that too much tension has to be applied to the lower block to prevent the lines going slack. The small weights attached to the ends of the thread (which can be seen in the video) help but the overall picture is one of diminishing returns.



Another factor is the "reaving": very fiddly in the mock-up but would try the patience of a saint when mounted in the hull.

The Ugly:
              Cleo must have heard what I said about her and she is coming to get me.


I'm not sure what she plans to do with this, but I wouldn't like to be in my shoes.


It must be said, she's a lot better looking than me.


Mike
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dhenrypat

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Re: Caldercraft Clyde Puffer
« Reply #140 on: February 22, 2010, 12:59:28 am »

I'm using a microperm motor that has been sitting around for donkey's years!  7.2 V, and a 1 3/4" prop.  Sorry I don't know the pitch, but I suspect that it's about 2" - 2 1/2".  Looks about right in motion on the water, but I may do a bit more experimenting with the gear ratios.  At the moment,the maximum rpm is about 850.
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FullLeatherJacket

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Re: Caldercraft Clyde Puffer
« Reply #141 on: February 22, 2010, 08:14:09 am »

I may do a bit more experimenting with the gear ratios.  At the moment,the maximum rpm is about 850.

I think you'll need to. I'd start with at least 2000RPM if I were you.
FLJ
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Corposant

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Re: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
« Reply #142 on: February 27, 2010, 05:16:18 pm »

The good, the bad and the ugly doesn't seem to have evoked much interest. No surprises there!

Reverting to the original system works to my satisfaction but relies on two long lengths of shirring elastic. Sorry about the quality of the video.



I would really like to avoid using elastic on the grounds that it perishes but...

How does one go about finding long, very weak (about 25g) extension springs? Obviously I want to avoid buying a succession of ones which prove unsuccessful.

(Actually I'm getting fed up with all this development and want to start getting everything in the hull.)

Mike
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boatmadman

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Re: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
« Reply #143 on: February 27, 2010, 05:57:23 pm »

Corposant,

Over 220 hits shows people are interested, just not commenting.

Anyway, love the ugly - we have a black one!

Oh, your model work is great as well %)

Re springs, had you thought about making your own, its not that hard, and here is a thread on another forum showing how its done:

http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=2734.0

Ian
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Corposant

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Re: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
« Reply #144 on: February 27, 2010, 06:39:14 pm »

Ian

I wasn't surprised nobody commented - I didn't ask any questions! The help I've had from my other posts has been fantastic - and yours is no exception! What a brilliant article, just the sort of thing I was looking for. Thanks for sharing it.

Thank you too for your comment about my efforts - it's a good job they're not in focus!

Regards,
            Mike
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The long Build

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Re: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
« Reply #145 on: February 27, 2010, 06:59:25 pm »

Most dogs settle for a ball or a small stick , but yours goes for the whole tree !!! :}
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Corposant

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Re: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
« Reply #146 on: February 27, 2010, 07:19:03 pm »

I have a confession to make! She's not actually our dog, she belongs to our daughter and son-in-law. We get to take her out for a "walk" three or four times a week. She is amazingly adept at finding the balance point of the bigger branches she "fetches"!

Mike
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Martin (Admin)

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Re: Caldercraft Northlight Puffer with working Derrick Crane
« Reply #147 on: February 27, 2010, 10:10:09 pm »

All topics merged.

 This is a great project!  :-))
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HS93 (RIP)

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Re: Caldercraft Northlight Puffer with working Derrick Crane
« Reply #148 on: February 27, 2010, 10:49:32 pm »

aldi have boxes of springs on offer, they some times have them in when there is not one , a couple of hundred springs of all types for a few pounds.

Peter
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HS93 (RIP)

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Re: Caldercraft Northlight Puffer with working Derrick Crane
« Reply #149 on: February 27, 2010, 10:57:45 pm »

by the way I think you may be supprised at the number of people who look at this sort of thing, in time there will probably be lots of people linking to how to do it when questions are asked in the future, I did one or to brass things in the past and was surprised at the number reading but not asking questions.
keep up the good work
Peter
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