Blower for steam raising

[MikeWilliams]

Its about time I bought my own blower for steam raising.  Don't have time to make one and it needs to be big enough for medium sized G3 engines.  Is there a commercial blower anyone can recommend?

Mike

[Andy B]

Mike,
I've been considering just the same question - you know why 

Steve C said he has used his 'Aster' one successfully - a 'medium' G3 boiler having similar demands as a 'large' G1 boiler - but I'm not sure if they are still available.

Maxitrack say they have 2 sizes - "Smaller version - Suitable for G1 to 5" Gauge railway models" - which I think is this one - https://www.maidstone-engineering.com/blower-3volt-d-cell-battery

Elstow Engineering - Elstowhttp://www.elstow-engineering.co.uk/blower.html - available from 'Loco boxes'

Polly / Bruce Engineering say they have 3 sizes, but I've not found any details.

Are there any others to consider?

Andy

[MikeWilliams]

Andy,

Roger Marsh also uses an Aster G1 blower and there is one on ebay at the moment, but its £80 which seems a lot for a small motor and a fan.

Mike

[IanT]

Mine is a combined motor/fan unit that was originally part of something ex-aviation Mike - and I cannot recall where I got it from now. I've seen others use them so they must have been popular at one time. But they need a 12v supply and are pretty power hungry - so the low voltage units are much better I feel.

However the biggest problem is that the combined motor/fan (metal) body can get very hot (it's pulling the hot exhaust gases through itself) and this makes for burnt fingers if you forget and touch it..

So if (when) I replace it, I'll use a low voltage motor (preferably with speed control) and (most importantly) good separation between the motor and fan unit - such that both motor (and my fingers) don't get overheated in use...

Regards,

IanT   

[MikeWilliams]

Thanks Ian, that's very helpful.  Surely with all the G1, 16mm and commercial steam models available there must be some out of the box solutions?  Or maybe there's a gap in the market!  What do you think of these Ian:

http://www.elstow-engineering.co.uk/blower.html

https://www.maidstone-engineering.com/tools/steam-sundries/blower?mode=list

https://www.maidstone-engineering.com/blower-3volt-d-cell-battery

Mike

[Andy B]

All the above has focused on the suction fan type of blower .
Has anyone tried the 'U' tube fed by compressed air method in our small size? There are lots of small, cheap, motor/fan units around with plastic cases for which temperature isn't an issue if they are alongside the loco not on top of the chimney.

Andy

[IanT]

The Elstow one looks simple enough Mike but I can't see a price. The larger (12v) Maidstone blowers are more along the lines of what I have, although the motor is a separate unit on these - but you can see that the cast metal body of the fan unit is going to get hot - the Elstow one less so I suspect....

As Andy says, you can make a proper 'blower' (rather than a 'sucker') with pipe (plumbing) fittings and an external fan but the ones I've seen are a bit more bulky than the simple low-voltage ones...and if you are going to build one of those - then the Elstow-type wouldn't be any harder to build yourself (the fan blade doesn't need to be very hi-tech)

Regards,

IanT

[Andy B]

The Elstow one looks simple enough Mike but I can't see a price.

£65
Scroll down the page here - http://www.loco-boxes.co.uk/home

[492]

I've often thought that I would like to try a "blower" rather than a "sucker". Have been trying to find details on line without success. Is there a picture or a site with some details? I could quite easily provide a compressed air supply to my steaming bay.

Robert. 492.

[Andy B]

The only pictures I've found are of this one on ebay - here - aimed at the bigger scales.
There are several forum posts on Model Engineering sites about connection points being added to the tube between the blower valve and nozzle, enabling a compressed air connection to be made  - but these are in larger scales where it is easier to hide the extra valve & connection point.
Having not yet steamed a G3 loco, I don't have a feel for how much initial draught they need, compared to 5" / 7 1/4" with with I'm more familiar.

Andy

[IanT]

Not tempted to do anything outside today, as it's a bit windy here at the moment, so just tidying up inside.

However, I spotted this during tea-break and thought some here might find it useful given this recent thread. It's a brief note by LBSC way back in December 1941, so nothing too new!  :-)








Regards,

IanT

[Jon_C]

Could I suggest a relatively low tech solution to a blower type air supply. Its not something ive done, but have seen it used in larger gauges in the absence of a fan to aid draft through the boiler. After all it doesn't need a roaring draft just a little to aid lighting up and get the gasses through the tubes.

A piece of 1/16" ID copper pipe that can hang over and inside the chimney, with a little heat shrink tube around the outside of it, or wrapped in string and PTFE tape, to protect the paintwork. Bent to a U shape at the bottom inside the chimney so that the air is blowing directly out the chimney.

This can be coupled upto a 12V car tyre inflator, a bush soft soldered on the end of the copper tube to get to the correct size for a schreader valve clip on fitting. Light up and switch on the 12v pump, the small draft should be sufficient to allow the engine to gain steam enough for the engines own blower to take over.

I'm sure there's a few of you that would have a small 12v tyre inflator at home, if not they can usually be picked up for less than £10.