Water Columns From B&Q

[Curlew]

I am grateful to Gareth for allowing me to copy his design. Both columns for less than £10.
Pics below waiting painting.

 

[Steve]

They look brilliant

 

[Gizzy]

Great work mate!

As you own a live steamie, are you planning to plumb those into the water mains? :thinking:

 

[Bram]

I very much like the idea, a job well done

 

[KeithT]

Great idea!
Why didn't I think of that? I have umpteen left over fittings and oddments of tube.
I think there may well be an oversupply of water columns on my railway soon....
Now how do I make and fit water troughs?.........:thinking:

 

[dunnyrail]

Whilst I am full of praise for the idea. The tubing looked just a bit too large to my eyes. Anyway it did for my take on what an East German Crane might look like. So I had a go with 10mm fittings. I had some 10mm pipe left over from fitting rads in my loft. The worse part was getting it straight. In the view that a picture speaks a thousand words, the following pics are of my version.

Above, Herr Clumpenhammer wonders how he is going to make a Water Crane out of this little lot.

Here he makes a start on Silver Soldering the Control Wheel together.

Silver soldered and awaiting cleaning up.

The next 4 pictures show the Crane in use with Driver Herr Quick using the swivel action to get the pipe over the water Tank of the Harz 2-6-2t. Herr Clumpenhammer watches with pride as his creation is brought into use, thinking I must get round to painting it.

 

[steven large]

well done mate........it up to u to paint it in rust or weathering it up.....tht is brillant idea tht u scatchbuilting it....................BREATHTAKING..

 

[dunnyrail]

Herr Clumpenhammer has finally got round to painting the water Crane, I have in fact done 3 now. Height can be a bit of a problem as my original was built for the big Harz 2-10-2t. But the height is now a bit low for the Harz 2-6-2t. They do use some kind of "Bag" option in Germany so that will be the next thing to do. In the meantime I need to look at some pictures.

Above, Herr Quick and Clumpenhamme this time perform their watering theater on the Harz 2-10-2t.


JonD

 

[Curlew]

Very well done. I think they look best in black.

 

[dunnyrail]

Bag option?....heatshrink tubing.

Great idea, wish I thought of that. I only bought some large stuff from Maplin the other week just in case I needed it!
JonD

 

[George]

brillient idea guys, me and dad was talking about making one only yesturday!

 

[Bram]

Well done bud, that looks the business

 

[Granitechops]

John is there any screw fittings in that 10mm pipe range or is it all solder joints?

The reason I ask is I need to feed a pipe into a tank made of slate & dont want to have heat anywhere near the slate it may spall off or split.

Preferably a valve fitting so that I can do a video clip of the water leaking when the engine has left.

 

[Anorak]

Don,

If you mean compression fittings then yes you can buy 10mm compression joints, not sure from B&Q but I would have thought they'd have stocked them. They might be listed under oil fittings though rather than water because that's their primary use.

Tim

 

[Granitechops]

Don,

If you mean compression fittings then yes you can buy 10mm compression joints, not sure from B&Q but I would have thought they'd have stocked them. They might be listed under oil fittings though rather than water because that's their primary use.

Tim

Thanks Tim

 

[jetomlin]

If you buy the cheapest fittings from B & Q (the 'ProFlame 'brand'), you can cut the copper tubing with a hacksaw. If you don't clean the ends too much the swarf, on being pushed into the fitting provides a fairly tight joint!( if not a touch of glue does the trick)
By using an 'end cap' the structure can be screwed into the base with a self tapping screw( having first drilled the right sized drill!

i congratulate the original contributor on his ingenuity. Copying is the greatest form of flattery! Thanks s lot!

 

[Gareth]

OKAY FOLKS HERE ARE THE ORIGINAL WATER COLUMNS THEY ARE MADE FROM THE CHEAPER PACKS OF PLUMBING ATTACHMENTS. APPROX £3.65 A PACK! IF SOLDERED UP CORRECTLY THERE IS NO REASON WHY THEY CAN BE MADE TO WORK ! THE BAGS ARE TO YOUR DISCRETION ITHER PAPER OR HEATSHRINK OR MATERIAL !

 

[steven large]

I am grateful to Gareth for allowing me to copy his design. Both columns for less than £10.
Pics below waiting painting.

hi mate so what types of wood base tht u use for yr tracks fitted on it?... i was looking for that but cant remember the name.............................................like tht idea about water tap......kool.......

 

[dunnyrail]

John is there any screw fittings in that 10mm pipe range or is it all solder joints?

Yes in 10mm pipework you can get both compression and screw fittings. Mine are all soldered fittings, as I thought that they looked neater. I also soldered the whole thing up except for the lower joint of the T Piece (so that the bag can be swung into position). You can also get Plastic Compression fittings. You may need to go to a proper plumbers merchant to get some of these fittings.

Here is my latest offering showing the dynamic duo of Clumpenhammer and Quick watering the Marklin 0-8-0t. The bag was indeed made from 13mm Heat Shrink and yes I did use a flame to shrink it.

That original is very bright. Certainly brings a splash of colour to the site.

JnD