Got a question about lights.

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Cyruscosmo
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Got a question about lights.

Post by Cyruscosmo » Wed Jul 15, 2015 3:24 am

Hey All

I have in my searches seen pictures of marker lights on some steam launches that look to be of the acetylene type, old black and white pictures and not very clear. I would like to find something like them for my Launch. Anyone got a line on pictures of these lights or maybe drawings?

Also what alloy of brass/bronze should I use for my hardware? Keep in mind I will be Steaming on fresh as well as salty waters.


Cyruscosmo
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Re: Got a question about lights.

Post by dhic001 » Wed Jul 15, 2015 4:47 am

By marker lights, so you mean navigation lights? ie Red port light, green starboard etc? If so, they were oil lamps rather than acetylene, although acetylene would have been used for a search light. http://www.davey.co.uk/ do navigation lights, look under lighting, the oil navigation lamps. They have produced such lamps for many years, my vessel Zeltic has an original set, now converted to electric internally. The only difficulty with doing this is that the flame from am oil burner is very yellow, so the green lens is actually blue. To get a green light with a white electric bulb, a yellow filter needs to be fitted inside the lamp. You may find second hand lamps available on ebay, just make sure you don't get them too big, they come in every size from small to huge big ship ones.

Bronze is the metal to use for hardware, with bronze bolts holding it down, or galv is bronze isn't possible. Brass is only of use for decoration, and for handrail tubing etc.

Daniel
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Re: Got a question about lights.

Post by S. Weaver » Wed Jul 15, 2015 6:26 pm

Coal oil (liquid paraffin, sometimes sold as "ultra-pure lamp oil") mixed in with kerosene at approximately 80% to 20% of the latter will give a nice white flame. Mix in a dash of mineral spirits for brilliance. This a mix used for navigation and railroad markers this side of the pond for over 100 years. Each company had its proprietary mix for "signal oil," but they were all around these ratios.
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Cyruscosmo
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Re: Got a question about lights.

Post by Cyruscosmo » Thu Jul 16, 2015 1:19 am

Thank You for the reply

Yes Daniel Navigation lights, and thank you for the link. Ok on the bronze I was reading up on hardware and seen brass and bronze both and was not sure. Do you have pictures of Zeltic? I would like to see the lights you have.

Thank you Steve on that recipe for the oil I have a couple oil lamps here at home I can try that out on.

Cyruscosmo
My Grandpa told me when I was 8 or so that “You have to learn by the mistakes of others! Because you will NOT live long enough to make them all yourself.” At that age I though I had forever to learn everything... ;-)
dhic001
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Re: Got a question about lights.

Post by dhic001 » Tue Jul 21, 2015 7:12 am

The picture below is rather old and out of date, but it does show masthead and port lamps fitted. I have subsequently added a stern light where the lifebuoy is sitting. My current stern light has no glass in it, but has a modern electric stern light mounted inside it, which hardly anyone notices. With modern LEDs in them, the lights are on with the flick of a switch, and are considerably brighter than an oil lamp, something that I think is important when navigating in seaways where fast vessels operate. I will try and find or take some close up pictures.
Daniel

[/img] ImageDSC01923 by daniel_hicksnz, on Flickr
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Lopez Mike
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Re: Got a question about lights.

Post by Lopez Mike » Tue Jul 21, 2015 7:51 am

I've had ZERO problems with brass either ABOVE the water line or not in piping.

It works just fine for things like lamps and trim and bells and such like. And it looks miles nicer than bronze when polished up and you will be polishing it. Budget for a can of Brasso per year minimum.

(Old hands skip the next bit and if you do read it don't nit pick too much. I know about all the various deceptive names of the various copper alloys. This is just a primer.)

Just for those just getting into the metal stuff, the two commonest copper alloys you will run into when dealing with fittings and accessories will be brass and bronze. Brass is copper alloyed with zinc and bronze is copper alloyed with tin. Because of electrolysis, the zinc will dissolve in salt water and also any time there is electrical current flowing from what ever source. That leaves behind porous copper which is structurally not good for much of anything. Tin, for the same electro chemical reasons will dissolve too but it takes literally thousands of years if there is no external source of current. They are still dragging bronze stuff from the bronze age to the surface of the Mediterranean and once they remove the barnacles it looks pretty good.

Bronze is also much stronger than brass. No brass bolts please.

If you just want it to stinking last, use stainless steel above the water line and monel below. Ugly though. Check your credit card balance and heart condition before pricing the monel though. Try to remember that stainless steel is only corrosion resistant at the chromium oxide layer at the surface. If anything wears away that layer and there is no oxygen either air borne of dissolved in the water to reform that layer of oxide, it dies just like ordinary steel.

There all sorts of other limitations that only apply in situations that Fred runs into in those monster power plants. When hot sea water cavities, nothing much works.
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Re: Got a question about lights.

Post by fredrosse » Tue Jul 21, 2015 7:33 pm

Daniel, (dhic001), Zeltic is a great looking boat, could you post some more pictures and technical details on this forum in the thread "Member's Steamboats - A Simple List for All"

Thanks.
dhic001
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Re: Got a question about lights.

Post by dhic001 » Sun Jul 26, 2015 9:44 am

Fred,
The boat has its own listing in the members websites and steamboats forum, on the second page, listed as S.S. Zeltic. Once i've sorted some more current pictures etc, I'll update that page and add her to the thread you mention. need to complete some work first....
Daniel
fredrosse wrote:Daniel, (dhic001), Zeltic is a great looking boat, could you post some more pictures and technical details on this forum in the thread "Member's Steamboats - A Simple List for All"

Thanks.
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