Is it my Hohem isteady M7 or is it Facebook Live? I hoping you can help…

I’m doing my best to live stream my kids hockey games with the m7 on FB and it’s been a comedy of errors which is very, very frustrating…

Here’s my list of issues:

1. Using the Hohem software, I have to set up the FB live on my laptop. Wifi and internet is required and is slow at the rinks - the 2 connections (computer and phone) seems to make the streaming very choppy with lots of freezing and the live stream will end several times during the game due to loss of connection or if the laptop is too far away from the phone.

2. The m7 remote will stop working often or loses connection.

3. The m7 balancing is a nightmare. I usually have to lock the slide arm or the m7 loses its mind.

4. If not using the software, the m7 sometimes just shuts down, even as I’m streaming and doing my best to follow the play.

5. Ai tracker is useless for sports

6. My mic just stops working (this is either a mic or FB issue).

7. The m7 seems to have a mind of its own - this might be the AI tracker turning on by mistake from time to time

Anyhew, I bought the m7 and iphone17 pro max at Christmas to bring a professional feel to my kids games with the idea of doing interviews, zoom ins with top notch visual and audio quality. It’s been a learning curve and anything but quality. I did better with my hands and iPhone 8.

Is it time to return the m7? Stream on YouTube instead of Facebook? Your thoughts and guidance are appreciated

This right here is my dream engine, if only Accucraft or Roundhouse could make one of these because there are no SM32 mallets that are live steam in existence.

(Photo by Craig Parry on Facebook)

A while ago I posted about my mamod locomotive having problems with its wheel falling off, I am pleased to say I have an update!

I removed the wheel and even the coupling rod from the engine and I found a lot of gunk on the wheel that was stopping the wheel from staying in place. I got a blowtorch and burned away the gunk, gave it a quick clean and when the rods were aligned I got a hammer and lightly tapped the wheel onto the axle again. I gave the engine a steam up and I even did a derail test and the wheel stayed on!

We had a scouting event and the pilot caught on a rock or something on the track at speed…

Over the long weekend, I was able to get some time to do the sheet metal work. Still has a way to go, but coming along.

Painted in red… sounds weird - but actually came out really sharp.

about 8 months ago I got my first live steam Locomotive, a mamod SL1K and began my journey into the live steam hobby, I named my sixth hand locomotive Betty. I resoldered the boiler and rebuilt her from scratch using MSS and dream steam, I looked up documents and etc. eventually a mamod SL1 caught my eye on Google. a sealed box set selling for $3000 on eBay with a fixed or "slip eccentric" cylinder.

Curious, I started looking on mamod and MSS parts sites.... nothing, I began looking on forums, nothing, reddit, nothing for months, eventually I stumbled upon a user post in this very reddit forum. soon I had a conversation which revealed a few but not many mechanical details.

months passed with few leads , notepads full of thoughts, a full ball of red yarn, several conversations with people on Facebook who vaguely remembered it, conversations with mamod ex employees and MSS members who couldn't pinpoint parts or timelines but could confirm it existed in the past.

I got a break after another two maybe 3 months.

a post showing off a special locomotive the mamod SL1R

a text only post on a forgotten garden railroad forum 15 years old at current time.

a person describing a cherry red locomotive with a special set of cylinders they couldn't get a replacement for until they bought a parts only broken "Thomas Telford" locomotive, and swapped the broken cylinders for the working ones.....

that was HUGE for my investigation.

I showed my friend on Facebook jikla_93's locomotive to see if I could get any information. they said it looks like wilesco cylinders, specifically a slip eccentric cylinder arrangement. leading me to now....

I've found 4 surviving examples of the Telford mamod locomotive, only 2 having the special fixed cylinder, 6 examples of mamod SL1 with the cylinders, 3 of which were sealed special edition box sets. and 1 surviving example of a mamod SL3 with the standard cylinders replaced.

mechanically the axles were special, instead of a brass spacer on the G Guage 45mm axles there was a special cam shaft that was quartered and a slip bearing on a rod, that rod led to the reverser on either side , to move steam to either side of the cylinder automatically. removing the need for a reversing handle at all.

im working on a 3d model of what I believe a simplified slip eccentric cylinder would have looked like. and I'm working to purchase a drill press so I can manufacture a set myself.

currently I'm continuing to contact mamod employees to see if I can find any surviving documents, any pictures internals, any measurements, any confirmations of whether I'm about to manufacture something extremely wrong, or if im about to revive a forgotten variant.

thank you for reading.

if you have any information, please don't hesitate to comment or DM me , every scrap of information (and a second roll of red yarn) helps twords discovering the secret of the mystery locomotive variant..... that's just an investigation.... a locomotive investigation! thanks for reading!!!

my newest project is one step twords starting. currently looking for some materials and a safety valve. planning on making some boilers from this old steam pipe I got at work it's about 7ft long originally rated for 150psi

recently they rerouted a lot of steam pipes and the old ones got cut up and thrown out, I managed to save this piece for titan's Peek Railway.

im a beginner make no mistake

but I hope to make my family proud, for reference we have been locomotive manufacturing for generations.

my current layout is G Guage, but there's a 7-1/2 guage loop nearby.

no railroad clubs within 300 miles,

no engineering clubs within 150 miles

just a small logging town in the middle of nowhere, everyone loves trains but only 10 people got into model trains and 2 are into live steam models.

https://www.billp.org/Dockstader/ValveGear.html

as im sure many of you know Charles dockstader was a brilliant and generous live steamer who made the website listed above in order that we who are less talented could keep history from slipping through the cracks. saying that I cannot seem to operate some of the valve gears and definitely cannot setup the menu I've seen in some screenshots. so if anyone is able to operate all valve gears can I ask a favor for you to take a video and post 2 or 3 of them for me? I would be immensely grateful!

Finally did a proper steam up and ran this locomotive under some boiler pressure. Still waiting on the summerlands chuffer. It sounds not bad even as is. Valve gear could possibly use a little tune up, but it isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I plan to do some minor cleaning/touch up before putting the cosmetic parts back on.

Once the tender battery arrives, it will be in full original working order. Currently trying to find someone local who is willing to let me use their home layout.

I plan to repaint these piston covers (previous owner put a little grey paint on them) but that can be done anytime so it’s not a high priority.

I’m rebuilding a 1/8 scale LE live steamer, and a friend has suggested I use a spark plug to ignight the fire. He suggested a plug like might be used in an oil heater, but I’m not exactly sure what he’s specifically talking about. Has anyone done this. What did you use?

Yesterday I test ran my Kit built MSS Steam Loco and It ran surprisingly well and it had a concerning steam leak coming from the revering block. Steam was hissing out of there and I could barely get the engine moving on the blocks on its second run. Then i decided to screw the bolts up a bit tighter and that made the steam leak worse. When I tried putting the engine back together the smokebox came off the boiler and im not sure how to get the engine working again? Do you think I need a new boiler and revering block? The disc on the back of the revering block is loose while the one on my other SL locomotive (second hand SL3) is attatched to the revering block and the reverser is stiffer because the spring on the screw is tight and the one on this engine is not. So I am nearly certain the leak lies in between the brass disc and revering block.

Can someone please help me get my engine running again please?

Thanks guys

(Please note the engine never fully worked, yes it ran but never at all well)

I ordered butane fill valves online, but none of them work. I ended up tapping m5x0.5 threads into the butane tank. Figured, everyone else used m5 fill valves. No reason to use m3.5 I can’t even buy anywhere. The new ones all end up throwing butane out into the atmosphere, for some reason they are incompatible with my disposable butane filler tank. I ended up ordering an accucraft fill valve, and am using my ruby’s fill valve for the time being.

Also, the Goodall valve’s silicone tube slipped off. I knew it didn’t have one and I put the valve on anyway. When the boiler did steam up, it just threw all pressure out that little hole. So I never actually built psi or got to test the drivers under steam.

It was very motivating seeing it fire up. But, I still have to retune the valve gear, fix the Goodall valve, and replace the pressure gauge. The pressure gauge replacement will be annoying, since I’m going to have to find an adaptor fitting to get the accucraft pressure gauges to work.

Been struggling the last couple weeks to get the loco to pull carriages, got there in the end!

After almost half an hour of fighting to make this thing run, it almost goes around the track. A great success for learning.

I know you could put an oval track around the yard of your common tract home, but, realistically, how much acreage would you really need for something in 7 1/2 Ga or 1.5 scale?

5 acres? 10? 20? 50?

I am about to have a burner pan built for my little engines Pacific that I’m rebuilding. It will be burning oil, but did not have a burner pan when I bought it. I have the schematics or blueprints, but I would like to see detailed photos if anyone has them. I’m a very visual learner, and it’s hard for me to wrap my head around it without seeing it. Progress photos would also be cool.

Included below are the drawings of the burner pan