Boiler Build

[potty]

Got some of the boiler bushes made whilst waiting for some 1/16" rivets to arrive.



The bush on the left is for the safety valve, the drawing states 3/8"*26 thread, checked with Reeves what thread they sold their safety valves with 3/8*32 so thats what I made it, the middle two are for the regulator they screw into the end plates, the one with all the holes is soldered into the boiler barrel and the steam dome fastens onto it.

Stew

[potty]

Well this has been a very frustrating week, I ordered the 1/16 copper rivets on Monday on Friday I got a call from the supplier to say they were out of stock  , so I've reordered from another supplier, in the mean time I've got on with some house jobs and earned a few brownie points, and made some more bushes, and bronze screws to hold the boiler together whilst its soldered.



I found that the boiler flue tubes varied in length by 1/8 they need to be all the same length or the sort ones will be at risk of coming adrift during soldering.



Skimmed one end square de-burred the bore and skimmed the Dia for 3mm for a lose fit in the tube plate.



Then found the shortest tube and set the hight gauge to that and marked all the other tubes off to that length.



Skimmed the length to the mark and turned OD same as the other end.

With all the tubes trimmed to length and a small step turned time to have a trial assembly to the tube plates.





The smokebox tube plate is the wrong way round, this is because I want the end of  tubes to sit flat on a plate whilst I solder the tubes to the firebox, the smokebox tube plate will be one of the last things to be soldered so I must remember to turn it round.

My plan is to solder the wrapper extensions first then the throat plate and wrapper, but I need those darn rivets if I don't get them soon it will be plan B turn some 1/8 rivets down.

Stew

[potty]

Went to the club track to see if I could touch base with the boiler inspector, and find out if he will be around next week, he wasn't there but I was telling one of the members about the my lack of rivets, he said I've got some you can have just follow me home, People can be real nice:-
So looks like I'll be soldering next week.

Stew

[potty]

Well got the first joint soldered the fire box outer rapper extension:- the part to be joined were given a soak in the pickle for 1/2 hr then throughly cleaned with some wire wool, flux applied and the extensions were loosely riveted in place.



Then onto the hearth a piece of solder was cut the length of the joint and placed on the joint I did an outside and an inside joint at the same heating, and I bunged the thermal blanket up the tube to keep the heat where I wanted it. fed a little solder into the joint and onto the head of the rivets



I let it cool for five minutes then quenched it in water then into the pickle for half an hour, the pickle was then washed off in water, and the joint inspected, apply another dollop of solder to the joint, then with the boiler flipped over the other way and with less solder this time and the whole lot heated up again and a little more solder fed into the joint and on the other side of the rivets.

Back in to the pickle as before another clean and inspection not to happy with a couple of areas so again as before more flux and a bit more solder in the areas on concern.

Here we go outside.



And inside



Well thats me done for the day the rest of the day will be taken up with that great British institution:- the family barbeque, that is traditionally held on the first and often only dry sunny day of the year. The pleasant sound of birds song and smell of flowers will be replaced by the sound of male of the household cussing as he struggles to get the barbeque lit and the stench of charcoal, lighter fuel, and cremated sausages.

Cheers

Stew

[potty]

Well had a master class from John this afternoon on silver soldering, we soldered the throat plate up, and I learnt a lot in the process, it really is a two man job using propane on a lump of copper like this boiler.

First of all I gave the parts a good clean first in the pickle then with a wire brush, I loosely riveted the throat plate in place with four rivets one mid way on each side of the fire box and one each side of the boiler tube where the saw cut ended, closed any big gaps by tapping and pinching with pliers, and applied flux. One thing I learnt from Johns was you don't need a lot of flux I was lathering it on.

This was the first set up. Sorry didn't take a lot of pics it a process where once you start you can't keep breaking off to take a pic, so you'll have to put up with my description.

We placed a length of 3 mm silver solder down each side of the plate an along the back, then with me operating one torch for back ground heating and John adding the filler rod and controlling the heat with a smaller torch and instructing me where to direct the background heat and when to take it off, with the top once done we flipped the boiler on its side and soldered up around the boiler tube, flipped it on the other side and ditto , allowed it to cool and have 1/2hr in the pickle a carefull inspection showed a couple of areas that needed a bit more work, so same procedure but concentrating on areas as required.

This is what the job looks like.

Top



Inside



The fillet around the curve is on the other side and as its down the bottom of the tube it doesn't take a good pic, so you'll have to believe me:- its real nice.


I'll run this past the inspector.

Stew

[potty]

Didn't get anything done today except to try the boiler the boiler in the frame of the loco.



The frames somewhat stripped down, I've removed the front wheel and the connecting rod so that I could trial fit the water and oil pumps.

You can read the build log her http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=547.0

Thanks

Stew

[potty]

Got a little more done today forming the firebox rapper:-

The rapper was cut to the correct size so first job was to anneal and pickle it then mark the middle and using the end plate former get it bent roughly to shape with the help of the vice, just by hand.



It was annealed and pickled again

Then using the tube plates as formers and bits of woods as bats its nocked to shape.



Tomorrow's job is to solder together the flue tubes the fire box tube plate and the rapper.


Cheers

Stew

[potty]

Another master class from John on silver soldering.

This is the set up for soldering the flue tubes to the firebox tube plate, stepping the tubes worked great in prevent the tube plate slipping down, I cut a bricks to length to give a bit of support.



Some rings of solder were made by simply wrapping the rod around one of the tubes and snipped them off, the tube ends and tube plate were fluxed, and the solder rings placed over each of the tubes.



One things John has taught me is that you don't directly heat up the solder you start by adding background heat to the job slowly bringing the flame up to where the joint is to be formed this way you gat a uniform heat in the joint. We worked with two burners one each side of the job as the solder started to melt we moved the torch slowly around so that each ring of solder was melted in turn.

With the tubes fixed and after a spell in the pickle the rapper was soldered to the tube, this time the job was flipped over so that the tubes were on top, again lengths of solder were placed along the joint, and additional solder fed into the joint as it melted.

Here's the job before pickle.



And after







 
Cheers

Stew

[derekwarner_decoy]

mmmmmm PD's...we know Stew has the master teacher.....but from this work...I suggest the teacher has a good student 

Did you preheat the silver solder wire & wind it onto a same sized tube to pre bend the rings?......Derek

[potty]

Thanks Derek

No the silver solder wire wasn't pre heated, it was just wound around one of the tubes before assembly, two sizes of solder was used 1.5mm and 3mm, the rings were made from the 1.5mm stuff, the 3mm stuff was used to placed along the seams and the 1.5mm used as filler.

Stew

[potty]

Well the soldering is on the back burner (pun)  until I gat the work done so far, checked out by the boiler inspector. So did a bit of shop maintainance.
Nocked this tooling rack up,



This frees up some space which in my small shop is at a premium.

Then did one or two machining jobs for the boiler first up the "Fire Hole" no not the sort you get after a night down the pub and a curry, the sort they shuvel the coal through.

Its made from a bit of thick wall copper tube:- a short step turned on each end so that you've got a 1/4" collar, a quick anneal and a soak in the pickle.



Then a squeeze in the vice to make it oval and here it is on the backhead.



Next up the bush for the water gauge, for some reason there is no dimensioned drawing for it, just a note saying 1/4* 32 thread. So this is my interpretation of what's required.

Using a chunk of Phos Bronze mark it out and rough it out.



This is one of those awkward jobs where if you don't machine it out in the correct order you'll end up not being able to grip it to finish the job.

Then as its got to fit on the 3 1/2 " dia boiler tube, set up the boring head to cut that dia. The body of the head is 50 mm so (88.9 - 50) / 2 = 19.5 thats what the tool has to stand out above the body to cut a 3 1/2 " dia.





With that set, pop the job in the vice, centre drill for the 1/4*32 zero up the DRO swap to the boring head and cut the rad.








Then back to the zero position and drill for the thread.

Flip it round and drill the joining hole.



A clean up with a file and this is it on the boiler tube.



Stew

[potty]

Showed the boiler to the inspector today big thumbs up .

Stew

[Red_Hamish]

Hi Stew, why wouldn't the boiler inspector give a big thimbs up? The work you've shown on here is very impressive.

cheers

Jim

[potty]

Thanks Jim

I took the boiler to the club track to show the inspector, as the weather wasn't too bad there were quite a few locos running and members hanging around, the inspector was looking at a couple of other boilers so I just laid my efforts on the table and waiting for it's turn, every one who came into the club house made a bee line for the boilers and gave them a good eye balling, all got the thumbs up.

Most of the guys are experienced builders and it was interesting to see and hear their experiences and how then went about boiler building, its quite interesting in just how variable designs and methods are.

Thanks again for your interest

Stew

 

[potty]

Got a little bit more done today, cut the fire hole in the firebox back plate for the, just making it a nice fit just a little bit of movement from the fire hole ring.



Then soldered the ring in place, and while I was at it I solder some of the bushes in the backhead.





Thats a little more done.

Stew