Member postings for Alex Collins

New copy of ME arrived today
Also got around to ordering the stuff from Roundhouse. Have to say they were very helpful.

Martin: Do we get a drawing for the Check Valve ?

I'm wondering why every bit of metal I seem to have is not quite right.
I have 4 thicknesses of brass sheet to do the side plates, everything but 0.059" (1.5mm)
I also have Brass 1/4 square and 1/2 square bar, but no 1/4 X 1/2.

More Metal ordered.

Like most people, I buy tools as and when I need them.
If it's a real 1 off and I can borrow a tool then so be it. If I need it a 2nd time I will usually buy it.

As for the Best tool, Anything that I have paid Good money for good quality. They work and last well.
Dormer Drills, Taps and Dies come high up on the list.
If you are working in Brass / Bronze get a Slow Spiral Drill set. Drilling is an absolute breeze. No Snatching or Grabbing.
Map Gas torch for Silver Soldering. (see the 16mm IDRIS Thread) has made Silver Soldering so easy
My Myford Lathe so nice to use compared to the Chinese machine I bought and started with.

The worst Tool ?
Probably the cheap milling vice. I gave it away after I used it once.
The trick with tools is to buy the best you can afford. The cheapest often fails to last or perform well.

Hi Martin. We have the local Chelmsford Society of Model Engineers who I hope can help.
This is as you are aware my first attempt at a Boiler of any kind.
I'd like to know that it is safe to use before I apply any pressure to it.

Hi Jason.
Yer - looks a tad bad but they are soldered and soldered well with Silver Flow24.
I tried to fill the gap with EasyFlo2, that made a load of mess !
Fair bit of cleaning to do now....

Completed the Boiler Fittings today.
It's all reasonably good, not perfect.....
Need to clean it properly still. Another day !

Soldered the 2 new side bushes in today. Much happier with the joints this time.
Water gauge bushes tomorrow.
I note there is no angle on the drawing for the bottom bush. I guess it at least needs to clear the fire tube.
I just hope it clears the frames wherever I put it.

1" Spindle Bore ? Probably lots, and then you'd have to move it !

As Jason suggested. Cut the bar in to short lengths...

A New small Chinese lathe start at about £300 new from places like amadeal. Will it deal well with 1" Steel bar (Cut up or otherwise) . um - debatable but it'll certainly hack it about well.

If you are going to buy a lathe look out on various auction and for sale sites. Boxford, Colchester, Myford amongst others are good names to go for.
If it looks rough it probably is. Make sure it's single phase ( 240 volt) or comes with a converter. .

Drilled the 2 bushes out tonight. Got em both pretty much spot on.

Fishing the end of the steam bush out was not easy. The pipe helped until I snapped it off....

New bushes made and if I can get the propane torch i'll solder them at the weekend.
Next edition of ME should be with us very soon

I have radiused the inside of the water gauge bushes on the lathe.
Boring head set at 25 mm radius. Well close enough to.... Very fine feed.
1st pass the bushes were not quite square in the tool holder. Fixed for the 2nd pass.
I have 1/2 mm flat on each side. of the bushes.

Thinking - may well trap some fine (0.2mm) copper wire under the bushes to provide some soldering clearance. A trick I have used before.

As for the boiler ends. I call them close to perfic. Your comments and thoughts would be welcome.

Hi Martin.

The water gauge bushes are Bonze. The square blocks soldered to the Boiler. I made these Square from Round.
My current plan is to position them. Drill 2 mm into the copper and tap the hole M2.5.
1/2 cutting through cheap n nasty M2.5 screws, use those to attach the bushes to the boiler.
If they solder themselves in they are very easy to snap off inside the bush and drill through.
As for radiusing the Boiler joint, I think it would be worthwhile. If a file has to come out, a file it'll be.
I have a (Small) mill and boring head. That will probably work.
I also have the lathe. I may be able to hold the bushes in the Tool Holder better than I can on the mill and use the Boring head in the lathe head. Can I swing the boring head ? I'll tell you in an hour......

The gauge fittings I have made from Brass. If brass is unsuitable I will re make them.
Whilst I have lots of Brass and not a lot of Bronze, I have no wish to spoil the ship for a hapeth of Tar.

The Pickle I use is Citric Acid. 50g in 1 L of water.
Citric Acid is easily available from the local Chemist and reasonably low cost. (£0.50 for a packet)
I used the Sand Blaster cos it was there. Not for any other reason.

The Oiler is slightly redesigned using Copper Tube rather than drilled rod. The pipe on the R will be shortened to a suitable length. The hole in the bush (hanging down ) is Centred and needs to be drilled through. I have suitable long drills to do this. The hole for the oil needs to be drilled. Again I have suitable drills.

I have no intention of dis assembling the boiler (Un Soldering). I can see far to much potential for a huge number of issues.
What I have to do is re do both of the Side Bushes. (Steam and Check Valve)
The Steam bush cos I have not tapped the Dome Bush.
That puts the steam pipe in the way and is a rather silly mistake to make.
I'm simply not happy with the joint for the check valve. It may well be fine but I'd rather fix it now than later.

My plan is to leave the boiler for a few days. That should remove some of the ductility of the copper before I do anything more..

Thanks for your suggestions and advice.

Alex.

Boiler is out of the pickle.
A rub with the scotch brite and fibre glass pencil and I'm very pleased.
The end caps and fire tube have an unbroken filet of solder all the way around.

1 Bush is not tidy on the outside. May pull that one out. I think I may have killed the flux.....
The other bushes are good. May add some easyflo2 to them when I warm it up again to make them tidier.

****** The Steam bush is going to have to come out *****
If this blog helps someone else not to make the same (Rather silly I admit) mistake it will be worth it !

Unsoldering seems like rather hard work It's in with easyflo24 and will probably wreck the end cap joints.
I was looking more towards a drill. The inside is smaller than the Bush So I can brake it off inside the boiler then file the outside of the Bush flush. The fishing will be fun......
If the hole is still central I can drill out the remaining bush. If not I can mill it out.

Agree with the Sand Blaster. It's rather aggressive and was used with due care.


It was all going so well, or so I thought......

I have just had one of those "Oh Bother" Moments......

On the 1st page I asked about Tapping the Bushes.
They are all Part tapped so they are square and the Silver Soldering doesn't damage the thread crests.

So how do I tap the Steam dome bush ? ...........

It's been a long and busy afternoon.

Soldered the end cap and Oiler with the MAP gas torch.

A Sand Blaster made clean up super easy.

A brush with the wire wool and we setup to do the 4 Boiler Bushes.

A MAP Gas torch, as I suspected may be hot enough but does not have the guts on it's own to solder the boiler.
Propane torch was required to provide the coverage for both Silver flow 24 and Easyflo 2 operations.
1 Bush is a bit untidy on the outside but has a nice filet on the inside.
The rest of the joints are really nice.

The final assembly after cleanup went well. Again the propane torch was called for.



I'm rather pleased. Its all gone very well.

You will note the lack of Water Gauge bushes. We ran out of time so will add them separately.

Today I hope is soldering day for the boiler where this lot could become one.....
(Sorry for the rather poor image)


The Oiler will be soldered as one bit with easyflo 2 rather than the 2 stage setup Martin suggested.
The steam Union is also slightly modified from Martin's design.

I still need to drill the temporary holes in the boiler tube for the Water Gauge bushes.
I'm wondering if I want to put a radius on the inside of the bushes ?
Also wondering how I can accomplish this.......

I have made a Masterboard Hearth.
A Friends Large Propane torch will provide the energy and keep it all warm.
I now have a MAP Gas torch to run the solder.

The rest of the Boiler fittings are in Pickle at the moment and soldered as expected with Easyflo2.

MAP gas torch borrowed.
MAP gas bought.

Fluxed up the Oiler and away we went....

Or not as the case may be!

Been getting on with the Boiler fittings.

Tomorrow I clean up and hope to silver solder this lot together.
One of the most valuable things I bought a while back is a set of Slow Spiral drills. They make drilling Brass and Bronze really easy. No Grabbing, even when you are breaking through on other holes.

The ML7 is a very early design and works well. It has Plain bearings and won't work at higher speeds.
For most Model Engineering a good ML7 is about all you need from the Myford range.
The ML7-R Is an updated version of the ML7. It has a few more refinements, Proper bearings. Higher speeds to boot. It's much nicer to use and generally sell for very little more than ML7's.
If you have to compromise a good ML7-R is a better machine to go for.

Super 7's in good condition are much sought after and command top prices. Are they really that much better is open to debate. The Power Cross feed is a very nice thing to have and about the only thing that's not available for the ML7-R

There are other Lathes out there. A Good Boxford ? or one of the Smaller Colchester Lathes ?

Even the Chinese lathes have come a long way.
Something like the Amadeal AMA250AVF-550 or similar from other Suppliers.

Attempted soldering the end cap and pressure gauge bush yesterday.
Things didn't go well !
I just can't get it hot enough for Sllverflo 24 with my blowlamp.
I did however back out before any damage was done.
That no.5 flux is a pig to remove, I do know that much. Hot water and Scotchbrite seemed to do the trick.

Will attempt again today. A friend has a large Propane torch.

I also have Silverflo 55 and Easyflo No.2 solder and flux.

I have used superglue many times. A good tap will knock it off.
Don't get superglue hot. The fumes can be really nasty !