Member postings for john brown 17

Well with luck l have sorted them out,striped them apart ,and junked the washers and have made new rubber ones,as for the needle a good clean with wire wool an a small tap to seat it and its has been fine for hours now so time will tell,would l buy them again nooooooooo .

john

Paul that is the type of oiler that is giving all the problems ,will give them one more try with howards tip but after that its bin time ,and back to a wick type.

john

Well thank you for that info,yes enough is enough with the dam things,l thought buying new ones would work out ok ,but not so,so the plan now is to make up a extending tube with the 1/8" bsp thread ,put longer wicks in the oilers and use them ,but will put a hole in the tube so l can give the bearings a fresh shot of oil before l start work ,the wicks should then work ok ,they never gave any problems on the atlas and when that moved to another home the bearings were still good.

john

I am just about fed up with the myford oilers,the the old ones leaked out over night and the new ones are not a lot better an they were not cheap,l have a couple of wick type ones that were on an old atlas ,yes they drip all the time but can get a couple of days from them ,any thoughts on this please ,or make a better type ?

john

Thanks for that ,will buy from them ,is the low tem silver solder ok on my copper boiler?,l read the higher tem are good for joining like brass to steel etc ,but just want copper to copper or brass to brass.

john

Can you please tell me the most popular size of silver solder rods please,did have some 1mm rods for some small bits,but am getting into now soldering bigger parts like the boiler ,is 1.5 the way to go .

john

Well it looks like the rough price to sharpen slitting saw blades is from a couple of firms is between 50 pence and £1 per tooth ,then there is the vat etc ,so may well just run them in to the ground an mybe have a play to edge them up a bit ,l do not know what they are like but the ones made in china are not that dear and l se rdg do a 4" that seem decent money, but thanks for your advice.

john

Yes did have a look on utube , they all seem to use a service grinder or fancy grinding set up ,am thinking that l will have to se if l can find a firm to sharpen them,or if there is anyone on here willing to do them at a fair price.

john

With slitting saw blades,l have some nice 4" and 60 tooth 6" dia blades that run very true but they are now so blunt it is hard work .Do you good people on here send them away to get them sharpened ?, l know that the smaller blades are not a bad price so would think it would be cheaper to buy new ones ,but my bigger ones l would like to keep.

john

Many thanks Howard ,have just found a drawing an plan of one of LBSC models called AJAX ,the whistle on that is just right size ways ,yes l have to build it but more learning,thanks again .

john

That is a nice looking pump you have there well done,l remember a few years ago now at a tractor show there was a chap there who had a model steamer that he was filling the water with a converted car fuel pump ,he just had a small handle fixed to the arm that used to run off the car cam ,wish now l had paid more time to looking at it ,mind it seemed to work very well and a cheap way to make a pump,so just a thought.

Being such a grotty day ,l have been thinking on the last of the bits l will need for my model ,and l will need a steam whistle looking about the net etc the one that looks to be size wise any good is the mamod type as the others being bigger would look out of place,do you good people think that type would do please.

john

An Other have sent Pm

Has anyone on here ever made there hand water pump for filling the boiler,and yes l know before l am told you can buy a casting kit ,but has any body made one from bar stock or plumbing bits ,there is a couple on the net who have done it ,but there is no plans ,any help please ,would be nice to make my own .

john

Well its time to put this post to bed before every one gets fed up with it, l had a very nice mail from steve in the states who has made a couple of the steam tractors,the fist one made as the drawings ,and he was never happy with the water situation ,and then made a another one ,this time he put another bush in the smoke box end of the boiler and uses that to fill up with water,that way he had room to fit a level glass in the cab ,its tight but it fits,so will go that way and leave you good people in peace about this matter.

john

Thanks jason l will have to make one of them as well,will get a lot of use from that .

john

First off l do not wish to bore you good people,but looking at things with regard to water site glass,now the smoke box end of the boiler expect for the stay nut for the fixing bracket is clear,so why not put a couple more bushes in that end then pipe from them for the site glass,some old usa steamers had chain lockers bolted to the casing ,could then hide the site glass in that ,hows that plan ,Please be honest,there is just no room to put one the cab end as there are already two bushes and yes the safety valve comes apart so will play with the spring and se if l can get it to keep blowing off at 30 psi.

john

Yes have had a look at that build,and even asked him about a few things and he admits the water level is a big problem,he has got some type of valve that he can open to se if there is still water in it ,and a couple of people who have done the engine have said the same,one option would be to mount a site glass on the side of the boiler casing then make a box round it that looks the part with a door,but one thing l did take note from the other builders is to use thicker plate for the horn plates etc as 1/32" thick is way to thin and things like the bull gears bring them up from being 1/8" thick to 3/16",and yes l have introduced errors with the build but get over them as l go,but one way or the other a site glass has to be fitted in my humble opinion .

john

Ok my boiler is 8" long by 1 5/8" od to be made from 18g seamless copper and to blow off at 30psi .Brian G link looks good,now l have got a safety valve that l got ages ago and it looks like it will came apart so may be able to adjust it to what l need ,but the down side its a bit bigger than the mamod type as far as l can se ,so will not fit under the dome,but l could move it away from the dome and fit a pipe from where the valve should go and fit the whistle there,the other thing l do not like with this model there is no site glass for the water level ,but feel l should try an mount one somewhere ,also after what jason has said will take stock of what fittings to use an keep to uk type fittings,the other two bushes on the boiler in the cab end are for gauge and and testing then to fill the boiler with water,have got a small gauge so will check the thread size and tap bush to that ,the model is rudys steam tractor ,but to be honest l am going to flame licker models after this and mybe ic engines,and yes jason it will be tested way above what the drawings says,before its fired up ,you people on here are great with your help.

john

And a very good morning to you bob ,good point about fittings,a couple of the fittings l think l will buy ,but the the one fitting l can not find yet for sale is the safety valve that needs to blow off at 30 psi and has a 5/16" ntp thread or will l have to try an make one?,just do not know yet,ohhhhhhh the learning curve ,l will want to fit a steam whistle on the model as well but will get a mammod type for ease an price,but will get the boiler bits made ready for soldering up then go from there.

john