Member postings for John Horne 2

First I bought flat wick from ebay for use in oil lamps, then I bought some round wick from Germany stated as used for lamps, stoves etc, I also tried pyjama chord which was suggested by a friend, all are cotton.

There is something very basically wrong with this, today I took a short piece of 5/16 copper pipe and fed in a length of wick, filled it with meths from the bottom till the top was wet, then lit it.

The flame was around 1" high for maybe 20 seconds then it just faded away, it lasted less than 1 minute in total and went out, the wick was completely burnt out as you can see in the photo, its basically ash.

I have 3 different types of wick which all do the same thing. I have 2 different bottles of meths, both act the same way. I should say both bottles of meths are the same brand....."Barrettine" only one is a couple of years old.

I really have to suspect the meths now, which sounds pretty crazy as this stuff is bought for camping stoves etc.

I agree duncan, silver solder has huge advantages and obviously should be used on anything above small statics most of which will never get anywhere near 100psi, even my Stuart has a working pressure of only 60psi max, Mamods and the like I think run at around 40psi, that's what safety valves are for. No matter what its soldered up with, if you run it dry you will have serious problems.

I did say I wasnt sure about bigger boilers and to contact the suppliers to make sure, I was only offering a better option for smaller stuff which the OP was asking about.

Yep, breather hole in filler cap is fine, I even loosened the cap off but it made no difference.

I tried getting some wick up into the slits with a pin but it didnt help, on the original burner the slits look quite narrow with no wick poking through so I dont think its a problem, its the vapour that burns not the wick.

Yes the meths is getting right along the tube, I've even tipped it so meths is coming out of the slits.

This has me baffled, I'm starting to think the meths is crap, I must admit I wasnt to impressed when I lit some on a short piece of wick, it wasnt the nice clean blue flame you would expect, it was more yellow in colour, yet its the same brand I've seen used many times for the same purpose.

Edited By John Horne 2 on 21/06/2017 19:32:08

Hi everyone, a couple of weeks ago I made a burner for my Stuart 500 boiler, its been a disaster, it simply refuses to burn !

I've used 3 different wicks, new meths, fine slots, junior hacksaw size slots, and filed them out bigger, I've had the filler open and sealed, tilted the tank so meths fills the slots, heated it with a torch, kicked it, sworn at it, it's one step away from the scrap bin, it absolutely refuses to light. Any ideas ?

I know this is an old thread but I only just joined for smaller boilers you might want to consider Comsol, it's not as good as silver solder, but much better than ordinary soft solder

The data sheet for Comsol gives melting point as 296 C, even superheated steam only gets to around 130 C so comsol is well within acceptable safety margins temperature wise. Its also very "creep resistant", unlike ordinary soft solder, and it's been tested to pressures above what you would encounter in most small static boilers (not sure about locos and bigger stuff). And probably most importantly, its no harder to use than soft solder, a small propane or butane torch works fine.

I'm not saying its the answer to everything, I'm only saying it's a much better option than soft solder, if in doubt contact the supplier.

Curiosity got the better of me so I rigged up my saucerescope and went through the speeds, the first trials went well, no vibration whatsoever, which meant either my lathe is perfect, or, I'm a numpty and did it wrong.

I decided to go with numpty

My second trial kinda worked, nothing much at high or low speeds, worst at around 800rpm.

Next I watched the belt at different speeds........ most vibration and noise from the belt at 800rpm

I use an inverter so I can watch the frequency, set it up on a low speed using the pulleys.....worst at around 35Hertz

changed pulleys to higher speed..... same result.....worst at around 35Hertz

I honestly dont know how to interpret this, it could be a belt or motor problem, or it might be perfectly normal.

Your probably right Clive, I can only say what worked for me (but I cant say exactly why it worked). It might also depend on the type/size of lathe on how they react to unwanted vibrations, I do know that hundreds of Boxfords were installed in schools and colleges and all of them were bolted down into the concrete but never bolted to an upright wall.

Perhaps its just a combination of things setting up a certain frequency like a mini "perfect storm", my mate on another forum said he cured this by using rubber feet, as you said above.

A few years back the topslide on my Boxford started doing this, as OP said, nothing could be detected on the work apart from the "shading" that went along like a thread. It directly corresponded to revolutions of the screw.
I went through everything but couldn't find the cause. The only thing that had changed was I had moved the lathe a couple of inches so I could add a bench to one side. Its not bolted into the floor its standing on adjustable feet, so I checked and reset them and re-leveled the bed, the problem went away.
I agree with Mikelkie, I think its a resonance/vibration thing, I also think it can have a number of causes which can be transferred to the job through a loose gib etc. but I think there will be a root cause like a  vibrating belt or some numpty forgetting to tighten down the feet

Edited By John Horne 2 on 19/06/2017 09:39:49

Edited By John Horne 2 on 19/06/2017 09:42:47

Hi Keith and thank you, that would make sense, I dont understand why Sievert UK couldn't just tell me that in the first place, what confused me more was the girl I spoke to at Sievert started talking about a 3/8 BSP fitting which I now think is an adapter but never mentioned M20 as the burner thread. My 1.0 metric thread gauge isn't a good fit but that must be down to wear.

Yes your right Maurice, it does attack some types of rubber as its a by-product of the petro chemical industry, anything you use would have to be resistant though it has nothing like the destructive powers of petrol. Anything used in the auto trade would be good or fibre washers perhaps. I remember using leather washers in old parrafin/petrol blowlamps and they lasted for years, the pump washers were always leather.

Hi Maurice, that's really wierd, I have both an old Sievert and an old Calor, there's around 6mm difference across the threads. I wonder if your Sievert burners are the newer type. I've looked through all the sites that sell Sievert and cant say I've seen washers, you might have to get something close that will cut down to size, I'm thinking ballvalve washers from a plumbers merchant. I've also used old car inner tube for washers.

Just an update on this, so far no help from Sievert even after calling them, their advice was to go along to a Sievert dealer and see if my burner matched up to the ones on sale now, seriously, I'm not kidding, this was from Sievert UK, they dont know if their burners will retro fit older models. Apart from that there is no dealer within 50 miles of me.

I also thought it would be metric threads since they come from Sweden but there not, I think Niall is right and its a manufacturers thread, it matches nothing I have either.

Anyhow, thanks to a very kind member on the forum my problem is now solved. Thanks to all who tried to help, I just wish Sievert had been as helpfull.

Thanks for the welcome I'm in Whitley Bay George, sun...sand...sea...and sangria.....without the sun or the sangria.

Just as a little sideline to this, a few years back I bought a set of cheap diamond files with 4" blades, they are the most useless and disappointing things I ever bought, but, for dressing a wheel they are excellent, I've even put grooves into a wheel for certain jobs (a spare wheel). Just remember to have your rest nice and close to the wheel or use the file freehand a good way up from the rest.

For drill sharpening I use a little adjustable rest that I made for sharpening lathe tools, this keeps the cutting edge at the right angle, then all it needs is a lick on the side of the wheel to give a tiny bit of clearance, (this is the only time I ever use the side of a wheel).

Retired jack of all trades, former goldsmith/motor mechanic/plumber/failed musician with way to much time on my hands. Been into restoration and model making for some years.

I have a small workshop where I hide from the wife and the world in general. I have a Boxford BUD and enjoy making my own tools (sometimes they even work).

For the last few years I've been into pond yachts and steam engines and daydream about combining the two while I still have my youth and good looks, ok that last bit is a lie.

I have been known to blow myself up and fall off anything with wheels.

Hi George, I could make a new jet for the Sievert but what I really need is one torch with a range of burners, I just rang Sievert and they dont know ! they reckon the thread size is 3/8 on the new torches but thats for the short neck piece to fit onto, not the actual burner thread. You would think it would be a simple enough question, apparently not.

Hi Martin, could you do me a favour ? could you measure across the actual thread which is part of the burner ? not the neck fitting,mine looks to be 3/4" or 14mm.

Thanks Keith, what was puzzling me is their all advertised as fitting the "pro" neck which looks very different from mine. When you look at the burner diameters and screw fittings there are obviously 2 sizes yet no one explains the difference. I'm going to call in at a plumbing supplier who has been in business a long time, I'll take the Sievert burner and see what they say.

May as well give up on the Calor torch which is a pity, its nicely made and works very well, but I cant get a small burner for it and I dont want to keep changing torches to do different jobs.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Hi everyone, I've been trying for a while to get some info on propane torches, I've sent out over a dozen emails to various companies and had only 2 replies, neither of which helped.

Here's my problem, I have a Mapp gas torch which has been fine for most jobs, even small silver soldering work, but its lacking heat for anything larger scale. I also have 2 propane torches, one is an old E3 Sievert, the other is an old Calor torch, similar to the older bullfinch with the red handle (but different burner fitting). I want to be able to use one of the torches with a range of burners.

Any idea if the new Sievert burners will fit the old E3 style torch ?

or

Can you still get burners for the Calor torch, one small one would do as I have large burners.

No answer from either Sievert or Calor, I guess its not worth their time.

Any help much appreciated.