Member postings for Dominic Bramley

Wow! That looking like the business!

Dom

Thanks Dave,

I formed the cylinder pad over an aluminium bar turned to diameter so I think it is pretty close - I will double check it to be sure though.

Think I need to consider when to use 438 - I used it a fair bit on the ME boiler, so have some experience, but suspect getting Minnie up to temperature will be more of a challenge. I haven't used the HT5 flux before either - so some practice is probably sensible.

With regard to bushes on the front plate - when is the most sensible time to add the blow down bush - at the same time as the front stays? If so is it just as well to wait until then to drill the hole - or would this be sensible to drill it before attaching the throat plate to the barrel?

Cheers

Dom

Hi all,

The time has come to take on the challenge of building Minnie’s boiler – so I thought I would start a thread in which to post what I suspect will be numerous questions.

I successfully completed the ME vertical boiler last year as a practice project for this, but there is no doubt the extra complexity of a traction engine boiler is intimidating – compounded by the fact that the consensus seems to be that the instructions are far from perfect.

I’ve studied some of the old threads and I think I understand the main issues with Mason’s method – but will consult here with the wise heads of the forum at each stage to make sure my approach is sensible.

I don’t intend to get the boiler tested - I am not a member of a club, and my work commitments mean that it is not practical for me to join one. I fully appreciate that there are considerable benefits in having an inspector check your work at each stage of the build – but in this case I will have to manage without.

So in terms of deviations from Mason’s instructions, I will be silver soldering the stays – so will change the build order so that the back plates go on after the stays are in place. For stays I will be using bronze for the horn plate stays and copper rivits for the rest. Since I am not going to get the boiler tested I think I will leave the steam block as is. I also noted that some members recommended soldering the front foundation ring early on.

In terms of kit – I have a vermiculite hearth from CupAlloys and some fireblanket for extra insulation for the job when needed. My torch is a Sievert with a 7.7 and 26kw and cyclone burners. For solder I intend to use 438 and 455, flux easy flow and HT5.

So – I’m fast approaching my first cook-up: I have the tube pads, pump pads, barrel and throat plate prepped. (The boiler kit has come from Blackgates – so the plates are already flanged.)

Whilst Mason recommends doing all of this in one hit, my current thinking is:

1. Solder on the barrel pads and pump pad first with 438 / HT5. 26kw burner
2. Solder on the front foundation ring to the throat plate with 438/HT5. Foundation ring to be wider than the water space and profiled around the flanged firebox frontplate. 7.7 kw burner
3. Solder the barrel to the throat plate and wrapper with 438 / HT5. 26kw burner

Any thoughts and advice would be appreciated. The front foundation is the main departure here so any comment on that in particular would be welcome. Will this cause any problems soldering the front stays for example? Also is solder / flux /burner choice sensible?

Cheers

Dom

Looking Good

Careful when you fire it up for the first time - I found that the flame had a habit of coming out of the lighting hole which charred the cladding. In the end I made a brass plug for the hole to stop it happening. This was with a ceramic burner rather than the fabricated one.

Cheers

Dom

Following this thread with interest as I have the Twin Vic kit and plan to make the Princess Royal with it at some point. I had not appreciated that the modern flywheels would cause a problem with the barring rack and no doubt would have come-a-cropper when I got to that point.

Doc - I have no idea as to how laser cutting services price their jobs - but if there is any significant economy in getting multiples cut - then I'd be happy to go halves with you on a pair when it comes to getting the ring cut.

Cheers

Dom

Last week I was knocking the pin out of a knurling wheel and thought to myself "this is going to fall on the floor and get lost". I had 3 second look around for something to catch it in before thinking "**** it - I'll just watch where it lands".

Bang! Gone.

Dom

Without Norris there to verify the attempt, I'm afraid no-one is going to believe you!

Dom

Recently completed Harold Hall's Grinding rest and figured I would make better use out of it if I had a centre height gauge to accurately reposition the tool in the lathe (I'm using a tangential holder).

I chose to make the gauge from Hemingway - as it looks good and I fancied a low stress kit build where you have all the instructions, plans and materials in a box. I'm sure buying a kit for something that can be made out of the scrap bin will give some people palpitations - but it wasn't hugely expensive and was an enjoyable build.

Looks great Fred!

I'm really enjoying following this build!

Cheers

Dom

Thanks for sharing this Tug,

Was reading your build thread all evening and only made it to page 23! So much to learn in there!

I've never heard of a Corliss engine before this and i is absolutely mesmerising watching it and trying to figure out how it works!

Very inspiring!

Dom

If the primary objective is to eliminate chatter, I think I'd take out your existing shim, torque everything down and see if the chatter goes away.

If you can prove that the poor column contact is causing the chatter then you know it will be worth investing time in some of these more elaborate shimming methods. If the chatter is still there, then you may just be able to stick your shim back in and open up new lines of inquiry as to what the issue might be.

(full disclosure: I'm hoping you don't spend too much time on it - because I'm looking forward to the Princess Royal build )

Dom

What a fantastic looking engine! Do you have a video of it running?

Dom

Jeez - how about cutting the guys some slack here? These aren’t normal times and huge numbers of businesses are just doing what they can to survive. I’m sure everybody is doing the best they can in difficult circumstances and if a few late issues and some rerun articles is what it takes to keep the magazine going then surely it is something we can put up with for a couple of months. ME has been in print for over 100 years now - would be interesting to know if the editors in 1917 or 1942 also got this kind of grief...

Dom

Yep. The jack is independent of the screw - see about 11:30 in this video to see how he has done it: ***Link**

Edited By Dominic Bramley on 01/12/2020 17:09:27

Thanks for sharing - I enjoyed it and probably wouldn't have clicked on it from the description alone.

I watched a few of his other videos afterwards too and they answer a couple of questions posed here. The point of the exercise is that he designs and sells the fancy angle blocks and magnetic shims he uses throughout to set up his welds - so at ~3.5 million views it is a very cost effective advert. The fancy wheel and paint job just goes to improve those numbers.

He also made a video where he experimented with different screw sizes - and concluded that smaller was better...

Dom

V. Interesting!

Has anyone here made a square piston engine?

Dom

Amazing! Keep it coming!

Dom

The approach Clive refers to is described in the ME Vertical Boiler series in ME issue 4601....

In the magazine I think he has soldered 3 strips of 1/2 inch bar together and then bored through them - so the outer two strips will have the correct profile.

This year has lead to me becoming well acquainted with the nations delivery firms. DPD are the best in my view.

Dom