Member postings for bogus

Thank you Guys,

So i'll try to get bronze for fittings. The grades available around are B101 and RG7 - both are good for bushings, highly stressed parts and both are corrosion proof.

As per repair if i find leaks - i've read here on forum that pinholes can be repaired by squeezing nearby material by punching, though it is not forever.

That soft solder repairs - if still leaking i'll remove it and find as high temperature soft solder as possible. I found the highest temperature still considered 'soft soldering' is 450 deg C.

It will take time to identify and collect all the taps&dies to make the plugs to prepare boiler for hydrostatic pressure test. The original pressure gauge mounted on the boiler has a marking on 80 psi - i assume it is original working pressure. Max gauge reading is 120 psi. Anyway i planned to make hydrostatic test at 1.5 times the working pressure - is it ok?

i'll post some photos later for reference.

Thank you Guys!

Dear All,

as in topic: i'm doing my firste ever overhaul of live steam loco. So far i managed to diassemble the engine and took the boiler off the loco to clean it and inspect it. Unfortunatelly some of the fittings broke during the attemp to unscrew it from the boiler body

Some question on the materials: i found the lower water gauge fitting is made out of brass however the part that goes into the boiler looks like copper. Is it normal practice?

One of the boiler water feed fitting (check valve) is broken too. Have no taps/dies in imperial system so i'll have to make new threads in metric system - metric fine threads, main pitch i plan to use is 0.5mm (ca 50 TPI) or 0.7mm (ca 36 TPI).

Is it good idea to make the fittings from stainless steel instead of phosphorous bronze/brass/copper?

How about sealing - i found the fitting were probably set with some kind of sealant/glue(?). Is it good practice to use thread locker like Locktite #xxx (xxx is for the correct number - i can't remember now the working temperatures).

After paint stripping i found there are some places covered with soft solder - now i'm worried if these are leaks repairs or what??

Have no idea who built this loco, it is 3.5 gauge Atlantic ca 40-50 years old.

In my country there is literally zero live steam models clubs/inspectors/associations - the only knowledge is from books, forums and internet in general.

I'm happy to hear advices from you, experienced, fellows

Thank you.

Thank you Nicholas Farr for the scans. I have some sort of reference now. When i start to work on this model i will check if the maker followed this plans. Or my loco is made using another plans?

Mr David Reeves 1: are you ok to share the drawings you found?

This is the one i have:

The other locos from the same batch are 3 1/2" gauge 3/4 scale Atlantic (Maisie) by L.B.S.C:

and 3 1/2" gauge 3/4 scale Bassett-Lowke 0-6-0 tank locomotive (the tender in the photos is not for Bassett-Lowke):

And it seems Bassett-Lowke 0-6-0 tank loco is very rare - i can find no information on it. No single photo of the same model. Do you know someone who have this model? 

I'm aware of the boiler concerns. I'm going to take the boilers out of the locos, clean and check. Unfortunately there is no live steam models associations in my country and no certified assessors. I have to do it myself. These locos are for occasional use on the stand.

Edited By bogus on 27/12/2019 00:31:18

Dear Roger,

is it possible to get a copy of the drawing for 3.5" gauge Royal Scot? Recently i became a happy owner of this beautiful loco. However i have no papers, no boiler cert, nothing and the loco really needs refreshing. In addition to this i'm new in the subject - this is my first 3.5 gauge live steam locomotive (i bought three different models at the same time). Long way ahead of me to bring them back to life. Actually i'll start a new thread for each loco to share the information and keep asking for advises - for sure i'll need a lot advises from experienced Live Steam engineers!

Thank you

so true

You provoked me to google this subject For the curious ones:

http://www.parrinst.com/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2011/07/Parr_Stainless-Steels-Corrosion-Info.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_corrosion_cracking

and some HSE report:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr902.pdf

Wow. I read somewhere some attempts were made to make SS boilers and weld them. If my memory serves me right the conclusion was cracks can occur because of warm up and cool down cycles under stress (pressure).

Duncan - do you know what is the 'right grade'?

At work I have a lot of equipment made out of 304, 316, 316L grades.

See Table. 1: here:

http://www.parker.com/literature/Instrumentation%20Products%20Division/Catalogs/Bul%204200-TS%20-%20Feb2010%20-%20Final%20Low%20Res.pdf

Ajohnw - so SilverFlo55 contains 22% zinc but is ok. Is it ok because of no galvanic action?

Regarding bushings:

the reason i'm trying to find alternative is the availability of bronze bars in small diameters (at least in my location). It is so expensive that i can't pass by the idea to use 20mm dia bar to turn 8mm dia bushings... such a waste!

Next idea is stainless steel - how about connection SS with copper? SS can be silver soldered, is strong and easily obtainable. Is there any unwanted galvanic phenomena stopping me from doing it?

As to brass bushings and thread strenght: i can make them longer and thus stronger...

Paul Horth - your input is very interesting! I'm not going to steam my boiler 8 hrs a day. Assuming occasional use and that 2700 hours you've mentioned it is good information for me. After all i can design bushings in such a fashion they can be re-threaded to the next size after that... 2700hrs and change fittings. Hey, this is insane

Hi all,

and how about copper bushings? Is copper ok for that?