Juliet boiler

I am currently building a 3 1/2" Juliet and am starting to think about the boiler which I plan too build myself. The old ME article (1947) describes a boiler that is formed from a flat sheet. I have seen several examples of Juliet boilers that are constructed using a seamless copper tube, which is the method I would prefer to use. I am looking for a plan for the boiler constructed this way. Any clues as to where I might buy one would be helpful.

Thanks

Bob..

Hello Bob,

The original series describes both approaches, the flat plate solution was because tube was hard to get at the time. In his description I think the ';wrapper' is the outer part of the firebox attached to the tube using a butt strip. Once that's done everything is the same as for the boiler from flat material. If in doubt, check with your boiler tester.

I wonder if anyone would build the oil-fired version these days - it looks vastly simpler to make, and could, perhaps be adapted for gas firing. What to line the outer with though?

Neil

Hi Neil

thanks for your reply. This is the article that I have. I had a chat with the boiler inspector yesterday and we agreed that plan A is to try to find a tried and tested design. There are a number of suppliers that sell boiler material kits for Juliet, I guess that the material kits must be supplied "to plan", and from some of the images I've seen these use tube rather than sheet. I may try to have a chat with some of these.

Bob..

Hi Bob,

I'm coming to the end of my Juliet build now and initially started building my boiler until a cheap commercial one became available on a well known auction site.

As far as I am aware there is no specific plan for a tube construction boiler, because you don't need one. Neil is right, the original boiler build articles (not the oil fired type of course) published by LBSC in ME is all you need and I too am sure he covers the tube type construction briefly in those notes.

In truth, the tube type boiler is exactly the same as if it was made from sheet.

As long as the boiler tube is 3 1/2" O/D x 12 1/4" long in 16-gauge copper, you will have sufficient material to do the job. The firebox wrapper is cut 4 3/4" from one end and is split off centre by 3/16" (I think that's what the offset is?).

If you look at my Juliet build album, you can see what I've done with my boiler. It's a very forgiving beginners boiler really.

If you need a set of online build articles then you can get these off the John Tom website of just PM me and I'll send you the PDF.

Hope this helps!

Dan.