Minnie 1"

So I've finally decided on the minnie 1" bought my boiler kit, I have machined my former plates got my burner, can of propane thermiculite bricks and have started to anneal various plates. I have seen vermiculite in garden centres in gravel form. Could I create a sand pit with vermiculite blocks on the outside holding vermiculite gravel inside for the actual boiler cook ups, as I'm paranoid after the horror stories on hear about not getting enough heat.

Also I am reading the hardback book which documents the build of the minnie, and I've noticed he talks about two different types of solder to use on the boiler. Both of the ones he mentions seems to be discontinued as the book was written a while ago when the design first came out. What are the up to date versions of the higher melting point one for the throat plate join, and the solder for the rest of the boiler?

Thanks

James

The replacement for the higher melting point C4 solder would be something like 424. The replacement for the lower melting point "Easyflow" is 455. I would suggest you also yse HT5 flux which will last longer if it takes you a while to get the work upto temperature. Have a look at Cup Alloys for materials and also read their "best brazing practice"

Do not use "soft solder" on your boiler.

Not tried the loose vermiculite so don't know.

Edited By JasonB on 22/05/2019 18:21:59

Hi James - there is one thing far worse than not enough heat and it is too much heat. Just be careful not to over do it as you will never get 'burnt' copper to take solder. Just had a customer bring me a perfectly made 1 1/2" traction engine boiler which had been severely over heated - leaks everywhere, impossible to fix and now in the scrap bin!

I don't think loose Vermiculite would work it's very light weight, I think the blast off your blow torch would displace it all over the place.

Mike.

OK food for thought thanks, so maybe just stick to my blocks and some insulation blanket from cup alloys?

Thanks again

So I take it that these cleaning salt solutions, are the new version of the sulphuric acid and water mix? If so how do they compare?

Thanks James

Slow but safe.

Thanks.

Ive noticed that the design does not incorporate a injector, but does have a spare feed which is blanked on the manifold.I would rather like to have a small injector on the model for something to tinker with/experience in making. Can i use this spare outlet?

Also im coming round to making the drilling template for the firebox stays which is suggested to be made out of 1/16 steel plate.Can i make this out of 1/8 plate so i can mill it/drill it as its a bit more rigid and my hacksawing skills are not great.

Some photos to come of my small progress so far if people are interested?

Thanks

james

Should be OK to take the injector feed from that. Add an extra bush on the opposite side of the boiler to the pump to take the return clack (non return valve) It's a small size for an injector so may not work well, could always use the bush for a small handpump in the coal space if needed

Template will be fine from thicker material.

On the subject of manifolds speak with your boiler inspector about connection of the pressure gauge as it is not the preferred practice now to take it from the same manifold as the water gauge.

Ok food for thought, maybe i should just stick to the design while learning then.Good question about the pressure gauge, if it does not come off the manifold will it just have its own dedicated bush in the backhead?

Also, as im getting closer to annealing the copper plates is there a special type of hammer to do the job?

Thanks

james

Hi James may I suggest you give some consideration to Jason's suggestion above if you intend to use the engine in 'public' you will need to have it tested and currently the boiler reg's require that the boiler is fitted with two means of putting water into the boiler !

H

Check the bar litres of the boiler. A Minnie is very small and likely to fall within the “smaller boilers” category specified in section 11.7 of the regs, where only one water feed is required.

So after buying one of the cup alloy dvds for inspiration, I am extremely tempted to purchase one of these oxy/mapp brazing kits, and use my propane torch for general heat and annealing purposes. Any thoughts?

Thanks

James

I've got the oxyturbo set. The oxygen bottle only lasts about 10 minutes, so very expensive to run. Great if you need to get some spot heat into an awkward location like inside the firebox but no replacement for a propane torch. A normal propane torch should be fine for a Minnie boiler.

HTH

Rod

So, I'm still forming various bits, so far so good. Looking ahead the book mentions securing the first 3 sections together i. e. the barrel, throat plate and outer wrapper with some rivets, either 1/16 or 3/32.

Are these copper rivets?

Are these the type of rivets that you use rivet snaps on?(never done that before)

And what type of screws/nuts can I use before the rivets are finally put in for test fitting etc?

So far I have been scribing on marker blue on the copper boiler parts, I notice some people just scribe straight onto the copper with out blue.

Thanks as always

James

Yes Copper

Yes snap head rivits that need a set and snap. Don't rivit the plates hard together as you want the solder to flow between.

You can use whatever you have to hand for trial fits, when I did mine I used steel 10BA screws and nuts which fit OK in the 1/16" holes. Any screws or nuts that will remain should be bronze.

Hi thanks for the info.

How does the set/snap work? I have seen the tool which has both the snap and set on one piece. Surely you need two separate bits? One to seat the already made rivet head and the snap to hammer down a head on the other end.

Thanks

James

Yes you need two, though the set is easy to make yourself being no more than a punch with a hole in it to slip over the rivit shank.

You put a rivit through a hole in the two parts to be joined and with your snap held vertically in a bench vice place the factory head in the hemispherical recess. You then put the set over the end of the rivit and give it a whack with a hammer which will make sure the two plates are close together and the lower plate is up against the rivits head.

You can now change over to your second snap and use that to form the exposed end of the rivit. Do have a practice first on some scrap to get the feel for it and to determine the correct length of rivit to leave above the work so you get a good head, somewhere around 1.4 to 1.5 times the shank diameter will be right but varies depending on how tight the rivit is in the hole and the individual snap.

Where possible have the factory formed head on the side hat shows but that is not always an option

James,

I don't know if you are aware but I believe it is usual these days to use some oversize rivets on the firebox sides to act as anchors for the horn cheeks. This photo from Jason's album shows what I mean

**LINK**

Rod