Dan Rowe
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The AMBSC is a very good reference for boilers but some of the specifications are not easy to find in the US where the ASME boiler code is used by most of the States with some exceptions for hobby boilers. The price of the ASME code is well beyond the means of most hobby builders.
Here is a thread for US State boiler code information:
http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=8846.0
Marty Knox is a very experienced boiler maker and he has written several good articles on boilers for live steam magazines. Here is a link to one of his posts on this subject. http://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=82955
Here is most of his first post and one further into the thread that lists the ASME steel types both written by Marty Knox:
"My comments are based on 30 years of building, inspecting, operating, and maintaining boilers.
The first quality of a boiler material that comes to mind is ductility - you want a material that will withstand many,many heating and cooling cycles, with out fatiguing and cracking. Strength is almost secondary - the strength of a boiler is in its structure. Up to about 5 1/2 - 6" diameter and 100 PSI copper has many advantages,above that,low carbon steel is the material of choice. I worked as a boilermaker for DuPont. They have a whole department that works on material specifications. They never hesitate to buy the best material for the application. We worked with a wide variety of materials - Inconel, Hastelloy, and Carpenter 20 to name a few - yet all our boilers were low carbon steel!"
ASME code vessel
Shell - SA106 B
Plate - SA285 grade C/SA515 grade 70/SA516 grade 70
Steel Tubes - SA178 grade A (welded) SA192 (seamless)
Copper Tubes - no Code specification
Staybolts - SA36/SA675
Threaded couplings - SA105 3M (3000#)
Now back to the AMBSC Code which is well worth getting because it has many drawings and descriptions of welding procedure required for a steel boiler.
The steel specifications listed in the AMBSC Code Part 2 Issue 4 - 1995 are:
Steel pressure vessel plate AS 1548 all grades
Steel sections and bars AS 1442 grades CS 1020, K1020, S 1020
Seamless steel tubes ASTM A 106, ASTM A 53, BS 3601 grade 360
Welded steel pipe ASTM A53, BS 3601 grade 360 ERW
Pipe fittings BS 1740
Boilers are to important to simply use what ever steel is handy in the scrap pile so hopefully this thread can help.
Dan
Here is a thread for US State boiler code information:
http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=8846.0
Marty Knox is a very experienced boiler maker and he has written several good articles on boilers for live steam magazines. Here is a link to one of his posts on this subject. http://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=82955
Here is most of his first post and one further into the thread that lists the ASME steel types both written by Marty Knox:
"My comments are based on 30 years of building, inspecting, operating, and maintaining boilers.
The first quality of a boiler material that comes to mind is ductility - you want a material that will withstand many,many heating and cooling cycles, with out fatiguing and cracking. Strength is almost secondary - the strength of a boiler is in its structure. Up to about 5 1/2 - 6" diameter and 100 PSI copper has many advantages,above that,low carbon steel is the material of choice. I worked as a boilermaker for DuPont. They have a whole department that works on material specifications. They never hesitate to buy the best material for the application. We worked with a wide variety of materials - Inconel, Hastelloy, and Carpenter 20 to name a few - yet all our boilers were low carbon steel!"
ASME code vessel
Shell - SA106 B
Plate - SA285 grade C/SA515 grade 70/SA516 grade 70
Steel Tubes - SA178 grade A (welded) SA192 (seamless)
Copper Tubes - no Code specification
Staybolts - SA36/SA675
Threaded couplings - SA105 3M (3000#)
Now back to the AMBSC Code which is well worth getting because it has many drawings and descriptions of welding procedure required for a steel boiler.
The steel specifications listed in the AMBSC Code Part 2 Issue 4 - 1995 are:
Steel pressure vessel plate AS 1548 all grades
Steel sections and bars AS 1442 grades CS 1020, K1020, S 1020
Seamless steel tubes ASTM A 106, ASTM A 53, BS 3601 grade 360
Welded steel pipe ASTM A53, BS 3601 grade 360 ERW
Pipe fittings BS 1740
Boilers are to important to simply use what ever steel is handy in the scrap pile so hopefully this thread can help.
Dan