A small boiler

Hi,

Very nice work. I have one question. Does the burner have enough "power" to maintain an engine running? How do you regulate/maintain the pressure below the tripping point of the safety valve? With your building skills, you could build a burner with pressurized kerosene (or other fuel), like those little stoves or blow torches with a little pump I usually see on sale in weekend "antique markets". Since the fuel is pressurized, the flame can be adjusted so the boiler can have some means to turn down the flame when the pressure reaches the working set point.

Continue the good work

Helder Ferreira,
Portugal

Hi Helder

This is my first boiler so has been a huge learning curve. With hindsight I perhaps should have started with something simpler but I'm nearly there now. I don't have an engine as yet, thats next. I'm hoping to control the burner by means of the adjustable vents. Time will tell.

Cheers

Rich

Hey Rich,
In your original post titled "what is it" in the question and answers section, what document did you get the pictures from that illustrated the different boilers?

Scott

P.S. I just joined this forum in December and when I found this build thread of yours I had to read it all the way through, great job! and thanks for the time spent in documenting it. Very informative, I benefited from what you did, and the information exchanged between you and others. I hope you consider doing the same when you build your engine. Again thanks Scott

Hi Scott

Heres a link to the boiler types. This is what gave me the idea for my boiler.

http://home.claranet.nl/users/summer/16mmngm/Articles_htms/porky.htm

Yes I will document my engine build.

Cheers

Rich

Gotta love those hand wheels!!! 8)


Nice work Rich (as expected and proved many times over) The finished article will truely be a fully functional work of art :bow:



Waiting for the next pic's




Ralph.

Rich, Thanks for the link, Scott

Hi

Seems ages since I had a good few hours in the workshop but I managed to swing it today and made some progress with the vent controls.

2 stainless steel 1/8 rods threaded 1 end 1/8 X 40. The other ends turned down a bit and threaded 7BA. I was going to have a go at making a square hole in the handwheels, I posted a how do I do that, in the questions and answers section a short while back, but decided to just make the handwheels a tight fit on the shaft. I'll use a bit of lock tight on the final assembly. The hand wheels will not screw up to a dead stop as in a drain valve for example so there will not be a lot of pressure on them. Hopefully they will hold OK.

Thread one end 1/8 X 40



Turn down and thread the other end 7BA



One of the finished shafts.



Drill out the handwheels using a drill that will make them a tight fit on the shafts.



A trial fit.



Make 2 brass bushes from 1/4 round brass. Drill through 1/8 then turn down and thread 3/16.



Make 2 brass nuts as well.



Mount the boiler housing in the mill. Mark out and drill 2 3/16 holes.



Fit the brass bushes into the housing with the brass nuts and push the shafts and hand wheels in.









Make 2 brass nuts for the shaft to screw into. The nut will have to swivel to maintain alignment. Turn a grove in some 5/16 round brass bar.





Cross drill and tap 1/8 X 40.



Part off then test fit.









More to follow.

Cheers

Rich

Rich
The more you do the more gobsmacked I become.
BR

I've avoided this thread a few times now. To be honest, I thought it would be fairly boring as boilers don't interest me that much, however, I have to say that I've just spend the last 2.5 hours going through the thread and Rich your boiler is superb!

It has totally put me off building one of my own ... firstly, it wouldn't come close to being as good as Rich's and secondly, there is so much work that goes into them. It is a massive project in itself.

I agree with other people Rich, your boiler is a work of art and it'd be a shame to mucky it up, but I have a feeling you've built it to be used! ;D

Nick

That is truly a work of love. I love the details you have included, everywhere it seems!

I hope to do work even half that good someday,
Kermit

Hi BR Nick Kermit

When I started on this project I had little idea what I was letting myself in for. I had of course read books, Tubal Caine etc and avidly read magazines from cover to cover every week and joined this forum. As the workshop and tooling developed so did my confidence to the point where instead of starting on something simple I jumped in at the deep end with my own design. Although I have shown some of my mistakes believe me there have been many more, some stupid, some frustrating and some I couldn't master. But with the help of everyone on this forum (and practising a lot of patience) I am close to completing the project. I have also drifted off in many different directions, lerning how to silver solder, learning how to weld 2 pieces of ally together, making tools and jigs, learning about hydraulic testing and pump building, the list is endless. BUT...........I LOVE IT ;D ;D ;D ;D. I'm totally hooked now and I don't think (I hope not) there is a cure for it. Eventually it will be part of an engine plant (engine not built yet but loads of ideas) and will be fired and steamed. While I admire the superb models that members build and the bling that goes into them I'm more of a practical type of bloke that wants to run them and get dirty with oil and steam.

Cheers

Rich

Hi Rich

Being quite new here, I saw this page of your thread in recent posts, and like NickG I settled down read the whole 21 pages in one sitting in the last couple of hours. I don't quite know what to say, except each page was more exciting than the last. I don't intend to build a boiler in the forseeable, but I have learned so much by reading your thread; from you and the gentlemen who have advised along the way.

I can't wait to see how it looks all polished up (if that's what you plan to do) and running an engine. Thank you also for the abundant pics and video. They really add life to a thread, and sure do help with understanding what is going on.

Hi

Thanks Richard, glad you like it.

Today I made a couple of small brass collars to go on the shafts.



Then silver soldered them on. The small blow torch is ideal for this sort of job.



After a clean up.



All the parts so far.



Two pieces of brass bar to make the levers. A jump from imperial to metric here, the brass bar is 7mm wide, 2.5mm thick and back to imperial 3inches long. A 1/8 wide slot is machined into each end 5/8 long.





Here is one of the levers in place. You can see now, hopefully, what I am doing. There will be a pivot in the centre of the lever.





Cheers

Rich

What do these levers actuate?

Hi rleete

They will move the sliding baffles back and forth over the air vents. I hope to control the heat in this way.

Cheers

Rich

I'm liking the look of this system for vent flow alteration ;D

I was wondering where all the bits were going.... Got it now!

I want to see it working....I'm sure that won't be too far away



Nice work as usual Rich




Ralph.

Hi

I got the vents and controls finished and working today. The pivot point for the levers made me scratch my head for a while. I didn't want to drill the sides of the boiler housing, I wanted to keep them clean. In the end I came up with this. I figured 2 more brass nuts on the busy end would not look out of place.

2 lengthsof 1/4 brass hex drilled and tapped 1/8 X 40 into one end.



Thread some 1/8 stainless steel 1/8 X 40



Screw into the brass hex tight.



Then cut off to leave 2 studs.



Hold in the mill and machine down.





Drill a 1/8 hole.





Cut 2 lengths of 1/8 stainless steel 5/16 long and silver solder into the brass hex.



Drill 2 holes in the boiler housing.



Drill the centre of the levers 1/8.



Make 2 thumb screws from stainless steel. knurled for easy grip.



assemble all the parts into the boiler housing.









Heres a bit of video showing how it works.



Cheers

Rich

Hi Rich,

Very neat! 8)

Glad to see it all working, I really like the lever and pivot system for the vents... Very easy for me to remember

No issues with the extra nuts on the front... They are needed so they must be there



Not wanting to sound pushy or such like, just a question... How much do you have left to do to it?

I only ask because I really want to see you build the engine for it to power ;D




Ralph.

Hi Ralph

Nearly there now. It remains to strip the whole thing down and give a final clean up and a bit of a polish. I'm not going to bling it up too much as I intend to steam it and run it so some tarnishing will be inevitable. I think they call it patina in the antique trade. Then re assemble it and line it with some boiler insulation material. I'm going to try a tweak on the burner as well. In the tests (its shown on one of the videos) it seemed to burn better with the vent hole in the filler plug blanked off. I assume that is because with the increase in heat there is also an increase in pressure within the burner. I'll make an adjustable plug and try it. When thats done I intend to hydraulic test it once more to check for leaks then a steam test. It may seem at times that I am spending too much time on this project but I figure the more I learn/observe now the better off I'll be when I move on to something bigger and more challenging. At the moment spare time for the workshop is scarce so it will drag on for a while yet. As for the engine I'm playing around with ideas and making sketches and a box of useful bits is well on the way. There is much to learn once I start on an engine. Much as I would love to send off for one of the many casting kits that are available and simply machine an engine as per the instructions I prefer to design and build myself. That to me is the challenge that I enjoy. It would have been easy to send off for one of the boiler kits that are available but I wonder how much I would have learnt had I chosen that route? Its been great fun so far with years of fun to come I hope.

Cheers

Rich

firebird said:

I figure the more I learn/observe now the better off I'll be when I move on to something bigger and more challenging. As for the engine I'm playing around with ideas and making sketches and a box of useful bits is well on the way. There is much to learn once I start on an engine. Much as I would love to send off for one of the many casting kits that are available and simply machine an engine as per the instructions I prefer to design and build myself. That to me is the challenge that I enjoy.

Click to expand...

I couldn't have expressed it better myself :bow:

Congratulations on your boiler - I am sure your engine will be equally impressive.

Best Regards
Bob