A small boiler

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Hi

Hmmmmm...............door handles eh...................


Cheers

Rich
 
I've been following this thread since it's beginning and am still amazed at how much work you've put into this !!!

WONDERFUL !!! :bow: :bow:
 
Hi Mike

Its the little bits that seem to take the most time but they are usually the bits that catch your eye first so must look right. Anyway its not really work is it, I love it. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Cheers

Rich
 
Hi

Bob Warfield suggested door handles, so.......................... OK then. The bosses were turned from 1/8 stainless steel round bar. I don't like doing stuff this small, my fingers won't work in miniature but with a bit of patience.......


Turn down and thread 8BA.

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after cross drilling blind 1/16 holes about half way part off.

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Drill holes in the doors.

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And then mount the handles.

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If your watching Sandy, I reworked the the left hand door bottom hinge to get rid of the 5 thou misalignment you spotted.

The doors refitted.

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Moving on to the water guage, the first job was to cut the glass tube down to size. I was a bit worried about breaking the tube but it all went fairly well.

Mark all round the tube with a diamond file.

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Then snap off.

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A bit of video.



Fitted into the boiler along with the clack valve.

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The small guage that I am going to use came with a nut and nipple but I had to make one for the other end of the pipe. More fiddly work.

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I annealed and then bent a length of 1/8 copper pipe using a spring bender. Then silver soldered the nipples into the pipe using the small torch.



Then a trial fit onto the boiler.



Looking good now.

Cheers

Rich

 
Hi

Half hour in the shop tonight, long enough to make a filler plug. Its a simple turning job. Turn down and thread a piece of hex brass bar.

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Part off and reverse in the chuck and shape with a round profile tool.

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The finished bung.

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I had to knock up a mandrel to turn down the 5/16 copper washers I had because the OD was too large.

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Fitted into the steam dome.

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Cheers

Rich
 
Rich, I'm sorry to burst your bubble but ........... that's not a boiler .......... it's a Work of Art 8)

:D ;D :D ............. top class as ever, we expect no less of course, so you realise you've raised the bar as far as future projects are concerned ;D

This thread really has been a mine of information and I'm sure will be used as a reference for many years to come :bow: ...... and it's been dam entertaining as well ........ thank you and please keep up the good work.

CC
 
Hi

Thanks for the kind words and support guys.

Tonight I made a cap for the chimney. Is cap the right word, ferrel? dome? Dunno, cap will do for now, I'm sure someone will put me right.

A piece of brass bored out to fit the chimney.

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Then profiled with a round cutter.

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Then parted off.

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Polished up a bit slipped onto the chimney.

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cheers

Rich
 

Hi FB
Excellent video good to see these little things actually being done for real.
P.S. I like the "magic" glove :big: :big: :big:

Kind regards

Malcolmt
 
Hi Malcolm

You noticed I had to edit the video a bit. It was too long to upload so I chopped out some of the boring bits.

cheers


Rich
 
Firebird/Rich

I've been following this thread with a lot of interest from the beginning.... all I can say is WOW. I've not yet tried my hand at a boiler, when I do I suspect it will greatly resemble yours! Thanks for posting the step by step, it has cleared up a number of questions I didn't even know I had to ask.

Cheers, Joe
 
Rich,

I agree with Crewcab,

This is a work of art........ :bow: :bow:

Best Regards
Bob
 
Wow, Rich!
It's really looking great!

How soon till it goes live?

Kevin
 
Hi kevin

Thats a good question. It has been steamed on the test rig so I know it works. I was thinking tonight how much more there is to do. Finish the air vents and make some means of controlling them then strip the whole thing down, clean and polish then re assemble and fit the insulation material. Once it has been completely re assembled I think I will use the hand pump to hydraulic test it again to check for leaks before I fire it up. With xmas looming it may be a few weeks yet but I'm getting there.

Cheers

Rich
 
Hi

Just a quick line wishing all those that have been following my exploits a very merry xmas and a happy new year. A very special seasons greetings to all those that have helped me get this far, your help has been invaluable. Now just got to get xmas out of the way and I'll be back in the shop. :big: :big:

Cheers

Rich
 
Hi

I have decided to control the air vents by means of a pair of handwheels similar to the hand wheel on the water but a little bigger.

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Today I had a go at making two. I started in the lathe with a piece of 5/8 brass bar.I took a light cut just to clean it up and make sure sure it will be concentric in the chuck and lightly centred the end. It will remain in the chuck throughout the entire operation.

Clean up in the lathe.

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Transfer the chuck complete with work piece to the rotary table in the mill and centre under the chuck.

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Using the rotary table and a centre drill, drill 6 holes.

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Then with a 1/8 drill, drill as deep as poss.

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Change to a 1/8 cutter and using the rotary table join up pairs of holes. I could get to a depth of .450 with the milling cutter.

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Turn the rotary table to the horizontal position and lightly mill six slots with the same 1/8 cutter.

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Transfer the chuck and workpiece back to the lathe and centre drill 1/16

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Finally part off two hand wheels .140 wide.

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Not too bad for a first go.

Cheers

Rich
 
I'm loving this stuff. Forgive me for this,but would all of the operations you carried out on the mill be possible in the lathe as well?

Excepting maybe the joining of the drilled holes, I would need a rotary table set up for the lathe for that correct?




Kermit
 
Hi Kermit

I can't think of any way it could be done without a rotary table but I'm a relative newbie to this. Maybe there is a way that someone will tell us about.

Cheers

Rich
 
For a stopped, curved cut (i.e., the slots in the handwheels), an RT is certainly the tool of choice.

There are other ways to do it but they're generally a good bit more difficult. For example, any noncritical curved cut can be approximated by milling a series of overlapping holes along the centerline of the cut and then filing away the cusps left by the milling. This requires some math to locate the points at which to mill the holes. It'll do the job but it's far more fiddly and error-prone than using an RT.

After buying the mill, my first major purchase was an RT and it was one of the smarter things I've done.
 
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