Werowance attempts Myfordboys traction engine

[werowance]

actually i am as well. but seeing others do it, it must work. i guess its just a brief burst of preassure and then the schrader valve keeps the back preasure off the bottle. i really dont know but im going to give it a shot.

 

[fcheslop]

With a decent spray bottle eg Hozelock or similar you can get some decent pressures .My set up will go to nigh on 160+ psi
Try and find thinner walled silicone tubing as it goes through the boiler bushing easier or at least on my 1/4x40 ones
The fishing guys use some nice silicone tubing thats ideal for what Ive no idea

 

[werowance]

well i had a terrible time getting the end cap to seal. the bushes sealed just fine but the 1 end cap started with an ever so slight leak around the stay rod. i mean just maybe a bead of sweat like on a cold soda would be like after 30 mins. wasnt even enough to run down and drip but i decided to "fix" it. and thats where everythig went down hill. after reflowing that i had a million leaks around the edges of that end cap. i would pickle and braze again. over and over. i finally ran some of the smallest dia silver wire i had around the inside through one of the busing holes and used a dental pic to form it around the lip of the cap from the inside, thinned down some flux with alchohol and swished that around. finally i got a good seal.

i now have a ton of silver braze all over the sides of the boiler to grind, file, sand etc to get rid of. im considering trashing this one and starting over. im not sure.

but it pass's the preasure test for over an hour. i may have lost a pound of presure and the only leak i could find was actually where the gauge screwed into the tblock for the preasure testing setup. boiler was nice and dry.

i have someone wanting me to "spin" some brass sheet to replicate a part on some piece of antique equipment. i have no experience at it but im going to make the tool post for it and give it a shot with some aluminum sheet for learning. point is ill have to set this project on the side as i stand to make a decent check if i can spin the sheet metal.

 

[CFLBob]

Persistence in action. Nothing can beat the combination of persistence and determination.

 

[werowance]

getting back to the traction engine this week. made 2 end caps that i still need to drill for the screws, 1 piston (thats dykem on it that you see on it), and then cut a block brass off the parent stock to make the valve chest out of or valve assembly or valve whatchamacallit thingy. i switched my combo lathe over for milling last night and started squaring up the valve block, then will slot and cross drill the piston rod and last i will use my rotary table to drill and tap the cylinder covers. that valve block i really believe is going to take me a while. myfordboy makes it look soooo easy on his videos. wish i had that kind of tallent.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Werowance--I was thinking of you this morning, wondering where you had gone. Glad to see that you are still involved and making progress.---Brian

 

[werowance]

i am still working on this one. i made the valve block and finished up some more of the engine parts. been making screws and studs the past few days. then i have ran into a problem. the vale block was made from as advertised "scrap brass bar" i got cheap on ebay. its really bronze. no problem bronze should be just fine in my opinion. but it cuts like crap and the reall issue i have been having is that i cant get it to easily flow regular soft solder.

yesterday i soldered the valve block to the cylinder (like myfordboy shows in his youtube videos) and had very bad results. so tonight i de-soldered it and while the solder still hot i used an air hose to blow the solder off then i used some solder wick braid and cleaned it up more. then back in the pickle for a little while (not long enough but will put back in when i have time to leave it long enough) thing is that this bronze just doesnt want to flow solder no matter how clean it is.

is there a trick to soldering bronze? i have soldered other unknown alloys of bronze easily before. maybe im just being un patient or something this go round.

at anyrate ill get some pics of the recessed screws i made. right happy with those as i have never made recessed screws before.

 

[Caster]

I think you may have a bit of aluminium bronze there which unfortunaly cannot be soldered.

 

[werowance]

well shoot. is there any way to eyeball tell if its aluminnum bronze? i was able to silver braze 2 pieces of it together if that makes any difference. that was 2 messed up spacers that i cut to thin so i silver brazed the together and then cut back down to make one of the spacers out of. but soft plumbers solder just rolls off of it much like it was a piece of aluminum so you very well may be right.

 

[Caster]

If you were able to silver solder the bar OK then maybe it is not al bronze.
Could it be you are getting the metal too hot so the flux becomes spent. My favoite flux is Bakers fluid.
You could try on another part with the flux you have. Cut off a small bit of solder and place on the joint and gently heat until it melts.

 

[werowance]

i may be getting it to hot, ive tried normal plumbers soldering paste with plumbers solder as well as trying harris stay brite with the harris solder (which i used on my upshur engine cylinder to bronze base plate with good results)

the parts are in the pickle right now (viniagar and kosher salt as i am out of citric acid) once it looks good and rosey red color im going to try regular electronics solder as a test to tin it.

 

[dnalot]

I do some casting and I get bronze propellers, and other marine fittings from a boat repair yard. Most are aluminum bronze. You can tell if its aluminum bronze because it is slightly magnetic. Very slightly, clean and polish the area to be tested.

Mark T

 

[Steamchick]

Werowance, I have recently changed from zinc-based soldering of aluminium to some 95% aluminium rods (Cheap from China!). They solder aluminium really well - flux free - so if they do that with aluminium, they may just work on aluminium bronze?
Back in the 1970s, I worked on Aluminium busbars... MIG welded aluminium mostly. But in some instances, we needed to convert from Al to Copper, or steel. Most of the "conversion plates" that we welded to the aluminium assemblies were made by explosion bonding an aluminium plate to a chemically cleaned copper or steel block. (I think some may have been "friction welded"?). But a (cost saving) development proved that the application of MIG-welder-applied aluminium onto a copper surface could give the required mechanical and electrical and durability properties, as the MIG arc "abraded and eroded" the "foreign" material surface so the aluminium spray (from the arc) could adhere to the "foreign" surface. NOT a weld, but an effective friction bonded joint for electrical purposes. Possibly wire brushing (stainless steel wire brush required) the molten aluminium soldering rod onto the surface of the Aluiminium bronze will "tin" the surface, then 2 "tinned" surfaces can be brought together and the aluminium solder melted and allowed to fuse and cool to form the require joint? I may have a bit of Al-Brz. to try... as soon as I get some "experimental time"!
K2

 

[werowance]

finally got it.. i silver brazed it and that worked good. here are some pics. the studs are not cut to length and i need to make some nuts and washer for them. also a pic of one of the screws i made for it. that screw i didnt use cause the underside of the head is a bit rough and i made extras so i just used the best ones of the batch.