The Unofficial Mamod and Other Steam Forum

flywheel61 · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:57 am Post subject: Early Raised Base SE2 Restoration

I bought this SE2 a few months ago and knew the whistle collar seam had been broken.

Although it's not that easy to see the whistle is leaning towards the back of the engine.

So I took it all apart following MM & Wallaces excellent guides. However, in the process of removing the safety valve collar I dropped it whilst it was red hot and donuted it and couldn't get it back into shape. I also couldn't get the end cap off using the small blow torch and had to resort to using a bigger one. I got Dauntless to make me a couple of new collars, including a spare, this took a while partly because I had to get some new decals made to swap for the collars and the little pulleys for the 1946 enigines. I finally got around to doing the job today.

A bit messy but not bad for my first soldering job. Again I followed MM & Wallaces soldering guides starting with the union which is the hardest to resolder because it's so far into the boiler, followed by the whistle collar & finally the safety valve collar. I then followed Wallaces instructions for the end cap by soldering the the water level plug from the inside of the end cap and then a thin bead of solder around the end cap lip. After a final touch up with the dremmel I pushed the end cap back on & reheated it. Finally I ran a bead of solder around the outside of the end cap.

As it was my first attempt I didn't attempt to clean it up, just put new washers on the required areas and put it back together. I filled the boiler with hot water & the burner with meths, lit it and stood back. I expected steam & water to come out everywhere, but it didn't. The only place it leaked was under the safety valve washer because I hadn't cleaned all the debris from the old one out.

I couldn't believe it, the engine worked well (once lubricated properly) but the cylinder & piston are fairly worn so a fair bit of steam escaped from there, but it worked.

Now all I have to do is pull it apart again and genlty file etc the excess solder off, particularly around the union & whistle collars as these holes were bent out of shape from what appears to be a case of being dropped.

A big thanks to MM & Wallace for teaching an old dog new tricks,

.

Cheers

Chris
_________________

Mamod mania strikes again

tmuir · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 8:03 am Post subject:

Nice one.
It's a good feeling returning a broken engine back into working condition isnt it.

As a side not you shouldn't need to get any of the parts red hot to desolder, if you start to see red thats too hot and that then puts you in danger of misshaping things as you learnt with the collar.

I'm sure with some careful filing and W&D and polishing the engine will look great.

Good job.
Does this mean you will now be willing to compete against me for the broken Australian engines?

_________________
http://www.freewebs.com/ozsteam/index.htm
http://members.iinet.net.au/~tmuir1/

A nice example of an Australian made Scorpion Donkey Engine

flywheel61 · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 8:38 am Post subject:

Thanks for the support Tony,

.

I think it will be a long time, if ever, that I get to the stage of competing with you for engines that are missing parts as I don't have the desire to get a lathe etc, soldering is one thing but making parts is a totallty different kettle of fish. Maybe if it was like that Parken with the messy soldering but that would be about all. I'm sure we could come to some sort of amicable arrangement, :

.

Cheers

Chris
_________________

Mamod mania strikes again

Wallace · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 8:41 am Post subject:

Well done Chris, that's great!!!

I've had one, that I put all back together and it leaked

Well done with the first Job mate. It's a good feeling getting it running.

The best I've found in cleaning up is 1200 grade wet and dry first. I use a thin strip of wood, maybe 1cm wide, but high/thick. Wrap the 1200 around wood, and then file the excess off the boiler against the end cap. Then finish off with 2000 grade, but use that grade with water, cos it clogs up real quick.

I have tried the dremel and a file before, but the dremel was too harsh, and I stuffed up with the file

Good luck and again, great work
_________________

http://www.freewebs.com/mamodsteam/

MooseMan · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 8:45 am Post subject:

Nice job Chris!

If you wanted to tidy that up a bit further, some fine wire wool followed by 1000+ grade wet&dry would take care of it very quickly.
_________________
Stands the glass half empty,
Or stands the glass half full?
Blast your Buddhist mantra, man,
I'll take another pull.

Mamodman123 · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 10:22 am Post subject:

Looks pretty damn good Chris! and it works so that's a double bonus!

Should clean up a treat!

you could gently heat with a torch and wipe with wirewool, but be careful you don't desolder anything

Excellent job for your first attempt

_________________
Solid Fuel tablets explode

You could get a nice flatbase for that

www.mamodsteam.tk

Graham-Jilly · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 10:38 am Post subject:

Great job Chris
_________________

http://www.freewebs.com/aclr

oldstuff · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 3:22 pm Post subject:

Way to hang in there and see it through, Chris!
_________________
-Chuck

Twin-cylinder, CSE-3

"Put that in your Dremel!"

erikl · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 6:47 pm Post subject:

Nice job chris.

I can see the same kind of soldering as I did with my recent first solder job

(although mine was a bit more messy)

With some W&D and patience it will clean up nice.
_________________
My site: www.steam-toys.com
I also like the bigger toys: www.stoomtrein.org

flywheel61 · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 8:05 pm Post subject:

Thanks for your support peoples. It might take more than W & D though as some of the solder around the union and the whistle collars is 2-4 mm high due to the poor fit. This was caused by the buckling of the holes due to the engine being dropped so will probably haver to do a bit of careful filing.

Cheers

Chris
_________________

Mamod mania strikes again

Mamodman123 · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 8:06 pm Post subject:

Practice makes perfect

_________________
Solid Fuel tablets explode

You could get a nice flatbase for that

www.mamodsteam.tk

flywheel61 · Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 4:42 am Post subject:

I've now finished this engine and am, very pleased with the result. I did learn however, that I've been a little too enthusiastic with the cleaning around the three collars & end cap I resoldered/replaced and will have to do a little further work with very fine W & D at some later stage.

Cheers

Chris
_________________

Mamod mania strikes again

steamyman · Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 4:56 am Post subject:

u should feel proud Chris, that's an incredible job you did with that engine.

Stitch · Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 6:04 am Post subject:

Excellent work there Chris. The first soldering job is always the hardest! The final result has come up really nice

Steve_S · Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 8:01 am Post subject:

That looks really good. Well done!