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oldstuff
Steam Legend!!
Joined: 31 Oct 2006
Posts: 2530
Location: Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.
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 Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 4:44 pm Post subject: Another Way to Make End Caps and Burners |
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| MamodFan wrote: | hi, there are a several ways you can make end caps:
1) turn from solid
2) take a piece of sheet brass and tap it round a mandrel that is the same size as the boiler Ø
3) make a punch and die and press the sheet into the correct shape.
i made mine as option 3, and i was very pleased with the result. they look exactly like original ones, they have nicely radiused corners and look very slightly domed. hope tjis helps. |
If you have the tools, option 3 looks ideal.
If you have the time and patience, option 2 can give good results.
A 4th option is soldering a piece of brass sheet onto the ends of a boiler. Some
companies, Weeden for example, have used this method on some of their engines.
So, I made a boiler in this way and it works a treat(see pic below). Please note that
silver lead-free solder was used for this.
A 5th option(yet to be tried by me)carries option 4 one step further by soldering a piece
of brass sheet on the end of a slighty oversized tube and cutting it off at
the desired length. Also, it may be possible to cut a ring from a tube which is the
same size as the boiler and somehow stretch the ring to the desired cap
size and then solder sheet on one end.
I made a nice little brass wick burner, shown below, by cutting a ring from brass
tube and soldering sheet over both ends, etc. And I thought of tmuir, who made
a burner for his Scorpion from homemade end caps and wasn't too pleased with it.
Instead of a fill cap and stem, you could solder a small wick holder in the center and
have a nice burner for a verticle engine like the tmiur's Scorpion.
_________________
-Chuck
Twin-cylinder, CSE-3
"Put that in your Dremel!" |
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tmuir
Steam Supreme Being
Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Posts: 14622
Location: Western Australia
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| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 12:36 am Post subject: |
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They came out a treat Oldstuff.
I used the same techniques to fit the bottom to my wick holders for my Bowman loco and it worked well.
I think for toy steam engines who only operate at 15PSI thats a fine way of making them.
I think for boilers operating at higher pressures the flanged cap gives an extra level of safety not needed on our little engines.
After you soldered it on how did you round the edges of the sheet to the boiler tube?
_________________
http://www.freewebs.com/ozsteam/index.htm
http://members.iinet.net.au/~tmuir1/
A nice example of an Australian made Scorpion Donkey Engine |
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oldstuff
Steam Legend!!
Joined: 31 Oct 2006
Posts: 2530
Location: Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.
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| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 6:48 am Post subject: |
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| tmuir wrote: | They came out a treat Oldstuff.
I used the same techniques to fit the bottom to my wick holders for my Bowman loco and it worked well.
I think for toy steam engines who only operate at 15PSI thats a fine way of making them.
I think for boilers operating at higher pressures the flanged cap gives an extra level of safety not needed on our little engines.
After you soldered it on how did you round the edges of the sheet to the boiler tube? |
Thanks, mate. I quite agree. Flanged cap more safe and boilers sport a more
finished look with them. Tin snips got the large pieces off, then bench grinder,
then the Dremel grinding wheel followed by cutoff wheel. Dremel cutoff wheel
can make a fair finishing job by using the face of the wheel and a light touch.
_________________
-Chuck
Twin-cylinder, CSE-3
"Put that in your Dremel!" |
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Steve_S
Steam Legend!!
Joined: 26 Aug 2006
Posts: 3375
Location: Leeds UK
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| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 10:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Your burner is very impressive Chuck! I've just done something very similar for a Bowman look-alike burner. I found that if I tidied the edges of the brass sheet which forms the base of the burner with a file, then emery paper, then steel wool, its almost impossible to see the seam... it looks like its been turned or pressed from a single piece of brass. Now I just need to find a suitable filler cap... |
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oldstuff
Steam Legend!!
Joined: 31 Oct 2006
Posts: 2530
Location: Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.
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| Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 7:40 am Post subject: |
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| Steve_S wrote: | | Your burner is very impressive Chuck! I've just done something very similar for a Bowman look-alike burner. I found that if I tidied the edges of the brass sheet which forms the base of the burner with a file, then emery paper, then steel wool, its almost impossible to see the seam... it looks like its been turned or pressed from a single piece of brass. Now I just need to find a suitable filler cap... |
Thanks Steve, it's a bit too small but I was pleased with it's looks, so I've got
another, larger ring cut out to make a bigger one.
I know what you mean about the edges, I can see it especially with the
cylinders I've done, the burner's edges are pretty good, too.
Are you looking for brass hex bolts from which to make a filler cap, Steve?
I've been looking locally for brass hex bolts with nuts, but so far haven't found
what I need. I'd like to get 1/4 X 26, 27, 28. I think those would make good
safety valves or filler plugs. My latest homemade engine uses #10 X 32 and
it's a bit tight for filling.
_________________
-Chuck
Twin-cylinder, CSE-3
"Put that in your Dremel!" |
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Steve_S
Steam Legend!!
Joined: 26 Aug 2006
Posts: 3375
Location: Leeds UK
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| Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 10:09 pm Post subject: |
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| oldstuff wrote: |
Are you looking for brass hex bolts from which to make a filler cap, Steve?
I've been looking locally for brass hex bolts with nuts, but so far haven't found
what I need. I'd like to get 1/4 X 26, 27, 28. I think those would make good
safety valves or filler plugs. My latest homemade engine uses #10 X 32 and
it's a bit tight for filling. |
Yes, I'm looking out for some large enough brass nuts and bolt. As you suggest most of the sizes that are easily available are too small. I was lucky in that I had a couple of ideal threaded brass plugs and suitable hex nuts, but I've used those so I need to find an alternative. |
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oldstuff
Steam Legend!!
Joined: 31 Oct 2006
Posts: 2530
Location: Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.
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| Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 1:01 am Post subject: |
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A local hardware store recommended me to a nut and bolt store...I haven't been
there yet, but I'm gonna check them out. Your local hardware guy might give
you a lead, too. It's kinda funny...my guy didn't give up the lead until I asked
him to order special nuts and bolts for me! 
_________________
-Chuck
Twin-cylinder, CSE-3
"Put that in your Dremel!" |
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MamodFan
Steam fanatic
Joined: 23 Nov 2006
Posts: 1009
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| Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 7:02 pm Post subject: |
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| you need to get 1/4" BSF (26 tpi) for the minor type safety valve and burner filler plugs 3/8" bsf (20 tpi) for the larger safetuy valves. they are fairly common in this country at the moment. metrification will get us in the end though!! |
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oldstuff
Steam Legend!!
Joined: 31 Oct 2006
Posts: 2530
Location: Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.
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| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 4:51 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks, MF. 1/4 x 26 tpi would be great if I could find it. Sadly, the nut & bolt store
didn't have anything in brass other than #20 threads.
If I have to go online for it, I might as well ask for knurled screws, pre-drilled center
holes for the valve, and then the nuts to make bushes from. Might be asking a lot,
since I'd only want a dozen or less to start with.
_________________
-Chuck
Twin-cylinder, CSE-3
"Put that in your Dremel!" |
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