Author Topic: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)  (Read 242067 times)

Offline Craig DeShong

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #1050 on: May 20, 2018, 01:26:46 AM »
Hydro testing... a pain in the   :censored: but ya gotta do it.  Looks like your test is a success, smooth sailing now. :ThumbsUp:
Craig
The destination motivates us toward excellence, the journey entertains us, and along the way we meet so many interesting people.

Offline 10KPete

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #1051 on: May 20, 2018, 02:35:38 AM »
Looking good Kim! Make sure those water tubes are well clear of any rubbing caused by thermal excursions or they will quickly develop holes!  :stickpoke:

Not what you want later.... :o

How do I know..... :hammerbash:

Pete
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Offline Kim

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #1052 on: May 20, 2018, 06:06:26 AM »
Thanks Dave, Bill, Craig, and Pete, I appreciate the comments.

I think the tubes should have a minimum of clearance there.  The Firebox plate should hold it out of harms way.  At least now I can make sure it will!  (Not that I think I'll be running this much - probably an demo or two, and then it will be a nice static display piece.  We'll see...)

Thanks for stopping by!
Kim

Offline Roger B

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #1053 on: May 20, 2018, 08:26:54 AM »
Good work on the boiler  :praise2:  :praise2:
A couple of late thoughts on your valve problems:
Could there have been some porosity in the pump casting? Tjark had problems on his Kiwi due to a porous piston.
I recollect reading or being told that if you hit a ball to make a seating don't use it again but throw it away as it will be slightly out of round. I have always done this on my injection pumps which are a steel seating. Ball bearings are cheap.
Best regards

Roger

Online gbritnell

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #1054 on: May 20, 2018, 12:14:02 PM »
Your meticulous work will result in excellent results. After annealing the pipes most people would have quit there. Looks great!
gbritnell
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Offline Kim

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #1055 on: May 20, 2018, 03:15:31 PM »
Thanks Roger and George,
Really appreciate your comments and following along to help me fix my missteps!  (Of which I make many!!!!)

Roger, yes, porosity of the casting is something I considered, though I am certainly not an authority to be able to make that determination.  Thanks for the suggestion of not re-using the bearings used to create the seat.  That is something that I did do (the second time around) and am not sure that it helped much in my case.  But I agree, they are inexpensive and it seems like a VERY good precaution to take regardless!

Thank you for your help and advice,
Kim

Offline Kim

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #1056 on: May 27, 2018, 04:48:16 PM »
Now, to mount the boiler in the Boiler Casing.

To hold the front part of the boiler, I needed to make a little “L” bracket.  So, here’s the bracket I made:


Bolting the Boiler Back Sheet in place, I now see that the holes don’t line up :(




To fix this, I unbent the backplate, and made it about 1/8” shorter.  And now it looks pretty good:


And looking in from the front, you can see the “L” bracket bolted in place to hold the front end of the boiler.


Now, to address the next problem.   The bushings in the top of the boiler don’t line up with the hole for the steam dome very well.   I’m quite sure I followed the dimensions in the plan very carefully, but somehow, I’m off by a good bit here. :(


Ah well.  My solution?  Widen the hole.  With the engine removed, I mounted the boiler casing in the mill and made the hole in the casing a little bigger:


OK, that ought to work.  I may have to make the steam dome just a tad bigger to cover this, we’ll see.  But I’m OK with that. This isn’t an exact replica anyway :)


Now that I’ve got the boiler fitting, I think the Steam Dome is next on the agenda.

Thanks for following along.
Kim
« Last Edit: June 04, 2018, 01:03:03 AM by Kim »

Offline zeeprogrammer

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #1057 on: May 27, 2018, 05:02:03 PM »
I missed a lot while I was gone.

Nice progress!
More importantly, great job not letting the little problems slow you down.  :ThumbsUp:
Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
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Zee-Another Thread Trasher.

Offline scc

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #1058 on: May 27, 2018, 06:25:11 PM »
Hi Kim, I've been quietly following along :popcorn:   Very impressive progress :ThumbsUp:            Terry

Offline Tennessee Whiskey

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #1059 on: May 27, 2018, 06:30:09 PM »
Seems as if you are getting quite good at the art of “fitting” , and that’s an accomplishment in itself  :ThumbsUp:  Nice work and I’m here with  :popcorn::DrinkPint:..

Cletus


Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #1060 on: May 27, 2018, 08:54:21 PM »
Great to see your progress Kim. Nice work too on getting the holes lined up!!

Bill

Offline Kim

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #1061 on: May 28, 2018, 05:28:29 PM »
Zee, Terry, Cletus, and Bill, thanks for the comments!

Yes, seems you have to get good at 'fitting'.  At least I do.  Somehow, the small errors add up, and I'm not prepared to remake either the boiler, or the boiler casing/chassis.  Maybe I'm just not dedicated enough, but this seemed like a much better solution to me!

Thanks for following along, I appreciate the support.
Kim

Offline Kim

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #1062 on: May 29, 2018, 03:21:24 AM »
I started on the Steam Dome today.

For the saddle (I think that’s what this is called) I cut a circle of 1/32” brass sheet.  I used an appropriately sized hole in my drill press for this:


Cutting the disk this way left really nasty edges on the part.  So, I mounted it on a 1/4" mandrel (sometimes called a 1/4" bolt :)) and cleaned it up with a file.


Then I bent it around an unused piece of the DOM tube from the Boiler Casing.  It was hard going till I annealed the piece of brass and then wowie kazowie!  It just happened!  I probably should have started with the annealing step.


Next I cut a piece of the same 1/32” brass sheet to be the upright portion of the steam dome.  I used the scroll saw for this and it went fairly quickly.


Here I’ve squared up the sawed edges, and its ready for rolling.


I still have that little (8”?) 3-in-1 Sheet Metal Machine that a friend loaned me.  I used that for the rollers. It worked OK, but I’m still not sure this is the solution for me.  I may end up getting a little set of dedicated rollers.  This still feels so “all purpose” that it doesn’t really serve any of them well.
But it worked for this:


I used some tape and a little set of vice-grips to hold things in place while I drilled the first rivet hole.


After placing that first rivet, I went back and drilled the remaining rivet holes.


And here’s the completed Steam Dome tube, sitting by what will be the saddle.  (If I’m using that term incorrectly, please do let me know!)


Next, I’ll be shaping the bottom of the tube and soldering it to the saddle.
Kim
« Last Edit: June 04, 2018, 12:58:28 AM by Kim »

Online gbritnell

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #1063 on: May 29, 2018, 12:41:24 PM »
It's coming along nicely Kim. It's amazing how workable the brass is with a little annealing. You just have to be careful with subsequent drilling or machining because the tools will tend to grab in the soft brass.
gbritnell
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Offline Kim

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #1064 on: May 29, 2018, 07:50:08 PM »
Thanks George!
I'll have to be careful of that, because I do have to do some additional work on that piece.
Is there any way to harden brass?  Short of work hardening it by bending?  I could unbend and re-bend, but I'm afraid I'd end up where I was before and the brass wouldn't bend to shape and just spring back...

Thanks,
Kim

 

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