Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)

[b.lindsey]

Those look great Kim. You are really getting this soldering down too on these small parts. Bit of a bummer as to having to disassemble to install them but no biggie. Well done!!

Bill

P.S. I miss my visits to Portland

[Kim]

Thanks Bill!
Well, if you ever decided to come back up here for a visit, be sure to let me know and we can get together for dinner or something
Kim

[Roger B]

Still following along  Excellent progress    but I couldn't see the video 

[Kim]

Thanks Roger!

Hmm.... not sure why you couldn't see the video - it's marked public.  Here's the direct link if you want to give that a try:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=56&v=eGZvS51xT-c

Sorry it's not working for you.
Kim

[Roger B]

That link worked thank you, but it still doesn't appear for me on MEM. Looks good to me, you should be proud of that     

[Kim]

Thank you Roger!

Roger, are you able to see other YouTube videos linked from MEM? Or is it just mine?

Is anyone else having trouble with the embedded video link?
Here's exact same video link embedded with the youtube tags:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGZvS51xT-c" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGZvS51xT-c</a>

And a direct link embedded with the URL tags:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=56&v=eGZvS51xT-c

They should both show the exact same video.
Kim

[Roger B]

Hi Kim, to me it is not there. I have attached a screen shot. I can see other peoples videos.

[Kim]

Interesting.  You're using Internet Explorer.  When I try it in IE, I see the same thing as you - no YouTube video box.

But it works fine in Chrome.

I did a google search on this and it seems to be a common problem in IE11.  One solution that someone said worked for them was to turn off the Tracking  protections - at least for Google.  I'm not my own administrator at work so I can't try this solution here (it won't let me change that setting).  But you could give it a try and see if it works.  Or try a different browser?

I'm surprised it would work for any embedded YouTube link if it doesn't work for mine.

Kim

[Roger B]

Odd, but that's software  I could see Longboy's and Crueby's videos without problems 

[Kim]

I checked Chris's YouTube link and he didn't use the [ youtube]   [ /youtube] tags around his.  So I'm trying that here...

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGZvS51xT-c" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGZvS51xT-c</a>

Does this work in IE?
Kim

<edit>
Well, I just checked it in IE and it worked for me - go figure.  IE11 doesn't seem to like the [ youtube] tags.  And apparently, you don't need them? You can just toss a youtube URL in there and it magically works.  I didn't know that.  Guess I'll start doing it that way now for all the IE users!

Admins - do we have a special place to keep little tidbits like this, to save others the hassle of debugging it all over again?
</edit>

[Ye-Ole Steam Dude]

Worked perfect for me.

Thomas

[Kim]

Thanks Thomas!
I'll use this method going forward...
Kim

[Kim]

Next up is the Displacement Lubricator.

All parts of the Displacement Lubricator were made from 360 brass, or brass tube, which I don’t know exactly what it is, but it isn’t 360 brass, I’m pretty sure.  I started by making the plugs; the Drain Plug, made pretty much like the plugs for the Condensate Release Valves, and the Top Plug – for covering the hole where you add the oil.  Since the Top Plug is a little different, I took a few pics of that.

Using 5/16” rod, I turned down a 3/32” length to 1/4" and then threaded it 1/4-28:


And cut it off.


Here’s the plugs. Drain Plug on the left, Top Plug on the right.


Next, I started on the drain for the lubricator.  I cut a length of 3/32” tubing, and a 1/4" piece of 3/16” brass rod with a 3/32” hole about half way through, then set them up for silver soldering.


This went well!


Here it is post pickling.  I didn’t clean it up too much since it will be soldered again soon.


With it soldered together, I placed it in a 3/16” collet to drill and thread the fat end to take the drain plug.


Then I drilled a 1/16” hole the rest of the way through into the tube.  This also cleared out any solder that may have ozzed into the end of the tube.


With the drain end complete, I started work on the rod that connects Displacement Lubricator to the steam.  Rudy said to use 3/32” solid rod and drill a #72 hold through it – he said that anything bigger than #72 will allow too much oil through.  That’s a REALLY small hole to poke through a 1/2" length!  But I took it very slow, used cutting oil and a high speed (1200RMP), and pecked my way through it without breaking the bit.


Here’s the family shot of the lubricator at the end of my shop time last Sunday.


I had to wait for this weekend to finish…. (next post)
Kim

[Kim]

Today I picked up where I left off.  I made a flange for the lubricator and then soldered the rod to the flange.  Here’s the before shot:


And the after shot.


The final piece of the Displacement Lubricator is the main body.  This is just a cylinder to hold the oil and all the pieces fabricated so far will connect to the main body.

The body was made from a 1” piece of 5/16” brass rod.  First step was to drill a 3/32” hole for the drain tube.


After cutting it off at 1” length, I went to the mill and drilled a 3/32” hole for the inlet tube and flange.


Now to solder the drain into the body.


While the tube started to sag a little there, the solder joint came out great, and I was able to bend the tube straight quite easily.  Not that I’m keeping score, but that’s THREE for THREE on the silver soldering front!


Last piece to connect to the body is the inlet tube and flange.  This one was more challenging to setup, but I thought I had it.


Pride cometh before a fall they say.  It took me 3 tries to get this joint.  First try, the round bar I had (stupidly) used to hold things in place rolled off as the parts started to get hot.  So, I went to a different arrangement.  Next try the solder balled up and I didn’t get a good joint.  So I cleaned it up and went in for a third try.  This one was a winner!


Some pickle, some cleanup, and here’s the family shot up to now:


Next, I had to drill out the center of the lubricator.  I used a #3 drill and went nearly to the bottom of the 1” lubricator body.


After that, I used a 1/16” drill to make sure the drain tube connected to the lubricator body.  Then I tapped 1/4-28 threads for the Top Cap.


And finally, I took off the top thread or two using 1/4" drill so that the Top Cap would sit on closer – the threads on that top cap don’t go down all the way to the shoulder they way I’d like, but this took care of that.


I also had to clean up the #72 hole to and poke it all the way through to the body.


And, with that, the Displacement Lubricator was complete!


There were a lot of steps for a seemingly simple part, but I am super pumped about how this came out!  It’s a very pretty thing.

Thanks for following along,
Kim

[crueby]

Nicely done on the lubricator! Thats a different style one than I'm used to, which have a the steam tube going all the way through the body, with the tiny hole in that tube inside the body. Seems like both ways should work as well, the way yours is set up is easier to plumb in though. Adding that to my bag of tricks. Just wish I could remember whats in the bag!