Author Topic: 3 inch boiler build  (Read 53317 times)

Offline gary.a.ayres

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1297
  • Isle of Skye & sometimes France
Re: 3 inch boiler build
« Reply #195 on: December 12, 2018, 10:55:56 PM »
Many thanks, gentlemen.

Very kind of you.

Offline Ye-Ole Steam Dude

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1571
  • Deep East Texas on Sam Rayburn Lake
Re: 3 inch boiler build
« Reply #196 on: December 12, 2018, 11:19:41 PM »
Hello Gary,

I am assuming that you did not turn these on your metal lathe and that you have a wood lathe. If it is a wood lathe what size. Sure would like to see a photo of it. Just beautiful work.

Have a great day,
Thomas
Thomas

Offline gary.a.ayres

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1297
  • Isle of Skye & sometimes France
Re: 3 inch boiler build
« Reply #197 on: December 12, 2018, 11:51:37 PM »
Thomas -

Thank you for your kind feedback. I used all of my main machines to make the candlesticks, including this to make the walnut bodies and mahogany bases:



It's a Coronet Major woodturning lathe and multi-functional 'wood machining centre'. British, from the 1960's. As well as turning it has planer/thicknesser, table saw, belt sander, disc sander and mortising attachments. It's a machine I use for all kinds of stuff, and it's beautiful as well as versatile. One of my favourite machines!

I can't recall the dimensions at present but it's long enough to take a piece of wood twice the length of the body of each of the candlesticks (I had the walnut blanks cut to fit the lathe, and cut one of the blanks into two lengths to make the candlesticks). The wine-sized bottle of mead provides the scale. I'll post some actual measurements here over the next day or two.

As for the walnut, I had a walnut tree right next to my house in France. A local tree surgeon (who is tree-friendly to the point that he has been known to refuse to take down trees needlessly) took one look at it and said 'it has to come down or it will undermine the house'. So - sadly - down it came.

A supply of its beautiful wood is the compensation though!

Thanks again for your interest.

gary

Offline Ye-Ole Steam Dude

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1571
  • Deep East Texas on Sam Rayburn Lake
Re: 3 inch boiler build
« Reply #198 on: December 13, 2018, 12:02:34 AM »
Thomas -

It's Coronet Major woodturning lathe and multi-functional 'wood machining centre'. British, from the 1960's. As well as turning it has planer/thicknesser, table saw, belt sander, disc sander and mortising attachments. It's a machine I use for all kinds of stuff, and it's beautiful as well as versatile. One of my favourite machines!

Thanks again for your interest.

gary


Hey again Gary,

Wow what an incredible piece of equipment, I have never heard of one that does so many things. Thanks for the info and photo.

Have a great day,
Thomas
Thomas

Offline gary.a.ayres

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1297
  • Isle of Skye & sometimes France
Re: 3 inch boiler build
« Reply #199 on: December 14, 2018, 12:09:13 AM »
Wow what an incredible piece of equipment, I have never heard of one that does so many things.

Yes - the above photo shows the Coronet in my workshop in France. It's now in my small shed workshop here at home, where there's certainly no room for a separate table saw, belt sander, planer, etc.
While it can be a hassle putting on and taking off the various attachments, it does give me a range of options that I wouldn't have room for otherwise.

Cheers Thomas.

gary

Offline gary.a.ayres

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1297
  • Isle of Skye & sometimes France
Re: 3 inch boiler build
« Reply #200 on: December 17, 2018, 06:20:41 PM »
Happy Birthday to me!  :wine1:

How could she have known that this was what I wanted...

... if I hadn't told her?



Will get back on topic soon...

Offline Gas_mantle

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1365
  • North Yorks - UK.
    • My Youtube channel
Re: 3 inch boiler build
« Reply #201 on: December 17, 2018, 06:25:19 PM »
Happy Birthday Gary  :DrinkPint:

I have exactly the same height gauge and I've been pleased with mine  :)

Offline gary.a.ayres

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1297
  • Isle of Skye & sometimes France
Re: 3 inch boiler build
« Reply #202 on: December 17, 2018, 06:28:25 PM »
Cheers, Peter  :cheers:

And good to know. Should help me up my game when it comes to measuring...

Offline zeeprogrammer

  • Full Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6811
  • West Chester, PA, USA
Re: 3 inch boiler build
« Reply #203 on: December 17, 2018, 09:06:24 PM »
How could she have known that this was what I wanted...

... if I hadn't told her?

I get my best gifts that way.  ;)
Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
"To work. To work."
Zee-Another Thread Trasher.

Offline gary.a.ayres

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1297
  • Isle of Skye & sometimes France
Re: 3 inch boiler build
« Reply #204 on: December 17, 2018, 10:39:57 PM »
Way to go, Carl.   :ThumbsUp:

Online Kim

  • Global Moderator
  • Full Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7863
  • Portland, Oregon, USA
Re: 3 inch boiler build
« Reply #205 on: December 18, 2018, 05:07:07 AM »
Looks like a nice tool there Gary.
And happy birthday!

I think it works best when you give clear hints :)
Kim

Offline gary.a.ayres

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1297
  • Isle of Skye & sometimes France
Re: 3 inch boiler build
« Reply #206 on: December 18, 2018, 09:32:16 AM »
Cheers Kim.

I think it's more a case of 'explicit request' though...

 :)

Offline gary.a.ayres

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1297
  • Isle of Skye & sometimes France
Re: 3 inch boiler build
« Reply #207 on: December 18, 2018, 11:10:47 PM »
Hi -

In the first photo below you can see the firebox top plate fixed to the top half of the firebox body, which is made of part of the flared end of a ductile iron water pipe. It would have been tricky to hold on the rotary table to perform an indexing operation so I just lined up the top plate, spotted through the holes and drilled and tapped them M4:



Then the fun began. I had to join the spigot for the bottom of the boiler to the firebox top plate, and decided to silver solder it rather than braze it, as I had previously considered. I chose to use high temperature silver solder due to the heat the assembly will be exposed to in use. I took the top plate off the firebox part, and prepped it and the spigot for silver soldering together. A while back I had some problems with my Sievert torch but a quick test yesterday led me to convince myself that The Good Fairy had magicked them away. Not so. The torch went out on me repeatedly, and especially when I tried to turn it up to a decent heat. I went on for ages but the silver solder (which I had cut into small bits and arranged in a ring round the join) simply refused to melt. I scrabbled around the shop for my small oxy-mapp kit only to find that there was no oxygen in the bottle. In despair, and thinking there was nothing to lose, I picked up the part in a pair of tongs, went into the house and lit the woodburning stove in our living room. Placing the assembly in the middle of the kindling wood (and feeling pleased that the small pieces of solder had stuck to the join and stayed put), I opened up the vents of the fire. Imaging my relief as within two minutes the assembly took on a bright orange-red glow and the silver solder flashed round the joint!

:Mad:
:Mad:
:Mad:

OK - the part took a heck of a lot of cleaning up, and the silver soldering isn't the neatest, but hey - this is part of a firebox, not a boiler. It doesn't have to hold any pressure, but even if it did I reckon it would. The black line right of centre isn't as bad as it looks - it's not a gap. And in any case it's going to be covered in black stove paint:



I'm not sure whether to be ashamed of this sequence of events or proud of it.

Too much crazy, but it looks like I got away with it.

I said to my Dear Lady: 'I could build a small tripod out of steel so that I can sit parts on it and silver solder them together in the fire'.

She said 'I think you should fix that torch'.

So the picture below shows where it's currently all at. Just need to fix together the other bits of the firebox, make another few tweaks and I'll be ready for my second attempt with solid fuel. If that fails, it's not a major issue because it would be fairly easy to modify the parts I have fabricated so far to make the housing for a meths burner.



gary


Offline Gas_mantle

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1365
  • North Yorks - UK.
    • My Youtube channel
Re: 3 inch boiler build
« Reply #208 on: December 19, 2018, 12:52:02 PM »
Taking shape nicely  :)

With your boiler nearly finished and armed with your new measuring stick have you thought any further about which engine to build?

Offline gary.a.ayres

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1297
  • Isle of Skye & sometimes France
Re: 3 inch boiler build
« Reply #209 on: December 19, 2018, 09:52:57 PM »
Still planning on a simple single-acting oscillator to minimise the chances of a failure experience with my first engine.   :)

Aim to make it a one inch bore, though.  Chunky!

Before I start on that, though, once the boiler is done I plan to install the DRO on my new mill.


 

SimplePortal 2.3.5 © 2008-2012, SimplePortal