New Mills Pumping Station

[steam guy willy]

so...still scheaming and thinking etc etc .I have finished the former and after looking at the fibreglass and aluminium attempts from the previous build I have tried to make a copper version ...This was achieved by flanging the cup shaped blades by using a ballpein hammer  and a sandbag  this seems to work but I need to use a smaller ball hammer...
so looking promising...

Willy

[crueby]

I assume you are annealing the copper frequently?

[steam guy willy]

Hi Chris ,  yes anealing is making it easier and I now have a proper leather bag to beat the copper into ,  also I run the ball pein hammer backwards and forwards on the copper to burnish out the small dents on the surface , I am also using this old copper plaque for the material.

Willy

[Kim]

Interesting.  So, how exactly do you use the leather bag?  Do you put the copper plate on the bag, then the form on top of that, and pound on the form?  Or do you put the form on the table, then the copper plate on that, followed by the leather bag, and beat on the leather bag?

This is an new technique to me.

Kim

[steam guy willy]

Hi Kim   the leather bag is full of course sand and the flat piece of annealed copper is put on to it .  It is then beaten with the ball of the hammer starting in the middle and as the compound curve is formed it is frequently put over the brass mould to check  that the copper is starting to conform to it. The copper is frequently annealed and re "worked" the whole process seems a bit random but it does "happen". also the outside of the copper is snipped off as the shape is produced . As it is hammered to shape the creases need to be bashed out as you progress ......quite difficult to explain as one just "does" it !!!

Willy

[crueby]

Interesting method - I took a very short (one afternoon) course in copper raising, the way they taught (one of many) was using a planishing hammer and a polished metal stake with a curved end to impart the curve into the metal. We were not trying to match a particular shape, just learning how the metal moves and some basic techniques. For boiler endcaps, I have used wood forms to get a specific size/shape, but that would be tougher for the kind of curves you are going for. It always fascinates me to watch someone using sandbags, rollers, english wheels, all that stuff to form sheet metal. Amazing what can be done!
 

[steam guy willy]

High Chris , Thanks for the comment  and I have spent a lot of time flanging boiler endplates ..usually in 14/16 gauge copper ... this is 15 thou " stuff so quite easy to form ... actually the way I have done this is just made up as I go along ..the same as everybody that makes engines does I suppose ??!!  A few pics and I have made 5 of them so 11 more to go and the last one will possibly be perfect ??    one chap I talked to once said that if you were making a whole row of items like this then when you came to installing them you mixed them up so that they would sort of look similar ???!!. I use the curved tin snips held in the vice to snip all the trimmings off and have also used the former with the flat face of the hammer to see how much needs to be removed .  As all these parts are hidden the only criteria is for the turbine to work !!! Looking at the Cookson Gold Catalogue they also have blocks of hard rubber that is quite useful.

Willy

[Kim]

Very interesting process!  Thanks for the additional detail.
Looks like a LOT of work!

Kim

[steam guy willy]

So.. all the blades are now made and i have to now trim them up to attach to the spindle . These will be silver soldered in place but i will have to make some sort of jig to keep them true,  the forming was quite stressful and really painful on my neck but i percevered till they were all done.

Willy

[crueby]

Quite a lot of work but work well done!  Thats more blades than I thought.

[Admiral_dk]

the forming was quite stressful and really painful on my neck but i percevered till they were all done.

We are not getting any younger Willy - but you should be happy with the result.

Per

[steam guy willy]

Hi Chris and Per ...Yes there are 16 blades altogether on the prototype and I may reduce them ?? I have been screaming about how toehold everything in place and have been raiding the Meccano box again....there is a thin piece of coppersilversoldered to the edge of the blade and this is to hold them in place... the copper strip is from those adjustable ceiling lights that get chucked out in Jarrold's skip regularly !!!  the blades will still need fitting to have a really close fit  and will be silver soldered at the top and bottom and then filled in with something like JB weld ??  but will see what happens....

Willy

[steam guy willy]

So I have now silver soldered the bottom parts of the blades to the spindle to see what happened and should have made the blades from thicker stuff as they are now quite flimsy due to them all getting aneald due to the high temperature of the soldering. also I had an accident when soldering as I made a box from fire bricks that collapsed onto it  !!! at least I can rebend them although there is not much room for large fingers !!  I will persevere with it and see what happens next....

Willy

[scc]

Amazing work Willy   Sorry to hear about your firebrick collapse     Very impressive      Terry

[MJM460]

Hi Willy, an amazing testament to your skill that you have managed to form so many similar blades.   And quite a tricky silver soldering job.  Bad luck about the brickwork collapse, but you will get there.  Bending the blades back will work harden them again for you so not all loss.

Really enjoying following your build of an interesting plant.

MJM460