Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)

[vtsteam]

Looking great as you head to the finish line, Kim. (just catching up after a few day's absence here). After I saw the jigsaw puzles, I thought no problem for Kim to do that last foundation piece!

Just as an alternative tip to the Sharpie method of marking out a cardboard pattern for possible future use, you can also do it by the old gasket tapping method with heavy paper, and that gives an accurate clean edge to the pattern.

Looking forward, Kim, to your around-the-corner completion,  holding a finished boiler in your hands! 

[cnr6400]

 

The fit looks great on the rear foundation ring piece!

You might have an undiscovered talent for fitting teeth in gaps for making dentures!

[Kim]

Thanks Chris, Steve, and Jeff! 

Got it!  So any drilling chips from the stay bolts can be dumped out the front before the front tube sheet goes in.

Yeah, I was worrying about that too!  I was thinking I'd have a lot of little copper shavings in the boiler, but then remembered that the front won't be buttoned up yet!  That Kozo - it's like he thought about this or something, eh?

You might have an undiscovered talent for fitting teeth in gaps for making dentures!

So, I may have another career ahead of me as a dentist?  Not so sure - I'm kinda really liking this retirement gig! 

Looking forward, Kim, to your around-the-corner completion,  holding a finished boiler in your hands!

I'm going to be holding it VERY carefully!  It's getting heavy and I keep worrying that I'm going to drop it.  I dropped the outside firebox sheet once and that was bad enough.  If I dropped the finished boiler we'd have a very crooked Pennsy coming down the track cause I'm not sure there's much you can do to recover from that misstep! 

Kim

[Roger B]

CAD, Cardboard Assisted Design, is a most important skill to have   

[crueby]

CAD, Cardboard Assisted Design, is a most important skill to have 

Good one!

[Kim]

CAD, Cardboard Assisted Design, is a most important skill to have 

Good one!

[Kim]

Today was the day to actually start soldering the foundation ring.  I cleaned up all the parts, applied flux and silver solder (easy grade this time) and set it up on the hearth.


I applied the heat from the outside and it took a while to get things up to temp but eventually, it did, and was able to work my way around the whole perimeter, melting the solder.  I started from the center and worked out, thinking that was the part that would be the hardest to heat.  And it was.  Whether that was the right method or not, I’m not sure. But it seemed to work OK.

After flashing all the solder around the ring I went around the outside edge and applied a ring of solder around each of the screw heads.  Here’s a shot after I completed my post-solder inspection, trying to make sure it looked like I got decent penetration.  Kinda hard to tell before pickling, but it looks pretty good I think.


After cooling I put the large part in the pickle then readied the backhead to solder on the last section of the foundation ring:


This part was much smaller than the first and came up to temp quickly.  After flashing the solder all along the ring I flipped it over and did a ring around each screw head.


Now both parts are in the pickle and we’ll see how they come out later.  I snuck a peak at the boiler and it was looking pretty good but I decided to wait for pictures till after more pickle time.

Kim

[steamer]

Holy smokes your making great progress Kim!    Work has been getting in my way these days....glad to see the great progress!

Dave

[Kim]

Thanks Dave!  Yes, inch by inch, I'm fighting my way through this boiler!  I'm gonna get there yet!

Hope you get some time to play soon.  All work and no play can make Dave a very sad boy! 

Kim

[crueby]

Excellent!!   

[Kim]

Thanks Chris!
Kim

[Kim]

After a few hours in the pickle bath, I took the parts out and rinsed them off.

Well, they look OK, but not as good as I’d like 

As you can see from the picture I got pretty good flow through all around the joint except for the lower righthand corner.  The joint between the two parts just didn’t get anything – the solder just puddled on top (which is the underside in this photo).  Nor did the rounded lower part of the throat sheet.    So that area will need to be done again.


The backhead part of the foundation ring came out pretty good though.  While the right side doesn’t have the beautiful flow through that the rest of the joint does, in person, you can see that the solder wicked 90% through.


If that last picture were the issue, I’d probably just say it could pick up a little more solder when I solder the firebox in.  But the lower right corner on the first picture really feels like it needs addressing before I move on to soldering in the firebox.

Ah well. Each step forward is two baby steps for me! (I need a 'plodding on' emoji!)
But I’ll get there!

Kim

[Dave Otto]

Looks like good progress though, I'm guessing that you will be able to patch these little areas up and move forward?

Dave

[cnr6400]

 

[vtsteam]

You're gaining on it., Kim That's what I always say when someone asks me how I'm doing.

"Gainin!"

I'm sure you'll have those small spots filled next time we see pics!"