Chapter 6.1 – Mounting Plate, Manhole Plate, and LugChapter 6 covers the Tender Manhole. This is the assembly that will fit in the big square hole on the top of the tender tank. When complete, you will be able to open the manhole cover to fill the tender with water or to access the hand pump to pump water into the boiler. The large rectangle plate that holds the manhole cover is also removable to provide easy access to the inside of the tank.
The first part is the Mounting Plate. It was cut from 0.040” brass sheet. And since the first several parts are all from the same material I cut those at the same time. In this picture, clockwise from the top left is the Mounting Plate (1), the manhole plate (2), the manhole flange (4), and the manhole itself (4) (the last two pieces are part of a single assembly, which is why they both have the same number). The piece of brass in the lower right will become the mounting lug (3) for the manhole plate (just a scrap from the bin).
The bandsaw leaves rough and not-very-straight edges. So the first thing I did was to even out the top and bottom edges then mill it to width.
Then holding the plate sideways, I milled the other dimension square, and to the correct length.
Then I marked up the part showing where all the holes go and the large cutout in the middle. It’s a little hard to see the scribe lines with all the scratches in the blue, but trust me, they are there!
Using the DRO I drilled all the holes to size.
Then I poked a hole in the part to remove and used the scroll saw to cut the large opening.
Now I’ve got two pieces!
Cleaned up the inside edge using files.
And here’s the completed part!
I used several clamps to hold the mounting plate in place, then drilled a couple of holes for mounting screws. You can’t really see it in the picture, but the tank is being supported by a piece of wood clamped in the mill vice.
Then I tapped the few holes I drilled:
And attached the mounting plate on the OUTSIDE of the tank. This is not where it will be in the end, it will be attached to the inside. But this allowed me to drill the rest of the holes for the mounting screws.
And after tapping the remaining holes, we have attached the mounting plate:
And here it is from the top:
The next step was to file down the mounting screws – they are quite short, but still stick out the top of the tank.
So, I filed them down. I used some tape to help keep me from scratching up the rest of the tank in the process.
And here it is, after being filed down.
The next step will be the manhole plate that fits in on top of the mounting plate. I started this by milling it square and to size.
You can see that it fits in the hole!
That’s all for today, thanks for stopping by to take a look.
Kim