Hey all, my name is Harry, aka drdata, (as I am an Internet tech geek), and I just joined this rather interesting site.
I have always enjoyed tinkering on mechanical things and had the obligatory wood and metal shops in high school. I am decent with hand tools and have been making some Japanese style blades using stock removal, as well as the fittings.
I recently got the steam bug, and this landed me here. I would like to someday machine my own engines, but after looking at some of the projects here I know the bar has been set very high.
I came across that PM boiler and in searing around the net happened across a rather useful thread on the subject, and voila, I decided to join to say thanks and to see what I can learn.
Thanks to Vtsteam for the great write up, and I agree about the valve design:
http://madmodder.net/index.php/topic,9920.0.htmlI had just begun when I read the advice in above thread, so figured I would give it a try. I too found the plug wanted to seize, and before I wasted much more time I opted for a pop off valve similar to the one made in the above thread, but constructed from off the shell fixtures. Its too tall as a result, but seems it will work.
Thanks for letting me join that interesting site and am very impressed with the work examples I have seen so far.
Best regards