The Craftmans Shop > New from Old
Steam Cleaner. Re-Birth of a Karcher MPDS
awemawson:
The secret Sparky is to spend a life time with not quite enough finances to do what you want without doing it yourself - they say that necessity is the mother of invention :lol:
Now having this machine reliably working again is proving SO useful - I've just started working on my ancient Thwaites 2 ton swivel dumper. I've had it nine years, and even when I got it the forward cylinder has been reluctant to fire up when cold. In all that time it's never come to the top of the list to be worked on, but now it's got so bad something has to be done.
It's a Petter PH2 engine with electric start. Years back I've proved diesel is getting to the forward injector, and even swapped the injectors to see if any difference, so I strongly suspect poor compression, either worn bore or burnt valves.
So back to the steam cleaner - I hate working on oily grubby engines (which is probably why I've put this off for so long :clap: - you could barely see the fins on the front cylinder barrel it was so gunged up - but 3 minutes with the steam cleaner and it's quite nice :ddb: Mind you it takes paint off as well.
awemawson:
The other day the new oil filter arrived for the Steam Cleaner, so I flushed it with new oil - twice actually as a lot a gunge came out, then drained it again and refilled with clean oil and the new filter. I also drained and re-filled the high pressure water pump as it takes the same oil, and re-greased it's sliding bits. So it's now had a full in depth service which is re-assuring for it's future longevity.
The steam hose is rather cumbersome to wrap up after use - it's 3/8" bore two wire DN10 hydraulic hose rated at 490 BAR and 150 deg C with an outer diameter of 3/4", so although it bends OK, it doesn't twist at all and fights you when trying to coil it. So I've decided to make a reel for it, and fit quick release fittings on the ends, which will also act as swivels.
Proper high pressure high temperature steam reels are available, but at enormous expense - over £200 for one whose reel diameter is large enough for the minimum bend radius of the hose :bugeye: so I've bought these redundant fire hose reels off ebay and will modify them - one for the feed water (may not need modifying), one for the high pressure, and the other can be a 'shelf spare'
At £20 each I reckoned that they were worth a punt :lol:
nrml:
Yet another great thread :thumbup:! The only problem with reading your threads is that I always end up thinking 'I'd like to have one of those..... Would be very handy.' I end up wasting a few hours on ebay before reality eventually kicks in and I realise I couldn't use whatever I was searching for to a fraction of it's potential either for lack of knowledge how to or lack of playtime :hammer:.
The thread that got me sidetracked the most was your wire EDM restoration project. I actually ended up bidding on one before I came to my senses and realised I would spend a few years learning how to use it. Luckily I didn't win it.
Looking forward to your next project.
Pete W.:
--- Quote from: awemawson on November 04, 2015, 11:31:18 AM ---
SNIP!!
.... so I've bought these redundant fire hose reels off ebay and will modify them - one for the feed water (may not need modifying), one for the high pressure, and the other can be a 'shelf spare'
At £20 each I reckoned that they were worth a punt :lol:
--- End quote ---
So, Andrew, all you need now is a spare reel on which to store the redundant fire hose when it's replaced by the steam hose!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:
awemawson:
Well I reckon that I now know what happened to the original stopper for the pump oil reservoir - it popped it's cork :bugeye: I noticed the other day that my nice new stainless stopper had raised until it was resting on the O ring seal. If it had been lighter it would have gone the way of the previous one. Presumably there is back pressure when the pump is running, and the only vent is via the filler.
I ordered a commercial 3/8 BSP filler / breather unit and drilled and tapped my stopper to take it - hopefully now it will remain in place.
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