A German member of my other forum asked if anyone could help him...... He could only obtain metric tube, and needed imperial.....
Piece of bar, drill, ream, top od to size.......Course I can!

I guess something got lost in translation........ He wanted
cylinders!

Here`s what he had just bought. A 193? Bowman loco.

Stripped......

He sent me a sample, from another loco......

Got off to a bad start, when the 3/8” tube I had ordered turned out to be 3/8”
o/d instead!
Could find nothing, anywhere! So, I appealed on here, and a kind Gentleman in America sent me the perfectly sized piece!
Thank you, Joe! (75Plus), yer a Gentleman!

Parted to slightly over length..... Then made end plugs.

The bore is a couple of thou` over the original...... So, have to make a pair of pistons to suit......

Milled a 2" length of 5/8" dia brass, for the 1/2" wide cylinder blocks.

10mm ball end cutter + chamfer....... Looks ok!

Sawn in two & cleaned up. Then drilled holes & tapped 7BA pivot thread........

Made new pivot screws & nuts.......
Group photo........

Next job, soldering! Never liked doing that....... Would rather be machining.......

I made an aluminium pedestal support, plus a wooden handle to fit the bore.......

Tinned the bore and the cap. Then pressed & sweated them together......

Skimmed the ends to length.......

And drilled the 1.5mm holes.....

Screwed the block to a 7BA aluminium support. Tinned the cylinder & block.
Then aligned them together with a 1.5mm drill shank, and re heated.....


After a good clean up, I think they came out ok!

Obligatory group photo.....

Oh, yes! In the pack with the samples was an SEL piston...... Could I make two of those, as well...... Pleese?


Note..... The top one`s still awaiting the big end rad machining......

Just received this pic from a very happy man......


The loco will be rebuilt properly, during the winter months......

David D