Minnie TE Long term project

[Joe d]

Hi

Seems like a long time... but I've gotten a little further ahead.  The boiler is at the waiting for pressure testing stage, so I've started
working on a pump.  Using an illustration posted a long time ago by Bogstandard (I think) as the plan... more or less....



the piston sizes and the ram size are all predicated by the size of o-rings on hand, the rest is 100% TLAR engineering
even better, all the material is out of the spare parts/offcuts pile 

(Pay no mind to the date on the photo, somebody needs to reset the dang camera )

Cheers, Joe

[vtsteam]

You're doing a great job of it! TLAR or no. 

[Joe d]

Thanks, Steve.

A little more progress:

bored out the upright on the Taig lathe:


Trimmed off the bits that don't need to be there on the Taig mill....


Some straightforward turning and knurling & filing for the piston and handle


and that's where we are so far.  Testing time coming soon

Cheers, Joe

[Joe d]

A bit more progress:


Only have to take it apart, clean up the parts, & solder it all together.  Came out with a 3/8" bore, 7/8" stroke.  This will only happen Monday,
as tomorrow I'm going out to play at my friend's farm (raises Clydesdales, ALARMINGLY large horses) where I will pick out my Christmas turkey (He raises 7 or 8 every year)  out of this year's batch.  Got the smallest one last year, 18 pounds.... :ROFL:

Cheers, Joe

[dsquire]

Joe

 
I envy you, getting to play with Clydesdales. My Grandfather farmed with and showed Clydesdales when I was a kid (late 40s early 50s). I have many fond memories from back then. Now to get back on topic. 

I have been following this since the begining and with the patience that you are showing I know it is going to turn out a master piece. I'll be watching till its finished. 

Cheers 

Don

[awemawson]

We had a Clydesdale, 'Joe' he was called, on the farm for a few years. Belonged to a young friend of mine who used to show him at county shows. Believe me you know when you've got a Clydesdale in a box being towed behind you, particularly if he decides to move just as you are cornering.  To be honest it got a bit of a pain towing her animals all over the place!

Poor thing eventually went lame and had to be put down. I think I was more upset than she was when he was shot. Ended up at the Zoo as lion food. 

[John Stevenson]

Poor thing eventually went lame and had to be put down. I think I was more upset than she was when he was shot. Ended up at the Zoo as lion food. 

Sure it's not in that sausage i picked up last week ?

[awemawson]

Poor thing eventually went lame and had to be put down. I think I was more upset than she was when he was shot. Ended up at the Zoo as lion food. 

Sure it's not in that sausage i picked up last week ?

  Only the best for you John - I hope that you enjoyed them, hooves and all 

[Joe d]

Hi all

had a very enjoyable day on the farm, counted the horses to make sure that John hadn't nicked one for his lunch....

Got the pump finished,



made up a quick and dirty manifold from spare parts in the plumbing box


The pump works, at 20 PSI found out that 16 of the 18 side stays leak....
They are threaded into the boiler shell, with a nut on top to act as a spacer for the hornplates.
 
The nuts were well soldered on to the shell, but clearly didn't get enough  solder into the joint
between the the nuts and the stays.  The ends inside the firebox seem to be ok so far.

So, in and out of the pickle, add a dab more solder into the joint of each one, and back in
the pickle to clean up.   

Will report later with further news

Cheers, Joe

[vtsteam]

Wow Joe, that must have been a disappointment about the stays! Hopefully you will be back in business after soldering!

 

[Joe d]

Actually, pretty happy with that.  Had visions of a fountain
so a mere few leaking stays isn't so bad!

Shouldn't be long now (how's that for tempting fate...)

Joe

[vtsteam]

Knock on copper.......!

[Joe d]

Thanks, Steve, it must have worked, things are going OK    after re-soldering some stays, hit 60 PSI before a very slight weep showed up at the joint between the outer wrapper and the backhead, and one stay still has a tiny little seep, took
5 minutes for it to form a drop of water large enough to drip.

Giving up for the evening now, and back at it in the morning with hopefully the last round of solder
touch-ups...

Joe

[Stilldrillin]

Fingers crossed for you Joe! 

David D

[lordedmond]

Joe

if you can hit 2 times working pressure with those weeps as you mentioned it will be fine they will make up the first time you steam it up

you can get more weeps if you try and chase down those as you reheat and cool the shell and maybe unsettle the joints that are good

its nice to have a dry boiler, when I had my 14xx ( Didcot ) tested it was dry the comments from the boiler inspector was that I had bunged up the pipe from the pump  , I had to take put the bung in the dome and prove to him (them ) that i could pump water into and out of the boiler .

BTW the above was all conducted in a very good engineering humour 

Stuart

[Joe d]

Hi gang...

Stuart:  took a chance, and re-soldered the leaky bits, and got lucky, didn't create any new ones!

see here:


      120 PSI for 20 minutes, and no leaks 

This was the bit of this project that had me most concerned, the rest is pretty straight forward machining,
just lots of it!

Cheers, from a very happy Joe

[vtsteam]

Congrats!!!! 

[mattinker]

Joe,

there are moments that are really gratifying, this is one of them.

Regards, Matthew

[Stilldrillin]

     120 PSI for 20 minutes, and no leaks 

This was the bit of this project that had me most concerned, the rest is pretty straight forward machining,
just lots of it!

Cheers, from a very happy Joe

I bet you are! 

Well done Joe.... 

David D

[lordedmond]

Joe

well done you are very skilled or very lucky not to have caused more problems 

a dry boiler test is a thing of beauty

Stuart

[Joe d]

Thanks guys, appreciate the kind comments.

Got a fair bit done on the horn plates:


Followed the directions in the book, so not too much to show in the way of set-ups or machining
(drill press, hacksaw, and filing, repeat.)

When I soldered the stays, it left me with a nice fillet of solder on each threaded stud.
Instead of milling that off ( and probably causing leaks) I countersunk the inside of the horn-plates
for each stud, tried for fit, took a little more off, tried for fit, etc etc  At the end of it all,
they are sitting square and solid, so I am calling this done

The one  is getting carried away with the filing on the bottom edge.... I'm now  1/16" past the point where i should have stopped. This will show up later when I build the tender, so i will either have to reduce the tender sides by the same amount, or add a bit of a molding along the bottom edge to get back to spec.

Cheers, Joe

[Joe d]

Moving along...  needed some little angles 1/4 x 1/4 x 1/16.  Mason suggests milling these out from solid, I elected to
just shave down some 1/2 x 1/2 x 1/8" stuff that was on the shelf.



came out OK:


Made up a depthing tool to set out the locations for the various shafts


once the gears mesh properly, tighten up the nut at the joint, and use the pointed ends of the shafts underneath by setting one at a known location, and using the other as a scriber to mark the spot for  the next shaft.


I'll fasten the two hornplates together, and drill & ream the shaft holes through both at once, so hopefully they line up!

Cheers, Joe

[vtsteam]

Very clever! Must remember that. 

[millwright]

So simpleI had never thought of that, Filed it away now for future use.
John

[Joe d]

Thanks guys, but I cannot claim any responsibility for the idea, it's in Mason's book on building the Minnie.