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[Jerry C]

Today I started on the eccentric strap top joints. The instructions say make from square stock. Because it takes so long to square up round stock I decided to make them from hex bar. I turned down a length of hex bar to a 7mm for a length sufficient to make four pieces including parting off. I left the hex end on to act as a register for the holes and to get  a good grip in the milling vise jaws. Then I centre drilled 1st hole, drilled the 8BA tapping hole then the 3mm hole and finally tapped the 8BA hole. Repeated for four holes. Then I milled a flat along the bar over the 8BA holes for the lock nuts to seat on (this also aids in locating the pieces in the mill vise prior to milling the 4mm slots. Shipped the three jaw chuck and faced and parted off all pieces to 11mm length, drilling and tapping the 8BA axial holes as I went. Loaded two pieces in the mill and, using a 4mm mill bit, milled the slots. Not quite central but near enough. Made fine adjustment to mill then milled the slots in the second pair. These were better. De-burred then started on the other part of top joints. I found two pieces of scrap 6mm square from a failed conrod and milled them down to 4x6mm section. Drilled 4 off 3mm holes then using a junior hacksaw cut four pieces a little over length. Put all four pieces on a 3mm rod, loaded them in the mill vise and milled to length. Just got to drill the 3mm holes for the conrods and I'll be ready to solder them all together. Will box them off tomorrow.
Jerry.

[Jerry C]

I wasn't satisfied with the joints I made. Not enough meat in the sides. I thought 1mm was a bit thin so increased it to 1.5mm. I was a bit off centre so scrapped them and remade them as per instructions but increased the thickness of the sides to 2mm. Can reduce them later if needed. Made an 11 x 8mm bar, drilled all the holes, milled the 4mm channel then cut the parts off with the slitsaw.  Made another bar 6 x10mm drilled the holes and sliced off 4 pieces 4mm thick for the top part of the straps. Silver soldered top to bottom with 18mm rod. Turned the swivel pins out of 3mm stainless and tapped the end 8BA. Cut the heads off 4 off 6BA bolts to join top joint to the spool valve. These will be silver soldered into the top joint later. Didn't want to do it right away as drawings don't show the length and so wanted to install one strap to make sure I've got enough threads for required adjustment first.
Next job is steam unions , pipework and control valve.
Jerry.

[Jerry C]

This week I've been making the steam union and flanges. Had no suitable stock so up to the lake on the bum again. Got two lengths of 12.7mm stainless steel round. I just followed the instructions, quite straightforward but a lot of work. It was very fiddly loading pieces into the milling vice as it's vertical on mine and a socket headed cap screw gets in the way of the two 2mm drills I used as guides. The only problems I had and here I deviated from the instructions, were that when I drilled the first 4mm hole in the union the drill protested loudly and. Required a lot of force to do the hole. Fearing the pieces would jump out of the vise I replaced the drill bit with a 4mm milling cutter. This cut easily and cleanly and the pipes fit nicely. The other problem was when drilling the last 2.8mm hole through the body of one union the drill wandered too close to the edge  causing a hairline split in the side. I crimped it closed with forceps and will fix it when I silver solder the copper steam pipes into the unions and flanges.
It's taken me 3 1/2 days to do all these including the 4 extra flanges I made because I didn't read far enough ahead in the instruction and mistakenly thought the pipes were all bolted to the control valve. Twonk!!
With all this work I would hate to make a Horlicks of the next stage. The silver soldering. Up to now I've never had any problems soldering but I've never soldered stainless before. I did some research and all I can find is that everyone says I can solder it but need acid based flux. I have silver glo 55 solder and easyflo flux. Question, will these do the job? If anyone has used these two items to solder stainless to copper and brass can they post and let me know if suitable. If not what should I use?
The pictures tell the story.
Jerry.

[Jerry C]

One more.
Jerry.

[ooyah/2]

JERRY
Here is a link to Silver soldering Stainless steel in Model Engineering , it makes interesting reading.

http://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=54973

I have some ( TENACITY )  flux which although I have never used it I am told that it is specifically for Stainless Steel.
I have a small amount about 3 large table spoonfuls which you can have if you wish as I don't envisage me soldering Stainless Steel.
You mix it with water into a paste as per Essy-Flow.
If you go to Amazon they sell it but it's very expensive, as does Johnson and Matthey.
So if you wish to try this TENACITY  let me know and I will post it to you.

George.

[Jerry C]

George, once more to the rescue, thankyou. I'll take you up on your kind offer. From what I've read it's probably the way to go. Don't rush cos I've got the control valve to make first. Have a good Christmas and a healthy and happy new year.
Kind regards,
Jerry.

[Jerry C]

Today spent making two control valve blanks. Turned two 10mm thick discs from 40mm brass round bar. They're too big to fit in the 3 jaw chuck so roughly centred in 4 jaw with parallel used keep pieces square and proud of the jaws so the tool could reach. Remembered to slide the parallel out before switching on!! Then switched to the milling attachment to square the pieces off to 25mm.
Jerry.

[SailorGreg]

9000 odd views and almost no comments.  We are obviously all struck speechless by your narrative Jerry   

Can't wait to see all the little bits come together and start moving in rapid unison, purring away in a mist of steam and oil.  You're doing a great job!

Merry Christmas!

Greg

[Jerry C]

Aw! Thanks Greg. Really enjoying myself. Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you too.
Jerry.

[Jerry C]

Thanks George, flux received next day. Will do a test and also one with easy flow to compare.
Jerry.

[Mark T]

9000 odd views and almost no comments.  We are obviously all struck speechless by your narrative Jerry 

Can't wait to see all the little bits come together and start moving in rapid unison, purring away in a mist of steam and oil.  You're doing a great job!

Merry Christmas!

Greg

Spot on there Greg - Seriously I served a 4 year apprenticeship (many years ago when the EITB was still around) as a tool maker.  Jerry your work is amazing especially with the limited machine that you use.  I have loved reading this thread just brilliant engineering :)

[Jerry C]

Hi Mark, high praise indeed. Thankyou.  I'm just an enthusiastic amateur I'm afraid. My dad served his time at Henry Meadows, Wolverhampton as an engineer. We lived in Wednesfield until I went away to school for pre-sea training for a career as a deck officer in the Merchant Navy. Where in the W. Midlands are you from?
Jerry.

[Mark T]

I live in Dudley Jerry so right on your old doorstep so to speak.  I wasn't born here though I'm a Londoner that moved here 24 years ago.  I served my apprenticeship at Tunnel Refineries in Greenwich who made sure that I could use most machines well.  Ironically I left there and never used a machine again!  I do miss the precision of the work though.  I remember having to make my own Vee blocks, parallels and sine bars as at the time they were far to expensive to buy.

[Jerry C]

Right, that's Christmas over and done with so back to work. Today did all the drilling on the control valve blanks. Both blanks were near enough the same and very close to the specified dimensions. I loaded the first blank into the milling vice and set up a stop using a clamp. Found the centre of the face and nipped up the gibs to prevent any movement of the jaws. Centre drilled then drilled the first hole to a depth of 8mm. Slacked off the jaws and rotated the piece through 90° against the stop and drilled the second hole the same. Continued rotating the piece until all four holes were drilled. Keeping the gib tight on the vertical slide I eased the gib on the cross slide and moved the cross slide the required amount to centre for the first of the second set of holes. Drilled the hole until it met up with the hole previously drilled. Rotated the piece through 180° and repeated the process on the other side. Flipped the piece over and completed the third hole before rotating 180° again and completing the second set of holes. For the third set of holes I centred the face on the first hole then move the cross slide out 4mm to drill and tap the first 8BA flange securing hole to a depth of 6mm. Flipped the piece and drilled and tapped the second hole. Rotated the piece 180° and repeated the process. Then the same on the second blank. Hardly any measuring and setting up required.
Put the piece In the vice vertically. Lowered the mill vice to find the centre of the square face the offset the vertical and cross slide to centre for the first cover screw hole. Drilled it 2.5 mm right through the piece. Rotated the piece in the jaws against the stop and drilled second hole. Continued rotating and drilling until all four holes drilled. Repeated on second block. Then back to the centre and drille the final hole using increasing sized drills to 9.5mm. Repeated on second block.
Re-rigged the lathe for boring and st up the first piece in the 4 jaw chuck and bored the big hole to 10mm. Same on second piece.
Cut the 5/32" copper pipe to the required lengths. So now in ready to clean all the bits, flux them and set up on the cylinder block (as a jig) and diver solder all together.
Jerry.

[Jerry C]

I made 22 silver solder rings by winding the wire tightly around a piece of 3mm rod, keeping the coils tight and running a flame over them until they relaxed and set. Removed the rod and cut the rings off with side cutter. I had two flanges left over and cut two lengths of copper pipe to test easyflo flux against tenacity flux. I boiled all the pieces in detergent, rinsed them, cleaned them with wire wool, applied easy flo to one pair and tenacity to the other pair and put a ring on each pipe by the joints. Heated them up with my small torch. Fluxes behaved as they should, drying out then turning to clear liquid just before the flange turned dull red. The rings melted as the red got brighter and flowed when flange and pipe turned orange. Both fluxes gave the same result, perfect joints with full penetration and a small, neat fillet. So, on small parts at least, easy flow solders copper to stainless steel. Will keep the tenacity flux for something bigger requiring a lot more heat maybe. Set up all the unions and flanges with rings and easyflo flux and soldered the lot in a couple of minutes. Will set up on the cylinders next to solder to the control valve block next.
Jerry.

[ooyah/2]

Hi Jerry,
Thanks for that, it would be interesting if you would do a test piece with 2- pieces of St/St of a reason able size to see the results of St/St to St/St.

Best wishes for the New Year

George.

[Jerry C]

Yes George I'll give it a try. I spent this morning shortening 24 off 8BA bolts to secure the unions to the valve blocks and the flanges to the control valve blocks. To shorten a bolt I first screw on a nut just past where I need to cut then cut the end off with side cutters. Holding the head with pliers I trim the cut end on the sanding station. Taking the nut off tidies the thread. Finish off with a few strokes with a fine file at 45° finishes the end. I cleaned all the soldering areas with wire wool and fluxed them before assembling everything and bolting it to the cylinder assembly. This took ages and was very fiddly. Even with my nice new quality spanners I can only turn the bolts one flat at a time. The steam inlet and exhaust flanges with pipes need to go on the block first as it would be impossible to bolt them on after soldering as I can't get a spanner on them. When all secured I centred the block on the pipes and soldered all the joints. If I was doing this again, instead of fitting flanges, I would soft solder the steam inlet and exhaust pipes into the block. If the flanges leak steam I'll have to run some soft solder in anyway as I can't unbolt them to put in a joint. The whole unit now has to be removed and cleaned up before running a drill down inside the unions to break through the copper pipe. Then I've got to make the front and back covers and the spool. The spool needs to be ground into the block with metal polish before final assembly.
Jerry.

[ooyah/2]

Jerry,
A small tip for getting into tight places with a spanner.
You can make your own by using Hex head socket cap screws , make them as per sketch and you can build them up until you have a complete set, they are great for getting into tight spaces like the bolts on your control valve,
The cap screws although H.T.S. are easily machinable so search thro' your bolt collection and see if you have any suitable.
 
George.
 

[Jerry C]

I dismantled the control valve body, pipes and unions soldered previously ready for drilling through the copper pipe in the unions. Aware of the possibility of breaking the drill on breakthrough  I started on a union not soldered to the block. On breakthrough I promptly broke the tip off the drill. I'd forgotten the milk for lubricant. Fortunately enough of the tip had penetrated through the tube so that by pushing a small ball ended Allen key up the pipe it freed the tip allowing me to remove it by tapping the union flange on the surface plate which dislodged the tip and I removed it easily. Knowing I wouldn't get a second chance I used my dremel which has more feel to it than my hand drill. A brand new dremel bit in the extention flexible drive finished all the drillings with the assistance of milk. Every task I've set the dremel has been perfect. I love it. I've said before that I've had quite a few copies but thy e all been useless.  With hindsight I would drill all the pipes before soldering them into the blocks as if done like this a drill can be run up the pipe to clear the burr in the pipe. Will have to make a thin hooked tool to clear the burrs in the unions soldered into the block. I also soldered the small crack in the union that cracked by drilling a bit off centre. All sorted now, first assembly pickling now. Will solder the other assembly tomorrow.
Jerry.

[Jerry C]

Great idea George, will look into it. I have a very good quality BA socket set but too bulky to use in this situation. Even your method won't work. The bolts are 8BA with 10BA heads. The heads are overhung by the pipe union so a box spanner, no matter how slender, won't go on. My best open ender fits and will just turn one flat. It just takes ages with freezing cold hands and poor eyesight. I'm getting better at it though. Your post just slipped in before mine. We must have pressed post simultaneously.
Jerry.

[grendel]

I have used box spanners made from allen screws, mine were just drilled through the screw thread and a bar put through, then a flat hammered each end to stop it falling out.
Grendel

[AlexC]

Great idea George, will look into it. I have a very good quality BA socket set but too bulky to use in this situation. Even your method won't work. The bolts are 8BA with 10BA heads. The heads are overhung by the pipe union so a box spanner, no matter how slender, won't go on. My best open ender fits and will just turn one flat. It just takes ages with freezing cold hands and poor eyesight. I'm getting better at it though. Your post just slipped in before mine. We must have pressed post simultaneously.
Jerry.

Hi Jerry,
Happy New Year.
 
Looks like your almost there and looking good.
 
Now you know why John used socket head screws for these connections... they can be easily done up using a ball end allen key.
 
But I think hex head screws look more in keeping with a steam engine.
 
Keep happy.
 
Sandy.
 
 

[Jerry C]

I've been playing hooky on our narrowboat "Angelica". Finishing off all the work she needed. Back in the workshop today.
I finished off turning the front and rear covers for the control block. Really just a case of following the instructions from the man. Just got to mill the flats on the spools and finally make the operating levers and the control block is finished. The holes for the bolts are not as well positioned as I would like and I was a bit generous with the silver solder but hey ho. When all is all lagged and painted it will all disappear.
Last job before final assembly is to make steam chest covers.
Jerry.

[Jerry C]

On the home run now. I've been working in fits and starts over the last few weeks. I've made the valve chest covers and today I made some bearers/risers for the baseplates. I had some 1/4" square brass tube and added lightening holes with a step drill. Bought some 6BA threaded steel rod to make studs for the valve chests. I run two nuts up the rod, add a washer, thread the rod into the cylinder block, lock the nuts together, tighten the stud, free off the nuts, tighten the nut down on the washer, snip the bar off close to the nut then grind the stud close to the nut on the sander. Repeat as required. I'm starting to build the engine without the moving bits ready for painting. Also I've decided to make some oil cups for the main bearings. Will soft solder them into the bearing blocks.

[pettyofficernick]

Very swish....