The Home Machinist!

Insulation finally arrived yesterday and I went after it. Got a 10’ x 16” roll of 1/8” fiberfrax from McMaster-Carr and I’m really pleased with it. Took a little fiddling and adjusting my template to get it all to lay right, and all that’s left is I think I’m going to put a couple of pieces of alumi...

Those are so nice Anthony! I would love a pair at some point when I can afford it. Personally, I would be interested in a set with functioning water valves. My shay does not have tank operated valves because they would be under my thighs. So currently I have an angle globe valve mounted at the inlet...

I got mine from my neighbor who works for a local chevron oil distributor, but smallest you can get from a company like Chevron or Exxon is a 5gal bucket

I had to prepare the steel boiler of my 0-6-0 tank loco for inspection and recertification. After cleaning it both internally and externally, repainting with high temperature paint, etc, I replaced all the old lagging with two layers of “ceramic paper”. This product is about 3mm thick and can be cu...

If the water feed tube to the injector gets warm like you describe that can certainly cause a slow lift. A long overflow pipe can also cause the delay The overflows are pretty straight down, not a long run at all in my mind. Im pretty sure my issues are feed lines getting warm, but I dont know if t...

I have the vent hole on my high mounted standard injectors. For the most part the only time anything comes out is if its blowing steam or a lot of water. One issue I have had with them like that is they are slow to prime on their own up high, usually taking 5-10 seconds to prime up and get going. I ...

Unless you really want it as loud as possible, I think youre over complicating it. The distance from the bell to the languid plate is really only adjusted if the whistle overblows, thus hitting a higher overtone that usually is more of a screech. If it sounds good, Id leave it alone. It will sound d...

I lagged the boiler of my Allen Ten Wheeler with 1/4" thick cork sheet! It provides good support for the stove pipe jacketing and absorbs very little moisture. It even provides some heat insulation. Still good after 15 years of steaming. ~RN Good idea! I hadnt thought of cork. How did you fasten do...

I suggest that you don't use lagging... In my own experience, the slight amount of efficiency that you gain is more than offset by the corrosion you'll get because the lagging will hold water and not let it run out. If you want a contoured boiler, just weld rings around the boiler and then put the ...

Next step on the shay is going to be the boiler jacket, simply because it’s the last thing I need the big paint booth for and my booth is falling apart. Not entirely sure how to go about making the jacket, but right now I’m thinking of using heavy wall stove pipe for the jacket itself and using oak ...

Not a whole lot to report on the shay right now, I just got it home after having it up at the railroad for almost two months for play and tweaking. Only major tweaks were changing the valve plug and changing the boiler gaskets. The original plug that came in my globe valve throttle was a quick open ...

I had issues attempting to bend the heavy wall brass too. Even heating to cherry and quenching, it was still too hard to bend for my liking and I was afraid of either breaking my tool or collapsing the pipe. Which I did wind up collapsing a pipe at one point. After that, I switched everything to 0....