Kombrink's American

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Glenn Brooks
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Joined: Mon Nov 10, 2014 1:39 pm
Location: Woodinville, Washington

Re: Kombrink's American

Post by Glenn Brooks »

Hi Charlie,

I'd be very interested in how the honing turns out. My 12" ga 4-4-0 has two brake cylinders with pitting, that I hope to get around to cleaning up this summer. I tried a three stone hone last year and it didn't do much good. So stopped for fear the hone would elongate the cylinder and hog out the ends, with to much 'honing'. Now my plan is to bore them out a few thou and put in a larger piston and ring. Certainly be interested in what you find out.

Thanks
Glenn
Moderator - Grand Scale Forum

Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge

Ahaha, Retirement: the good life - drifting endlessly on a Sea of projects....
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Pipescs
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Location: Lester Alabama

Re: Kombrink's American

Post by Pipescs »

Hey Glenn,

If you look at this photo you will see a dark discoloration inside the bore. This is not a shadow and the lighter area is large pitting you can feel with your finger. When pushing the piston in and out it would hang up and after about 10 minutes of this and you could find cuts on the face of the ring.

I think this pitting was caused by the steel piston against the brass cylinder (Pump was stored for 25 years with water in it).
DSC_4250.JPG
The hone worked great on the brass cylinder. The bore is one inch so it took the smallest hone offered by my local Auto Parts shop. Cost was under twenty dollars.


It took about two minutes at low speed to see any results. I actually ran it about another minute longer than needed as the O-ring selection was an issue. One size was too small and the next size up had a lot of drag on it.

After running the hone the walls were a little more scratched up than I wanted, so I put a one inch diameter felt wheel on a Dremel tool and ran it thru the cylinder with metal polish paste on it. This produced a mirror finish and now the pistons moves easer while still having good compression.

Does anyone have any experience with the use of gaskets on this pump? It does not have any in it and I have a few leaks in places. Recommendations on gaskets or sealants greatly appreciated.
Charlie Pipes
Mid-South Live Steamers


Current Projects:

Scratch Built 3 3/4 scale 0-4-4 Forney
Little Engines American
20 Ton Shay (Castings and Plans Purchased for future)
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Pipescs
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Joined: Wed Feb 03, 2010 10:16 pm
Location: Lester Alabama

Re: Kombrink's American

Post by Pipescs »

I liked Brad Malone's domes so much I have painted mine
DSC_4247.jpg
Running boards also got a coat of paint today

The Sand Dome is finally off for painting and clean up of the brass. Larry had never done more than fit it to the engine as a raw casting. Couple of days with a file, sandpaper and polish are in order.
Charlie Pipes
Mid-South Live Steamers


Current Projects:

Scratch Built 3 3/4 scale 0-4-4 Forney
Little Engines American
20 Ton Shay (Castings and Plans Purchased for future)
Pontiacguy1
Posts: 1566
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2012 10:15 am
Location: Tennessee, USA

Re: Kombrink's American

Post by Pontiacguy1 »

Looking good! Those domes are going to look great. Are you going to be at the backwards run day on June 4?

For pump gaskets, you should use a thin gasket material, something about 0.015"-0.020" thick or something like that. DO NOT try to seal that thing up using just silicone or anything like that. It will get down in all your ports and keep it from pumping anything. I've taken apart pumps that wouldn't work before and all that was wrong with it was that someone had assembled it with silicone and it had stopped everything up. Cleaning all the silicone out of everything and making some gaskets for it fixed it.

If you can't find good thin gasket material at the auto parts store, you can use the following: A paper bag from the grocery store can make good gaskets. I always smear a very, very thin layer of gasket sealant on them just to help them stick and hold together better. It also helps to keep the gasket in place while you assemble everything. You can also do like someone on here suggested at one point and use a dollar bill to make gaskets out of. Again, whatever you use needs to be pretty thin, and if you do use silicone sealant, less is more.
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Pipescs
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Location: Lester Alabama

Re: Kombrink's American

Post by Pipescs »

Third time to the track. Not as many issues although I am still finding things to fix. This time the water glass leaked which was a simple fix along with an issue with the tubing between the tender and engine blowing off. This turned out to be a stuck check valve on the cross head pumps.

And of course it rained again. I think the engine really likes it and I am thinking of naming it Kombrink's Duck.
20160604_095346b.jpg
Builders and Rebuilders Plates are on the way from Robert Dustin
KOMBRINK PLATE.jpg
0-P2 PIPES.jpg
Charlie Pipes
Mid-South Live Steamers


Current Projects:

Scratch Built 3 3/4 scale 0-4-4 Forney
Little Engines American
20 Ton Shay (Castings and Plans Purchased for future)
Marty_Knox
Posts: 1724
Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2003 6:50 pm
Location: Michigan, USA

Re: Kombrink's American

Post by Marty_Knox »

Pipescs wrote: Does anyone have any experience with the use of gaskets on this pump? It does not have any in it and I have a few leaks in places. Recommendations on gaskets or sealants greatly appreciated.
My advice on getting surfaces to seal is to make them as flat as you can. I have a lapping plate along with hand laps.I will caution you to use a non-embedding lapping compound like TimeSaver. TimeSaver is made in different grades , for ferrous and non-ferrous materials.
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Pipescs
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Re: Kombrink's American

Post by Pipescs »

The new plates from Robert Dusting arrived today.


AWESOME to say the least.
DSC_4262.jpg
Charlie Pipes
Mid-South Live Steamers


Current Projects:

Scratch Built 3 3/4 scale 0-4-4 Forney
Little Engines American
20 Ton Shay (Castings and Plans Purchased for future)
SteveM
Posts: 7763
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 6:18 pm
Location: Wisconsin

Re: Kombrink's American

Post by SteveM »

Pipescs wrote:The new plates from Robert Dusting arrived today.
AWESOME to say the least.
DSC_4262.jpg
Understatement at its best.

If there was a "like" button, I would have hit it.

Steve
Cary Stewart
Posts: 542
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 5:54 pm

Re: Kombrink's American

Post by Cary Stewart »

Hi Charlie,
If those plates are Magnesium alloy then I suggest that you give them a cover coat of urethane. I have some mag. plates that were made many years ago and they have turned black where the metal is bare. They can be restored with careful polishing but I think the coating would be better in the long haul. My plates were made from printers alloy and were etched as off-set plates are made.
Cary
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Pipescs
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Location: Lester Alabama

Re: Kombrink's American

Post by Pipescs »

Clear Coating in the works
Charlie Pipes
Mid-South Live Steamers


Current Projects:

Scratch Built 3 3/4 scale 0-4-4 Forney
Little Engines American
20 Ton Shay (Castings and Plans Purchased for future)
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NP317
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Location: Northern Oregon, USA

Re: Kombrink's American

Post by NP317 »

Pipescs wrote:Clear Coating in the works
I believe that Robert Dustin used a brass-colored lacquer(?) to get the raised portions of the etchings the nice color they are. Be careful not to use a clear coat that messes with that!
~RN
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Pipescs
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Joined: Wed Feb 03, 2010 10:16 pm
Location: Lester Alabama

Re: Kombrink's American

Post by Pipescs »

I dust coated some clear Lacquer as he mentioned that he used It also Still looks good
Charlie Pipes
Mid-South Live Steamers


Current Projects:

Scratch Built 3 3/4 scale 0-4-4 Forney
Little Engines American
20 Ton Shay (Castings and Plans Purchased for future)
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