The Coalbrookdale Locomotive

[DianneB]

I would be interested in that to! My little American is seriously lacking in "stick-em"! I was just joking though - sorry! I don't know if anyone has come up with anything that lasts.

Got the boiler all buttoned up today and did a leak test - tight as a drum!

Leak tested

Next step is to make a hand pump to do the hydrostatic test (a hand pump that will later be used with this engine 'on the road').

I look forward to being beyond the boiler-building stage and starting to make the accoutrements!

[steamin10]

Consider using the Head cap of a common grease gun, for a bench pump. Cheap and capable of high pressure.

A good pressure test is a sign of meticulas assembly work!

[DianneB]

I may pick up a grease gun the next time I am in 'civilization'. Our club boiler inspector has a test pump but I think I'd like to do the initial test in private

Since I can't afford anything else until the pension money comes in at the end of the month I decided to start on the patterns for the foundry.

I never had a milling machine before and keep finding new ways it saves time and effort. I cut the circumference of the flywheel and gear patterns on the lathe and moved to the milling machine to cut the spokes (which used to be cut by hand) - works pretty good! Got the patterns for the flywheel and the large idler gear cut, sanded, and filled - ready for paint and varnish - and working on the patterns for the wheels and the smaller gears.

Axle for rotary table

RT with axle.jpg (48.62 KiB) Viewed 6611 times

Milling

Patterns Milling Idler.jpg (36.76 KiB) Viewed 6611 times

Two ready

[steamin10]

Pension? Wow, I didn't know you were an old Duck too. Congrats on surviving the real world to the promised land. My promises have fallen a bit short with the real life. I can say my pension provided by the Goment is adequate to pay the basics, but not much else. So I keep a hand in for repairs and the like, and get some pocket money. (Sigh). For me it is always a planned waiting game.

All the Best for a good New Year, and continued progress. (Was that a bad pun???)

[Fender]

Dianne,
Can't see what kind cutter you are using to make the pattern, but if you get a "tapered" end mill or router bit with a 3 degree angle on the side, it is easy to get the desired draft angles.

[steamin10]

Failing to have a tapered cutter, shim the Rotab to pick up the angle and continue.

[Dick_Morris]

shim the Rotab

I was going to say the same. Those tapered end mills aren't cheap. Shims for setting doors and windows would be around the correct angle. Give yourself plenty of room between the pattern and the rotary table so you don't cut something you didn't intend to cut.

[Fender]

Cheap is a relative term. McMaster (for example) has a 1/4" tapered end mill for $20, part #8936A61. The beauty of this method is that you can get the correct angles right into all the corners with no change to the setup.

[kvom]

If you want to mill the gear teeth into the pattern I can suggest looking at http://woodgears.ca/gear/index.html

Lets you design the gears and print a full size paper copy that can be glued to the wooden blank for cutting (either mill or bandsaw).

[DianneB]

If you want to mill the gear teeth into the pattern I can suggest looking at http://woodgears.ca/gear/index.html

I found gear manufacturers that have CAD files free online for their gears so I just copied the manufacturer's file

Lets you design the gears and print a full size paper copy that can be glued to the wooden blank for cutting (either mill or bandsaw).

I did that for my 1/2 scale traction engine in 1995/96 because there were some BIG gears but they were big enough to take the roughness off of the as-cast teeth with an angle grinder. Working in 1/12 scale, I wouldn't expect the sand casting method to produce a fine enough finish. Of course if I had my patterns 3D printed and went with investment castings it would probably be fine but I don't have that kind of $$$

I sent a couple sample drawings to my steel supplier and I will see what they have to say about producing teeth that will work "as cut".

[DianneB]

Managed to get hold of the club's test pump yesterday and did a hydro on the boiler - tight as a drum. Even at 250 PSIG you couldn't even tell it was under pressure. One happy camper here - my FIRST copper boiler! (Gimme steel any day LOL!) Time to clean 'er up (pickle) and move on to the next step.

Boiler under test

[jschoenly]

Just curious, but is there any "lap" to the seams on the end plates? I saw a groove being cut at one point, but just wondering is there is much joint in shear or mostly axial force on the silver solder. I'm just so used to seeing flanged plates so i thought I'd ask.

Quick progress!