Tender bladder

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airbusguy
Posts: 21
Joined: Sat Oct 31, 2009 5:51 pm
Location: Winnnipeg, MB

Tender bladder

Post by airbusguy »

Has anyone used a rubber or plastic bladder in a 1.5" scale tender? I'm working a new steel tender and looking for the easy way to stop rusting.

Cheers

Phil
Mountaineer
Posts: 276
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2007 4:45 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Tender bladder

Post by Mountaineer »

You might consider the liquid sealant that is sloshed around fuel tanks to render them leak proof. There is (or used to be) a company beside St Andrews airport specializing in this...

Mountaineer.
trivettj
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Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 10:01 pm
Location: banner elk north carolina

Re: Tender bladder

Post by trivettj »

http://damonq.com/red-kote.html here is a link to a real good sealant it's for fuel tanks and it works really well in tenders I have used it in 2 tenders and por15 gas tank sealer in another and the por 15 seamed to work really well but cost wise and ease of use I would go with the redkote .
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Tender bladder

Post by Greg_Lewis »

As others have said, the easy way to stop rusting is with a fuel tank sealer. There are a number of brands, and some are rated for aviation use, so one would think they would be good. You'll get all sorts of responses, as this subject has been discussed before. Some folks use all manner of odd materials but a tank sealer is made for fuel and water tanks, so just go with that. On the other hand, some builders make a plastic tank insert and drop it into the steel tank. Doing this allows you to leave a space at one end for other things such as a battery or other stuff. It would seem to me that getting fittings into a flexible bladder insert so they seal would be problematic.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
rkcarguy
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Location: Wa State

Re: Tender bladder

Post by rkcarguy »

I 2nd the plastic tank idea. There is a lot of options out there and they are fairly inexpensive. If you have access to pipe taps, it's very easy to drill and tap holes for the fittings where you want them. I put a 13 gallon grey water tank in my boat a few years ago, it was less than $100.

http://www.plastic-mart.com/
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makinsmoke
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Re: Tender bladder

Post by makinsmoke »

Railroad Supply sold fiberglass tender tanks and may still do. The rivers are a little out of scale but painted and from three feet away they are certainly functional.
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FLSTEAM
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Location: Central Florida

Re: Tender bladder

Post by FLSTEAM »

You might try a hand laid up fiberglass liner. You can buy resin in sizes larger than the bondo repair kits. Just mix up enough to do one side at a time and lay the tank on the side you are doing. You can do the botton last. The Shay was done that way and no problems 6 years later.

I plugged bottom openings with wax to keep the resin from getting into the threads.

John B
Pontiacguy1
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Re: Tender bladder

Post by Pontiacguy1 »

Take some advice from someone who has seen the bad side of it... Don't put fiberglass inside of your tender tank!!! If you make a fiberglass tank, and then set it inside of your tender, that's one thing. I had to tear down and rebuild a tender that was made in the early 1980's, and the inside of it had been coated all over everywhere with fiberglass, and it was an absolute train wreck! Over time, the fiberglass had started cracking and in some spots pulling away from the steel body of the tender. This let water seep in between the fiberglass and the tank where it couldn't get out and the tank rusted through very badly in several places. It was very pitted in others, and there were tiny pinholes all over the place. The entire coal bunker area had to be cut out and replaced. Some other areas required a lot of rework. There are lots of liners, bladders, inserts, coatings, etc... that one might use, but based on what I've seen tearing down and rebuilding older equipment, there is no way I would ever do a fiberglass liner laid on the metal inside of a tender. There are a lot better and easier things to do nowadays.

One problem with this old tender was that it did not have a proper drain in it also. Almost any type of lining will work better and last a lot longer if you can just get the tender to drain completely once you are done running. I remedied that on the rebuild of this tender, and now it's dry when you are done draining it.
airbusguy
Posts: 21
Joined: Sat Oct 31, 2009 5:51 pm
Location: Winnnipeg, MB

Re: Tender bladder

Post by airbusguy »

Thanks for replies.
My original tender was cast aluminum, not sure how thick or where it came from. I bought the engine second or third hand. with no paper trail other than the boiler being fabricated in Edmonton, Alberta. My train trailer was stolen last spring, luckily the engine was in my garage for repairs. Hence the need of new tender and not sure what do?
Cheers
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Tender bladder

Post by Greg_Lewis »

I'd reiterate the notion of making a plastic insert tank. That way you can do what you want to do as far as detail and attachments on the outside tank without thinking about leaks. An insert can also be made slightly smaller, leaving space for a battery or whatever.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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Berne Ketchum
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Re: Tender bladder

Post by Berne Ketchum »

Hi Greg — I've seen a plexiglass tank built and installed in the tender of one of Wayne Godshall's locomotives and it seems to work as intended — a good solution.
I'm also building a couple steel tenders and the intention is to sandblast the inside, then coat with an epoxy product that is designed for that kind of service. I don't have the details on it, but if you're interested, I can dig up the name of the stuff.
SteveM
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Location: Wisconsin

Re: Tender bladder

Post by SteveM »

When I read the title of the thread, I thought it was a medical issue. :-)

Glad it's not.

Steve
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