The Home Machinist!

I’m not sure what’s causing it but I have a work around at least. I cleaned the sheet with some acetone first and after the acetone drying, it still went clear. So I scuffed with some 100grit sand paper and cleaned again, same results. Finally sanded the hell out of it and probably went through the ...

So I've suddenly run into an interesting issue with my Dykem Steel Blue... I've started work laying out lines on some galvanized steel sheet metal for a water tank but my Dykem must be reacting with the zinc or something. When I put it on the sheet metal, it starts blue but turns almost entirely cle...

I second the suggestions of PM research for valves and Eccentric Engineer for fittings. The PMR valves work great and I haven’t had a single issue with the 17 valves I’ve bought from them. The EE fittings look great but I suggest drilling and brazing then rather than threading them. With the small e...

I have not really looked into aluminum. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an aluminum tank in the hobby, not really sure why. Aluminum seems like it’d have to be babied so it didn’t get dented up from use since it’s so soft. Ease of working is a double edged sword, especially with me sitting on top of th...

Are you planning on having the tank hot dip galvanized? Pre-galvanized sheet won't solder, and puts off a poisonous yellow smoke when heated. If you are hot dipping, the massive temperature change can make the sheet metal "plump" in the frame as it heats up much faster than the corners and frame me...

Well, I think we have a final direction on material. Stainless sounds nice but its expensive, and I have a friend with a 2-8-0 built in the 80's that still has the original galvanized tank and the tank doesnt show any big signs of deterioration other than just build up of junk over the last 30+ year...

The eccentrics on my shay are done with dog point set screws set into dimples with flat set screws behind and haven’t moved a bit with it on steam. One eccentric strap started to work loose but the eccentric itself it tight.

Thanks for the tips guys! I’ve got some more research to do.

How would y’all suggest constructing a stainless steel tank? I’m hesitant to weld it because I don’t want to warp the sheets
And what gauge do you recommend?

Great work, good to see it up and running, it sounds great! Thanks! Sounds better than I was expecting for a shay, and it'll pull the paint off the wall. More work done today too now that things are settled back in from running last week. Got two overflow pipe adapters made for my injectors. Took a...

Tristan My injector valves are PM Globe with the threads machined off the stem. The valves are installed opposite of normal steam flow. i.e. the steam holds the valve seat closed. My first valve this way I made a new stem with no threads just in case my design didn't work. But no problem, they work...

Well, the shay is home again. Few things to fix, mostly replacing lost hardware though so should be pretty easy to fix. Other thing is some kind of fast acting, turret mount valve for the injectors. Thinking either AMES 5/16 ball valves or taking some PM Research globe valves and converting them to ...