The Home Machinist!

I jam a piece of rubber tubing on the end of my oil can spout and hold it on top of the cleaned off fitting. 1/8 I'd tygon with a thick wall works well for my machinery and let's me see what is happening

You can use lbcs's Baker design for a 3/4 loco and double it. It is well documented and easy to follow. The standard ratio of input to valve travel is very standard for baker.

BEFORE you purchase the roller, measure the clearances that that you have around the tubes. in many loco boilers, you can end up in a situation where you cannot get the roller in 'square' because of obstructions...which can include welds....or just obstructions inside of the firebox (often the fireb...

shars sells them

https://www.shars.com/products/workhold ... diameter=3

I have one and it is amazing how handy it is to have. mine has a 5C but they also sell backplates

https://www.shars.com/3-14-fully-machin ... the-chucks

you get out what you put in. rigidity, accuracy of position measurement, tolerance in corners, 'look ahead' at high speeds...everything adds up machines that cut metal with a tool have a very different personality than one the cuts with a laser or wire (WEDM) since they don't have to 'push' on the m...

is good you have taken such into consideration. many drive down the road oblivious to the forces involved in a crash...

being the eternal pessimist that i am... get hit in a front end collision...you rear end someone (never!) or get run off the road and hit a tree...or.... truck stops suddenly air bag goes off to keep you from being impaled on the steering wheels..just as the top rack of RR cars continues forward, sl...

remember Bill Moorewood...carrying Raritan by the stack with everything else under his left elbow?

all of this is good reason to get to a loco size that you can pick up and put in the back of your Subaru.

old age...frustration...high blood pressure...bad backs...impatience....

pick one...or all

Have seen fellows like that at our local clubs and cringe when they come in and tie up facilities forever.. I cannot do it in 8 but 15 minutes is about average if I am by myself...maybe 20 with help! :shock: Then there are the fellows who cannot do it by themselves and always want help 'with the hea...

keep in mind that the 'air intake' section of the burners needs to be out in the fresh air and not up inside the firebox. this can be helped with the really-necessary separator plate..but you still have to plan on the manifold feeding the burners being down below he mud ring, Many boiler / chassis d...

I have arches in all of my propane locos...but as described...may require a bit of a different setup than for coal. If the burner is in the front of the firebox, pointing back (like an oil burner), your existing arch may well work. If you are using the solar / loco-parts type of burners...you may ha...