The Home Machinist!

I am just starting to work on 12" x 40" bed plate. Can you tell what a oval hole if for:
It is 1" x 2 3/4" in size , Located above the front truck, 7 3/16 from end. Distance from center not shown?
I haven't ben able to figure out what it is for... thanks for any info, John

Its for water connections at the rear tank and hand pump and is over the rear truck and calculated from the rear end of the plate. See dimension at the very lower left. The left side of the drawing is the rear. The engine is at the front where there are holes for the crank and eccentrics.

Consider adding an extra hole for a large balance pipe between the front and rear tank.

As noted there is an issue with the rear tank overflowing if plumbed per plan. The cross head pump draws from both the front and rear tanks but only returns to the rear tank. My half thought out plan is to put a larger diameter tube connecting the front and rear tanks to equalize. The piping diagram on page 80 and 81 of the book should clear things up. You can also see a picture on page 83 showing the piping going through this cutout.

As far as the location, it looks like there are enough chain dimensions to get you to the center. I get 6-11/16 from the end to the center of the cutout and 3-5/16 from the center line of the plate to the center of the cutout but check my math.

I have solved the issue with the rear tank overflowing. Tee the line from the crosshead pump to the boiler with the tee running to a needle valve, the output of the needle valve running to the front tank. I fed mine to the filler neck. I keep the rear tank bypass valve closed unless I want more water in the rear tank. In operation this works great and setting the needle valve when running keeps the boiler water level fairly constant.

yes, got it/ I had my thinking backwards.

Inspired by the recent boiler discussion, I'm starting the search for materials for my boiler build. Does anyone have recommendations for suppliers of A516 gr. 70 plate and A106 gr. B pipe.

So far I've found Trupply for the pipe and Metals Depot for the plate. It looks like they both accept small orders but even then I'll end up with lots of extra.

https://www.trupply.com/collections/ste ... 4003691598

https://www.metalsdepot.com/steel-produ ... e-a516-pvq

I still need to see what is available locally.

Any other recommendations out there?

Starting my CliShay build. Transferring holes to frame from bed. Ordered all the steel for the trucks and boiler. I am going to use a 8" schedule 40 boiler with 1/2" copper schedule K tubes. Ordered a used roller from ebay.

Any one out there in CliShay land have a truck "Solder fixture" as shown in Mr. Maynards book page 18, photo 6 they would want to sell, rent, loan...?
Thought I would ask before buying the material and building the fixture.
John

I've been on some other projects but I'm back on the Clishay again. The machining is just about done on the crank shaft. Everything is keyed and will be secured with locktite. I don't want anything to fail under load later on.

Next I'll start work on the eccentrics. I'll add two setscrews at 90° since I've been told by others they've had theirs spin.

More work on the Clishay. The cylinders are getting closer to completion. I got the valve ports done. I still need to drill the steam passages. Then I have 18 holes in each that need to be drilled and tapped that I'm not exactly looking forward to.

I've been trying to get all the "I'll do it later" things done so it is nice to get back on something a little more interesting.

The steam passages have been drilled. I don't have an angle vice so I used some blocks to prop up one side of the cylinder. It worked out pretty well. Next is the exhaust port in the side of the cylinder.

Looks GREAT!