We all make mistokes – well I do anyway, quite a lot.
Just when the first stage of my build of Elmer’s #3 appeared to be going to plan I messed up bigtime. Simple little job. I decided I would solder the air (steam) inlet pipe into the engine main frame. It went badly wrong. Basically I didn’t get the frame hot enough and the inlet pipe was close to meltdown. The solder didn’t run so I applied more heat and eventually it did run but made a real old mess. I tried to clean it up with needle files but I wasn’t happy so I abandoned it for the day.
When things do go wrong I usually avoid taking any immediate action. Take a break, mull it over and eventually the best course of action will present itself. The next day I cut off the offending pipe, skimmed the top surface in the mill and turned a threaded inlet pipe – job done. I then continued drilling and tapping M3 fixing wholes in the frame then made up the base out of a handy piece of aluminium. This was cut close to finished size in the bandsaw then into the mill for final sizing and hole drilling.
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- Near disaster through poor soldering – stop work and reflect on your options.
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- Inlet pipe was cut off then the surface skimmed flat in the mill taking just a minimum of cut.
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- The chuck on the lathe was replaced with an ER32 collet from my mill. The MT3 arbour fits into the lathe headstock.
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- The M3 die was held in the lathe tailstock to ensure squareness of cut.
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- The replacement inlet pipe screws into position and the job is back on track.
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- Quite a number of precisely positioned holes are required on the frame. Treble check each one, including the depth before drilling.
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- After drilling the holes that require tapping I start the tap off by hand using the mill chuck. This ensures the tap is running square. Cut to full depth in the vice later.
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- A base was made up for the engine from a handy piece of aluminium plate.
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- The frame and base were given a quick polish before being screwed together.
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- The frame and base are now completed and await the fitting of the remaining components.
Fins on the cylinder may be a problem if you ever decide to use steam with this engine. Typically, steam engines need to get their cylinders and pistons up to temperature to avoid water condensation.
Of course, with air, it will never matter.
Thanks Alan. That’s a very valid point. Personally I never run my engines on steam these days and I just like the decorative effect of fins (a throwback to my interest in motorcycling !). However I am sure there will be others who prefer to run their engines on steam and in those cases the point you have made is certainly worth considering.
John S
I really like your blog and i respect your work. I’ll be a frequent visitor.