Ashpan construction

[JonL]

When I made my last ashpan I bent it out of mild steel and mig welded it. I think my mig welder is on its last legs and don't really want to muck around with it if possible.

Would you silver solder a mild steel ashpan? Could and should I? Or shall I bite the bullet and see if I can coax a little more life out of the mig? I suspect the gas is long gone.

[mbrown]

I have silver soldered all my ashpans from mild steel. I haven't had any issues, but I don't go in for very frequent running.

Malcolm

[stevep]

May 23, 2021 13:41:03 GMT mbrown said:

I have silver soldered all my ashpans from mild steel. I haven't had any issues, but I don't go in for very frequent running.

Malcolm

Me too.

[JonL]

So as usual I've been doing things the clumsy hard way! Thank you gents, that's a relief

[Deleted]

I plan to silver solder my ashbox, I have already bought the flux for stainless ready to do this. The stainless grate will be welded though.

Pete

[don9f]

Hi, here’s a photo from my (old) Jinty thread, showing the simple design of ashpan made from stainless steel and brass angle, just rivetted together. Nothing wrong though in silver soldering it as well!



Cheers Don

[JonL]

I thought my mild steel one would rust but it's completely spotless. I'm quite surprised.

[kipford]

Mine is silver soldered from stainless steel.

[ejparrott]

Some of the stainless steel ashpans we've supplied have been silver soldered by customers rather than welded by us or them

[uuu]

Here's mine, just soldered, in stainless, from MEL:
Ashpan1 by Wilf, on Flickr

Copied from my Jessie thread.

Wilf

[JonL]

Bearing in mind how well mine is lasting I'll probably just use mild steel again out of convenience. It probably helps that it usually gets cleaned out right away and I have circulating air in my workshop

[andyhigham]

Buy a TIG welder and either create beautiful welds or spend the day swearing

[uuu]

If you can coax your MIG to deliver some tack welds, then finish off with solder, you'll have the best of both worlds.

Wilf

[JonL]

May 24, 2021 20:29:50 GMT uuu said:

If you can coax your MIG to deliver some tack welds, then finish off with solder, you'll have the best of both worlds.

Wilf

I could possibly tack but I think the gas is long gone. I'll have a look. Either way I'm looking forward to the chance to improve on my previous effort. This is the phase I really enjoy; refining and tuning. I find this personally far more interesting than the build phase.

[springcrocus]

I wish I had a TIG welder, I probably wouldn't have made such a pig's ear of my Allchin final drive cover.

Regards, Steve

[dscott]

I have done one in 1.5 Copper which looks just like a rusty one hanging below the Loco.
Copper rivets add to the effect.

David and Lily.

[JonL]

I'm wondering if I should leave a small gap at the bottom of the rear face of the ashpan to let me more easily rake it out but I don't want to upset anyone by letting some of the ash drift loose while driving. However I'm sure I have seen other ashpans with an open rear face. I most certainly don't want to be the person to upset my fellow model engineers by doing something that might be considered a poor show.

Should I just bathtub the ashpan or give myself a small gap at the bottom at the back? I don't think I could make a door, it would be a bit fiddly for me.

[Deleted]

May 25, 2021 11:01:49 GMT JonL said:

Should I just bathtub the ashpan or give myself a small gap at the bottom at the back? I don't think I could make a door, it would be a bit fiddly for me.

Some designs as drawn have an open back, my LBSC Heilan Lassie is one such design. Closed front with an open back to allow easy raking of the ash from the pan, we have a number of these locos running at my club, I can't recall there ever being a problem with them nor any complaints.

Pete

[stevep]

My Rob Roy ashpan has an open back, but nothing seems to fall out of it, as it fills up with ash, and I have to use the trap door to dump it all out.

There again, the back is higher than the rest of the ashpan as it goes over the rear axle. I guess it just lets air in underneath the grate.

[Gary L]

May 25, 2021 11:01:49 GMT JonL said:

I'm wondering if I should leave a small gap at the bottom of the rear face of the ashpan to let me more easily rake it out but I don't want to upset anyone by letting some of the ash drift loose while driving. However I'm sure I have seen other ashpans with an open rear face. I most certainly don't want to be the person to upset my fellow model engineers by doing something that might be considered a poor show.

Should I just bathtub the ashpan or give myself a small gap at the bottom at the back? I don't think I could make a door, it would be a bit fiddly for me.

Many ashpans are higher at the back; some are level, I can’t think of any that fall to the rear; thus there is little tendency for ash to fall out.

You will need an aperture to let in combustion air though, quite a big one so that the airflow is evenly distributed to the grate. All the air that goes up the blastpipe has to enter through the ashpan, preferably at a slower speed I would think. The back of the ashpan is generally the best place for the aperture (it is in reasonably still air) so leaving it completely open is a convenient method, which many designs have adopted. If you are worried about ash falling out (unnecessarily, I think, bearing in mind the inflowing draught) you could always form an upstand or lip on the rear edge of the ashpan floor.

HTH

Gary