First Boiler Build - Wenceslas

[klank]

Paul asked for some pics. of the build - here goes - warts and all.

I chose the Wenceslas boiler from Tubal Cain's book as a first try - its simple, I like its looks and apart from the top fittings/dome its enclosed in a "box" type structure which seems to add to thermal efficiency.
Pressure will be about 20-25p.s.i.
I WILL get it properly tested when finished.

The barrel is only 61/2" by 21/4" - slightly bigger than TC's recipe.
I wanted to properly fit it out and so purchased a water gauge set, clack and pressure gauge but decided to follow TC's great instructional text and make the regulator, safety valve and simple lubricator.
(Interestingly - the lady I ordered the water gauge from at Reeves said that they will no longer be selling them as the "cottage" engineer who makes them for Reeves is retiring - they were selling off their remaining stock a bit cheaper - so I grabbed one with a blow down - still rather expensive though).

So here is the current state of play - most components finished (from gun metal, bronze for the bushes, brass for the safety valve body and filler plug body) - apart from the water tubes which are poor.

For the sake of encouraging any Newbies like me who might read this - I made some awful mistakes and will own up to them.

Equally, I received a huge amount of kindness, help and encouragement from the regular old "wise ones" from this site.
So any Newbies - don't be afraid to ask stupid questions (up until about a year ago I had never touched a lathe before).
Tel, Circlip, Paul et al - thanks.

My first big mistake was making the flanging plates (from block-board) with too much radius on the top edge, and allow too much material for the rebate. I am using 18gauge copper sheet for the ends - the end result was that the plates looked almost domed with much too long and thick an edge where a lot of the copper had been pounded to. The edges of the wooden flanging plates were badly abused by the time I was done!! (I did re-anneal the copper constantly).
Anyway - with the help and advice of Mark (Old Biker Guy) from Taunton ME's, I made fresh flanging plates from some scrap black steel plate - with only a tiny radius, re-annealed the ends and spent an afternoon learning to do the job properly - and cutting away the excess. (See photo)

The water tubes (see pic below) are pretty bad.
Unfortunately, l I could only source tubing that was really too thick - a big mistake.
Despite annealing, my freehand bending efforts are pretty poor - again with Mark's guidance I can make a simple bending jig and use a spring he kindly loaned me.
Tubing of the proper gauge is now ordered.

Because of the relatively modest diameter of the barrel, there is not room for a top water gauge fitting on the end-plate. TC's recipe calls for a copper block to be mounted atop the barrel - I have turned up a fixture from gun-metal hex which looks a bit more "Victorian" - in keeping with the other top fittings.
As Tel has said on another post - making the fittings, safety valve and regulator made a very pleasant interlude.

Anyhow - here are photos of the components (please look away from the water tubes!!) and how the top of the boiler should look with them on (in theory).
Will post more when I have done the tubes again and started silver soldering.

[jamespetts]

Looking very interesting! Do keep us updated. What's that going to power, may I ask?

[klank]

James
If I can make it a success - to power my Stuart10H.
On the horizon I would next like to have a go at a Monarch plant - Tel recommended this and it looks really nice - use as a general workshop steam plant - but got to learn the basics first.

[jamespetts]

Should very much like to see photographs/videos of it all when running!

[klank]

I made a simple pipe bending tool from an article in an old (1986) copy of ME which I was kindly given - seemed to do the job.



I re-made the water tubes and drilled/filed slots in the boiler to fit.
From a good idea in an earlier post - I also made a jig for the gauge glass bush/top fitting.

To prevent the end plates moving I drilled for some small rivets to hold them whilst soldering up. Just three in the rear end (hidden by the casing) but 8 - to look a bit more contemporary - in the front end. Not having any way of dividing properly, I just used a length of masking tape :- cut to the circumference (pi x D) and dividers stepped along in 8 divisions to make a pattern to go around the end of the barrel - seemed to work o.k.



Water tubes fitted temporarily.



I heard somewhere that in addition to graphite pencil, "Tip-Ex" type remover will also act as a barrier to silver solder - thanks to my wife and a midnight raid on her stationery cupboard I discovered it is now available in a pen type dispenser - so I shall give it a go when I pluck up enough courage to start the soldering.
For any newbies who don't know - a great source of "ready bendy" copper pipe is copper brake pipe from automotive suppliers on fleabay. I got a 25ft. roll of 3/16th pipe for about a fiver (plus postage) - arrived within two days.

(Sorry if all of this has all been said before - just passing on what I discovered).

Will post some more when I've bitten the bullet and soldered some of the components.

[circlip]

Just a word of warning Peter, before you go crackers with the blowlamp on the "Copper" tubes, try silver soldering a small sample first. Car brake pipes are normally " CuNiFer " Copper/Nickel/Ferrous, cos they need some strength, thus the ferrous content. Pure copper pipes would "Blow" under braking pressure. Sooooooorry to dampen it a bit.

Regards Ian.

[klank]

Thanks Ian for the good advice.
I did not use brake pipe for the water tubes - just normal 1/4" 22gauge copper "cold rolled" - or some such - ready "bendy" anyway - from Folkstone Eng.
I was thinking of using the brake pipe for normal/jobbing hook up purposes - but will try a test first.
I've done most of the silver soldering this afternoon in two stages using two types of Silverflo/Easyflo with the higher melting point solder first.
Ran out of solder unfortunately so shall have to wait before finishing the final end plate and water gauge bushes.

[paul]

Sorry for the tardiness of my reply Klank. Your boiler looks pretty good to me; why not build Wenceslas with the engine and all the little trimmings like ladders, handrails & so on?

On the subject of dividing you can use your lathe chuck(s) by aligning each jaw to a reference mark or, as TC suggests in your book, using a spirit level on the jaws on either side of the chuck.

jgb has some elaborate method of doing this with string and weights (!) - he can probably explain it better than me!

[jgb7573]

Ah! Elaborate methods! The spirit level idea sounds fine to me but I haven't tried it. The one thing it doesn't do is hold the spindle still, at least I don't think it does. I've used the following in the past in the days when I hadn't got any other means of dividing from the headstock.
The method calls for a stop of some sort that stands on the drip tray of the lathe. This stop is a rod or whatever of such a length and shape that when standing on the drip tray, it catches under one of the jaws of the chuck and holds it horizontal. So the length of said rod is the height of the axis of the lathe above the drip tray LESS half the thickness of the chuck jaw. By setting each of the chuck jaws in turn on this stop, you can divide by three or four (depending on the chuck of course). If you need 6 (or 8) divisions, then you can also put the stop under one of the chuck jaws at the back of the lathe bed.
Now this is fine, but it helps to be able to stop the chuck from turning while it is in the right position. To do this, put the chuck key in one of its holes in th chuck body. Fix a length of string (old bootlace etc.) to the3 key and run the string around the outside of the chuck. Attach a weight of some sort to the other end of the string. The weight will then hold the chuck against the stop.
These days I have a detente operating on the bull wheel. Much more flexible, but no Boys Own bits of string!

[paul]

What he said!

[klank]

JGB and Paul - it was most kind of you both to go to the trouble of explaining it all.
In this case, I did not want to risk distorting the barrel by grasping it too firmly for "dividing" - although the three jaw inside the rim would probably have done your method with close attention.
I went the sticky paper route for this one - seemed to work out o.k.

I have just finished all of the soldering now - too ashamed to show the initial results - a few nasty dribbles and runs - so will clean it all up first after pickling.
Fortunately, most of the barrel, apart from the front end and top of dome, will be hidden in the casing.
I have started on the plate work - scrounged quite a lot of thin (1.5mm) plate off-cuts of a very weird possible alloy material from a nearby steel fabricator's scrap bin.
It looks like polished steel sheet, but is somewhat lighter, non magnetic, quite rigid and incredibly hard. Marked as "heat proof". Its definitely not Aluminium - but a so and so to drill. ?stainless? (anyway - it only cost a packet of fags).
Will post a piccy or two later.

[klank]

I finished the soldering today.
Learned that pickling solution makes for black spots on stainless steel sink drainer - wife not best pleased.
Following TC's recipe, after pickling and initial clean up, I boiled it for a while - a surprising amount of crud came out!



Pics. of finished boiler - now to hydraulic test it.
I will bling up the top and end plate (exposed parts) later.

[paul]

Yup, for the boiler your dividing method is definitely easiest and it will matter not one jot if one or more rivets are a little out of place. The runs and dribbles dont matter either so long as the joints are sound although you do seem to have quite a fillet of solder where the tubes connect to the boiler (I dont suppose that matters either except from a cost point of view!).

What did you use for pickling solution and where did you find that beast of a saucepan?!

[klank]

I used the new "Dry Acid Pickling Salts" from Chronos.
As this is my first go, I have never used anything before this so cannot compare results. The made - up solution seems to work very quickly - leaves a green tinge to the solution in the bath after pickling - looks like a nuclear reactor cooling chamber after a few minutes!

The pan is a "family heirloom" - a very old bronze preserving pan from my Grandmother. Great for making Indian pickles and chutneys. Essence of boiled up boiler should add to the texture of future culinary efforts!

[circlip]

Green tinge probably Copper Sulphate, to enhance your cooking, cheaper way is to throw in an old penny. ;D
To save on overspill of SS,you already know about Snopaque, graphite etc as stoppers, but I think Tel has mentioned elsewhere about thinning the solder out by hammering, it uses less by melting quicker, less volume, and it's suprising how much you can "Pull" it with heat. Only advantage to a large fillet is in Johnson Mathey's bank account.

Regards Ian.

[klank]

Thanks Ian - That tip of Tel's about thinning the rod is one of the best .

In my own defence, I deliberately made a thick fillet of solder around the water tubes because I had to file quite a bit of the boiler barrel away to accommodate the sharp angle of their entry. I was scared of leaving a weakness at those joints.

[paul]

Aug 29, 2008 12:35:45 GMT klank said:

I had to file quite a bit of the boiler barrel away to accommodate the sharp angle of their entry..

Modeng2000 can probably give us some advice on that score klank - the angled holes for his De Winton looked really good...

modeleng.proboards20.com/index.cgi?board=GA1Images&action=display&thread=1969

[modeng2000]

Just to put your minds at rest regarding angled holes.

I did things much like you did Klank, just being careful to get a nice fit and then ensuring that the silver soldering was up to the standard needed. My fillets were not as full as yours but there is no real harm in making sure things are right so avoiding possible extra work later.

John

[klank]

Thanks guys - I still have a lot to learn, and a ways to go to get things as neat as that.
My work looks a bit shabby compared to yours - still, maybe to encourage some other newbie to "have a go" I'll keep posting.

Peter

[circlip]

No need for defence Peter, the sloping water tubes on that design of boiler, although easy to draw must be one of the most difficult to get to fit semi-perfectly in boiler bashing. The other old trick of distorting the hole in the casing with a piece of bar is a bit difficult as well.