The Home Machinist!

Can you measure the thickness of the "as rolled" section? Just curious.... Next to the plate surface the rolled wall thickness is .046 and the id is .551. It's a very tight fit but of course I have no idea if it would hold pressure. The id of the annealed copper is polished from the rolle...

You can always make a test hole and roll in a piece of tube to see if it cracks....but then it is a long term consideration. As others, experience tells me you are ok here. Thank you everyone for the advice, I truly appreciate it. I made a test plate with a hole bored to the oversize dimension, ann...

Sooo... With my boiler tube (front tube sheet welded in) clamped to the side of the vertical mill table and after reaming 25 holes between the front and rear tube sheets I had one hole produce a bunch of chatter before I could stop. Turns out one clamp in my set up had loosened a bit allowing killer...

My locomotives, the mudring is sitting on or just above the frame rails. but one locomotive does have blow down ports on the rear back head. that said, i see no reason one could not come down the bottom, but depending how the mud ring is welded up, you may be drilling through weld. Excellent point,...

When space is ridiculously tight within a frame is it an option to plumb blowdown valves out the bottom of the mud ring? Essentially down and out to the side under the frame. I've personally never seen done in practice and don't know why.
Thanks for any advice,
Denny

Bill Shields wrote: ↑Fri Apr 07, 2023 11:10 am I used some left-over stainless banding material many decades ago...

biggest challenge was getting it 'straight' before I twisted it.

Stainless banding is what I was originally thinking about, it comes in .015, .020, .030 and .045 thicknesses.

Thank you Chuck, I did do a search and found lots of info but missed anything on material gauge. I have seen the twisted and tangled type but I'm looking for something I can shape in my shop... without using up all my stainless welding rod.
Denny

For 1/2 inch i.d. copper flues what gauge stainless do people recommend for twisted turbulators?
Thank you,
Denny

Thank you everyone for the advice, lots of suggestions to consider. Right now the top of list for me would be soldered Galvanneal with sealed edges. Long ago I worked quite a bit with Flexane for prototypes and forming dies, never cheap but very impressive properties.
Denny

With the horrendous cost of brass it's time for me to start considering building a tender out of steel sheet, possibly galvanized. I have worked a lot with stainless but it's hardly an economical alternative. I've read through the archives and there doesn't appear to be a consensus on sealants. Any ...

I worked as a machinist in a shipyard for a number of years. Replacing large, water lubed, sleeve bearings was a common part of the job. Bronze bearings were a interference fit and were frozen, usually in hundreds of pounds of dry ice and "slipped" in place. Bronze bearings going in to an ...

Rollers.jpg Excuse my ignorance but what is the threaded looking portion at the tip of the home built roller? Was this roller built to the Live Steam / Bailie design? Jesse Livingston design. The grooves in the thread allow for assembly and the thread itself is for a small threaded ring and jam nut...