Section 14 - Boiler Accessories

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Neidrauer Live Steam Locomotives Photo Albums » Building a Live Steam Locomotive - the Mikado Project » Section 14 - Boiler Accessories

Boiler Accessories. Steam dome cover, sand dome.

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129-145 (of 145 found)

IMG_5146 15-Sept-2013 The brackets after machining, with the two air tanks on the right. Next the mounting feet and bolt-down pieces need to be installed.

IMG_5148 15-Sept-2013 After some frustrating time with the TIG welder, the feet and mounting pads are welded on.

IMG_5151 16-Sept-2013 Standoff pads are welded to the boiler. We plan to match drill and tap the holes into the pads from the bracket feet, after the jacketing is installed. Later we discover this is not the best plan as we drilled holes in the jacketing and missed the pads. We will have to come up with a better way.

IMAG0257 September 2013 After pulling the fire out, We have been using a wick dipped in oil, lighting the wick, putting it in the firebox and re-opening the oil valve. Then dropping the wick on the ground and putting the fire out with our boots. A very time consuming process. The firepan has a provision for a sparkplug ignition system, but I never had a way to make the spark. A friend of Bill's,

IMG_5160 23-Sept-2013 In a rush to get the brackets ready and mount the air tanks on the engine before taking it out in public view, Bill takes the brackets home to drill and tap the tie down straps. The keystock I used had hardened from the heat of the TIG welder and it takes five drill bits and three taps, even after reheating them to cherry to complete the operation. We have to machine away part of one bracket with the broken tap and weld a new piece on. We have spent over 18 man-hours on these brackets, much to my amazement.

IMG_5215 30-Sept-2013 ?Why a picture of a dirty burner you might ask? Well, we found that after hard running with the oil valve open, then throttling down to a pilot flame caused problems - we could not reincrease the oil amount, no matter how much we opened the oil valve. We think the burner is getting very hot under heavy firing, causing the oil to carbon/soot up right at the outlet when the oil is turned down. Since the oil is gravity fed, re-opening the oil valve does not push the carbon/soot away. We start the habit of blowing air through the burner before starting in the morning, and decide to add a steam blow back valve like the prototype had so we can clean away the soot when needed. I also think the pulling the burner out further of the firepan may help, but that requires pulling the firepan and rewelding brackets.

IMG_5227 7-Oct-2013 Milling grooves in the top of the air tank bracket to hold the air pipes which are in between the two tanks.

IMG_5475 17-Mar-2014 Making a new throttle handle in stainless steel. The throttle felt like it had too much slop in it, after looking at the motion it appears the as-cast square hole was not very square at all, allowing lots of movement. This new handle helped improve things.

IMG_5483 7-Apr-2014 Wrestling the middle tapered course back onto the boiler with ratch flat straps after cutting square holes in the jacket to expose the standoff pads for the air tank brackets.

IMAG0345 14-Apr-2014 After having the cab and jacketing off the engine over the winter, it's nice to see it going back together again.

IMG_5505 14-Apr-2014 Brass pipe cut to length for the air cooler on a Frisco engine.

IMG_5508 17-Apr-2014 The air tanks in their newly installed brackets. Also plainly visible: brushed paint vs. sprayed paint. Brushed paint, even from the same manufacturer, is darker than sprayed. Also visible, red primer coat in the thin paint spots. I am rushing the install of the tanks and sacrifice the paint job to get the engine out for the first fire-up.

IMG_6436 18-Apr-2015 Reinstallation of the boiler jacketing. We had to cut holes for the whistle fitting, a crown sheet washout plug, and repaint.

IMG_6437 18-Apr-2015 Reinstalling the jacketing. We added mineral wool insulation to the second and third courses where there was the most room. There is only 3/16

IMG_6438 18-Apr-2015 The heavy gauge jacketing is pain to wrestle into place. Lots of ratchet straps and rags to minimize paint damage were used to reinstall the jacketing.

IMG_6439 18-Apr-2015 Freshly painted jacketing reinstalled. Tapped nuts have been welded to the inside to mount the running boards and insulation added to the boiler.

IMG_6440 18-Apr-2015 Freshly painted jacketing reinstalled. Tapped nuts have been welded to the inside to mount the running boards and insulation added to the boiler.

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