Hello. New member here. I was just approached by our little local farm museum to restore this little engine.
My first, so I have lots of questions but I'll start with
1) it has no stack and many of the pictures I see don't either. Did they come with or without or is that just the part that always gets lost?
2) does it burn alcohol and what does the tray you insert into the firebox look like?
3) So far it looks to be functional except the sight glass is gone (I have the holder brackets). Is that just a U shaped glass tube sealed with 'O'rings? Any chance of buying one or do I have to remember how to bend glass tube?
Enough questions for now, I'm sure there will be more later
Welcome to the forum
1. Yes they came with a stack and were easily lost
2. Yes it burns alcohol, many use denatured, I use Everclear so I don’t get the fumes. Will have to find you a picture of the burner
3. You will have to bend the glass yourself. It’s easy to bend, just not easiest to get it in the exact right spot the first time
I hope you didn’t polish off the boiler bluing? 😬
Nick has already supplied you with the important pieces of information.
Doll stacks are not that rare, on German ebay you will find them offered once in a while (but the shipping cost and fees might be prohibitive).
Bending the water gauge glasses is really not that tricky - theoretically... Sometimes you really get the creeps when another perfectly looking glass does not fit by fractions of a millimeter (no, don't try to re-heat, they will inevitably burst at the bends...). If you need it, there will probably be a tutorial here in the forum somewhere.
Regarding the seals: I do recommend slices of (soft) silicone-tube. You can easily adapt the size and they fit perfectly.
The sight-glass covers came in different shapes, according to date of delivery and size...
This Doll ship's engine is not a rare specimen, but a very nice item and usually a good runner (perhaps running a bit roughly, as the two pistons work on the same crank and "fire" at the same time, due to their shared valve).
Good luck with the restoration!
And here another original burner, a vaporizer with three domes, this time. Size depends on the size of the engine:
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
I can supply you with the necessary measurements and details, of course - but a simple tray with fuel tablets will do the trick as well...(but alcohol burners are much nicer)
Nice engine, a 360/4 I believe with a 7 cm boiler. I just finished work on my 360/3. I'll look forward to seeing your progress.
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
Wow, thanks for all the help. Glass tube is on it's way
I should mention that the engine has very good original paint, it’s often flaking on Dolls, please just wipe/clean it with an oily rag
Here's a little note on the burner. When ever I get one, I'll place the burner in a bread pan
or some other shape pan when filling for the first time. They can leak through tiny holes in
the bottom and if you do it on a table and lite it, well things can interesting fast. Now don't
think that you can test it with water first. Alcohol will leak through a hole that water cannot.
Water will lay on a table beaded up, alcohol will spread out flat. They have different surface
tension. You have some good pointers from everyone above, if you need more help, post it.
Welcome to the Forum.
Well, I got my glass tubing finally and the bending went much easier than I expected. So now it's time to fire it up for the first time.
Actually i think I'll try it on compressed air first, since I expect a few leaks. Since this is a museum piece I expect to get it running in full steam mode but will probably hook it up to air for the museum. Then folks can see it run right away.
What kind of pressure do these thing run at? Will one of those little aquarium pumps run it?