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Author Topic: Empire No.62 Copper Short Boiler Steam Engine  (Read 936 times)

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  • Posts: 1254
  • Location: Kyle, Tx
Empire No.62 Copper Short Boiler Steam Engine
« on: December 27, 2023, 09:29:53 am »
This engine is just like @komet163b Empire #46 and I got mine of Etsy for $50 to my door.  It wasn't in horrible shape but it was a little rusty.  Luckily I had a No.32 that I wasn't going to repair and was able to use some of its parts to replace the rust bits on the No.62.  While I have a long and short boiler No.62 I picked this one up because it was complete, cheap, and has a copper tank!

While testing it, the heater blanket burnt out and I had to rewire it with new nickel chromium wire.  Now she is fit as a fiddle ;-)

Donor parts because they were still shinny:
Cylinder Cover
Cylinder end cap
Cylinder perch
Smoke Stack
Accessory Pulley

New sight glass seals, new seal for whistle top mount to the tank and seal for the smoke stack (thank you @Paula for those seals).  Lots of elbo grease to polish the copper tank ;-)

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Richard

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  • Location: Sulphur Springs, TX
Re: Empire No.62 Copper Short Boiler Steam Engine
« Reply #1 on: December 27, 2023, 10:24:37 am »
   That is a sweet little engine you have there . I like it !
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D. E. Jones

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  • Location: Kyle, Tx
Re: Empire No.62 Copper Short Boiler Steam Engine
« Reply #2 on: December 27, 2023, 10:28:17 am »
Thanks D.E.

So you are in Sulphur Springs, that is kind of near my old home town - Longview - good old East Texas ;-)
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Richard

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  • Have you hugged an engine today?
  • Location: SE Indiana, USA
Re: Empire No.62 Copper Short Boiler Steam Engine
« Reply #3 on: December 27, 2023, 02:11:27 pm »
Hi Richard,

That's a really neat little engine! I like the copper boilers, too -- kind of a nice departure from the nickel plated ones. I'm guessing this also helped reduce the cost a bit for the manufacturer. It will oxidize over time, but since you can polish it back up, it's a good deal. Once nickel goes bad, there's not a lot you can do to restore the original look other than re-plating.

I also like your variac transformer. It's great to have, especially for engines that don't have a throttle.

Nice work!

Paula
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A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.

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  • Posts: 1254
  • Location: Kyle, Tx
Re: Empire No.62 Copper Short Boiler Steam Engine
« Reply #4 on: December 27, 2023, 03:02:49 pm »
The empire copper tanks all came with a lacquer clear coating.  Granted its all gone now after I dipped it with acetone and polished it.  I bought some Everbrite ProtectaClear off Amazon.  So before I put this one away I am going to remove the tank again, polish it again as best as I can, use some denatured alcohol on it and coat it.  If that happens to turn out well I do the same with my Empire 90 and 92, which always came out as copper tanks (as far as I know).

The Chinese variac is pretty cool, cheap off Amazon (I think it was on sale too).  I'd love to get a REAL VARIAC but even the used ones are costly.
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Richard
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