Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

  Stoker....thanks for the advice.  I'm all in favor of shims
when proper machining is not an option.  I will investigate
brass sheet sellers for the thinnest available and buy several
thicknesses.  I only thought of lead because it would be soft
enough to be 'run in'.  Do you think there is a danger that either
brass or lead would stick to the crank or bearing holders?  I
do not like doing mods that run the risk of being un-reversible.
Anyway, the #3 and #5 engines run well. 

  Of course, other problems crop up.  Whoever built the boiler fill
pipe arrangement did not use PM parts.  Soldered copper pipes, a
couple of union joints and though it looks like hell, it all works.
The valve is another matter.  the blow-down valve, nickel-plated,
has always been verrrry stiff to turn.  Yesterday, the handle broke.
Thankfully, small pliers will still turn it.  Because it is not PM
parts, and the maker used a couple of other off-brand parts in the
pipe setup, I won't be taking it apart as it does work. 

  For now I'm putting the #7 back on the base and work on making a
proper pipe arrangement.  The #5 needs to take a breath and wait
its turn.

  My wife just retired (I've been retired for a while) and it is a
whole new world.  I'm chauffeuring her around today.  Between that
and the changes in $$$$ income and health insurance arrangements,
I've been feeling like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking
chairs.  Worse than the four mortgages I've done, and they were tough.

Muddling thru,
Wayne