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

Builds, Repairs, Show Your Machines! => Restorations => Topic started by: St Paul Steam on December 20, 2023, 09:28:37 pm

Title: Re: Jensen #55 ,needing some love...
Post by: 1stimestm on May 11, 2025, 11:51:30 am
Beautiful restoration!
Title: Re: Jensen #55 ,needing some love...
Post by: komet163b on March 10, 2025, 01:28:00 pm
All around good karma.  Nice job on the rebuild.  Resoldering the
cylinder is beyond me so....

Regarding Jensen and whether they will work on customer's engines,
the following video says.....YES!

https://youtu.be/qRKkcHO4kms

Happy steaming,
Wayne

Title: Re: Jensen #55 ,needing some love...
Post by: SEUSA on March 10, 2025, 11:51:31 am
Somehow I missed this Bruce.
You did an amazing job.
Looks awesome. 👍👍
Title: Re: Jensen #55 ,needing some love...
Post by: Paula on December 28, 2023, 03:44:13 pm
Many thanks, Bruce! It will be a while before I start on that project, but this information will be very helpful!

Paula
Title: Re: Jensen #55 ,needing some love...
Post by: St Paul Steam on December 23, 2023, 02:01:30 pm
Bruce, as usual, your Jensen restoration skills are impeccable. It's always a pleasure to see the results.

I Remove the snout and piston...

If you could share how you do this, I would be grateful. I have an old 25 waiting in the wings, and it was subjected at one time to some very amateur repair attempts:

  (Attachment Link)

It almost looks like they took a vise grip pliers to it. When I restore this engine, I will need to replace that part. Is there a trick to removing it?

Thanks,
Paula
here you go Paula
you will need to make a simple jig (I used 1/4" thick copper, its soft & grippy) with a 1/4" hole with a slot big enough to let the connecting rod pass through, remove cylinder chest from whatever steam plant it is on, if it's on a #25/75 you will have the advantage of the steam chest to use as leverage. the oscillators will need gentle back & forth motion while lifting slightly. I usually mark the snout cap across the cylinder to put them back close to where they were to start with. this trick was learned from Ozsteamdemon.

https://youtu.be/OAg4hj8R8Wc?si=lIco33m5ygymrqof

Title: Re: Jensen #55 ,needing some love...
Post by: classixs on December 23, 2023, 12:59:45 pm
It looks amazing....
Very well done Bruce!!!
Title: Re: Jensen #55 ,needing some love...
Post by: Paula on December 23, 2023, 10:01:14 am
Bruce, as usual, your Jensen restoration skills are impeccable. It's always a pleasure to see the results.

I Remove the snout and piston...

If you could share how you do this, I would be grateful. I have an old 25 waiting in the wings, and it was subjected at one time to some very amateur repair attempts:

 [attachimg=1]

It almost looks like they took a vise grip pliers to it. When I restore this engine, I will need to replace that part. Is there a trick to removing it?

Thanks,
Paula
Title: Re: Jensen #55 ,needing some love...
Post by: parallelmotion on December 23, 2023, 08:43:47 am
Great work Bruce; thanks for sharing.
Title: Re: Jensen #55 ,needing some love...
Post by: Paula on December 22, 2023, 11:03:43 am
Hi Bob,

The website has been taken down, but I believe you can still download the content. See this thread for more info:

https://www.officeofsteamforum.com/general-discussion/indianarog-and-the-temple-of-steam-website-to-be-no-more/msg58683/#msg58683

Paula
Title: Re: Jensen #55 ,needing some love...
Post by: Bobsmodels on December 22, 2023, 09:54:00 am
Hi

could someone give me a link to Rog's web site for the restorers information.  I tried the link on his post no luck.

Thank you

Bob
Title: Re: Jensen #55 ,needing some love...
Post by: RedRyder on December 21, 2023, 09:08:30 pm
Good on you, Jack for your giving spirit.

And....

Good on you, Bruce for putting a nice restoration on a tired Jensen #55.
Title: Re: Jensen #55 ,needing some love...
Post by: St Paul Steam on December 21, 2023, 08:23:41 pm
Bruce, I just had an idea.  You could put it out on eBay, Marketplace and other online sources..."Jensen Restorations by SPS".  You could take as many as you had time and interest doing, save a lot of engines in the process and make a few dollars in the process.

I'm serious, you do wonders on these old engines and sir!!

Rog
Maybe something to consider in retirement Rog, thank you for the compliment. I could see owners spending the funds on a "collectors series" & up , & maybe the occasional rare or sentimental hobbies plants, probably enough to keep me as busy as I want to be. I really enjoy saving these engines from the scrap heap. Does Jensen Mfg. Still repair customers engines anymore ? It would be nice to be factory approved/certified to do repairs but not necessarily needed.
Title: Re: Jensen #55 ,needing some love...
Post by: IndianaRog on December 21, 2023, 05:20:46 pm
Bruce, I just had an idea.  You could put it out on eBay, Marketplace and other online sources..."Jensen Restorations by SPS".  You could take as many as you had time and interest doing, save a lot of engines in the process and make a few dollars in the process.

I'm serious, you do wonders on these old engines and sir!!

Rog
Title: Re: Jensen #55 ,needing some love...
Post by: Stoker on December 21, 2023, 11:56:04 am
Looks like a really good job restoring it Bruce but I'm not surprised. Just out of curiosity how did you reattach the dangling cylinder? I would guess by silver soldering but thought super glue might work also.
Larry , I use staybright #8 solder, the highest temp "soft" solder I've found ,probably a little overkill, but I don't want it coming  off again.Jensen didn't silver brazing them on either, they used softer solder than I just did. If you get it hot enough for silver  brazing you will definitely ruin the nickel plating & likely distort the part as well.I Remove the snout and piston so I can use a locating positioning pin in the one steam passage that's available. On a Jensen #20 you can access both ends, all this information is on Roger's "restorers toolbox" thread.

Love Staybright, bonds aluminum and other metals really well and is much higher temperature and strength than regular soft solders!

Also, love Indiana Rog's Restorer's Tool-Box and could not be happier that it has been saved by many and is still accessible!!!
Title: Re: Jensen #55 ,needing some love...
Post by: RichSteamTx on December 21, 2023, 09:49:31 am
wow, what a transformation!  Well done.
Title: Re: Jensen #55 ,needing some love...
Post by: St Paul Steam on December 21, 2023, 09:47:04 am
Looks like a really good job restoring it Bruce but I'm not surprised. Just out of curiosity how did you reattach the dangling cylinder? I would guess by silver soldering but thought super glue might work also.
Larry , I use staybright #8 solder, the highest temp "soft" solder I've found ,probably a little overkill, but I don't want it coming  off again.Jensen didn't silver brazing them on either, they used softer solder than I just did. If you get it hot enough for silver  brazing you will definitely ruin the nickel plating & likely distort the part as well.I Remove the snout and piston so I can use a locating positioning pin in the one steam passage that's available. On a Jensen #20 you can access both ends, all this information is on Roger's "restorers toolbox" thread.
Title: Re: Jensen #55 ,needing some love...
Post by: Stoker on December 21, 2023, 09:12:11 am
What with the 55 being something of a personal favorite of mine, in the Jensen line, I'll have to thank you very kindly Bruce, for bringing that one back from the edge, or perhaps even a little over the edge, and making it once again the wonderful engine that it was originally built to be!!!
Title: Re: Jensen #55 ,needing some love...
Post by: txlabman on December 21, 2023, 08:06:52 am
Wow!  What a generous gesture by Jack!  Well done Jack.

This engine ended up with the right person to give it some TLC.

Nice Job Bruce.

Merry Christmas!

Charlie
Title: Re: Jensen #55 ,needing some love...
Post by: jkbixby on December 21, 2023, 06:01:03 am
Looks like a really good job restoring it Bruce but I'm not surprised. Just out of curiosity how did you reattach the dangling cylinder? I would guess by silver soldering but thought super glue might work also.
Title: Jensen #55 ,needing some love...
Post by: St Paul Steam on December 20, 2023, 09:28:37 pm
Hi fellow steamers
I saw this listed on Ebay in rather poor condition (not Jacks doing, I'm sure that's how he received it) and after contacting the listing seller (our own jack @steam engines USA) he so graciously pulled the listing & made a present out of it to me, so very kind of Jack  :)

here it is in as received condition...

https://youtu.be/BP-cgNi_dq4

and the after restoration video...

https://youtu.be/n0AGcFQCdmw