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

Verrrrry impressive.  Nice looking and a sweet runner.  It's
cool that you added the pressure gauge without having to alter
the engine.  A bit of info on that would be good - I'd like to try it.

Happy steaming,
Wayne

Thanks, Wayne. The only thing I had to do to add the gauge was to drill and tap a 3/16 MTP thread in the boss at the end of the engine frame casting. (This boss is drilled and tapped for the whistle when the casting is used on the vertical engine.) The pressure gauge in the picture is from PM Research, as are the 3/16" nipple and street ell.

To facilitate this (and other operations), I made up a little fixture for holding the casting in a vise. It's just a scrap aluminum block with a couple of 1/4-20 holes. Here's what the setup looks like:

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It's useful for other operations, too. When restoring an engine, I sometime will add provision for an O-ring to replace a troublesome paper gasket. All that's need is the correct size and depth of receess to fit the ring. Here's an example:

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Works quite well!

Paula