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Quality Brand (Empire) Gets A Facelift
Posted by
Paula
on 09 Feb, 2022 14:24
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This engine is an eBay find from early last year. It was in pretty nice shape when I acquired it:
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It is actually an Empire B-30 model which was made for the Great Northern Mfg. Co. under the Quality Brand name. The single-acting cylinder has a 5/8” bore x 7/8” stroke, and drives a 3” diameter solid-web flywheel. The electrically-heated brass boiler is approximately 2-3/8” diameter x 7” long. The boiler is mounted on a cast iron base, while the cylinder, slide valve, and crankshaft bearings are incorporated into a one-piece brass casting, mounted atop the boiler.
The boiler filler port and safety valve are cleverly built into the 2-1/2” tall dummy stack. A separate brass casting encloses the left end of the boiler, and provides mounting points for both the dummy stack and a 1/4” OD sight glass. A throttle valve is incorporated into the engine frame, and a whistle is mounted directly behind it. A 3/4” diameter power takeoff pulley is mounted to the crankshaft at the rear of the engine.
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The engine was sold as “untested”, but from what I could see, was worth the selling price, even if the heater was bad. I could see that the whistle cap was broken off (quite common) but otherwise the engine looked to be in quite decent shape. Also, there was no cord supplied, so I would need to get one for it.
After receiving the engine, I was quite pleased to find that the heater worked fine, but there was a serious problem with the lower sight glass fitting. The design of this style of boiler is unusual in that the lower sight glass spigot comprises an elbow-shaped extension of the boiler end casting. This offers the advantage of extending the range of the sight glass tube at the bottom end. The disadvantage is that it also provides a place for water to collect, as it is the lowest point within the boiler. Unless the boiler is thoroughly drained after each steaming, water will collect in this “elbow”, and over time will lead to corrosion of the lower sight glass fitting. This is apparently what happened with this engine. I noticed that this lower fitting was kind of loose, and as soon as I touched it, it basically broke off in my hand.
(to be continued…)
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#1 Reply
Posted by
txlabman
on 09 Feb, 2022 15:51
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Thank you Paula for the detailed description of the engine.
Looking forward to how you tackled the lower sight glass.
If you decide to repaint it the matching Empire Red Paint is Krylon Number RTA 9230 Cherry Red.
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#2 Reply
Posted by
komet163b
on 09 Feb, 2022 16:42
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Good description of your new engine. The working heater is a blessing.
The lower sight glass gave me troubles with mineral deposits. I used
diluted citric acid to start it to crumbling and finished clearing it
with a wooden skewer (won't scratch metal). Thankfully, mine did not
fall off. The heater on mine was also good, so I added water, plugged
in, and off it went.
To be honest, I try not to run the Empires with original heaters too
often. So far, I've had one Empire go incandescent before failing, and
two others with burned out heaters I replaced with cartridge heaters.
Be careful and avoid water dripping down the sides and running down into
the heater area. The water fillup and using the whistle are two culprits.
Good Luck,
Wayne
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#3 Reply
Posted by
Paula
on 09 Feb, 2022 17:13
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Charlie, thanks for the tip on the paint. Not knowing any better, I repainted this one with Rustoleum red engine paint. It looked good at first, but now seems to have lost some of its original gloss. The color looks ok to me, though my bright LED shop lights give an orangish cast. I will try the Krylon next time.
Wayne, thanks for your input. I agree with you about the original heater, so I don't steam this one very often. And I always keep a paper towel handy to mop up any stray drippings. Of the three Empire engines I've acquired, only one had a working heater, and one had no heater at all!
The sight glass fittings on this engine consist of a spherical “elbow” with a compression fitting for the sight glass on the top side, and a 1/4-40 threaded hole in the side. A 1/4” OD x 1/2” long nipple, threaded 1/4-40 at each end connects the fitting to the boiler:
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I have found that (2) 1/4” ID x 3/8” OD O-rings do a nice job of sealing the sight glass tube to the fitting.
In the case of this engine, the nipple for the lower sight glass fitting had corroded to such an extent that it broke off, leaving the male end of the nipple in the spherical elbow. By using a small Dremel cutter, I was able to cut the broken portion in the elbow into several pieces to remove them. Here is the busted nipple with one of the removed pieces of the threaded end:
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I made a new nipple from a piece of 1/4” OD brass pipe (from PM Research), threading the ends with a 1/4-40 die. The threaded joints are best sealed with Loctite 542. Allow the Loctite to set up overnight before steaming. Here is a view of the repaired lower sight glass fitting (the strong solvents used to disassemble the corroded parts removed most of the nickel plating, so I just polished the remaining brass):
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The whistle cap used on these engines is a fragile affair, consisting of .010” drawn brass. It seems that few of these survive any kind of rough or careless handling, and this engine was no exception. I was able to remove the broken stub of the whistle cap by slitting it up one side with a Dremel cutter. Here is what was left:
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I made a new cap from 9/32” OD stainless, drilled out to fit the existing whistle base, and guessing at the height. A file was used to cut the notch in the side. It’s important to locate the notch directly above the flat on the whistle valve base. I polished the outside to resemble the nickel plating on the rest of the engine:
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(to be continued…)
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Some really nice work Paula , the whistle's especially creative (I think it looks better than the original)
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#5 Reply
Posted by
Paula
on 09 Feb, 2022 20:10
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Thanks, Bruce!
Another thing I worked on was the method for insulating the heater terminals. The original insulators consisted of stacks of very thin mica washers, fitted to the counterbores surrounding the terminal holes in the base. Many of the washers were cracked and bent, and I just didn’t have a lot of confidence in this method. I decided to make some insulators from Garolite G7 rod. This is a high-temp insulating material often used in industry for just such applications. Here is a side sectional view of what I was planning:
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The G7 material is hard and powdery and not very pleasant to machine, but I feel it serves as a more positive insulator than the stacked mica washers. Here is what the finished insulators look like:
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And here is how they look with the terminals installed in the base:
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Here is a view from the underside, with the heater re-installed:
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Here are some pictures of the finished engine. Note the throttle and whistle handles. These originally had cracks and badly flaking paint. I originally thought that they were made of wood, but they are some kind of plastic. I removed the paint and filled the cracks with epoxy. I decided not to repaint them, as they are already red (dark red), so I just gave them a light polishing, and re-installed them.
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The pressure gauge was an afterthought, though I’m not certain if I’m going to keep it.
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(to be continued...)
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#6 Reply
Posted by
Nick
on 09 Feb, 2022 20:23
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Some very impressive work 👍 I do like the look of these with the solid flywheel vs the normal spoked Empires
I have it’s vertical brother, but not as nice looking as yours
Looking forward to more of your restoration posts
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#7 Reply
Posted by
Paula
on 09 Feb, 2022 21:11
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Thank you for the comments, Nick. I also have one of the vertical Empires. It's the one with the missing heater (one of many projects waiting to be completed!)
Here are some more shots of the Quality Brand:
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Here is a video of the 2nd steaming. Since the engine is not under load, it runs very happily on 80 volts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_CEtQdWm80
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the insulators look very professional, much better than the stacks of Mica sheets, you have done a beautiful job of it & I think the pressure gauge looks fine on there.
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#9 Reply
Posted by
Quickj
on 10 Feb, 2022 07:11
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Paula,
Really beautiful job on the repairs/restoration of this engine. You have a great eye for detail.
Looking forward to seeing more of your work and would love to see some shots of your workshop.
Jim in Minnesota
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#10 Reply
Posted by
komet163b
on 10 Feb, 2022 09:56
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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
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#11 Reply
Posted by
skeptic49
on 10 Feb, 2022 14:05
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Very nice restoration. Congratulations!
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#12 Reply
Posted by
Paula
on 10 Feb, 2022 19:25
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the insulators look very professional, much better than the stacks of Mica sheets, you have done a beautiful job of it & I think the pressure gauge looks fine on there.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Bruce. The only thing I'm not wild about with that gauge is that it has about twice the appropriate pressure range for that engine. Otherwise, I like it too.
Paula
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#13 Reply
Posted by
Paula
on 10 Feb, 2022 19:28
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Paula,
Really beautiful job on the repairs/restoration of this engine. You have a great eye for detail.
Looking forward to seeing more of your work and would love to see some shots of your workshop.
Jim in Minnesota
Thanks, Jim! I will give that some thought. I have some nice machinery, but my cramped basement shop is not all that photogenic.
Paula
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#14 Reply
Posted by
Paula
on 10 Feb, 2022 19:41
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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
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