This last installment of my restoration is dedicated to good steam friend Bruce of St. Paul Steam (SPS). Bruce kindly machined a handful of parts to replace worn or missing bits on this engine.
Serious "clunking" as this engine operated on air (or steam)...led Bruce and I to pinpoint several worn parts that contributed to noisy operation.
First culprit was a very worn eccentric on the engine's axle that controlled operation of the slide valve AND water pump. Left example was the original showing significant wear. Right is Bruce's replacement which fit and worked perfectly (and quietly).
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Second culprit was a sloppy, worn crank screw which a prior owner tried to reduce slop by using a short piece of silicone tubing stretched over the brass bit...it did not work well at all.
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Here is the machined solution by Bruce, a properly sized brass sleeve with threaded inside. The screw threads into this and then attaches the connecting rod to the crank arm making for a perfect, no slop fit!!
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On receipt of this engine, I noticed the stay rod (which passes end to end thru boiler), was loose on the face end with portholes. It would wiggle but acorn nut that should have tightened it up was frozen in place to the stay rod. Only solution was to remove the stay rod completely by cutting off the face end's threaded stud. With significant manipulation, the old stay rod was removed. I made careful measurements, emailed same to Bruce and he machined a new, heavier rod and a couple of innovative threaded end studs that made it possible to fit it back inside an existing boiler.
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Here is the new, more robust stay rod with new end fittings...it went into the boiler beautifully and with a couple of teflon gaskets on the ends and the original acorn nuts...it sealed perfectly
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The hits just kept coming....Just prior to getting the boiler re-nickeled, I noticed one of the bushings into which the immersion rods screw was loose...so loose it would have never kept steam pressure...not noticeable under air pressure, BUT under steam it would have leaked badly.
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I'm pretty good at soldering, but this was a very critical repair requiring a high temp torch and high temp solder...again, Bruce rose to the occasion. This next photo shows the two new 555 watt immersion rods screwed into the newly soldered bushings then all re-nickeled. The resoldered spots don't show, concealed by the chimney stud, though I quite like how they look...robustly soldered in for sure.
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I was getting concerned I would wear out my favorite machinist with one repair after another...but Bruce noticed my oiler cup on top of the cylinder, had a crude steel grub screw for a cap.
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Voila, I have a new brass threaded cap hand knurled and nickel plated no less.
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I like to put a name tag on a finished project and wanted to acknowledge Bruce's contribution...a sincere thank you sir! Also a shout out to Gil and Charlie who helped fine tune this engine on a recent steam up at Bruce's workshop.
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The finished project
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And a short video to prove it actually runs and runs great:
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