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

I got this Bing off eBay this past Sunday (it was listed as Weeden) and got it with a offer of $150, I think that is pretty good - plus I been wanting a Bing for sometime now.

I think it is in really good condition and I was going to try and steam it without doing any cleaning.  But water starting pouring out of the sight glass, no surprise there!  So I pulled the sight glass apart, made some seals out of some of my gasket material and used some Permatex sealant on the tank divots and screws.  Need to wait some hours before trying to run it.

I think the box is original? @txlabman / Charlie - thoughts?  I am pretty sure the funnel & pan thingy are original to the engine.

Hopefully updating the post with the engine running in a YouTube soon.  On the second photo, inside the box where some extra parts - that I believe is for another type of Bing engine (piston and pressure valve).

I also need to get some proper wicks for its burner but I'll likely just use my Weeden #14 burner until I do.

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Edit:  Now with a little video

That engine certainly appears to be in very nice condition overall.

Those German engines from back in the day commonly had that style of sight glass, and in general it worked well for them. I think your insistence on using some form of modern goop is perhaps not really the best for getting the seal you are after. Most any pliable material that has the proper sized hole, like leather, rubber and some kinds of fiber washers, are likely to squish in as they get flattened by the cover screws and form the seal that you need. These engines are not operating under very much pressure at all, so a super seal isn't really called for ..... at least in my opinion, but YMMV!

Hardware stores have O-rings, even in Atlanta I suppose and they probably also have rubber sheet, cork, fiber gasket material & etc.

Or perhaps even an old inner-tube might do if you have one of those laying around.

Not trying to dis your efforts but simply pointing out that those old German seals did fine for well over a century, long before the various forms of "goopus", currently available to us, came on the scene!

Okay, video edited into post 1!

I had a idea, use some of the little Weeden sight glass silicone tubing that I got from Frank for my Weeden's.  That actually worked!

Congrats, Rich!

Great to see it come back to life.

The Weeden 14 and your Bing 70/120 are among the most aestheticly pleasing to look at due to their elegant proportions.

Gil

One more suggestion for you Rich, is that the Bing Works and the Weeden both operate just fine with only two wicks burning and I have always thought that having all three going was unnecessary if not a bit scary! I generally cap off the last wick on the Weeden burner, or on the BW simply don't fill the wick closest to the handle and then don't push the burner assembly quite as far under, so that the two burners that are aflame are well centered under the boiler. Seems to work just fine and not as worrisome in my opinion. On my Weeden burner, a 9mm Luger cartridge with the spent primer still in it seems to fit about perfect to cap that last wick off so it can't burn, while on the Bing Works burner simply not filling that last cup with alcohol is all that is needed.

These are both great looking and unique pieces of operational history and it is wonderful that you so enjoy them!!!

One more suggestion for you Rich, is that the Bing Works and the Weeden both operate just fine with only two wicks burning and I have always thought that having all three going was unnecessary if not a bit scary! I generally cap off the last wick on the Weeden burner, or on the BW simply don't fill the wick closest to the handle and then don't push the burner assembly quite as far under, so that the two burners that are aflame are well centered under the boiler. Seems to work just fine and not as worrisome in my opinion. On my Weeden burner, a 9mm Luger cartridge with the spent primer still in it seems to fit about perfect to cap that last wick off so it can't burn, while on the Bing Works burner simply not filling that last cup with alcohol is all that is needed.

These are both great looking and unique pieces of operational history and it is wonderful that you so enjoy them!!!

That's a good tip and the Bing likely puts out the same heat on 2 wicks as the Weeden does on two!  I also order some 3/4 in cotton wick off Amazon for the Bing. Though to be honest, I love running FULL power!  LOL

I also am asking my brother to send me his Bing, actually I think I paid for it when he went and picked up my Weeden Hoisting Drum (it was a package buy).  Though he really likes it and wanted to get it running (though doubtful in the shape it is in).  So that will get me the missing sight glass cover and hopefully the screw will come loose and be okay.

Okay, so I gave a bit more elbow grease getting the pulley off.  Then I cleaned it up a bit more, though the real issue is the bore on the bracket.  What I did do is have the pulley near the end of the shaft and used red (medium) Loctite to keep it on/from spinning on the shaft.