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

The volume of the boiler from completley empty to very tip top full is 232 oz. using the 3/4 full calculation & thus leaving 25% outage volume for steam , that means 174 oz. for a boiler fill , or just 24 oz. less than 1.1/2 gallons water capacity. the test came out very well with very minimal seepage .

I made some pretty good progress the weekend

Coming along very nicely, great job you did cleaning those parts.
What media did you use in the cabinet...glassbeads?

The burner works as designed



second adjustment & working a bit better, I removed the metal shavings and grit that were still blocking some of the slits (mostly walnut shell particles that were hard to see when not lit, but very evident under flame)



THE FIRST FIRING
the original burner is back in place and adjusted (so glad I was able to keep it) and it works more than satisfactorily for its application , the burner took approx. 20 minutes to achieve 90psi from stone cold , there is 70 lbs. of steel & about 1.5 gal. of working usable water to heat up. although I'm confident this was not a factory build , it WAS built by someone who obviously knew what he was doing , everything is super heavy duty, "HEAVY" & well thought out. judging by some of the build materials I would put the age of this boiler in the late 1950's to early 1960's , the boiler side walls are 3/6" thick & the welded port bungs were done by someone with a high degree of competency. the base plate is 12.5" od & is 9/16" thick on the outer rim & approx. 1/2" thick where the boiler sits.

This is a seriously impressive boiler Bruce.

Thanks Jim ,I'm putting quite a bit of time & money into it , I have no application for it yet...LOL

Really good luck, all the way 'round.

The original owner was right to get it to you.

You did a beautiful cleaning job and the boiler
and fittings looked great.

Now.....where did that burner come from?  I'm
guessing the craftsman did not make it.  What
was its original purpose?  It must have a story.
Inquiring minds want to know...I'm sure.

Good Luck,
Wayne

Wow, Bruce, this is really nice--it's the first time I've seen this thread. It's a great boiler and you've done a beautiful restoration. I was particularly impressed with the burner which would also work well for a hot air engine--very well engineered. Did you have to change out the jet to a smaller size for propane? Any way to refit those nice early try cocks with the round handles? I still have a hard time believing this was home built in a shop--looks factory to me.
Brent

thanks Brent
I didnt change the jet out , I tried it as is and fortunately it worked, I was given a 2 gallon canister along with the boiler that had several valves and probably had a hand pump that went in the center (missing the pump upon receiving) this part looked a little to sketchy for me to use and a propane kit was cheap and easy $25.00 , although I only used the Hose connection since the burner proved out satisfactory. I really wanted to keep the 3 Round handled cocks (even posted in the wanted section about them) but came up empty in finding similar petcocks ( I really liked the originals , but one was bent badley)