Part C
Today the two shell sections have been joined together producing the main portion of the boiler which is just under 18" in length. January 14, 2024.
Working on fitting the outer firebox sheet, throat sheet and the backhead. These will be screwed together to hold in place for soldering. January 14, 2024.
The outer firebox sheet and throat sheet now have brass bolts to hold them in pace for soldering. The firebox side sheets have been cut from 1/8" copper plate for test fitting. Next will be more drilling and tapping to bolt the side sheets to the throat sheet and backhead. The side sheets and backhead will then be unbolted to work on the inner firebox. Jan 20, 2024.
Today was spent soldering the throat sheet and the outer firebox sheet to the rest of the boiler. The inner firebox sheet has also been cut out and reference lines for bending the sheet have been laid out. Jan 28, 2024.
A fixture has been built to help bend the inner firebox sheet. Two ninety degree bends will be made to form a U shaped sheet. The sheet has already been annealed to prepare for bending. February 2, 2024.
The inner firebox sheet has been formed and here the test fit of the two end sheets to verify a good fit. February 10, 2024.
A gusset has been cut out of 0.080" copper and will join the top of the inner firebox to the outer firebox sheet above it. A couple of copper angle pieces will need to be formed to mount the gusset to the top of the sheet. February 10, 2024.
The gusset is completed and riveted to the top of the inner firebox. Next the gusset and rear sheet will be soldered. The front sheet won't be soldered yet since all of the tubes will need to be soldered on first. February 11, 2024.
The rear sheet after riveting and soldering. February 17, 2024.
Soldering the 10 tubes to the firebox tube sheet. February 18, 2024.
The inner firebox and tubes after soldering and some cleanup to inspect the joints. February 25, 2024.
While fitting the outer firebox to measure for the mud ring, I decided to set it on the frame to check how it will line up. February 25, 2024.
The firebox side sheets have now been tapered to form the slope. The two lower pieces are the outer firebox side sheets. March 2, 2024.
Here we see the first piece of the had fit mudring. These have to be fitted to the as built inner and outer firebox sheets. March 3, 2024.
Three of the four mudring pieces have been trimmed and fit to the firebox assembly. The fourth still needs some tweaking by hand filing. March 10, 2024.
Not too much progress this week but I did manage to get the final section of the mud ring fit at the front of the firebox. Next the firebox will be unbolted and the four mudring sections will be soldered to the inner firebox. March 17, 2024.
Soldering the four mudring sections to the inner firebox assembly. March 24, 2024.
Up at the top, three pieces of copper have been fabricated and riveted together to form the upper bracket for the gusset. This bracket will need to be attached to the outer firebox top plate with screws and then silver soldered. March 24, 2024.
The upper gusset bracket is now attached to the underside of the outer firebox sheet. The next step will be soldering the inner firebox and tube assembly to this bracket. At that point there will be no more chance of pulling the assembly out of the boiler tube. March 30, 2024.
After a bit of time off to enjoy the spring weather in AZ I finally got back to the project. The firebox and tube assembly gusset has been soldered to the outer boiler shell so there will be no more removing this assembly from the boiler. Next up will be drilling all of the staybolt holes in the side sheets. May 5, 2024.
The staybolt holes have been drilled in the two side sheets. These will be used as jigs to drill and tap the holes in the inner firebox side sheets after mounting them back on the firebox. May 5, 2024.
With a couple of summer trips out of the way it is back to the project. The staybolt holes have been drilled and tapped in the inner sheet using the outer sheet as a drilling guide. This process will need to be repeated on the engineer's side. July 4, 2024.
Here we see the test fit of the outer sheet over the staybolts. July 4, 2024.
The staybolts have been fitted on the engineer's side sheet along with fitting of the blow-off valve bushings. Next will be a lot of soldering to button up the firebox and backhead. Not a good time for this considering the 110+ temps this time of the year! July 6, 2024.
It has been really hot here for soldering but I decided I needed to get back on this project. Soldering in temps of 110+ isn't much fun but I did manage to get the side sheets on with soldering of the upper joint, the staybolts and the blowoff valve fittings. Next will be running the throttle piping into the boiler and soldering the backhead on. August 3, 2024.
This is the piping that will run through the boiler from the backhead and out the front tube sheet. The upper pipe is for the blower. The bottom assembly is the throttle base with a tube running to the steam dome base and the other out the front tube sheet. August 3, 2024.
Work is progressing on the backhead. Next will be the soldering of the mudring to finish up the joints between the inner firebox and the outer sheets. August 10, 2024.
It has been too hot for any outdoor heavy boiler soldering work so I decided to work on some of the items needed for pressure testing. Here we have plugs, caps and plates to block off the various openings on the boiler. also shown is an adapter to get a gauge mounted on the manifold bushing of the boiler. August 25, 2024.