Thread: Stephenson's Rocket

Originally Posted by Cal

My father used the sand method to make extractors for a car many moons ago. For pvc he used long tight wound springs inside the pipe fed in with a piece of electrical wire so the spring could be extracted once bent (Dad was a sparky and used the spring method all the time) bent cold over his knee. Worked a treat.


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Thanks Cal - appreciate your post.

I will try and give it a go.

Regards

Keith

Hi All,

Before I can start cladding the boiler, I need to make up all the components that will attach to the boiler - mark their locating positions and then attach the cladding and cut out for the flanges and attachment points and then re-assemble the locomotive.

I have now turned up and positioned the steam dome and safety valve on the top of the boiler as well as the boiler water sight glass. There are a couple of taps I need to make that allow water blowdown on the other side of the boiler.

The original locomotive boiler was clad in timber. There were 48 timbers around the circumference of the boiler. I have cut mine 10.5 mm wide x 2mm thick cut down out of Tassie Oak. Still need to do bit of cleanup and chamfering of the edges so the joints look OK.

Regards

Keith

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... Boiler water sight glass...
AKA gauge glass. Not sure if the original Rocket had a gauge glass as such. Did suitable tube glass exist at the time? Over the years and modifications, improvements, rebuilds and replicas a gauge glass would have been included particuly on operating replicas to meet safety requirements that did not exist in 1829.

Looking good and the cladding and paint will bring it more to life.

Gday Keith. Such an exceptional project, executed beautifully

Originally Posted by seriph1

Gday Keith. Such an exceptional project, executed beautifully

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your comments. Great to hear from you again.

Regards

Keith

Some great tips there stored for later until I need it and forget

On the same subject of bending for small metal pipes like brass and ali try a set of THESE I have a set but not from this source as I can't remember as it was a very long time ago when I brought mine

For me an idea like this may no be useful now but it's on the back burner cooking away and there to be added to some other tip, just adds to my options, may be a better way to put it.
It always hurts when I fry my brain to get something done and then someone shows a much easier way after the fact, but hey now we're set for next time and in Keith's place he uses this kinda stuff a lot..

As you all may have noticed I'm starting very slowly to add more metal to my builds and I wonder who's fault that is.

Originally Posted by htl

As you all may have noticed I'm starting very slowly to add more metal to my builds and I wonder who's fault that is.

And I am trying to eliminate any metal in mine

Dalboy I've made over thirty models with out metal and the like so it's been nice to addd the strenth when need.
There's a hundred ways to do anything and just having fun trying a few of the other 99 ways, like.
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I don't build to sell I really don't build for the model I build to figure out new ways to do things so these are looking quite interesting to me.

Thanks guys for all your input. I will try and get some pipe bending springs.

I love working with timber, PVC and metal. Gives me more flexibility in what I am making.

All good fun.

Again guys - Thanks for your input and expertise.

Regards

Keith

Sorry Keith I came on here from a email notice and thought I was on one of my threads didn't mean to crowd your great thread..

Originally Posted by htl

Sorry Keith I came on here from a email notice and thought I was on one of my threads didn't mean to crowd your great thread..

No problems Bruce - not crowding my thread - top photos mate

Regards

Keith

Hi All,

Slow work on the Rocket. It's not too hard getting components on one side done , but when they need to be identical and then fit into a common valve beneath the boiler - that is when the scrap bin gets a working out

In this particular instance - it was the outer circulation pipes that come from the firebox to the boiler. I used 12mm OD aluminium pipe and used a 1/2 inch copper tube bender. It was really tight trying to get the bend into the valve beneath the boiler. The valve beneath the boiler is made from pine and the flanges are out of MDF.

I originally tried using 10mm solid PVC round and trying to soften with the hot air gun - failure - too long a length and trying to get a smooth curve was almost impossible.

I tried some internal bending springs (they were cheap - only $8 from a tooling retailer) but they didn't work. That's when I used the tube benders.

The taps on the side of the boiler I made out of aluminium. Machined up separate components in the metal lathe and then fitted together. Any joins were sealed with bodyfiller and sanded back and then each tap was primed with automotive spray primer.

Next step will be a full dismantle of the components that connect to the boiler so I can start fitting the wooden cladding boards to the boiler.

Regards

Keith

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Originally Posted by Keith_1

Thanks guys for all your input. I will try and get some pipe bending springs.

I love working with timber, PVC and metal. Gives me more flexibility in what I am making.

Any good electrical wholesaler Keith for the "springs" but they are primarily used for conduit bending [not cheap] ....

Or maybe one of these

https://www.ebay.com.au/i/131962699389?chn=ps