More progress on the boiler. I have turned the fire hole ring from solid.

Once the final ring was complete, it was annealed and then squashed to correct dimensions as per the "words and music".

The ring was then pickled in citric acid and brushed with a brass wire brush.

Next up were the buffer heads. These were produced much the same way as described in the "Words and Music" by Curly. Two heads were produced head-to-head and then cut in half and finished up.

The piece of 25mm bright mild steel bar was faced and centered in the four-jaw chuck and a center hole for a running center was drilled. The running center was then placed into the hole and the final diameter of the buffer heads was turned.

Once the final maximum diameter was turned, the overall length and length of shoulder was measured and marked, taking into account the requirement for the radius and taper required at the back of the head. The shoulder was then roughed out to the smallest diameter possible with the running center in place.

Once this diameter was reached, the running center was removed and replaced with a half dead center and the rest of the diameter was turned down to the final size.

After this operation, the lathe tool was changed and the radius and taper on the back of the buffer head was formed.

Once completed, a buffer body was used to test the fit of the head.

The center was then removed and the head was drilled and tapped M3 to accept the spindles and the rest of the head drilled out to accept the spring. The hole edge was slightly countersunk as well.

The tap was started in the tail-stock chuck and finished by hand.

Using the parting tool a slight groove was formed to act as a guide for the hacksaw later.

Using the tail-stock chuck as a guide, the M3 die was held in the die holder and turning the lathe wheel by hand, the thread was cut.

All the pieces were completed as described above.

Here is a pic of the final assembled parts.

and one with a disassembled view…

Edited By Ryan Norton on 02/01/2018 09:26:08

Edited By Ryan Norton on 02/01/2018 09:27:12

The fire grate is nearing completion too.

Along with the construction of the buffers I also did some modelling of the lubricator and changed various imperial sizes to suit the metric material at my disposal.

Here are some pictures.

Hi J

I will definitely keep stainless steel fasteners and O-rings in mind.

Thanks.

And now for something completely different!

Following the "Words and music" I have made myself a firing shovel for Tich.

A bit premature I know but I figured that by the time Tich is ready to fire, the last thing I'll want to do is spend time making a shovel, so here it is now.

The former is 6 mm mild steel, filed to the dimensions given and the shovel formed from 0.5 mm mild steel plate. The assembly was brazed using brass rod- at the max. of my capability at the moment.

All-in-all, a great, fun job which was quick and easy with minimum effort and fantastic results.

PS: Yes, I did test it in the fire hole and it does fit!

I have been doing a multitude of different things on Tich lately, two more of which, can be seen below.

Firstly, a while ago I cut out and bent up a piece of brass for the left cylinder cladding which most of you will have seen in some of my earlier pictures. I then drilled the holes for attachment to the cylinders. What I don't understand is why I drilled the holes where I did because they fall on the joints between the steam chest any cylinder block and I therefore cannot use this piece.

I decided to use this piece of useless cladding to do a paint test and here are the results.

The same can be said about the reversing column which was primed with black etch primer and then sprayed in signal red.

What are the thoughts on the shade of green?

The other thing I did was drill the radial holes in the valve gland bosses so that a micrometer spanner can be used to turn them.

This was a fairly easy procedure as I made a tapped jig using a piece of hexagon brass rod which was used to drill the six holes evenly around the circumference of the boss by holding it on the flats in the vice.

Hi J

Thanks for your advice. Based on what you have said, the superheater would then need to be made longer to get it into the firebox. I assume that by attaching the spear to the firebox top, the thermal mass of the boiler would prevent the spear overheating? Surely by attaching it though, it would reduce the effectiveness of the superheater altogether?

In chatting to some of the guys at my local club, it has been noted that special measures should be taken to prevent the superheater from touching the flue sides for this very reason.

What are your thoughts?

In terms of the regulator, and fire door, I will be doing these based on the "Words and Music" as depicted below.

In terms of the firedoor, instead of screwing directly into the backhead with "plumbers jointing" i will make separate bushes to accept these screws which will be silver soldered into the backhead.