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Got my Bill Harris roller running on air last month. Boiler hydro next and some plumbing and we'll be done! HMEM not liking my .MOV file of it running.

ChazzC, exactly. The part is just started in the punch. It is deformed by the punch and holds very tightly. Don't look for the part to be completely flat, it did run out a bit. This isn't your method for high precision but in this case plenty accurate for what I was doing. The big help was in...

I'm building a Bill Harris Steam Roller based on the drawings in Live Steam Magazine. This started as a class CNC project at the local JC. As I spent my days engineering and doing CAD at work, I let the others do the CAD/CAM in class and I did most of the machine set up (Haas VF3) and button...

Water is used in the vast majority of commercial cases not only for its heat capacity, but its other heat transfer properties such as thermal conductivity, and viscosity. Water is a great heat transfer fluid, oil, not so much. Note I said commercial applications. In our models, maybe it's not a...

I have another set of castings, Henry Coventry's 1/3 HP compound (1-1/4" x 2-1/4" x 1-1/2" stroke). These use a 'False' port face much like Graubele suggested. Greatly simplifies the porting to the cylinder bore. John

I always convert the Stuart drawings to decimal and I'll find the most useful datum for the part and machine it from there. If the drawings were metric, I would convert them to decimal inches. All one needs to know is 1.000 inch equals 25.4 mm EXACTLY. My machines are inch screws and handwheels...

Thanks everyone for the ideas. At the moment leaning towards Graubele's method as it is 100 % reversable. The eccentric can be mounted the thickness of the plate further outboard on the crank shaft. I have some hard brass plate, we'll hope the bronze (gunmetal) valve likes it. John

The core used to cast the cylinder on my Stuart #4 does not allow the ports to be machined to the drawings. This kit was purchased in London in the 1970’s; glad I didn’t have to explain this to current TSA or UK equivalent on my flight back to Los Angeles! Obviously I can’t return the Stuart...

Jasonb, thanks for the knowledge. Stuart calls out a rectangle of 'Copperite' so up to the builder to shape (two washers and one flange) and drill or punch. So no copper bead around the port like you'd see on a head gasket for instance. I have a buddy with a desk top laser. He did sets of D10...

The drawings for the Stuart Steam Boiler Feed Pump (SBFP) calls out material for the three pump gaskets as "Copperite" 1/32" thick. Google search turned up nothing. Is this just soft 1/32" thick copper of something fancy? Also, the cylinder gaskets are called out as "Oakenstrong". Obviously...

Years ago I bought box of various steam parts (loco and stationary). Lately I have rediscovered a small box containing most of the castings and hardware for the Stuart Steam Boiler Feed Pump (SBFP). The previous owner had started some machining, of varying quality. I have obtained the few...

HMEL: "Without doing research to see if these specs have been updated I will share with you what I have. To be considered a miniature boiler the following criteria are used. Does not exceed 16 inches in shell diameter Less then 20 sq feet of heating surface Less then 5 cubic feet of volume 100...

I also have a large chuck on my 9". Nothing bad has happened yet and the advantage of removable jaws outweighs any other consideration. All my machines have bronze bearings in iron castings, so I don't think galvanic corrosion is an issue on machine tools with this material combination.

If it's a vee-belt and you don't want to disassemble the spindle, just use a segmented belt. Flat belts are usually made to be joined with a pin, though some folks don't like the 'tick' every time the joint comes around...

Charlie Dockstader's valve simulator has Joy for both inside and outside admission. This has been around for years (pre-Windows). http://www.billp.org/Dockstader/ValveGear.html John

35 years of 2D AutoCad at work. On retirement my 'gold watch' was a Tormach PCNC1100. Went the Fusion 360 direction (free - hobby/retired/non-commercial) as I need to generate those tool paths to feed the CNC mill... Here's a little dress up of a Stuart Beam Engine part in Fusion and during...

Yes, mine has the zerks (still working on the conversion to one shot oiling). H&W has a oiler for the zerks ( Push N Lube Pump for Zerk Base | 12PB20 ), and I adapted a small grease gun to oil. John

No grease on the ways of a Bridgeport. Use way oil only. The grease will attract chips and other debris. My table and knee were all gummed up with grease and chips. Had to take apart to get the grease out of everywhere. Moves great now on a diet of Mobil Vactra. John

Nothing in the ASME Code (of 1974) shows copper plate as allowable in boiler construction, but copper tubes ARE allowed: John

In 1974 ASME Section 1 (my last code book) Riveting was fine, and I assume it is now as most US Tourist Railroads and museums repair their locomotive boilers by riveting. Here is the Nevada State Railroad Museum's 'Glenbrook' in process of being riveted and as finished. She is fully approved by...