gift

[bronson]

Here is a steam engine that was given to me about three years ago. It runs pretty good on air i am a little scared to use the boiler i have never used one and don't know how safe this is. It was made in the 1970's by a German man in his spare time at work. It has a little bike gen and lights up the light. There is a tag on the side of the boiler that says it's good for 4 bar but who knows. Now i have had way more then that in air pressure and had no problems by that doesn't mean much.Well i hope you enjoy the pics.

 

[nsfr1206]

I enjoyed them. Thanks for posting.

 

[lordedmond]

I hate to post this but

Never ever put air or steam into a untested boiler you are playing with fire

Please Please hydro test it 1.5 times its SWP before you evan thing about pressurising with a gas ( air/ steam )


Stuart

 

[Blogwitch]

Keep the engine, throw away the boiler.

The design is so bad with that glass plate sight glass on the end, that personally, I wouldn't trust it with 4 psi never mind 4 bar.



John

 

[steamboatmodel]

I agree with John. Willesco makes toy boilers with sight glasses like that but they only run at 1 bar.
Regards,
Gerald.

 

[bronson]

Thanks for the replies i will keep the engine and get rid of the rest. The engine needs a little work it runs but i think it could run a lot better. Thanks

Bronson

 

[JorgensenSteam]

I would not necessarily discard the boiler just because it has been tested to some 60 psi. German engineering being what it is, I would tend to think the boiler was designed properly with glass sufficiently thick, but on the other hand, I would not put more than a few psi in it since you cannot be sure about that.

I wonder about the material it is made of, if it is stainless steel, I would not fire it, but just run it on air at a low psi.

It is too nice looking to discard, but certainly use it with great caution.

 

[MachineTom]

I would not toss the boiler just because of the glass window. Glass is used as a pressure seal in various things. One of which my son worked on was an electrical coupler used on the Submarines, the conductor pins were sealed in the body with glass, I believe that the test pressure on the fittings was 5K psi.

With 4 bar of pressure (56 psi) and 300° F, it would seem that glass would not likely fail under those conditions. Of course If it did fail it would be an awful thing.

 

[bronson]

A buddy at work threw full pressure at it. Pressure at work is like 140-150 i stood behind him, he was lucky it held up. I have always wanted to run it on steam but i have just heard way to many warnings from this site. Thanks for the reply. Bronson

 

[mklotz]

The acorn nuts around the window suggest that the end plate is removable - perhaps to replace the glass window when it breaks.

Would it be possible to remove the glass window and replace the annular cover with a solid disk? Still not optimal boiler practice but it would remove the risk of the glass window shattering.

 

[Mosey]

Nice looking.
How about slipping a proper boiler inside the existing shell, one you can make and test to be safe? Is it big enough to accept another vessel inside?
Mosey

 

[JorgensenSteam]

You can look at the fine detail in the boiler and associated shroud an tell that the person who made them was an exceptional craftsman, and the glass looks quite thick.

I have no doubt that the boiler would work at the stated pressure.
The glass looks very thick, and I would guess that this individual had a great deal of experience with this sort of thing.

I would be a shame to loose such a nice piece of craftmanship, and I am not sure many could make a boiler as nice or perhaps as safe as that one looks.

I would not be too quick to dismiss the quality of that boiler, the welds and fittings look very good to me.