Tony Bird
Senior Member
Hi,
I have done a little more work on the Mamod locomotive that I have been putting together from bits. Today a displacement lubricator was made and fitted. It is a very simple lubricator probably as simple as you can get. It has no drain valve and is emptied with a syringe, I prefer this type of lubricator as you dont get oil all over the place when emptying it and the syringe only removes the water from the lubricator not any residual oil. To allow the pipe connected to the syringe to go into the tank the steam pipe has to be off-set.
I hope the photographs come up in the right order.
1. A piece of 15 mm copper water pipe was used for the tank. For this a brass plug with a securing screw was made to seal its bottom. The off-set hole was drilled in the tank for the steam pipe. First a hole was drilled square onto the tank, this hole was elongated by turning the tube while the drill was still in the hole. The exit hole for the steam pipe was then drilled after the tube had been plugged with a piece of wood to hold the drill true while drilling.
2. The hole for the steam to get into the tank was made by using an old gramophone needle. First a flat was filed on the tube and the needle pushed in. An ordinary sewing needle will work but gramophone needles are tougher.
3. Trial assembly of steam pipe in the tank.
4. A 'O' ring was fitted to the top plug of the lubricator for the filler screw to seal against.
5. The lubricator was hard soldered together and fitted to the model.
6. Model as of end of play today.
This is a dead leg displacement lubricator the design can also be used for lubricators with the steam pipe going straight through. Just the burner to make now and then a test.
Regards Tony.
I have done a little more work on the Mamod locomotive that I have been putting together from bits. Today a displacement lubricator was made and fitted. It is a very simple lubricator probably as simple as you can get. It has no drain valve and is emptied with a syringe, I prefer this type of lubricator as you dont get oil all over the place when emptying it and the syringe only removes the water from the lubricator not any residual oil. To allow the pipe connected to the syringe to go into the tank the steam pipe has to be off-set.
I hope the photographs come up in the right order.
1. A piece of 15 mm copper water pipe was used for the tank. For this a brass plug with a securing screw was made to seal its bottom. The off-set hole was drilled in the tank for the steam pipe. First a hole was drilled square onto the tank, this hole was elongated by turning the tube while the drill was still in the hole. The exit hole for the steam pipe was then drilled after the tube had been plugged with a piece of wood to hold the drill true while drilling.
2. The hole for the steam to get into the tank was made by using an old gramophone needle. First a flat was filed on the tube and the needle pushed in. An ordinary sewing needle will work but gramophone needles are tougher.
3. Trial assembly of steam pipe in the tank.
4. A 'O' ring was fitted to the top plug of the lubricator for the filler screw to seal against.
5. The lubricator was hard soldered together and fitted to the model.
6. Model as of end of play today.
This is a dead leg displacement lubricator the design can also be used for lubricators with the steam pipe going straight through. Just the burner to make now and then a test.
Regards Tony.
