Werowance attempts Kenneth Wells Traction Engine

[werowance]

I am attempting to build the Kenneth Wells traction engine from his book Step by Step Metalwork 3. i started a Myford Boy traction engine over a year ago and stopped due to needing more experience working with sheet metal and metric dimensions and such. didnt want to destroy the castings i purchased from him but i do plan on eventually finishing that one as well later on. but for now this one seems to be geared a little more for the novice and has some very detailed instructions on the process. This past summer i dabbled and learned alot more about metal casting and mould making. (still have alot more to learn) but i managed to 3d print forms to cast the front wheels and the smoke stack for the K W traction engine with decent results or good enough for me results.

and for Christmas i purchase my self a gift, a small sheet metal working machine that shears, rolls and breaks sheet metal and will also roll small tubing and wire.

here are some photos of my progress.

one of the 3d prints of part of the smoke stack

results of the sand casting of front wheels and smoke stack

some finished parts such as front axle, front wheels machined, copper tube trimmed to size for boiler, boiler end caps, rear axle and coupler nut to attach smoke stack to the boiler, brass tube for the boiler lagging. on the axles i will trim the threads to proper length once i have the nuts and such.

the Kanka sheet metal workinger i bough from the manufacturer as "used" but it was still covered in its packing greese and everything.

 

[werowance]

some questions about sheet metal. ill copy and paste from the drawing already uploaded to this site what im talking about futher below my questions.
1. bdms sheet metal. thats just plain non galvanized regular old sheet metal with a shiny finish right? bright mild steel
2. then b.m.s s.sheet is that trying to say stainless steel? it referes to stainles in other portions as s.steel but not bms s.sheet
3. it calls for tinplate on some of those. real tin metal plate i have not seen for many years. maybe substitute regular sheet for that?

 

[sarel]

B.M.S normally refers to bright mild steel, it seems that you can use either BMS or stainless steel. I use galvanized plate for the fire box base, normal mild steel plate would also be fine because this is not visible normally. Enjoy your build, I envy you for being able to do the aluminium castings.

 

[werowance]

B.M.S normally refers to bright mild steel, it seems that you can use either BMS or stainless steel. I use galvanized plate for the fire box base, normal mild steel plate would also be fine because this is not visible normally. Enjoy your build, I envy you for being able to do the aluminium castings.

Thank you for that. im now in the middle of making the safety valve. the book says to use a screw as the valve but doesnt give dimensions for said screw. so looking at the drawings the hole drilled in the saftey valve body is 3.3 mm so im guessing 3 mm screw for it?

and another question is about the boiler. it talks about making the tool to emboss or flatten the area in the copper tube so the safety valve bung sits flush and easier to solder. did anyone who made this engine actually do that? just seems to me like that would be an easy way to mess up a good piece of copper pipe but maybe im wrong especially since im still learning.