Bar Stock Steamers

Carefully calculated, measured and scribed lines on the outside of the valve block to enable it to be tilted to the correct angle for making...

Decision time after much pondering how to attach the valve chest to the cylinder; well silver solder obviously but what shape should the ma...

After a break of over a month (frustration at seemingly intractable alignment problems) it's time to get back to work! A little attentio...

Couldn't resist spending another few minutes making the pump piston or ram. Miraculously it slid beautifully into position and screwed s...

With the slot in the yoke opened, threaded holes made in the crank disc, the follower 'block' and in the base for the standards, as...

Here's the next couple of operations completed (well almost). Soldered the two parts together then back to the lathe for drilling/reamin...

Time to make the yoke. A bit different to others I've seen in that the block will be a little cylinder travelling up and down inside ano...

Getting everything square for soldering was a right royal pain. I ended up de-soldering twice due to poor alignment which meant a thorough c...

Over the last couple of sessions the uprights were chopped to the correct height, the thinner sections milled away and the tops made and dri...

The solution to the knackered thread in the cylinder might be to reduce the outer diameter of the cylinder body and make the holes go straig...

Soldered up the cylinder flanges, marked out, drilled and tapped the inboard cover and flange. Everything seems ok except I trashed the thre...

Turned down a shoulder at each end of the cylinder to accomodate the flanges and made the latter from a piece of 35mm dia brass about 9mm th...

I decided the first cylinder cover wasn't as good as it could be - the threaded portion was fractionally misaligned when screwed into th...

Not a great deal to show for the last two short workshop sessions, just the cylinder cover shown here screwed in place. It just needs the ho...

Got to make those studs sometime so might as well get the tiresome task out of the way now. I suppose I should harden or at least normalise ...

Having cut a slot in the threaded portion of the top section.. ...and made a threaded hole for the outlet it was time to solder up the pump ...

After the pump cylinder comes the tricky bits - the valve chamber, on the right and the air chamber on the left. The valve chamber went pret...

Cleaned up the steel bits and started the pump body, shown here in position but not fully inserted as it needs to be a driving fit. An ersat...

To ensure alignment when silver soldering I made a threaded gizmo with a bush to fit the pump end and added nuts to keep it all in place. I...

Four posts (well studs) it is then. The gland was marked out in the lathe using my home-made indexer and looked pretty accurate. As the dril...

Having made the basic part for the the cylinder gland another dilemma presents itself - due to the 'tongue and groove' construction ...

It took a lot of careful filing to get the gland to shape but I'm happy enough with the outcome. Next will be the simpler, circular glan...

I had a close look at the steel boss and the brass gland I'd made for the pump side of things and decided they weren't good enough -...

Here's a progress assembly with the bits loosely piled up together. The threaded rod at left will be where the cylinder screws in, the p...

Well that's the first mistake but fortunately it can be rectified easily - the 8mm hole in the last part should be an 11mm hole (8mm is ...

"Once that's done the basic frame on which to hang all the other bits will be pretty much finished" he said. Ah, forgot one ma...

This is the flanged part that will carry the pump cylinder and it'll eventually be soldered in place on the right-hand end. Even a simpl...

Lots more filing and basic milling finally brought the upright to shape. The top bits are going to be another 'tongue and groove' ar...

I really should have mentioned at the outset that the current project is a steam pump with double acting engine. It's a direct acting pu...

Cut out the basic cuboid for the upright frame and milled a 2 x 2mm tongue on the bottom edge. The fit in the slot has to be slack enough to...