4" burrell running on air

hi from Tom in the S/E in sussex
with various holes plugged and valves turned off for steam injector and cylinder drains plugged ect.
engine runs well on compressed air at 60 psi. when run for an hour or so i need to reaset reverser and then decide where to put the slots.
leaks from safety valve from the spring tensioner bolt / nut from inside the chest. used copper washer and sealant. replaced nut less thickness of washer. will need to test and reset when in steam. while undone i lapped in slightly the valve seats. (just enough)
tried to lap in the globe valves on the steam chest but still leaking so need to do some more work there.
just need a few more bits like the cylinder drain cocks. sight glass mount on 2nd shaft and then twill be ready for the 1st steam up!!!
anyone else close? to share any niggles. like whats the extra hole for in the top of the block behind regulator.
Tom
(and still on target.)

Had mine ticking over on 10psi of air last October. Fed in at top of cylinder and blocked off holes through to boiler with threaded plugs.
Have just pressurised the boiler. Found M6 hole at bottom of cylinder for cladding (near blower take off) also needed blocking off.
Globe valves on steam head have a problem of which Steve is aware (5mm hole in valve body possibly not concentric with M12 threaded portion). Otherwise all OK although I've only got up to 40psi so far.
Have made my own bracket for top of gauge glass and also 'swinging arm' support for rear of ashpan. Basically now just waiting for the lubricator to light fire and steam up.
DavidH

Hi
Don't worry about small leaks on air, I had a few when I first tried mine on air and was spraying soapy water at everything that might leak to check things out. When I actually lit a fire in the engine they all dissappeared! When it gets hot everything expands a little and it was nice & leak free.

Steve

Running on air today globe valves leaking has anyone come up with a solution.
safety valve is leaking will this seal up when in steam?

When I run mine up on steam I did not have any leaks. If you do have a leak then you will have to let the boiler de-pressurise before tighting up any fittings. The reason is that if the fitting break as you are just nipping it up the you will have full pressure of steam coming out.

Hi Waterways

Read what I wrote above (18/02/10) re globe valves leaking!!
I tried re-machining the seats but not very successfully. In the end I bored them out completely and pressed PTFE seats in. Now leak free and a lovely "soft" opening and closing feel. Not a solution for every one I know but Robert Barker will sell you a pair if you want.
The injector valve in particular MUST be leak free or the injector will get hot and fail to work.
My batch two engine now complete but haven't got round to steaming it yet due to gardening and trips away in our motorcaravan.

DavidH

Hi Waterways

Contact us and we'll put a couple of new globe valve bodies in the post to you. We've remade a batch. The problem with the previous batch is that the drill doing the central hole wandered off centre.

Regards

Steve

Have the same problem with the valves, both are not sealing so have not been able to try the injector yet, apart from that engine runs perfectly and will tickover quite happily on 5psi.

Martin H

I've just got to the stage of running on compressed air and have been reasonably pleased with the result - except my compressor can't supply air fast enough for any longer periods of running. Noting the comments in previous posts, the globe valves seem to be fine (well, I replaced one some time back). There's a bit of air coming out of the safety valve spring, might just try running some loctite around it. But the real puzzler was the air blasting out around the cylinder front end. I checked the cylinder end cover, nope, checked the cylinder drain cocks, nope, checked the whistle and mounting, nope! The air seemed to becoming out around the cylinder cladding. So I removed the whistle and drain cocks to remove the cladding. My fear was that I had a leak between the cylinder and the foundation plate, dreading the thought of dismantling virtually the whole cylinder and engine parts just to re-foliac! However, due to the problems fitting the brass bands on the cylinder I had not fitted the short piece under the drain cocks and guess what, the screw hole for the brass strip under the front drain cock seems to have been drilled all the way into the blower drilling so air was blasting out of that!! I wonder if anyone else has experienced this - at least the solution is easy - stick a screw in the hole with a bit of sealant!

cheers
Paul

yes mine was the same. once the screw is in no leaks and once steamed the safety valve stopped leaking.

keith

Yes - I had the same problem. To fix mine I abandoned the small brass strip and the little threaded bush that reduces the hole size used attach it and instead screwed in an M6 grub screw with sealant. Unless the small brass strips are cleaned very regularly they soon get blackened with dirty oil and cannot be seen so I do not notice that mine are missing.

David Steel.