Fitting the boiler is a fairly straightforward job so this was completed within a short time of its arrival. Probably the trickiest part of this is bending the various pipes to make everything fit nicely. Then it was finally time for a first steam test. This was an exciting day!
One drain cock ready for fitting.
Now I had to save for the body kit but in the meantime I decided to have a go at building and fitting a set of automatic drain cocks. These employ a 1.6mm stainless steel ball in a chamber which allows water to pass through the drain cock, but when steam tries to pass through, the ball is pushed against the seat sealing the exit. This is a great aid in starting the loco as there is no need to push the loco back and forth to clear the condensate.
Ball in seat.
This was my first attempt at machining anything but despite this fact things went well.
Port in cylinder.
Port from inside.
I bravely (foolishly) drilled into my Roundhouse cylinders using a hand held battery drill. I shudder to think of it now but fortunately I didn't mess it up and didn't have to buy new cylinders. These days I have a drill press in my workshop and I'd certainly use that for this job now.
Cylinder with drain cocks fitted.
Once assembled and fitted the drain cocks were soft soldered into place to stop them from moving in service. As you can see my workmanship was not the tidiest. Did I mention this was my first attempt at machining anything?
After soldering the drain cocks in I had to remove the solder blockages and make sure the balls were free and seating properly. :)
Then it was time to reassemble and steam test...
And soon afterward I was able to order the body...
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