Building a lever machine.... from scratch - Page 54
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CaptainAhab
- Posts: 54
- Joined: 13 years ago
Any update on this awesome project? Ready to hit the fund me button on KS.
Waiting with baited breath.
Waiting with baited breath.
ribbon of darkness over me
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bidoowee (original poster)
- Posts: 265
- Joined: 8 years ago
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CaptainAhab
- Posts: 54
- Joined: 13 years ago
Last time I handled one of those it was pushing coolant through a surface grinder... working on a new design for a no burn steam wand?? 
ribbon of darkness over me
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bidoowee (original poster)
- Posts: 265
- Joined: 8 years ago
First un-boxing is a production run of boiler fittings. Oh the excitement. Sweaty palms and edge of the seat stuff.
I ordered the custom dowel pins for the lever to cam linkage from this supplier so I had an idea of what I would be getting.
Meticulous doesn't even come close as an adjective for the packaging.
Individually wrapped or in sticks of 5 or 10 depending on the size of the part. Someone has a lot of patience.
In the box there are the two sizes of female BSPP threaded fittings required - only one pictured here, cause they look exactly the same in a photo.
Next up are some custom M10 studs for the bolt ring on the open end of the boiler. I hummed and hawed about how to do this, but came to the conclusion that a custom part, despite the higher cost, was the least amount of work to get the highest strength end result.
Lastly, very exotic and definitely not available at Home Depot: some custom brass inserts for the valve handles. Internal metric trapezoidal thread and deep knurling on the exterior to provide a positive geometry gluing surface. We don't f^*% about.
No fuss, no messing around and parts either exactly to or above specification. Gotta love it.
I ordered the custom dowel pins for the lever to cam linkage from this supplier so I had an idea of what I would be getting.
Meticulous doesn't even come close as an adjective for the packaging.
Individually wrapped or in sticks of 5 or 10 depending on the size of the part. Someone has a lot of patience.
In the box there are the two sizes of female BSPP threaded fittings required - only one pictured here, cause they look exactly the same in a photo.
Next up are some custom M10 studs for the bolt ring on the open end of the boiler. I hummed and hawed about how to do this, but came to the conclusion that a custom part, despite the higher cost, was the least amount of work to get the highest strength end result.
Lastly, very exotic and definitely not available at Home Depot: some custom brass inserts for the valve handles. Internal metric trapezoidal thread and deep knurling on the exterior to provide a positive geometry gluing surface. We don't f^*% about.
No fuss, no messing around and parts either exactly to or above specification. Gotta love it.
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redbone
- Posts: 3564
- Joined: 12 years ago
Fantastic machine work. Were these from a local manufacturer ?
Between order and chaos there is espresso.
Semper discens.
Rob
LMWDP #549
Semper discens.
Rob
LMWDP #549
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bidoowee (original poster)
- Posts: 265
- Joined: 8 years ago
While I do have local suppliers that would be able to produce these they can't come close on price at this volume - it is still a really small run.
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bidoowee (original poster)
- Posts: 265
- Joined: 8 years ago
More unboxing today!
Laser cut tubing for the boiler. The prototype version of the diagonal HX boiler was cut with a machine worth somewhere north of two million bucks at the local supplier I use for sheet stock laser cutting. During the process, the molten metal from the kerf of the cut is blown out with inert gas - otherwise the metal would just re-solidify behind the laser. This is not a problem for flat stock, as the spatter is blown onto the bed of the machine, but for tubing the molten metal is blown into the tube and some of it welds itself to the opposite wall. The molten material may also lose its chrome as it travels across the airspace inside the tube and may become plain old carbon steel. So while the cut was perfect, the interior finish of the tube was contaminated with potential corrosion instantiation points. The solution is pretty straight forward: put something behind the cut to catch the spatter. I called all the companies who offer the service in the province (about eight) and none of them would do it. Which I found a bit weird: who services the medical, agricultural and food industries? I finally found a two-man outfit deep in Northern Ontario farm country who were willing to take the two minutes of extra trouble to make sure the inside of the pipe is usable. They even aligned the weld seam (which is much less corrosion resistant than the rest of the wall) of the large pipe so that it doesn't intersect with a hole and so it lies above the water level. File under: quality is what you don't see.
The test parts are fabulous and now the rest of the lengths of stock I bought can be cut up.
Laser cut tubing for the boiler. The prototype version of the diagonal HX boiler was cut with a machine worth somewhere north of two million bucks at the local supplier I use for sheet stock laser cutting. During the process, the molten metal from the kerf of the cut is blown out with inert gas - otherwise the metal would just re-solidify behind the laser. This is not a problem for flat stock, as the spatter is blown onto the bed of the machine, but for tubing the molten metal is blown into the tube and some of it welds itself to the opposite wall. The molten material may also lose its chrome as it travels across the airspace inside the tube and may become plain old carbon steel. So while the cut was perfect, the interior finish of the tube was contaminated with potential corrosion instantiation points. The solution is pretty straight forward: put something behind the cut to catch the spatter. I called all the companies who offer the service in the province (about eight) and none of them would do it. Which I found a bit weird: who services the medical, agricultural and food industries? I finally found a two-man outfit deep in Northern Ontario farm country who were willing to take the two minutes of extra trouble to make sure the inside of the pipe is usable. They even aligned the weld seam (which is much less corrosion resistant than the rest of the wall) of the large pipe so that it doesn't intersect with a hole and so it lies above the water level. File under: quality is what you don't see.
The test parts are fabulous and now the rest of the lengths of stock I bought can be cut up.
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CaptainAhab
- Posts: 54
- Joined: 13 years ago
Nice parts!
Question on your seam location: Wouldn't you want that seam on the bottom of the boiler? Located on top it will be constantly exposed to moisture as well as oxygen, bottom location would ensure no exposure to oxygen as it's always covered with water.
Question on your seam location: Wouldn't you want that seam on the bottom of the boiler? Located on top it will be constantly exposed to moisture as well as oxygen, bottom location would ensure no exposure to oxygen as it's always covered with water.
ribbon of darkness over me
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OldNuc
- Posts: 2973
- Joined: 10 years ago
O2 content is not going to be markedly different but the bottom will be cooler and the temperature cycling less extreme as long as the boiler fill is properly designed.
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bidoowee (original poster)
- Posts: 265
- Joined: 8 years ago
The thinking is that the moisture in the upper part of the boiler will only be from condensate from the steam which is pure H2O. The water in the boiler is far more likely to be corrosive when one considers the possibility of either an acidic water supply or high saline content which is often the case when water softener systems are used. As pure water is drawn off in the form of steam for heating milk, the mineral content and potentially also the salinity and corrosiveness of the water left in the boiler will increase. There is a certain level of hairsplitting going on here of course, but if you have a choice, why not choose the better option?
