oldravendale
Western Thunderer
This lubricator has proven more detailed and difficult than I'd anticipated, but worth every moment of effort.
These are the necessary components. Cast lubricator on the left (lovely casting as they all are), then the actuator arm - two etches and a casting - below that the lubricator rod comprising two laminated etches and above that the dished lubricator handle.
This is the etched mounting plate in place - the reason for showing this detail will become apparent next!
This is the lubricator with two beautifully cast pins on the base. However, inspection of the prototype and photos of the model show that these are not required. Regrettably they created a diversion for a while during which I worked out that the lubricator had to be mounted directly on the bracket rather than using the pins.
Next was drilling out the holes for the pipe runs and fixing the pipework in place. Once that was done the lubricator could be fixed to the bracket. Space did not allow this to be done once the lubricator was in place.
The actuator arm was then placed over the pin ready to solder the lubricator handle in place. Then it went ping and I lost it to the carpet monster. I'll be grateful if everyone checks whether they've arrived on their carpet via the parallel universe.
As a result I found another which was just about OK. It's a bit bigger than the one I lost, was flat rather than dished and has five spokes instead of four but I'll not tell anyone so only I will know as long as I don't tell anyone else.
I dished the new lubricator handle by putting it over a bit of wide wall tube on some double sided tape so I wouldn't lose this one as well, put a large ended scriber over the hole in the centre and whacked it with a hammer. Well, more of a coupe of taps than a whack but it gave the profile I needed.
Next was to fit the lubricator handle without seizing up the actuator arm. I used the old trick of painting the parts I wanted to avoid getting soldered up with a permanent marker and making up a paper washer to limit the chances of the solder running through to the actuator arm.
Actuator arm is free and the first of the pipe runs can be fixed in place. The runs from the other side are a bit more complex so I'll wait until some of the other fittings are in place and decide how these can best be terminated.
A
And I've just realised that the guard irons haven't been mentioned so far - in fact I can't find reference to them in the instructions. I'll have to locate them on the etches and work out how they can be fitted at this late stage.
Brian
These are the necessary components. Cast lubricator on the left (lovely casting as they all are), then the actuator arm - two etches and a casting - below that the lubricator rod comprising two laminated etches and above that the dished lubricator handle.
This is the etched mounting plate in place - the reason for showing this detail will become apparent next!
This is the lubricator with two beautifully cast pins on the base. However, inspection of the prototype and photos of the model show that these are not required. Regrettably they created a diversion for a while during which I worked out that the lubricator had to be mounted directly on the bracket rather than using the pins.
Next was drilling out the holes for the pipe runs and fixing the pipework in place. Once that was done the lubricator could be fixed to the bracket. Space did not allow this to be done once the lubricator was in place.
The actuator arm was then placed over the pin ready to solder the lubricator handle in place. Then it went ping and I lost it to the carpet monster. I'll be grateful if everyone checks whether they've arrived on their carpet via the parallel universe.
As a result I found another which was just about OK. It's a bit bigger than the one I lost, was flat rather than dished and has five spokes instead of four but I'll not tell anyone so only I will know as long as I don't tell anyone else.
I dished the new lubricator handle by putting it over a bit of wide wall tube on some double sided tape so I wouldn't lose this one as well, put a large ended scriber over the hole in the centre and whacked it with a hammer. Well, more of a coupe of taps than a whack but it gave the profile I needed.
Next was to fit the lubricator handle without seizing up the actuator arm. I used the old trick of painting the parts I wanted to avoid getting soldered up with a permanent marker and making up a paper washer to limit the chances of the solder running through to the actuator arm.
Actuator arm is free and the first of the pipe runs can be fixed in place. The runs from the other side are a bit more complex so I'll wait until some of the other fittings are in place and decide how these can best be terminated.
A
And I've just realised that the guard irons haven't been mentioned so far - in fact I can't find reference to them in the instructions. I'll have to locate them on the etches and work out how they can be fitted at this late stage.
Brian