IN FROM THE STYX
No 6 (or 26)
By Journeyman
IN FROM THE STYX
No 6 (or 26)
By Journeyman
I made all the nuts and nipples, and then - having mounted the finished components in their positions - it was on to making up all the pipes, some of which run under the plinth connecting the reservoir to the pump, the pressure chamber, the vent valve, and the valve to the external outlet for connecting to a boiler via an hydraulic hose. The brass pressure chamber cylinder is for testing boiler fittings.
I made the mistake of ‘using up’ copper pipe from my box of odd bits, only to find that all of it was slightly under size, so the soldering of the nipples led to a number of leaks : lesson learned - use materials of known provenance !!
And now, not quite model engineering but:
I have two grandsons. My son is a dairy farmer (and doing well - it is possible despite all the tales to the contrary !) and so his house is full of farm toys of every description, mostly made of plastic these days, but also incorporating parts made from diecast metal known as Zanak or Majak, an alloy of zinc/aluminium/magnesium/copper in various proportions and notoriously difficult to mend once broken. The plastic parts are equally difficult, and so who was presented with a tractor and mower with just these two problems?
Considerable time was spent on web searches and I found a new Loctite - ‘Loctite All Plastics’ - which claims to stick all those ones previously unstickable. Internet purchases are usually pretty quick to arrive and so the mower for cutting the silage grass was duly put back together, and it really did stick ! The Loctite comes with an activator pen, like a felt marker, to apply to both surfaces, then the glue is applied to one side and the parts are brought together and held ‘til the glue is set.
The broken link arm on the back of the tractor is made of Mazak and was an altogether different problem. I had to make a new part from brass as the original bit was lost, and an ‘A’ piece to reinforce the joint. Research came up with no answers for sticking Mazak other than the need for good cleaning, so I first tried some two part epoxy I had, but with no success. Then came some ‘super glue’ boasting its magic powers on anything and everything, again with no success.
It was time for more in-depth research, which revealed that the best degreaser is trichloroethylene, but it’s banned, being carcinogenic. Finally a ‘phone call to a club member with a huge depth of knowledge (we have two or three of them!) gave me what proved to be the answer.
Loctite 7063 is the degreaser to use, £10 delivered, beware some much higher prices on your Google search, and Hafix Professional Glue, a cyanoacrylate. I held the parts together with surgical forceps which are ideal as they lock together with one hand while you orientate the parts against each other with the other. A dab of paint of similar colour from an ancient mini pot of Humbrol completed the job. Result, one happy grandson, what more could Grandpa want?