The Steamboating Forum

One of my favorite notions is that we have many beliefs that that we are not aware of. That picture of the pump in service startled me because I have always pictured such pumps mounted horizontally and this taking up a lot of space. And Barbara wonders why I check on here every day!

Mike

Hi Mike(s)

The pumps are 12" tall. The valve and seat is .562" X .875" dia.

Here is a pic from last week. They are actually a bit farther along. All the water valves are made and ready to be assembled. About two hours away from the bottom portion pumping water. I have to re-cut all the O-ring pockets for the piston rod, and get thicker O-rings. They were called out 3/32" deep and the O-rings are 1/16". The diameter was right, but the depth is off by .031" Or am I missing something? Is there some practice I'm unaware of where a small ring/spacer is used in conjunction with an O-ring?

The castings are very good, but the prints need some work. They are all in fractions, machinists don't typically work in fractions, especially with CNC machines. Lots of 688's 343's 156's etc., invites mishap.



-Ron

I run into those weird numbers a lot. For .688, read .6875, etc. The fraction is right and, frankly, most of the time the rounding off difference doesn't make any difference. Working to a half thou. isn't often important.

Mu rule of thumb for O-rings when used as packing is to have the width the same as the ring and the depth (from the bottom of the groove to the rod surface) about 10 percent less than the ring. If you really want to do it 'right'. see your hydraulic supplier and get the seals they use. They have a rectangular shape and a wider contact area. And boy do they stand the pressure!

All of these modern things need a really smooth rod. There is something to be said for packings made of hog ears or whatever the heck they use.

Mike

Cheers Ron, it appears I wasn't too far out in my guesswork. They are probably only just a little bigger than I thought.

I usually forget to remove everything 'tell-tale' from my photos, there's often a coffee cup, or a tool, left behind that gives the game away.

Detail of the shuttle valve.



-Ron

Still a little tweaking to do. Seems to work very good. I have a video of it pumping water that I will upload in a few.






-Ron

Nice work Ron

I think I will need to smoke a cigarette.......

That is so cool !!!!!!!!

Can't wait to get it to play with.

You go Ron !!!!!!

Thanks, glad you guys like it.

-Ron