brake line?
Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 11:24 pm
I know I am putting my self out here to potentially get lambasted for asking this but here goes;
Could someone use regular old mild steel brake line for watertube boiler tubing (NOT talking cunifer/kunifer at the moment as it's a bit more difficult to obtain here in the colonies)? Either the poly armour stuff (clean off the coating of course) or the zinc coated stuff.. You can get them relatively cheap with flares and fittings already in place which would make them easily removable if one decided to go and cut down on one having to perform those operations themselves. Even the 3/8" stuff has super high psi ratings, is quite easy to bend, and relatively inexpensive as well. Just drill and tap your drums, insert female flare fittings, bend tubes, screw in and voila! No reaming holes, no rolling tubes, no welding tubes, etc. One could make a wrench similar to an o2 sensor wrench to access tubes in the tube nest that need tightening.
If one blew a tube at a meet it would be as simple as obtaining said replacement from closest auto parts store, bending it up, and replacing! Your steaming weekend you'd been planning for all year would be saved. (of course it would be a bit more involved and sooty than I've described here)
Of course considerations for shielding the fittings from direct flame impingement would be made.
This would be much more time consuming to do in a "yarrow" configuration than would in a "Roberts" configuration, so let us consider this in the context of the "Roberts" design for argument's sake.
What do you think? Am I crazy?
Could someone use regular old mild steel brake line for watertube boiler tubing (NOT talking cunifer/kunifer at the moment as it's a bit more difficult to obtain here in the colonies)? Either the poly armour stuff (clean off the coating of course) or the zinc coated stuff.. You can get them relatively cheap with flares and fittings already in place which would make them easily removable if one decided to go and cut down on one having to perform those operations themselves. Even the 3/8" stuff has super high psi ratings, is quite easy to bend, and relatively inexpensive as well. Just drill and tap your drums, insert female flare fittings, bend tubes, screw in and voila! No reaming holes, no rolling tubes, no welding tubes, etc. One could make a wrench similar to an o2 sensor wrench to access tubes in the tube nest that need tightening.
If one blew a tube at a meet it would be as simple as obtaining said replacement from closest auto parts store, bending it up, and replacing! Your steaming weekend you'd been planning for all year would be saved. (of course it would be a bit more involved and sooty than I've described here)
Of course considerations for shielding the fittings from direct flame impingement would be made.
This would be much more time consuming to do in a "yarrow" configuration than would in a "Roberts" configuration, so let us consider this in the context of the "Roberts" design for argument's sake.
What do you think? Am I crazy?
