what gasket material for steam?

[wsmcycle]

I took "L'ill steamy" out on Friday and was having a good steam until the infeed gasket blew out on the Stuart 6a. I lasered the blown gasket from 1/32 cardboard and it had lasted a while. What material would be good to make the gasket from.

[Lopez Mike]

I have gotten rid of all my gaskets and just use some silver looking anti seize. As long as it's a reasonable fit like my cylinder heads it seems to never leak. It gets on everything though. I even got some on my hair and in my nose. Total klutz.

Maybe in my ears. Haven't looked. I did clean my hands before a trip to the bathroom, thank you.

[barts]

The easiest way to fix those sorts of flanges is to cut a small groove (nothing fancy - tip of a threading tool will do) about 1 mm from the hole... and then assemble it w/ high temperature automotive RTV. Works like a charm, and the rubber cures in the groove and forms an nice seal. Never had one leak, and you can bring many spares in your toolbox .

If you're really fond of gaskets, search on mcmaster-carr for 'steam gasket material'. That stuff works.

- Bart

[cyberbadger]

I have been happy with Garlock Blue 3200. A lot of options in sealing materials that will work here.

-CB

[wsmcycle]

thanks all
I am not fond of gaskets but these surfaces did not seal without one. I used some material from autozone made for water pumps. Good to 400 degrees. It held yesterday but I had a different problem that left me stranded on the water. Fortunately a fisherman gave me a tow back to the ramp.
A picture is worth a thousand words so here goes.

[TahoeSteam]

That appears to be a significant problem. Hope you get it repaired shortly

[Lopez Mike]

The launch Uno here on Lopez Island has broken its H.P. valve stem more than once now. And I have heard of others. There must be some wear or design related or adjustment issue on 6A engines.

The first thing that comes to mind is a conversion to a piston valve but that is a significant undertaking.

[TahoeSteam]

Does the centerline of the valve rod correspond with the parting line between the two eccentrics or are they offset?

[Lopez Mike]

I'm still in Baja for the Winter but I will be working with Stephanie, the owner of Uno, to figure out if it is something that simple. Won't be until mid May though. She tells me that there is an unreasonable amount of force needed to move the H.P. slide valve when reversing and sometimes when starting with anything more than just a small amount of throttle. Making things incrementally stronger has improved matters a bit but is not addressing the underlying problem.

There are so many small compounds that do not have this sort of failure that there has got to be some fairly simple problem. It will be embarrassing if it is something as simple as the valve binding on the valve rod or the sort of dumb alignment problem you are suggesting.

[barts]

On my old converted refrigeration engine w/ a slip eccentric, I often had to close the throttle to reverse the engine.

I'm not sure how large the slide valve is in these engines, but w/ 120 psi on the valve, even a relatively small valve will
have a lot of load.

Depending on the slop in the valve train, the slide valve can also come to a stop long enough at the ends of its travel to go from
dynamic to static friction (esp. at slower speeds); this can force the eccentrics to 'break' loose the valve.

A balanced slide valve solves a lot of problems, and is really the only way to get nice size ports w/o the need for heavy
valve gear, I think.

- Bart