Mikado year end wrap-up

 Bill and I ended the shop year working on plumbing.  I had the day off so we worked a full day and got a lot done.  Bill finished a holding fixture to make 1/8" model pipe fittings--we needed two elbows for the lubricator lines.  I wrestled some 3/8 copper tubing out of shape to connect the axle pump to the check valve.

I used the coat-hanger method to make a template, then tried to make the tubing match it.

The tubing in place inside the frame.

It wasn't easy fitting the curvey pipe. I had to put it on and take it off multiple times to check each bend, which meant threading it through the frame, under the frame spreader, over the brake brackets and under the axle. I had to take the piston rod for the brake cylinder off to get the tube in.

The piped up lubricator

With the two model elbows finished, we threaded up unions and bent the 1/8" hard brass pipe to connect the check valves to the cylinder block fitting, using the same coat-hanger template method. After fitting all the unions and pipes it was time to test it. We tried running the pump (using a small corldess drill to spin the pump)  to test the connections, but it has lost it's prime.  We ran out of time to prime the pump, so that will have to wait until next year!

When we left off last year, we had just finished the fire pan and test fit the boiler to the frame. Completed this year was: painting the boiler, installing the boiler onto the chassis, installing the water check valves and blowdown valves, fabricating and installing the smokebox throttle bracket, fabricating a blower/exhaust nozzle, plumbing the throttle and blower in, fabricating the smokebox stays, fabricating and installing the manifold, installing the firedoor, making the throttle lever assembly, painting the boiler, test firing the burner, installing the lubricator and lube lines, cutting out the cab floor, installing the johnson bar assembly.

Tools/Fixtures made include a custom flaring tool, 1/4" and 1/8" model pipe fitting jigs, a drill and tap guide for the boiler, and the installation and operationalization of the freight elevator, and the fabrication of two engine stands.