How did it start? Why should I take a perfectly good running engine that I had already converted to straight propane, which would run for hours without refueling, and try to convert it to alcohol?

A very good question. I won’t blame it all on Steve Shyvers, but I read and re-read his Steam in The Garden articles on how he converted his Roundhouse Billy to a JvR “C” type boiler. I was very intrigued. I’ve also admired Justin’s (Slipped Eccentric) ability to take an electric Accucraft K-27 and not only convert it to steam, but a coal fired live steamer to boot!

I got a good offer on an Accucraft GS-4 Daylight. It was butane fired, 1/32 scale, and pulled no rolling stock that I owned or cared to bash from MTH. I thought I could repaint it to the way it was when it came to Miami back in ’76, but imagine the flack I’d get for repainting “the most beautiful train in the world”. I was tempted, very much so, but somewhere along the way, before the GS-4 offer came along, I was convinced I needed to have an alky engine. So NOW what was I to do?

I’m also hoping one day to burn a little welsh coal to generate steam, but I have no skillz with a torch with the exception of a fitting or two silver soldered with propane. So I began to do a little reading and found out about the JvR “C” type boiler. (If you don’t know who John van Riemsdijk is, it’s worth your time googling his name.) The advantage of the “C” type is all the soldering is on the outside, so it’s possible to repair if you hose up the soldering during construction. In my book it sounds perfect for a novice boilermaker.

Enough background, let’s get to it. From my point of view a C-16 is not a good candidate for coal firing. The space between the frames is about 1 inch and about 4 inches long where the firebox sits. It looks more suited to a lining up a bunch of wick holders. After pulling the cab and the boiler off I found that four .44 magnum shells fit in that space perfectly. Here’s a shot of the shells which I drilled as low as possible for some K&S tubing to fit through. You can also see the first mock up of the proposed fire box. I used cardboard like from a cereal box or frozen pizza box.

 

 

Posted By Mark Scrivener on 06 Feb 2010 06:28 PM 
In some ways, alki burners are the best of both worlds - less fiddling than coal, more prototypical than butane, and no cold temp problems. 

 

 

I could not agree with you more.  Alcohol is my favorite fuel too.  You still get to use a blower while not hearing the howl or noise of most butane burners. 

After trimming the cardboard mock up time and time again, I felt ready to transfer the dimensions to brass.  I picked up some .016 K&S brass sheet and transferred my measurements. (I didn’t know it yet, but this was too thin.) I bent it up and it looked pretty good.

Time to assemble my burner. After cutting some notches in the tubing for fuel flow, I started brazing the .44 shells to the tubing. I noticed that the larger the entire piece got, the more the entire assembly acted like a heat sink. By the time I got to the last shell, the propane torch could not keep up with the amount of heat being lost and brazing was very difficult. I needed something that could put out a little more heat. I was able to finish and it sealed. (I tested it by applying vacuum with my mouth then letting the assembly hang by it vacuum from my lip!  ) Here’s what I had at that point.

Posted By seadawg on 06 Feb 2010 07:46 PM

After trimming the cardboard mock up time and time again, I felt ready to transfer the dimensions to brass.  I picked up some .016 K&S brass sheet and transferred my measurements. (I didn’t know it yet, but this was too thin.) I bent it up and it looked pretty good.

Time to assemble my burner. After cutting some notches in the tubing for fuel flow, I started brazing the .44 shells to the tubing. I noticed that the larger the entire piece got, the more the entire assembly acted like a heat sink. By the time I got to the last shell, the propane torch could not keep up with the amount of heat being lost and brazing was very difficult. I needed something that could put out a little more heat. I was able to finish and it sealed. (I tested it by applying vacuum with my mouth then letting the assembly hang by it vacuum from my lip!  ) Here’s what I had at that point.

Posted By Slipped Eccentric on 06 Feb 2010 10:54 PM
Glad to see you finally got a start on this, Dave!  Looks good so far.   Had the same thoughts for an Accucraft American.

Posted By livesteam5629 on 15 Feb 2010 09:00 PM
Dawg,
Switch over to MAP gas for the thinner brass. The flame will heat the brass just right and the safety sil will zip right into the joints. I have been doing quite a bit of 0.25 to ? brass work and silver brazed everything. When do you know when to apply the solder? When the flux melts (becomes clear) A little dab will do ya. Also keep the flame moving. Oxy Acetaline and Severt torches are just too hot for this type of work.
I still say yer nutz.
Groundpounder

Posted By xo18thfa on 15 Feb 2010 10:29 PM

Dave:  Maybe you mentioned it already and I did not see it, but how are you going to seal around the edge of the fire box? 

 

Bob

Posted By seadawg on 16 Feb 2010 05:42 PM

Posted By xo18thfa on 15 Feb 2010 10:29 PM

Dave:  Maybe you mentioned it already and I did not see it, but how are you going to seal around the edge of the fire box? 

 

Bob

That's still open for debate. Maybe RTV or maybe a gasket with some type of banding tp keep the boiler down tight. Does the Japanese manufacturer use some type of sealant????

So the original C-16 boiler was made from 2 inch copper pipe. One of my reasons for tackling the C-16 replacement alky boiler was that I had a chunk of 2 inch copper pipe that had been given to me for the express purpose of building a boiler some day. Time to get to it. The pipe had been rapidly cut off of some project and was not cut straight, so one of my first thing to do was to try and cut a straight cut on one end. I used a piece of recycled printer paper and overlapped the edges to get a good square end. After getting close with a hack saw, I finished up with my bench grinder.

Still wanting to practice more with my torch, came up with some pieces I turned from bronze to make the steam manifold. It even gave me a chance to use my milling attachment for my lathe. It chattered to beat the band but I was able to come up with a fairly flat surface to solder some bushing to that I would tap after soldering /drilling.

Here’s what I came up with.