This week on the vertical boiler project I will be tackling the smoke stack and smoke box. My new copper boiler would not be complete without an authentic looking smoke stack so I have been searching for copper funnels to convert into a smoke box. After a few weeks of searching eBay I was able to find a vintage 8” copper funnel for about $20 that will fit the bill perfectly. Considering the price of copper I would say I got a deal ;o)
I have chosen to use a funnel in lieu of rolling my own cone mostly because sheet copper is so expensive. I also kind of like to add old parts to give the boiler character, much like the Edison Ekonowatt electric motor I used for my generator.
I started my smoke box conversion by removing the funnel end with a torch. I then used tin snips to remove the reinforcing under wire at the top edge of the funnel.....
To allow the funnel to fit over the boiler shell I will need to form it over a wood former. Luckily I have some experience in that field now so I cut out a couple of hardwood formers to shape the funnel.....
I annealed the edge of the funnel before installing the former into the large end of the cone as seen below. A piece of threaded rod was used to hold the former in place while I “spun” the funnel in my drill motor to make sure it was centered on the former. I marked out the excess copper with a sharpie to be trimmed off.....
I trimmed off the excess copper sheet before hammering the cone over the former. Once again I was careful not to kink the sheeting and took my time to make a nice transition....
I now removed the smoke box from the former and set my smaller “necking” former in my vise to shape the neck of the smoke box. Unfortunately I lost the photos of this process so I will have to explain what I did. The funnel was placed with the small end into the necking former (facing down) which was made to be slightly larger than the 2” copper pipe (that will make up the smoke stack). I then placed the 2” copper pipe inside the funnel to hammer it through the funnel and former. After some trimming and adjusting the stack made it through the end of the funnel without tearing the copper sheet.....
At this point I decided to solder the smoke box to the stack with some high temp silver solder......
To add bit of a vintage look to the stack I decided to install a set of 1/8” copper rivets to the neck of the smoke box. Once again I lost a set of photos during this part of the build so I will have to describe what I did.....
I used a 1/8” drill bit to drill 16 evenly spaced holes around the neck of the smoke box. I then annealed a set of rivets by heating them with the torch. Each rivet was then placed into the neck and then the excess was cut off with a set of diagonal cutters (from the inside). Using a set of duckbill pliers I was able to flatten the leftover nub of rivet to secure it into the neck of the smoke box. To finish the rivets off I made a new 1/8” rivet punch to hammer the rivets down over a makeshift pipe anvil seen below....
You can see below the flattened rivet ends caused by the hammering with the rivet punch...
After a little clean up with the Scotch-Brite pad the smoke box and stack was finished!!!
I installed the stack on the boiler with a set of 10-24 brass screws. The fit was perfect!!!
At this point I took the liberty of installing a steam whistle on the boiler. This was per my brothers request as he said the boiler must have a whistle. Well, here you go Mike.......
My boiler is now complete and ready to use however I must still plumb it into my engine as well as add a boiler feed tank and pump. My boiler will be limited in use if I cannot add water while it is being used. According to my estimates the boiler will use up about 1.5 oz of water a minute to run my engine. This water will have to be replenished or my boiler will run low quickly. The first step will be to make a water tank. This tank will hold the feed water for the boiler as well as catch condensate from the engine’s exhaust. I will be building this tank from 4” 304 stainless steel exhaust pipe. I would have much rather made this tank out of copper although the expense of this size copper pipe is astronomical (I know). I already own the stainless pipe so it makes sense to use it.
I cut my water tank to about 10” tall and welded on a 16 gauge steel bottom plate as seen below...
I welded in a 1/8” sump fitting to the bottom of the tank and added three foot tabs for securing the tank....
Since I plan on routing the engine’s exhaust into the top of this tank I decided to add a port where the exhaust can be routed to. This port is made from a 304 stainless 1/8” NPT pipe nipple that is threaded on both sides...
The pipe nipple was welded into the side at about 2.5” down from the top. This is to help keep the exhaust from sputtering water out of the tank.
I added a pipe “tee” to the end of the exhaust pipe to help disperse the exhaust flow and evenly distribute the steam....
I will be using a PM Research boiler feed pump (Cat #BFP-1M) to feed the boiler. This is a machined kit that goes together quite easily. I painted the housing and installed a set of 5/16-27 thread x 5/32” tube - “tube unions” (PM Cat #TUM5). These are where I will pipe the water supply and feed tubes later on...
And you will probably remember my Coleman burner I had modified earlier? Well, I had sand blasted the stock paint off and repainted it with the Dupli-Color “leaf green” enamel paint (Cat #DA1630). This is the same paint I used for my engine and it has survived months of abuse. This paint can handle oil and fuel without coming off!!! You may have noticed the aluminum mounting strap I added as well as the pressure gauge to the tank......
I removed the fuel shutoff valve from the tank and installed it on the burner side of the fuel line. This will make it more convenient to operate the boiler. You may have noticed that I also added a support collar to the metering valve to keep it from flexing....
I am really close to mounting the boiler to my new engine “board” and starting the plumbing process. I can’t wait to run my 6CI engine with real steam!!!
Please join me again for the next episode of the vertical boiler project. Till then take care my friends!!!
