| Hi Allen,
Your not wrong I wont have a compressor in the workshop it lives outside in a brick alcove. never using the cursed spray guns tyres are not a concern but I have seen a mattador tyre burst, made my ears ring!
I am now on my seventh boiler, four in copper and three in steel. One all rivet. And I still dont claim to have all the answers. The only word I do know is if it seems too thin then it certainly is. I go one gauge over the calculated thicknes as long as its not going to cause shedding in the firebox.
One location that I feel is always missed on model boilers is the firebox crown. I have seen a number of designs that used girder stays that just didnt give anough surface area to silver solder on. Easy to remedy but possibly a huge problem if the builder isnt aware of it.
the other area that causes me concern is the choice of copper used on some boilers. Water pipe and the like is just not safe to use, it can loose strength very quickly especialy in hard water areas. I think its now covered in the boiler regs (not sure).
All said id like to see Bunkers boiler built again looks like it could be a good steamer.
kevin |