Engine from Scrap Metal

[lovenyc2600]

I have heard stories of people building entire live steam locomotives from scrap metal.

How practical is this in reality?

[trainlarry]

If you know what materials you need for various parts, what size, thickness, etc. and you have the time, patience, and machinery, I am sure you can scrounge up the scrap necessary to machine into a live steam locomotive. I would not, however, build the boiler out of scrap, especially a steel one. The boiler needs to be built with material certifiable for pressure vessels. Of course, you may not get the exact material you want, and substitutions may be necessary, but it can be done. Remember, you may save money by buying scrap metal, but you will make up for it in the TIME it takes to machine your parts, and time is money.

Happy machining,

Larry

[pkastagehand]

I have been using as much scrap as I can find that is suitable and buying only certain elements. I didn't want to have to deal with rust in the water tank so I built the tender from new brass which I could not find in scrap form.

I am making my boiler out of steel and purchased a length of DOM tubing (Drawn Over Mandrel i.e. seamless) because finding appropriate scrap tubing was doubtful if not impossible.

I made a pattern and had the drivers cast.

Otherwise, I've been using found steels and and cast iron bits. And some found brass and stainless steel stuff as well. Phosphor bronze for some bearings I had to buy and I'm using Delrin for some bearings in the valve linkage because it is much cheaper than phos. bronze.

As mentioned you could make it out of all "scrap" if you have the sources for the appropriate scrap.

As Larry said, time needed to build increases because of having to machine stock to size. Purchasing presized stock means you start right in machining features instead of "making" stock materials first out of the odd sized stuff.

But I sort of take exception to the "time is money" phrase. It is overused and to me it only applies to someone building units for sale. Too much time invested may mean a loss in "profit" if the finished price is too high for anyone to afford to buy it. (Of course that is based on some arbitrary value of what your time is worth.)

I'm not planning to sell mine. If I spend a lot of money on presized materials instead of using free scrap it is money I'll never see a return on; in other words a bad investment. To me, since this is a hobby and my chief goal is to have a project to work on in the shop and a finished loco is secondary, then time is just... time. The completion date gets set back but money doesn't really enter into it. I'm spending what I'm spending no matter which material I use. I'm not paying anyone labor and it is not keeping me from some other paying job so I'm not losing income. So how does "time is money" enter in?

That phrase has been promulgated by business interests who are interested mainly in the "bottom line" at the expense of employee satisfaction and often quality product.
I'm just saying... (i.e. my opinion, others will disagree)

[trainlarry]

Paul,

I'm glad to hear that you are using scrap material in building your locomotive. You prove that it can be done, and I commend you in doing so.
In regards to the "time is money" comment, even in a non-business environment like at home, we assign a "value" to our time, even if it is unspecified. "It's cheaper to buy a new widget than it would cost in time to repair the old one." Or "My time is too valuable than to waste it by sitting in front of the TV all night." Some people need to save money, and make parts out of scrap. Others need to save the "value" of their "time," and buy presized stock. Both have fun building their respective engines, and that is the name of the game.

Happy machining,

Larry

[gwrdriver]

Aug 18, 2011 20:34:57 GMT -5 trainlarry said:

I would not, however, build the boiler out of scrap, especially a steel one.

This applies equally to copper boilers as well.