Steam powered tonka truck

[Creighton]

Belt drive would be easier. Away from the boiler heat some parts could be made from wood. Easy to lathe and cheap to replace.
Creighton

[scalebowler]

Got some pulleys ordered today and hopefully have painted the parts for the last time. Hopefully I can now concentrate on getting the engine figured out and built and figure out the type of solder that I need to get that won't melt from the steam. Also got most of the parts for the alcohol burner that will heat the boiler. In the drawings it calls for a few parts made out of brass but for mine I will be using a 9mm bullet casing. That way I only have to solder the hole where the primer used to be instead of having to solder the bottom of a tube closed. (And it will look cooler than a brass tube )

[tkaz]

I always hang anything that I am painting, and hit all sides at once...there are times when my backyard had stuff hanging from every low branch and stretched across the hammock stand, but it works! 

Would brazing rods work for the boiler?  Usually you can use a propane torch and this will give you a higher melting point.

[scalebowler]

I always hang anything that I am painting, and hit all sides at once...there are times when my backyard had stuff hanging from every low branch and stretched across the hammock stand, but it works! 

Would brazing rods work for the boiler?  Usually you can use a propane torch and this will give you a higher melting point.

I did have the parts hanging up the second time I painted them but I really don't have any good places to paint so they are usually poorly lit, dusty or require the part to be moved somewhere. I really would like to build my own small paint booth in the garage one of these days.
Brazing rods might work. Do you know if they work with brass? The parts I have to connect are the steam line from a brass nut that screws to the boiler and I also need to connect the steam lines to the engine.

[bubba]

I would recommend Silver Solder for all the soldering. They make coils that are 35% silver that work great and flow just like regular lead solder. You will need white brazing flux to go with it. You could also use 15% silver sticks, but they don't flow as nicely as the higher silver. Not cheap stuff, but its the correct stuff. You could also use regular plumbing solder and flux, but the silver is better. We use it all the time working with 80-100psi steam on all kinds of brass and copper fittings and it works well. You can also use silver to weld dissimilar metals together as well.

Here is a link to Mcmaster - I think prices at the local welding supply would be a bit cheaper.. http://www.mcmaster.com/#silver-solder/=g25urd

[scalebowler]

Awesome! Thanks for letting me know what kind of solder to use. I had seen all over the internet people saying to use silver solder but none of them actually would say what kind to get. I will have to check out the welding supply place sometime soon to see if they have some. Also will just a regular plumbing torch with the mapp gas (or what ever the new stuff in the yellow tank is) work for it or will I need to take it to someone who has an oxy acetylene torch?

[scalebowler]

Repainted the truck parts for about the 4th time and finally got a pretty good finish on them. Turns out the step I was missing was wet sanding the parts between coats. After I did that I got a pretty darn good finish with only a few tiny flaws. I also put the roof on and put the busted windshield back in. I actually kind of like the broke windshield not sure why but I kind of do. I also can't find a replacement one so I have to keep it (would be awesome to find a rusted out beyond repair one with a nice grill and windshield though) I also finished up all of my projects that I needed to complete in my machining classes and we still have 2 or 3 weeks left of the quarter so maybe I can start making some parts for the truck like the engine and the nut that connects the steam line to the boiler.

[scalebowler]

Ended up locating a steam line for the boiler. Turns out the company that I bought the boiler and pulleys from has steam lines that were designed for my boiler in stock but they only have a few of them because a different customer needed one so they don't offer them online and I have to call the order in. Pretty excited about that since that means I can now attach the steam line without soldering and it even has a nut on the end that screws on to the inlet of the engine so I can now just figure out what the thread size is for that and drill and tap the inlet and just screw it in. Only part I may need to solder is the exhaust since I plan to run that through a brass tube and have it let out where the real exhaust pipe on the real truck would be.

[scalebowler]

Got the pulleys for the belt drive today and they are a really tight fit on the axle which is really good. I just have to heat them with a torch to make them expand a little bit so that they will fit over that little area on the axle that has kind of a knurl on it so that the wheels have something to bite onto. Just got to make sure that I wait a little longer before I touch the pulleys after heating them and make sure they don't fall on the shop vac hose. (got a nice little outline from the hub on the tip of my finger right now from picking one up after it fell on the shop vac hose which surprisingly did not melt) Also got a picture of what the truck looks like right now. Still can't find my cameras battery charger so I had to use another camera so thats why it is a little grainy.
 

[scalebowler]

Cut an area out of the font so that I can fit the engine and the pulleys in it. Also need to paint the chassis for about the millionth time but at least this time it is for a good reason and not because of a ton of flaws in the paint. I think this time though I will wait till after I get the engine built so that any more modifications do not make me need to paint again. I also emailed my instructor to see if he will let me make some of the parts for the engine in the last few class periods that we have of the quarter. Not sure if he will let me or not but if he does I will then get a pretty good start on getting the engine built and maybe if I work hard enough get the thing done and working. I also learned that I don't really care for the sound of a Dremel tool cutting through and grinding sheet metal