A tool was made to check the alignment of blast pipe with chimney, squaring off the chimney bore. Made from a piece of steel bar and a 1/4" silver steel rod. This revealed the blast pipe was 1/8" off centre and also the hole through the bottom of the smokebox wasn't central with the chimney either.
After some playing around the cylinders were removed to get access to the exhaust tee which measured 1/16" off centre. This was turned 180 degrees and improved the alignment. Also the saddle bolt holes were not central so the saddle was also turned 180 degrees. The combination of errors actually worked in our favour and a little bit of filing out the holes allowed sufficient clearance to set the smokebox up properly. Previous mention in last blog was the saddle radius is larger than the smokebox radius and no extra material available to fly cut it to match.
So the saddle was drilled 5/32" in four places for some dowel pins and all the bits set up square in the frames and bolts done up tight. Then smokebox was removed and drilled through the saddle into the smokebox for the dowels. Sits perfectly in the frame now in the exact position.
Happy steaming!
Nigel
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