Continuing work in the smokebox, the spark arrestor was next. As previously described a couple of rings were made up, one for the blast cap and the other for the petticoat. The rings were spaced apart by a couple of struts. The whole lot removes by lifting clear of the blast cap and swinging out.
The silver soldering work was done in stages, the setup involved laying them flat on a base plate and soldering them to the blast cap ring, packed up to centre height of the ring. Then the struts were soldered to the petticoat ring.
Finally, stainless gauze was wrapped around the rings and folded over to form a lap joint and trimmed to shape. Stainless cable ties hold it in place.
Michael H. brought along his camera and tripod to give a photography demo, which was very much appreciated!
Michael also spent considerable time cleaning up the lathe after all the brass and cast iron swarf did its best to conceal the original colour. The white paint is dazzling!
The Ward 2a capstan lathe is almost ready for comissioning after a major rebuild, the headstock was filled with oil, and the coolant bilge was inspected and cleaned...and Michael did a good job making up some gaskets. A couple of test cuts were done on a piece of steel, it's a very rigid machine!
Happy steaming!
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