The internal smokebox plumbing for the whistle steam requires an elbow union towards the front for access. It's impossible to have this connection closer to the back due to no room for fingers and tools. And also requires an elbow to bring the union where it's easily separated with spanners from the front of the smokebox. This portion of the elbow has to fit through the hole where the whistle cover plate is as it's soldered to the plumbing.
The elbow was milled from 5/16" brass down to 1/4" x 5/16" and put in a collet to turn and cut the thread. The chuck on my lathe has heavy jaws that won't grip 5/16" square so a collet was made to do so at another time. Works well and for the 3 jaw chuck gives a quick concentric setup for holding square. In this case it was set up off centre to do the thread.
You can see the access to the fitting within the smokebox. There will be another pipe coming off the live steam before the regulator valve.
Happy steaming!
Nigel
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