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R A Barker Engineering |
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Diary of my own project the rebuilding of a 4" scale Tasker A2 Steam Tractor |
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This is my winter project to try & get this engine painted & assembled before the Harrogate Model Engineering exhibition in early May 2008 . This engine was bought by me in mid may 2006 from Bob Hull in Tadcaster , I have known about this engine for at least 10 years but never seen it until I went to look at it in may last year ,the engine is well engineered but the paint work was peeling all over also the boiler had a leak from one of the hollow stays . As soon as I got the engine home it was dismantled to find out the damage it was hydraulic tested & had 1 bad leak & few small ones , I now think that the boiler has been run very low on water at some time and this is what has caused the boiler damage. It took nearly 9 months before I could find somebody to have a go at trying to repair the leaks , the boiler was collected on a Saturday morning & on the following Monday I received the bad news it was only fit for scrap . Less than one hour later a new steel boiler was ordered from Tony Baldwin in Derbyshire . |
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This Tasker was built by Joe Chamberlain but has now been sold on . |
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Drawings & castings for this engine are available from : Camden Miniature Steam Services Website : www.camdenmin.co.uk |
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August 2007 The new boiler arrived from Tony Baldwin in early august , what a lovely job tony has made ,it is square in all directions & if only I could weld like that . The boiler was next mounted on my milling machine to machine all the stays for mounting of the hornplates , this wasn't so easy because my miller only has cross travel of 8" ,so I had to use a fly cutter sweeping a dia of about 4" & then only just managed in 2 passes . The boiler was now put on my hydraulic lift table & levelled up in all directions so as to make it easier for the alignment of the hornplates . |
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Showing boiler on my milling machine with the stays having been machined |
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Hornplates mounted on boiler |
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September 2007 The hornplates were now mounted on the boiler & everything was lined up using ,a spirit level , straight edges & steel rules to check that everything was square in all directions . The hornplates were now clamped to the boiler & the holes were spotted through using a battery drill when both sides had been done the boiler was transferred back to the milling machine & all the holes were drilled for 6mm tapping size . The boiler was now put back on the building stand & levelled as before & the hornplates were now bolted on for the next operation of fitting the crankshaft & the fitting of the cylinder block and then the drilling & tapping of the stud holes . |
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