The Steamboating Forum

hi dan
im in yonkers ny just north of the city
contact me directly at imsteamer21@hotmail.com and we can compare notes
i purchased the castings from pat in late sept 2012
i asked and he said everything was in stock for immediate shipment
i received a partial shipment late dec
i am still waiting for over 1/2 dozen castings
some castings that i never received pat says i have
i never received a complete set of drawings
they have been promised dozens of times and never shipped
its a difficult process dealing with him
anyway i would like to talk with you on the building of the engine
two heads are better than one
fred

ERGODAN wrote:
I was thinking about having the block Nickel plated but was not sure if that would cause heat problems, any thoughts??

I'm not sure what you mean by "block" but I'm guessing the outside of the cylinders? I have read that a shiny surface--like chrome plating--is not as good at conducting heat as flat paint, which would make it a bit of an insulator. Of course it wouldn't be as good as proper insulation, but if you prefer showing off the engine instead of wrapping it up for thermal efficiency then nickle plating would look quite nice.

I thought true nickle plating wasn't be done much in the US anymore, something about pollution?

Cylinder Nickel plating would have slightly less heat loss from any heated surface, however black copper oxide is much better. But the steam containing parts of a steam engine should be adequately insulated from heat flow. Ordinary fiberglass insulation will do just fine for this, and half an inch of this material would reduce heat loss much better than any shiny surface plating.

Traditional insulation on steam cylinders is covered with some sheet metal, sheet steel, sheet stainless steel, Russia Iron (this is just ordinary sheet steel, given the blue finish the same as on firearms), brass or copper is all OK, and none of these covering choices make any difference with respect to insulation value, the fiberglass does all the insulating.