A few months ago I went to an Autojumble and found a model boiler for sale for £5! I snapped it up and took it home with glee. After some investigation I found that it was the boiler for the Minnie traction engine, but, a big but, it was made in steel. I thought about it and realised that if I made this engine I would probably only steam it once or twice and mostly run it on compressed air. So a steel boiler would be fine.
I am short on cash so have to make it as cheaply as possible. The commercially available castings are quite expensive for a pauper!
For example, the aluminium castings for the rear wheel rims are £70, I made them for the cost of the gas for my furnace. These will appear later.
My current problem is the castings for the bearings, the commercially available ones are bronze. What type of bronze? Can I cast them myself? It would be nice to make accurate castings. I have made the patterns in aluminium and have made the moulds in plaster of paris.
Bronze, there is bronze that is an alloy of copper and tin or an alloy of copper and aluminium. Lead free solder (99c) is almost pure tin, I could use that. There are so many variables. Whatever I use will not be perfect but will probably be good enough for what I want to do. Will my mild steel crucible be enough for the job? Time will tell.