Liquid Crystal System

Finally got all the hoses made for the liquid crystal system along with some little back plates for the monitors made up from sheet brass and plumbing fittings. I just need to dye the hoses to a more realistic colour and add the jubilee clips to hold them in place.

Liquid Crystal Tank Progress Update

I have made considerable progress on the liquid crystal tank, the first two pictures show pressure scale which was created in photoshop printed to photo paper than glued to card to give a representation of an enameled plate. This was added to the Jagermister test tube (with the logo removed) and installed with my peice of pipework into the top of the blowlamp. Which then got a good polish with Brasso.

Car boot Sale Finds

Went to a local carboot and found the bits in the photo:

A mantle clock movement (seized) £2.50

A large storage jar with a ground-glass seal £1.50

A glass chemical bottle 20p

Assorted plumbing and gas fittings £10

All in all a good day!

Steam Hoses

Steam Hoses were created in three steps, firstly duct tape was wrapped around a copper pipe (sticky side out). Then thick garden wire was coiled around that at around a 5mm spacing. This was then covered with cloth tape. It should then be possible to slide the whole thing off the pipe giving you a none functional  steam hose that looks about right. It should be possible to colour these with ink but I haven't got round to that yet.

The other picture should be here but the post editor on this site is s&@t!

I found another junk shop!

I found another junk shop in Otley. This place is a bit off the beaten track and you have to have a good rummage. I didn't manage to get to the back of this place as the stuff was piled up to the ceiling! The person running the place had inherited it off his dad who had been a model engineer, you could get anything from there. ornaments, model soldiers, records, half a telephone exchange, machine tools and of course lots of brass bits. I got two large pulleys to make a belt drive on the side of the PC case and to brass and glass oil reservoirs (possibly from a stationary steam engine).     

Fake Valves

These were made from plastic thimble cases from a charity shop, the insides were made of car bodywork repair mesh, wire and small bits of metal from dismantled electrical equipment. These didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. So I'm back on the hunt for the real thing.

Playing with Pipes

My first bit of copper pipework, this will be fitted from the liquid crystal tank to a manometer style pressure gauge made out of a novelty Jagermister test tube. I used a standard rotary pipe cutter and joined the pipe with epoxy. I think it turned out quite well for a first attempt.