Robert Siegler page2

Hi Dan,

At long last I have an update to report on my A3. This past weekend I finally completed the boiler and passed the 200 psi hydro test. I had a couple of leaks on the first test and easily repaired them. The repair apparently caused another problem to appear and that repair begat another issue. I was beginning to think Ed Hume's Whack-A-Mole scenario was becoming all too real. However, the third repair was the charm as everything was sealed up tight and the pressure held perfectly afterward.

All total, I spent just over 147 hours of labor from start to finish. The part that really surprised me was the total cost of the boiler. Adding up all my expenses including the copper sheet, oak hardwood for the formers, phosphor bronze, tubing, propane (20 pounds worth!), silver solder, etc. gave a grand total expense of just over $481. Its amazing how quickly all of the little purchases add up over time. Note that this total does not include any tools.

I had to purchase a Sievert torch to get the job done on the boiler. I bought several different tips that would produce anywhere from ~800 btu to ~293,000 btu. I found that although I didn't use the 293,000 tip I did use the 148,000 tip quite often in the later stages. I would recommend to your readers to get several different tips starting at the 10k range and going upwards to the 148k tip. The early boiler pieces - backhead, front tube sheet, etc can be completed nicely with the 10k tip. The shell and inside firebox need the 89k tip and you'll need the 148k tip for all operations once you connect the shell to the outside firebox sheet and later. The Sievert torch is a very nice tool and will be well worth the investment if you plan on building copper boilers.

Robert

Excellent work Robert. That is a beautiful silver soldering job. ~ Dan'l

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