Lyka Kit #23 Lubricator Assembly

In Kit #23 we were given two lubricator pump assemblies that needed to be assembled. "Back in the Day" steam engines required a little squirt of steam oil in each piston to lubricate the pistons/piston rings. Below I have laid out each component for assembly.

The general description of how this works is that a plunger oscillates back and forth, with the upward motion sucking oil into a brass fitting that houses a check valve (little ball bearing below the lower O-rings) filling its little cylinder with oil and then with the downward motion pushing the oil through the O-ring section opening the ball check valve by hydraulic pressure and squirting the oil out the bottom. In the next image you can see the brass fitting assembled inside the oil reservoir, notice the little hole, this is where the oil is sucked in when the plunger rises.

The back side of the fitting below.

Next is assembling the brass nipple. First one O-ring, then a brass spacer (Steam Traction World supplied two thickness of the brass spacer. I used the thinner one. If additional oil is needed per squirt, then the thicker spacer would be needed), then another O-ring, ball and spring.

The instruction say to trim the small spring so that the brass nipple is 1 to 1.5 mm away from the threaded brass fitting. This is required to provide the correct force on the check valve ball. Too much spring would keep the ball sealed against the bottom O-ring and no oil would be pumped out. The brass nut that holds the brass nipple is screwed on to complete this area. Next I assembled the one way bearings for the crank. The oil lubricator is actuated by an attachment from the connecting rod to oscillate the crank. The bearing slips in one direction, but grips in the other direction to provide a continuous rotation for a cam that will push the plunger up and down. Make sure to assemble the bearing clutches in the same direction. On the reservoir first an O-ring is inserted and then the bearing clutch is pressed in.

 Here the lever gets its bearing clutch.

Next I assemble the spring and plunger inside the reservoir, along with the cam, shaft, lever and knurled knob.

I tested each lubricator for function and found that I needed to polish the end of the plunger. The plunger had very, almost imperceptible machining ridges on the end of the plunger. These ridges were sticking the plunger to the O-ring. You need for the plunger to fully oscillate up and down so that you get a consistent amount of oil delivered with each stroke.