Engine Packing Nut Modification

After steaming the car several times, invariably one of the piston stem rods packing nut will vibrate loose and eventually unscrew to where the piston stem rod guide (slider) bangs against the packing nut. This is not good, and makes a rather load knock too. I have tried various things, like aviation sealant that stays semi-fluid to make the threads "sticky" thereby eliminating the unscrewing of the nut, but because this area becomes rather hot, the sealant liquefies and the nut still rotates loose. So inspired by an old Mason Steam Engine that Locomobile use to use, I am adopting their solution to this problem. First the next image shows the packing nut that I'm referencing.

The next image shows how the Mason Steam Engine stopped their packing nuts from loosening from the vibrations of the engine. The image shows the packing nuts for the valve stems, but they also used the same idea on the piston rods too.

So I decided to create a sheet-metal bracket that would provide tension against the packing nut, but first I needed to file away a radius so that the bracket would sit and align better with the packing nut.

I then unscrewed the M6 hex head cap screw above the filed away radius. This will be where I will attach the sheet-metal bracket. I made a cardboard pattern to prototype my bracket and then transferred this to my sheet-metal to make.

I bent the sheet-metal and brazed some welding rod to the bracket that will interface with the packing nut.

(as a note, the 12 3/4 is the number of full turns on the connecting rod slider block that took to unscrew the slider from the piston stem rod- I wanted to make sure that when I reinstalled the slider it was in the same relative position on the piston stem rod) 

Next I used a hack saw, small flat file and small round file to make grooves between each hole on the packing nut. To get to this packing nut I had to first remove the steam engine from the body to allow better access to all of the parts. I disconnected the connecting rod from the slider, then unscrewed the slider to allow the packing nut to be unscrewed from the piston rod. (I'm getting good at removing the engine - this being about the forth time I have done this).

The next few images shows the bracket and packing nut assembled on the engine. I am hopeful that this will eliminate this issue. My only concern is the gauge of sheet-metal I used. I may have to re-make the bracket out of a heavier gauge - I used 22ga.

This modification really should be done for all future Lykamobile Engines. Steam Traction World should design something to prevent this packing nut from unscrewing. My solution may not be the best, but I think something should be designed to stop the packing nut from loosening. Just my 2-cents.

Water Tank - Boiler - Bypass System

I don't know how many times I have had to trace the plumbing to figure out the water circuit for the filling of the boiler and the bypass valve. The bypass valve when open will provide a piping system that allows the pumps (that are mounted to the engine that pump all the time when the steam engine is running) to "bypass" the filling of the water into the boiler. This is important because the boiler should not be filled to the very top ever. The boiler needs some head space for the steam to be generated and pressurized. This pressurized steam is what is sent to the engine to be expanded to drive the pistons up and down. Below is a hand drawing/sketch of the system with the bypass valve open.

I did not draw in the engine, but the engine drives the two pumps. The pumps will circulate water through the tanks in a loop. When the bypass valve is closed, then the water path changes as indicated in the next sketch.

With the bypass valve closed, the pumps will pump water into the boiler. The pumps are strong enough to lift the check valve ball and fill water into the boiler. You will notice that in the sketches there is a hand pump. This hand pump is used to fill or prime the boiler for the first time or whenever the boiler level is too low to fire up the boiler safely. To use the hand pump the bypass valve must be closed. If you don't close the bypass valve you will just be circulating most if not all of the water to the tank and not be filling the boiler.