>> I wonder how many of us have >> had one of our unidentified brass bits disintegrate or whatever over >> the last, say 25 years? I certainly have had no problems and I don't >> know anybody who has.
I had a brass safety valve crumble on a scratch built LBSC "Dot" when I tried to use a spanner to remove it. The zinc was gone and the metal that was left looked like sintered bronze... it was porous. No telling exactly how old it was, but to me it was "NOT OLD ENOUGH"! Whenever I scratch build boiler fittings these days I use bronze, although I too have been using surplus ends from a local scrap dealer. I am starting a 1.6" scale 2-8-2, and I will purchase new material of a known composition for it's fittings. I've also had two toy steam engine boilers fail by developing leaks... One was a Mamod tractor and the other was a Wilesco stationary engine. Both had very high mileage, so to speak, because they were toys from my childhood and I ran them thousands of times. Both failed in the middle of the bottom of the boiler barrel, the hottest part, by developing pinhole leaks that eventually got bad enough that they put the fire out. Because they were hidden, I didn't notice the leaks until they reached that stage. The Mamod got scrapped when I was 12 years old... I removed the engine and all other parts and threw the defective boiler away. I wish I still had it. The Wilesco boiler I removed and mailed to Wilesco as defective, and even though it was probably decades out of warranty, they sent me a replacement and that engine is still "in service" on a shelf in my library today. Good customer relations on their part if you ask me. Regards, Jon -- Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me, either. Leave me the hell alone. _______________________________________________ SSLiveSteam mailing list Send messages: [email protected] Cancel subscription: http://postfix.45mm.com/mailman/listinfo/sslivesteam Rules: http://www.45mm.com/sslivesteam_guide.html
