2009 Week 4 in Review
January 18 to January 24, 2009
Work continues on the Catalyst
This week at OTM Inc, we finished fitting the rod bearings on the Catalystand cleaned out the crankpit really well.
Then, we installed pistons. On most engines, you put the pistons in through the top, which means you have to have the heads off to get at the piston. On Washington diesels, though, you can put the pistons in through the bottom. This is yet another reason that Washingtons are the best engines ever made.
They actually have a recess in the liner on top - right where the top ring stops - so that there is never a ridge going forming that might break rings. This means that if a piston is loaded from the top, the rings will get caught. In other engines, you might need a fancy ring funnel to get around this, but on a Washington that's unnecessary since the bottom of the liner is a ring funnel itself. Washingtons are build with the base doors big enough to lower the piston and rod right through and sit the piston on the crank throws at a 90-degree angle. You then rig it to be pulled right up into the cylinder. It's really easy and can be done with the cylinder head still on. Wow. That Adrian Estep sure knew what he was doing.
An update from the Red Cloud
Rick on the Red Cloud is selling its air compressor and the fire pump, which are both very powerful. Contact me if you're interested, and I'll put you through to Rick.
A visit to the Maris Pearl
I helped Jay refuel the Maris Pearl and bring her out to Kirkland this week. It was nice to see the Pearl and talk with Jay again, and we talked about the project I'm starting there next month.
A rectifier for the Olympic?
Nobby from New York pointed out that a rectifier might be a good option for the Olympic (talked about in 2008 Week 49 in Review). A rectifier turns AC power into DC power, which would let the owners use the two DC electric air compressors, rather than waiting to for a replacement AC generator. That's a good recommendation - I hope that the owners are interested in cranking the engine over soon.
Upcoming Engineer for a Day
I talked with John and confirmed the date of this year's Engineer for a Day field trip for the Ballard Maritime Academy. We're on for having 25 kids aboard the Arthur Foss, the fireboat Duwamish, and the steamer Virginia V. It's scheduled for the end of February. This year is going be great, since the fireboat's air compressor now works at full capacity. We might even get all three engines going for the first time in years.
Ongoing web updates
Here at Old Tacoma Marine Inc, we're working hard to bring you more content in 2009. We're adding more content to the website - more engines, more manuals, more photographs, and more articles. This week, we started making some behind-the-scenes changes to support new content, and in two weeks we'll be meeting with Ed at the Washington State History Museum Archives to get more information on Washington Iron Works.
A disclaimer from Old Tacoma Marine Inc
I received a call this week from a reader who's a fellow mechanic. We talked for more than an hour about what I do, and how he doesn't blog and it's pretty gutsy that I'm putting it all out there for the world to see. I got the feeling all through the conversation, though, that something was eating him, and I finally asked what was bothering him.
He asked me straight up "Did you really put valve lapping compound on your bearings and jam that on the shaft?" See, if you put valve lapping compound into a babbitted bearing, it'll embed itself into the bearing and will grind away at the crankshaft while the engine is running. I told him that I was using Timesaver, which is a lapping compound specifically for soft metals, which won't embed itself into a babbitted bearing.
I view this episode as a failure of me as a blogger: I didn't provide all the information that made the story complete. If someone was trying to follow along at home, they might well have poured regular valve lapping compound onto their bearings and wrecked them. I'm glad that this reader called me on it - I view this blog and everything I do as a conversation. I'm trying to get as much of what I do up onto the web as I can, but it's not all up there yet.
Until then, I want to warn everyone reading that all information from Old Tacoma Marine Inc - posted to the web, printed, photographic, and spoken - is for the purpose of discussion, not to be the sole source of information concerning rebuilding engines, managing museums, or succeeding at life.
