What thickness of material should I use in my fuel pressure regulator and steam pressure regulator. To make the new diaphragms? What for material?

A good material is Beryllium bronze. As for the thickness check the old one. I don’t have one that’s apart.
Rolly

Hi,,I have seen regulators with
1,,,1disk,,,020
2,,,2 disk,,020
3,,,1disk,,,,040
The radius on the non pressure side,,that is the side the disk is forced up against when at full travel,,will have a lot to do with the bending
of the disk,thus tearing,,
The radius does not seem consistant,,so I assume some are modified,,
some are different years etc,,
Ole Vikre insisted,,,ABCD,,A Berillium Copper Diaphram
I have even seen roofing copper as a diaphram,,
Has anyone tested that ball of muscle/spring that is in the steam auto,,
All fun,,Cheers Ben,,,Oh yeh,,the black racer put 1587 ft lb torque at the wheel a couple of weeks ago,It was a fun day,,Cheers,Ben

I tested a steam automatic spring and found its rate to be 5000lbs/inch. That sounds a lot but in practice the actual movement of the valve plunger needs to be no more than maybe 15/1000th to allow full fuel flow. The automatic is set to close at say 600psi at which point the pressure from the diaphragm is enough to press the plunger down against the spring and close the valve.

When the boiler pressure drops the spring overcomes the pressure on the diaphragm - given that the area of the diphragm is about 3sq inches, a drop of 25psi in boiler pressure would reduce the load on the spring by 75psi - which is enough to make the valve open enough to pass the full fuel flow.
i.e. 1" x 75/5000 = 0.015" - the 15 thou movement. it all adds up.

two thing are important - the spring must not become coil bound at the point of closure of the valve as this prevents any chance of setting it correctly and secondly do make sure that the adjustment of the travel of the plunger is only enough to pass the full flow of fuel, otherwise the diaphragm will be overstrained and become indented - a smoothed edge to the mushroom helps here.
I think Ole Vikre's recommended number of turns is more than needed and may dint the diaphragm.

sorry something has happened to my capital letters------------- !!!

mike



Mike

Every one I've taken apart has had different thickness. Usually .020 in fuel regulator. And in steam pressure regulator They have 2 .015 or 020 John Packard sells automatics, does anybody have his number ? Thanks Bill

A couple of comments regrding Automatics,
I just had a steam auto ovehauled by John Packard. His number is: 508 434 0181
He retruned the old parts including the diaphram which measures .015.

In addition,Don and Carolyn Hoke (vintage steam products) sell diaphrams. I got a couple of spares from them, they also measure .015 and are of berylium copper. Vintage Steam Products can be reached via the web, or call 972 661 9672

I used 510 bronze. In the fuel regulator. I used one. In the steam pressure regulator I used 2 of at .015 thicknness



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2014 10:18PM by BillB.