Now that the cylinders have been fitted to the frame with the
steam pipes, the time has come, said the walrus, to fit the
pistons and valves.
The end of the piston rod slides in to the cast crossheads and
bolts into place. The trouble I had was that the crossheads
seemed to be slightly out of alighnment which mean't I had
quite a bit of filing to do to make sure that everything fit
together properly and also didn't lock up.
The valves were next and these are clamped in place by a
couple of collers which are pinched in place by grub screws.
The other gotcha I had here was that one of the valve chests
wasn't drilled as far as the other, so care had to be taken
that the end of the valve rod didn't foul the end of the
steamchest.
Once all of the motion was in place and everything was tested
for any binding, it all had to be disassembled again to pack
the pistons and valve glands with graphite yarn. Then I could
reassemble it and lock everything together except the steam
chest covers.
