They took all the money and ran . . .
('nuff said)
OK, so for all you Lyka Builders, How to get your baby on the road?
Since I do not know what has been shipping and in what condition the shipments were in, I can only speculate based upon my experiences and the questions I have been getting.
I received final shipments a year ago. This was because Dean started building my pile before he left, and I got a lot of parts that were the spares from the previous series. Even so I was missing a lot of the individual pipe pieces and a number of adapters and connectors.
I will build on this post as the questions come in.
#1 - Lubricators -
There are a couple of places you can find them. Note that the ones originally provided by STW did not meet with rave reviews. They had an eccentric on a shaft that activated the pump. This wore out. Most of us now like the Foster type lubricators. I cover these in my post "Subsystems Part #2" in May 2025. but I left out a few things.
The 4” model was chosen to match the size of the model provided by STW. The model they provided had a bottom outlet, the Foster’s have a side one. So the pipes needed to be changed, one was totally replaced, one was just bent. The 4” sits just fine on the little shelves just a new hole pattern to mount.
My kit was missing the check-valves for the lubricator lines, I got them from: https://steamfittings.co.uk
If you look at the check valves on the site, the last part of the part number is the same as the part number on the STW parts list. Other wise John Rex has them. Just make sure you get them in the right direction when you put them in. If you have to “splice” in the feed tubing, you can soft-solder (plumbing type) anything below the check valve as it does not get hot. Silver solder on an 1/8 ID tube is a pain some time.
The lubricator and also the water hand pump, plus inline water check valves etc came from: John Rex.
https://johnrexmodelengineers.com/shop/ He also has an eBay shop but will cut you a deal or two if you use his other store, it saves him from paying e-bay fees.
As to the connections to the con-rod, there are two barrel nuts for the con-rods. Strangely enough I got one way back on kit #14, and the other never showed up. So I made 2 matching ones out of brass hex stock. They are threaded all the way thru length wise, and have a hole thru in the middle. They thread onto the con-rod bolt, then have another short bolt in the end to lock in the lubricator rod.
I used the provided push rods from STW but re-formed it to fit. Whatever you do, make sure the push rod is NOT TOO TIGHT, meaning the linkage should be a little loose. The ratchet pump is part metal, part plastic and you do not want to stress it.
The 4” Foster lubricator fits well and seems to distribute the oil efficiently. I fill the oil reservoir at the start of a run, usually 4-5 miles it is down about 1/6th of the way. Remember that you need to adjust the pump on the lubricator, by moving the piston in/out and locking it down with a nut. Make sure you know how to do it before you fill it and hook it all up.
At the end you want each pump cycle to release about a pea-sized drop into the pipe. It takes a while to fill the pipe, and once it does, the fact that oil is uncompressible will keep the injection stable. The lubricators are nice in that there is a little crank and you can prime them by pumping it a few times to get some oil into the steam before you start up.
The Hand Pump
The
water hand pump from John Rex is the 3/4” ram size and IS the one STW provided
originally. It might be made by someone else, but it bolts right into place. You just have to replace a part for the handle to fit out
the back of the body. In Kit #14 I got a few random items, one was a
piece of steel in a right angle. This replaces the ones on the pump from Rex as they are straight.