Water lifter

**thehomeengineer** · Feb 8, 2018, 08:08 AM

Hi All
This is a water lifter filter for my 3” Foden Steam Wagon. I thought I would share the tooling made to form the material along with the drawing so you can see what the product will eventually look like. The main body, is made from two brass pressings and silver soldered together then filed to shape. The webs are also silver solder to the pressings, and then the drilling. Will post more photos of the build as I go. The drawing is actual size of the original water filter, so I have scaled down to ¼ size.
There is more info on the Foden build on my web site Practical Engineering

Thank you for viewing
The Home Engineer

**Frank S** · Feb 8, 2018, 09:37 AM

Nicely made press mold die set, What is the thickness of your brass sheet/ Did you use common shim stock? If so did you have to anneal it prior to pressing? In the past I've had to make pressing die set for antique carburetor floats out of copper sheets. I found that if I heated the sheets to between 900 to 1200° f then water quenching softened the sheet enough to work it into the complex shapes

**thehomeengineer** · Feb 8, 2018, 09:50 AM

Hi Frank
The brass is 16 Gauge and I did anneal the brass before pressing. I will have to look out the item and take some better photos.
The Home Engineer

**thehomeengineer** · Feb 9, 2018, 01:06 AM

Water lifter silver soldered together complete with webs, just needs drilling

**PJs** · Feb 9, 2018, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by thehomeengineer

Water lifter silver soldered together complete with webs, just needs drilling

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Wow it looks like it was cast! Beautiful work! Thanks for showing the mold and the details.

**Frank S** · Feb 9, 2018, 09:01 AM

excellent craftsmanship

**Paul Jones** · Feb 9, 2018, 10:26 AM

I second that. You have excellent craftsmanship.

**Ralphxyz** · Feb 9, 2018, 10:26 AM

post pictures and video of it in operation, please.

Ralph

**thehomeengineer** · Feb 9, 2018, 04:45 PM

Hi Ralph
This is part of a model I am building and is used as a filter; the idea is when you need to refill the water tank this item would have been attached to a long hose and tossed in to a river. The other end of the hose attached to an ejector that works in conjunction with steam so the water is drawn into the water storage tank. Sorry no video but I hope this explains what it is for. A very basic filter. Link to how a steam injector works Bluebell Railway Loco Dept News
Thank you for your interest