From an idea for the Whippet cooling tank to the finished tank on a tripod. The Enjomor Whippet is water cooled and to fit with my construction of it as a stationary engine I needed a simple water tank.
The basic idea was to have a simple cooling tank next to the engine on the oak frame. A pipe-in and a pipe-out with the thermal cycle moving the water around the system.
The problem was finding a small diameter tin that was tall. I searched the kitchen cupboard and even went out and searched the local store. Still nothing quite right. Hence, a merging of two tins.
This would also give me the corrugated finish that I want.
First stage was to deconstruct the larger of the tins.
I then wrapped this shell around a piece of 2″ diameter nylon. This allowed me to align the new seam and to soft solder the joint. I squared up each end with a file and then fitted the end rings from the smaller can.
Tripod Stand
The tank needed to be raised slightly off the base. I made 3 legs from brass sheet and fixed them down to a piece of wood set out on a scribed circle.
The diameter of the circle was worked out based on the diameter of the tin + 2x the offset of the inner leg face to the centre of the fixing hole.
The tin can was then jacked up using pieces of wood. This allowed me to fix the height and ensure it was upright whilst solder the tin to the legs.
I used offcuts of MDF as they are flat.
I filed notches in the legs to locate two bands of 0.8mm diameter brass wire that pulls the legs onto the can and locks then in place.
Finally I have a cooling tank.
The soldering is a tad messy and I need to clean this all up before I finally spray the can black (maybe).
The last thing to make are two bass pipes with flanges that I can solder into the side of the can.
I think the Whippet cooling tank actually looks rather good. Maybe even better once it has been tidied up.