Over the past few weeks and months I have been volunteering with the engineering team on the historic 1903 steam tug The Daniel Adamson ‘The Danny’.

We have a workshop where I can machine parts. These parts in the photos are the valve rods from the port and starboard circulating pumps. They are connected to the valve slider via the eccentrics. The old rods were showing some sign of wear on the bronze bushings and also wear on the gland packing area.

A quick visit to the local steel stockholder and we came back with two lengths of 50mm diameter medium carbon EN8 steel, which is suitable for low stress connecting rods and shafts, and is also relatively easy to machine.

The rods were roughed out to length and basic shape, then the square end was machined on the mill, then returned to the lathe for finishing and screw threading (5/8″BSW).

New bronze bushes were made to a tight interference fit, then finished bored to size on the mill. The ends were radiused on the mill.

They fit great on the pumps and at the time of writing we had the port pump assembled and tested on air, and the starboard pump part completed.