Plan A is to recreate the flanged sleeve as a separate entity which will sip over the end of the main steam pipe and allow movement to hopefully take up the gap.
I started by fly cutting both ends of a piece of nickel bar to the radius of the smokebox.
Flycutting Steam Pipe Sleeves
Then, I turned down the diameter and drilled out the centres before parting them off.
Steam Pipe Sleeves
The backing disks were turned from small squares of 0.2mm thick scrap etch.
The disks were turned, by super gluing the square offcuts to an arbor made from the remains of the nickel bar that the sleeves were turned from. I could have used solder to stick them to the arbor but reasoned that superglue would be easier to get off the finished disks and so it proved.
Superglue Arbor
The next job is to remove the cast sleeves from the end of the steam pipe castings.
