Hi David,

I made one of these over 20 years ago, I used 303 stainless steel. The information is in a Strictly I C magazine.

I have all of these and will have a look for it over the weekend.

John Feeney

I made rings for my steam launch engine using this method. The rings were sprung over a cylindrical piece with a key set in it with the right thickness, then the whole lot was enclosed in an airtight container made from stainless steel tube with cast iron end caps, held on by a bolt through the middle. That helps keep the air out, which will reduce scaling. High temperature anti seize compound can be used too. I had to make several sizes, as there are four sizes of ring in the engine, ranging from 1.625" up to 5 inches. (low and high pressure pistons, and low and high pressure piston valves.) Each container was then heated up to a dull red heat and then kept there until I was confident that the heat would have soaked all the way through

Apart from the rings themselves, I don't think the material is critical provided it won't melt on you. The resulting rings are working well so far, I've taken the covers off enough to peer in at the bores and it all looks pretty good. The ring proportions are actually based on IC engine practice. The ones in the valves are apparently happy running over the ports.

John

Oops! Too late to edit a slip-up in my post. Correction: Chaddock's method described in 1967, not '57.