Thanks, gents. It'll be interesting to see if I can make it work again. The sight glass is what sold it to me too!Wow,that is a unique find;smacks of "Rube Goldberg"
That is a spectacular idea! Looks very well executed too. Great job!
Fortunately the good folks at Jiffy already thought of that.I'm always interested to see how folks adapt tools to make them work exactly the way they need them to; I learn a lot from just taking in others' engineering and retrofitting ideas. As easily distracted as I can be when working in the shop, though, I would have to put a relief valve on that thing somewhere!
Thanks steur. Still untested at this point, but I'll let you all know if it's a success.
Very cool! I like it, what kind of a funnel is that? If only those jiffy steamers put out more steam and a bit more pressure.
Thanks CWV. I fired it up this morning and am happy to report that, even without the pressure and volume of the $2500 commercial units, the steam to the funnel side is more than sufficient for my purposes. The funnel is a 6 1/2" galvanized job that I picked up from my local Rural King store for 7 bucks and there is a removable brass filter screen in the base that serves to diffuse the steam going into the funnel. I also made a cotton duck drawstring cover to keep the hats from touching the hot metal which has the added benefit of further diffusing and distributing the steam. All I was shooting for here was hands free, whole crown steaming prior to blocking and that's exactly what I got. I always love it when a plan comes together.
Very cool.It has kind of a steampunk look.
It does have that vib going on Dog. Glad to know I'm not the only one that sees the connection. Technically speaking, it produces steam and was made by a punk so I guess it's quintessentially "steampunk". Hah!
Now all it needs is a few clock parts and some welding goggles
Nice work steur! It's so true what they say about one man's trash...A couple of weeks back I posted soem pictures of an old steaming device. It's called the "Favorit" by German manufacturer G. Albrecht. Well, I've been tinkering with it and I have it working again! The hardest part was getting the closing cap to loosen up. Repaired the knob, removed the scale from the kettle with white vinegar (as far as it would go) and managed to find some old bakalite plugs that I rewired. Plugged it in with a fair bit of apprehension, but no full black-out ensued and the device lets rip an amount of steam like it needs to power a train. Joy! Even my wife looked at me with a hint of pride (after dismissing the whole "old junk" project for the last few weeks of course)
All it needs now is some polishing.
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Genius!!
I'm stumped. There must have been a functional reason for the roller system, but I'll be damned if I can figure out what it was.An unusual hat stretcher:
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Gustin Vintage Heavyweight Sweatshirt - Natural Rainbow Nep - $119 Rugged 14oz cotton that gets better with every wear. 
Grant Stone Diesel Boot Dark Olive Chromexcel - #395 Goodyear welted, Horween Chromexcel, classic good looks. 
Himel Bros. - The Ross Mk. 1 Leather Jacket Classic D-pocket motorcycle/aviator style jacket.
Thanks Abba. I guess you know there's a very fine line between genius and madness.
Yeah, madness is not being a genius!!
Now that, my friend Bowen, is a tea kettle worthy of a mad genius. Just too cool. Thanks for your kinds words about my hats.
