Maritime Museum – ‘new’ cooling lids

Our supplier Loctite was asked by the Scheepvaartmuseum Amsterdam to provide a quotation for the restoration of two cooling lids on the engine of the 113-year-old steamship “Christiaan Brunings.” Because Loctite only supplies materials, sales engineer Rob Helmich contacted Wivé Techniek. He asked us to participate in the quotation process as an application specialist.

On the first visit to the museum’s workshop, we were so impressed by the enthusiasm and commitment of all the volunteers that he came up with the idea of sponsoring the project. Once Wivé Techniek stepped in, Loctite quickly followed. The shipping museum received a quote of zero euros, and we were able to get to work. Here is the report on the restoration.

“The lids were first stripped of rust. When they arrived in our workshop, it turned out that so much material had been lost in the blasting process that I had to ask Loctite for more material. To start, I set the lids at the right height so I could easily reach them. That went fine with a stack of pallets. Then I leveled them.

In preparation, I had already put the coatings in the oven at 35 degrees. This actually promotes fluidity. After thoroughly degreasing with Loctite 7063 for a guaranteed grease-free surface, I could make the first kilo of Loctite 7227. I used this to force everything well into the pores with a brush. Then the large surfaces could be poured. 8 kilos on, the large bottom surfaces were nicely smooth.

For the first 10 minutes or so, do run the hair dryer over the surface to pop emerging air bubbles.”

“After curing the bottom overnight, a start could be made on the sides. First, of course, I sanded the edges for good adhesion and connection to the bottom. I smoothed the sides as best I could with Loctite 3478, a paste-like material with very good properties.

It’s already starting to look like something!

At a later stage this will have to be done again to really finish it. But this is enough to set molds for the flange faces.”

“After another night of drying, I made molds out of PE sheet. The advantage of this is that almost nothing sticks to it and you can put it in almost any shape. I put the molds on the inside and the outside so you get a kind of tray. Only the holes to attach the lids are still in there.

To get them sealed, I used pieces of garden hose and caulk tube nozzles (nice scrabble word). After these are assembled, any holes through which product can escape must be sealed with Loctite’s 3478.

Then I could start pouring, and after 5 kilograms of Loctite 7227, the pieces started to look like a lid again.”

“After curing the flange faces, the molds can come off and the garden hose plugs can come out. Now that the flange faces are neat again, I just need to finish the side. This I did with Loctite’s 3478 and a plastic row.”

“Because of casting, there is still a slight difference in height here and there. There are two ways to level this. With a milling machine, or by hand and a large orbital sander. I chose the latter.

Since the difference is so minimal, it is doable and saves costs. After an hour or two of sanding and checking for flatness with a row, I am extremely satisfied with the end result. The difference is minimal.

Now just sand everything completely and give it a final coat of Loctite 7227 to make it one piece.”

“After everything hardened properly, I neatly cleaned all the holes and the outer edge so that the whole thing could be transported back to the heart of Amsterdam. After 48 hours of work, the lids are again in better than new condition.

Only on the outside I didn’t do anything, because of course they didn’t have to be brand new covers, in such an old ship.”

“The lids were received in good order. The people at the Maritime Museum told us they got tears in their eyes when they saw the result. Fortunately, not from sadness.

They were extremely happy with it and immediately invited us to sail with them sometime soon.”