# A small steam engine



## firebird (Apr 11, 2009)

Hi

Since I finished my small boiler I haven't had a lot of time in the workshop, domestic duties, amongst other things, getting in the way. I also enjoy woodwork and am at the moment making a mahogany veneered and inlaid side table to match the coffee table I made a while back. I have some ideas as to the type of engine I would like to build to go with the boiler but don't seem to be able to find the time to get on with it at the moment. So I have decided to go back to basics and build a simple steam engine. Something that I can do in the odd half hour here and there without getting too complicated. I have the two books  BUILDING SIMPLE MODEL STEAM ENGINES by Tubal Cain that I read from cover to cover a few years back so dug them out and had a quick flick through again. I have also searched through some of the excellent little wobblers on this forum and looked at a few plans I have. I have settled on building a small vertical centre flu boiler and a horizontal oscillating engine. Nothing original I'm afraid, I openly admit that I have pinched ideas from all of these sources. I will not be working to any plans as such, just making it up as I go along. The project will be made mostly from the scrap box so will be adapted to whatever I have. The boiler will be very low pressure, around 15psi should be enough to run a litle engine. I will use the hydraulic pump I made to test my other boiler to test this one as well. I will include some drawings as I go along and photographs from start to finish. So here we go.

I have a piece of 2 inch dia. 20 guage (.037) copper tube 4 inch long, that'll do. A piece of 15mm 23guage (.028) copper pipe 7 3/4 inch long and a bit of copper plate 20 guage (.037)







Lightly centre dot and scribe two circles 2 3/8 dia. on the copper plate. These are for the boiler top and bottom plates. I have allowed for a 3/16 inch flange.






Centre a scrap of oak on the lathe face plate.






And screw on from behind. I use fat self tapping screws with washers, they have deep threads and bite into the wood tightly.






Cut the two copper plates out as close to scribed circle as possible.






Centre and hold the copper circle on the face plate using a revolving centre in the tail stock and a scrap of oak to apply pressure and turn to size.






The completed discs.






Turn a piece of alluminium (or whatever you have) to make a former to flange the plates. The size needed is the internal dia. of the coppper tube less twice the thickness of the copper plate.






Anneal the two copper plates and then form the flange with a soft mallet.






The top and bottom plates formed. 






I have decided to fit three bushes in the top plate. One threaded 1/4 x 40 which will be for the safety valve. Two others threaded 3/16 x 40, one for the steam outlet and the other for a small pressure guage. Two futher bushes threaded 1/4 x 40 will be fitted down the side of the boiler tube for a water guage. I may not fit a pressure guage, although it would look nice, but its much easier to fit the bushes now than try to do it later. The same goe's for the water guage, if I dont get round to making one I will just fit plugs to the bushes.

Heres the bushes made from phospher bronze.











Thats it for now. I'll keep posting as and when I get a bit more done.

Cheers

Rich


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## tel (Apr 11, 2009)

Nice one Rich - well up to the standard we have come to expect from you! Thm:


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## baldrocker (Apr 11, 2009)

Good one Rich.
Hope you don't mind if I build in parallel so to speak.
After all they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. :bow:
BR


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## firebird (Apr 12, 2009)

Hi 

Thanks for the compliment Tel, much appreciated

Hey BR, no problem at all. By watching my antics you should be able to make a better job of it than me!

I missed one of the dimensions off the bush drawings. The right hand one, the one made from 1/4 inch phospher bronze is turned down to 7/32 inch to form the shoulder.

Cheers

Rich


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## rake60 (Apr 12, 2009)

Looking good Rich!

Please take us along as it progresses.

Rick


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## firebird (Apr 14, 2009)

Hi

At the Easter holiday I work good friday and have tuesday off instead which meant I got a couple of hours in the shop today.

I started by drilling the holes in the top and bottom plates. Firstly I chucked the plates in the lathe and lightly centre drilled them to find the centres.






Holding circular items well clear of the mill table to give adequate drill clearance is always a problem, this is how I did it. First cut a disc of 12mm ply the same as the internal dia of the end plates.
















Then glue the disc to a scrap of 3 x 2. drill a couple of 10mm holes.






Then clamp the plate in the mill and centre it under the chuck using the previously centre drilled mark. I just lined it up by eye, nonedd for absolute accuracy here.






Drill out the centre hole using a step drill.






Move the table and then drill the two 7/32 holes.






Reposition the clamp and drill the 9/32 hole.






The bottom plate only has to have the centre flu hole drilled. The step drill I have has 2mm steps 10 12 14 16 etc, but not a 15mm to suit the size of the centre flu. I drilled out to 14mm and then had to re-chuck the plates and skim out the last 1mm with a boring bar.






The finished plates.






All the copper parts are now in the pickle bath.

I then started on the safety valve. A small boiler and engine like this really only needs something very simple like a bronze ball on top of a tube with a spring and adjusting nuts underneath which are inside the boiler when fitted. The problem with this type is that to make any adjustments the valve has to be removed, adjusted and re-fitted and tried again. Its very time consuming to set them correctly. I decided to make one similar but smaller to the type I made on my small boiler project which can be adjusted from the top without the need to remove it.

Face the end of a piece of 3/8 hex brass bar.






Turn down to a dia of 5/16 for 1/2 inch. I used a small round profile cutter to give a bit of shape.






Centre drill then drill through 1/8 to just over 1 inch depth.






Note I'm using the tail stock DRO I made.

Drill with a 5mm drill to a depth of .450






Then using a 5mm milling cutter finish the hole to a depth of .5 inch. The mill cutter will give a flat bottomed hole.






Part off to about 1 inch






Re-chuck and drill 5.5mm to a depth of 1/4 inch and tap 1/4 x 32.






Turn it round in the chuck. Note use of card to prevent marking.






Turn down to 1/4 inch dia 1/4 inch long and thread 1/4 x 32






The eagle eyed among you may have noticed that I have threaded the safety valve 1/4 x 32 but I have specified a 1/4 x 40 bush? Change of plan here. The safety valve will be used as the filler for the boiler so will get a fair amount of removal. I figure a 1/4 x 32 thread will be stronger than the 1/4 x40 so I have made a new bush 1/4 x 32 to suit. I have also made it a bit longer.






The valve body so far






Chuck a piece of scrap steel, drill and tap 1/4 x 32






Mount the valve into this with a copper washer






Transfer to the rotary table in the mill






Cross drill with a 5/32 drill






Chuck a piece of 1/4 round brass bar and drill through 1/8 and then thread 1/4 x 32.






Part off a piece about 1/2 inch long and screw into the valve body. This will be used to adjust the tension on the spring.






I'll knock up some drawings when I get time.

Thats it for today folks.

Cheers

Rich


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## 4156df (Apr 14, 2009)

Rich,

Super thread. Very timely for me as I will shortly need to start on the copper boiler for my build of Rudy's Steam Tractor. Keep 'em coming!

Dennis


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## baldrocker (Apr 16, 2009)

Love that safety valve.
BR


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## firebird (Apr 18, 2009)

Hi

I had a good few hours in the shop today so got a fair bit done. I continued with the safety valve by making a spring. I made it out of 26 guage bronze wire.






Hold a 1/8 round steel rod in the lathe and push the end of the bronze wire into the collet to hold it and with the lathe in its slowest gear wind a spring.






Stretch it out a bit.






Then cut a piece off.






I have used a 3/16 stainless steel ball in the valve. Assemble the valve with the ball, spring and adjuster. Make a lock nut from 5/16 hex brass bar.











You could use a stainless steel spring if you have one. I may have to shorten/lengthen my spring a bit when I get to the final setting up. A bit of trial and error.

Back to the boiler. Its been in the pickle for a few days. It looks pretty in pink.






I set up the boiler barrel in the mill to drill two holes for the water guage bushes. The top bush is about 5/16 from the top of the barrel and they are spaced 2 inches apart.











This is a little jig I made to hold the two bushes in alignment on my small boiler project so is being used again here.






Here it is set up ready for silver soldering the bushes in.






Heres the boiler parts together, fluxed and ready to silver solder.






You can see I have wrapped silver solder wire around the parts.






Turn it over and silver solder the bottom plate in. Note I have pushed the plate inside the boiler barrel about 3/16.






After a quick pickle and scrub up it looks ok.






I have made up a set of bungs and adapters ready to hydraulic test it. I will be attaching a pressure guage and the pump.






This is the hydraulic pump I made which will be used to test the boiler.






Cheers

Rich


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## arnoldb (Apr 18, 2009)

Thanks Rich, this is really nice. I didn't even know Phosphor Bronze spring wire existed!

The hydraulic pump is very nice as well :bow: , do you have any plans for it, or is it your own design?

You give me hope - I noticed you have an ML7 and the things you do are truly inspirational! - I have to get a bit more experience on mine.

Regards, Arnold


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## firebird (Apr 18, 2009)

Hi Arnold

Yes the pump is my own design. I have just finished making a small boiler for which I needed a pump to hydraulic test it. You will find a complete build of the boiler here on this forum in the  A WORK IN PROGRESS SECTION under the heading A SMALL BOILER. There are plans for the pump there as well, this link should take you to right page. http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=2092.120

Cheers

Rich


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## arnoldb (Apr 18, 2009)

Thanks Rich & VERY VERY much appreciated! :bow:

Regards, Arnold


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## baldrocker (Apr 18, 2009)

Hi Rich
I see that you changed from phosphor bronze to s/s for the ball in the
safety valve. Is this just a case of whats at hand, I hope so because
s/s is all I have.
Really enjoying this build and thread.
BR


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## firebird (Apr 19, 2009)

Hi BR

I have some SS and Bronze balls in 3/16. I forgot to mention that you should fit a steel ball to the valve and then with a small punch tap the ball to seat it in the valve body then change the ball for a bronze one. I just decided to leave the SS in place. If it leaks a little I can give it another tap. Nitrile balls seem to be favoured now because they seat and seal better than the metal ones. I have a couple of nitrile balls that I bought at a show but I'm b******d if I can find them at the moment. I have just fished the boiler out of the pickle where its been all night and noticed that the silver solder hadn't taken all round the top plate. I had a few minutes to spare so re fluxed it and and gave it another go. You should never rush these jobs. It's soldered OK this time I think but there is more sliver solder around the top than I would like, looks a bit messy. I'll have a go at cleaning it up later but I must take care, the copper aint all that thick.

Cheers

Rich


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## firebird (Apr 19, 2009)

Hi

after re soldering and another pickle it looks ok.











I annealed the copper washers before fitting the bungs and adapters.






The bungs and adapters fitted with the pressure guage and pump piped up. The boiler is held to a wooden stand with a plastic strap. The guage is the last thing to be fitted. The boiler filled with water and the hand pump operated until water comes out of the guage pipe (the highest point) then the guage fitted. This way very little if any air remains in the boiler.











I pumped the pressure up to 40psi, which is double the maximum pressure it will run at. A successful test, no leaks and the pressure held.

Heres some video





About 15 minutes later.





I made another adapter and fitted the pressure relief valve. After playing about with the adjustment I got it to blow off at about 18 psi. That will do for now. I know it works ok so it can now be set when under steam.




[/U

Cheers

Rich


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## cfellows (Apr 19, 2009)

Great job, Rich! Maybe I missed this, but, did you calculate the release pressure of the safety valve or are you using the "cut and try" method? 

Thx...
Chuck


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## firebird (Apr 19, 2009)

Hi Chuck

Calculated of course, ;D ;D ;D ;D  then stick it in and try it. Actually I have the bronze wire in several guages and have some experience from my other small boiler project so you could say a calculated guesstimate.

Cheers

Rich


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## firebird (Apr 20, 2009)

Hi

I have started on the burner tonight. I have a piece of brass tube around 1 5/8 dia so chopped a piece off that 1 1/4 high. I will make a couple of brass flanged plates in a similar fashion to how the boiler plates were made. I have measured the internal dia of the tube and measured the thickness of the brass sheet I have (.032) and made a former from some steel bar.






Mark out the brass sheet and cut out 2 pieces.






Turn them to size.






The pieces so far.






Cheers

Rich


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## Majorstrain (Apr 20, 2009)

Superb work Rich,
I was hoping you would do a burner 

Cheers,
Phil
Soon to build your boiler, burner, and pump. :bow: :bow: :bow:


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## firebird (Apr 21, 2009)

Hi

Just enough time tonight to do a bit of brass bashing. firstly though the brass discs have to be annealed. You have to be careful here when heating the brass. Keep the flame moving until the brass just begins to glow red then stop or you will end up with a molten lump. Brass is not so forgiving as copper.
Anyway once its annealed tap it over the former to make a flange.






I held them in the lathe on the former and turned the sides until they were a nice slide fit in the tube. Because the brass tube is thin walled I don't want to have to force them in.






The top and bottom plates, one fitted in the tube.






Cheers

Rich


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## firebird (Apr 22, 2009)

Hi

I have done some more work on the burner tonight. The parts have been in the pickle over night so are are well clean. I decided to silver solder the top in then drill the holes.

The top fluxed and ready for soldering.







After soldering find and mark the centre.











Hold in the chuck on the rotary table in the mill and drill four 6mm holes with a step drill. Sorry about the jump from imperial to metric but I have a length of 6mm OD (5mm ID) brass tube that I am using for the wick tubes so to make life easy I have turned the brass bush to 6mm that way I can drill the centre hole at the same time.






The brass bush in the centre will have a bung with a vent hole drilled through and will be used to fill the burner with meths.






I cut brass tube into 3 pieces then sized them all the same in the lathe. They ended up at 0.485 inches each.

The tubes and bush fluxed and ready for soldering. Not seen is a piece of brass inside the burner that the tubes are resting on to keep them all at the same height.






After silver soldering.






I have made a handle from 1/16 brass rod (brazing rod) by firstly winding around some 1/2 inch brass rod then twisting the two ends together.






Cut to size, bend the ends over 90 degrees and silver solder to the burner tank.






To give you an idea of how it will look here it is under the boiler.






Being all brass it should polish up nicely.

Cheers

Rich


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## cfellows (Apr 22, 2009)

firebird  said:
			
		

>



Aren't you kind of worried about the wooden support catching on fire when you light 'er up? :big:

Chuck


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## baldrocker (Apr 22, 2009)

Or melting the plastic tie. 
BR


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## firebird (Apr 23, 2009)

Hi

Hmmmmmmmmmmm hadn't thought of that. Maybe I should make a metal one. I'l look into it, thanks for the tip guys. :big: :big: :big: :big:

Just had time tonight to make the filler plug. 

Knurl a bit of 3/8 brass.






Turn down and thread 3/16 then drill through 1/16 for the vent hole.






Shape with a round profile tool.






Then part off.






Fitted in the burner.






Cheers

Rich


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## firebird (Apr 25, 2009)

Hi

First job this afternoon was to try the burner. I bought a mop head from the market for a £1.00 that provides plenty of wick material.






One strand is enough to make 3 lengths that are then doubled over and pushed into the burner.






Fill the tank with a small syringe.











It burns OK






I have a piece of 2 inch dia ally tube to make the firebox from. The base is made from 1/4 ally plate.

Marking out.






Cut roughly to size with a 6mm hole in the centre






Drill and tap 6mm a piece of 1 inch dia steel and bolt the base to it with a good washer (home made).











Turn to size and profile the edge.






Grind a tool the same thickness as the wall thickness of the ally tube.











Machine a groove the same dia as the ally tube. I think this is called trepanning.






So far.






Because the boiler tube and ally tube have slightly different inside dia I had to make an adapter. I made it a tight fit in both parts.

Turning the adapter.






Trial fit to the boiler.






Turn down to a shoulder and trial fit the ally tube.






Bore out.






Part off.






I thought I had squared the boiler tube but the bottom wasn't good enough so I very carefully mounted it in the lathe and with light cuts trimmed the bottom.






A better fit now.






Mark out the firebox hole and make two cuts on the bandsaw. ( or fretsaw would do)






Then mount in the mill and with a 1/8 cutter complete the hole.
















Fitted together.











Cheers

Rich


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## Maryak (Apr 25, 2009)

Rich,

Another very nice boiler - looking forward to the engine build.

Best Regards
Bob


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## firebird (Apr 28, 2009)

Hi

The engine I will be building to go with this little boiler is loosely based on a set of plans I down loaded. So as not to infringe on any copy right I will just show what I make along with my own drawings.
I have started by making a drilling jig. Its important to get this bit right so I took a bit of care. The jig I made from a piece of 16mm X 2mm mild steel 2 1/4 inches long. The 16mm width is not critical anything that is wide enough will do. If you look at the drawing, the side marked X , just above the 5/32 line, is the only critical side. Set the piece up in the mill vice and clock to make sure its perfectly in line.






Square off one end.






set the datum point and zero the dials. I use a laser centre finder, they are really easy to use. drill the holes.






The finished jig with a drawing.






Cheers

Rich


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## baldrocker (Apr 28, 2009)

This is brilliant, a classic "a picture is worth a thousand words"
Enjoying following along a couple of posts behind.
Looking forward to the engine.
BR. Thm: Thm:


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## firebird (Apr 30, 2009)

Hi

I hope this works BR. If not there will be two of us with fancy paper weights :big: :big: :big:

Anyway tonight I started on the frame. On the plans I have it says use a piece of 1inch X 2 1/4 X 1/4 ally like the top sketch. You could of course use brass. The plans show a small flywheel of steel 1 1/4 dia. I don't have anything that size but I have got a piece of ally 2 inch X 3/8. I'm going to make the frame as per the bottom drawing. The extra height will allow for a larger (fancier) flywheel. The plans also show a small connector (for a small dia push on air pipe) fitted into the end of the frame into the 1/4 inch wide part. I will need to fit a steam connector so I think the extra width of 3/8 will allow for a decent brass fitting.

The piece of ally bar I have.






Marked out with a little extra for machining.






Cut out. The cut out piece would make the foot although I may use a piece of brass for this.






Cheers

Rich


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## kustomkb (Apr 30, 2009)

Another great play by play, nice work!

Thanks.


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## firebird (May 2, 2009)

Hi

I did some more work on the frame today. First job was to mount the frame squarely in the mill and machine the inside faces.






Two holes must be drilled, one for the cylinder pivot (1/8) and one for the crankshaft (5/16) The plans I have call for these two holes to be reamed. I have a 5/16 reamer but not a 1/8 so I have just drilled this hole. However I tried several drills on a piece of scrap to find the one that has the best fit to the 1/8 stainless steel round bar I will use for the pivot.






Having found a datum the crankshaft hole is centred.






Then drilled.






Then reamed.






Thinking about it afterwards, a bush will be made to fit into the 5/16 hole so reaming is not necassary.

Then the 1/8 pivot hole is centred and drilled.






Iv'e started a drawing, I'll add to it as we go along.






Make a locating pin as per the drawing. Make it a good fit. I missed a dimension off the drawing. The locating pin is made from 5/16 round bar.






The pin fitted in the frame.






This photo shows how the drilling jig is used. Pivoting on a piece of 1/8 rod and resting on the locating pin. Note the side marked x is the side to use.






Here the frame is clamped in the mill with the drilling jig clamped to the frame. Move the table until the drill enters the jig and drill 1/16. The lower hole is drilled right through and the top hole is drilled just over half way.






Heres a closer look of the hole being drilled.






Turn the jig over and clamp to the other side. Make sure you use the side marked X






After drilling.






A bit more added to the drawing.






Turn the frame over and drill and tap 4mm (or whatever you have) for the foot mounting.
















A bit more added to the drawing.






Cut the frame from its parent and machine to 7/8.











Carry a line from the top hole round to the front of the frame.











Drill and tap 3/16 x 40 for the steam pipe connection.











A bit more added to the drawing.






Thats all for today folks.

Cheers

Rich


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## firebird (May 3, 2009)

Hi

I have decided to have a go at making a steam valve with which I am hoping to be able to close off the steam and regulate it as well. This is my own design so I am sort of making it as I go along. I started with a drawing to get an idea of sizes etc. but it will be modified as I progress. Don't copy me until I know it works. I said at the start that I intend to fit a water guage and pressure guage as well. All these accesories are not needed for this little steamer, its just me practising.

Anyway heres a sketch of what I am doing. There are no measurements included, I'll fill them in later if it works ok.






I started by chucking a piece of 1/4 round brass and turning down to 3/16. Then centre drill and run the centre drill right in to create a cone shape. The pipe nipple will seat in the cone.






Then drill through 1/16.

Move to the mill and cross drill 1/16.






Then drill 4mm.






Then tap 3/16 x 40. Just a couple of threads will do.






Turn and thread 3/16 x 40 a piece of 3/16 brass bar and drill through 1/16. Part off.






A trial fit in the valve body. It will be silver soldered in.






The body is returned to the lathe and drilled short of final depth with a 3/32 drill. I ground a 3/32 drill flat to finish the hole and give it a flat bottom.






Then a flat bottom hole is made with a 4mm mill cutter.






Then tapped 3/16 x 40. Note the finish tap has been ground to a flat to get to the bottom of the hole.






A trial fit in the frame.






Cheers

Rich


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## bearcar1 (May 3, 2009)

That's going to be cool when you're finished Rich. Nice work. I like the "more added to the drawings" method. ;D ;D

BC1


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## firebird (May 3, 2009)

Hi BC1

I'm working from rough sketches so do a decent drawing as each part or operation is complete, I find it easier that way. I think it shows the progress better as well. Because I photograph each stage I have a good reference library for future use.

Cheers

Rich


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## bearcar1 (May 3, 2009)

Hi Rich,

 That is a great method of documenting a build, the sketches, along with pictures th_wwp are a terrific way of displaying all of the steps involved and makes it easier to replicate at a later date. Keep up the good work and I can't wait to see your stop valve when its completed. Tally HO! ;D


BC1


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## firebird (May 4, 2009)

Hi

A bit more work on the steam valve today. I'm not sure if gland is the right word but thats what I'll call it for now. Chuck a piece of 7/32 brass hex bar and drill tapping size for 10BA. Turn down and thread 3/16 x 40.











Counter bore to a flat bottom hole about half way with the previously ground flat 3/32 drill.






Part off and screw into a piece of brass drilled and tapped 3/16 x 40.






Tap 10 BA






The needle is made from 3/32 stainless steel round bar. I don't have a collet that size as yet so I mount a drill chuck in the head stock. Chuck a piece of 3/32 SS and turn down to 10Ba size.






Reverse in the chuck and turn the taper. I set the top slide over 6 degrees.






Reverse in the chuck again and thread 10 BA.






The parts so far.






The needle screwed into the gland.






The gland screwed into the body.






The threaded part screwed in.






I have designed it so that when assembled the needle cannot be accidentally screwed right out and releasing all the steam. The needle comes up to a shoulder inside the gland.

I have made a small hand wheel for the valve from a piece of 5/16 stainless steel round bar. Firstly centre drill and drill tapping size for 10 BA. Move the chuck to the rotary table in the mill, drill six more holes round the edge with a small centre drill.






Turn the rotary table and chuck to the horizontal position and mill six slots. With care you can do this with the same centre drill. Light cuts and very slowly.






Return to the lathe and part off.






Hold the hand wheel in a 5/16 collet and tap 10 BA






A drawing






So far
















Cheers

Rich


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## gilessim (May 4, 2009)

Thats great looking work Rich!, I admire your patience, not only for your inventiveness but also for taking the time to upload all your clear photos of your progress, you need patience for that too! good on ya!!

Giles


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## firebird (May 4, 2009)

Hi Giles

Patience is definitely a virtue thats needed for these small parts. There are 5 or 6 needles in the bin before I got to the one you see here. If the tool height is slightly off centre, if you take too deep a cut disaster happens but new skills were learned today.

Cheers

Rich


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## Maryak (May 5, 2009)

Rich,

Patience is a virtue :bow: and one I never have been good at :-\

Best Regards
Bob


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## firebird (May 5, 2009)

Hi

The same here Bob but I must be mellowing with age. ;D ;D ;D

Tonight I silver soldered the the threaded bit into the body. For small items like this I use one of these little torches. Very easy to use for small stuff.






After soldering.






Cleaned up a bit, reassembled and test fitted in the frame with a lock nut made from 1/4 hex brass. Note the 10 BA nut on top. Normally the hand wheels would have a square hole in the centre and fit onto a square shank on the needle but I can't machine that small! On final assembly the gland will have a bit of packing, maybe graphite string or a bit of PTFE tape, in the hole before it is screwed in to seal against the shank of the needle and the handwheel and lock nut will be assembled with loctite. Before that I'll drill and tap 3/16 x 40 a bit of scrap ally that I can hold in the vise to screw the valve into for a final polish.






Cheers

Rich


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## Noitoen (May 5, 2009)

I think Rich is a little afraid to build an engine :hDe: He will take any chance to deviate from the engine project. First there were pages and pages of small boiler build. Beautiful I must ad. Now comes a thread on a small steam engine and again ..... boiler....piece of engine....control valve....what next. scratch.gif 

Don't be afraid to build the engine. It will work fine, be beautiful and win project of the month for sure. Thm:


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## Paolo (May 5, 2009)

Nice job...great!!!
Cheers
paolo


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## firebird (May 5, 2009)

Hi

Thanks Paolo

Helder, what next, who knows, it's all good fun though. I decided to build this little boiler and wobbler because my time in the shop is limited to half hours here and there at the moment. I still need to learn a few things before I start on a decent engine to go with the horizontal boiler thats why I'm practising on this one. Later on this year I'll be able to have more time in the shop to concentrate and play with something a little more ambitious ;D ;D ;D. Meanwhile this will do to keep me going.

Cheers

Rich


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## bentprop (May 5, 2009)

Looking good sofar,Rich.
I have one small remark.With the little handwheel,I would put the locknut on first,and then the handwheel on top.Tighten nut against handwheel,and it's out of sight.Just a thought.
Regards.Hans.


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## Noitoen (May 6, 2009)

Hans has a point there. There is no need to hide the hand wheel behind a nut. 
In relation to what I said, just kidding. I too, many times go a long way "around the bush" before reaching the final objective. Especially when I make something to sell, when it goes away it seems that something inside me goes with it.


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## tel (May 6, 2009)

Noitoen  said:
			
		

> Especially when I make something to sell, when it goes away it seems that something inside me goes with it.



Ah, I know that feeling. Over the years I've sold 3 or 4 of my engines, and come to regret it every time.


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## firebird (May 6, 2009)

Hi

Good idea Hans, on the final assembly I'l try the nut underneath. I don't have a piece of brass suitable to make the cylinder as yet, thats another reason I have drifted off a bit. I hope to get some at the weekend so I can continue with the engine.

cheers

Rich


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## firebird (May 18, 2009)

Hi

I haven't had the opportunity to spend much time on this project of late, my apologies to any who has been waiting. 

I made one small part tonight, the bush for the crankshaft. Its a straightforward turning job from a piece of 3/8 round brass. the photos and drawing should be all that's needed for this part. Aim to get a good light push fit in the frame.

Turn, drill and ream.







Part off.






The finished bush.






Fitted in the frame.











I have finished a couple of drawings of the cylinder and cylinder cover. The first is actual size while the second is enlarged. Easier on old eyes. I'm fairly confident that I have got all the dimensions right.











Cheers

Rich


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## NickG (May 19, 2009)

Rich,

Not been on here for a while, looking good ... and another boiler! That one seemed a doddle to you, think you're becoming an expert!

Nick


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## firebird (May 19, 2009)

Hi Nick

An expert : : : I don't think so, but the more I do the more confident I become.

Anyway heres the cylinder. The plan calls for a cylinder of 1/2 inch by 5/8 by 1 1/16. I have a piece of brass 5/8 x 5/8. Cut off a piece 1 3/16 long. Chuck in the 4 jaw and face one end. It doesn't have to be exactly centralised for this operation. then turn over and face the other end and turn to size.






set up in the mill and using an edge finder, I use a laser, set the DRO (or dials) to zero.






Centre drill the 4 stud positions.






Then lightly centre drill the cylinder bore centre.






Drill the 4 stud holes tapping size for 10 BA.






Then tap 10 BA






Centre the cylinder in the 4 jaw chuck. If you go to the TIPS AND TRICKS section of this forum and look at CENTREING A 4 JAW CHUCK you will see the piece of kit I have just made which makes the task of centreing very easy and accurate. Then drill the bore slightly under size.






Then ream 3/8






The cylinder almost done. I have to reduce the width to 1/2 inch by milling 1/16 off each side.






On the plans I have it shows the cylinder as made in one piece by carefully drilling, boring and reaming a blind hole. This would save the trouble of making the cylinder cover and studs etc. 

Cheers

Rich


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## Groewrs (May 19, 2009)

G'day Rich,

Nice work so far! Very informative 

Just on your last note though: The plans for my first engine (an oscillator) called for a blind bore of 5/16". From memory we had a bu%%#r of a time getting it 5/16" all the way through. Ended up grinding down the tapered section of the hand reamer. I've avoided such problems ever since! I reckon the cylinder covers are a MUCH better idea ;D

Keep up the good work 

Gordon


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## NickG (May 20, 2009)

I have done oscillators with blind bores before also but I think it's better practice to bore all the way through and use a cover. I always do it that way now.


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## bearcar1 (May 20, 2009)

Nice work. :bow: Whenever I have machined cylinders with a cover involved, I found it best to make both parts and then mate them up and drill the assembly in situ. That way there are no variances between the holes. Once the tap drill has been used, I remove the cover and open out those holes with the proper clearance drill. Of course I mark the orientation of the pieces so that they can be assembled back together the same way every time. This process has saved me from oval-ing out the one hole that always seemed to 'stray' out of alignment. But then again, I am old fashioned and set in my ways. :

BC1


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## firebird (May 20, 2009)

Hi

Imade the cylinder cover tonight. A piece of 1/2 inch square brass is chucked and faced then set up in the mill and with an edge finder a datum found. 4 holes are centre drilled and a centre drill in the centre. The 4 stud holes are drilled clearance for 10 BA.






The part is then returned to the 4 jaw and centred as described earlier.






The 1/32 boss is then turned.






Then parted off.











This is the set up I used to make some 10 BA stud . I used 1/16 stainless steel to make the stud.











Screw a length of stud in with a brass nut and cut off with dremel type tool. The studs are over long at the moment, I will trim them down on final assembly.






The cover fits well, all the holes line up ok.






Cheers

Rich


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## NickG (May 21, 2009)

Rich,

Good stuff. Did you use the DRO to locate the holes? I always struggle getting them to line up properly and end up going a size up with the clearance hole! Suppose I should use the method of clamping and drilling through everything or turn the register , drill holes then part of cover from same stock before opening up!

Nick.

ps. I reckon it'd look better if all those studs were cut the same length!


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## firebird (May 21, 2009)

Hi

Nick, I use a laser edge finder. They are brilliant. I have used the sort that puts a light on when it contacts an edge, DTI's and wigglers but the laser is by far the best. Where the red dot is that is the centre. You don't have to half anything or make any calculations, just zero your dials. Less than half a thou accuracy. I zero on one corner of the workpiece and then work from there. The studs will be cut to length on final assembly as stated above.

Tonight I made the piston. Well almost made the piston, there is still some work to do on it.. On the plans I have it shows making the piston from brass and the conrod seperately and screw them together. I have made mine in one piece from stainless steel. 

Chuck a piece of 3/8 stainless steel round bar and mark roughly where to turn to. Centre drill the end and support with a revolving centre. I have already checked that the 3/8 will not quite go in the bore.






Turn down to 1/4






Run in with a parting tool to leave 1/8






Turn away the central part to form the conrod.






Grind a tool and cut the 3 oil grooves.






Part off






Reverse in the chuck and turn the piston to size. The big end is still over long with the centre drill still in it at the moment.






The piston only needed a light touch with wet and dry spinning in the lathe to get a nice fit in the bore.











Cheers

Rich


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## firebird (May 25, 2009)

Hi

I have finished the piston and conrod. Take a look at the drawing first.






On the plans that I have it says take the measurement from the top of the piston to the centre of the crank pin. As you will see from the following photos, with the set up I used to mill the flats on the con rod I couldn't get at the top of the piston to find a datum. Had I measured the piston length accurately first I could have drilled the crankpin hole at the same set up by using the bottom of the piston as a datum. As it turned out my piston is .501 so I could have done it.

Set up in the rotary table and tail stock to mill th flats.






Mill the first flat then turn 180 degrees and mill the second flat.






Set up in a V block to drill the crank pin hole.






Centre drill






Drill.






Then finally ream 1/8






The finished pisto and con rod.






Cheers

Rich


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## firebird (May 25, 2009)

Hi

I machined the cylinder to the required width of 1/2 inch.











The pivot will be made from 1/8 stainless steel. I need this to be a good fit in the 1/8 hole that will be drilled in the cylinder so I did a test drill on some scrap ally first. Drilled under size then finished with an 1/8 end mill.






Its a good fit.






Make the pivot.






Set the cylinder up in the mill and use an edge finder to get a datum. You can just see the laser red dot on the edge of the cylinder.






Centre drill.






Drill.






Finish with the end mill, 5/32 deep. Don't go right through into the cylinder.






Machine away the cylinder face.











The pivot pushed into the cylinder with flux and a small amount of silver solder wire.






In the brazing hearth.






Even though the pivot was a tight fit in the cylinder, after silver soldering I tried it in the frame only to find the two faces weren't parallel. I drilled a 1/8 hole through some scrap all and clamped it to the cylinder then re-heated to melt the silver solder and align the pivot.






I'm not completely happy with the outcome. The piston wouldn't fit in the cylinde so I had to ream it out again. The piston now fits but its not as good as it was in the first place. If I were to make the cylinder again using this method of construction I would make a jig to hold the pivot true while I silver soldered it in place. I think a better way would be to cut a couple of threads on the end of the pivot and tap the cylinder. Then assemble the cylinder/pivot/frame together with spot of loctite on the thread. This would ensure that the two faces meet accurately.

The original plans call for the crank pin to be 3/32. I don't have a 3/32 reamer so I upped the size to 1/8, a reamer size I do have. This means that the drill jig will have to be modified. To re-locate the hole I set the jig up loosely in the mill. With a centre in the quill bring it down till it enters the hole and centres it. Then tighten the hold down clamp. Drill and ream the jig 1/8.






Place the jig on the pivot and push a piece of 1/8 rod through the jig and the crank pin hole.











Set up in the mill. A short piece of copper tube with a nut and washer holds the jig still.






Drill the 1/16 hole.






A test fit in the frame. The holes line up perfectly.






Cheers

Rich


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## jthulin (May 25, 2009)

Sorry things didn't work out as planned Rich ???

Here is a photo of my current build that is similar:






The original plans called for the pivot to thread into the cylinder, but my version is altered slightly. I made the pivot shaft a little larger diameter through the bushing, thinking it would carry the load better, but it also provides a square shoulder to the cylinder face which should help keep things square. The actual cylinder is a piece of tube to be brazed onto the piece in the picture. The major diameter of the pivot is 0.187" and both threads are 6-32. 

Keep up the nice work!


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## firebird (May 25, 2009)

Hi Jeff

That looks to be a better idea, along the lines of what I had in mind. The pivot could be soft soldered in I suppose which would require less heat but would still need a little jig of some sort to ensure a perfect angle. My cylinder/pivot will work ok I think, its just disappointing when you have spent quite a bit of time making a part that things don't work out as planned.

Cheers

Rich


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## NickG (May 26, 2009)

Rich,

Funnily enough in the past I've always threaded the pivot pins and hole in cylinder but I've always had problems, so on my last build a few months ago I used the same method you did and got much better results and without using a jig. I must have just been lucky, I went for a tight fit and then soft soldered, so I suppose there was less chance of distorting. I don't think it'd get hot enough to melt the soft solder.

I think it's easier to maintain the perpendicularity with a plain location diameter rather than a thread. Even if you get the hole perpendicular you might not tap it straight and likewise with the male thread, unless you screw cut it. You could of course have both a thread and accurate location dia., however, with our designs there isn't much meat in the cylinder, so the other danger for us is bottoming out the tap and stripping the thread. Done that before!

Good work, you've got the hard bit done, the pin and getting the ports to line up.

Nick


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## firebird (May 26, 2009)

Hi Nick

Thats a mouthful of a word  perpendicularity but I like it. As with most things practise makes perfect I suppose. This is my first wobbler so its not going to bad so far.

Cheers

Rich


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## Noitoen (May 26, 2009)

:idea: You could make a pin with a little "ball like" feature just outside the joint in the cylinder. That way even if was a little out of "perpendicularity", it would center itself. :hDe:


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## firebird (May 26, 2009)

Hi Noitoen

That sounds like a good idea, have you got a photo or a sketch of it. ??? ??? ???

Made the crankshaft today. I started with a piece of brass in the lathe and turned to size.







Drill out.






Transfer to the mill and rotary table and centre the whole assembly with a centre in the quill then clamp the table to the mill.






Drill for the crank pin. I used a No. 31 drill. The crankpin is a press fit in the hole.






Mill the webs with a 1/4 inch end mill.






Return to the lathe and part off.











The crank shaft is turned to a press fit size in the web. The crank pin is also a press fit. I used a bit of loctite on assembly.





















Cheers

Rich


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## firebird (May 26, 2009)

Hi

I also built the flywhel today. The plans I have show a 1 inch dia x 1/2 wide steel flywheel. Very plain looking and not to my taste. It seems to me that flywheels are a very personal thing. I have always fancied having a go at a spoked flywheel so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to try.

A piece of scrap thick walled ally tube in the lathe. Turned and bored to clean it up.











Transferred to the rotary table on the mill. Good thing about Myford chucks they screw off the lathe and can be screwed onto an adapter in the rotary table. The finished flywheel will be a 1/4 inch wide. Centre drill for 5 spokes.






After drilling and reaming 1/8 test some 1/8 stainless steel in the holes.






The centre boss is made from 1/2 inch brass. Held in a collet, clean up the outside then drill and ream 3/16.






The centre boss will be 1/2 inch wide. Transfer to the rotary table in the mill. Centre drill for 5 spokes. Drill out tapping size for 1/8 x 40 then tap.











I have some 3mm grub screws. Drill and tap a hole in between 2 spokes for the grub screw.











Return to the lathe and shape with a round profile cutter. Part off.






The spokes are 1/8 stainless steel slightly over long at the moment. Thread one end for 1/8 x 40 for 3/32.






A trial fit of the spokes.






Back in the lathe the centre hub is supported on a piece of 3/16 rod in the tail stock. the spokes are screwed in and tightened with pliers. A drop of loctite on the thread and in the outer rim.

Saw off the excess spoke.






Turn the outer rim and spoke ends.






Part off.











A trial fit.
















Cheers

Rich


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## Noitoen (May 26, 2009)

Don't laugh :hDe:


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## jthulin (May 26, 2009)

Noitoen  said:
			
		

> Don't laugh :hDe:



Why laugh at a good idea? To further the thought, why not locate the "ball" at the joint between the _cylinder_ piece and the _base_ piece depicted in your drawing. This could allow a ball nose end mill or something to mill the _pocket_ on each side, then assemble... could be tricky with a soldered/ brazed joint though... scratch.gif

The flywheel looks great Rich Thm:


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## RobWilson (May 26, 2009)

Great job Rich
love the fly wheel :bow: :bow: :bow:
Rob


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## bearcar1 (May 26, 2009)

Nicely done Rich, BRAVO! I appreciate the 'fluted' hub ends, they add a bit of elan as well as some depth. I agree, a "plain jane" round disc would have been rather boring  at its finest. Bravo! for a job well executed Thm:


BC1


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## Maryak (May 27, 2009)

Nice 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 wheel Rich, :bow: :bow: :bow:

Best Regards
Bob


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## Brian Rupnow (May 27, 2009)

Very nice flywheel.---Brian


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## NickG (May 27, 2009)

Rich,

Don't know if it's even a word but you knew what I meant! 

Like your crank, I have never made a crank with the bits machined away to balance it, never felt it necessary but I now admit it does look better!

That is one smart flywheel too, far too complicated for me!

Nick


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## firebird (May 27, 2009)

Hi

Thankyou gentlemen for the kind words. The flywheel only came about because I took an extra days holiday on the bank holiday and managed to swing most of the day in my workshop, a rare treat. That gave me time to try a few things that I hadn't tried ( or had the time ) before. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get it to spin true but when screwing the spokes in it sort of self aligns. I have to make a mandrel now so I can spin it in the lathe to give a final cut especially on the side where it was parted off. I think now I could confidently build a flywheel of 6 or 7 ich dia using this method.

Cheers

Rich


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## firebird (May 30, 2009)

Hi

Made up a mandrel today to finish the flywheel and gave it a polish while I could spin it in the lathe.






I then set to and cleaned up the engine parts and gave them a polish too. I fixed the frame onto a scrap of wood and then assembled the engine. Connected it up to the compressor and away it went.

Heres a video of its test run. Sorry about the sound,some idiot had his finger over the microphone. : : :





Cheers

Rich


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## Noitoen (May 30, 2009)

Cool. :big: :big:


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## DavesWimshurst (May 30, 2009)

Rich,
 That's one sweet running engine! :bow: :bow:
Dave


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## zeeprogrammer (May 30, 2009)

Very nice Rich.

I always like peeking into your shop. Very sunny. I live in the basement. Someday I hope to have windows...any downsides to that?

Thanks.


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## firebird (May 30, 2009)

Hi

Thanks for the support. This is my first engine so it was especially rewarding to see it run.
Hi Carl. There are down sides to everything I suppose. Its a little colder in the winter, not much cos the windows are double glazed sealed units. It can get a little warm in the summer but nothing a fan can't cure. Taking photos with sunlight streaming in is hard. Overall though you can't beat natural daylight.

Cheers

Rich


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## Maryak (May 30, 2009)

Rich,

Congratulations, that's a lovely 1st engine, smooth as silk. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Best Regards
Bob


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## rake60 (May 30, 2009)

Congrats Rich!

Nice runner! Thm:

Rick


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## NickG (May 31, 2009)

Well done Rich! ;D


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## firebird (May 31, 2009)

Hi

Again thanks for the encouragement :bow: :bow: :bow:

I have started on the water guage for the boiler. The bottom connection I made by drilling 1/8 a piece of 5/16 round brass. I used an end mill to finish and flat bottom the hole. Thread 1/4 x 40.







In the mill cross drill and tap.











Thread a length of 1/4 brass rod and drill through clearance for the 5/32 glass tube.






Part off a short piece and screw into the body. Leave about a 1/4 inch of thread. Silver solder in then part off in the lathe.






The top connection is made in a similar fashion but must be bored through clearance for the glass tube. The body is longer and drilled and tapped 1/4 x 40 in the top to accept a bung after the glass has been fitted.
















A trial fit in the boiler. The connections will have thin lock nuts on the thread that screws into the boiler so that they can be alogned then locked in place.






Atrial fit of the glass tube. Its a good idea to use a bit of 5/32 steel or brass rod while aligning the connections.











Cheers

Rich


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## arnoldb (May 31, 2009)

That's coming along nicely Rich

I like your engine a lot ! :bow:

Regards, Arnold


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## firebird (May 31, 2009)

Hi 

Thanks Arnold

Cheers

Rich


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## gilessim (May 31, 2009)

That's great work Rich, nice when it runs isn't it!, BTW are you using O-rings to seal the glass tube, or some kind of brass olive?

Giles


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## b.lindsey (May 31, 2009)

Beautiful engine Rich, and I like the flywheel very much. Looks like the boiler is coming along nicely too!

Regards,
Bill


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## firebird (May 31, 2009)

Hi

Thanks Bill

Giles, I have some 'O' rings that slip over the tube and are squashed by the nuts. I also have some soft silicon tube that can have pieces sliced off to make the seals, I saw this method being used somewhere but can't remember where i saw it now. I'll try both methods and see which one works best.

Cheers

Rich


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## Noitoen (May 31, 2009)

You could make a gland by turning a little Teflon, it's soft and it handles the pressure and heat very well


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## firebird (May 31, 2009)

Hi Helder

Thats a method I have not seen. Do you have a drawing or photo I could see.

Cheers

Rich


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## Noitoen (May 31, 2009)

Imagine a electric cable gland, it has a little taper to the gland side and the nut has one in the opposite direction. In the middle there is a rubber ring (substitute with Teflon). When you tighten it compresses the seal against the cable (tube) ;D


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## jthulin (Jun 1, 2009)

Great progress :bow: The "invisible" flywheel is cool Thm:


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## blackrose (Jun 2, 2009)

That's great to you that you made a lot of effort for that things,i hope you may success.thanks for it.


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## Paolo (Jun 2, 2009)

Really nice work...!!!
Cheers Paolo


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## firebird (Jun 13, 2009)

Hi

Its been a while since I have managed to get anything done but today saw me with a good few hours in the shop so some progress was made.

I have finished the water guage. The 2 nuts shown in previous photos were 2 I already had but the hole was too big so I had to make 2 new ones that suit the glass I am using. I won't bore you with photos of how to make a nut but show just one which is a tap that I have ground flat which allows me, carefully, to tap almost to the bottom of holes.






I then made 2 thin lock nuts and a bung. Heres all the parts with the yet uncut glass tube.






Lining up the top and bottom fittings with a drill.






Cutting the glass is fairly easy. Use a diamond file to mark all round the glass.






Then snap off.






Heat the ends of the glass to remove any sharp edges, this also strengthens the glass and prevents breakage.






Fitted into the boiler. 
















When all the fittings are in I will hydraulic test again to check for leaks.

I have started making a displacement lubricator. Photos and description to follow, hopefully tonight.

Cheers

Rich


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## firebird (Jun 13, 2009)

Hi

I can take no credit at all for this displacement lubricator, its one of John Bogstandards designs. He has been of great help during the course of making it. Many thanks John :bow: :bow: :bow:

A piece of 3/8 dia round brass in the lathe. Drilled to a depth of 15/16. I have a set of tapping size drills that I have ground to a flat which enables me to flat bottom holes. Not altogether nec on this job but will slightly increase the capacity.






Then tap for about a 1/4 inch. Here I am using the ground off tap to get a full thread for all of the 1/4 inch tapped.






Move to the mill and cross drill 3/32.






A piece of 3/32 copper pipe in the mill. Touch with a centre drill.






Then drill 0.7mm through one side only. Don't drill right through.






The chamber.











The cross tube. I didn't notice it rolled over the dimension. It can be seen on a later photo.






Drill 3/32 a piece of 3/16 round brass. Cuntersink the end with a centre drill. This will accept the pipe nipple. Thread the end for 3/16 (not shown) then part off to 1/2 inch. Make 2 of these. 






Move to the mill and with a 3/8 cutter ( the same size as the chamber) round the ends.






The 2 parts.






Push the copper tube through the chamber with the hole uppermost. Push the 2 brass connectors onto the copper tube.
















The filler bung is made from a piece of 3/8 stainless steel round bar.

Knurl 






Turn down and thread 5/16 then cut the groove for the 'O' ring.






Use a round profile tool then part off.






The finished part.











Fitted in the chamber.






Its in the pickle now. Hopefully I'll get time tomorrow to silver solder it all together.

Cheers

Rich


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## zeeprogrammer (Jun 13, 2009)

I always enjoy reading your posts. Very good stuff.

So many things for me to learn...if you don't mind...a sentence or two about what a 'displacement lubricator' is, how it works, and why you use it?

Thanks.


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## firebird (Jun 13, 2009)

Hi Carl

This is my first attempt at a displacement lubricator so if I get this wrong someone here will correct me. 

To get lubrication to the internal working parts of a steam engine steam oil is used and mixed with the steam. The idea is you fill the chamber with steam oil, the steam enters one side and a small amount of steam comes out of the small hole and condenses into water which sinks to the bottom of the chamber forcing the steam oil upwards. A small amount of oil then enters the hole and is carried through to the engine with the steam. I think Iv'e got that right.

Cheers

Rich


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## jthulin (Jun 14, 2009)

Great Rich :bow:

My present build has both a sight glass (boiler not started yet) and a displacement lubricator (more complicated design) as well. I think I will come back and review your build before I proceed!


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## Paolo (Jun 14, 2009)

Whaoooo nice idea!!! :big: :big: :big:
Cheers
Paolo


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## firebird (Jun 14, 2009)

Hi

After a night in the pickle its time to silver solder it all together. On John Bogstandards plans he reccomends soldering the copper tube form inside the chamber by placing 2 rings of silver solder wire around the copper tube while pushing it through the chamber. This will prevent too much solder building up on the outside of the chamber and stopping the brass sleeves from making a close fit. Johns lubricator is 1/2 inch dia whereas this one is 3/8. Room inside the chamber is very tight and makes fitting the solder rings a very fiddly job. Tweezers and magnifying lens helped.

Ready for soldering, fluxed and solder rings in place.






After soldering.






Back in the pickle for a couple of hours and then the sleeves can be slodered in place.

Fluxed with solder rings in place.






After soldering.






Its back in the pickle now at least over night and can then be polished.

While the engine was running on air I noticed it had a bit of squeek. The sort of squeek that says give me some oil. I stripped the engine down and inspected it. I noticed that where the spring sits was marking the ally frame so I set it up in the mill and machined a recess with a 1/4 dia cutter. A 1/8 brass washer will give the spring something to rub against.






I have some 1/8 brass washers but unfortunately the outside dia is .258 so won't quite go in the recess. Hows your luck : : :. The next size up milling cutter I have is 5/16, way to big so I had to reduce the size of the brass washer by mounting 5 of them on 1/8 whit screw with a couple of nuts and shaving a bit off the OD of the washer.






Now it fits.






I intend to be running this engine on steam quite often, any excuse will do. So I need to get some oil into the bearings. I have made a couple of brass oil cups that will fit into the top of the frame directly above the crank bearing and the cylinder pivot with a 1mm hole drilled through to get oil directly into the bearings.

The oil cups are made of 3/16 round brass, drilled through 1mm. Turned down to 5/32 and threaded 5/32 x 40. Part off, reverse in the collet and drill 5/32.
















This is where they fit.






Cheers

Rich


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## PhillyVa (Jun 14, 2009)

Rich,

You have a very good story going on here. :bow: Keep up the great work. :bow:

Regards

Philly


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## Paolo (Jun 15, 2009)

Nice...very nice... :bow: :bow: :bow:
Cheers
Paolo


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## NickG (Jun 15, 2009)

Good work Rich, it's looking really good.

Nick


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## firebird (Jun 15, 2009)

Hi

Thankyou Nick, Paolo, Philly

Here it is after a night in the pickle and a quick buff up.







Cheers

Rich


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## Maryak (Jun 15, 2009)

Rich,

I really like your soldering and brazing work. :bow: :bow:

Best Regards
Bob


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## firebird (Jun 15, 2009)

Hi 

Thanks Bob

Hers the frame having a 1mm hole drilled through the crank bearing and cylinder pivot.






Then drilled and tapped.






The oil cups screwed in.






Cheers

Rich


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## arnoldb (Jun 16, 2009)

Thats really coming along nicely Rich - you make it look so simple :bow: 

And I fully agree with what Bob said about your soldering & brazing :bow:

Regards, Arnold


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## firebird (Jun 19, 2009)

Hi

Iv'e been chatting to John Bogstandard and he suggested 2 further things to do to complete the setup. Firstly a steam/oil separator. This does what it says on the tin and separates the steam oil from the steam. They look pretty neat and I think one would look good. Secondly, pipe the exhaust steam back into the funnel where it is re heated and will give a nice effect.

Hopefully tommorrow.

Cheers

Rich


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## firebird (Jun 20, 2009)

Hi

I made the steam/oil separator today. The idea is that the exhaust and steam oil mix enters the separator and is deflected down and towards the cooler side wall. The oil drops to the bottom while the steam exits through a larger pipe and is then piped to the funnel where it is re heated and (hopefully) comes out the top of the funnel as a nice plume. My thanks again to John Bogstandard for his help and guidance.

The chamber is made from a piece of 22mm copper pipe. Turn a piece of brass to suit the internal dia of the 22mm pipe. I used a round profile cutter to give a bit of shape as well.






Test fit a piece of the pipe.






Drill and tap the centre 3/16 x 40. I intend to mount the boiler, engine, separator and lubrcator on a plate of some sort so the stud will be used to mount it.






Contersink slightly to give somewhere for the silver solder to run.






Part off.






The finished base.






The lid is made a nice fit in the tube, nothing else holds it in so give it a bit of weight. This can be any shape you like. Lightly drill the centre.






Use a parting tool to turne to the internal dia of the 22mm tube then part off.






Fill the small recess with flux and a ring of silver solder wire.






Balance a stainless steel ball on top and heat with the torch to solder in place.






The tube and base.






Thread a length of brass 3/16 x 40 to make a stud.






And screw into the base. Apply flux and a ring of silver solder wire in the recess.






A ring of silver solder wire inside the tube.






Flux the base and place the tube on the base. All ready to solder the tube to the base and the stud all in one operation.











After soldering.






The tube is drilled through 3/32 then one side opened out to 1/8. A straight length of 1/8 copper tube is placed in one side and a piec of 3/32 copper tube in the othe. Note how the 3/32 is angled down and towards the wall. Flux and siver solder wire are placed on the inside of the chamber.











After soldering






Brass tubes, one threaded 1/4 x 40 and the other 3/16 x 40 are made and soldered in place similar to the displacement lubricator.











It needs a further pickle and then a polish but this is how it looks so far.











Cheers

Rich


----------



## RobWilson (Jun 20, 2009)

GREAT JOB Rich :bow: :bow: :bow:
Regards Rob


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Jun 20, 2009)

This is fascinating. Thanks for all the pics.

Newbie question...drilled through 3/32 and one side 'opened' to 1/8...
Does 'opened' mean you simply used a 1/8 bit to make the hole larger?

Thanks.


----------



## firebird (Jun 20, 2009)

Hi Carl

Yeah thats it. Enbiggered it wiv a 1/8 drill.

Cheers

Rich


----------



## wla421 (Jun 21, 2009)

Rich,

Nice work. I am new to all this machining and am quite impressed.

Question, 

Where do you obtain your silver-solder?

Here in Germany around the local DIY stores there's only hard silver-solder sold in single sticks.

I am looking for some hard silver solder that is sold in a roll, similar to electonic's soft solder.

Looking forward to getting my mill soon, to be a compainion to my lathe.

Thanks

George Greer


----------



## Jasonb (Jun 21, 2009)

If you can't get any Silversolder wire locally then CUP alloys in the UK do worldwide delivery. This thickness is good for winding around small items.

http://www.cupalloys.co.uk/842-silver-solder-wire-05mm-dia-1-metre-length-i61.html

Jason


----------



## bearcar1 (Jun 21, 2009)

Say Rich, A very cool 8) looking separator and nicely done. :bow: How would one go about draining the unit? Is it hard plumbed into the steam lines or does it get connected via silicon flex tubing ??? 

BC1
Jim


----------



## Blogwitch (Jun 21, 2009)

Blackgates in the UK sell the easyflo 0.5mm wire for around £1 per metre.

http://www.blackgates.co.uk/body_index.html


Blogs


----------



## firebird (Jun 21, 2009)

Hi

The silver solder question has been answered George, most model engineering suppliers stock it. I pick it up at one of the exhibitions I attend. Its very economical to use, only the ring of solder placed around the item to be soldered. I have some 1.5mm sticks but find them harder to use and it tends to go where you don't want it.

Jim, I'll empty it with a syringe. It should hold at least twice maybe three times the capacity of the lubricator so will only need emptying every second or third steam up. I'm going to hard plumb it as I intend to feed the outlet back up the funnel.

Cheers 


Rich


----------



## vlmarshall (Jun 21, 2009)

firebird  said:
			
		

> Yeah thats it. Enbiggered it wiv a 1/8 drill.


Ha, I've always used the term "Embiggen". I wonder which is correct. ;D

Excellent oil seperator, I'm (really) posting here so I can find this thread in the near future.


----------



## Paolo (Jun 21, 2009)

Hi Rich
Nice work. I am quite impressed of that elegant water separator.... :bow: :bow: :bow:
Cheers
Paolo


----------



## firebird (Jun 23, 2009)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Took it out of the pickle tonight and decided to give it a buff up. I don't know how but the buffing wheel snatched it out of my hands and slammed it into the bench giving it a nice dent and a bent and damaged pipe.  :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(. After half an hour of trying to recover it a few choice words were uttered and the separator went in the bin. I'll make another one but not today.
















Cheers

Rich


----------



## Maryak (Jun 23, 2009)

Rich,

Commiserations  

I seethe machine shop devil has moved from my shop to yours. I wonder whose next on the pilgrimage.

Best Regards
Bob


----------



## arnoldb (Jun 23, 2009)

OUCH... That's just no fair after a lot of work!

I really feel for you Rich :'(

Regards, Arnold


----------



## vlmarshall (Jun 23, 2009)

Ah, man, that's too bad. Is there no way to desolder and reuse the base and threaded bits of tubing?


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Jun 23, 2009)

Very sorry.



			
				Maryak  said:
			
		

> I seethe machine shop devil has moved from my shop to yours. I wonder whose next on the pilgrimage.



Let it be me. Spare the good ones.


----------



## firebird (Jun 23, 2009)

Hi

Thankyou gentlemen. Its not the first time a piece has gone bad and I dare say it won't be the last but it doe's hurt a little. I did de solder but the parts look terrible. Much better to start again I think and this time polish by hand. I still have the lid of course.

Cheers

Rich


----------



## bearcar1 (Jun 23, 2009)

Oh bloody Hell Rich! That is a bunch of s**t! :toilet: Man oh man, does that make me cringe. It has happened to all of us at one time or another and that feeling is not pleasant at all. It was looking so good too.     

BC1
Jim


----------



## Paolo (Jun 24, 2009)

I'm very sorry...I know that kind of frustration...!!!
Best regards Paolo


----------



## 4156df (Jun 24, 2009)

Rich,
Super thread so far. Sorry about the problem. Amazing how soft that annealed copper is.
Dennis


----------



## steamer (Jun 24, 2009)

Sorry buddy!


Dave


----------



## Seanol (Jun 25, 2009)

Sorry to see that. Hope it works out for ou the second time. Losing the cap would have really hurt!

Good Luck moving forward,
Sean


----------



## firebird (Jun 25, 2009)

Hi

After throwing all my toys out of my pram and not talking to anyone for a while all is back to normal now. I'm ready to have another go.

cheers

Rich


----------



## cobra428 (Jun 25, 2009)

At a boy Rich, Thm:
I can't tell you how many times I did that to a model airplane spinner, trying to make it look like chrome! As soon as I saw the pic, I knew.
Tony


----------



## ChooChooMike (Jun 25, 2009)

Serious OUCH on that one Rich ! 

Love your continued documentation, words, pictures, keep it up. You have no idea how much your work is influencing and motivating the rest of us !!

Tossed a Karma point your way for all the work you do !

Mike


----------



## firebird (Jun 25, 2009)

Hi

Many thanks Mike, thats greatly appreciated. Thm: Thm: Thm: Thm:

This is a fantastic hobby with mostly 'Highs'. You gotta accept the odd low. 

Cheers

Rich


----------



## firebird (Jun 30, 2009)

Hi

Got the new separator made. Identical to the first but I used 1/4 X 40 brass stud in this one purely because I had a bit already made left over from another job.

Here it is along side whats left of the first one and not polished yet. It won't be going anywhere near the buffing wheel!!!!!!







I have rigged up the pump onto the boiler to test the water guage. The glass has been fitted with a couple of 'O' rings. The nuts being tightened by hand. The pressure guage is mounted in the top water guage connector. No special reason why I did it that way other than I had an adapter ready made. I pumped it up to 40psi and it held the pressure ok. The only tiny leak coming from the adapter that the pressure guage screws on to. Thats not a problem as the water guage connector will have a bung in the top.





















Cheers

Rich


----------



## jthulin (Jun 30, 2009)

Nice to see the new separator finished! Looking good Thm:


----------



## firebird (Jul 5, 2009)

Hi

I drilled and tapped a piece of scrap and held the separator in the vise to polish it. A couple of minutes with brasso gave a nice polish.











Cheers

Rich


----------



## firebird (Jul 5, 2009)

Hi

The steam from the exhaust will be fed back into the funnel so I had to make a connector that will screw into the engine frame to accept a 3/32 pipe nut.

One end of the connector has been turned and threaded and parted off. Here it is screwed into a piece of steel ready to have the other end machined.






Heres the finished part with a drawing.






The frame is drilled and tapped.











The connector screwed into the frame.











The end that screws into the frame, that is shown as 3/16 on the drawing, I had to reduce to 5/32 to be a comfortable fit.

Heres a couple of photos of the main parts so far.











Cheers

Rich


----------



## vlmarshall (Jul 5, 2009)

Geez, that's awesome. You guys are making me, with my Cracker project, feel like an amateur... or a caveman. :bow: ;D


----------



## Paolo (Jul 5, 2009)

It seams to be a really nice project!! :big: As You normally do...!!! :bow:
Cheers Paolo


----------



## firebird (Jul 6, 2009)

Hi

I gave the boiler its first steam test tonight. Everything went Ok. Heres some video of the test





Cheers

Rich


----------



## Maryak (Jul 7, 2009)

Rich,

That's a quick start little boiler 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





Best Regards
Bob


----------



## firebird (Jul 12, 2009)

Hi

I haven't had a lot of shop time recently cos I've been busy in my carpentry shop making the third of a set of tables. I've been on this one for around 3 months now and SWMBO has been dropping hints that not a lot of progress has been made. You can only get away with  ' wood glue takes ages to dry ' for so long.   

Anyway I have managed a bit today. The frame looks a little square and blocky so I have milled a waist into it. This should have been done at the start but with care I managed ok.
















I then turned a brass base for it to sit on.
















It looks better now.

Cheers

Rich


----------



## b.lindsey (Jul 12, 2009)

Its coming together very nicely Rich. Beautiful work !!

Bill


----------



## bearcar1 (Jul 12, 2009)

OOOOH, shiny things! BC likes shiny things! Very sweet, :bow: and yes the introduction of a waist really does make that base jump to life. Now if I can just stop this case of the drools I'll be fine. :big:

BC1
Jim


----------



## firebird (Jul 12, 2009)

Hi

Thanks Bill, BC

Just to prove that I am making a table heres the top and the shelf showing the veneer work done and how it will look when the tiles are inlayed.






Anyway while I was in there today 'waiting for the glue to dry'    I started on the base for the small steam engine. I have a bit of 1/8 ally plate that everything will mount onto. This will sit in a mahogany base. To make the base prepare a length of wood to 5/8 thick X 1 3/8. One thing about wood, underneath the old surface is a new piece of wood waiting to get out. I collect any bits of old furniture that are mahogony, oak etc. and cut out the usable bits and save them.






A 1/8 deep recess needs to be cut for the ally plate to sit in. I have a router table that would be ideal for this kind of job but by the time I have it out and set up I can do it by hand. Router tables are noisy little devils and not very neighbour friendly on a Sunday. Some years ago I bought a Stanley multi plane from an antiques fair, best bit of kit I have ever bought for wood working. There is nothing quite like the feel of shavings gently brushing over you hand as you plane away.


























A mitre saw is really the only way to cut the 45 degree corners, they are not that expensive to buy and make the job easy.
















Use the stop to cut the pieces the same length.











After each piece has been cut the next piece has to have the end cut off to put the right angle back on the next piece. Save the offcuts to make corner braces.






The four sides laid out with the corner braces in place.






I can only glue 2 corners together at a time, the size of the corner clamps stops me from assembling all in one go.  GOT TO WAIT FOR THE GLUE TO DRY :big: :big: :big: :big:







Cheers

Rich


----------



## Paolo (Jul 12, 2009)

Whaoooooooooooo..nice job..and wonderful multi plane...I like it very much...!!! :bow: :bow: :bow:
Best regards
Paolo


----------



## firebird (Jul 14, 2009)

Hi

Sometimes the old tools are still the best Paolo. You can feel the quality when you pick it up and you can get shavings whisper thin, beautiful to use.

Anyway a quick update. Heres the other two corners glued and clamped.






24 hours later set solid.






Even with a mitre saw its difficult to get perfect joints. Time spent sanding each joint will get them closer or heres a trick I learnt I long time ago. Collect some of the saw dust from around the saw and mix with some wood glue and water. 






You get a filler that is a perfect colour match to the wood you are working with.






Small gaps filled and the corner strengthening blocks glued in.






Cheers

Rich


----------



## hammers-n-nails (Jul 14, 2009)

doing it old school, i like it, not many people are into that anymore, myself included. the old ways are slowly being lost. why do you not use a strap clamp when glueing so you do all the corners? nice engine comming together, i can see you are one for the details.


----------



## firebird (Jul 15, 2009)

Hi Mr. hammers-n-nails,

I have a strap clamp but find it awkward to get the corners square on small stuff like this. On bigger frames the strap clamp is ideal cos I can measure the diagonals and get clamps/spreaders across the corners to true up. As for the old ways I agree, but people seem to think they have to buy a tool with a motor and that hand tools are hard work or too slow. As I said I have a router and router table which is ideal for bigger jobs where multiple parts are needed but for one offs the hand tools are often quicker and easier to use. My router and table cost about UK £200.00, the multi plane cost UK £40.00, say no more.

Cheers

Rich


----------



## kustomkb (Jul 15, 2009)

Nice work on your projects!!

Whenever I work with wood I think "boy I wish metal would come off this quickly" 

But then if it was that easy everyone would be doing it.


----------



## firebird (Jul 16, 2009)

Hi

Thats right Kevin, all materials have their own character.

After a sanding with medium sand paper its time for the stain. A thin coat of stain will give an even colour all over. Stick pins in the bottom to hold it clear of the newspaper. The stain splashes very easily hence the newspaper.











Cheers

Rich


----------



## steamboatmodel (Jul 17, 2009)

Hi Rich,
Its looking fantastic, I really like the idea of the stick pins.
Regards,
Gerald.


----------



## firebird (Jul 18, 2009)

Hi

I sized the piece of 1/8 ally plate to fit in the recess.






It still has the blue plastic protective film on for now.






I have made 4 brass bushes from 3/16 round brass tapped 4mm and 1/4 inch long. Nice mixture of imperial and metric there. I have some stainless steel 4mm countersunk screws that I will use to hold the plate in the frame.






I will drill the corners of the frame and glue the bushes in, roughly in this position.






Cheers

Rich.


----------



## firebird (Jul 18, 2009)

Hi

I'm going to clad the boiler with wood, it'll look nice I think. I'm going to use the sticks you get for stirring coffee in some coffee shops.






Cut to length. I've left the curved end on that I will use on the top edge.






Easiest way to stain them is to give them a bath.






Laid out to dry on kebab sticks.






Cheers

Rich


----------



## firebird (Jul 19, 2009)

Hi

I've just done a quick mod to the lubricator. I have decided to mount it onto the ally plate instead of letting it hang on the pipes, the 3/32 pipe won't be strong enough. I mounted the lubricator in the lathe then drilled and tapped 3/16. There is enough thickness in the base to take a couple of threads. I then threaded a length of 3/16 brass and screwed it into the base then silver soldered in.











Cheers 

Rich


----------



## Maryak (Jul 20, 2009)

Rich,

Great work. :bow:

Best Regards
Bob


----------



## vlmarshall (Jul 20, 2009)

I really like that oiler, simple and clean. Is oil there a formula for oil tank size/steam bleed hole/engine size/run time...anything? I need to build a pair of them, and while an oversize capacity wouldn't be bad, I'd hate to make the bleed hole too big or something. My luck, it'd blow all the oil downstream at once and I'd invent the Steam-Diesel. ;D


----------



## firebird (Jul 20, 2009)

Hi

Thanks Bob

Vernon, this is the first lubricator I have made. I said before I take no credit for the design, that honour goes to John Bogstandard. If you follow this link http://modelsteam.myfreeforum.org/ftopic7859-0-asc-15.php it will take you to an article posted by John. It shows a lubricator of 1/2 inch dia with a 1mm hole in the cross tube. I reduced all the sizes to be more in keeping with this little engine. Hope this helps.

Cheers

Rich


----------



## NickG (Jul 21, 2009)

Looking great Rich, can't wait to see the finished result. There is something about a steam engine actually running on steam .. can't quite put my finger on what it is ... oh yeah, that's what they were designed for! :big: Just don't see much of it these days unfortunately.

Any clues as to what your engine project will be for the big boiler??

Nick


----------



## firebird (Jul 21, 2009)

Hi Nick

I know what you mean about steam. I go to a few steam fairs each year and just stand and watch the full size traction engines. I don't know if its the smell or the engines running or the sheer size of them that keeps me spellbound. watching them tickover is very hypnotic. If only I had the room/money/time.

Anyway back to reallity. A beam engine I think would go well with the boiler. I have a few bits and pieces put to one side but it will have to wait till later on this year, I have too much on at the moment. Thats why I started this little wobbler, something I can spend half hour on here and there to keep me going.

Cheers

Rich


----------



## firebird (Jul 23, 2009)

Hi

Progress is slow at the moment due to other commitments but I did manage to get the mounting plate drilled tonight so heres a few photos of how its going to look. The plate is resting on a pair of vise jaws, the mahogany base has had its 4th and final coat of varnish tonight.






















Cheers

Rich


----------



## agr (Jul 23, 2009)

Rich,

If I could ask a potentially stupid question - with that design of lubricator, how it the water drained out so that the oil can be replenished?. 

It was always my understanding that you needed a drain hole in the bottom (or lower side) to drain them, usually resulting in fingertips covered in hot oily water (always too impatient to let them cool first). If you have a simpler method I'd love to know it.


Tony.


----------



## putputman (Jul 23, 2009)

Rich, this is going to be a masterpiece when it is done. Will follow you to the end.

I wish I had your patience's with wood. Seems to me that wood never quits moving. It twists, cracks, splits, and every thing else for me.


----------



## bearcar1 (Jul 23, 2009)

Great looking steam plant you have going there Rich, I 'Really' like that spoked flywheel. It just trips my trigger. I have never been a big fan of the disc types other than in marine applictions. Well done!

BC1
Jim


----------



## firebird (Jul 24, 2009)

Hi
Thanks Jim & putputman.

Tony, your right a drain of some sort is the norm but I reduced the size considerably so that it would look right with this small engine. They are normally mounted in the steam pipe and hang free with clearance underneath but I doubted the small 3/32 pipe would be strong enough to support it well enough. I have a small syringe that will suck the residue out to drain it.

Cheers

Rich


----------



## firebird (Jul 25, 2009)

Hi

I got a fair bit done today so here goe's.

The mahogany base, now varnished, has 4 holes drilled using the ally plate as a template.






The holes were then opened out to 3/16 and the tapped bushes super glued in.











 then made a cap for the funnel. You can turn this to any shape you like.






Silver solder to the funnel.






Cleaned and polished a bit.






.

The exhaust steam will be piped back into the funnel. It would be easier to silver solder the pipe straight in or silver solder a connection in before the funnel is soldered into the boiler but I hadn't intended to do this until John Bogstandard suggested a lubricator and a separator. I don't want to silver solder so close to the base of the funnel at this stage so decided to drill a hole and use a fitting with a nut.

Turn a piece of brass to the inside dia of the funnel.











Drill a 1/8 hole as close to the edge as possible.






Then cross drill 7/32






Use a slitting saw to part off. I bought these diamond saws a while ago, this is the first time iv'e tried them. They work OK.
















Make a short length of brass threaded 1/4 x 40 and turn a boss on one end and drill through 1/8.






Silver solder the threaded part in and a 3 inch length of 1/8 copper pipe.






A test fit on a bit of scrap pipe.











I haven't drilled the 1/4 hole in the funnel yet but this shows how it will be fitted. 
















Cheers

Rich


----------



## firebird (Aug 20, 2009)

Hi there

It seems ages since I last posted anything but what with holidays, weddings, domestic duties etc. I haven't been out to the workshop for a while. However while away on holiday we (Me, the wife and my daughter) did the shops. One shop in particular interested me. A candle maker. Some of the hand made candles were fantastic, a real work of art. They also sold oil burning lamps, glass globes of all shapes and sizes that are filled with oil (clear and coloured) and have a wick. :idea: :idea: :idea: Can you see where this is going. Well I stood there for quite a while watching the flame. The wife came up to me and said "aren't they beautiful". Ohhhhh yes, we must get one I said. Anyway back home a trip to the local hardware store and I had a bottle of said oil.











Tonight I carried out a quick experiment. This first photo shows the burner filled with meths.






It burns quite happily and I have had the boiler running on this. I drained out the meths and dried out the burner then refilled it with the lamp oil. See the difference.






I have no Idea what the calorific value is but it definitely burns cleaner and without the smell of meths.

Anyway I hope to get a few hours in the shop this weekend so I'll post any progress that I make.

Cheers

Rich


----------



## Maryak (Aug 20, 2009)

Rich,

From my murky past when working for BP, Lamp Oil was an alternate name given to 300 Test Kerosene.

Gross Calorific Values are around 19000 btu/lb

Methylated Spirit around 13000 btu/lb

Hope this helps.

Best Regards
Bob


----------



## firebird (Aug 20, 2009)

Hi

Thanks Bob, thats very interesting.

Cheers

Rich


----------



## firebird (Aug 22, 2009)

Hi

Well I managed about 4 hours in the workshop today, good to get back to it.

I started by drilling a hole in the funnel to take the steam exhaust pipe.






Here it is fixed in place.











Next I went onto the boiler cladding. I placed 3 elastic bands round the boiler then pushed in the cladding. As it happens they fitted round the circumference without any trimming. I only had to cut the one piece that fits between the water guage bushes.











The bands I made out of stainless steel strips that I got from an old wiper blade. Its a bit springy but winds round a bit of tube ok to make a coil.











The three bands cut to size.






I milled a flat on a piece of 5/32 stainless steel round bar, drilled through 1/16 and then parted off three pieces 3/16 long.











Each band was held in the vice and the had the lugs silver soldered on.






Then carefully cut through and cleaned up.






I made 3 short lengths of 10BA thread from 1/16 stainless steel and tried the bands on the boiler with 2 10BA brass nuts on each.






I temporarily fitted the water guage.











Finally today I made up the pipe for the pressure guage.











That will be all for this weekend, I'm off to Lincoln steam fair tomorrow.

Cheers

Rich


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Aug 22, 2009)

Wow. That was great Rich. Very enjoyable.
I learned a lot on this post...as I have on many of your posts.
Thanks.


----------



## Jeff02 (Aug 22, 2009)

Ill second that Zee, Especially how you made your Boiler Bands. :bow:


----------



## PhiberOptix (Aug 22, 2009)

That's looking great, 
and I liked the way you made the bands, 
they cleaned up real nice, what did you use to clean them and the heat marks from soldering off with?

quote
That will be all for this weekend, I'm off to Lincoln steam fair tomorrow.
end quote

That's just up the road from me and i didn't know it was on!!  

regards
Andy


----------



## vlmarshall (Aug 22, 2009)

I've just learned from your Boiler Band construction method, too. I like the idea of attaching the clamp-bolt lugs to the bands while still in one piece... I'll be copying this, in brass. ;D :bow:


----------



## CrewCab (Aug 22, 2009)

Cracking job Rich :bow: .............. looking forward to the rest 

CC


----------



## firebird (Aug 23, 2009)

Hi

Thanks for the on going support.

Andy, I have a wire brush on my grinder. I just cleaned them up on that.

Cheers

Rich


----------



## NickG (Aug 23, 2009)

Looking really nice that Rich


----------



## deverett (Aug 23, 2009)

firebird  said:
			
		

> Hi
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I'm going back a bit and looking at your round nose tool. Are you just using a piece of round tool steel clamped in place? If so, that is a very good idea so that you can use different diameter toolbits with only one holder.

Now, up to date. A very good write up of how you lagged your boiler, especially the making of the boiler bands. I would never have dreamed of making them from scrap wiper arms. Lateral thinking at its best.

Dave
The Emerald Isle


----------



## firebird (Aug 24, 2009)

Hi

Thanks NickG.

Dave, I was looking to get some round profile cutters at last years model engineering exhibition at Harrogate when I came across these. I think they were 50p each so I had a dozen or so. The large one is just a single while the 2 smaller sizes are double ended. Once I had the tips it was just a case of knocking up some holders.






Tonight I just drilled and tapped a couple of holes 4BA to hold the boiler and firebox together with brass screws.











Cheers

Rich


----------



## deverett (Aug 24, 2009)

firebird  said:
			
		

> Dave, I was looking to get some round profile cutters at last years model engineering exhibition at Harrogate when I came across these. I think they were 50p each so I had a dozen or so. The large one is just a single while the 2 smaller sizes are double ended. Once I had the tips it was just a case of knocking up some holders.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Rich 
They are an interesting alternative to round tips. Yes, easy to knock up a few holders for them. Thanks for showing them.

Dave
The Emerald Isle


----------



## firebird (Aug 30, 2009)

Hi

I've started on the final polish up and assembly.

The base plate fitted into the mahogany frame with 4 stainless steel screws.






The firebox has been super glued into its circular base and mounted onto the base with a countersunk stainless steel screw.






The engine assembly mounted onto the base with a stainless steel caphead screw from underneath.






Next the lubricator with a brass nut underneath.






Folowed by the water/oil separator with a brass nut underneath.






The boiler with its cladding fitted is screwed onto the firebox.






Its starting to come together now. I hope to get some more done over the bank holiday.

Cheers

Rich


----------



## arnoldb (Aug 30, 2009)

That's a magnificent job Rich :bow:
Regards, Arnold


----------



## PhiberOptix (Aug 30, 2009)

That looks stunning m8 well done :bow:

regards
Andy


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Aug 30, 2009)

Beautiful work Rich.
Thanks again for this thread.


----------



## firebird (Aug 30, 2009)

Hi

Thanks arnold, Andy, Carl.

I made up the steam pipe that goe's from the lubricator to the connection on the valve on the front of the engine today. Its made from 3/32 copper pipe. I used a bit of copper wire to guage the length of pipe required.






Heres the completed pipe fitted to the engine.






Cheers

Rich


----------



## bearcar1 (Aug 30, 2009)

Very fine looking steam plant you have going there Rich. What type of 'superglue' did you utilize to hold the firebox to the base? Cyanoacrylate? I was not aware of any of those types of adhesives to be very temperature tolerant. Mighty fine looking, also may I ask as to your source of that tiny copper tubing you are using for the steam lines? Keep up the terrific work. You're almost finished and then it will be time to begin another journey anew. ;D

BC1
Jim


----------



## firebird (Aug 30, 2009)

Hi Jim

The super glue I bought at a model engineering exhibition. The guy was demonstrating sticking all kinds of things together, ball bearings to glass etc. Iv'e used it on all kinds of jobs. If the heat affects it I will have to modify the way its fitted. The 1/16 and 3/32 copper pipe I bought in a dolls house shop (I found it while in there with my daughter). Apparently its the scale they use for plumbing in dolls houses. 1/8 and upwards I get from model engineering supply stores.

Cheers

Rich


----------



## NickG (Aug 30, 2009)

Looks superb Rich and is going to be a joy to watch, can't wait!


----------



## chuck foster (Aug 30, 2009)

excellent job rich Thm: you do amazing work and it is well documented.

 th_wav th_wav th_wav

chuck


----------



## firebird (Sep 1, 2009)

Hi

A bit more pipe work for a start. You can just see on this photo I'm guaging the length of the pipe with a bit of copper wire from the top of the boiler to the lubricator.





Here the pipe has been made up and fitted.





Here the pipe from the exhaust port to the separator has been made and fitted.





Here the exhaust pipe from the separator up to the funnel has been made and fitted.













Safety valve, pressure guage and water guage fitted.









Cheers

Rich


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## RobWilson (Sep 1, 2009)

Very Very Nice Rich :bow: :bow: :bow:

Regards Rob Thm:


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## AlasdairM (Sep 1, 2009)

Absolutely awesome - and terrific "build thread" as well th_wav

Many thanks, A


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## CrewCab (Sep 1, 2009)

Stunning Rich :bow: .......... and a fine write up too ............. thank you 8)

CC


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## deverett (Sep 1, 2009)

bearcar1  said:
			
		

> ...also may I ask as to your source of that tiny copper tubing you are using for the steam lines?
> BC1
> Jim


BC
One source of small copper piping is from the back of an old fridge - the heat exchanger. Another source is from an old iced water fountain. I have managed to get different sizes down to 1/16" from those types of apparati.

Dave
The Emerald Isle


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## zeeprogrammer (Sep 1, 2009)

Very beautiful setup. Great thread...I learned a lot here.
But you know...it's not done  vid!


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## bearcar1 (Sep 1, 2009)

steamdave  said:
			
		

> BC
> One source of small copper piping is from the back of an old fridge - the heat exchanger. Another source is from an old iced water fountain. I have managed to get different sizes down to 1/16" from those types of apparati.
> 
> Dave
> The Emerald Isle



Thanks for the tip Dave, I have never really been exposed to those types of devices much. That is I have not had the opportunity to take one apart. I wonder if the wife would notice if I scavenged the fridge innards?  ;D\

BC1
Jim


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## NickG (Sep 2, 2009)

Rich :bow: :bow:

Don't light the burner, it will get dirty!! :big: :big:

You'll need to add a hand pump now to keep the boiler topped up!!! Although it's probably quite an overmatch for the engine so will prob run for quite a long time.

Nick


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## firebird (Sep 2, 2009)

Hi

Thankyou very much for the complimets gentlemen. Nick, I did think about a hand pump, a smaller version of the one I made to hydraulic test it, but in the end I thought it would be a bit too much. It started off as a simple wobbler just to keep my hand in during these busy times then John Bogstandard said " it would look nice with a lubricator, heres how to make one." Then he said "it would look nice with a separator, heres how to make one". Great fun, thanks John. I will be lighting the burner and running it. I built it to play with not just to look at. I know it will discolour it but Hey lets call it patina. All being well I should have time to fire it up at the weekend and have a play ;D ;D ;D ;D and yes there will be a video.

Cheers

Rich


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## rake60 (Sep 2, 2009)

Beautiful build Rich! :bow:

Rick


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## Maryak (Sep 2, 2009)

Rich,

Magnificent :bow:

Almost seems a shame to run it with such a brilliant bling job.

Best Regards
Bob


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## firebird (Sep 5, 2009)

Hi

Very nearly, but not quite. ;D ;D ;D ;D





I hope to have another go tomorrow.

Cheers

Rich


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## NickG (Sep 6, 2009)

What happened Rich? Did you not get enough pressure? Can't remeber whether you did or not but it might help running the steam pipe through the firebox to sort of superheat the steam. Just a thought.

Nick


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## firebird (Sep 6, 2009)

Hi

Very very very nearly ;D ;D ;D........................ but not quite   





Nick, I was getting 20psi easy when I tested it but the burner doesn't seem to be working well enough in the enclosed space of the fire box, hence the modification of drilling some air vents around the back to help (hopefully) the rearmost wick to burn. John Bogstandard has also suggested lagging the main steam pipes to help prevent the steam from condensing. The oil/water separator seems to be working but has a lot of water in it for such a short run which would also suggest that water and not steam is getting through to the engine.





Oh well, back to the drawing board, unfortunately not today though.

Cheers

Rich


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## firebird (Sep 9, 2009)

Hi

I haven't had any time in the workshop this week but I hope to get some at the weekend. As mentioned before I intend to drill some holes around the back of the firebox to give more air to the rearmost wick. Should I drill the holes low down or higher up, say in line with the wicks??????

Cheers

Rich


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## Kermit (Sep 9, 2009)

Air flow should be as parallel with the flame as possible. Coming from directly below the flame would be the ideal to shoot for. 

Keep it low and deflect below horizontal maybe?..use some kind of vanes inside the opening pointed downward...

being an enclosed area,pointing the incoming air at the floor might get the currents to collide in the center and go upward toward the flame...


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## firebird (Sep 10, 2009)

Hi Kermit

That sounds good, I'll drill drill them just below wick height.

Cheers

Rich


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## NickG (Sep 10, 2009)

Or would keeping the holes high draw the flame up for the oxygen? How does the water separator work?


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## Krown Kustoms (Sep 10, 2009)

I would have never thought a water seperator, that is a great idea. It also looks good.
-B-


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## firebird (Sep 10, 2009)

Hi

Thanks -B-

Nick, the steam/oil mixture enters the separator through the smaller pipe. This pipe is angled slightly downwards and towards the wall where the steam condenses and the oil separates out. The exhaust steam then passes out through the larger pipe and up to the funnel.

cheers

Rich


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## SandyC (Sep 10, 2009)

;D ;D ;D

Hi Rich,

That is coming along very nicely... congratulations... very nicely done.

As far as the air holes are concerned I would suggest that you put at least 3, possibly 4, equi spaced holes of at least 1/2" dia around the rear part of the firebox with their height centred approx level with the top of the burner main tank body.
Spirit burners need a lot of air.

I have a few other suggestions to make, however,I don't have time to write them all tonight (other half wants to go to bed ( can't have any fun these days...LOL)).

I will post again in the morning at some point.

Keep happy.

Best Regards.

Sandy. ;D ;D


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## SandyC (Sep 11, 2009)

;D ;D

Hi Guy's,

This has turned out to be a bit longer than expected so I will post it in 2 separate posts.

PART 1.


OK Rich, as promised here are my observations/suggestions for your small steam plant.

First let me say that you have made a most excellent job of designing and building this model and I am sure it has given you a lot to think about during its construction.
From an eye-pleasing viewpoint there is very little to consider as BEING IN NEED OF IMMPROVEMENT and for that you are to be commended.

However, and yes there is always a however, what is pleasing to the eye does not necessarily equate to also being operationally effective/correct/pleasing and when your design/layout is considered from this view-point there are some improvement to be had.
They may not look as good/neat but operationally they will be much better such is the way of such things it is rare to get it both ways in this life.

Some of what follows can be reasonably easily achieved with some small alterations, whilst others are inherent in the design and cannot be easily rectified on this unit, however, they can, and should, be considered for your next build.

Do not feel under any obligation to make any of the following changes Rich, they are only meant as recommendations. In fact, one or two of them you have already made reference to.

I will list the recommended changes/improvements first and the reasons for suggesting them and then go on to suggest possible ways of achieving at least some of them. 

Most of the improvements are associated with the pipe work and its layout.

In general, all steam and exhaust pipe work should be as short and direct as possible, with as few bends as possible, and should be of a suitable bore size for the pressure and velocities involved.

1/ Your steam feed pipe from the boiler could be made a little shorter overall by eliminating the large loop bends; it should also be lagged (including the short section between the lubricator and the engine inlet valve).

2/ Ideally the exhaust port/and pipe exiting the engine should be at least one pipe size larger in dia. than that used for the steam inlet pipe.
This is because exhaust steam is at a lower pressure and temperature and will have a lower velocity through a given pipe dia. than the higher temperature/ higher-pressure inlet steam.

I accept that the pipe/port size is not so easily changed on your set-up Rich since this would also mean changing the exhaust connection on the engine and also the inlet side of the OIL TRAP/SEPARATOR so probably best left as is. This is one of the things to remember for the next one.

I would though recommend that you lag the short pipe between the engine and the OIL TRAP/SEPARATOR inlet.

I will come back to the OIL TRAP/SEPARATOR a little further down.

3/ The pipe leading away from the OIL TRAP/SEPARATOR to the side of the funnel should take a continuous RISING path and should be at least ONE pipe size larger than the inlet side, for the same reasons given in (2) above.
I know you have already done this RICH, however, in the light of (2) above it should be one more size larger still.
Also, in this particular case, it would pay you to LAG it.

You most certainly need to eliminate the long horizontal loop section, since this will allow any condensate to accumulate in the horizontal section, which would partially, or totally, block the pipe.

Ok then Rich, the above are the main areas for the most easily achievable improvement, There are other, but they are a little more obscure and I will attempt to describe some of them later.

So how can these more obvious/easier ones be best achieved?


By far the most difficult one is Number 3 above, since the funnel inlet is on the wrong side relative to the outlet from the OIL TRAP/SEPARATOR.

SOLUTION. Undo the 2 screws holding the main boiler to the burner housing and rotate the boiler 180 deg. And re-affix with the 2 screws. This will place the funnel inlet on the same side as the outlet from the OIL TRAP/SEPARATOR. (In the words of the Meerkat SIMPLE)

Take the outlet pipe from the OIL TRAP/SEPARATOR diagonally upwards to the side of the boiler barrel, straight up the side of the barrel and across to the funnel inlet at an upwards angle.

This satisfies both the KEEP IT SHORT and CONTINUOUSLY RISING requirements and eliminates the long horizontal bend.

As already stated above I recommend that you also lag this pipe on this layout.

The connections for the steam feed pipe and siphon tube for the pressure gauge will need to swap bushes, but otherwise will follow much the same routes as at present.
The only change here would be the length of the steam pipe (get rid of the long sweeping loop bend) and the lagging of the steam pipe.

That should take care of (1) and (3) of the above as far as can be done without more severe changes being made to the main components.
Number 2 we have already dealt with.


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## SandyC (Sep 11, 2009)

And here is PART 2... some of the more obscure things...

OIL TRAP/ SEPARATOR 

This component is responsible for more confusion than almost any other as far as model steam engines are concerned.

Amongst model steam enthusiasts it is, more often than not, referred to as a CONDENSER and most people would know exactly what this component was. However, in the true sense, a condenser is the last thing it should be called, since condensing is not its function.

The purpose for its inclusion in our model steam plant is to help extract the waste STEAM OIL from the EXHAUST steam, whilst at the same time NOT CONDENSING the steam itself.

The STEAM OIL is not, as sometime suggested, in a true vapour form but takes the form of small globules of HOT and very FLUID steam oil suspended in, and carried within, the high velocity steam entering the engine.
Some of this suspended oil will impact upon the surfaces of the cylinder walls, piston and other engine components where it forms a fairly even layer of oil, thus lubricating the engine.

Some of this suspended oil will pass straight through the engine and leave through the exhaust port having done no work at all.
Some of the oil that did get onto the cylinder walls and piston surfaces will also leave via the exhaust ports, but some will always remain within the engine. This forms a protective layer when the engine cools after use and helps prevent any corrosion.

So, it is the temperature of the steam that reduces the VISCOSITY of the STEAM OIL such that it is very, very fluid but it is the VELOCITY of the steam flow that carries it in the form of small globules.
The oil is not a true vapour, since that would require very much higher temperatures to achieve.

HOW then do you remove the oil? 

Simple answer is&#8230; slow down the steam flow velocity and the oil will fall out of suspension.

This is exactly what the OIL TRAP/SEPARATOR is designed to do.

Exhaust steam (carrying some waste oil) will enter the OIL TRAP/SEPARATOR at a velocity governed by the exhaust pressure and the bore of the connecting pipe work.

On entering the main chamber of the OIL TRAP/SEPARATOR, via a smallish bore entry pipe, the exhaust steam is faced with a relatively HUGE space, having a much larger cross section than the entry pipe, GREAT says the steam, I can expand, and I doing so its velocity will fall, as will it&#8217;s temperature and pressure.

If the entry steam is also directed towards the sides of the expansion chamber the oil, contained in the expanding steam, will have a large surface on which to collect, so aiding the separation.

The expanding steam, now free of oil, will exit the expansion chamber through the larger bore outlet pipe and can be directed to atmosphere via any chosen route.

In Rich&#8217;s case it is passed up through the inside of the funnel to aid the burner drafting of the boiler. 

NOW for the tricky bit&#8230; Whilst the steam is expanding and slowing down in the expansion chamber it gives up some of it&#8217;s LATENT heat to the walls of the chamber&#8230; if this heat exchange is too high then the steam WILL CONDENSE back in to water.

The trick is to have a large enough chamber; with a large enough surface area to slow down the steam and collect the oil that drops from suspension, but without making the chamber so large that it can take too much heat from the steam.
To this end the cooling MASS of the OIL TRAP/SEPARATOR, and any heat absorbing surfaces it is in direct contact with, must be given close attention.

The best balance is to arrange for the temperature of the chamber walls to be just a shade lower than that of the steam, which will also aid the oil separation by way of increasing its viscosity a little, but still remain above the condensation temperature of water steam.
By allowing the outside walls of the chamber to be in contact with the surrounding atmosphere then this will conduct some heat away from the chamber walls&#8230;but this should not be too excessive or the steam will condense on contact.

SORRY RICH, but on this one you have got it a TAD WRONG&#8230; you have bolted yours down to a very large heat sink.

I would suggest that you introduce an insulation layer between the OIL TRAP/SEPARATOR and the BASE PLATE.

The steam leaving the OILTRAP/SEPARATOR should, in an ideal world, take the shortest possible route to atmosphere.
In practical terms, as in your case Rich, a certain length of pipe work is necessary.
Now, the exhaust steam is at very low pressure and also is very close to condensing temperature so the need to maintain this temperature until it reaches the atmosphere is paramount, otherwise it will condense in the pipe and create un- wanted issues&#8230; hence the suggestion to LAG it&#8230; furthermore, if the pipe is mounted in a continually rising format, then any condensate that does form, especially whilst the set up is warming up, then it will pass back into the expansion chamber under gravity.

Finally Rich, you expressed some concern over the amount of condensate collected in the OIL TRAP/SEPARATOR even though you only made a short run&#8230; Well, think about the MASS of the engine, it&#8217;s standard and the base on which it is mounted, compared to the relatively small amount of HEAT available in the small amount of steam contained in the cylinder. When your engine is cold (first starting) most of this HEAT will be extracted by conduction into the MASS of the engine (resulting in condensate inside the cylinder) and will continue to do so until the engine MASS reaches steam temperature&#8230; this could take some time&#8230; especially if you also consider the HEAT loss away from the engine MASS through its large surface area being in contact with the surrounding air.

Ok Rich, and Guy&#8217;s, that will do for now&#8230; Rich has come a very long way in such a short time and has learnt a great deal on his journey&#8230; there are a good few lessons to be learnt from this latest endeavour and I am sure he will make the most of his experiences with it.

Best regards to all.

And remember, no one knows all the answers, some of us may have more experience in certain areas but never the less can still learn new things, and there is always something to learn from everything we do.

SandyC.  ;D ;D ;D


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## firebird (Sep 11, 2009)

Hi Sandy

Thank you very much for taking the time, and interest, in my little engine. Your input is very much appreciated. :bow: :bow: :bow:.

As you have mentioned I have learned a lot over the past couple of years but there's still a lot more to learn, don't go away ;D ;D ;D I will certainly bare in mind all you say for the next project.

I have always favoured making up my own designs rather than following a set of instructions so work on the basis of lets have a go and learn as I go along.

I will follow your suggestions starting with getting the burner right and then tweak each piece till the engine runs ok then leave it at that as I am keen to pursue other projects, time permitting.

Once again many thanks for your invaluable help, keep it coming.

Cheers

Rich


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## firebird (Sep 12, 2009)

Hi

I did the mod to the firebox as a start today. After I had stripped it out it fell off the base. It seems super glue isn't good enough for this job so I ally welded it,just around the back where it wont be seen too much.

Here it is clamped together and in the brazing hearth after being welded.





Here it is set up in the mill having 7 3/8 dia holes drilled.













I'll run a new boiler test in a while.

Cheers

Rich


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## firebird (Sep 12, 2009)

Hi

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

 *beer* *beer* *beer* *beer* *beer* *beer* *beer* *beer* *beer* *beer* *beer*





Cheers

Rich


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## PhillyVa (Sep 12, 2009)

Hi Rich,

Sweet and I would ;D too.

Philly


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## vlmarshall (Sep 12, 2009)

firebird  said:
			
		

> Hi
> 
> YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
> 
> ...


Hahahahahaha, congrats! The great big smile was a nice touch. :bow: :bow: :bow: ;D


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## zeeprogrammer (Sep 12, 2009)

That was great! Congratulations. Great smile too.
I do like that hand wheel. Awesome stuff.


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## arnoldb (Sep 12, 2009)

Great job Rich! :bow:
And that smile looked just like this: ;D

Well Done!


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## GailInNM (Sep 12, 2009)

Congratulations Rich.  :bow:
Gail in NM


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## joe d (Sep 12, 2009)

Rich

Congratulations! Sounds great, looks great, and the smile says it all :big:

Cheers, Joe


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## ozzie46 (Sep 12, 2009)

Looks great Rich, Thm: Thm: Thm:

Ron


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## Maryak (Sep 12, 2009)

Rich,

The grin says it all

























Best Regards
Bob


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## Deanofid (Sep 12, 2009)

That's great, Rich! All your hard work really paid off. 
Great victory grin!!

Dean


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## putputman (Sep 12, 2009)

Congrats Rich. You earned that grin! :bow: :big: :bow: ;D


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## Krown Kustoms (Sep 12, 2009)

Beautiful work, great job!
-B-


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## Shopguy (Sep 12, 2009)

Beautiful work sir. Congratulations on a fine job.
Ernie J


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## Thad Swarfburn III (Sep 12, 2009)

*Firebird*, nice work and thank you for such extensive documentation.

*SandyC*, thanks for taking the time to write up such excellent info - I learned a lot from your post.

Still a long way off from finishing my first, but this stuff is terrifically inspirational.

Matt


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## Paolo (Sep 13, 2009)

Nice sound indeed!!!! Congratulation for you project!!! th_wav
Paolo


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## firebird (Sep 13, 2009)

Hi

Thank you all very much and thank you to all those that have helped along the way :bow: :bow: :bow:

Now I have a bit of a problem, scratch.gif scratch.gif do I do all the mods that have been suggested by Sandy C which I have no doubt will make it run better and more efficiently or do I leave it as it is for now and use all that valuable information and help when I build the next one. I don't have any more copper pipe in stock at the moment and I'm thinking if I strip it down to make alterations will it look as good when I have finished.

 :noidea: :noidea: :noidea:

Cheers

Rich


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## Paolo (Sep 13, 2009)

Please no doubt!!! The basis of that project are well done..courage do the modification suggested by SandyC!!!
 Thm: Thm: Thm: *club*


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## eskimobob (Sep 13, 2009)

Beautiful :bow:

Thank you for such a clear and detailed log - I am so impressed with it 8)
I have been more interested in stirling and hot air engines because steam seems messy  but I think you have changed my mind and I'd love to build something similar some day...

I am very impressed with your silver soldering - having never tried it yet, you make it look so easy :-\


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## SandyC (Sep 14, 2009)

;D ;D

Well done Rich, that certainly got your burner working a lot better.

Suggestion if I may: -

Rather than go head long in to changing everything/anything on my suggestions list, it would certainly pay you to run it as is a few times and make carefull observations of exactly what is happening.

I noticed several things whilst watching your video, some of which could have one or more reasons/solutions.

E.G. shortly after starting the engine speed dropped quite a bit... WHY?

Was this due to lack of steam?... I did notice a pressure drop... if so how do you solve this?
and what are ALL the implications of any changes made?

Or was this due to Back pressure in the exhaust? (possibly due to water build up in the oil separator partially blocking the exhaust inlet from the engine).

If it was this then what are the probable causes for this? and what is the best way to resolve the problem?... indeed, can it be solved in this instance, without major surgery, or are there conflicting reasons for it happening? ( I can think of at least one of these).

Or was it due to lubrication (or the lack of it) somewhere?


I also observed that the top cover on the oil separator was actually lifting at regular intervals, but did not actually observe any clean steam exiting from the top of the funnel.

What do you feel is causing this? and how can it be best solved?... again, I can think of/see possible reasons for this not being totally solvable with the setup you currently have.

I am not for one minute suggesting that things cannot be improved Rich (my suggestions list follows standard steam practice) but this is an ideal time to really analyse the dynamic operation of your plant and then think about the possible cause and effect of certain characteristics... followed by remedial action/s if deemed worthwhile.

Spend some time with it, take carefull notes of your observations, then use my list as a guide and try to pick out which one/s could be the cause/solution then try altering one thing at a time... run it again and compare notes between results.

Some items on my list are inter related... I won't tell you which at the moment, see if you can work out which ones they are... and why? : :'( :big: :big: and I will tell you if you are correct. ;D ;D  I think you will learn a great deal more by doing it this way rather than changing many things at once.

Keep up the great work.

Best regards.

Sandy. ;D ;D


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## thezetecman (Sep 14, 2009)

Really really enjoyed reading your post.

Very nice work and write up. 

What camera do you use you get very nice close up pictures?


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## firebird (Sep 14, 2009)

Hi

Thank you Paolo, Eskimobob & thezetecman.

Zetecman, I use a sony cybershot DSC-S85. I bought this camera 7 or 8 years ago and was very expensive at the time, around £500.00. It is 4.1 million pixels with carl zeiss lens and 6 times optical zoom + the usual macro facility. It uses sony's own memory stick. Of course prices have dropped considerably since then with cameras of 10 million pixels costing less than half that. However I have tried several other cameras but can't get the same quality as the sony. I'm no expert on cameras but I'm told some of the quality comes from the way sony captures images and the way they are stored????? I use a fuji finepix Z2 for video.

Now then Sandy,

I have been studying all you have said very closely and I have made some observations and carried out a couple of experiments. I noticed that although the engine ran there seemed to be some water getting through even when the engine was hot. First experiment was to reduce the amount of water in the boiler. I had been filling to about 75%, I reduced this to about 66% (2/3) more room for steam. It was an improvement. Then I tried it with lamp oil in the burner instead of meths. I understand lamp oil has a higher calorific value than meths. Once again an improvement and also lamp oil lasts longer. Finally I tweaked the adjustment on the safety valve and upped the pressure from 10psi to 15 psi, another noticeable improvement. A question here, do you think a steam dome would improve things??? This was all carried out Sunday afternoon, no photos I'm afraid. Now on to things mechanical. Tonight I made a couple of ally columns, one for the lubricator and one for the separator. They are both 0.6 inches high, the lubricator is 3/8 dia and the one for the separator 1/2 dia. I see what you mean about the base acting as a heat sink so lifting them up should improve things. I can now remake the pipes ( if the originals won't take to being altered I will make new ones) as short as possible and then lag them. Then run again and see what happens.













Cheers

Rich


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## arnoldb (Sep 14, 2009)

Rich, I've been following excellent your build with much interest - and a lot of awe!

If I may make an observation on your latest progress, however....

You have in effect added heat-sinks to the system; the grooved aluminium studs will cool down the components and steam; exactly the opposite of what I think you need for the lubricator...

As the lubricator is on the in-coming steam line, you don't want to cool it; in fact, if you can insulate it even better to keep incoming steam to the engine hotter. For the separator - after the engine, you do need cooling.

Apologies if this is out of place...

Regards, Arnold


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## NickG (Sep 14, 2009)

Rich, that is absoultely fantastic. A proper steam engine ... so much better on steam than on air aren't they.

Yes, maybe it would make more of a difference with some sort of insulating material between the lubricator & separator and the base plate rather than aluminium. As Arnold said, won't that aluminium now take the heat away and dissipate it into the air with the large surface area of the fins?

I noticed on an old toy mamod I had, it actually superheated the steam. Because the pipe from boiler to inlet of engine was quite long, they must have felt it necessary to run it through the firebox to dry it out.

The other mamod traction engine I had just hada very short pipe to the engine so didn't really affect it. I have another engine my mersey models that my grandad gave me, this one has quite a length of pipe to the engine and no superheating, I seem to remember that spurting a lot of hot oil / water out of the chimney at first though.

Nick


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## firebird (Sep 15, 2009)

Hi Arnold, Nick

Yes I agree with what you have both said. I figured that by lifting the lubricator and separator up off the base would be an improvement and is about the best I can get it for now. Shortening and then lagging the pipes is the next step. I think I will call a halt to the mods at that stage. After that I feel a serious rebuild and re design would be the only practical way forward. This is my first steam engine so much has had to be learned, once again I thank all the members of this forum for their help :bow: :bow: The knowledge gained will hopefully make the next engine even better. It will be the weekend now before I can get anything else done, I'll post any progress then.

Cheers

Rich


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## SandyC (Sep 15, 2009)

;D 

Rich,

Just to let you know... I have not forgotten you and your questions.
I am doing a quite detailed write up for you and the guy's explaining quite a lot of things but I am also trying to keep it in as simple terms as possible,(steam stuff can get quite HEAVY) as a result it is taking quite a lot of time.

Fear not... I will post it just as soon as I can.

Best regards.

SandyC ;D ;D


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## NickG (Sep 18, 2009)

Rich, 

Yeah, that's the thing ... it runs and it runs well, and it looks nice, that must be what you had hoped for. :bow: 

We also haven't forgotten about your other fantastic boiler and you can apply Sandy's knowledge to that one.

Well done.

Nick


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## firebird (Sep 19, 2009)

Hi

I mounted the separator and lubricator on their little posts, not ideal I know but better than fixed directly to the base. The pipes were then shortened to suit. I have lagged the two main steam inlet pipes. A dab of super glue on one end of the pipe to hold the string in place then wind it round and fix with super glue the other end and trim off.





Then paint with tippex to give a nice white finish.





Some photos of the finished lagged steam pipes.













And now another steam up.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oshObkuaP3w[/ame]

I have decided not to do any further mods to this engine now. It runs ok, I'm really pleased about that. ;D ;D ;D I think re-doing anything else now I may end up spoiling or damaging it. 

Cheers

Rich


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## zeeprogrammer (Sep 19, 2009)

Very nice Rich. Thank you for posting a wonderful thread. It was interesting and fascinating and I learned a lot.

Great bands around the boiler, neat wheel...well I could go on.

I also enjoyed seeing outside your windows once in a while. ;D You have a cheery workshop.


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## firebird (Sep 19, 2009)

Hi Carl

Thanks, I must learn to watch the background when I take photos though. The wife would go mad if she knew her washing was on the internet. ;D ;D ;D

Cheers

Rich


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## arnoldb (Sep 19, 2009)

Rich, and well you should be pleased 
You've done a great job on this display piece :bow: - and I love every bit of it!

Once again, very well done Thm: - and thank you very much for the hints, tips 'n ideas; I'll definitely be using many of those in upcoming projects 

Regards, Arnold


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## NickG (Sep 19, 2009)

Haha!

That is great Rich, seems to be running better and the lagged pipes look the part too. I was going to ask for a chimney shot ... it's fantastic! That will be a family heirloom for many years to come.

Nick


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## Deanofid (Sep 19, 2009)

The lagged pipes add even more to it, Rich, which is hard to do, since it was a beauty to start with.
I love watching it run!


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## Noitoen (Sep 20, 2009)

Very nice engine Thm:. I think you should make a little "polished" stainless tray to catch the little drops below the cylinder


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## ChooChooMike (Sep 20, 2009)

Rich,

It's been a pleasure watching you build your boiler and engine :bow: :bow: I've learned so much from your postings. I sure hope your build becomes the next Project of the Month, it sure deserves it !! :big:

Mike


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## joe d (Sep 20, 2009)

Rich:

Another fine piece of work :bow: :bow:

I've really enjoyed following along, thanks!

Cheers, Joe


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## SandyC (Sep 21, 2009)

;D ;D 

Hi Guy's,

Rich, The small changes you have made to your set-up have most certainly made a great difference and you are to be congratulated on such a great piece of work.

In an earlier post, you asked about some items and their possible effects so I thought it would be a good time to take a slightly deeper look at STEAM and how certain things are related.

The document attached is the result... it is quite long.

I have tried to explain the whole process, and hopefully, where applicable to your steam plant, answer your questions in the process, in language, which both you, and any other interested party, can fully understand. i.e. as NON-TECHNICAL as I can make it.

Some of the things discussed/suggested in it you have already done, and I am sure you know why you needed to do them, however, I feel sure the reasons behind you doing them may not be fully understood by everyone/anyone else that may be following your build. Some of the other content will be of interest to you for when you come to use your first boiler, or for any new steam plant you choose to build.

I would have got this posted sooner, however, other things in life conspired to distract me from the task of composing it, then I got sidetracked by someone 8) :  on an allied subject, but I will let that someone explain... as and when the time comes... I am staying mum. :big: :

Happy reading.

Best regards.

SandyC    ;D


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## SandyC (Sep 21, 2009)

: :-X :'( :'(

OOPS.... forgot to add the attachment.

SIlly old ****

Try again.

SandyC :big: :big: ;D 

View attachment STEAM NOTES FOR RICHARD.pdf


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## vlmarshall (Sep 21, 2009)

Impressive document, thanks for sharing it with the rest of us, Sandy! :bow:


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## firebird (Sep 21, 2009)

Hi

Thanks to Joe, Mike, Helder, Dean Nick & Arnold.

Sandy, I've just finished reading your attachment. Brilliant :bow: :bow: :bow: I will be reading it again and again until hopefully it all sinks in. My initial thoughts are:

1. I can't do much about the height of the boiler but I could raise the engine, at least a couple of inches by making 4 legs with a smaller base ( a bit like a table ) thus shortening all the pipes.

2. Mount the lubricator and separator on brackets on the side of the boiler. That would help to reduce heat loss.

3. Improve the burner, possibly with a multi jet similar to the type I experimented with on my other boiler.

4. Reduce the water level to around 60% and fit a water feed pump.


Its unlikely I will carry out any of the above mods on this particular engine but lessons have been learned that will be applied to future engines.

Once again many thanks Sandy for taking the time and trouble to pass on such valuable knowledge. Thm: Thm: Thm:

Cheers

Rich


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## NickG (Sep 23, 2009)

Sandy,

Cracking document, :bow: I've read it rather quickly so forgive me if I've missed anything. Not sure if it's all gone in ... think my brain might be full, so I'll keep a copy on my hard drive!! :big:

Just a couple of questions you'll be able to answer.

With coal fired boilers, we have things like blowers (I see that as injecting a flow of steam into the chimney which draws air through the fire thus creating more heat) and specially designed blast nozzles (exhaust is specially placed with a shaped nozzle to provide the best flow to draw air through the fire and create the right amount of heat.) 

Do these things apply if you have a gas burner, or is the amount of heat from that simply controlled by how much the gas valve is opened and assuming you have enough air to burn it?

The next question is on superheating (routing of the steam through pipes back into firebox before going to cylinders). I presume this helps you maintain the level of dry saturated steam on route to the load by passing it through pipes that will be as hot as or even hotter than the boiler? Is that right, and how much of a difference would it make on an engine like this? Also, you'd need your steam valve before the superheater for safety reasons.

That's another thing, with rich having the steam valve on the engine, doesn't that allow condensate to collect in the pipes?

This is a very intriguing subject, and until you had given us all of this information I had never considered it in such detail ... there's so much to think about to make a successful steam plant so Rich must be commended on his effort.

Thanks,

Nick


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## SandyC (Sep 23, 2009)

;D   

Hi Nick,

Thanks for the compliment; I am pleased that my DRIVEL was of some use to you... :-\ :-\ : :big: as well as, hopefully, answering some/most of Rich's original questions.

As for taking it all in... well, as you say, it is a complex subject and it can take a lot of time to absorb it all.

You have asked some interesting questions and I will do my best to answer them for you, and the other guy's, however, I think it would be better to do so by starting another thread, rather than taking Rich's small engine thread too far off topic.

I will post the new thread under QUESTIONS and ANSWERS a bit later on so keep an eye open for it under that heading.

I will call it 'STEAM ANSWERS' or something similar.

More later.



Rich,

As you say, to change everything would require a lot of work and even then you may not like the end result, from a eye pleasing point of view.

From a layout point of view, you will probably gain the largest benefit from mounting the OIL TRAP on an insulator, (such as a piece of nicely polished wood) rather than on a bracket or a metal stand off... the LUBRICATOR is OK as it is.

From an operational point of view, improving the HEAT OUTPUT RATE from the burner would be of the BIGGEST benefit, since this would allow/help you to keep the pressure, and hence the temperature, of the STEAM higher during running... it would/might also pay you to think about how you control/vary the output from the burner... THINK, STATIC MODE and DYNAMIC MODE.

You could also increase the operating PRESSURE to say 25psi or even 30psi... since that would also give you more HEAT to play with in the beginning... although, naturally, this would have some implication for the burner design/control.

Whilst raising the entire engine would certainly shorten the pipe work, the saving in heat loss would not be very much in the grand order of things... By far the majority of heat loss has more to do with the MASS of the engine, rather than an inch or two of feed pipe, and this would still remain.

As you say, some items/things to keep in mind for the next project... and the next... and the next... we never stop learning.

How far you choose to take it, on this one, is for you to decide.

Whatever, be rightfully proud of you achievements to date Rich... you've come a very long way in a very short space of time... you certainly have my admiration. 

KEEP HAPPY.

Best regards.

Sandy ;D ;D


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## firebird (Sep 23, 2009)

Hi

I'll look forward to that Sandy.

A couple more questions.

Should the boiler be emptied of water after use or is it OK to leave the water in it. I'm using filtered rain water.

I took the engine to work today to show off a bit. Everyone liked it but the one thing they all wanted to know   Whats it worth???? Thats something I hadn't thought about. Of course I'd never sell it but how do you value these things for insurance purposes.

Cheers

Rich


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## CrewCab (Sep 23, 2009)

Rich,
This has been a wonderful and enjoyable thread and, thanks Sandy for your invaluable contributions :bow: between the two of you I think you have raised the profile of "Steam" over "Compressed Air" at least ten fold  

For my 2c worth, Rich I agree with you, the _*Mk1 Firebird Steamer*_ works well and is a lovely looking engine, it should just go on display ........... I'd save the modifications for the Mk2 .......... then of course the Mk3 ........... etc ........ 

It's been a pleasure to accompany you all for the ride, cheers 8)

CC


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## NickG (Sep 25, 2009)

Thanks Sandy, we really appreciate the education we are getting here. :bow:

Rich, that's a good point. Will send you a PM about insurance valuations.

Great stuff.

Nick


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## Maryak (Sep 26, 2009)

firebird  said:
			
		

> Should the boiler be emptied of water after use or is it OK to leave the water in it. I'm using filtered rain water.



Depends on how long you plan between steamings.

For short term say 3 months the boiler should be completely filled with water i.e. water wedged some anti oxidant added and sealed shut.

For a longer term the boiler should be completely empty, dried out and some powdered lime added. The boiler is then sealed.

Techo terms are WW - water wedged and ECL - empty closed and limed.

Hope this helps.

Best Regards


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## firebird (Sep 26, 2009)

Hi Maryak,

Thanks for the info. When you say add some anti oxidant, what is that exactly.

Cheers

Rich


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## SandyC (Sep 26, 2009)

;D

Hi Guy's,

Rich,

In general, for short or long term storage, I would always EMPTY a copper boiler, preferably whilst it was still hot, and then warm it very gently, with the filler cap OFF, to ensure it was thoroughly dry inside, I would then leave it to stand, unheated, until it cooled down to normal ambient room temperature... after which I would firmly fit the filler cap to seal the boiler.
It should then be stored in a WARM, DRY, and well ventilated, location.

Ideally, for long term storage, the air within the boiler should be replaced with an oxygen free gas, say 'ARGON', or even 'HELIUM', since this will eliminate any possibility of OXIDATION, however, for small model boilers, the small amount of oxygen content would not warrant this.

Completely filling the boiler with water, as suggested by Bob, is fine for shorter periods of storage, and is the method used by many MODEL LOCOMOTIVE/TRACTION ENGINE owners for storage between steamings... the only thing I would add would be to ENSURE the boiler cannot freeze whilst FULL of water.

As for VALUATION Rich... That is a very tough question... 

Apart from direct material costs, 

Do you include the HOURS taken to actually build it?

If so, then at what Hourly rate? (skilled work is not cheap).

What about SENTIMENTAL value?, and how do you/or can you quantify it's MONETARY value?

I am not convinced that an insurance company would pay much heed to the latter three of the above. They would be more likely to look for the commercial price of the NEAREST EQUIVALENT(not always so easy with a ONE OFF custom built unit) and perhaps add on a small TOKEN AMOUNT for them and call that the INSURED VALUE.

If any subsequent claim were to be made, they would then make a DOWNWARD adjustment, in thier favour, to take into account DEPRECIATION... as is thier WAY.
 :-\ :-\ :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( ??? ???  

Keep happy.

Best regards.

Sandy. ;D 8) 8)


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## Maryak (Sep 26, 2009)

Rich,

Anti oxidants or oxygen scavengers are chemicals such as sulphite and bisulfite salts, hydrazine, hydroxylamine, carbohydrazides, hydroquinones, etc. etc. etc.

For the very very small amount you would need a scrounging trip to your nearest working steam museum would probably be the best option.

Hope this helps

Best Regards
Bob

PS Sandy's options are probably easier but again it's down to where do I get such small amounts.


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## firebird (Sep 27, 2009)

Hi

Thanks Sandy & Bob.

Just a thought, modern car antifreeze contains a corrosion inhibitor, would that work or am I on the wrong track.

Cheers

Rich


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## TheDogofWar (Oct 8, 2009)

wow that's just gorgeous Rich. A rich classic look and I just love your attention to detail like the valve handle and the wooden staves and bands on the boiler. It's this type of fine craftsmanship that has drawn me into this hobby in 2 short days. :bow:


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## EddyK (Oct 27, 2009)

Hi Rich, I googled for boiler, boiler fronts and stumbled across your thread.
Wonderfull thread. Lots of ideas here for me. Just wonderfull. 

Thumbs up.


Eddy.


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## firebird (Oct 27, 2009)

Hi Eddy

Glad you like it

Cheers

Rich


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## Twmaster (Oct 28, 2009)

Hello Rich,

I'm new here and am simply blown away by your project. You deserve to be the current winner with that.

One question. I've gone through most of this thread, BTW, learned a few rocking tips from you, I'm curious what lathe you have. Just the tool geek in me wanting to know!


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## firebird (Oct 28, 2009)

Hi Mike

A Myford ml7. Its a fairly old one but in superb condition. I bought it about 5 years ago from a fellow model engineer who was moving to pastures new. It had recently been back to Myfords for a refurb, bed grind etc. It came with 3jaw/4 jaw, a set of change wheels, vertical slide, collets etc. I have added keyless chuck, rear tool post for parting off, quick change tool post, ball turning attachment etc. I would like to do the conversion to variable speed control some time soon. Myford spares are not cheap but its a great lathe and very versatile. It should last me a long time.

Cheers

Rich


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## Twmaster (Oct 28, 2009)

Thanks for the info Rich.

Those Myford's are supposed to be supurb machines. A fellow member of our metal working society has one for sale. Sadly priced out on my means.


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## firebird (Dec 6, 2009)

Hi

I have had to carry out a little modification to my small steam engine. It has been much admired by family and friends but every time I show it to anyone they say "lets see it running then". Its not as simple as that with a steam engine. You can't just turn a key and fire it up. It has to be filled with filtered rain water, the burner filled with spirit and lit. Raise enough steam etc etc then of course after the demo it has to be drained and dried and cleaned. All this takes time which mostly I don't have. It would be nice I thought if I could run it on air for quick runs to show people how it performs. What I needed was some method of attaching the air supply quickly. Now I know its bad practice to simply attach an air supply to the boiler. You should never pressurize a boiler with compressed air. With all that in mind I set to and made a little shut off valve. With this valve I can isolate the boiler and connect an air supply in a very short time.

Here's a couple of photos of the finished valve fitted into the boiler. It fits into the bush that was the steam supply outlet.









I'll be posting more photos and drawings and video with a description of how I made it later.

Cheers

Rich


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## firebird (Dec 6, 2009)

Hi

Here's a couple of drawings, the first is more or less actual size and the second is enlarged.












Cheers

Rich


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## mklotz (Dec 6, 2009)

Allow me a stupid question...

Assuming one doesn't exceed the boiler pressure rating, what's the problem with pressurizing a boiler with compressed air?


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## firebird (Dec 6, 2009)

Hi Marv

Apparently it can be dangerous. When I was building my first boiler (posted here on HMEM) I said I would initially test it by pumping up with compressed air and holding it under water. Immediately I was told not to, far too dangerous,don't do it. I think its something to do with the volume of air it takes to pump up the pressure. If a rupture should occur all that air has to come out and expand to its original size.

Cheers

Rich


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## mklotz (Dec 6, 2009)

Yes, you certainly don't want to pressure TEST a boiler with a compressed gas.

But, after the boiler is proofed to X psi, I don't see the problem with gas pressurizing it to <= X.


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## shred (Dec 6, 2009)

Yeah, I run my little Jenny Wren on air through the boiler-- never heard of it being a problem except when testing or if you exceed the pressure limits.
This solution is nice and neat though if you do want to keep them separate.


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## NickG (Dec 7, 2009)

Yes,

The compressed steam will do much worse damage than the compressed air!


Nick


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## firebird (Dec 7, 2009)

Hi

Perhaps a misunderstanding on my part but better safe than sorry I suppose. My little compressor is ideal for running a small engine like this as it can't produce a lot of compressed air in a short time. Starting the compressor from empty it will maintain 5-10 psi with the engine running. It is however capable of building up to 50 psi (over the test pressure of this little boiler) if left to run. Another safety measure I have employed is to make the small rubber pipe a push fit on the connector so that should blow off if the pressure gets too high.

Anyway on with how the valve was made.

I started by drilling and tapping a bit of scrap 1/4 steel 3/16 x 40. The body is made from 1/4 round brass firstly turned down to 3/16 and threaded 3/16 x 40 and drilled through 1/16. Cross drilled in the mill and tapped 3/16 x 40. Back in the lathe and parted off to length then screwed into the holder with a copper washer.Drill down just short of depth then finish with a 1/8 mill cutter to give a flat bottom to the hole for the stainless steel ball to seat on. Tap the hole 5/32 x 40.









The next piece to be made is the side connector. Made from 3/16 round brass drilled through 1/16, cross drilled 1/16 and threaded 3/16 x 40. The end that screws into the body only needs 1 thread or so just to hold it in place while it is silver soldered. It needs enough thread to get the cross drilled hole vertical.





The vertical connector is made from 3/16 round brass drilled through 1/16 and threaded one end 3/16 x40. The other end is profiled with a 3/16 mill cutter to suit the radius of the side connector.





A piece of 5/32 round brass is drilled through 1/16 and threaded 5/32 x 40 and lightly countersunk one end with a small centre drill. This will give a small recess for the carbon string packing to sit in. Parted off to a length of .35. A lock nut is made to suit from 1/4 hex brass.





More to follow.

Cheers

Rich


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## BobWarfield (Dec 7, 2009)

Truly an outstanding project and a very pleasurable read!

I can't help but suggest a further refinement, if I may?

Family and friends would love a steam whistle!

Cheers,

BW


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## firebird (Dec 8, 2009)

Hi

I'm sure they would Bob but I really must call an end to this one so that I can move onto other projects. Perhaps when I have a few minutes to spare I'll have a go.

The next piece I made was easy, a simple blanking off nut tapped 3/16 x 40. Although I have shown it next to the side connector on the drawing I ended up reversing the fittings as the steam pipe fitted better that way.





Then a gland nut tapped 5/32 x 40. Pretty much the same as the blanking nut but with a 1/16 hole drilled through for the spindle.





Then the connector for the air pipe. Tapped 3/16 x 40 and drilled through 1/16. The drawing shows it to be turned to 1/8 but at the last moment I double checked the bore size of the rubber pipe and ended up turning it slighter larger to give a tight push fit with the pipe. Its nearer 5/32. I have moved the vertical connector so that you can see how the end has been profiled.





In this photo you can see I have dropped a 1/8 stainless steel ball into the body.





I'm sure what you call it but the bit that pushes onto the ball is made from stainless steel. Turn a bit to 5/32 and thread 5/32 x 40. Drill through 1/16 and turn a boss on the end. Counter sink with a small centre drill to help align the ball. Part off.





Silver solder in a length of 1/16 stainless steel rod.





A trial fit in the body with the ball and marked for length.





A blurry shot of the first stage of silver soldering. The side connector is screwed into body and silver soldered.





More to follow

Cheers

Rich


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## firebird (Dec 10, 2009)

Hi

After cleaning up the vertical connector is silver soldered on. Sorry no photo of this, must have forgot ??? ??? ??? Then a good clean up and polish. The spindle has a 10BA thread put on. 10BA goes nicely onto 1/16 rod. Finally I made a little hand wheel. I've used this method before and was successful with it so I have adopted the same method here.

Center drill a bit of 5/16 brass round and drill tapping size for 10BA.





Then tap 10BA





Move to the mill and rotary table in the vertical position and cut 6 flutes with a small cutter.









Turn the rotary table to the horizontal position and centre drill 6 positions.





Then drill with a small drill. Drill as deep as the drill will allow.





Back in the lathe part off.





I managed to get 4 hand wheels out of it. 3 will go in stock for the future.





The hand wheel is screwed on with a bit of lock tite and a 10BA nut.





Cheers

Rich


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## arnoldb (Dec 10, 2009)

Rich, thank you for showing  and well done :bow:
I've got pretty much the same kind of work coming up in the near future, and you showing this is an inspiration!
Kind regards, Arnold


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## firebird (Dec 10, 2009)

Hi

Thanks Arnold.

Last but not least a bit of video.





Cheers

Rich


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## cobra428 (Dec 10, 2009)

firebird,
Very Nice, I can't wait for the steam run!

Tony


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## firebird (Dec 10, 2009)

Hi Tony

We already had the steam run a while back. This was a mod to let it run on air.

Cheers

Rich


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## zeeprogrammer (Dec 10, 2009)

Nice Rich. Excellent thread to help me learn how to make small hand wheels.

I notice you had some sunlight in the room. I miss seeing the outside. ;D


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## 1Kenny (Dec 10, 2009)

Rich, 

I like the way you did that valve. Thanks for showing it and the video.

Kenny


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## cobra428 (Dec 12, 2009)

Firebird,
Sorry I missed it, going back in thread till I find it. Don't know how I missed it, I've been following with great interest. Give this bloody yank a kick in the pants.

Cheers
Tony


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## doubletop (Mar 9, 2010)

I missed this in real time as I only started building things this Feb. So just to add my thanks for this and the "a small boiler" thread. They are invaluable to somebody like me, who compared to your standards, makes my version of the Eric-Jan Stroetinger wobbler look like a Lada. (great double acting engine, and the plans are on the downloads page as WobblerEJS.pdf) 

Mine is here

 [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUPQqlBvEVk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUPQqlBvEVk[/ame]

I have now started on SandyC's 3" vertical boiler, so every bit of both your threads are relevant to what I am up to. It was looking for tips on end plates that bought me here. I've just got through all 47 pages of the threads and every page was a gem. I kept thinking "there's a book in here". I would hope with the relevant acknowledgments to sources, Sandy etc they'd give you the OK to do it. I'd buy a copy.

Thanks again

(now to find what you've been up to in 2010, have you started that beam engine yet to go with your "hedgehog" boiler?)


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## firebird (Mar 9, 2010)

Hi Doubletop

Thats a nice looking engine, runs well too. I'm glad you found my posts useful. I had a lot of help from the guys here on HMEM. Without their help I would never have been able to do it. While your building your boiler start a thread and post your progress, you will get all the help you need and at the same time show the rest of us how to do it.

As for a book I'm not sure but I have been asked by a magazine to right an article for them. As always time is the main problem. 

As for the beam engine, I have had a box of bits under the bench for a long while now, hopefully it will come out soon and be worked on.

Cheers

Rich


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## firebird (Oct 17, 2010)

Hi

I have been playing with my steam engine today, any excuse to fire it up will do. Actually I have made a new burner for it. This one uses the solid fuel tablets like the Mamod engines. It makes life a little easier to fire it up than using the meths burner. It wasn't difficult to make, it follows the lines of the meths burner and the method of construction was pretty much the same. I had a small piece of the brass tube left and then cut a piece of brass sheet into a rough circle.



 

After filing roughly to size the brass circle was annealed and then formed over a steel former. The former then held in the lathe chuck and the brass plate held onto the former with pressure from the tail stock onto a brass off cut using a revolving centre. The plate was then turned to size.





Here's the finished plate.





And then pushed inside the brass tube.





I made a handle from 1/16 brass in the same way as the meths burner and silver soldered the plate in the tube and the handle onto the tube.





Here's the new one beside the old one.





With a solid fuel tablet.





Here it is alight, you can just see the flame.





It takes around 7 minutes from cold to reach steam. The engine will run for around 3 minutes before the tablet runs out. With another tablet lit on the tray steam is reached in 2 or 3 minutes and the engine then runs for around another 5 minutes.

Here's a video of the engine running on the solid fuel tablets.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkVb4sKAGBQ[/ame]

Cheers

Rich


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## doubletop (Oct 26, 2010)

Love it; You can't beat getting these things running on steam. They can only sit looking pretty on the bookcase for so long.

Pete


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## steamer (Oct 26, 2010)

Hi Firebird,

Marv is correct about compressed air, it should be fine at less than max boiler pressure.  And of course we don't hydro a boiler with compressed air, because it is a compressable gas and stores energy unlike water which is not compressable. 

However I can commend you for the modification. One thing to watch out for with compressors, is the supply can be at a very high pressure ( compared to model boilers for instance) and you only need to wrong once and you can do damage to the boiler or worse.  I have a safety valve, you say? Well that's fine too as long as your safety valve has relieving capacity large enough to relieve your air compressor tank, otherwise, it may not be able to keep up and you will overpressure the boiler.  There's a lot of "ifs" there...pro and con.....sounds ugly doesn't it?

Your unlikely to have any of these issues with the modification you have performed as the best solution to a problem is to eliminate the source of the problem all together!........so not a bad idea.

Dave


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## firebird (Oct 26, 2010)

Hi Pete

That's right, running on steam has a magic all of it's own. I can't wait to get my beam engine running on steam as well.

Hi Dave

The little home made compressor I am using (made from an old fridge compressor) to run the engine on only has a small reservoir and can only get to 40 psi. I start the compressor up from empty and at about 10 psi the engine will run. The compressor produces just enough air to maintain 10 psi and keep the engine running. Also the small rubber tube I have used is just a push fit on the connector on the valve and will blow off if the pressure is allowed to get to around 20 psi and the small reservoir quickly empties.

Cheers

Rich


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## steamer (Oct 26, 2010)

Oh I am sure we have the same air compressor! :big:


Ya know your right....the problem is...the next poor SOB reading this will have a 20 HP compressor with a 80 gallon tank running at 180 psi..... :

And He'll be showing us pictures of his "Ballooned" boiler! :

It is the "Web" after all.

Dave


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## firebird (Oct 27, 2010)

Hi

You're probably right Dave, there will always be somebody that will do something, well shall we say, not what us sensible people would do : : :

Cheers

Rich


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## steamer (Oct 27, 2010)

Well , we all just need to be careful and "Think before we Do".

Dave


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## Blogwitch (Oct 28, 2010)

Sorry to offtopic and sidetrack a bit Rich, but earlier on in the post, Bob asked for a whistle.

This isn't one for a boiler, but one that you can use with your compressor.

I suppose you could scale bits down and make a small whistle out of it, or parts of.

Great build BTW.

John 

View attachment 4 Chime Whistle.pdf


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## firebird (Oct 28, 2010)

Hi John

That's very interesting. Are you sure you're not psychic??? I was going to raise the subject of whistles as I intend to build one for the portable engine that is going to be my project after the beam engine is finished. I'll start a new post a little nearer the time.

Cheers

Rich


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## boxcarmj (Oct 18, 2012)

Hi! Is there a way to replace the pictures and then make this permenant, so we can all benefit from it.
Thank-you Mike.


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