# Compound Condensing Engine



## Rivergypsy (Aug 26, 2011)

I just though I'd kick off a new post to chart the build of my latest engine.

It's a model marine compound condensing engine that was documented in Model Engineer & Electrician magazine in 1923, and the plans are now available on http://www.john-tom.com/html/SteamPlans2.html and castings from http://www.steamlaunch.com/engines/engineers.html

It's a model I've fancied doing for a while, with the wealth of original detail, and have finally taken the plunge, so I'll keep you up to date as I go 

Dave


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## metalmad (Aug 26, 2011)

looks like a great model to build 
I will be watching, take lots of pics :big:
Pete


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## Jasonb (Aug 26, 2011)

Looks a decent size engine though the detail will still be a bit fiddly, look forward to following your progress.

J


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## Maryak (Aug 26, 2011)

Dave,

What about the rest of the Great Eastern ??? :

If I interpret your avatar correctly that's Brunell alongside her from the BBC series.

Best Regards
Bob


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## peatoluser (Aug 26, 2011)

Definately will be following with interest.
good look with the build , and as metalmad says, lots of photos please!

Peter


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## Rivergypsy (Dec 1, 2011)

It's been a while since I last posted, so I thought I ought to show some progress 

I've now modelled the whole engine in Solidworks (metric - so a lot of conversions to do lol), and had to correct a lot of mismatched dimensions en-route.

And, now I know it's ok, I've just ordered a nice billet of EN24T for the crankshaft, so will gets some pics and keep you posted. The only problem is that having had a bit too much of an interaction with a gas flame, I need to keep the coolant off for a while...


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## Rivergypsy (Dec 1, 2011)

Ah, the pics seemed to get lost on the last post... ???


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## JorgensenSteam (Dec 1, 2011)

Ouch, that had to hurt.


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## Rivergypsy (Dec 1, 2011)

Not the best move I've ever made, but gagging to get back to machining again!


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## dalem9 (Dec 1, 2011)

That looks really painful ! Hope all heals well , Maybe you should pass on how it happened so some of us don't make the same mistake. Will follow along too. Good luck . Dale


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## archer3d (Dec 1, 2011)

YIKES !!! That brings back some painful memories. Hope all is OK now, will be watching


tom


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## Harold Lee (Dec 1, 2011)

Ouch!!! That made my stomach hurt. Hope you mend very quickly and get back to the important issues.

Harold


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## pete (Dec 1, 2011)

Dclark,
Man you have my sympathy for your hand, And that picture brings back a few painful memorys for myself too.

I've been waiting for Elliot Bay to produce a set of castings for this engine for almost a year. The last email I had from them was they were having problems with some cores. I'm certainly happy that they want to sell proper castings, But this engine seems like it's a pretty low priority for them. Since your reworking this engine would you be willing to sell a set of your drawings?

Pete


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## steamer (Dec 1, 2011)

I've had a report that the last picture was "a bit gruesome"....Agreed.
It's damn gruesome!

However, it points to the fact that what we do can be dangerous. I think if it makes you all think about things "just one more time" before you do it, and that prevents same from happening to one other person.....it is worth it to leave it just as it is.

A moments lapse is not a measure of or lack of intellect. It's a human condition. We all have done it...it happens.

I respect and value the opinion of those here...but I'm glad it got your attention.

I think there are a few far more gruesome photo's in the safety section posted by none other than Rick....put up for the same purpose as I recall.

FOCUS.....THINK...and perhaps remember!

Safety is an Attitude!

Dave


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## pete (Dec 1, 2011)

Steamer,
I'm reading between the lines, But I hope whoever "reported" that picture didn't want it removed. I've sat thru lots of industrial safety films that were not designed to be gentle to whoever they were shown to. This stuff does and can happen to anyone. I've seen far worse that looked real on television and movies. Personaly I'd say that picture was a good object lesson for everybody. I've seen a few industrial accidents that were a lot worse, And that's not a pretty sight either.

Pete


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## steamer (Dec 1, 2011)

I'm reading between the lines, But I hope whoever "reported" that picture didn't want it removed. I've sat thru lots of industrial safety films that were not designed to be gentle to whoever they were shown to. This stuff does and can happen to anyone. I've seen far worse that looked real on television and movies. Personaly I'd say that picture was a good object lesson for everybody. I've seen a few industrial accidents that were a lot worse, And that's not a pretty sight either.



YUP!


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## Rivergypsy (Dec 2, 2011)

Sorry if I did offend anybody with the picture - not my intention at all. Just to show how an easy slip and put you out of action - a month of no machining or cycling... 

Pete - I can't sell the drawings as the originals were a free download from the Jon-Tom(?) website - I only modelled and corrected them. But, I have all the models in SW2011 format, and am producing 2D dimensioned drawings as I go, and you've more than welcome to either the SW files (or any other format), or the drawings as they are done, free of charge. Just let me have your email address and what you need.

The Elliot Bay castings - I've been emailing them for ages now, and haven't got a single reply from them - not impressed. What I've been pondering is fabricating the parts - either welded or barzed assemblies. Has anyone tried this approach on this engine?

Cheers
Dave


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## steamer (Dec 2, 2011)

Hi Dave,

No worries at all...I hope that heals quickly!..if that was me it would be many months...Burns heal slow on me.

Dave


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## ref1ection (Dec 2, 2011)

I'm hoping that seeing a picture of a hand in that condition gives me a sharp reminder to be safe so I never see my own in that shape. Not offensive at all.Looks to be healing well and hope it's back up to speed for you soon.

Ray


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## Rivergypsy (Dec 2, 2011)

Thanks to everybody for the good wishes - I'm aiming for a nice big pile of blue swarf to start piling up on Monday ;D


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## Rivergypsy (Dec 12, 2011)

At last - metal has been cut for the crankshaft! :big:

Two hours rough turning, leaving 1mm all over, and a BIG pile of big blue swarf - huge fun!
I've modified the existing plans slightly, in that I'll be making the eccentrics separately, so that I can geet the whole hardening/tempering/grinding process done - the profile of the eccentrics would I think have prevented the from being ground if it had been as one piece.

Off to the mill tomorrow lunchtime to start knocking a flat on to each side of it ;D


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## Rivergypsy (Dec 14, 2011)

Entirely unrelated, but here's a quick rendering of the Edwards Radial Engine, that I modelled a few months ago. I've got a billet of ally for the crankcase under my desk, but steam first this time :


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## Rivergypsy (Jan 5, 2012)

Sorry for the delay in posting, but I keep forgetting to take my camera down to the machine shop, so here's a quick catch up on the progress...


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## Rivergypsy (Jan 5, 2012)

And the rest ;D

So the crank is now semi finished to within 0.3mm, and ready for big-end machining (but my mate is building a 1/4 scale Merlin, so we're taking turns on the lathe...  )
The big end, and outer main bearings have been soft soldered together, and are in the roughing stages of machining. I'll finish these once the crank and bed plate are done though. I did find an interesting thing out though - I know the traditional method of bearing making is to solder the two halves together, but just out of interest, this time I tried bonding the halves of one big end bearing with Loctite 326, and it worked out nicely. So, if you haven't got soldering facilties, it might be a useful technique.
And for the last bit for now, I managed to get the circulating pump valve chamber done on the CNC today, so a nice little piece done


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## JohnLanark (Jan 5, 2012)

Nice work Dave! I don't think I've seen a compound engine with a 180 degree crank before - will keep watching with interest. Hope your hand is back to normal. John


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## Rivergypsy (Jan 5, 2012)

Glad you like it!
I think there was an issue about ease of starting with 180 cranks, but to be honest I didn't want to lose the original plans for this engine. If it needs modifying, then perhaps a cut & shut or remake could be in order. I do get the odd urge for a timber steam canoe to drop this in, so starting & easy reversing may well be an issue to save embarrasment around the local Tupperware toys 
And thanks, the hand is all good and useful - it'll never win a beauty contest, but I'd rather have it playing with a machine ;D


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## JohnLanark (Jan 5, 2012)

Dave, I think your engine will push along more than a canoe. I used to own "Lightning" an 18 ft boat shown here, which sustains the hull speed of around 5 knots with an 1 3/4" + 3" x 2" engine.

http://www.steamboatassociation.org.uk/Default.aspx?pageId=1117882

Good luck,
John


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## steamer (Jan 6, 2012)

Yes my 1.5 x 3.0 x 2.5 pushes my 25 foot boat along nicely!
Nice looking parts and tip on the loctite Dave!

Dave


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## kno3 (May 20, 2012)

Hello, any news regarding this engine build?


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## Rivergypsy (May 21, 2012)

Hi,

I've made a few more parts for the engine, including flywheel, and some other odds, but i do have to admit that i've been side-tracked by some entablature engine plans that Pete sent me, so this one is being made first... 
I'll start a new post on the entablature soon, but I'll definitely be back on this one later 

Cheers
Dave


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## Paolo (May 24, 2012)

I did the entire project on AutoCAD drawings but i did just the two cylinder the covers and the crank shaft...I abandoned it in favour of The FS 835....
Best regards


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## Rivergypsy (Nov 4, 2013)

Well, it's been far too long since I've posted on this build, partly with my entablature engine build, but there's been some very interesting work going on it the background.

Following on from chatting to Pete about this build, and becoming good mates in the process, he put me in touch with Dennis Howe of Historic Models and Reproductions (http://historicmodelsandreproductions.com/) and we've come up with a plan to develop and release both the plans and a casting kit for the engine. Over the last year, Dennis has finished his CNC router, and has been making some excellent progress on what promise to be beautiful castings. The first of these, the bedplate, is currently at the foundry and we hope to hear something from them this week.

Castings won't be for sale until we've proven the design 100%, but Dennis is quite happy to reserve sets if anyone is interested.

One thing I would just like to say is that it's been a great pleasure to meet like minded people through this forum, and work together in bringing what promises to be a stunning model back to life.


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## pete (Nov 4, 2013)

I'm really glad Dave and I can now finally talk about this. We've been keeping this quiet for it seems a very long time.

But maybe a bit of backround about this new/old engine that without everything happening just as it did, this Marine Engine as a casting set wouldn't be available to anyone. Or at least very soon we hope it will be available.The internet gets a great deal of bad press, and a lot of it is I guess well justified. But it can also work very, very well for something just like this engine. But I do want to make it 100% clear, neither Dave or myself have any commercial interest at all in this engine. 

Due to a casting supplier in the U.K. that ripped me off for a set of castings for the M.E. Beam, I ended up hearing of another person in the San Francisco bay area who was also having major issues with the same supplier. He and I started emailing back and forth, and I have I think learned a very large amount from him about stationary and marine steam. He also got me more than interested in those early marine steam engines, and sent me a link to Historic Models and Reproductions since he had just bought a set of castings from Dennis, and he also knew I was interested in the Corliss valved engines. Shortly after that I then purchased a set of L&B Corliss castings from Dennis and was more than very impressed with the overall casting quality, drawings, and even how Dennis handled my order. Since that time Dennis and I have remained in touch, and I'd like to think we've become good friends who just haven't met yet. At around that time I ran across a link for Elliot Bay, and spotted there small pictures of a version of this Compound that might have been done from the old Clarkson? produced castings in the U.K. Dave has used those pictures of that engine in his first post on this thread as bait  I then tried to order a set of castings from Elliot Bay. They weren't available at that time, and I'm assuming that's still the case since they haven't let me know there now available despite numerous past emails. Also around the same time I bought a pretty complete collection of Model Engineer magazines from 1898-1960's, and then ran across the write up for this compound that was done in those magazines that Dave has mentioned. That just made me want a set of those now unobtainable castings even more. 

I'd guess it was also right around the same time I was trying to get castings from Elliot Bay that Dave was also doing the exact same thing, and getting the same results as myself. The very large difference between He and I? He's one hell of an excellent commercial designer, machinist, and more than very experienced with the commercial quality Solidworks CAD program. And you can then add to that a deep interest and appreciation of both Stationary and Marine steam. All of that togeather has to be more than a very rare combination today. So after I spotted his very first drawings for the compound in this thread, I then pmed him, and we began emailing back and forth. I think we've now both become very good friends who again just haven't met yet. But I never forgot about, and I still kept wanting a set of those castings. So due to the quality of my L&B Corliss castings, I again thought of Dennis and his company. By almost random chance, I decided to scan a drawing of this engine from one of those old Model Engineer magazines, or I emailed him the Elliot Bay pictures asking him to consider it as a casting kit for his company. I'm a little unsure now exactly what I did email him for drawings or pictures. 

But funny enough he'd seen a couple sets of castings in the past that were obtained from the U.K. many many years ago for the original version of this compound engine. But those original casting kits are now no longer available. But luckily he did know of this engine, and had also been at that time seriously thinking of adding some type of marine engine to his company's lineup of casting kits. We then started to email back and forth quite a bit until he was just about committed to doing this engine, but he was also thinking of and a bit concerned about all the work it would take just to do the drawings from scratch. I then thought of Dave and all the work he'd already done on this engine, and this thread. I was pretty sure the very fine drawings Dave had done up to that point should work for Dennis's needs. So it wasn't a real giant mental leap to add two and two, and I then sent the both of them each others email address. At that time they both agreed to work on this engine as a joint effort. So from that point on all the work has now been done by both Dave and Dennis. Although I have gotten to see some of the work that's been done. But from the pictures and drawings I've been sent so far, Dave has produced an excellent set of CAD drawings, and Dennis has used those and what I think is a very accurate 3 axis CNC router system He's built that's now working on the very first patterns for this engine, and as that CNC routers very first project. I think the great pattern pictures Dennis has sent us and that Dave's added here should more than speak really well for themselves about what kind of castings they should produce. 

But without all 4 people in this story who still haven't ever met each other yet? And who are scattered up to 8,000 miles apart, and all the other little fractions of life's almost random bits of luck both good and bad aligning themselves just right. Then this engine would probably still be just a set of dusty drawings in one of those very old magazines instead of a soon to be commercial casting kit. But one thing this engine will have that's quite rare on any model marine engine I know of today is the proper design and casting for the condenser housing. The internal tubing will of course be up to the builder. At least we hope it will have that housing, the casting is from my information pretty complicated and thin walled. So it could be extremely hard to do in this size. But if anyone can pull it off, I have faith Dennis can. The pattern and cores for this casting should be done sometime this week. I'm not quite sure of the first trial casting date for those yet.

And according to Dennis, it's a bit too soon to come up with what the exact price will be for the castings and drawings. As soon as one of us does know that, then we'll certainly post it on this thread. But for at least the interested Marine Engine builders here, I think your about to soon have something that's maybe a little bit unusual, and it all pretty much started just about right from this thread. And unlike a huge number of casting kits avalible today that can require a larger 9" plus swing on a lathe for the flywheel, or maybe a larger mill due to an engines bedplate size. This one should be capable of being machined on some of the more basic and less costly 7" swing lathes and X2 type mills if the builder is willing to do a good job tramming and aligning there machine tools. 

Edit: After a re-read, it seems both Dave and I have forgotten to mention that these castings are being poured and cast in a proper commercial quality foundry 

Pete


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## Rivergypsy (Nov 5, 2013)

Here's the pattern and cores for the engine, and I think they bode very well for some quality castings. Personally I'm aiming for a mixture of manual and CNC machining here, but we'll document the build thoroughly and make sure there's no CNC only work involved if at all possible.

There's one other thing that does keep running through my head, and thats adding a barring engine to this too, and possibly, rather than just a plain base, building a scale section of the hull beams and engine room decking to mount the model on  

Roll on making some swarf


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## Rivergypsy (Nov 6, 2013)

Well here we go - the first casting for the engine, and Dennis has done a brilliant job! Thm:

The foundry have poured a pair of bedplates as a test run on the patterns, and while we haven't yet checked dimensions to make sure the shrink was correct, there's enough stock to make the part work even if it is out a little. And as for surface finish? Lovely!

I'm not sure how long shipping for the prototype to the UK will be, but there'll be some swarf in the very near future..woohoo1


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## idahoan (Nov 6, 2013)

Interesting story guys,

And what promises to be a beautiful engine.

Thanks for sharing,
Dave


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## Rivergypsy (Nov 7, 2013)

Hi Dave,

Glad you like it - I think it should be fun.

With seeing what you get up to with your Pacific project, it'll be fun to work with castings again 

Dave


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## kvom (Nov 7, 2013)

Somewhat OT:  do you think that patterns machined from machineable wax would work (vs. wood).  I recently bought a large quantity of wax at an auction quite cheaply.


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## Rivergypsy (Nov 7, 2013)

Dennis would be the best person to ask on this one, but I can offer a little from personal experience. A couple of yeasr ago we had a 3D printer installed at work, and I spent some time chatting with the engineer about whether wax patterns could be printed with it (with a slightly ulterior motive  . Apparently there is a wax it can use for this process, but care has to be taken on the type of wax to ensure that it flows cleanly from the mould. If you want to PM me your email address I can send you the PDF on the process that he gave me. Or, let me know on dclark at thorlabs dot com


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## pete (Nov 8, 2013)

Kvom,
I can only repeat what I've picked up about the process your talking about. Probably, but I'm not 100% sure your wax would work. Exactly how well? The castings might not be as good as using the proper wax would allow. But yours has been formulated as a proper machinable wax, and not something that's been designed as a mold wax. The wax pattern needs to be dipped many times in an investment slurry and then allowed to air dry between coats. That builds up the thickness of the investment (it's much like but isn't a very thin wall plaster) so it can support the metal as the cast is made. Once the investment thickness is built up and air dried, it goes into a programable oven that both slowly ramps up the temperatures to fully dry the water from the investment mold, and then it ramps up to melt the wax out, and then high enough to burn out any wax that's left, and even high enough to burn off any carbon left from the burning wax. 

I'm guessing, but as I said, I just don't know for sure if your machinable wax has the exact properties that are needed for an investment wax. Any investment casting company should be able to tell you yes or no though.

Pete


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## Rivergypsy (Nov 12, 2013)

Well, you know what they say about kids with new toys? ;D

After postie delived a brilliant surprise this morning, I just couldnt help myself at lunchtime and took the bedplate down to the mill to start the cleanup. My initial thought was that I wanted the pads on the top face to be of equal height, so I used the main upper face as a datum, with a pair of parallels and a couple of clamps, and skimmed the lower rails. I used whats possibly an unusual cutter for iron, a Kennametal high rake twin tipped 20mm facemill, and the iron cut like butter  absolutely beautiful. If the rest of the castings are even close to this one then were in for a stunner here!Thm:

Once those rails were clean I flipped it over on to a larger set of parallels, and it sat flawlessly level. Securing it again with a pair of clamps, I then cleaned the top face. It took around 1mm to clean up, but that was down to one of the bearing cap faces (at A) just being slightly low, but its no problem at all as theres bags of material left.

I didnt bother at all about any other faces being true, but at least now there are two datum faces to use for working out where we go from here. Its been a fair while since Ive machined any iron, but this was a pleasure, and  with absolutely zero porosity or inclusions 

Oh, and I did take a load of setup pics on my Ipod, so Ill get those off tonight and post them ;o)

Overall, it has to be said that it's really great to get started on this, and proportion wise it promises to be a stunner!
woohoo1woohoo1woohoo1


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## Rivergypsy (Nov 13, 2013)

Here we go, I finally dug the pictures from my Ipod of the two setups done so far ;D
Op1 referencing from the main upper face to clean the base, and the Op2 referencing from the cleaned face to skim the upper pads. Next job should be working out which side to get true first...


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## Rivergypsy (Nov 14, 2013)

And the sides squared up, but not yet to size, in the same setup as the last op. ;D

Next job? Perhaps getting to final thickness before working out where to datum the part in X & Y...


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## Rivergypsy (Nov 18, 2013)

Well I made some more progress on Friday and got the upper and lower faces to their final dimensions, and also cleaned up the bottom of the main bearing bolt bosses, and as usual everything is machining beautifully. The mill's tied up at the moment on another job, but the next op is programmed and ready to go - the spotting, drilling and reaming of the holes, and then rough and finish machining of the main bearing pockets, crank clearance, air pump passageways, and the profile around the air pump bore. I'm CNC'ing these, but if anybody would like a mock up of the manual steps then feel free to let me know.


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## Rivergypsy (Nov 20, 2013)

And we're done on the bedplate machining! woohoo1

The part actually datummed really nicely in X & Y, so after drilling and reaming the bores I pocketed the main bearings, profiled around the casting to true it, and then lightly skimmed the top face. 

Now off to the workshop for a nice filing and fettling session...

Dennis is progressing really well with the next pattern, which will be the flywheel, eccentric straps, main bearing caps, and the condensor, so all being well the progress will keep coming. I'm redrawing and checking the 2D drawings for this as we go too, so at the end of all this there shoudl be a nice safe set of plans.


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## idahoan (Nov 20, 2013)

Looks nice Dave,
Im curious to see it after you work your magic with the files and sand paper.

Dave


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## Rivergypsy (Nov 20, 2013)

Thanks, Dave!

Lol, I seem to live my life with files and sand paper these days - that flywheel for the entablature is driving me slowly insane 
I don't think this will take too long to clean up, and there are a couple of spots to fill, but nothing major. I do still want it to look like a casting and not a billet though...


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## Rivergypsy (Nov 25, 2013)

Well the clean-up has started, and is progressing nicely even after an hour, but then I couldn't resist a little 'assembly' of some of the parts I have so far... :


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## Rivergypsy (Nov 27, 2013)

Centre main bearing halves sweated together, blocked up and grooved, and in for a trial fitting. I'll get the outers up to this stage, and then head scratch a way to line bore them with the equipment I have here...


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## Rivergypsy (Nov 27, 2013)

Oh, and seeing the shocking finish visible on the crank journal in this pic, I'd better add that it is only rough turned at present


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## Rivergypsy (Nov 28, 2013)

And here's the mains bored and faced to length, but I did have a senior moment and used an expanding mandrel to hold them for facing, and loosed the soldered joints, so to turn the concave rads on the end faces I'll either need to clamp them back together or interpolate it on the CNC...


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## Rivergypsy (Dec 3, 2013)

And the mains finish turned and fitted - a pair of toolmakers clamps (and a cable tie) kept them together on the expanding mandrel. Next job perhaps the front columns...


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## Rivergypsy (Dec 5, 2013)

And the first fitting of the front columns ;D
The outer two are finish turned, while I just want to confirm one dimension before finishing the centre one, as what will be a square boss for mounting the reversing shaft is larger on this one to carry the worm & wheel.


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## Rivergypsy (Dec 6, 2013)

And the columns with the squares milled and drilled ;D


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## Rivergypsy (Dec 13, 2013)

I'm still pondering the finish turning on the crank (or being a big girl, one or the other!) so I thought the next job to start getting some motion underway would be the connecting rods. They're from 45mm steel bar, and to allow for distortion the first job I'm doing is to knock as much meat off of them as I can before leaving them a week or so to get any movement out of the way before finishing.


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## Rivergypsy (Dec 18, 2013)

And some more progress - the rods are dowelled, assembled, and the big end milled to size ready for boring and profiling, the first rough op on the reversing wheel is off of the mill (and due for a  LOT of finishing work!), and the propshaft flange is turned from stainless ready for drilling and broaching. I may not achieve my aim of getting the crank in by Xmas, but we won't be too far off


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## Rivergypsy (Dec 31, 2013)

Well we've all made some more progress lately. Dennis is still working hard on the patterns, and last week received the first of the brass castings which is the condenser body. This has been cast in red brass, and overall the quality of the job is excellent, but it was found that the outside cores were a little loose and this has resulted in a casting that's around 0.28" too large on the top and side of the box. Dennis is playing with making some mods to the first casting, and in parallel with that modifying the cores to tighten everything up. For the first pour the foundry cut the gates and runners themselves by hand to see which worked best, and based on the results these will now be incorporated into the pattern. All being well there'll be a trip to both the iron and brass foundries in January after everybody is back to work and up to speed again.

 I've been playing here too, taking the back off of the reversing wheel, which is now the subject of much verbal abuse while I profile the spokes (why, oh why did I start another wheel this close to the entablature wheel?? :wall. Also the connecting rods are in the CNC having the bores finished to size and also the first profiling op on their upper ends...


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## Helder22 (Jan 1, 2014)

Cant believe it. I was just n the process of drawing this baby up. I always draw up any engines before machining to catch any errors in the plans.


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## Rivergypsy (Jan 1, 2014)

Lol, you and me both! At least we'll have both proven plans and castings for this stunning engine soon


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## Swifty (Jan 1, 2014)

Helder22, that drawing looks fantastic. How many hours work did it take to draw that?

Paul.


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## Helder22 (Jan 1, 2014)

Thanks Paul, 
I'm not really sure how long it took me to get this far with them. Probably too many lol. They aren't finished yet actually. lots of bits and pieces are still missing.

Helder


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## Rivergypsy (Jan 1, 2014)

Trust me, a lot!


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## Rivergypsy (Jan 3, 2014)

Hi Helder,

 Just out of interest, how had you planned on constructing your engine - castings or fabrication?

 Dave


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## Helder22 (Jan 3, 2014)

I actually wasn't sure yet. I was thinking about it as I was drawing. I was pending towards fabricating the columns/condenser I think. Maybe CNCing the condenser and attaching it to the columns. I knew the cylinders would have to be cast because of the the steam passageways. The majority of the other parts I could probably CNC. 

So are the castings that you guys are making (I'm assuming its you who is selling these : http://www.steamlaunch.com/engines/engineers.html) ready to ship out or is everything still in the testing phase? Its not really clear on the website. 
Fantastic work by the way!


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## Rivergypsy (Jan 3, 2014)

When I started drawing this up, I had a start at fabricating the bedplate from stainless steel, with upper and lower plates, with columns between them that were slotted to accept the webs. I gave up on that idea pretty swiftly as it was a complete pain in the proverbial and would take an serious amount of heat to even start to solder, not to mention the distortion. that's why the project never really took off until Pete put me in touch with Dennis of Historic Models and Reproductions.

 The website you've quoted is who a lot of us tried to obtain castings from but struggled to even get a reply from. It is based on the same engine, but with some differences, such as the split cylinder block you can see in their photos.

 Dennis email address is :- http://www.historicmodelsandreproductions.com/

 I would like to stress again that I've no financial interest in this; we're just working together to get this model back to life. And he's a top bloke too 

 Here's some more progress on mine - the rods have been bored and profiled in line with the bores, and then turned through 90 and the slot for the piston rod profiled. The first roughing op on the piston rods is underway from some 25x50 316 stainless, to bring the rod down to 11mm initially, plus I'm pushing on with a design for a thrust box for them, which Dennis is going to cast, and may even be of use to owners of Stuart & similar marine engines to help put them into full marine use.


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## Rivergypsy (Jan 9, 2014)

Well the 'rods aren't too far from completion now, with just fettling, cap profiling and the 2nd half of the oil drilling to do, and to be honest I'm very happy with them.

 I also found some hex stainless on EBay for reasonable money to save the tedium of milling hexes (life's just too short for some jobs!), so here's the first fasteners - the nuts for the front columns, with M8x0.5 threads, domed tops, and a lower relief to the hex so they don't rip up any paintwork.

 Next job - finishing the crank...


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## Rivergypsy (Jan 17, 2014)

And some more connecting rod and piston rod progress ;D

 The piston rods are currently +1mm on all faces, but once they're totally roughed I'll dump them in a corner for a week or so for any stresses to (hopefully!) come out before final machining. 

 Next job should be finishing the nuts & bolts before fitting the main bearings...


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## Philjoe5 (Jan 21, 2014)

Really beautiful work.  It's a joy to see this kind of workmanship.

Cheers,
Phil


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## Rivergypsy (Jan 22, 2014)

Many thanks, Phil! Dave


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## Brian Rupnow (Jan 23, 2014)

You do beautiful work, even if you do set yourself on fire occasionally!!!---Brian


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## Rivergypsy (Jan 25, 2014)

LOL!! Thanks Brian!

So far, so good on the flammability thankfully 

Dennis is nearly ready for another foundry trip, so more progress soon...


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## Rivergypsy (Feb 5, 2014)

Ok, well I've not got a lot of machining done lately, but that because we've come up with a cunning plan for this model - we've got a copy of some Filer-Stowell engine plans, and these include the thrust block (plus a lot more!) so we've decided to model it in SW and then scale it down for the compound engine model. I'll be doing the drawings, and then Dennis the castings.

 Here's the near complete block as modelled, and then a scaled version sat behind the compound ;D


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## Rivergypsy (Feb 5, 2014)

Oh, and I forgot to say - we're going to be doing our best to implement the full water cooled, Babbitt faced horseshoes and the oil cooling on this one


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## Rivergypsy (Feb 6, 2014)

Well, the material was there, the lathe was free, so I thought 'what the hell!' - here's the thrust shaft roughed to 1mm all over to get an idea of how it looks next to the crankshaft. By the time the turning gear is in between them we should have quite a beast here ;D


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## Rivergypsy (Feb 21, 2014)

Here's a job I've been putting off for too long - finishing the crankshaft. There's a lot more castings coming back from the foundry soon, so I thought it was time to get this one out of the way. An hours machining has got the big ends roughed, so next week it's time to make a fixture to throw it 1" off centre...


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## Rivergypsy (Feb 24, 2014)

And here's the latest condenser castings which Dennis is shipping today - a lovely bit of work that I can't wait to get my grubby little hands on! woohoo1woohoo1woohoo1


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## Rivergypsy (Mar 5, 2014)

Well, what can I say? Dennis has really excelled on this casting  I couldnt help but run down to the machine shop with it after it arrived this morning, and it cuts like an absolute dream. The squareness of the casting is beautiful too, as when I referenced from the flat rear face I only needed to take 0.3mm off of the crosshead guide faces to clean them up completely. Theres going to be a fair few hours work in this, but if the rest is as good as this then bring it on ;D


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## Rivergypsy (Mar 7, 2014)

And the last two pairs of reference faces cleaned up, so now time to take some accurate measurements and work out how best to start finishing this to size. I know I keep banging on about it, but this is such a pleasure to machine


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## Rivergypsy (Mar 28, 2014)

And more machining on the condenser casting - 5 out of six faces are now to size and have cleaned beautifully. Just the face carrying the crossheads to go, then we'll be thinking about some drilling


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## TimTaylor (Mar 28, 2014)

Awesome project and beautiful work! I'm looking forward to seeing more as this project progresses.

If I recall correctly, there is a full size 2 stage condensing steam engine similar to this in one of the Smithsonian museums in DC.


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## Generatorgus (Apr 2, 2014)

Dave,
Wow, beautiful work, awesome.
Watching your work makes me realize that I haven't even graduated day school yet.

GUS


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## Rivergypsy (Apr 3, 2014)

Many, many thanks for the kind words, but it's not just me - Dennis has been doing amazing work on these castings too 

 Btw Gus, congrats on the Wyvernish too!


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## necchiom (Apr 3, 2014)

With compliment! Awesome work!


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## Generatorgus (Apr 5, 2014)

Dave, I have to agree with you on Dennis' work, I've been mainly watching your work. Probably because I'm trying hard not to want to start casting. I dabbled in casting long time ago in my silversmith period, pretty neat stuff. It would open a lot of new avenues, but I'm still struggling trying to learn machine work.

Thanks for the congrats, for a while I thought my dragon was going to turn on me.
GUS


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## Rivergypsy (May 2, 2014)

And another face pulled in to size, plus the first holes - the 12 M3.5 for mounting the crosshead wear plates and guide bars.
 I know I'm repeating myself, but this casting is a pure pleasure to machine ;D

 Next job getting the lower face drilled & tapped, then I can get studs made and go for a trial fitting...


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