# Mark's Bernay Engine



## dnalot (Feb 8, 2021)

Time to start a new build. This time its Bernay's Steam Engine. For those unfamiliar with this engine I am supplying a You Tube link of an engine built by another.



I love this engine because of all the moving parts and its unique design. This project has been on my “To do someday” list sense I took this hobby up a few years ago. Up until now my builds have all included some element I had not encountered before. Like a one piece crankshaft, gears and such. This engine has none of that. It is simple and straight forward. Steam engines are in general simple to make and get to run. What I like about them is they are easy to demonstrate running on air pressure, running quiet and clean.

I am building to the plans supplied by Jorgensen Steam. If anyone wants a copy of the plans, I think they are available on this site in the “Plans” section. My plan set is dated 10/24/10 revision 11. I think there may be a revision 12 now. Good hunting.

Mark T


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## dnalot (Feb 8, 2021)

I will be starting with the cylinder block, made of cast iron. I bought my Material for this from McMaster Carr. This is the loveliest piece of cast iron I have ever bought. Normally I get a chunk of metal that is rough cast on at least two surfaces. This time I got a piece machined on all surfaces and of uniform thicknesses and straight.

I started by using my band-saw to cut the material close to the final dimension. I originally bought a small band-saw from Harbor freight. It turned out to be a piece of crap so a few years ago I bought this beast. It cuts fast and straight, I can't imagine being without it.

















Mark T


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## dnalot (Feb 8, 2021)

After cutting to rough size I cut the notch for the crankshaft bearing and fitted another piece of cast iron to fill the notch back in. The plan didn't call for it but I installed two screws to hold it in place while machining. I then started milling it to its final  dimensions. I did the top and bottom first and did all the drilling and tapping and boring of the cylinders. I used a brake hone to remove the tooling marks from the bore. Later I will polish the bore for a piston fitted with o-rings.

















Mark T


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## dnalot (Feb 8, 2021)

After that I cut the ends square and milled the valve detail before drilling and tapping the holes. The ends and the top and bottom surfaces were surfaced using using sand paper taped to my table saw. The ends were surfaced to a polished finish as that is where the valve will ride.

The top and bottom were left slightly rougher to help the gaskets grip the surface. The sides were  then milled and sanded smooth as a baby's bottom using a small pad sander that uses hook and loop paper. Started with 100 grit and worked my way down to 1000 grit. Both sides took less than half an hour to do.



















So there you have it. One part completed. I will be cutting the flywheel next so I can be done with the cast iron work. Cast Iron is nice to work with but boy is it a mess to clean up after. Fine grit and dust get every where.

Mark T


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## Richard Hed (Feb 9, 2021)

dnalot said:


> After that I cut the ends square and milled the valve detail before drilling and tapping the holes. The ends and the top and bottom surfaces were surfaced using using sand paper taped to my table saw. The ends were surfaced to a polished finish as that is where the valve will ride.
> 
> The top and bottom were left slightly rougher to help the gaskets grip the surface. The sides were  then milled and sanded smooth as a baby's bottom using a small pad sander that uses hook and loop paper. Started with 100 grit and worked my way down to 1000 grit. Both sides took less than half an hour to do.
> 
> ...


I'm sorry, Mark, but you are going to have to quit posting, or you will have to buy me a larger roll of napkins, as ;your stuff always makes me DROOL!  I am SO jealous of what you do!  That block is so beautiful, It is mirror finish.  I drew that engine up, or one similar to it, but the drawings got stuck in my ded computer.  I'll have to pay to get it out with a bunch of other drawings.  My point is it is really nice to see the build in the flesh so to speak.  When I first drew it, I couldn't understand what was happening.   But as the 3D drawing came near to finish, I began to understand.  I can hardly wait to see it finished.  If I drop by, be sure to have a bundle of napkins so I don't drool on it and get it rusty.


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## dnalot (Feb 9, 2021)

Richard Hed said:


> That block is so beautiful, It is mirror finish.



The little pad sander makes quick work of removing tool marks and it uses surprising few paper disks getting the job done. You can make your own disks using a gasket punch. To do both sides I used 2 100 grit pads, 1, 180 grit, 1 250 grit and 1 1000 grit. 

Mark T


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## Richard Hed (Feb 9, 2021)

dnalot said:


> The little pad sander makes quick work of removing tool marks and it uses surprising few paper disks getting the job done. You can make your own disks using a gasket punch. To do both sides I used 2 100 grit pads, 1, 180 grit, 1 250 grit and 1 1000 grit.
> 
> Mark T


Sweet


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## Robert Ritchie (Feb 14, 2021)

Great start Mark, block work perfect, full speed ahead when the power is on!


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## dnalot (Feb 18, 2021)

Here is the flywheel. Took a bit longer than planed. Nature sent me almost two feet of snow then turned the power off. To cold to work in shop, my heat pump stops working at 25 degrees. I made the wheel a little thicker than the plan called for and I left some material between two of the spokes for balancing. I expect I will need to add a little weight

Mark T


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## Richard Hed (Feb 18, 2021)

dnalot said:


> Here is the flywheel. Took a bit longer than planed. Nature sent me almost two feet of snow then turned the power off. To cold to work in shop, my heat pump stops working at 25 degrees. I made the wheel a little thicker than the plan called for and I left some material between two of the spokes for balancing. I expect I will need to add a little weight
> 
> Mark T
> 
> ...


I am so jealous.  We only got about 10" snow here, but very cold.  How did you manage to dig out?


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## dnalot (Feb 18, 2021)

Richard Hed said:


> How did you manage to dig out



As you know I live in an area beyond the county road, I'm about a mile in. So we hired a logging company to send over a big loader to dig us out. The snow had drifted to about five feet in places. We (wife and I) got out just in time to drive north 100 miles to get our first covid shot.

Mark T


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## Tug40 (Feb 18, 2021)

We got about 14” in hills outside of Castle Rock.
Fortunately never lost power.
Hens didn’t leave the hen house for four days.
I kept sheep in upper pasture as limbs coming down taking fences out in main pasture.
But I guess people elsewhere have it much worse.
Now if I could only get an appt for the Covid vaccination. It’s kinda like a lottery.
BTW, dnalot, thanks for the radio garden link, spent one morning listening to stations from all over the world.


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## Richard Hed (Feb 18, 2021)

Tug40 said:


> We got about 14” in hills outside of Castle Rock.
> Fortunately never lost power.
> Hens didn’t leave the hen house for four days.
> I kept sheep in upper pasture as limbs coming down taking fences out in main pasture.
> ...


Anybody remember the hurricane of '62?  Columbus day storm.


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## Tug40 (Feb 18, 2021)

Yes, a local legend, 170MPH gusts.


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## dnalot (Feb 18, 2021)

Tug40 said:


> if I could only get an appt for the Covid vaccination



I got mine yesterday at a Safeway store in Puyallup. Made appointment online. No line, no waiting. They made appointment for second shot in three weeks. 

Mark


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## dnalot (Feb 18, 2021)

Richard Hed said:


> Anybody remember the hurricane of '62? Columbus day storm.



My family had a beach house in West Port. We got a note in the Mail from a neighbor asking us to get our cabin off their property. It was upside down half a block down the street.


Mark T


Tug40 said:


> BTW, dnalot, thanks for the radio garden link, spent one morning listening to stations from all over the world.



That is how I have been spending my evenings lately. Pretty cool site.  Listen to live Eugene OR radio on Radio Garden


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## Robert Ritchie (Feb 19, 2021)

Flywheel looks great, thanks for the post always fun to see your project, nice work!


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## dnalot (Mar 9, 2021)

Normally I turn crankshafts from Stress-Proof steel. I had a piece of cold rolled steel on hand so that is what I used this time. Run out on the ends of the shaft ends was a little less than .003” and I am happy with that.

I used a cutoff tool with an insert to turn the through(s). I used a left and right hand insert tool to turn the main shaft. I turned to within .002” of the final size then used emery cloth to finish. The crank turns smoothly and I don't see any wobble in the flywheel.

Mark T


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## Robert Ritchie (Mar 9, 2021)

Looks great Mark, can't wait tell its complete!


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## dnalot (Mar 20, 2021)

Found some time to get some modeling work done in the shop, so heads up. I made a small change to the plan here in that I am using an o-ring to seal the piston's shaft. The lower heads also incorporate the engine's feet. Next up the cross slide. 

Mark T


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## Robert Ritchie (Mar 22, 2021)

As always you've hit the Mark!  Great work looks so clean, job well done!


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## dnalot (Mar 22, 2021)

Cross Head completed. Next up, the Conrods. 

Thanks for watching and your comments.

Mark T


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## Robert Ritchie (Mar 22, 2021)

Very interesting, nice work!


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## dnalot (Mar 29, 2021)

I used my CNC router to cut out the Con-rods from a sheet of aluminum plate. A few months ago I upgraded my CNC router table with a R-8 spindle head from Little machine shop. This was my first try at cutting aluminum. My old router spindle was way to fast to cut aluminum and it would melt the material. This new setup works great and I am looking forward to using it on future engine projects. I was a little worried that the slower spindle speeds would not work very well cutting wood. I was pleasantly surprised as it actually works better with no burning of the wood and a lot less mess.

All assembled without a hitch and everything turns nice and smooth. So on to the piston and rod assembles.

Mark T


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## Richard Hed (Mar 29, 2021)

dnalot said:


> I used my CNC router to cut out the Con-rods from a sheet of aluminum plate. A few months ago I upgraded my CNC router table with a R-8 spindle head from Little machine shop. This was my first try at cutting aluminum. My old router spindle was way to fast to cut aluminum and it would melt the material. This new setup works great and I am looking forward to using it on future engine projects. I was a little worried that the slower spindle speeds would not work very well cutting wood. I was pleasantly surprised as it actually works better with no burning of the wood and a lot less mess.
> 
> All assembled without a hitch and everything turns nice and smooth. So on to the piston and rod assembles.
> 
> ...


Looking VERY goo.


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## Robert Ritchie (Mar 31, 2021)

Awe yes the projects going well great work!


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## dnalot (Apr 6, 2021)

A few more parts made. Nothing difficult but extreme care was needed to make sure everything was aligning properly. From here I plan to make the steam chests from aluminum. They will be the last aluminum parts and when completed I will anodize all the aluminum parts. The iron parts I hope to use a gun-blue solution on. If that doesn't turn out well I will resort to paint. I hate paint.

Mark T


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## Robert Ritchie (Apr 6, 2021)

Step by step looks amazing, nice work!


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## Johan Maritz (Apr 7, 2021)

Nice indeed.


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## propclock (Apr 10, 2021)

Absolutely beautiful !  Where did you purchase the little pad sander? 
I have a praxxon like yours but haven't seen the pad sander.
I noticed you added hold down bolts for the main bearing. It also
looks like the lower cylinder caps are 1 piece, makes sense. 
What is the brass circular piece over the main bearing with 3 holes in it?
Oiler for the main , or something to do with the crosshead? 
I will be anxiously following your build Thanks.


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## dnalot (Apr 10, 2021)

propclock said:


> Where did you purchase the little pad sander?



Amazon, see link below. It comes with 3 pads, I used my belt sander to make one smaller and another one with tapered sides. You can make your own sandpaper disks with a gasket hole punch.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JH5VXDM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1



propclock said:


> What is the brass circular piece over the main bearing with 3 holes in it?



I think you are referring to the brass bit in the top of the upper head. It provides a bushing for the rod and it holds the o-ring packing in place. Post 20 shows some detail. 

I just completed the bluing of the steel and iron parts. Next I will be detailing and anodizing the aluminum parts. So it should be looking rather flashy for my next update.

Mark T


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## propclock (Apr 10, 2021)

Thank you , I will order them. I was looking at page one of this thread and the piston guide/ packing gland was just sitting  on the center of the block.  I see my mistake now.


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## dnalot (Apr 13, 2021)

Bluing went well. The cast iron doesn't blue as nicely as the steel parts but It is passable. To age the cast iron fly wheel I immersed it in vinegar for a couple of hours. All aluminum parts are now anodized. All brass parts left natural.

So its time to assemble what I have made so far. I cut two sets of gaskets using my computer operated “Silhouette Portrait” paper cutter. I just love this machine, it makes perfect gaskets.

And the cherry on top, a 1.626” ball bearing.

Next step is to make the eccentric and all the linkages for operating the valves. The eccentric and rods will be made of steel and everything else will be brass.

Thanks for watching

Mark T


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## Robert Ritchie (Apr 13, 2021)

Very very nice, looks so cool, well done!


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## Johan Maritz (Apr 14, 2021)

Same from me, very well done, i like the weathering part of the flywheel. Looks neat. Can't wait to see it running


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## Richard Hed (Apr 14, 2021)

dnalot said:


> Bluing went well. The cast iron doesn't blue as nicely as the steel parts but It is passable. To age the cast iron fly wheel I immersed it in vinegar for a couple of hours. All aluminum parts are now anodized. All brass parts left natural.
> 
> So its time to assemble what I have made so far. I cut two sets of gaskets using my computer operated “Silhouette Portrait” paper cutter. I just love this machine, it makes perfect gaskets.
> 
> ...


Damn! that's nice.  If I begged, lickt your boots and howled at the moon, would you give that to me?


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## dnalot (Apr 14, 2021)

Richard Hed said:


> If I begged, lickt your boots and howled at the moon, would you give that to me?



No. And shouldn't you be planting corn.


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## Richard Hed (Apr 14, 2021)

dnalot said:


> No. And shouldn't you be planting corn.


Har har.  That's a goo one.  The farmer plants the corn, the processor harvests it.  I do peas first then corn.

What I really like about that photo is that you got the whole interior of your shop AS WELL AS yourself in that photo.  Good job on the photo as well!


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## dnalot (Apr 14, 2021)

Richard Hed said:


> The farmer plants the corn, the processor harvests it.



That is what I like about this site. You never know what you might learn

Mark T


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## Richard Hed (Apr 14, 2021)

dnalot said:


> That is what I like about this site. You never know what you might learn
> 
> Mark T


LOL, and this was very relevant to whatever topic it is. (But I don't mind nor do I care.)

BTW, the peas are planted first and harvested, then a second crop is planted in the same field, often corn.


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## dnalot (Apr 22, 2021)

The sun has been out this week so not much got done on the Bernay. I did complete the Eccentric and the eccentric strap. The original plan did not have a shaft coupler so I added one because an engine needs a way to transmit its power. My phone was dead this morning so I used a different camera and the photos are poor, sorry about that. A week of rain just started so I should complete the the valve linkages soon.

Mark T


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## Richard Hed (Apr 22, 2021)

dnalot said:


> The sun has been out this week so not much got done on the Bernay. I did complete the Eccentric and the eccentric strap. The original plan did not have a shaft coupler so I added one because an engine needs a way to transmit its power. My phone was dead this morning so I used a different camera and the photos are poor, sorry about that. A week of rain just started so I should complete the the valve linkages soon.
> 
> Mark T
> 
> ...


Shaft coupler?  Could you explain that?  I can thimpfk of two or three things that might be.


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## Robert Ritchie (Apr 22, 2021)

Perfect let the rain drops fall and the great build continue, nice work!


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## dnalot (Apr 23, 2021)

Richard Hed said:


> Shaft coupler? Could you explain that?



I should have said "flanged shaft coupler" 






Mark


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## dnalot (Apr 30, 2021)

Here are the valve linkages. This project is almost complete now. Next up will be the valves and a board for the base. After that I will make the steam manifold and then make a video. The end is near, always a sad day.

Normally I have a new project lined up but not this time. I have a lot on my plate this spring so it will be summer before I have to decide.

Mark T


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## Richard Hed (Apr 30, 2021)

dnalot said:


> Here are the valve linkages. This project is almost complete now. Next up will be the valves and a board for the base. After that I will make the steam manifold and then make a video. The end is near, always a sad day.
> 
> Normally I have a new project lined up but not this time. I have a lot on my plate this spring so it will be summer before I have to decide.
> 
> ...


With your skills you can do anything.  May I suggest a couple of really strange engines?


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## propclock (Apr 30, 2021)

I really like it


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## Tug40 (Apr 30, 2021)

That is a sight to behold, i’ll Be waiting on the video.
Makes the small engines i build look kind of pedestrian 
I know what you mean about the full plate.
I’m in the middle of a project, but the only machining/welding I’ll do until fall will be on tractors/implements.
So it goes.......


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## dnalot (May 1, 2021)

Richard Hed said:


> May I suggest a couple of really strange engines?



Suggest away


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## Richard Hed (May 1, 2021)

dnalot said:


> Suggest away


This Cross-Twin has me intrigued:  I have it in my "Elmer's" folder, so it must be one of "Elmer's".  I'll look for another you might be interested in.

There's another called a "Fuelless" which runs by a solar reflector.  I don't know what magazine it is from but again is intriguing.

Ah, here it is:  the ME 1923 compound condenser.  I might say it is a double expansion.  There is a triple expansion somewhere.

Have you considered the "Monitor"?


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## propclock (May 1, 2021)

I made a Cross Twin using 2 brake cylinders. I really like it. 
It is on the completed engines page somewhere. 
I really like your Bernay


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## Robert Ritchie (May 1, 2021)

It has been an long and interesting build, wow it looks so good!  Can't wait tell you lets us know what your next project has is store for us!  On your next post the steam will be a flying!


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## dnalot (May 2, 2021)

Richard Hed said:


> Have you considered the "Monitor"?



Yes. Thanks for reminding me of that one. I have the drawings by Rich Carlstedt. The drawings are for a full size engine and will need to be scaled down and adapted for model making. 

Mark T


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## Richard Hed (May 2, 2021)

dnalot said:


> Yes. Thanks for reminding me of that one. I have the drawings by Rich Carlstedt. The drawings are for a full size engine and will need to be scaled down and adapted for model making.
> 
> Mark T


There has been a model made by someone, I thimpfk it is on this forum somewhere.  I'm sure there are plans somewhere.  Let me look in my pile.

OK, have in imperial and metric.  Will send later.


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## dnalot (May 2, 2021)

Richard Hed said:


> There has been a model made by someone, I thimpfk it is on this forum somewhere. I'm sure there are plans somewhere



This is a link to the drawings on this forum by Rich Carlstedt. USS Monitor Steam Engine Drawings

There are other drawings that are somewhat like the original engine and probably far easer to build but I would like an engine that replicates the original engine as much as possible. 

Mark T


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## Richard Hed (May 2, 2021)

dnalot said:


> This is a link to the drawings on this forum by Rich Carlstedt. USS Monitor Steam Engine Drawings
> 
> There are other drawings that are somewhat like the original engine and probably far easer to build but I would like an engine that replicates the original engine as much as possible.
> 
> Mark T


I have no idea how authentic these dwgs are but will send later by email.


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## pileskis (May 4, 2021)

Here is my version of the engine.


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## dnalot (May 4, 2021)

pileskis said:


> Here is my version of the engine




Nice. Is that wrinkle paint on the black parts?

Mark T


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## Johan Maritz (May 5, 2021)

Absolutely impressive!!


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## ShopShoe (May 5, 2021)

Wonderful

--ShopShoe


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## pileskis (May 5, 2021)

dnalot said:


> Nice. Is that wrinkle paint on the black parts?
> 
> Mark T


Yes, it is wrinkle paint. The main cylinder block is naval brass, glass beaded, painted. The “T” rods are brass, nickel plated.
The engine runs really nice and will throttle down slow.
Thanks for the kind words!

Sid


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## dnalot (May 6, 2021)

As happened on my last build, Mark's Holt 75 build, at the 11 hour just before my final post another member swooped in and posted their completed engine.  Now a story doesn't need two endings so I am closing this build log and moving on. 

I will post photos and a video of my completed engine on a new thread soon. A big thanks to those that have been following along. 

Mark T


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## pileskis (May 6, 2021)

I did not mean to derail your thread.
Sorry for any inconvenience.

Sid


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## dnalot (May 11, 2021)

I have posted some photos and a video of the completed engine here

Mark's Bernays's steam engine completed

If you are thinking of building this engine I would not recommend making the block from aluminum. This engine needs to be heavy as there is a lot of mass being thrust up and down and you can only offset this with weights to a point. After that you will get out of balance laterally. 

 Thanks for following along. 

Mark T


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## GreenTwin (Oct 19, 2021)

I was off this site for many years, and it seems that I missed a lot of things that happened.
I ran across this thread a minute ago.

*The backstory on the Bernay drawings that have been circulated in many places on the web it as follows:*

There have been several Bernays that I have seen around the world, and they vary somewhat in details, but all seem to follow the same vertical twin format.

My dad ran across this engraving in a Lindsay book (dad and Lindsay were buddies), and dad decided to build a Bernay.








The above image was the only information that dad had, and he developed his own pencil-on-paper drawing for his Bernay, which is shown below.






Here is Bob J's Bernay:






.


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## GreenTwin (Oct 19, 2021)

Cancer took dad in 2006, and shortly after that a fellow modeler named Jesse Livington published a Bernays model in Live Steam Magazine.

Jesse did a good job on the Bernay, and mentioned that he saw my dad's Bernay, and just had to build one.
Jesse's Bernay was smaller than dad's though, and was missing some of the finer details that I could see on the original engine, so I decided to make drawings for my dad's Bernay, and distribute them for free (as I do with all of my engine drawings).

The result are these drawings:





						DRAWINGS for Bob Jorgensen's BERNAY Steam Engine
					

Here are 2D drawings I made for Bob's Bernay steam engine, and these drawings reflect the exact dimensions of Bob's Bernay engine, but are not a highly accurate representation of an actual Bernay engine.  There have been quite a few Bernay steam engine models build around the world, and an...



					www.classicsteamengineering.com
				




Over the years, several have built Bernay's based on my drawings (which were based on my dad's build), including Vince B, who made the Bernay in this video.



At the time I made the Bernay drawings, I did not know how to use 3D modeling programs, and so the isometrics in my Bernay drawings are all made in 2D, and a little rough, but usable I think from a graphical standpoint.

As Vince B started to build his Bernay, I decided to use my drawings to try and learn 3D modeling, and so I modeled the Bernay in 3D, as shown below.  I am not sure I 100% completed the 3D model for the Bernay or not.






And I made this animation in AutoCad to verify valve events.  It is a series of GIF files that are played like a motion picture:

If you click on the image, it should play like a video, or it may do that automatically. (or you may have to download it, then click on it to see it run).  I will make a video of it so it will run here.


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## GreenTwin (Oct 19, 2021)

These are the parts on dad's Bernay, and these were the parts that I measured and used to create my Bernay 2D drawings (link above).
At the time, I had never built a model engine, and so I had to really up my game when it came time to reassemble dad's Bernay.
It was a good learning exercise in model engine assembly, 2D drawings for models, and 3D model creation.

As mentioned, the pistons do not have rings, but it was common for dad to make his own rings in cast iron for many/most of his engines.
This seems to be the exception with no rings.


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## GreenTwin (Oct 19, 2021)

So this is a good example of why I publish all of my drawings for free in open-source format for non-commercial use, because it advances the hobby I think, and it allows others a chance to build some very fun and interesting engines.

There are a number of Bernay 3D models on Grabcad that were derived from my drawings.
But it all started with an effort to try and publish drawings for some of my dad's engines.

Here is the motion study made in AutoCad, using GIF screen captures.





Your browser is not able to display this video.





.


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## GreenTwin (Oct 19, 2021)

So long story long, great job on the Bernay.
Your's looks fantastic.
How very exciting to see such a high quality build.
You have some serious talent going there.

.


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