# New wheels for an old roller



## tmuir (Nov 17, 2009)

When I was in the UK I visited Rob Wilson and he kindly offered to cast a couple of wheels for me.
I turned up with a tatty old toy steam roller which had a set of badly machined rear wheels on it.

With a little bit of thinking Rob managed to use the best of the two wheels to cast me a couple more.






Here they are in the foreground with the roller on the right that was used to make the copies and the one they were for on the left so the Mamod wheels could be replaced.





These rather tatty looking rollers were made in Australian by Renown between 1948 and the late 50s and were only ever made in small numbers and despite their rough looks are now commanding prices up around $1000 Australian for one in good cosmetic condition.
At that price its worth fixing up the rough ones. 

And here they are fitted to my roller.










Even better still the thing moves, although it won't be up for any land speed records. :big:

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[/youtube]
I don't normally post my toy steam engine restorations on this forum but wanted to post this one to say thanks to Rob for casting the wheels for me.


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## RobWilson (Nov 17, 2009)

Thanks and your welcome Tony ;D

Looks like there turned up great ,,, and its great to see the engine up and running :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: nice one Thm:


Regards Rob


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## zeeprogrammer (Nov 17, 2009)

That was awesome.
Both the story and the steam roller.
Great.


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## Artie (Nov 18, 2009)

Good job Rob, my only question is... What is an Aussie roller doing in ole Blighty?

Surely it would be far more racialy acceptable to have them cast in Aus (by me)? Damned ex-pats (the roller that is).

Nice work by both of you, good result..... 

Rob (Aussie Bob.... for those Aussies on here you should recognise THAT name... my house 4 doors down from 'his' :, the rest of you should google him (aussie Bob Trimbole -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Trimbole )... bad man!)


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## RobWilson (Nov 18, 2009)

Cheers OZ Rob ;D

i googled him ,sounds like A NICE bloke :hDe: :hDe: :hDe: :hDe:


			
				Artie  said:
			
		

> Surely it would be far more racialy acceptable to have them cast in Aus (by me)?


 :big: :big: :big: :big: :big: :big:

Regards BRIT Rob


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## tmuir (Nov 18, 2009)

Artie  said:
			
		

> Good job Rob, my only question is... What is an Aussie roller doing in ole Blighty?



It's got me beat.
Considering they were only made for a short while for the local market I do find it odd that I know of just as many of these roller in the UK as I do in Australia.
The onw with the green wheels is about to get fit with a new large brass pulley that was cast by Xchainsaw in QLD and then it will be getting shipped back to its owner in the UK.

I keep saying I'm going to build an engine from scratch and then I seem to always end up with another old Australian made toy steam engine to restore.
I've only got another 5 or 6 to restore before I can start a complete engine from scratch.......


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## itowbig (Nov 18, 2009)

wow those are great


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## xlchainsaw (Nov 23, 2009)

it sure looks good...boy if the engines could talk......lol rob did a terrific job as the originals werent the best examples. plus good machining by yourself .  im surprised by the speed....maybe thats why the original maker wasnt too fussed ....(she will be right mate! lol lol (aussie humour)


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## Alan J. Richer (Nov 23, 2009)

Been in and out of this thread a few times - and it occurs to me that with the wobbler cylinder and simple design that would be a great road roller for a project.

I'm assuming that is nothing but a pot boiler, of course, and the structure looks dead simple.

Any chance of some measurements?

          Thanks - Alan


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## xlchainsaw (Nov 23, 2009)

Alan J. Richer  said:
			
		

> Been in and out of this thread a few times - and it occurs to me that with the wobbler cylinder and simple design that would be a great road roller for a project.
> 
> I'm assuming that is nothing but a pot boiler, of course, and the structure looks dead simple.
> 
> ...


they would be a excellent project. there are rollers made in nz at about the same time which look similar and the mastand roller in the uk looks similar.....it seems that this was the design of the 1950 s.for toy rollers. but of course they are each different


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## 4156df (Nov 23, 2009)

I second the thought of this being a super project. Fairly simple to build with a neat funky look when complete. The wheels would require a little thought, although they could be fabricated similar to the flywheel on Rudy Kouhoupt's Steam Tractor. Thanks for posting it.
Dennis


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## tmuir (Nov 23, 2009)

I've got measurements for most parts, mostly just pencil scratchings in my note book as I've now fixed 2 of these and several other Vertical Renown engines.
In the next few weeks I'll see if I can put something together.

What I really need to do is learn CAD and draw up all my sketches.

Yes it is a pot boiler with one addition. The chimney passes right through the boiler to the flames below so gives a slight bit of extra heating.


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## shred (Nov 23, 2009)

I've been kicking around the idea of building a steamroller for a little while. I wonder if the Cracker boiler design would port over reasonably easily (though maybe sans gas) What diameter is the roller boiler?  Could be fun to do a modern version.


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## tmuir (Nov 24, 2009)

shred  said:
			
		

> What diameter is the roller boiler? Could be fun to do a modern version.



All my notes are in the workshop but I have the roller next to my PC at the moment and a quick check with a ruller is 55mm diameter and 75mm long.
The boiler is just a rolled brass sheet in the style of Tubal Cain's engines.
Basically at the end of WWII there were no toys been imported into Australia but still local demand so lots of small local toy companies sprang up.
There was vast amounts of war surplus brass about which is what this roller is made from.
Another brand Scorpion actually made there first engines with artillery shells for the boiler and firebox.

Another company used part of a gas mask to make water towers for O guage locos.
Springs from Jeeps were used to make tricycles and the list goes on.
I only collect the live steam toys and the occasional O guage loco made in Australia but it was an interesting time for toys in the late 40s to late 50s.

For more photos and some measurements of parts look here on another forum detailing my restoration of the rollers.
http://modelsteam.myfreeforum.org/ftopic20387-0-asc-0.php

and also here which was on the restoration of a steam powered windmill made by the same company that used a number of the same parts.
All the dimensions of the cylinder is on here.
http://modelsteam.myfreeforum.org/about12952.html


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## shred (Nov 24, 2009)

Thanks.  It's a little bigger than I thought.. The Cracker boiler is about 35x65mm, so not a drop in. I'll have to poke around and see if any ~2" copper pipe bits are in the stash as I'm a little less comfy with brass boilers.


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## Tinkerer58 (Dec 29, 2013)

Hi 'tmuir' I have just picked up a Renown steam roller but it's missing the piston and conrod. She's pretty badly dinged up the frame is bent and so is the roof and also has a ding in the front of the boiler. Just wondering if you could help me with the length of the piston and length from top of piston to center of hole at bottom of conrod. I'll have to make a new one and want to get it as original, also need to make new lever for the steam wistle. So any help would be greatly appreciated. I'll post some pics of her in the next couple of days of it's current state and when I get around to it I'll fix it and post pics of the finished product.


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## dave-in-england (Dec 29, 2013)

Interesting little toys.

Can someone explain why small steam boilers are made with brass or copper sheet, with a lot of elaborate overlap riveting or / and joint soldering needed, when a piece of seamless stainless steel pipe would be much easier to use ?


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## Jyman (Dec 29, 2013)

Copper and brass have a higher heat transfer rate then SS


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