# Julius De Waal. Single cylinder balance beam engine.



## ronkh (Apr 10, 2012)

Hi gents,

This is something I started In December 2100, that came to a halt for about 6 months after a fire in the cave, and started again on and off until the last couple of months when I felt more at ease into committing myself. (Also, I'd lost interest for a long while because of the fire).
I did take some pics when I remembered but because of the time lost, they are all over the place in this computer. 

Anyway, as the title say's; It's a model designed by a Julius De Waal and I downloaded the plans from the Model Engineering Website (MEWS).
I have, and am, using a lot of mild steel. Plus plenty of brass and the usual bronze where needed and proper ball bearings for the wheel and other parts where I think the weight would be too much for bronze alone. I am using a mixture of imperial and metric fittings i,e. screws, taps and dies, and reamers etc. I am very comfortable doing this as I have worked on machines in factories for over 40 years!! 
The wheel weighs in at 6.5 Ibs. The brass and aluminium rings were turned (where I worked before my current job) and were shrank fitted together-there was a major panic when I was just slidding them together and my riser blocks moved after I caught my knuckles on the hot brass ring! A little work with my knockonameter saved the day!!
I will load a few pics for now and more as work progresses. I also have a few other engines on the go but I am going to put them on hold while I complete this on. 
I am not going to "bling" it, but paint it to as near as I can going by pictures of old models and engines such as the beam engine I saw at a museum at Redruth, Cornwall, UK.
I hope you enjoy!

Kind regards,

Ron.


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## ronkh (Apr 10, 2012)

I am thinking of using the aluminium tubing to store a small, geared-down motor and batteries for when not on the air supply. Of somehow hiding a belt from this to a small pulley maybe on the fly-wheel. This fits nicely underneath the stand and I might "weather" this or just paint it matt black. We'll see!


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## b.lindsey (Apr 10, 2012)

That is quite a lerge engine Ron. Glad you see you are working on it again !! With that much weight and size it should tick over quite slowly I would think too....will be looking forward to your progress on it.

Regards,
Bill


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## crab (Apr 10, 2012)

Hi Ron,This will be a great engine when you are done with it.I really like that flywheel.I will be watching this one. 
Bill L.


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## hopeless (Apr 10, 2012)

nice job in reverse ??? started 2100 and finishing in the 2000 ;D Please take me with you when you go back to the future doc ;D ;D ;D
Pete


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## ronkh (Apr 10, 2012)

hopeless  said:
			
		

> nice job in reverse ??? started 2100 and finishing in the 2000 ;D Please take me with you when you go back to the future doc ;D ;D ;D
> Pete


Hi Hopeless.

I was totally baffled at first over your reply then noticed why :. Nice one Thm:
I think I should have your moniker! ;D

I'd better explain. The first post I said that I started in the year 2100 rather then 2010 :-[

Ron.


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## lazylathe (Apr 10, 2012)

Hi Ron,

That looks like it is going to be superb when completed!!
Large and in charge, indeed!!! ;D

Hopefully it will be a nice slow runner that will just tick over.
Engines in that scale just ticking over are awesome to watch!

Andrew


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## ronkh (Apr 10, 2012)

Hello gents,

To give a better idea of the size of the wheel, the dia is 8 inches (about 203 m/m) and the width is 5/8" (about 16 m/m).
There are 19 parts on this piece alone and as I said earlier, it weighs in at 6.5 Ibs.

Regards,

Ron.


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## ronkh (Apr 22, 2012)

Hi gents,

Managed to get back on to this beam engine.
As I said earlier, this is a bit of a topsy turvy topic as a lot of the pics are all over the place.
Here are a few more and I will make comments about a couple of the shots when needed as I think that with this one, it would be best to let the photos do the talking.
A lot of the components still need to be finished and also, there are still a lot more parts to make and maybe to modify. Again, I am using mainly mild steel, some high grade aluminium, the usual brass and bronze and roller brg's for the heavier bits such as the fly-wheel. 
At this stage I am still not sure as to whether I will keep any of the brass as is as I think I prefer the "painted" look. You may think it is a waste of brass but I have so much of the stuff that it's not really an issue for me.
On a couple of these pics I am using the offcuts to give me the angle for the other side of the supports. Makes it easier rather then clocking up. Also, I used a pointed piece of silver steel to align the part ready for cutting/milling.
Most of this will be shot blasted at work to provide a key for the primer and when finished, I will at first have it running on air. At a later date I think I would like to make a boiler to run it on steam.

Hope you like these few pics.

Kind regards,

Ron


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## ronkh (Apr 22, 2012)

A few more parts etc.
The square is to align the next support. Crude but good enough for this sort of work. Plenty of swarf covering the place and numb arms moving the cross-slides!


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## ronkh (Apr 22, 2012)

The freezer top makes for a good backing to photograph for the parts!

The piston will be teflon sandwiched between two brass plaets. These will be slighty smaller then the teflon by about 2 thou. The valve will be of a similar build.

Kind regards,

Ron.


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## ronkh (Apr 22, 2012)

One last shot for now. This has the beams sitting on top of the supports just as a mock up so that I can see if it's in proportion.

Ron.


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## ronkh (Jul 11, 2012)

Hi gents,

It's been a while since I posted any more on this build but truth be told, I'm a forgetful, lazy b*st*rd when it comes to taking photo's!
These pics are mainly of the (almost) finished parts and no real set-ups as such though there where a few hairy ones!

Kind regards,

Ron


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## ronkh (Jul 11, 2012)

Couple more and in no real order. I'm sorry to say that I did not keep a full build log on this engine!
A couple of the cylinder and valve body.

Ron.


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## ronkh (Jul 11, 2012)

Here are a few of the almost completed beam. It is tight in places and still needs some of the fittings tweaked but it does run albeit slowly and with the compressor running at full tilt.
I will be stripping it down soon to finish off some rough edges then it will be painted leaving the brass and cooper bits naked with just a polish.

Hope you enjoy it!

Kind regards,

Ron


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