1/3 Scale Case Steam engine

[Mike N]

Finished up the Water Wagon today.
Holds 16 gallons of water. Wood is old growth Burr Oak. Should look good behind the 1/3rd scale Case!

 

[Steamchick]

JUST EXCELLENT!!
Comparing British engines with US designs, the US designs always have "longer boilers"... but that may be an optical illusion if they are smaller diameter... I assume possibly because the fuel, being wood in the US, needs a much larger grate and firebox? (This was the reason for the US designed 4-4-0 locos having such a large firebox). And possibly larger flues to avoid soot build up from the wood resins? hence the flues need to be longer to be more efficient at capturing the heat? Coal being a relatively cheap fuel and readily available in the UK around the era when British Makers were making these engines, probably meant the flues tubes were smaller and got their efficiency that way and boilers were shorter as a result? Does anyone know the whys and wherefores?
K2

 

[jkimberln]

Your observation is not an illusion. I've got a Plastow Burrell and it has a shorter boiler than my friends Case in the same scale. American engines did not always burn wood although they could. They burned the straw in large quantities when running a separator. The straw can't be used as feed so the threshers just burned it in the engine and it takes a lot of straw to fire a TE. Seems to me in the UK, traction engines burned coal. They may have here too , especially when plowing or pulling. The railroads used up a lot of wood and didn't leave much for anybody else.

 

[Steamchick]

So what fuel do you use? - looks like wood?
I don't know anything about burning straw.... sounds like the "separator" is an interesting bit of technology...? Do you have a sketch of one?
K2

 

[Mike N]

I hated the Steam Whistle on my 1/3rd scale Case. So I found a set of plans for this triple chime whistle on eBay, scaled it down 50% to 1 1/2".

 

[Steamchick]

A high-pitched screech? - Unfortunately, sound relies upon wavelength - which doesn't scale and make the same pitch. Wavelength is usually the length of the tube, or twice that length. Many lads with steam railway locos run the working whistle along a chassis rail to take advantage of the length - which would look stupid on top of the boiler. So the device on top of the boiler is inert (usually solid) just for show. That way the loco looks and sounds correct.
K2

 

[chrsbrbnk]

the sound will change when running on steam, pretty difficult to hide a larger whistle under a scale case engine definitely sounds as good as any 1/3 scale traction engine I've heard

 

[Mike N]

Decided to make a bigger one.
Waiting for the valve before I can test it out.

 

[Mike N]

Decided to make a bigger one.
Waiting for the valve before I can test it out.

View attachment 131492View attachment 131493
https://photos.app.goo.gl/EiQwLgSjdufVuJ328This is how it sounds.

 

[Mike N]

I tried my luck at 3D printing a 5 chime locomotive steam whistle.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/uM771DPD5F6f2H266

It takes a lot of air for this one!

 

[kf2qd]

I sent the boiler to a shop to have the main tube & the steam dome welded in by a certified welder.

Exactly what certification does that welder have??

 

[Mike N]

Exactly what certification does that welder have??

ASME certified welder
R-Stamp certification

 

[a41capt]

I carried a high pressure pipe and nuclear certification (as well as airframe tig and high pressure gas silver braze) while in the Navy but didn’t keep my cert current after getting out, but the listed criteria are more than adequate for a low pressure system.

John W

 

[chrsbrbnk]

Good thing, most of the full size engines that you walk between at the shows are R stamped. Getting back to topic the three chime sounds great. what air pressure?

 

[Mike N]

Good thing, most of the full size engines that you walk between at the shows are R stamped. Getting back to topic the three chime sounds great. what air pressure?

Both of the whistles start to work at about 40psi. The sound is maxed out at about 100psi. I hope they work on steam!

 

[Mike N]

Another thing I don't like about my 1/3rd scale Case Steam engine (besides the whistle, which I already fixed) was the steering worm gear mechanism. It takes 65 turns of the steering wheel to travel from hard left to hard right. I decided to fab up a new double start worm gear set. The ratio was 30 to 1 now it is 15 to 1. I 3d printed a set of gears first to figure this out. Now to machine a set out of steel.

 

[Mike N]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/gYSanP5dgQuVpEMGAForest City Iowa 6/18/22
We put our two 1/3rd Scale Case Steam Engines on a corn grinder.
Mike N. & Chris B.

 

[GreenTwin]

Says 1985, but I think I meant to write 1895.
This is from an old pattern making book.

I have not tried to cast one yet, but I will get to that at some point.

It took me a long time to figure out the diagrams, but I finally got it.

From this book.
1905 actually.
LOL, I can't read my own writing.

 

[Mike N]

Belted up to a very old grain elevator this weekend at our local antique tractor club Field Days.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/G76Zh2EE6VVhEFH28