Beam engine at double scale--

[Bogstandard]

Brian,

Sure you didn't succumb to a bit of climb milling?
It sounded like you did, with the description you gave.

John

 

[Brian Rupnow]

John--I think thats exactly what happened!! I was milling a slot---little bit off one side, then a little bit off the other after shifting the table to mill the other side and not be climb milling---I think on the 15th pass I had a brain fart and forgot to shift the table, and "whammo"!!!

 

[Bogstandard]

It happens to us all.

John

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Today I finished the connecting rod that runs from the throw on the flywheel shaft up to the rocking beam. This entailed a bit of silver soldering, a bit of threading, a bit of milling, and a bit of reaming.--A lot of different operations for such a simple part.---Of course I had to put a couple of drill bits into the pivot points and make everything go around, just to see it work-----. I thought an assembly shot was called for while I had it all together. The bits that I finished today were all made as per drawing.

 

[NickG]

I'm not too keen on the drill bits, doesn't look quite right! :big:

 

[Brian Rupnow]

This beam engine is comparatively huge---To give a sense of scale, the engine setting in the foreground of the picture is one of Elmers single acting wobblers, the first engine that I built. It is built according to the plans that I downloaded from the internet, at the scale given on the downloaded drawings.

 

[Divided He ad]

Looking good Brian, not too long and it should be bobbing along like a good un! ;D

Your right about the size! That little wobbler is the same size as my 'Baldy' (that's my engine : )
I think the drills look fine.... at least you know the shafts are ground I know a few farmers who would drive full size machinery round with drill bits and nails etc holding them together.... So why not a model engine :big:

Isn't it a pain when work gets in the way of a good project! But you still seem to be motoring along.



Looking forward to the running,



Ralph.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Ralph---Thank you for your response. I try and get some machining done each day, but its difficult now that I am back to work full time at my regular job. I am a little dissapointed at how few people have responded to this thread, I thought there would have been more interest. I know that Gail in New Mexico is making the same engine, as he does post here occasionally. I know what you mean about farmers. My first wife was a farmers daughter, and we lived in a rural farming community. I seen much the same thing you did, and I could never figure out if farmers were too cheap to fix anything correctly, or if it was just that they were so darned busy all the time that they grabbed anything to get the job fixed immediately so they could keep on working. I know that I got up at 7:00 to drive to my office job, and the farmers would be out in the fields working when I was driving to work, and still out working when I drove home, and still out working when I went to bed.---and many of them had an 8 hour day job in a factory as well so that they could afford to keep their farms running.---Definitly not the life for me---

 

[JohnS]

Brian

I've been following your posts on the beam engine with with particular interest as I am thinking of doing something similar with one of Elmers famous engines http://www.john-tom.com/ElmersEngines/33_mill.pdf.

I built this engine at normal scale but, like you, I fancy upping the size.



Not sure whether to double up as you have done or go for a more modest increase of 50%. One concern is the volume of air (or steam ?) required. What are your thoughts on this for your beam engine ?

I'm really looking forward to seeing yours in action - I expect you are too !

John S

 

[Brian Rupnow]

John---I am not too worried about the air/steam consumption. I build hotrods as a hobby, so consequently I have a great big twin cylinder air compressor with a 50 gallon holding tank in my shop. I think it could probably power a full sized steam engine.---brian

 

[Divided He ad]

Brian... I'd not worry about the response, You have had 1347 hits to my count! That's a lot of looking!! So it's not such a case of interest... more stuck dumb!?!?


I know that many people like to just take in the details of what you are building, I've written posts and been disappointed by the interaction.I've read many posts and found I had nothing to contribute!! That's just how it works... If you had started it in a month there might have been 10 more people chipping in?!

Still the fact of the matter remains that your building a mighty fine looking machine there and no one can take that from you! ;D

I personally want to see what it looks like when you shine it up a little..... I love shiny 8) ;D

Take heart man.... The runner is in sight




Ralph.


John... go on build it 150% just for fun!!! (ask Bog's... he can help with the flywheel on his new machines.... When they're in ;D )... Oh just worked that out... That would be massive....maybe 70%

 

[Bogstandard]

Brian,

As Ralph said, it might just be the time of year. Holidays, Olympics etc etc.

Another thing, is that you are doing something slightly out of the norm, if you had built it normal size, like most people do, members would have given an input, but as it is, you are in fact building a prototype, and I have found, until it is at the finished stage, everyone then wakes up and comments. Until it is finished you will just get the odd comment or query.
I for one read every post that comes onto here, but I don't answer every one.

Four pages of posts, and you are still not finished, is doing rather well in my opinion.

Just keep at it, and recognition for all your hard work will be there.

John

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Now I have a mistake to fix. When I drilled and reamed the eccentric hub in the flywheel, I set everything up properly in the lathe, and proceeded to drill the hub with a drill which was slightly less than the reamer diameter, then reamed to a finished 1/4" bore.--But wait---The reamer didn't seem to be cutting anything!!!! I checked the drill bit again, and though it was less than the reamer diameter, it wasn't much less, and the drill has a slight bend in it. Of course, with the drill setting stationary in the tailstock chuck, the bend wasn't visible.--The result of this, was that the hole I so carefully prepared is about .008 oversize. Normally this is something that I could live with---it doesn't show when the flywheel rotates---but---The long rod that runs from the eccentric to the valve cross shaft thru the far end of the base now moves from side to side about 1/4" due to the runout between the center of the eccentric hub axis and the true centerline of the crankshaft axis. The tighter I tighten the setscrew in the eccentric hub, the more pronounced this runout gets. I think what I will do to fix this is drill the hub out to 5/16" dia. in the lathe, press fit and loctite a solid steel shaft into the hole, then redrill it with a straight drill bit and ream it to 1/4" again.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Well, like the doc says, "I got some good news, and I got some bad news." The good news is that this morning I finished the long bent rod that runs from the eccentric strap out to the valve actuator cross shaft at the far end of the base, and also finished the brass end for the rod. They were both built exactly to the drawings I posted the link to. The bad new is contained in the previous post, where I screwed up the bore in the eccentric hub by making it oversized. Now when I rotate the flywheel and crankshaft, the rod end not only moves back and forth 3/8" like it is supposed to, it also swings about 1/4" side to side, which it is definitly not supposed to. However, with the help of Loctite and Craftex, I'll fix that.---Brian

 

[agr]

Brian,

I too have been following your posts with interest but have not chosen to comment - partly because work/family keep me so busy that I barely get time to even keep up with reading most of the posts on this fabulous site, but mainly because I feel I have nothing to contribute, but much to learn.

I am fast becoming aware of the advantages of scaling up design. Tonight I managed to find some time for the shop to attempt to progress my "full size" elmer beam only to find that 'small and fiddle' can also mean 'easily bent/broken'.

I look forward to seeing your completed engine.

Tony

 

[Kludge]

I am a little dissapointed at how few people have responded to this thread, I thought there would have been more interest.

Brian, I can't speak for everyone but I've read this with rapt fascination and with notepad in hand. Watching your progress is an educational experience for me - seeing how you resolve problems and just generally go about the process of building the engine. The fact that I have a particular fondness for walking beam engines (especially ones with wooden beams) has absolutely nothing to do with this. ;D

I seen much the same thing you did, and I could never figure out if farmers were too cheap to fix anything correctly, or if it was just that they were so darned busy all the time that they grabbed anything to get the job fixed immediately so they could keep on working.

Farmers had (and I guess still have) one goal - get the job done. Their solutions to pesky little problems were elegant in simplicity based on materials on hand at the time though not in any form of engineering precision as often as not. Over Winter, while the machines weren't being used, they might repair them properly or just go with the idea that what field repair they made is good enough to leave alone. I grew up surrounded by farms and made a little money repairing machines on a more permanent basis when they were done for the year. (Well, "money" isn't really accurate ... farm-made cheese, sausage and the like were far preferable on both sides of the bargain. ) That's also where I learned about thermite welding. That was exciting.

Best regards,

Kludge

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Fellows--Thank you all for the kind words. Its nice to know that people are indeed reading this thread. I enjoy this building and posting business, and I hope sincerely that I can either show something that you haven't seen before, teach something, or at the very least provide some interesting entertainment. For me this is all very exciting, and I am having a lot of fun with this.---Brian.

 

[kvom]

I too have been reading all the posts. This engine is one of the 2-3 "contenders" for my first build once my shop build is ready.

 

[dsquire]

. . . .
I am a little dissapointed at how few people have responded to this thread,
. . . .
I know what you mean about farmers. My first wife was a farmers daughter, and we lived in a rural farming community. I seen much the same thing you did, and I could never figure out if farmers were too cheap to fix anything correctly, or if it was just that they were so darned busy all the time that they grabbed anything to get the job fixed immediately so they could keep on working. I know that I got up at 7:00 to drive to my office job, and the farmers would be out in the fields working when I was driving to work, and still out working when I drove home, and still out working when I went to bed.---and many of them had an 8 hour day job in a factory as well so that they could afford to keep their farms running.---Definitly not the life for me---

Brian

I have been following your double scale beam build on a daily basis. While I don't make a lot of posts, I do subscribe to a lot of threads and do a lot of reading. I am in Kitchener, Ontario, so am not that far away from you.

I am retired and lovin it. I grew up in farm country and lived and worked on farms part of my life. It is a great life being a farmer but it's not for everyone. When it came to machinery repairs, some farmers had a large sledge hammer, pipe wrench and baleing wire. Others had the lathe, milling machine and all the wrenches. They both managed to get the job done and put food on OUR table. I guess that farming must be the best job in the world. Why else would they work the hours that they do for the income that they get.

I was very impressed by your full time day job as well Brian. I worked as a design draftsman for a number of years so can understand your job to some extent.

I know that sometimes your regular job can get in the way but don't forget to take time to smell the roses.

Cheers

Don

 

[Philjoe5]

Sorry for the late post but I just got back from a 4 day show in Kinzers, PA. First off, Brian I've been keenly interested in this post having just completed an engine with a 50% scaleup from a set of plans myself. I keep reading about your progress and am getting some good ideas from what you've accomplished.

On the subject of compressor capacity, I have a Craftsman 2 gallon, 1 hp compressor. It will power my scaled up engine just fine. FWIW, my engine has 60 cc of displacement and I can run it at 120 rpm with the compressor running at about a 50% duty cycle (the maximum recommended).

Keep posting,

Cheers,
Phil