Casting Kits I would like to see For Sale Again

[peterl95124]

I am having trouble finding the original "Direct Connect" steam engine article, but it was in a Lindsay reprinted book about old steam engines.

Green,
many thanks, that very first photo did it for me, immediately saw the doubly-linked crankshaft in the photo that I could not "see" in the original drawing / block print.

if I had the time I'd have an entire shelf of curious and odd linkage steam engines, and this would definitely be in it !

Peter.

 

[Jasonb]

That is one of the problems with old engravings some detail can be hard to see or is often not even there for you to see or by the time we now find it digitally some detail may have got lost.

The direct engine is missing all the valve gear save for a bit of something under the right cylinder and the position of the drain cock valve will only drain the bottom of the cylinder

That is one reason I like building some of these smaller engines, it gives me the chance to build say a linkage or valve type that I have not done before or try out a new construction method. If it doe snot work there are no big losses. For example the Scientific American was the first single acting rocking valve I had done (made a double acting before) and the large gland nut that seals the piston gave me a chance to try thread milling for the first time.

 

[Chris W]

Green Twin,
Here's one I think you might be interested in:

https://www.steamlaunch.com/store-2/p/build-the-anderson-single
I contacted the company about 10 years ago about a set of castings and was told that none were in stock, that the patterns needed a lot of reworking and blah, blah, blah. Like you, I prefer working with something a little larger to avoid the fiddly bits in order to keep my blood pressure where it should be. This engine is ideal (to me) since it is big enough to do actual work and the parts are well within the envelope of my machines.
I'm tempted to buy the prints and make the patterns but my wood working skills need improvement and I haven't fallen down the 3D printer rabbit hole...yet.

Chris

 

[GreenTwin]

Green Twin,
Here's one I think you might be interested in:

https://www.steamlaunch.com/store-2/p/build-the-anderson-single
I contacted the company about 10 years ago about a set of castings and was told that none were in stock, that the patterns needed a lot of reworking and blah, blah, blah. Like you, I prefer working with something a little larger to avoid the fiddly bits in order to keep my blood pressure where it should be. This engine is ideal (to me) since it is big enough to do actual work and the parts are well within the envelope of my machines.
I'm tempted to buy the prints and make the patterns but my wood working skills need improvement and I haven't fallen down the 3D printer rabbit hole...yet.

Chris

I find it much more relaxing, and much more like a hobby when working with larger parts for an engine.

Once you get the hang of it, you can look at an engine format, and just make your own drawings, patterns, etc.

The piston valve may be a bit of a challenge, but I think it could be done.
Generally for low pressure steam (100 psi and below), the common D-valve works well, and the complexity of the piston valve is not needed.

And you can make a balanced D-valve if you are concerned about the forces on the valve, valve face, valve rod, and eccentric.

As far as first time pattern making in wood, the beauty of that is that you can cut off a bad part, epoxy on a new piece, or fill with bondo, wood filler, or whatever. Worst case, toss the wood pattern and start again, but generally you can modify a wood pattern relatively easily.

Pat J
.

 

[peterl95124]

I just got back from showing some of my model engines at GGLS (golden gate live steamers) open house this past weekend, I swear my engines are getting heavier and harder to load/unload from my truck, may have to start making smaller and lighter models !!!

 

[Jasonb]

Well I suppose that is one of the advantages of the CAD route, once an engine is drawn up it is easy to scale the 3D models up or down and print or cut patterns to whatever size is wanted or even parts in the case of CNC. I've just cut some patterns at the weekend, I had originally redrawn and scratch built the engine at about 40% original size so blew them back up to 1:1 with a few tweaks to get the exact old imperial sizes, added draft and machining allowances and now the new aluminium patterns will be used to replace the lost ones so that another engine will continue to be available.

I see Elliott Bay also have the Model Engineer compound engine listed, wonder if that is actually available or the same status as the single.

Pat how have your sanding experiments gone, you were quiet over the weekend I thought you may have been doing some casting

 

[GreenTwin]

Pat how have your sanding experiments gone, you were quiet over the weekend I thought you may have been doing some casting

I am mired in the work-land swamp, up to my neck in projects.
No hope of doing any casting at the moment.

.

 

[Maxjon]

Well the fun will begin....

 

[GreenTwin]

That is a nice engine.
You going to start a build thread for it?
.

 

[Maxjon]

That is a nice engine.
You going to start a build thread for it?
.

Maybe...I need to sort out my milling capability first...

 

[Jasonb]

There is very little that actually needs a milling machine, infact most can be done in the 4-jaw and a block of wood is all that is needed to machine the base on the lathe.

Keep changing the last number to 2, 3, 4, etc and read all these pdf which were written at a time when most holeworkshops did not have a mill

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/documents/sally-1.pdf

 

[Maxjon]

There is very little that actually needs a milling machine, infact most can be done in the 4-jaw and a block of wood is all that is needed to machine the base on the lathe.

Keep changing the last number to 2, 3, 4, etc and read all these pdf which were written at a time when most holeworkshops did not have a mill

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/documents/sally-1.pdf

Thanks for that!

 

[Maxjon]

There is very little that actually needs a milling machine, infact most can be done in the 4-jaw and a block of wood is all that is needed to machine the base on the lathe.

Keep changing the last number to 2, 3, 4, etc and read all these pdf which were written at a time when most holeworkshops did not have a mill

https://www.model-e

 

[Maxjon]

Have you got anything further of Sally?? I'm ontop of all that...

 

[Jasonb]

There are just the 10parts to the series

 

[Maxjon]

There are just the 10parts to the series

Ok where do I find the last 5 parts?
Thanks again!

 

[GreenTwin]

All these links are from JasonB.

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/documents/sally-1.pdf

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/documents/sally-2.pdf

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/documents/sally-3.pdf

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/documents/sally-4.pdf

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/documents/sally-5.pdf

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/documents/sally-6.pdf

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/documents/sally-7.pdf

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/documents/sally-8.pdf

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/documents/sally-9.pdf

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/documents/sally-10.pdf

.

 

[Jasonb]

Thanks Pat. It was as I said "Keep changing the last number to 2, 3, 4, etc"

 

[Maxjon]

Thanks Pat. It was as I said "Keep changing the last number to 2, 3, 4, etc"

Sorry I just got what you meant, by changing the number...
Thanks again!

 

[Maxjon]

There are just the 10parts to the series

Thanks again Jason....that's a very interesting read so far.....A must have for newbies like me!