Charity Shop Beam Engine.

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

Not a lot achieved today other projects but I did manage to make a cylinder sleeve and rod to help line up the cylinder.



Regards Tony.

 

[stragenmitsuko]

trying to understand here , but I seem to be missing something .

If you're not going to use parallell motion , and if your cylinder is fixed to the baseplate
how wil you connect the up and down motion of the piston to the circular motion of the beam ?

Pat

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi Pat,

I will possibly use a slide bar and cross head system similar to the on in the attachment. With a beam engine there is only a few degrees of movement needed so the connecting rod can be quite short. I am still thinking about it as I would like to create something that doesn't look too heavy.

Regards Tony.

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

As I am still cogitating about parallel motion or the like, so I decided to make a top cylinder cover that could if necessary accommodate a trunk guide.




I also decided to lagg the cylinders.



I am playing trains tomorrow so it will be the begining of the week before the lagging is turned down.

Regards Tony.

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

Having got up inordinately early and got ahead of myself for the preparations to go and play trains. I turned the wooden lagging on the cylinder and applied a sealing coat of vanish, I am quite pleased with the results.





Off to play trains I hope it stays dry!

Regards Tony.

 

[JCSteam]

You should be extremely pleased with the result Tony. I always enjoy watching your builds, and the finish on the wood looks very nice, with very little gap between each piece. Top work Tony:thumbup:

 

[bazmak]

Very,Very nice work.I do like your projects for quality and inventiveness
Is the timber oak

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

Yes, the wood is I think oak which came from the side of an old draw.

I have I think solved my problem of whether to use parallel motion, slide rods or trunk guide to connect the piston rod to the beam.

I was watching a You Tube video:

https://youtu.be/rtwghZ5Bw9c

Which shows the rebuilding of a Midland compound 4-4-0 which seems to have an extended piston rod that goes through the front cylinder cover.



This reminded me that in Kew Bridge pumping station there is a horizontal pumping engine that uses a tail rod ? via a bell crank to connect to a pump. So I have decided to have an extended piston rod and fit a packing gland in the bottom cylinder cover. This should give the piston sufficient support so I can can use a connecting rod between the the piston rod and beam, it will only need to move a few degrees to take out the arc of the beam. Also it won't I hope look too heavy.

First the cylinder was put in place to mark out the position of a clearance hole for the piston rod.



A hole was drilled to clear the piston rod gland and give a little wriggle room.



Hole.



Bottom cylinder cover drilled and tapped for the gland bush. Had I had the idea sooner the gland could have been machined as part of the cover.



Regards Tony.

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

I spent most of today make dual gauge track for CMES garden railway but did manage to fit a bush in the bottom cylinder cover.




Regards Tony.

 

[don-tucker]

Hi Tony,the Ivatt atlantics used that system on the piston rods,I have it on my Maisie ,I enjoyed that video
Don

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi Don,

Good to hear from you, I enjoyed the video very much too.

Not a lot of progress with the cylinder as I have been assembling dual gauge track for the garden railway at Cardiff MES. However I did manage to make a pair of gland nuts and thread the end of the piston rod. There will be no further progress for sometime as we are away for a bit. I need to find something to use as feet to lift the base board to give clearance for the piston rod, maybe inspiration will come while we are away.



Regards Tony.

 

[ShopShoe]

(Tongue in cheek and best wishes)

Tony,

It looks like it's time to check out the charity shops again for inspiration.

Best Wishes again,

--ShopShoe

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

We have been away for the last 10 days or so visiting our daughter and then the IOW. We arrived home yesterday.

While on the Isle of Wight we passed a Car Boot sale in a field at the side of the road, where some massive purchases were made! After paying £2 for both of us to go in, I parted with £1 for a 4 sconce candle holder and 50p for a castor, while SWMBO went wild and spent £6 on a trivet!



I have used candle sconces to support an engine bed before and as they are high enough until some thing else turns up they will be used to give the beam engine's extended piston rod some clearance.




This is the general idea, model is just resting on the sconces and will be a bit lower when they are fitted.



Regards Tony.

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

I had a lot on today so only spent an hour or so playing. The sconces have been screwed directly into the wooden base board and have been filled with Plaster of Paris which after setting had some sheet cork glued to it, to protect the cork while I am playing some masking tape has been stuck on it.





Regards Tony.

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

I have never made a piston that is in the middle of its rod. So what I did was make a shouldered bush which is glued and pined to the piston rod. The bush was then threaded to take a roughed out piston, which hopefully will be trued up and fitted later today.













Regards Tony.

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

It was getting a little hot in the shed today even with the Air Con on (Shed door open) I finished early. I did manage to turn the piston to size, make some gaskets and made some PTFE string to use as packing from plumbers tape. The cylinder is now effectively finished, so the next job is a connecting rod.










Regards Tony.

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

With the temperature in the shed hitting 30C I decided to call it a day. I had hoped to do more but only managed to rough out the coupling rods big end.






Regards Tony.

 

[Twizseven]

I know how you feel. I'm still sat working in my office (10pm.), the windows are open and its still 32 degrees C.

Colin

 

[bazmak]

You want to be in my neck of the woods.On a 40o day the temp hits
60oc in shed with a translucent roof

 

[Cogsy]

It's interesting how 'conditioned' we humans get by exposure to our environment. Where I live a 32 C day is a mild spring day and the very depths of winter days get down to a shocking 12-14 C. I stop work in my shed when the mercury gets up around the high 40's or gets down into the single digits at night. Yet a lot of members would potentially perish in such hot conditions and laugh out loud at me as I shivered in my version of 'cold'. I'm starting to wonder how comfortable I'm going to be in Europe next January...