Going off for some steamy play this weekend....

[Allen]

Kim and I are going over to Portersville, Pa for 3 days of wor-, err, fun. Yeah! That's it, fun! Friday we'll be firing a Kewanee stationary boiler and quite possibly a Frick portable all day (and probably half the night) so that they can cook down applebutter and press cider. Saturday and Sunday we should be playing with my big beast.... unless it's a swamp from all the rain this week.

You can join us if you'd like. The show (Saturday & Sunday Oct 2,3) is open to the public. The grounds is right off US 19 about 35 mi N of Pgh.

 

[rake60]

I've been to the Potersville show.

Allen, if you see this before you go, take some pictures of the machine shop.
Videos would be better! The machine tools running off of an overhead line shaft are
pretty impressive.

Rick

 

[Allen]

I didn't get the message before we left... sorry.

All I have new is a picture of Ed Phillips getting ready to bore one of my $5 sprockets.

If it works, this is an older picture from last May

 

[rake60]

Great pictures even if they are a year old.

I remember being there watching the flat leather belts flapping on the line shaft pulleys overhead.
The "young at heart" men who were running the machines paid no attention to those belts or the
static sparks they created. They just went on demonstrating the slow speed machining processes
of that era.

I'll be there next year to get some videos.

REMIND ME ALLEN!!!!

Rick

 

[ChooChooMike]

What is used to drive the line shaft ? Hope it's another steam engine

 

[Allen]

A HUGE old electric motor drives it. Steam was planned, but my Pap had a stroke before he finished piping it, and nobody else wants to bother.

 

[robcas631]

I hope you father is feeling better.

 

[Allen]

My Pap (grandfather) died over a decade ago. For many (about 30) years he pushed, bullied and wheedled (as needed) the club in the direction he felt it needed to go. Since he's been gone it's pretty much been drifting, except for an insistence that "You da#@ed ___s don't RUN this club anymore!" To which the family says "Fine, YOU do all this crap we're stuck with because nobody else wants to do it!"....

Back to the machine shop. The Erie engine Pap owned and had planned to use is really too small (and worn) to power the machine shop. There is, however, a decent sized Troy-Engberg automatic engine that COULD be set and would perform nicely, if: 1, the club had the motivation to install and maintain it. 2. They were willing to purchase the special crankcase oil for it. and 3. They had "more help" in the boiler house..... (Two of the three guys won't fire the big boiler, and the third guy often has to work his day job during the shows)

Here are a couple more recent pix of the shop.

This year's (2012) fall show is October 6,7. If you've always wanted to learn to hand fire a largish boiler, it's a real good time to volunteer. We probably could really use a skinny guy earlier in the week to help set the grates, too.... our hardworking boilerhouse guy is in Atlanta for a month.