mklotz
Well-Known Member
Yes, because this forum is peopled with fine up-standing members who cause little trouble (well, there is that zeeprogrammer guy 
), we moderators can get out in the shop occasionally and get something built.
When I first saw Chuck's steam version of an H&M, I knew I had to have one. At shows, the noisy, smelly IC engines get all the attention and the quiet, dignified steam engines tend to be ignored. (Can you tell I'm a steam fan?) When Brian made his detailed plans available, I was off and running. What could be better? All the annoyance of an H&M without the need for smelly gas, electric shocks and impossible-to-adjust carburetors.
Here's the result in profile...
The round object lying in front is the filing button I used to contour both the curve on the base and the curves on the cylinder head. The two small holes are tapped 5-40 so the button could be bolted to either the base or head. Rough contouring was done with a vertical 1" belt sander and finishing was done with a file.
A view from the front...
And some detail of the governor assembly...
Clever viewers will note that I changed the bolt layout pattern where the cylinder joins the base. This both simplified making the base and avoided the need to make the alignment jig that Brian described.
Brian's 10-24 bolts for the bearing blocks seemed overly large to me so I used 8-32. The aluminum blocks have sintered bronze inserts. I used Brian's recommended 5-40 screws to mount the cylinder to the base and the head to the cylinder but everywhere else that he called out 5-40 I used 4-40. The latter seem a bit more in scale.
My crankshaft is a built up assembly. The shafts were first Loctited (609) into the webs and, after drying for 24 hours, each joint was drilled and fitted with a 1/16" roll pin.
The arms of the governor are held on with pivot pins that consist of 1/8" steel turned down to 1/16" to fit the holes. The 1/16" pins are then cross-drilled #60 to take very fine wire retainers.
Brian calls out the fork in brass but I made it in steel. It takes rather a pounding from the 0-80 "cam" so I was concerned that it would wear badly if a soft metal was used.
[Aside: I set the timing on my engine so it runs clockwise when viewing the governor flywheel. This means that the wiping action on the 0-80 cam screw tends to tighten, rather than loosen the screw. I don't know if that matters, but you might want to think about it.]
Elsewhere Brian gave a Canadian source for some of the springs he used. Long ago I bought a collection of springs from Harbor Freight (item 93323)
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?function=Search
I was able to use two springs from this collection without modification for the poppet and slave valve springs on the engine. The governor spring is from my carton de junque but you can easily make your own from 0.020" music wire and my MANDREL program to figure out the correct size former.
Unlike Brian's arrangement, my valve actuator rod has a brass fitting on the end that locks to the valve stem with a 2-56 screw. A shoulder on this fitting replaces the C-clip called out in his plans, thus saving me the agony of trying to fit a clip to such a small shaft.
And, now, the de rigueur video...
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69x8Kf4JnXQ[/ame]
The governor spring is purposely soft so the engine will fire relatively often. This ensures lots of noise to attract attention.
All in all it was a fun engine to build. Chuck's ingenious engineering is intellectually satisfying and Brian's plans make construction straightforward. Your collection needs one of these.
Our metalworking club is having its annual picnic this Saturday and the engine will see its public debut there. I think it will be a hit rather than a miss.
), we moderators can get out in the shop occasionally and get something built.When I first saw Chuck's steam version of an H&M, I knew I had to have one. At shows, the noisy, smelly IC engines get all the attention and the quiet, dignified steam engines tend to be ignored. (Can you tell I'm a steam fan?) When Brian made his detailed plans available, I was off and running. What could be better? All the annoyance of an H&M without the need for smelly gas, electric shocks and impossible-to-adjust carburetors.
Here's the result in profile...
The round object lying in front is the filing button I used to contour both the curve on the base and the curves on the cylinder head. The two small holes are tapped 5-40 so the button could be bolted to either the base or head. Rough contouring was done with a vertical 1" belt sander and finishing was done with a file.
A view from the front...
And some detail of the governor assembly...
Clever viewers will note that I changed the bolt layout pattern where the cylinder joins the base. This both simplified making the base and avoided the need to make the alignment jig that Brian described.
Brian's 10-24 bolts for the bearing blocks seemed overly large to me so I used 8-32. The aluminum blocks have sintered bronze inserts. I used Brian's recommended 5-40 screws to mount the cylinder to the base and the head to the cylinder but everywhere else that he called out 5-40 I used 4-40. The latter seem a bit more in scale.
My crankshaft is a built up assembly. The shafts were first Loctited (609) into the webs and, after drying for 24 hours, each joint was drilled and fitted with a 1/16" roll pin.
The arms of the governor are held on with pivot pins that consist of 1/8" steel turned down to 1/16" to fit the holes. The 1/16" pins are then cross-drilled #60 to take very fine wire retainers.
Brian calls out the fork in brass but I made it in steel. It takes rather a pounding from the 0-80 "cam" so I was concerned that it would wear badly if a soft metal was used.
[Aside: I set the timing on my engine so it runs clockwise when viewing the governor flywheel. This means that the wiping action on the 0-80 cam screw tends to tighten, rather than loosen the screw. I don't know if that matters, but you might want to think about it.]
Elsewhere Brian gave a Canadian source for some of the springs he used. Long ago I bought a collection of springs from Harbor Freight (item 93323)
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?function=Search
I was able to use two springs from this collection without modification for the poppet and slave valve springs on the engine. The governor spring is from my carton de junque but you can easily make your own from 0.020" music wire and my MANDREL program to figure out the correct size former.
Unlike Brian's arrangement, my valve actuator rod has a brass fitting on the end that locks to the valve stem with a 2-56 screw. A shoulder on this fitting replaces the C-clip called out in his plans, thus saving me the agony of trying to fit a clip to such a small shaft.
And, now, the de rigueur video...
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69x8Kf4JnXQ[/ame]
The governor spring is purposely soft so the engine will fire relatively often. This ensures lots of noise to attract attention.
All in all it was a fun engine to build. Chuck's ingenious engineering is intellectually satisfying and Brian's plans make construction straightforward. Your collection needs one of these.
Our metalworking club is having its annual picnic this Saturday and the engine will see its public debut there. I think it will be a hit rather than a miss.
