online reading materials on maching a engine from Stuart castings

[Aquarius21]

Greetings, While meeting a club member yesterday who is losing his eyesight he offered to sell me his Stuart v-10 kit. I am a newbie working on my first barstock model, a two cylinder rotary valve marine engine. My question is, are there on line materials a fellow can read to help him appreciate the task before him and to steer him away from expensive mistakes? My thanks, Quincy, Nova Scotia

 

[Tin Falcon]

well that is almost a triple whammy question.
there is lots of on line material on general machining and model building. Internet achives has lots of out of copy write books.
I think there are a couple of biuld logs here on the Stuart 10.
and IIRC Stuart sells a book on suggested steps and methods of machining that kit.

http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=3633.0
And if you Google Stuart 10v build you will get more hits.


Tin

 

[Aquarius21]

My very great thanks for the information, Quincy

 

[rhankey]

Quincy,

I just recently dove into the deep end and am building a very ambitious Stuart triple expansion engine from castings as my first metal working project, having only obtained a lathe and milling machine earlier this year. I started researching what machines to get and how to make various parts similar to those that I would have to make about a year ago. With a little googling, I found and continue to find all sorts of great websites of others who show and tell how they went through building Stuart or other similar steam makes of steam engines. A few builders don't seem to be all that skilled, but most have some pretty amazing skills. There are a few really good online forums including this site that also have a fair number of discussions on building steam or other types of engines from castings or bar stock. I guess what I'm saying is to look around this site, and google "Stuart Steam" "Stuart Engine", etc and be prepared to be overwhelmed.

There are also a number of print publications. There are a few 'how to' books for several of the less advanced Stuart engines. You might also want to search the "Model Engineering" magazine indexes which can e found online, as there are numerous good multi-part articles on building various Stuart and other engines from castings. Back issues of this magazine are readily available from a few UK stores via the Internet. I found a great 8 or so part article on the build of the triple expansion in this magazine, of which I was able to get all but the last part.

Take it slow, do a lot of research, and I think you'll be fine. I've had to go through a very steep learning curve over the last year, with getting machines, learning how to cut metal, and how to make steam engines and have much still to learn, but I'm pretty thrilled with what I've produced so far. There are multiple ways to make just about any part, so don’t take any one resource you find too seriously. I found about 10 resources showing how to make a multi-throw crankshaft from a single piece of bar stock, each giving very compelling reasons to support the method they employed. After all that, I came up with my own unique method that worked very well for me.

One of the many things I've learned from googling around is seeing how resourceful people are with building very complex parts to high precision with some of the most basic of machines.

You have done well to start with a Stuart engine, as they appear to be very highly regarded for very good quality castings that are easily to work with, with equally accurate drawings.

Robin

 

[tel]

A good choice - the Stuart 10V was my first engine, as it was for about a zillion other people, and Andres Smith's book is a 'must have' for the first time - takes you by the hand and walks you through everything, and available from plenty of places - here's one
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Building-Vertical-Steam-Engine-Castings/dp/1857610962

 

[huntandfish]

I agree get trhe book .
I started with a 10H years ago after I got a small lathe . I remember being surprised at how many additional tools I needed!

 

[krv3000]

HI well look for Harald hall Web page he did articles for model engineer on the billed of this engine their is templates of things you will find useful on the billed of the engine on his web page

 

[Aquarius21]

Hi, my thanks for all of your kind help! I just found Harold Halls' excellenmt site tonight and located several others plus borrowed "Building a Vertical Steam Engine" by Andrew Smith. I have asked the owner selling the model to help me and he has kindly offered to do so. I am totally in agreement with you that reading up is absolutely essential!

Question. The newer models use a built up crank. I think the model I am getting is quite a bit older and has a cast crank. Anyone know where I can find info on turning a cast crank?

Again, my thanks! Quincy

 

[huntandfish]

True the earlier kits have a nice forged crank ( not cast ) and my copy of the Book Building a Verticle Steam Engine from Castings covers this item . I made a simple jig as detailed in the book to machine mine .

 

[tel]

Andrew's book goes into detail about doing that crank - that said, I didn't use mine, but did a built up one from the start - think I have two or three of those little buggers in a drawer somewhere!

 

[Aquarius21]

My thanks to all! And just after I asked for info on machining the crank, and just before I turned in I flipped through the book on building the 10V and saw the section on ... machining a forged crank. Sorry for missing
that and asking you yet another question! So, I will humbly close with three bits of wisdom I learned
a very, very long time ago while in mechanical engineering technology;

1) The only stupid question is the one you don't ask, and
2) Never ASSUME anything or it will make an ass out of u and me,and
3) Use the KISS principle- keep it simple, stupid.

As for any other information retained from that era, er, um, I am working on memorizing my name
or at least having my driver's license near at hand so that at meal time I can check to see if it's my
name they are calling. My thanks gang for all your help. I am sure I will have plenty more questions see itme #1. Quincy