Some questions from a newbie

[46international]

My plan is to try to make a O gauge steam powered locomotive, this being my first real attempt to really do a nice job I joined up here to get started. Through this site I stumbled upon the "locomotive of the month" site and have found many examples of something I may be able to muddle through. But the more I learn the more questions I have, I'l list some of them here,
What is a displacement oiler and how does it work? Sounds like it is a small oil tank that is filled with oil and is connected to the steam line so that boiler pressure pushes some of the oil into the motor. How far off is that?

Is it worth it to make a "wobble" engine? The ones I made years ago just don't seem to have much power and they waste as much steam as they use. This is most likely to my poor skills. So in a effort to make something that will work well should I build a slide valve engine. I read the "piston valve vs slide valve" thread by Dom here and agree with his take that a slide valve is a better design than the piston valve. On the other hand, I have seem many wobble engines on the "Locomotive of the month" site, so what are your thoughts?

What is a blower? it seems to me it is a way to increase draft to the firebox so it will build up steam faster, but it is a valve plumbed into the boiler/steam lines, how does this work?

I have played around with an alcohol tray with a cotton cloth for a burner and as you know that just does not get it. So I was thinking a butane tank with a nozzle but that has the problem of making a small pressure tank to hold the gas. Also thinking of making a gasoline burner that uses the heating coils around the gas nozzle that heat the fuel, vaporizing it so it will burn. Seams a little extreme. Then I saw some burners that use a tank, feed tubes and two or three wicks that installs under the boiler. This seems to be the best way to go.

I would love to see some scratch built models or plans of something simple. Thanks

 

[46international]

A member here sent me this, the "Dickens" I'm thinking this would be something I can do, does anyone have any more details on it? Drawings, plans?

 

[Bentwings]

Piston port valves are the improvement over slid valves pressure in slide valves ten to wear them . Piston valves are just that a speclized piston that covers an un covers port directed to the top or bottom of the operating piston or owner piston much easier to lubricate . Now timing is the issue there are books on how to set this up . I’m still experimenting with mine but I have a tool that I can exactly set the piston valve using the eccentric thus on multi cylinder engines I can exactly set the valve timing just finding the sweet spot regardless of the writings is tricky I’ll be using an electronic tachometer. I won’t have a dyno per day but I have a series of generators that I can accurately measure output relative to inlet pressure going to steam completely changes the picture do to the energy in steam compared to compressed air only that I’m currently using . I’m not the answer guy on this as I’m in a constant learning mode too

I might suggest a O gage Big Boy or a Mallet . There actually are electric B igBoy O gage models but no real steamers . A real challenge
My plan is to try to make a O gauge steam powered locomotive, this being my first real attempt to really do a nice job I joined up here to get started. Through this site I stumbled upon the "locomotive of the month" site and have found many examples of something I may be able to muddle through. But the more I learn the more questions I have, I'l list some of them here,
What is a displacement oiler and how does it work? Sounds like it is a small oil tank that is filled with oil and is connected to the steam line so that boiler pressure pushes some of the oil into the motor. How far off is that?

Is it worth it to make a "wobble" engine? The ones I made years ago just don't seem to have much power and they waste as much steam as they use. This is most likely to my poor skills. So in a effort to make something that will work well should I build a slide valve engine. I read the "piston valve vs slide valve" thread by Dom here and agree with his take that a slide valve is a better design than the piston valve. On the other hand, I have seem many wobble engines on the "Locomotive of the month" site, so what are your thoughts?

What is a blower? it seems to me it is a way to increase draft to the firebox so it will build up steam faster, but it is a valve plumbed into the boiler/steam lines, how does this work?

I have played around with an alcohol tray with a cotton cloth for a burner and as you know that just does not get it. So I was thinking a butane tank with a nozzle but that has the problem of making a small pressure tank to hold the gas. Also thinking of making a gasoline burner that uses the heating coils around the gas nozzle that heat the fuel, vaporizing it so it will burn. Seams a little extreme. Then I saw some burners that use a tank, feed tubes and two or three wicks that installs under the boiler. This seems to be the best way to go.

I would love to see some scratch built models or plans of something simple. Thanks

View attachment 134495
A member here sent me this, the "Dickens" I'm thinking this would be something I can do, does anyone have any more details on it? Drawings, plans?

 

[AndrewW]

That looks like a real fun engine.
My first engine was a very basic static wobbler engine and then I got hooked!
I found the following information regarding plans for the little engine you are interested in.....
https://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/threads/dickins-ens-plans.19183/I hope you give it a try.
Cheers
Andrew