Steam engine for a sternwheeler

[barnesrickw]

I meant in the boat.

 

[apointofview]

Ahhhh, too bad I'm so slow !!!! That is funny

 

[apointofview]

My progress has been slow but I have started forming the final hull in wood. This has been slow going, I dont do much wood work and waiting on Titebond to dry is painfull ! I make a couple of parts clamp them up and walk away over and over.

Anyway I have a hull and enough structure inside of it to be strong enough. I spend a lot of time staring at what I have trying to figure out where to place all the running gear. Here are a couple of pictures of where it sits now.

There are two water tanks joined together with 1/2 cpvc that will connect to the water pump to feed the boiler. below each engine is a condensation tank to catch exhaust water/oil and the cylinder drain water/oil. Those tanks vent just ahead of the paddle at the water line and the primary exhaust pipes will exit straight up above the superstructure. I want the steam exhaust to look like the picture of the real boat I included.

It took a long time to shim the engine mounts correctly to get them level and parallel to each other. There is still a long way to go but progress is being made.

Pete

 

[Herbiev]

Very impressive craft. Can't wait to see it in action.

 

[apointofview]

Thanks !!

I have been slowly working on the boat when time allows.
The rudders are all hooked up and working. I have brass tubes that act as bearings to hold the solid brass rudder shafts. the two forward rudder tubes are one piece from under the hull to the top of the lowest deck to keep water from creeping up the shafts and sinking the boat. I cross drilled and tapped the shafts for a 4-40 bolt that helps transfer the torque of the shaft to the wood. I milled out the rudders to fit the shaft and the bolt and then encased everything in epoxy. I hope that makes sense. I went with model aircraft hardware for the linkage and just ran a die on the ends of the interconnecting brass rods. I thought about milling out all that hardware out of aluminum, but this was quicker, and lighter and works great. I am running up against a weight limit so every little bit helps.

Here is a link to the video of them running by radio control.
http://youtu.be/WxlXVk7X_ds

 

[apointofview]

Here is 30 seconds of video showing the engines and paddle mounted up and running on compressed air. The throttles are now driven by a servo as are the cylinder drain valves and rudders and fwd/reverse. I just have the whistle left to hook up to the radio, but I think I am going to make another steam valve like the throttles use to run the whistle. The valve I have now was my first attempt and it is more of an on and off valve. I want better control to make the whistle sound rise and fall. This is about as slow as it will run smoothly, the axle driven feed pump boggs down the paddle on its pressure stroke which becomes more evident when the engine pressure drops any lower. I will fiddle with timing and valve openings to try to minimize the effect later.

Pete


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3qJvai0cWo"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3qJvai0cWo[/ame]

 

[Herbiev]

I love it Pete. Great work.

 

[barnesrickw]

Wow. That is very impressive.

 

[aonemarine]

That is just too cool!

 

[cwelkie]

Very, very nice - I really like all the "moving bits".
This is coming along well - thanks for sharing it.

 

[kno3]

It runs and sounds like a clock
Very nice!

 

[apointofview]

Thanks guys I really appreciate the great comments. This project sure is harder than I thought it would be. I didnt know there was so much to a little boat !
I'll keep up dating as things move along.
Pete

 

[tms6401]

What a fantastic project. I have had a quick read through of the whole thread.

Did you by chance make any drawings of the engine as you built it? If so, are they available anywhere. That is pure poetry in motion.

Cheers

Tom

 

[apointofview]

Thanks Tom !
Sorry but there arent any drawings for my engines, just a few sketches here and there when I had to make multiples of something. I have looked back at the older sketches and I cant make heads or tails of half of them, but they made sense at the time. I would just wing the parts as I went. I just tried to make the engines in the spirit of those old engines.

I used a couple of drawings of a full scale steam engines to understand how they worked and were setup. I found those here - http://www.alaska.net/~rmorris/steamboat1.htm

I also ordered the book 'smoke ash and steam from this site for more info - http://www.islandnet.com/~westisle/History/horizeng.html

These plans from Ageless Engines are of a similar style lever engine, but their engines are more complicated than mine because they went the extra step and included a steam cutoff mechanism like the full scale Mississippi Queen ran. They even have castings for the paddle spokes.
http://www.agelessengines.com/s-boat.htm

Last of all here is a video of the ageless engine on youtube -
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0OmPBQMUXU[/ame]


Hope that helps you a little. I should have bought the plans for that engine, then maybe I wouldnt be 3 years into this build

Pete

 

[tms6401]

Thanks for all the links and info Pete.

I will look into the plans.

Cheers

Tom

 

[apointofview]

Hey Guys, here is an update to the boat,
Since this project has turned into more of a woodworking project I am making the updates a little less frequent. The hull build doesnt hold a candle to the fantastic things that are built on this forum. Its fun but messing with pine and balsa sure is hard to be precise and get any kind of good finish compared to metal !

So I floated the hull again to nail down a water line I want. Turns out I have 24 lbs of breathing room for decorations and superstructure. It was in the water with everthing that will be needed to run, and then I carefully loaded up 'cargo' till it was sitting where I wanted ( that is what the picture of the cans and weights is about. It took all that to sink it low enough ) . It sits really low. There is only 5/8 of an inch of what is called freeboard. In other words a duck swimming by could swamp the boat ! because of this I added a 1/2 inch lip on the deck around the opening to the belly to cheat and give me a little more room for waves. I will still have to only float this thing when its really calm.





The superstructure is going to be more or less a shell to give the outward appearance of the boat I am patterning after. I dont think I will add much detail in the inner portions of the deck. Maybe, I will have to build the outside and then stare at it for awhile. The whole superstructure will lift off in one piece to allow me to tinker with the steam plant and engines. Building the upper portion of the boat involves lost of repetition. Lots of post and railing to cut and line up. The first level posts are just 3/8 square stock, but the next two levels have their posts turned with fancy profiles 48 of em on the second level alone. I carved on a piece of HSS to get a profile of what I wanted, trying to get close to the Disney boats posts. I was able to dive into the wood with one plunge with the cutter. Wood doesnt seem to chatter and let you know your screwing up it just blows apart all the sudden ! I found I had to go really slow and as the HSS cutter cut from the front I had to follow up on the backside with a file to shave down the little rings. I had the HSS profile setup to do it all at first but the little rings kept peeling off. I modified the HSS buy cutting the grooves for the rings deeper. It worked out much better to let the file do the finish work on the rings by hand.












LONG way to go !
Pete

 

[apointofview]

Hey guys, its been awhile since I have updated this thread, but its kind of on purpose. I am just gonna do a few updates of the ship build because I still don't feel it fits the forum at least for every step, but I will keep adding here and there till its done. Especially the day it floats ( or sinks )
All the decks are built and I am close to being done with the railing all 148 posts with no two exactly alike due to the curves of the decks !! All that is left is bracing for the top level posts to duplicate the full size setup. I cant do that quiet yet because the deck will have to be permanently glued down to the second level for those tiny braces to added. I am keeping the levels separate until the painting is done. There is no way to reach between decks to paint if they are all bonded together.
Next up is the bridge. It is a nice change of pace. Not to much to tell about it, it will be hollow to allow for the boiler chimney to pass thru it. I don't know if I am going to put any detail in the wheel house or not. I originally just wanted a hull to run the steam engine on the water with. This has gotten a bit out of hand and is turning into a whole boat !!
Not sure if I can be done in time for Cabin Fever this year. I didn't plan on how tedious this part of the build would be. The time I get to play is hard to come by sometimes.
Pete

 

[jschoenly]

Awesome work!!!

 

[Herbiev]

Wow. A very majestic boat Thm:

 

[barnesrickw]

Beautiful. Can't wait to see her steaming in the water.