A few steam engines

[samco]

These are the steam engines we have.









video
(sorry about the quality)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=A4u-Aj5Iwo0

sam

[Netjams]

Very cool!

Some day I want to build a engine out of wood.
I think it would be a cool way to get somebody to scratch their head in disbelief.

[gilessim]

I think someone made a wooden car once, with a wooden engine but it wooden go!........sorry|

[Dan B]

My brother built a larger version of that elbow engine in high school about 30 years ago. His was about 12" wide if I remember correctly. He hooked it up to an air compressor and did it ever spin!

That project got him his first and only job with a large machine building company in town. He's going to be retiring in a couple of years.

The other guys in his machine shop class were all making hash pipes at the time (this was the 70's!! )

Dan

[bigbunny5]

Originally Posted by Dan B The other guys in his machine shop class were all making hash pipes at the time (this was the 70's!! ) Dan

They still are, being one of the shop rat kids in the 80's I hated those other guys with their pipes and paddles, always giving us good shop guy's a bad name! Then there was Them shop guys who kept insisting that the whole world was going Metric, HA! can you imagine it METRIC, might just as well said we'd be using Whitworth, or measuring with bits of string

[samco]

oh - they where making pipes in the late 80's also. I guess everyone needs a hobby.

most kids where making hammers or chisles.

I never did get around to make the flywheel for the elbow engine. Like most things - once I got it to run - I lost interest in it.

sam

[bigbunny5]

Man it's driving me Crazy. I've wanted to build steam engines all my life and could never wrap my mind around their construction. if I could just take one apart I could figure it out, can't be any harder than a SBC or a BBC! those are some nice engines

[Mcgyver]

Originally Posted by bigbunny5 Man it's driving me Crazy. I've wanted to build steam engines all my life and could never wrap my mind around their construction. if I could just take one apart I could figure it out, can't be any harder than a SBC or a BBC! those are some nice engines

bunny, lots of sites cover it or to really satisfy your life's quest it is as simple as a credit card and village press's web site - they've a couple of books, "Steam and Sterling" that give detailed construction articles and plans for some basic bar stock engines. you will quickly understand wobbler's, single acting and double acting. after a few bar stock engines you could get a Stuart kit from one of the model engineering supply co's and build something slightly more complex with reversing gear engine, they are not that difficult and will let you construct and engine that in both form and function is true to its heritage

sam, whats the pedigree of these? did you make them? can't really tell the scale but the horizontal engine looks quite large, almost enough to do work - maybe a popcorn engine? if not wonder where the castings came from? it is either big or someone did some painstaking work making model pipe fittings!

[samco]

The pipe fittings are actual size (1/2 I think) so yes - it is big enough to do some work. The paterns where made by a reletive back in the early 1900.. I don't know the exact time.

He had actally burned the pattern for some reason.. I don't know the exact story. It is about 2 feet long. give or take. The last picture with them all togather helps a bit.

sam

[bigbunny5]

Originally Posted by Mcgyver lots of sites cover it or to really satisfy your life's quest it is as simple as a credit card

I'm sorry I couldn't let that pass without a seriously trollish comment but if I had $1 for every time one of my Ex's said that I'd be BILLY GATES RICH!!!! Seriously Thanks for the Village Press Idea, I got to check it out.

[bigbunny5]

Originally Posted by bigbunny5 if I had $1 for every time one of my Ex's said that I'd be BILLY GATES RICH!!!!

DID I say that , NAHHH no way did I say that, I've surched my recolections and email, and am unable to recall saying those words at any time!

[Mcgyver]

hehe, bet my solution leaves you will a smaller bill and the end of the month....they are good books though.

that is an impressive effort, all in cast iron. nice legacy for you to have. i don't know if there is antique value, but general consensus is to leave the older stuff as is, ie not to polish off the patina or repaint etc.