A useful Steam Engine

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

The Neptune "steam driven lathe" is a bit misleading, it actually says it managed to turn the lathe over, no mention of being able to make a cut with it, hardly surprising as the engine was sat on the cross slide with the crankshaft held in the chuck. Use an air tank with 80psi to start it off.

The digital archive does not go back that far.

One of Ray Hasbrook's designs for vertical engines may suit, barstock and capable of powering a small steam launch, Think there is a book with some designs in. Not sure about purchasing plans as he passed away about a year ago, they will be imperial as he was American.

I think I would work back from how big a boiler you can build and get an idea of the amount of steam you can make and then size your engine based on that, not much point in making an engine that on paper will give the power only to find you need a 12" dia steel boiler to allow it to develope that power.

Edited By JasonB on 12/10/2017 08:18:31

[nigel jones 5Participant @nigeljones5]

Excellent advice from Jason re size of boiler to engine ratio. So often I get customers wanting me to build them a boiler for their new engine only to discover that they had given the subject no thought whatsoever, and that the boiler they now need is four times bigger than the space allocated for it and it will cost more than a second hand car! These things need careful planning.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

By the time ME came into being in 1898, rather than steam to power the workshop, model engineers were looking to the internal combustion engine, in that first year there were plans for a gas engine(everyone had coal gas).

Up until just before WW2 the school I went to in Dunedin (NZ) had it's workshops (wood and metal) powered by a steam engine, somewhere about 15/20 hp, but when I got there in the 60s the metalwork shop's lineshafts were powered by a 10 hp electric motor.

When you build the boiler you'll have to make an automatic stoker. When I was a kid, dad had a market garden with steam heated glass houses, the hot water/steam was supplied by a small sectional boiler with an automatic stoker.

Ian S C

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Gas firing will be easier than making an auto stoker but maybe not as much fun.

[David Standing 1Participant @davidstanding1]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 10/10/2017 15:05:53:

Posted by JasonB on 10/10/2017 13:28:45:

Would it be easier to build one of the Stuart lathes or similar to drive with a modest size engine?

One of the guys over on MEM did just that.

Thanks for posting the video Jason. Enjoyed watching it during my coffee break.

Dave

Thanks Jason, I enjoyed that too. Way beyond my skill level, so it would be churlish to say I noted pretty much every machine was running out of true though!

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by JasonB on 12/10/2017 08:16:02:

The Neptune "steam driven lathe" is a bit misleading, it actually says it managed to turn the lathe over, no mention of being able to make a cut with it, hardly surprising as the engine was sat on the cross slide with the crankshaft held in the chuck. Use an air tank with 80psi to start it off.

And it only turned the lathe over at 200rpm, according to the posted quote, which is not all that useful for general turning.

[Iain DownsParticipant @iaindowns78295]

I found this online, so it appears the Ray Hasbrouk plans are still available.

I appreciate the comments about the boiler – I've already worked out that it would need to be somewhat larger than the engine itself..

Now I'm expecting caustic disapproval from my next comments.

It doesn't seem too hard to design an engine (he ducks). I expect it's rather hard to design an engine which is particularly efficient, but the principles seem reasonably straightforward and I expect the build quality is more important to effectiveness than the design details. There are probably some basic things (like piston stroke and width ratios) that need to be sorted, but, from what I've seen as long as they are similar it should work.

Is this a dumb idea?

I suppose I should say that I want to build an engine which could drive a lathe and not that I wanted to actually run my shed on steam (though in the winter…).

I've shown my oscillator video to a few people who have said, 'what's it for'? And I feel I'd like to be able to say, I could drive a bike or a lathe or a boat with it. Even if I never do…

Iain

[Author]

Posts