OT--Steam Engine build

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 7:11 pm

Pitchy,

This is one project that I will have to see the video to understand. So I'm waiting and anticipating

Joe

Borregos · Post by **Borregos** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 6:18 am

J Miller wrote:Pitchy,

This is one project that I will have to see the video to understand. So I'm waiting and anticipating

Joe

+1

cshold · Post by **cshold** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 9:42 am

Borregos wrote:
J Miller wrote:Pitchy,

This is one project that I will have to see the video to understand. So I'm waiting and anticipating

Joe
+1

++1

Pitchy · Post by **Pitchy** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 12:02 pm

Ye hawwwwww ran right off the bat, first run gents

Video

.45colt · Post by **.45colt** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 1:00 pm

Some of Us are lucky to just get through a day and not have a major problem. You are Blessed with a never ending gift to create Cool

Stuff. Thank You.

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 1:04 pm

Ok, I see how the "back 'n forth" motion is used to apply your "steam" to one end of your cylinder oerthe other; but, how /where do you get true complete revolutions to power say, a drive pully? Or is the crank actually making full revolutions, and it just appear as tho' it isn't?

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 1:56 pm

Griff,
The crank is making a full revolution. The big long rod from the air piston thingy is rotating the big fly wheel. That much I saw in the video.

What I don't understand is what the valve things are doing in conjunction with the air piston. I haven't gotten the whyfore on that yet.

Pitchy,
What would an engine like this do? And if you didn't have compressed air what would you power it with?

Joe

6pt-sika · Post by **6pt-sika** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 2:17 pm

J Miller wrote: And if you didn't have compressed air what would you power it with?

Live steam !

Pitchy · Post by **Pitchy** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 3:10 pm

Yep live steam, but i`ll just run it on air.
This engine has to run slow or it would beat itself to death, the original had a bigger wider flywheel and they ran a flat belt on it to get more RPM on the other end.
Joe, see the two pipe fittings on each valve, one is intake and one is exhaust, look at the picture of the valve back a ways in this thread. See the hole up the middle of the inner part then out the side. As it turns back in forth that hole lines up with one of the two fittings, one intake the other exhaust.
Yep it`s tunning all the way around.

Made this fake Governer just for looks and put some polly on it, looks good.

Vid.

Borregos · Post by **Borregos** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 3:38 pm

Thanks for posting the video Pitchy, now I understand what is going on

Glad it worked first time for you

What now I wonder

6pt-sika · Post by **6pt-sika** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 3:57 pm

Pitchy wrote:Yep live steam, but i`ll just run it on air.

When you get that thing cranked up full speed , you need to get u a hotplate and take an old coffe can and pour an ounce or two of steam cylinder oil in the can sitting on the hotplate so you get the true "aromatic" effect of a live steam engine !

Also a pot belly stove burning a little coal fits right in as well

adirondakjack · Post by **adirondakjack** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 3:58 pm

Good show! That big ole monster would be perfect as a bellows crank for a forge. Little boiler run off coal, the big flywheel working a bellows. It'd make a great display for one of those blacksmith set-ups where they make square nails, turn em into rings, sell em to the tourists visiting the fair....

6pt-sika · Post by **6pt-sika** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 4:00 pm

After you get done with this one you need to get one of Tom Ternings 1/3 or 1/4 scale Case kits , make you a boiler and put that together

Then you can make you a small Baker fan and really hear the engine bark

Wow I used to love running a traction engine

Pitchy · Post by **Pitchy** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 4:21 pm

Thanks guys, as ya can see i only have lastic lines on her for now which wouldn`t last long with steam. I do have that old steam boiler than i used to steam wood with that would work great, this thing will run on ten lbs.
Yepper it would make a neat slow running engine for a forge set -up or feed grinder.
Sixpt, i had a half scale Nichols and Sheppard and a bunch of other engines that were a joy to run. I couldn`t build a kit, can`t read directions worth a dern.

Cimarron · Post by **Cimarron** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 4:43 pm

6pt-sika wrote:After you get done with this one you need to get one of Tom Ternings 1/3 or 1/4 scale Case kits , make you a boiler and put that together

Then you can make you a small Baker fan and really hear the engine bark

Wow I used to love running a traction engine

I am pretty sure that Tom is out of the model business since his plane crash.

6pt-sika · Post by **6pt-sika** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 5:35 pm

Cimarron wrote:
6pt-sika wrote:After you get done with this one you need to get one of Tom Ternings 1/3 or 1/4 scale Case kits , make you a boiler and put that together

Then you can make you a small Baker fan and really hear the engine bark

Wow I used to love running a traction engine
I am pretty sure that Tom is out of the model business since his plane crash.

Yeah I seem to remmember hearing that now that you mention it !

But it also seems to me that he sold his scale model buisness to someone . Well atleast the forms for his castings etc .

6pt-sika · Post by **6pt-sika** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 5:37 pm

Cimarron wrote:
6pt-sika wrote:After you get done with this one you need to get one of Tom Ternings 1/3 or 1/4 scale Case kits , make you a boiler and put that together

Then you can make you a small Baker fan and really hear the engine bark

Wow I used to love running a traction engine
I am pretty sure that Tom is out of the model business since his plane crash.

Incidently (I may have asked you this before) of the 3 Kelly brothers at Pawnee one of them owned a Frick engine I think it was either a 9x10 or 7x10 DC . Is that still around down there or did it take off when he sold his stuff off ?

Pitchy · Post by **Pitchy** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 5:51 pm

Here`s a link to a picture of a scale model of this engine.

http://www.smokstak.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=20&c=8

jeepnik · Post by **jeepnik** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 5:54 pm

Pitchey, that is fantastic. And you do these types of thing from photos or things you've seen. That makes it even more impressive. Thanks for showing this to us.

M. M. Wright · Post by **M. M. Wright** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 6:00 pm

Pitchy, that is really cool. Thanks for the video and sharing the project with us.

Pitchy · Post by **Pitchy** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 6:36 pm

Your welcome and thanks, i`m real pleased with this project it`s a neat piece of history.

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 6:48 pm

Pitchy wrote:Yep it`s tunning all the way around.

Thanks. I wondered if that wasn't just an optical illusion.

adirondakjack wrote:Good show! That big ole monster would be perfect as a bellows crank for a forge. Little boiler run off coal, the big flywheel working a bellows. It'd make a great display for one of those blacksmith set-ups where they make square nails, turn em into rings, sell em to the tourists visiting the fair....

Great idea!

Riley/MN · Post by **Riley/MN** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 9:00 pm

Pitchy wrote:Your welcome and thanks, i`m real pleased with this project it`s a neat piece of history.

Thumbsup.gif

Was wonderin where you went and what you've been up to.

You never cease to amaze me Brother.

kimwcook · Post by **kimwcook** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 9:27 pm

Once again, Pitch, you've shown you're the man with the plan.

pwl44m · Post by **pwl44m** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 12:02 am

Pitchy, how much air r U putting in there (psi wise) ? Now hook that up to one of Ur spinning wheels and U could spin Yarns all day long.
Good show Old Chap. If I had one I couldn't get it running much less Make One.

Gobblerforge · Post by **Gobblerforge** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 5:31 am

Simply amazing.
Gobbler

Cimarron · Post by **Cimarron** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 6:57 am

6pt-sika wrote:
Cimarron wrote:
6pt-sika wrote:After you get done with this one you need to get one of Tom Ternings 1/3 or 1/4 scale Case kits , make you a boiler and put that together

Then you can make you a small Baker fan and really hear the engine bark

Wow I used to love running a traction engine
I am pretty sure that Tom is out of the model business since his plane crash.
Incidently (I may have asked you this before) of the 3 Kelly brothers at Pawnee one of them owned a Frick engine I think it was either a 9x10 or 7x10 DC . Is that still around down there or did it take off when he sold his stuff off ?

I have heard that it is still in Oklahoma but I don't know exactly where. My good friend owns a very nice Frick double down by Okemah. In fact we will probably be going down to help him thresh out some wheat that he stacked this summer.

Pitchy · Post by **Pitchy** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 7:05 am

pwl44m wrote:Pitchy, how much air r U putting in there (psi wise) ? Now hook that up to one of Ur spinning wheels and U could spin Yarns all day long.
Good show Old Chap. If I had one I couldn't get it running much less Make One.

Thanks everyone.
Was running on about 10-20 psi.

1894 · Post by **1894** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 9:40 am

Maybe this will get on the project list

Saw a replica of one run this spring on vacation , very cool
( pic in the link )
http://www.3wheelers.com/cugnot.html

Cugnot

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot is recognised as building the first self-propelled vehicle to transport man. Cugnot was at the time an engineer in the French Army.

Steam power has been used since the early 1700’s for fixed machines that pumped water from mines, or raised heavy equipment. It was not known at the time how to convert the back and forth pass motion of steam power into a rotary movement to make a wheel turn. Cugnot solved this problem and in 1769 built a full size prototype vehicle based on a model he had made some six years earlier. His Steam Dray (fardier a vapeur) had 3-wheels with iron rims, two wheels were at the back with the one wheel in front.

The vehicle carried a front mounted boiler and a two-cylinder engine located over the front wheel. Cugnot’s vehicle worked but needed to stop every 10 - 12 minutes to rebuild enough steam pressure to continue. The vehicle had a top speed of 2mph and eventually caused the world’s first automobile accident when it ran out of control and demolished a garden wall. ( A reconstruction of this event can be seen on YouTube)

Cugnot’s 1769 Fardier a vapeur

Cugnot’s Steam Dray was designed initially as a “gun carriage” to transport large pieces of artillery and was tested to carry large loads. In July 1771, Cugnot had built a second vehicle ready for testing. Cugnot had been encouraged in his work by the General Gribeauval and the Duke of Choiseul, who were placed very well at the Court of Louis XV. Gribeauval then wrote to the Marquis de Monteynard, the Minister for the War asking him to close the Avenue of Versailles so that Cugnot’s vehicle could be tested in secrecy and on uneven land. These tests did not take place as the letter was never answered. It is thought the vehicle was used in the grounds of the Arsenal where it had been built. It survived the Revolution and today is in the National Academy of Arts and Métiers, France where it has been since 1800.

Louis XV gave Cugnot an annual pension of 600 francs which ceased after 1789. Cugnot became poor and was exiled to Brussels and was again pensioned by Napoleon little before his death in 1804. Napoleon was not interested in steam powered gun vehicles and so gave it little thought. In the following thirty years no inventors worked in France and Steam Power was developed further in the UK by names like William Murdock, James Watt and Richard Trevithick.

1894 · Post by **1894** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 10:02 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3rdytacf_c

Pitchy · Post by **Pitchy** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:39 am

Hey now that`s pretty cool but to big of project for me.
Evans built a car, boat too

1894 · Post by **1894** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:11 pm

Ya I thought it was pretty cool too. Wife has a vid of the one we saw running in fla this spring on her face book thing , but I cant find a way to get it to link here and have it run smoothly .
Kinda neat start for the drive train , the cog wheel with forward and reverse .
Guess once someone figured out they could go around and around instead of just up and down the wheels started rolling so to speak

Just figured it fit in the thread , not bad tech for the late 1700's

pwl44m · Post by **pwl44m** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:42 pm

Cool, I can hear Her now. Honey Honey , wake up it's 3 am, go warm the Car up, I have to be at work by 10. lol
Perry

Pitchy · Post by **Pitchy** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:43 pm

It is neat and something i`d tackle a few years back.
Here`s a pic of the car boat i was talking about.

cshold · Post by **cshold** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 5:42 pm

Alright Mr. Pitchy that was way very cool...

Now here's a challenge for yeah.
how about building a small scale 3 or 5 cylinder
radial airplane engine

In my opinion there is nothing on this planet cooler sounding

Rube Burrows · Post by **Rube Burrows** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 6:14 pm

Man....you are a talented guy Pitchy......love the projects you post.

Pitchy · Post by **Pitchy** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 6:25 pm

casastahle wrote:Alright Mr. Pitchy that was way very cool...
Now here's a challenge for yeah.
how about building a small scale 3 or 5 cylinder
radial airplane engine
In my opinion there is nothing on this planet cooler sounding

I`d have better luck building a full size one, i`m not good with small things.
We decided on the next project to run with this steam engine, a can crusher, it`s going to be cool so keep a watch for a new thread.

Thanks gents.

Hawkeye2 · Post by **Hawkeye2** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 10:59 pm

Pitchy that's impressive but I have two questions. I may have missed it but what returns (closes) the valves. I understand how rotary valves work and how they are opened but I don't see any mechanism to close them. How do you determine the ammount of time they are open or is it just "they are open long enough to make it run"?

Pitchy · Post by **Pitchy** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 7:54 am

Thanks, the valves are rotated both directions by the pegs on the flywheel and on the pulleys each side of the flywheel. They stay in the full intake and exhaust position for a half revolution each way, the full stroke.

adirondakjack · Post by **adirondakjack** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 9:32 am

OK Pitchy, Y gotta get integrated with this technology. No more "onesies". Git yer boiler driving the engine, heating the hot tub, and running an ammonia refirgerator. Then run shop belt off the engine to a beer conveyer and can crusher, so ya can lay back in the tub, hit the lever, and have the thing fetch a beer and crush the can from the last one.
One little fire runs it all.
Efficiency ya know

Pitchy · Post by **Pitchy** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 12:57 pm

adirondakjack wrote:OK Pitchy, Y gotta get integrated with this technology. No more "onesies". Git yer boiler driving the engine, heating the hot tub, and running an ammonia refirgerator. Then run shop belt off the engine to a beer conveyer and can crusher, so ya can lay back in the tub, hit the lever, and have the thing fetch a beer and crush the can from the last one.
One little fire runs it all.
Efficiency ya know

Now there`s a guy with some ingenuity.

adirondakjack · Post by **adirondakjack** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 12:10 am

I always dreamed of building an "African Queen" style boat. Of course a prettier first mate, or at least a more agreeable one would be required

6pt-sika · Post by **6pt-sika** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 8:56 pm

adirondackjack ,

You ever go to the steam show in Canadaigua New York ?

Seems to me there used to be a couple VanAtta's that had an engine or two at that show . You ever run across these guys ?

Well I ask all this with the assumption that the show still goes on so to speak !

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Sun Oct 02, 2011 12:59 pm

1894 wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3rdytacf_c

At about the 4 minute mark, that view shows a CANNON barrel hanging from the back decking! The World's FIRST Urban Assault Vehicle! That, and the barrel of bourbon are worth the price of admission alone!

adirondakjack · Post by **adirondakjack** » Sun Oct 02, 2011 1:17 pm

6pt-sika wrote:adirondackjack ,

You ever go to the steam show in Canadaigua New York ?

Seems to me there used to be a couple VanAtta's that had an engine or two at that show . You ever run across these guys ?

Well I ask all this with the assumption that the show still goes on so to speak !

Nope. We have a small exhibit of steam and early gas engines at our local county fair. Unfortunately many of the machines are stored on site, and were under 5 ft of water with the recent flood. The fair itsef ran witin days of the flood, but lotta that stuff didn't make the show. Much work lies ahead to get em de-silted, freed up and back to running order..... I got hooked on the early gas stuff when i used to visit, hunt woodchucks on a friend's uncle's farm. They used a donkey engine to pump well water for the house and dairy barn. "Pop. flub, flub, flub, pop, flub...." yet it pumped oodles of water on pennies worth of gas....

6pt-sika · Post by **6pt-sika** » Sun Oct 02, 2011 3:17 pm

adirondakjack wrote:
6pt-sika wrote:adirondackjack ,

You ever go to the steam show in Canadaigua New York ?

Seems to me there used to be a couple VanAtta's that had an engine or two at that show . You ever run across these guys ?

Well I ask all this with the assumption that the show still goes on so to speak !

Nope. We have a small exhibit of steam and early gas engines at our local county fair. Unfortunately many of the machines are stored on site, and were under 5 ft of water with the recent flood. The fair itsef ran witin days of the flood, but lotta that stuff didn't make the show. Much work lies ahead to get em de-silted, freed up and back to running order..... I got hooked on the early gas stuff when i used to visit, hunt woodchucks on a friend's uncle's farm. They used a donkey engine to pump well water for the house and dairy barn. "Pop. flub, flub, flub, pop, flub...." yet it pumped oodles of water on pennies worth of gas....

Yeah I had a thing for the old New Holland hit and miss engines for awhile myself ! Sorry to say I have no pics of the ones of those I had on my PC !

1894 · Post by **1894** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 6:29 am

6pt-sika wrote:adirondackjack ,

You ever go to the steam show in Canadaigua New York ?

Seems to me there used to be a couple VanAtta's that had an engine or two at that show . You ever run across these guys ?

Well I ask all this with the assumption that the show still goes on so to speak !

The big show in Canadaga still goes on , a friend usually spends at least one night there every year. I couldn't make it , but he gave me a cd with a bunch of pics from this years show .
Hope they didn't get hurt too bad by the flooding .

Cimarron · Post by **Cimarron** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 6:45 am

Any of you guys in NE Oklahoma, we (Oklahoma Steam Threshers & Gas Engine Association) will have a display at the Tulsa State Fair this week. We will be inside the IPE building so it will be static only. We will have a 30 h.p. CASE traction engine, some gas tractors and gas engines among other displays.