Author Topic: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss  (Read 167238 times)

Offline BaronJ

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #420 on: April 21, 2014, 12:27:08 PM »
Hi All,
Arnold a very impressive engine !  I'm in agreement with others the blue is a bit intense.  It could do with some fine lining to break it up a little.

There is a Corliss engine running in Markham.  It has a flywheel with rope grooves around it which has been painted, in this case black.
I was looking at the valves that you made and comparing them to the original ones.  I had a good discussion with the chap that runs this engine and gleaned a lot of information about the engine.

I did a sketch of the original intake valves and the actual shape of them.  I found it interesting to learn the reason why they were shaped as they were.  It seems that gas flow was considered important in 1850's in the interests of efficiency.

Best Regards:  Baron.

I don’t regret the things I’ve done, I regret the things I didn’t do when I had the chance.

Offline pgp001

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #421 on: April 21, 2014, 02:21:59 PM »
Baron

I am building a 1/16 model of the Markham Corliss engine "Agnes". Was it George Dickinson you were speaking to ?
There is not much I don't know about that flywheel by the way :)

I see from your profile you live in North Yorks, probably not to far from me in West Yorks.

Phil
« Last Edit: April 21, 2014, 02:25:03 PM by pgp001 »

Offline BaronJ

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #422 on: April 21, 2014, 08:43:38 PM »
Hi Phil,

Yes it was George.  Nice fellow to talk to.  He seems to know his stuff about Agnes.  He spent quite a bit of time explaining various things to me.  Especially when I mentioned that I was interested in making a model of one.

Best Regards:  Baron.

I don’t regret the things I’ve done, I regret the things I didn’t do when I had the chance.

Offline arnoldb

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #423 on: June 02, 2014, 07:05:47 PM »
Thanks Vince - since my last post you've been making good progress

Baron, thank you for the compliment, comments and information .  If you have photos of the Corliss at Markham, please do share them. I agree with you; there's a lot more to true Corliss valving than shown here.  In fact, the simplistic valve design for this build is down to the parameters the design team set out with - to design an engine suitable for fairly new to intermediary level model engineers who wants to build a simplified working, but not fine-scale, model of a great looking engine for running on compressed air.  IMHO the plans as-is can be used and adapted to a fine-scale working model, and that includes going to the extra effort of making the valves true-to-form, which would include converting for proper live steam - including (to me the most interesting part of the Corliss valving besides dash-pot cut-off) leaving room for valve-lift to prevent hydraulic lock.

Phil, thanks for checking in - is there any possibility you could share some photos of your build?  Pretty Please?

Things have been hectic, and I didn't have a lot of time for our hobby of late...  I found some time here and there to make a couple of very insignificant bits, and some of the tasks left on the base required making bits of tooling of a very different nature...

When I made the piston, I mentioned that I'll be using a piston ring.  This is the first engine I've built that will use a piston ring, and I'd decided to make it from PTFE/Tufnol rather than graphite packing (I've found a lot of hens' teeth in my neck of the savannah, but graphite yarn/packing still eludes me) or cast iron rings.  This engine will never be used on live steam, so a plastic based ring seemed the best solution.  I have about a meter (just over 3 feet) of 25mm (1") Nylon based carbon impregnated plastic, so I cut a bit off it and started machining with a sharp HSS toolbit:

Comes with strings attached...

Surprisingly, underneath the strings the finish was quite good and after a bit of boring, I had things down to a suitable size for parting off a ring:


To slit the ring, I used a home-made 0.2mm thick "slitting saw"  See if you can spot the issues with it before reading the comment below the image:

A couple of years ago when I made it, I formed the teeth the wrong way around, so I have to run the mill in reverse to use it...

The finished ring:


As mentioned, I had to make a bit of tooling of a different nature - I didn't go about it entirely delicately, and while hogging off some steel to make L-shaped clamps, some inattention at the start of a cut resulted in a broken 16mm roughing end-mill:

Haven't broken any cutting bit that big yet - nearly scared some brown stuff out!

Anyway, after finishing that bit, it became a part of a skid mounting for my router:


I won't bore you too much with the wood stuff - if you're interested, there's a bit more  here on RouterForums.com.

A bit more wood-work saw the base pretty much finished:


Some elbow-grease with teak oil and furniture wax brought out the colour and grain of the wood at a dull lustre; I don't want the base too shiny.  This is outside in natural sunlight:


I'll have to look at the white-balance settings on my camera...  This was taken inside under fluorescent shop lighting later on with bits of the engine plonked down on it:


Not a lot left to do now; some ornamental brass/bonze feet for the base, and a bit of pipe-work and valve.  I'm dying to start on a new engine project, but I promised myself I won't before this one's done...

Kind regards, Arnold
Building an engine takes Patience, Planning, Preparation and Machining.
Procrastination is nearly the same, but it precludes machining.
Thus, an engine will only be built once the procrastination stops and the machining begins!

Offline vcutajar

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #424 on: June 02, 2014, 07:42:51 PM »
Nearly there Arnold.  Did you finish the studs?

Vince

Offline BaronJ

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #425 on: June 02, 2014, 09:11:48 PM »
Hi Arnold,

I've not forgotten about your request for photos of Agnes.
Unfortunately my health hasn't been too good of late and I need to get down to Markham to take some pictures.

That wooden plinth looks great, and I like the router jig.  I'll have to make one of those it looks to be very useful.

Best Regards:  Baron.

I don’t regret the things I’ve done, I regret the things I didn’t do when I had the chance.

Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #426 on: June 03, 2014, 02:02:45 AM »
Nice work on the base Arnold...and the engine ain't too shabby either :) Looking forward to seeing all the part together and soon enough under power as well!!

Bill

Offline Don1966

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #427 on: June 03, 2014, 02:33:38 AM »
What Bill said and I just love the color. Just Awesome Arnold and I like................ :praise2:


 :popcorn:
Don

Offline Jack B

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #428 on: June 03, 2014, 04:03:10 AM »
Nice work Arnold                          Jack
Jack B

Offline Kim

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #429 on: June 03, 2014, 06:21:15 AM »
It's looking good Arnold.  Really like the base.  I think that dark wood will set the engine off nicely!
Can't wait to see it all together!
Kim

Offline BaronJ

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #430 on: June 03, 2014, 05:55:23 PM »
For Arnold,



Best Regards:  Baron.

I don’t regret the things I’ve done, I regret the things I didn’t do when I had the chance.

Offline Roger B

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #431 on: June 03, 2014, 06:23:36 PM »
That is a magnificent engine  :ThumbsUp:  :ThumbsUp: Thank you Baron for taking and posting.

Arnold, the wooden base complements  your model splendidly  :praise2:  :praise2: looking good not long now till the first run.
Best regards

Roger

Offline arnoldb

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #432 on: June 03, 2014, 07:45:00 PM »
Thanks Vince - all the fiddly studs, nuts and washers are done.  Just the final mounting studs for the base left to do, but those should be quick.

Baron, thank you; I hope your health picks up soon! - Thanks for the photos - there's many new questions surrounding them, but I'll hold back for now...  The router skids are very useful - I have a hunch I'll use that quite a bit in future, and part of the assembly will be used to table-mount my router as well.

Bill, Don, Jack, Kim & Roger - thanks gents.  There's not a lot left to do, but it might still take a while, as my hobby time is down to literally an hour or two a week at the moment... Hopefully that will change in a couple of weeks' time though.

Kind regards, Arnold
Building an engine takes Patience, Planning, Preparation and Machining.
Procrastination is nearly the same, but it precludes machining.
Thus, an engine will only be built once the procrastination stops and the machining begins!

Online Jo

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #433 on: June 03, 2014, 08:03:51 PM »
..., but it might still take a while, as my hobby time is down to literally an hour or two a week at the moment... Hopefully that will change in a couple of weeks' time though.


Decorating or something more interesting  :mischief:

Jo
Enjoyment is more important than achievement.

Offline BaronJ

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #434 on: June 03, 2014, 09:33:00 PM »
Hi Arnold, Guys n Gals,

I have around thirty photographs.  Since the forum will only allow eight, those were the first.

Here is the second eight...
Or not since it won't let me post the next ones.

Anybody that wants to see the others please PM.

Thanks all.


Best Regards:  Baron.

I don’t regret the things I’ve done, I regret the things I didn’t do when I had the chance.

 

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