Author Topic: Netta the Puffer  (Read 4459 times)

fcheslop

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Netta the Puffer
« on: October 09, 2015, 01:42:57 PM »
Hi, this wee Puffer was built by my late father around the 1970s and was found in the loft of my mothers house when we cleared it
Deep in her bowels is one of the first steam plants I ever made a very very rough and rattly thing it is  :embarassed:
Iv also posted some of this on a model boat site so apologise if you may have already seen some it before.The intention is to give a little more detail here.


I also need to make two other engines for boats and the idea is that this engine will have a common stroke but the angle of the cylinders will be different as will the bores.The port faces ,crank, mains and flywheel will all be the same.The boilers will be twin drum with water tubes each boiler having different amounts of tubes but sharing common firebox burner tanks,
Well thats the idea
So its out with the old




On with the new
This engine is 5/16 bore and the common stroke is 1/2 for all engines.The design of the engine is a bit of this and that from Stuart Turner,Reeves Popular and Peter Arnots V4 all mixed up and stuck together with a bit of glue. I make no apologise for building simple wobblers for my boats as they are very reliable and save me getting  wet feet recovering a stalled boat out on a pond.

The engines frame is simply a 2inch ish bit of mild steel.I had made a comment in the past about splitting the lines of a rule to get within a thou or two so to put my money were my mouth is gave it a try after many years of just using the mills dials Iv never got round to one of those new faddly DRO thingy ma bobs.
After carefully marking it out I then drilled reamed the holes not without its problem I used a center drill that snapped I know a spot drill should have been used just couldnt find it.
The old dodge of regrinding the drill worked and all the holes finished .To check my marking out I made a simple jig and found one side to be good and the other very slightly tight the 60 degree angle I simply dont know :Jester:and it wont matter.




The frame was then cut out and simply filed to shape


Just a shot of the tools used .So at least I know Iv not lost the knack but the mills a wee bit easier


cheers
frazer

Offline ths

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Re: Netta the Puffer
« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2015, 09:30:55 PM »
Great to see you back Frazer, and I'll be watching this unfold. What is the hull made from? Is it scratch built, or purchased? Cheers, Hugh.

fcheslop

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Re: Netta the Puffer
« Reply #2 on: October 16, 2015, 01:47:20 PM »
Hi Hugh,the hull is bread and butter construction and probably pine or if the old boy had some yellow pine
cheers

fcheslop

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Re: Netta the Puffer
« Reply #3 on: October 16, 2015, 02:05:30 PM »
The port blocks are just some 1/4x1/2x7/8 brass all soft soldered to the frame with the 1/8 cross over pipes .

The main bearings are simply pressed in a bit of 1/2 square key steel that was lying about.The frame and mains are all just pressed together with a bit of high strength retainer .The idea is each part keys the next well thats the idea I did give it a light knurl to make the fit


The cylinders are again simply soft soldered up on this engine they are 5/16 bore




To make sure the trunnion is square to the port face I tend to make the threads slightly slack and glue them in using a simple jig








A start has been made on her siblings so no further progress on the 60 degree engine




Offline ths

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Re: Netta the Puffer
« Reply #4 on: October 16, 2015, 10:46:35 PM »
Looks a very powerful little engine, should mean business. Is that a v4 in the last shot, or just a couple lined up? Cheers Hugh.

Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Netta the Puffer
« Reply #5 on: October 17, 2015, 12:03:07 AM »
Nice looking little engine Frazer. It will be nice to see the Puffer coming back to life too.

Bill

fcheslop

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Re: Netta the Puffer
« Reply #6 on: October 22, 2015, 08:50:18 AM »
Hi Hugh, its just a V twin I simply dont see the need for more than two cylinders on simple toys.
Thanks Bill, not a lot done as Im bringing her siblings in the 90 degree form up to the same stage
cheers

Offline ths

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Re: Netta the Puffer
« Reply #7 on: October 24, 2015, 10:37:57 AM »
Of course it's a v2, can't see what I was seeing! Cheers, Hugh.

 

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