Engines > From Plans
Pumped Up Cameron Steam Pump
Jasonb:
Having done three IC engines on the trot I started to get a need for steam. I did have most of a mill engine drawn up but earlier this year was shown the drawings for a steam pump that was offered as a casting kit for a short time in the eighties by Fleet Model Services which caught my eye. The owner of the drawings would not part with their set of castings and they were also a bit on the small side for my liking so a cunning plan was hatched to do an all fabricated one at twice the size.
These pumps were made by a company named after the founder John Cameron whose works were in Manchester, England and came in a range of sizes from about 6ft tall to near 20ft. in single, twin and tandem cylinder configurations. They were used as boiler feed pumps and for other general pumping duties. I don't have any good photos of the particular engine that this one is said to be based on but it looks to be in the region of 8ft tall so my model at 16" high puts it at 1/6th scale.
This is a photo of one made from the kit that appeared in Model Engineer magazine when the castings were introduced
I have redrawn most of the larger parts not just to get the revised sizes but also I find that drawing it out helps me think through how each piece can be fabricated. I will be using a wide mix of construction methods - welding, silver soldering, cutting from solid and screw& glue to name a few. It is quite a big model but there is no reason to stop anyone following along and making it to the original size which only had a 4" dia flywheel or anything between the two. These are a couple of screen shots of the general arrangement, I have not included some of the smaller parts as they will just be doubled up from the originals.
J
Johnb:
That's an interesting pump Jason. Some features remind me of a three throw fire pump which is at Coldharbour Mill in Devon and can be seen in steam there.
I'll be following along.
Jasonb:
Enough of the intro, time to gather some materials and start making swarf.
Starting at the bottom the logical first part is the bed "casting" this is the pile of bits I hope to make it from.
Having traded a piece of my 5mm steel plate with another forum member I found that what I had left was a bit short but by having the bar that forms the front and back extend right to the top I can gain an extra 1/2". First job was to square up the 5mm plate.
To keep things looking like a casting the sides are angled at 2degrees to represent the draft angle, not easy to see here but the ends of the flat bar are machined to 2degrees and that piece of scaffold tube has been tapered to the same angle.
My welding is not brilliant but as my life does not depend on it I'm happy to use it to join parts for models, here the 1/4" back and 3mm sides are being welded.
The front corners and front plate were then added, everything was clamped to the 5mm plate which helped keep things square and flat. That piece of tube shown earlier was cut into quaters to form the larger radius needed at the front.
The welded sides before and after cleaning up
I then put some holes in the top plate to locate the column flanges, mounting bosses and pedestal base bosses
The areas where the column flanges go were also recessed on the rotary table.
The top could now be welded to the sides and the joints tidied up a bit.
J
Tennessee Whiskey:
OK, I'm on board. Actually the welds don't look half bad. Little tip if you want it, pay closer attention to the edges of the weld puddle and less towards the end of the rod. If you watch the edges of your puddle, you'll very quickly learn how to manipulate the rod to fill where you want it to without ever looking at the end of the rod. I like this fab stuff :ThumbsUp:
E
Don1966:
Well I can say one thing about you Jason, is that you don't mess around. Great start and you know I am in for the ride. Oh Boy! Some fab work. :pinkelephant:
:popcorn:
Don
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