Author Topic: Pumped Up Cameron Steam Pump  (Read 38908 times)

Offline Jasonb

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Pumped Up Cameron Steam Pump
« on: December 14, 2014, 07:30:55 PM »
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

Offline Johnb

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Re: Pumped Up Cameron Steam Pump
« Reply #1 on: December 14, 2014, 07:40:02 PM »
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.
John Browning. Member of Ickenham and District SME

Offline Jasonb

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Re: Pumped Up Cameron Steam Pump
« Reply #2 on: December 14, 2014, 08:13:52 PM »
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

Offline Tennessee Whiskey

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Re: Pumped Up Cameron Steam Pump
« Reply #3 on: December 14, 2014, 08:31:52 PM »
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

Offline Don1966

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Re: Pumped Up Cameron Steam Pump
« Reply #4 on: December 14, 2014, 10:11:00 PM »
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

Offline smfr

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Re: Pumped Up Cameron Steam Pump
« Reply #5 on: December 15, 2014, 12:32:01 AM »
That's a good start, Jason! I have a two-cylinder pump on my from-scratch todo list, so I'll be following along with interest!

Simon

Offline Roger B

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Re: Pumped Up Cameron Steam Pump
« Reply #6 on: December 15, 2014, 12:06:30 PM »
Nice start  :praise2: I like fabricating as well  :ThumbsUp:  With a steel frame it's always easy to weld another bit on  :)
Best regards

Roger

Offline fumopuc

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Re: Pumped Up Cameron Steam Pump
« Reply #7 on: December 15, 2014, 07:39:00 PM »
Hi Jason, I will following along too. I like this fabrication work.
Kind Regards
Achim

Offline Jasonb

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Re: Pumped Up Cameron Steam Pump
« Reply #8 on: December 21, 2014, 06:52:00 PM »
Next up was to machine some of the bits that fix to the base casting, starting with the water inlet, the 1.5" bar was reduced down to the pipe dia and bored.



Then reversed and faced off a bit over length and the radius to the back edge of the flange added.



While I was at it I did a few more of the flanges that use the same dia bar.



The base casting was then clamped to an angle plate and a recess machined to locate the inlet.



The large flanges for the column to fix to were also added together with the ones for the A frame bearing support and the two around the hold down holes. These were then welded in place mostly from underneath.





I then gave the top a quick skim to bring all the parts to one level



Then the same to the underside. You can also see how the water gets from the inlet flange to the botton of the column in this shot.



The "casting" was then set true on the mill and the various holes drilled and tapped, mostly 2BA but a couple of 1/4BSF at the rear.



Back onto the angle plates and the inlet flange was skimmed on its face and around the flange



With all the metal work now done a fillet of body filler was added to all the internal corners and rubbed down once hard.



All that then remained was to apply a quick coat of primer to protect the work and also highlight any areas that may want a second fill.



Well thats the first part done and dusted, next on the list will be the columns.

J

Offline Roger B

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Re: Pumped Up Cameron Steam Pump
« Reply #9 on: December 21, 2014, 06:59:51 PM »
Very nice fabrication  :ThumbsUp:  :ThumbsUp: Do you use a coolant/lubricant when milling steel?
Best regards

Roger

Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Pumped Up Cameron Steam Pump
« Reply #10 on: December 21, 2014, 07:11:50 PM »
Very nice fabrication Jason. You know you did well when it looks just like a casting and that certainly does!!

Bill

Offline Jasonb

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Re: Pumped Up Cameron Steam Pump
« Reply #11 on: December 27, 2014, 08:08:53 PM »
Roger most of the time I just apply a small amount of soluable oil with an artists brush when milling steel but depending on the job, type of steel and cutter may also do it dry.

The next part and probably the one with the most work in it is the pair of columns and pump cylinder which were all one casting. I had been deliberating as to how to best put this one together, my welding is not so good on internal corners and there would be a lot of that involved so I was not happy about being able to get a water tight joint and also the welds would have been hard to get at to grind down to a nice neat fillet. The size of some of the bits of steel would have made it hard for me to get them upto a suitable temperature for silver solder to flow. So the only method left was to bolster Ramon's pension fund by sticking it together with JB Weld with a few dozen cap head screws thrown in for good measure.

A few bits of metal were gathered together for the main parts.



Starting with the round column this was faced to length and centered with the aid of the fixed steady then the 35mm bar (too big to fit inside the spindle) was reduced to 1.25" diameter along its length and a small 1/4" locating spigot turned on the top.



The lower half of the two columns are hollow and act as air chambers to even out the pump flow so the end had to be supported with the fixed steady while it was drilled 9/16" x 5" deep and a larger locating spigot added.



The 1.75" sq blank for the other column had to be milled to length and centred on the mill as the steady can not be used here.



In much the same way as the round column, this one was also turned down to 1.25" and the spigot formed. This is one job that I use the more pointed indexable tool for as it gives good clearance around the live centre, note that I am also using the back of the tool post which allows less tool overhang if the QCTP is not to hit the centre.



The other end was turned using tailstock support and then the fixed steady used on this round section while the hole was drilled then bored 17mm and part screw cut M18x1 for a depth of 4". The thread is to allow the valve seats to be screwed in from below.



I then completed the thread to its full form with taps which were just long enough!!



Moving over to the mill the two holes for the valve access covers were bored and the 8 stud holes drilled and tapped 5BA.



At the base of the round column there is a large round boss that has to be shaped to fit the column and also the outlet flange, these two cuts were done with the boring head.





And a quick mock up with some of the other flanges turned earlier



The base was cut from some 8mm x 60mm hot rolled, milled to length and then bored for the 3 locating spigots, 8 mounting studs and 19 counter bored holes for the M3 socket screws that will help hold things together on their correct PCDs. I find the commercial counterbores have too large a clearance hole for the thread so have a couple of old drills ground to 170ish degrees which seem to do the job.



And how the columns fit the base which will have further shaping done at a later date.



J

Offline Don1966

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Re: Pumped Up Cameron Steam Pump
« Reply #12 on: December 27, 2014, 08:32:06 PM »
Great fab work Jason and I am surprised that you don't own a oxygen and propane or butane set. You could get a lot more heat from it to silver braze with. Still learning as you progress and I am thinking of tackling the Eastern and Anderson Grasshopper engine for my next project. I think I will be pushing my limit there.

Regards
Don

Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Pumped Up Cameron Steam Pump
« Reply #13 on: December 27, 2014, 08:39:39 PM »
Another nice fabrication Jason. This project is larger than I had thought originally too given that 1.75" square piece of steel.

Bill

Offline Dave Otto

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Re: Pumped Up Cameron Steam Pump
« Reply #14 on: December 28, 2014, 12:30:58 AM »
Nice work Jason,

I'm enjoying the progress.

Dave

 

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