Author Topic: My frist steam engine! vertical single cylinder (finished) (Read 22809 times)

FLG · « **on:** August 12, 2012, 05:41:59 AM »

Hi to all!

I got my little steam engine half way when I register here, I have found the plans in the internet, I like this design as my first engine because first it was in metric and second its has a nice figure and can be build in a minimill, with no casting and advanced tooling (rotary table for example).

I hope to not upset anybody posting the link of my build at the moment, because it will be a tremendous work to post it here again from the beginning, I will be posting parallel in this forum and the other, at least for this build.

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/f31/its-first-steam-engine-time-14307/

I'm having a lot of fun in this! believe me

Today I cut the steam chest tap, from 5mm thick bronze sheet, and practical become a human CNC machine to cut the details I wanted:

But there is no way I could get the patience to make a 0.01mm resolution, so after finish the cuts the piece needed some filing to remove the tool marks.

Then I give a try to make a little stainless steel plate that goes inside the chest tap, but hell, SS is a hard one to work!, although I know that SS is not a very good machineable alloy, I never came to think that it will be so hard to hand-work it, I just waste 30 minutes of my life....

I think I will find me a pantographer to get the job done.

Then I made some small pieces of the steam chest:

And behold! the super stainless steel plate! cueekkk

Then, for the pieces the plans said that they should have and hex head, and I try with one, but I really didint like the way it looked, so I will do this one again and left all the pieces rounded, I like this way better.

For now I had some troubles deciding on some material choose for some parts...

I'm planning to get it running for long periods of time in my desk, either by compress air or some hidden small electric motor, so I very concern about wearing, this carries me to some exotic materas and a lots of dudes:

The piston:

I know that bras with brass for mechanical movement is not good, also brass-aluminium.

But brass with steel or cast iron is very good, but I not going to use this combination because my cylinder is made of brass, and the steel or cast iron is more hard, and in time will wear the cylinder walls, so I came with Technyl a90, a black plastic,
and a "durocoton" material (made of cotton layers with resin, its the circuits board material). I havent deciede yet what I should use, or the compresing metod of the piston (O-ring, Rings of metals or nothing etc...).

For all the other parts with mechanical movement I?m using Phosphor bronze with hardened silver steel rods, I think that should be fine.

All the steam chest is made of brass also, as you can see, I also worry about the little sliding valve piece...

Any input on this I will apreciate it much!

And more will come!

Saludos

Maryak · « **Reply #1 on:** August 12, 2012, 06:15:26 AM »

Quote from: FLG on August 12, 2012, 05:41:59 AM

I hope to not upset anybody posting the link of my build at the moment, because it will be a tremendous work to post it here again from the beginning, I will be posting parallel in this forum and the other, at least for this build.

Anko,

Don't worry, a lot of us are in the same situation and are now doing parallel posts of our builds.

Best Regards
Bob

steamer · « **Reply #2 on:** August 12, 2012, 09:44:08 AM »

FLG,

If your going to use the engine with compressed air...A plastic piston will work fine. For steam, a teflon piston will work assuming your under 100 psi ( 6 bar) and saturated steam...NOT SUPERHEATED.

Nice valve check cover work there I like that!

Dave

FLG · « **Reply #3 on:** August 23, 2012, 07:47:08 AM »

Thanks Dave and Bob!

I have made a good progress, the valve shaoft is made from a 3mm silver steel rod, one end is turned to 2mm with help of a little brushing.

I made the sliding valve of Technyl as a experiment, it only took like 20 mins so if not work I will do another

then the eccentric, made from 1020 steel, it took me 2 tries to get it right (damm jaming parting tool)

And for the eccentric ring, I redesign it to look more real-like, I mean, is a model anyway, so the idea is that looks like some real engine, at least to some point

Then I make a terrible mistake, I rounded all the way, it suposed to have the upper side flat to bolt the conection rod! but I ruined it....

It took almost all the day to make this piece, and not in the mood to make it again, I came with a simple solution:

And this is the engine at this time:

There is almost over! just a few pieces left! (piston, flywheel, valve..)

I?m very proud of my work so far, and I really start thinking on the next one!

Saludos

swilliams · « **Reply #4 on:** August 23, 2012, 08:33:41 AM »

It's really looking nice FLG. Glad to hear you're proud of it, and so you should be

Steve

b.lindsey · « **Reply #5 on:** August 23, 2012, 11:29:03 AM »

Its looking great FLG and a nice save on that eccentric strap too

Bill

lazylathe · « **Reply #6 on:** August 23, 2012, 11:35:58 AM »

Great work Anko!

I have missed a few installations of your build and am very happy to see that you are posting it here too!

Looking forward to seeing this one run soon!

Andrew

steamer · « **Reply #7 on:** August 23, 2012, 11:49:21 AM »

Looks great from here Anko!.........er ah FLG......

Nice work!

Dave

rleete · « **Reply #8 on:** August 23, 2012, 12:32:31 PM »

Nice save on the eccentric.

smfr · « **Reply #9 on:** August 23, 2012, 04:46:51 PM »

I know that feeling where you go too far when rounding!

It's interesting that this engine has the flywheel and valve mechanism on the same side, and I guess a single crank throw? I hope that doesn't cause you problems with knocking down the road.

Simon

FLG · « **Reply #10 on:** August 25, 2012, 04:34:36 AM »

Thanks a lot guys!, I'm really getting excited looking how this project is near to and end and, with luck, a running engine

The eccentric ring..yeah, it was a lucky save, now I made the conection rod, I like to put some contrast on all the brass color, so I choose to use steel, just scrap plate steel, but because I dont have a tinier piece, the job of flattening 10mm to 5mm was tedious, here some pics:

(the weird cut in the middle is not for appearance, is to get acces to the "oil hole" to be able to lubricate the eccentric (remember that I want it to run for long periods))

then I start making the connection arm for the valve shaft, it was supposed to be a easy and fast making.. but I dont know why, I manage to broke my little 2mm end mill... (because acquiring it was not cheap, I really was very carefully with it) and just exploted in the middle of cutting the channel...aarghhhhh!!!

Then, I have to come with some very improvised setup using my recently build lathe dog to finish the piece:

Then I asembly all the thing to get a look, and I have speend some good time turning the flywheel by hand to watch and hear the motion of the engine, its a lot of fun!

Here because of the manipulation, there is oil and fingers all arround, but here is a pic of the engine at the moment:

Saludos!

FLG · « **Reply #11 on:** August 29, 2012, 06:22:51 AM »

Its me again, now I have made the crank piece, out of 1020 steel, here some pics:

Then, to make there radius cuts on the sides, first I was goin to use the boring head, but I realize that is too big for the mini-mill and the speed has to be very low in order to avoid heavy vibration caused by the off-weight of the boring head, then I choose a small flycutter to do the job. (I think that I will made me another boring head, this time smaller to fit the mini-mill)

for set the flycutter to cut the correct diameter I use a height gauge:

(the radius to be cut) - (1/2 flycutter shank diameter) + (shank height measured in a V-block) = the height that the cutting tip must be

then, by hand, I set the bit on the flycutter and I rotate it in the V-block to feel how it touched the tip of the height gauge.

Saludos

smfr · « **Reply #12 on:** August 29, 2012, 06:43:49 AM »

Nice job on the crank!

Is there any chance you could make your pictures a bit smaller? 800x600 would be a good size, that way we don't have to scroll as much

Simon

FLG · « **Reply #13 on:** December 13, 2012, 09:28:32 PM »

Hi

I have been very bussy with the university, but now I have some spare time to start machining again, Im very close now to finish the engine! after almost one year and half...

Simon: sorry about the size of the pics, now I will upload the pics with 800x600 resolution, but I have some old ones that are big that I will post now, just a few!

these are for the nut, I recently get my rotary table and I dont have any tooling for the RT yet, si I made a very improvised setup to be able to make this part:

Here is the piston, its use two ring of Technyl a90, because the cylinder is made of brass I think it will be a good idea to put this material to aboid wear in the cylinder walls

Now to make the flywheel, I pick some cast iron pipe or tube from the scrap yard, the plan is to put the pulley with a press fit inside the tube:

Then when the bore was close to 0.02 mm, I took the pulley, previously machined, to the refrigerator for cooling, for about 15 min. The OD went down about 0.04 mm allowing to enter nicely in the tube:

And then:

Saludos!

Bearcar1 · « **Reply #14 on:** December 13, 2012, 10:00:46 PM »

FLG, saludo amigo. I remember seeing your beginnings on the other site before I bailed out and am extremely glad to see you here as well as impressed with your efforts to-date. Beautiful

I especially like your work in fabricating the trunk guide frame and the flywheel. Also, all of your pictures have made the journey a pleasure to witness. yeah baby! It won't be too much longer until the video comes out, yes? (hint, nudge, poke)

Saludos

BC1
Jim

zeeprogrammer · « **Reply #15 on:** December 13, 2012, 11:19:32 PM »

Nice looking flywheel FLG. And the peek at the engine shows it looks great too.

I see I'm not the only one needing a 'stick-poke' emoticon.

V 45 · « **Reply #16 on:** December 14, 2012, 02:27:52 PM »

Welcome aboard FLG...very nice build. Coming along very nicely !! Keep up the good work !!
Dave

FLG · « **Reply #17 on:** February 19, 2013, 02:07:16 AM »

Hi to all, its been a while since I post somethig

I decided to make some sort of needle valve for my engine, and got some kind of hard time designing it, but at last I come to this:

The needle is made from a 5mm diamerter silver steel sock, and it was very dificul to machine it, because of the thin diameter. I make some sort of support with a little piece of brass with a hole of the diameter of the piece and held it in the tailstock.

Then, like before, I use a "cmc man" metod to cut the raduis of the valve body (because I don't have (yet) a radius-cutter attachment), and with all the patience of the world finally came a good result:

Then, I put some polishing paste in the "needle" contact point, and run the lathe, the idea was to make the two pieces to seat together and make a good seal.

and at the end of the day I got:

Thanks for watching! I hope that will come more!

Saludos

zeeprogrammer · « **Reply #18 on:** February 19, 2013, 02:16:21 AM »

Welcome back FLG! Those are nice looking parts!

smfr · « **Reply #19 on:** February 19, 2013, 03:29:57 AM »

Looks great! Did you single-point thread the spindle, or use a die? I have a half-made valve like this lying around, that is stalled for want of a tap.

Is there any reason why the brass bar is sticking so far out from the chuck? It looks a little too far out for my liking.

Simon

b.lindsey · « **Reply #20 on:** February 19, 2013, 12:27:27 PM »

Welcome back FLG. Its nice to see an update on this project.

BIll

FLG · « **Reply #21 on:** February 20, 2013, 02:23:14 AM »

Thanks guys, Its good to be back!

got more progress, still need to sand the piece, but that the rougth shape, and the valve seems to work fine with mouth pressure

here:

Im planing to finish the engine in this round, so more will come soon!

Saludos

Don1966 · « **Reply #22 on:** February 20, 2013, 02:41:41 AM »

Glad to see you back FLG! By the way that is a nice valve. I would like to see the valve handle, are you going to make it like a spoked wheel?

Don

vcutajar · « **Reply #23 on:** February 20, 2013, 07:40:32 AM »

Nice to see you again FLG. As Don said a nice valve. Now would something like that fit in my project?

Vince

steamer · « **Reply #24 on:** February 20, 2013, 11:44:34 AM »

Hey there! Nicely done!

Dave

FLG · « **Reply #25 on:** February 21, 2013, 05:37:29 AM »

Thanks Don, Vince and Dave!

I got more to show you:

The upper piece of the valve, is in rougth shape in the last pic, now I take my time to sand it well, this piece cost me a parallel and a end-mill in some stupid but very destructive accident with my setup in the mill, lucky for me, the piece remainded usable.... not so lucky for my parallel and end-mill (the mill holder got loose and get down a few mm grabbing the parallel that was below)

Now, come the time to make the valve handwheel, first I was planning to use my rotary table to index the valve shape, previously machined in the lathe, but since I dont have any tooling for te RT yet, I figure that it will not be posible in mortal means to do that.

Then, I came with another aproach, something that I havent seen before for valve handwheels making.... at least for me, so maybe I invented a new metod to make it... or maybe not

And I got a very nice result!

Pictures will tell better:

First, I designed the valve to be with some style, and to follow the engine flywheel pattern too..

Then I put it on the lathe and bend it, I use the carriage and dials to archieve a simetrical angle on all three legs:

After that I make the support piece of the handwheel and put a 1mm hole through the valve shaft and the piece, for putting a pin.

Then I machine the handwheel outter radius on the lathe, like a tube, with rounded faces. Finally I pick up all the other pieces and I make the assembly, using a sacrificial bolt to maintaining everything in place,and then the magic, I solder all the pieces together.

Then a little sand paper work as usual.... (a lot really, like usual too jaja).... and:

Very nice indeed, and a little peek on the engine here:

Its almost done!, a few pieces left... they will come soon...

Saludos

Jo · « **Reply #26 on:** February 21, 2013, 07:13:36 AM »

Very nice handwheel.

Jo

zeeprogrammer · « **Reply #27 on:** February 21, 2013, 11:23:45 AM »

Nicely done. That's a great looking handwheel.

b.lindsey · « **Reply #28 on:** February 21, 2013, 11:36:48 AM »

Fantastic result FLG...and a very nice finishing touch.

Bill

steamer · « **Reply #29 on:** February 21, 2013, 11:43:13 AM »

That is a great result! Well done friend!

Dave

Bearcar1 · « **Reply #30 on:** February 21, 2013, 03:28:45 PM »

What a terrific piece of work FLG! A lot of the 'fiddly' character building kind, but the results are beautiful.

You do some nice work and I thank you for taking the pictures to show us the journey's progress.

BC1
Jim

markmc · « **Reply #31 on:** February 21, 2013, 09:40:18 PM »

That is a very nice bit of work, on a side note however why is every one building the engines i want to make

Don1966 · « **Reply #32 on:** February 21, 2013, 10:57:49 PM »

Beautifully done FLG, I like that outcome. Makes for a great looking valve. I enjoyed your photos thanks.

Don

FLG · « **Reply #33 on:** April 10, 2013, 05:38:01 AM »

Finally afther so many time... I finish my little engine today!

Here are some pictures of the final tasks:

Here Im trying to make a seccond attemp for the front sheet, again from stainles steel, remember the first one? well this one didn't go well too...

After the "etching"... well, It was worse that the first, so I give up with the idea of a engraved stainless steel front sheet..

then some painting:

Here is the Steam/Air inlet tube, that goes direct to the nedlee valve and then to the steam chest:

And afther a all day-long polish, here is the result:

I rec a little video with some pics and some music, sorry for not posting some better quality pics and video. All I got now is my phone cam, but when I have a decent camera I will upload good pics.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBdh-Ujk-l0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBdh-Ujk-l0</a>

Thanks to all for watching and supporting my build, It has been a long time for a project that supposed to last only 3 months... It has been very fun!

Saludos

vcutajar · « **Reply #34 on:** April 10, 2013, 05:58:16 AM »

Congratulations FLG on a good shiney runner.

Vince

Jo · « **Reply #35 on:** April 10, 2013, 07:53:33 AM »

Lovely engine FLG, well done.

Jo

Bogstandard · « **Reply #36 on:** April 10, 2013, 09:15:51 AM »

A very nice finished engine there FLG, a credit to your workmanship

John

tel · « **Reply #37 on:** April 10, 2013, 10:12:50 AM »

Very nicely done indeed! Congratulations!

zeeprogrammer · « **Reply #38 on:** April 10, 2013, 11:07:50 AM »

Beautiful engine and I really like that valve.
Loved the family shots too.
Congratulations!

Arbalest · « **Reply #39 on:** April 10, 2013, 11:08:28 AM »

Very nice job FLG, you must be pleased!

steamer · « **Reply #40 on:** April 10, 2013, 11:27:06 AM »

Beautiful Bud!
Congratulations!....

Saludos!

Dave

b.lindsey · « **Reply #41 on:** April 10, 2013, 11:42:59 AM »

Well done FLG. One beautiful engine that anyone would be proud of!!

Bill

gbritnell · « **Reply #42 on:** April 10, 2013, 12:32:37 PM »

Excellent work on your engine. My first engines were Stuarts and being iron didn't sparkle like yours does.
gbritnell

ths · « **Reply #43 on:** April 10, 2013, 01:38:30 PM »

A lovely job, you must be very happy. The soldering work is exemplary.

Hugh.

Don1966 · « **Reply #44 on:** April 10, 2013, 01:52:15 PM »

Wow! Great job and a great runner. Well done FLG.

Don

Thayer · « **Reply #45 on:** April 10, 2013, 01:58:04 PM »

Wonderfully done! I might have to borrow a few details for my Elmer's #33.

Thayer

Kim · « **Reply #46 on:** April 10, 2013, 03:49:15 PM »

Hi FLG,
Very nice work! The engine is beautiful and it runs beautifully too!

I checked out your build log from the other site and you've done an incredible job on this engine! It always amazes me the amount of work that goes into one of these. And looking through your build its obvious the care you took at each step. No wonder it runs so well!

Congratulations,
Kim

NickG · « **Reply #47 on:** April 10, 2013, 04:26:50 PM »

It's all been said but great effort really nicely finished and nice running engine. Well done you must be chuffed with the result!

arnoldb · « **Reply #48 on:** April 10, 2013, 05:19:52 PM »

Very well done indeed FLG

Kind regards, Arnold

Maryak · « **Reply #49 on:** April 11, 2013, 04:11:21 AM »

FLG,

Ripper Rita

Best Regards
Bob

Ramon Wilson · « **Reply #50 on:** April 11, 2013, 10:20:53 AM »

Hi FLG,
You should be very proud, that's very nice work indeed for a first engine and bodes well for the future.
Congratulations on a job well done.

Ramon

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Author Topic: My frist steam engine! vertical single cylinder (finished) (Read 22809 times)

Bogstandard

Arbalest