Stuart Williamson engine from castings

[Jasonb]

Anthony did a Ferrabee and the first part has just been published. He has also done a couple of other "column engines" that bronze on in the background is also one of his.



You are off to a good start on the Williamson, kind of begging to be made in a larger size

I think on of the reasons there are no other builds of this one on the net is that it was out of production for quite a few years and it is during that time that we have seen the rise of forums, now it is available again hopefully a few more will pop up.

J

[geoff5269]

I might have made the Farrabee if I hadn't started this Williamson first, I can see the Farrabee is simpler with a straight column and the cylinder outside.
I am now working on the cylinder which is cast in Gunmetal and seems to be quiet a soft metal, also your careful not to go wrong as you can't easily make another as when you are scratch building. I realise now this is not going to be a detailed log as I just get absorbed in the process and forget to take a picture, so some shots are staged. Although the book has good descriptions of how to machine the parts it is mostly done on a lathe as I suppose 30-40 years ago home workshops didn't have a milling machine, so I usually adapt the process to my own methods.
The cylinder is fairly standard except the exhaust is channelled out though the base.
Reply if you want to see anything particular
Geoff

[geoff5269]

Some more pictures
When I've bored the cylinder I like to make the opening 2mm larger where the covers fit so any later honing doesn't affect the fit of the covers. The cylinder head has 2 flats for guide bars that must be machined true to crankshaft so this fixture was useful for alignment.
Geoff

[geoff5269]

It feels like I've done a lot more work but when I look back at the pictures it doesn't look so good, anyway here's the result.
The cylinder has been drilled bored and honed. Top cover and steam chest machined and gaskets made.
All the fixings cleaned and Blackened to stop rust, and then a tidy up to start afresh.
Geoff
 

[Admiral_dk]

Looking good so far and I hope a satisfactory job on the blackened surface.

Besides Chris and a few others, all the rest of us aren't making anything like we would like to do time wise .... so be glad you got so far 

[gerritv]

Sometimes the pictures highlight tiny marks, not easily seen by the naked eye. Softer lighting can help, no sharp shadows etc
A lot of work in this already, you seem to be moving along rapidly.

The castings look to be good quality.

Gerrit

[10KPete]

When I've bored the cylinder I like to make the opening 2mm larger where the covers fit so any later honing doesn't affect the fit of the covers.
Geoff

Now that design feature makes more practical sense that most others I've seen or heard!! And it's sooo simple!!

Thanks!!
Pete

[geoff5269]

A bit more progress with this, I decided to paint the column and base to get an idea how it will look and it needed some careful masking to keep the beading around the openings shinny. I had to use a radius cutter for the masking of the curves.
Assembling the parts now shows how confined the cylinder will be and not much chance to make adjustments.
Here are some pics
Geoff

[geoff5269]

wrong picture

[geoff5269]

Sorry it's been so long since the last post, I had a little break from Williamson, but have made progress with the flywheel, crankshaft, and valve gear.
Also I was thinking of trying to make the slide bars for the crosshead better as they seemed a bit obtrusive. and this took me several weeks to complete.
I changed them from flat bars to thin rods and this allowed some connections for all 4 to keep them accurately spaced.
As I was making them I realised had accurately made everything has to be all the parts perfectly centred and perfectly true to the axis and parallel as well, so I was thrilled when I put it all together and it moved smoothly and no tinkering was needed.
I did have a trial assembly and that's always encouraging and you feel you might actually complete this project one day. 
I hope you can follow this from the pictures.
Geoff

[b.lindsey]

Good to see an update Geoff. A very nice looking engine it is too!!

Bill

[geoff5269]

Well I see another Williamson engine has appeared by Stuart but he didn't say whether he built it or not.
My engine is near completion and I have had it running for a few minutes and it seemed to work well so far.
I spent a long time on the governor as it's small and very tricky to get right but I got there in the end.
Several of the parts I have made my own way as you do and I'm pleased with it so far there's a bit more tinkering and painting to do
and then I can just play with it.
See the pics.
Geoff

[crueby]

That is one beautiful engine! 

[b.lindsey]

Beautiful Geoff! Love the colors too. Hope you can post a video one the fine tuning is done.

Bill

[Chipswitheverything]

A very nice and rather "different" engine, Geoff, and the grey does look good.  When the Stuart engines are made with that attention to detail and finish they are certainly attractive examples of model engineering.   Dave