Building a Muncaster entablature engine

[Larry]

Looks and runs great - Congratulations ! Enjoyed following your build.

[vcutajar]

Great runner Peter and love the colour.  Congratulations.

Vince

[Gas_mantle]

Thanks guys 

I really enjoyed making it and it's always a great feeling once these little engines spring to life.

I really want to make a decent sized barstock Benson engine at some point and this has a few similarities, I'm hoping what I learnt in making this will prove useful later.

[Gas_mantle]

Well Jason, you asked to see it running on the hot stuff and I couldn't resist having a go.

It still needs a few finishing touches but I gave it a run on my 3" dia boiler, it is surprisingly economical with steam and fuel. The boiler can run it indefinitely at about 300 - 400rpm with the stop valve partly closed and maintain about 40psi.

At a slow tickover it uses virtualy no water or gas and runs with less than 5psi on the pressure gauge.

I guess steam is messy compared to air but its more fun and has improved chuffability 

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwG3vV-Oi6Y" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwG3vV-Oi6Y</a>

[zeeprogrammer]

That was pretty cool. I don't recall seeing a model run that slowly before. 

[crueby]

Wow - very nice!  At the slowest tickover its almost like a hit and miss engine sound, as it just creeps up on the next valve opening. 

[Gas_mantle]

Thanks guys :-)

It will run as slow as about 40rpm and up to over 1000rpm, at full speed it is fairly powerful.

As it is warm in the UK today I'm currently trying to get my big horizontal engine running on steam for the first time. I tried earlier in the year but it was cold and it was developing a hydraulic lock (it doesn't have drain cocks) If I can get it running I'll post a video.

[Jasonb]

Thanks for firing it up Peter, runs well on the steam. I think about 50rpm looks nice rather than having it whizzing away which a full size would never do but it is fun to see what they are capable of. The latest High Speed engine will make its public debut in the next couple of days

One reason I like these 24mm size engines is that they are quite economical so you can run them on the compressor without the motor constantly kicking in and when the fits are right very little pressure is needed which also allows a longer run without refill. As you have found they they will not need vast amounts of steam so managing the fire and boiler is less stressful too.

The other advantage of this sort of size is that they are not vastly expensive to build as most components are of a reasonable size with the largest costs being a flywheel and lump of something for the cylinder. They can also be made of fairly small machines but are not so small that you need a magnifying glass to see the parts.

J

[Gas_mantle]

Cheers Jason,

I look forward to seeing your vertical engine finished and running, it's something I'd consider having a go at once I have made the Stuart replicas.

As you say it's a fairly cheap engine to make, I paid about £20 for the flywheel and as I had most of the materials I'd say it only cost about another £10. If any new modellers out there are looking for something relatively easy to build I can recommend trying one of these, it's all barstock apart from the flywheel so if you make a mistake it isn't costly.

As for the big horizontal it's having none of it. I thought a warm day might help but it still hydraulic locks, the little 3" boiler I was using is a bit too small also. I think it going to be a case of fitting drain cocks as I won't be happy till it runs on the hot stuff 

[Larry]

Great seeing it run on steam. Thanks for the demonstration.

[ShopShoe]

That is a very nice running engine, and on steam it does chuff along nicely.

It is also nice to look at.

Thank you for posting that video.

ShopShoe

[Craig DeShong]

Looks Great Peter and I like the color.  Thanks for sharing.

[Gas_mantle]

Thanks guys 

My neighbour saw me steaming it up outside yesterday, her remark was 'I like the wooden base' 

[gary.a.ayres]

Fabulous work Peter.

You have a talent!

 

gary

[Brian Rupnow]

Very nicely done and documented, a great runner. If I might suggest it, you would do better if you had a better secondary light source for your photographs. I find that if I use a flash on my camera, I get a lot of "high dazzle" spots that muck up the picture. I did buy a photographers light-source (200 watt bulb) with reflecting parasol, and it works good but is kind of a pain to set up when you are in the middle of something. I get my best photographs with my office door open and lots of natural light.---Brian