Freelance mill engine from Stuart castings.

[Gas_mantle]

Taking shape nicely, I reckon we'll see it running very shortly 

[steam guy willy]

Yes it will be ready to run soon and when the steam valves are connected up it will be ready.... the  governor is taking shape with this type of connection to the bell crank arm . i have not seen this before or made one so quite interesting...also easy to repair and restore.....

[steam guy willy]

The bell crank is made on thegovernor and have started on the gov valve.....

[crueby]

Beautiful work! 

[10KPete]

Error...Error....Error..

The end view of the regulator shaft that shows the angle for the cut-away. Dwg. shows 45* but I think it should show either:
45* either side of center, or, better, 90*.

Beautiful work Willy!!  I love to watch the parts morph out of a stock shape. Sculpting comes to mind...

Pete

[steam guy willy]

Hi Pete, yes you are are right..this is however a drawing that came from an old Model Engineer magazine and there are quite a few mistakes and random dimensions on them...So the governor is taking shape and the main steam valve is next

[sco]

Looking great Willy!

Simon.

[steam guy willy]

I have now made the plinth for the governor and am screaming out the  main steam valve. Also some kind ex member has delivered a rather nice twin cylinder mill engine to the Norwich & D.S.M.E.it has a 14" flywheel and is 22" long and 15" wide ...a few pics to follow........There is mo PTO or governor and also are the main bearings back to front ??

[crueby]

The main bearings are not necessarily backwards - on the Marion engines, the blocks face to the back too - here is what the crowd/slew engines look like:

The main engines are much larger, more like typical mill engine, and have the same direction on the bearings.

[Jasonb]

Plenty of Tangye engines also had the bearings angled that way, as steam engines are double acting you get equal thrust both ways so it does not matter as much as on an open crank IC engine where the power stroke is only in one direction. The Thompstone engine that I made also had them that way round



It's a nice engine though, what is the bore and stroke?

[steam guy willy]

OK, yup .....some do..some don't....some will ..some won't  thanks for this info i will have to tell them that it is ok !!! the bearing blocks are not cast in though so i thought they had been bolted on the wrong way round !! Hi Jason the stroke is about 4.25 inches and the bore is about 1.75" so with P.L.A.N............2.3 HP ??

[Ramon Wilson]

Hi Willy, that kind 'ex member' is a real good friend of mine - I went with him to pick that engine up from Arnold Hoskins place many years ago - the club was looking for members to look after some of the engines they had had donated. That must have been in the nineties some time 

There's no history as to original maker as far as I know.  It was, shall we say, not in a great state and Barry rebuilt it as to how you have it. As you say it's big and has now outgrown his workshop  If you bring it to Forncett we'll have to ban you from running it - you'll consume all the air  Actually thinking about it I do believe Barry brought it one year and that is just what happened - I'll have to ask him.

If you are now the guardian that's a very nice engine to have on display - hope you've got a good strong shelf 

Great progress on your engine - finally got some paint on mine today

Tug

[scc]

A very nice"set" of mill engines.  Inspiring as I head along a similar path for the first time.    Terry

[steam guy willy]

The main steam valve has been started on  so steaming is on the horizon..........Hi Tug , So are there lots more engines out there ?  We now have a purpose built club house so there is room for this and any other engines !! I did ask about the history of it ,but no one seems to Know. !! There should be some paperwork that exists somewhere ??

[Ramon Wilson]

Hello Willy, more good progress 

Yes, there were other engines and they were usually brought out for exhibitions. Whether any paperwork remains I have no idea.

If I recall correctly, at the time Barry got that engine they were all stored at Arnold Hoskin's  (Did you know him? He was a founder member I believe and President in latter years). Members were asked if they would consider taking on storage and Barry offered. As said, I went with him and he choose that one from those available. I certainly remember helping him carry it to the car! Long after I let my membership lapse I recall having a discussion with Ray Snelling who told me that the engines had all gradually 'disappeared' over the time - they had even lost track of the one above.

I can't think of anyone save Brian Tipple and possibly Barry Fane or Neville Gower from the 'old guard' who may have any idea. Bernard Towers might but he's left of course. My last time at the club would have been just as work began on the clubhouse. No sinister motive for leaving just one of dwindling interest at the time along with travelling up on my own after Barry had decided to stop going well before. That (for me) would be just after the last exhibition held in the Hewitt school - (2006?)


Looking forwards to that first run 

Tug