Boulton/Bertinat/Bailey triple steam engine

[crueby]

Moving right along on this one...


 

[steam guy willy]

the steam chest and cover is made next ,I have changed the construction slightly and have used socket head screws to attach the steam chest to the block to hold it in place firmly to facilitate the valve setting.

[crueby]

Clever refinement to hold the steam chest like that, nice!

[steam guy willy]

Am ready to make the valves for this engine but looking at the drawings and some photos of another build there seems to be not much room in the valve chest for the steam !! having the buckles on the valves takes up a lot of room and is this ok  ? (wire drawing ??) and does this follow full size practice ?I may leave the buckles out and follow the practice that we are familiar with . Also there is less room to see what is happening with these buckles in place for the valve setting ! Any ides would be welcome, not wanting to cast nastushiomes on either of the Mr B's fine work.

[Jasonb]

I think I would be tempted to take a bull nose cutter the the sides of the buckles and give a bit more clearance, probably only needs it on the side where the steam enters bit both sides would not hurt, my Benson engine has similar.

[steam guy willy]

Hi Jason, I think the reason for the buckle is because the upright parts of the valve are inside the outside dimensions of the valve as Mr Bertinat has added some  'lap' to the valve events and the slot for the rod is half on and half off the operating part of the valve. What i have made is two stepped bushes to enable the nuts to have a flat seating to operate the valve rather than the whole buckle that fills the space quite a lot. Is is better to have a lot of space for the steam inside the valve chest ? I have also used this spray to get better photos of newly machined bright brass that is very reflective.

[steam guy willy]

i have made the valve rod lower guide this was made with hand tools as it is quite difficult to hold. Also cleaning up the cast surfaces is quite difficult unlike making them from bar stock. I am quite busy making the freelance engine and getting the car boot mill engine to work....