A Beginner's First Engine (Single-acting Oscillator)

[crueby]

Excellent! Looking forward to the video!

[AOG]

It looks great.

Tony

[Ramon Wilson]

Congratulations Gary - absolutely top marks for an excellent build log and even more for your dedicated persistence in overcoming the issues and problems as they arose

There's nothing to beat any 'first run' except perhaps on that first runner made - well done indeed.

BTW nice save with the JB - I don't think you will have any issues, it's amazingly tough and resilient and at steam temperatures too.

As ''Nothing breeds success like success'' all the best for the next build whatever it may be 

Regards -Tug

[gary.a.ayres]

Thanks, all - very kind of you.

As you'll see from the video that I'll post soon, it does leak quite a bit of steam around the ports. If you have any thoughts about whether I should do more work on the port face or just run it plenty on air and let it gradually fix itself as it wears in, I'd be keen to hear them.

gary

[Robert Hornby]

Well done Gary, very nice 
Robert

[gary.a.ayres]

Thank you Robert!

 

[PJW]

Excellent job looks better than my first effort!

[MJM460]

Hi Gary, great to see you reaching a major milestone.  Well done.  It’s a great tribute to your attitude and persistence in overcoming the inevitable problems.

When you have the base done, do remember to make some neat piping to connect the engine to the boiler.  Then on to the next one.

MJM4607

[gary.a.ayres]

Thank you guys for your kind words.

@MJM - I plan to return to the boiler now and make it perform and look as well as I can. Already have some nice elbows for the piping. 

[gary.a.ayres]

Here's the video. I'd really appreciate any feedback you may have for me on how it performs, and on whether I need to do more work on the port faces or if it will just improve with wear.

I certainly need to learn to control the wild wee beastie that is the boiler, that's for sure! 

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp6Ja-6BrZg" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp6Ja-6BrZg</a>

[cnr6400]

It's a runner! Congratulations! 

[b.lindsey]

Well done Gary. It certainly runs very well from the video and has been a joy to   watch your progress on #1.

Bill

[crueby]

Well done! Not uncommon for a oscillator to leak a bit, takes very little uneveness on the two surfaces to leave a gap, should wear in. The spring pressure can make a difference even with a perfect fit. If you press in on the cylinder with air pressure on but the engine not running and the leak stops, needs more spring, if still leaks than it needs to be worn in. The metal right around the pivot is often the culprit, any round transition there can be filed off.


All round, great job!!

[Gas_mantle]

Nice one Gary it looks and runs great 

All little wobblers like yours will leak a bit of steam so I wouldn't get caught up in altering things, it runs fine as it is. I agree with Chris about adjusting the spring pressure tho, you may find a bit of tweaking helps. A tiny bit of oil in the inlet now and again may help also.

Any thoughts yet on your next build?

[Jasonb]

Running good

It would be worth taking apart to see where the most contact has taken place between cylinder and the port plate, it only needs for that pivot to be slightly out and one side won't seal as well as the other. If there is an obvious area of contact then that can be lapped down, this is where just having contact around the port area rather than the whole surface helps as there is less metal to lap away.