My vertical steam engine completed.

[Gas_mantle]

Hi all,

Please forgive my lack of posting in the forum over the last few weeks but this has been due to feeling unwell and getting very little done, I am however pleased to say I've now completed my replica Stuart no4 engine so I thought those who followed its build may like to see the end result.

For those unfamiliar with the engine it is made from a Stuart no9 cylinder/valve chest casting and a crude looking trunk guide that I bought at a model engineer auction for £1.40    The flywheel is turned from a casting bought on ebay and the rest is made from barstock.

I'd like to thank all those who followed along in the build log thread and especially those who offered advice etc.

Today is a rainy day in Yorkshire so haven't been able to make a video of it running on steam outside but in the next day or two I'll upload some footage of it in action 











Peter 

[Chipswitheverything]

Hello Peter, not often that I get in first with congratulations!, but that has resulted in a handsome and impressive engine created from just a few castings and a great deal of skilful work and ingenuity, very nice.    Dave

[gary.a.ayres]

I'll second that!

Greetings from France   

gary

[toolznthings]

Nice job ! Looks great ! 

[TerryWerm]

Very nicely done, Peter!   

[Dave Otto]

Beautiful engine!

Dave

[jeff l]

very nice engine

[Ye-Ole Steam Dude]

Hello Peter,

That is a sweet little engine, very nice work.

Have a great day,
Thomas

[Kim]

That's a great looking engine, Peter!  You did those 2nd had castings proud!
Kim

[Gas_mantle]

Many thanks guys 

Here's a short video of it running on steam, the inlet gland has a bit of a sizzler that I hadn't noticed at the time but that should be an easy fix.

I think it now needs some kind of water trap for the exhaust before it vents up the chimney, at the moment it has a tendency to gurgle a bit and water is dripping onto the ceramic burner a little - a slightly smaller exhaust nozzle in the chimney may also improve things 

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGu7tmOOqa0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGu7tmOOqa0</a>

[scc]

Very Nice..             Terry

[Jasonb]

It's running well

A shorter exhaust run will help as will lagging the pipe as both will cool the steam and make it condense before it gets to the chimney.

[Gas_mantle]

It's running well

A shorter exhaust run will help as will lagging the pipe as both will cool the steam and make it condense before it gets to the chimney.

Thanks 

When I increased the diameter of the exhaust pipe to allow the engine to breathe better I found it runs considerably faster and more powerfully on air, but on steam I think it may need a bit of experimenting - I did think a smaller outlet nozzle may force the water out so that it doesn't gurgle and drain down to the fire.

Something clearly needs a slight modification at it will run considerably faster and more powerfully on 45psi of air than it will on 90psi of steam at the moment. Since it runs well on air I'm confident the engine is fine and the problem lies somewhere in the exhaust system.

[Jasonb]

You may need to play with the timing as what works on air may not be ideal for steam.

Also what size exhaust pipe are you running? No4 wants 3/8" pipe. and every tight right angle bend will add restrictions.

[Gas_mantle]

Ah I wasn't aware the timing may need resetting for steam - I set it up using a small air compressor and it will do a high speed (maybe  1000rpm?) at 45psi and it's not possible to stop it by hand.

At the moment both inlet and exhaust are ¹/₄ pipe.

It runs better on steam without the exhaust routed up the chimney but ideally I want to route it that way to aid draught when coal firing.

I'll tinker around with the timing tomorrow