Engines > From Plans

Benson inverted steam engine

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gbritnell:
Gentlemen, I've had this engine on the back burner for some time so I thought it was about time to get back to work on it. This is the Benson vertical steam engine. (some videos on Youtube) Not one to leave things alone I took the drawings and scaled them to .75 of the original. The flywheel is a little over 5.00 inches in diameter so with the cost of brass out of this world I decided to fabricate it. I started by cutting rectangular segments then cut the ends at 45 degrees. I made a fixture to hold all the pieces true and silver soldered them together. After cleaning up I turned the O.D., I.D. and faces leaving a little for later truing after assembly. I drilled for the spokes and made a hub with pin holes to locate the inner ends of the spokes. The spokes were turned with a taper leaving enough of a true diameter on the outside to allow them to slide out then back into the hub. This required a more elaborate setup for assembly. All the parts were cleaned and fluxed then soldered with Stay-Bright alloy solder. After assembly a bar was turned with a diameter that would fit the hub hole. This was threaded and the flywheel was mounted and trued up. The cylinder has a conical band replicating the original ornate casting so I turned that shape then made and fitted the steam chest to the cylinder. This was also soldered together. The base has a lot of steps and radii so the rotary table was used extensively. The top of the column has a rectangular shaped bracket that hold the crankshaft and this also was a fabrication. I will post more as the engine progresses.

RReid:
Great looking parts. I especially like the look of the cylinder/steam chest assembly. I'll keep that approach to flywheel fabrication in mind for the future! Looking forward to what comes next.

crueby:
Another George build, excellent!! 




I've thought about making a flywheel like that but didn't think I'd get the joints good enough. Do you think it would be worth doing half lap joints and screwing the overlaps together for soldering rather than making a holding jig? Or would that be even harder to get good fitting joints?




I remember watching the wheelwrights at Williamsburg building wagon wheels the way you did, fascinating to see them go together.




 :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

Craig DeShong:
I was wondering what George has been ‘up too’.  Now we all know.  Great start George, I’ll be following along.

Don1966:
Awwww George my friend you exceeded my expectations ……..did I say……..I……………likeeeeee…… :Love:

Ps    Are we going to polish it….?. :stickpoke:

 :cheers:
Don

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