Chris's Holly Pumping Engine Complete

[crueby]

Hi all,

Several years ago I got a chance to tour the Ward Pumping Station over in Buffalo NY, which contains 5 giant Holly 3-cylinder compound steam pumping engines. The station was used to pump drinking water from Lake Erie to the city of Buffalo. It was built in 1914, and ran for decades before finally being replaced by electric pumps around 1980. The steam engines pumped 30 million gallons of water a daym each. They stand 60 feet tall, weigh 1100 tons. The cylinders have a diameter of 31, 64, and 98 inches. Steam was generated by coal fired boilers in another building next to the pump house. The Ward station still exists, all engines intact, and is owned by the water authority there.

The original engines:


After the tour, I contacted one of the historians who organized the tour and asked if anyone had ever measured the engines and made plans (thinking I might try and do that if allowed). It turns out that they had found the original paper blueprints tucked away in the building, and had them scanned. He very kindly gave me a copy of the PDF file with the scans, hundreds of pages long, with all the parts of the engines as well as a general arrangement of the buildings. As a side project while working on other builds, I converted the original blueprints into a 3D CAD model of the engine, then made a copy of that at 1:32nd scale to build this model from. The CAD work was done over 2 or 3 years, a little at a time between other projects.

CAD model of the engine:

The model is made of mainly brass, with stainless steel moving parts and bronze bearings. The lower pump towers and the large diameter pipes were 3D printed in PLA plastic, but the rest of the model is all metal. Inside the six pump towers are brass check valve housings, each with ball bearing check valves for inlet and output. There are two towers per pump chamber, the plungers of each of the three pumps are driven from the crossheads above the crankshaft. The cylinders have four Corliss rotary valves on each, except for the low pressure cylinder which has two poppet valves top and bottom for the exhaust. All the valves are controlled by eccentrics on the lay shaft on the side of the engine, the lay shaft being driven by two pairs of bevel gears from the crankshaft. The cranks have a 2" throw, and there are two large bronze flywheels. The flywheels are the only castings on the model, the rest was machined from bar stock on my Sherline lathe and mill (manual, not CNC).
Here are some photos of the model:

For scale, that is a 6" ruler in front of the base.




And finally some videos of the model running. First one of it pumping water - it is pumping close to a gallon a minute at this speed:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzmxfH7x9fA" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzmxfH7x9fA</a>
And one showing the engine running alone, no water being pumped:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh_1iWpq_zY" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh_1iWpq_zY</a>

My sincere thanks to all those who followed along, chimed in, and helped with tips and techniques along the way!! Glad to have you along for the ride!
Chris

[cnr6400]

Beautiful! Great to see it pumping water (lots of water!) Cheers! 

[Kim]

Simply amazing, Chris!  This was an awesome build! Thanks for taking us along on the journey. 

Kim

[Ye-Ole Steam Dude]

Hello Chris,

Pretty much what everyone has already stated, just too hard to give you proper credit. However with that said, this could be your "Mona Lisa".

Thomas

[steamer]

That' sir is DAMN impressive sir!!!  WOW!     THAT SIR was some work!!!

[Vixen]

Chris,

Oh my God!!!!!!!!!!!.  Will you look at that.

Words fail me     

Mike

[propforward]

Bravo Chris, bravo. A beautiful piece of machinery - so much fun to see it pumping water. Very impressive and inspirational.

[derekwarner]

Amazing work with this model machine is just a platitude Chris,....... the time scale in your builds is also just amazing  ... Derek

[EricB]

Beautiful work! You have certainly raised the bar! 

Eric

[fumopuc]

Hi Chris, very impressive.
Pure pleasure to watch the motion of every lever.

[Zephyrin]

great model, impressive mix of technics, old an new, from blue prints to functioning model !

[ozzie46]

As always, masterfully done! Congratulations Chris.
While I didn't comment often I followed along with zeal.

Ron

[Craig DeShong]

Wow Chris, I am speechless

Hope I get to see it “ in the flesh” some time.

[Brian Rupnow]

Beautiful machinery Chris. I have followed you every day to see this masterpiece come together.----Brian

[crueby]

Thanks very much everyone, its been a wonderful journey on this build, better for having you along!
Everyone go take a box of chocolate chip cookies out of petty cash!   

[Flyboy Jim]

This was an incredible project Chris!  Thank you for taking us along on this wonderful journey of yours.

   Jim

[RonGinger]

How about oatmeal raisin?
An amazing piece of work, all the more so because of your shop space and choice of Sherline equipment.

When it is displayed there needs to be a chair right in front of it so you can sit down and study it for hours.

[Firebird]

Hi Chris

Amazing journey

Thanks for letting me tag along

Cheers

Rich

[crueby]

How about oatmeal raisin?
An amazing piece of work, all the more so because of your shop space and choice of Sherline equipment.

When it is displayed there needs to be a chair right in front of it so you can sit down and study it for hours.

Whatever your favorite cookie is, works!

Chair to view the engine? Just so happens that the shop chair here:


gives this wonderful view, at least now that there is not a giant steam engine on the middle workbench:


My brother stopped by today, while here he gave me a hand shifting the model onto the cabinet. The compressor hose reaches just fine, for sitting and watching it chug around! And the bench makes a great spot for snacks and drinks with the shop elves...
 

[Don1966]

Chris I think I said it all on the built thread. It’s just a magnificent build and you have do it the justice it deserves…..



 
Don

[FKreider]

Unbelievable, fantastic work Chris!

How long did it take you to build the model once you started cutting the first bits of metal?

[crueby]

Thanks again Don!




Frank, it was about 11 months of actual build.

[Charles Lamont]

Amazing. I find the production rate just staggering.

[scc]

Beautiful.....Amazing.....THANK YOU   Chris      Terry

[astroud]

Magnificent !
Please take a break before starting something else so we can all get our breath back !
Andrew

[FKreider]

Frank, it was about 11 months of actual build.

I dont know what other people think but to me that is VERY fast!! 

[crueby]

Magnificent !
Please take a break before starting something else so we can all get our breath back !
Andrew

Okay!      I'm going to be working on some other stuff for a while, will be back at another much smaller engine in a month or so.

Frank, it was about 11 months of actual build.

I dont know what other people think but to me that is VERY fast!! 

Being retired helps a lot. I probably average two or three hours a day on the machining, some days more, some less.

[steam guy willy]

Hi, Looking really good  And a great location to display it  !!  do you ever lend your engines and other items to film companies that want accurate models in the backgrounds ??

Willy

[crueby]

Hi, Looking really good  And a great location to display it  !!  do you ever lend your engines and other items to film companies that want accurate models in the backgrounds ??

Willy

Hi Willy,


Interesting question! Thats never come up, about the only film work around this area is the Kodak plant making motion picture film! Every once in a while a portion of a movie might get filmed here, but not much, last I think was a couple downtown chase scenes of a Spider-Man movie some years ago.

[RonGinger]

Many year ago I had the displeasure of working in advertising and marketing for DEC. There were agencies that handled product placements in movies. If you signed up with an agency they got your product placed in the background of movies and TV shows. You paid the agency serious money for those placements.

When you see some product being used, or just sitting on a table in a move I assure you it is not an accidental choice of dropping that item into view.

[ShopShoe]

Ron,

... and I loved the way that zinged that practice in "Wayne's World."

ShopShoe

[ddmckee54]

Ummmm, Chris?

I noticed that there's no room on that shelf for the Allis engine.  Where are you going to put that engine when you build it?  Are you possibly in negoiations to expand your engine storage area?

[crueby]

Ummmm, Chris?

I noticed that there's no room on that shelf for the Allis engine.  Where are you going to put that engine when you build it?  Are you possibly in negoiations to expand your engine storage area?

Ummm, no. Not planning on building the Allis engine anytime soon, so similar to the Holly. They WOULD make a really fun pair to have side by side though. So far just going to finish up the Allis CAD version sometime this year (still working on the valves and linkages), then will spend some time animating it for some cutaways/videos for the Boston Waterworks Museum. At this point Fusion doesn't have a lot of functionality combining joints with animations (pieces are there, but they dont work well together) so I've downloaded a copy of Blender, which can import the objects from Fusion and do a better animation. Big learning curve on Blender (a free animation app) so that will take a while.

Currently in the early stages of a wood carving project, something different to let the machine shop rest and wait for the shop elves to get back from their vacation up North with the relatives at the Big Guys shop, now that they are in the off season.   
Next engine build is going to be the Sabino compound engine at 1:8 scale - got access from Mystic Seaport Museum last fall to measure the engine in the ship. Been wanting to build that engine forever. After that? A number of possibles, have not decided which yet. Been wanting to do a steam hammer for a long time, might adapt the frame of an arbor press for one of those.

The teleporter prototype still doesn't work that well, and the time machine is stuck in 1:1 speed forward, wont go into reverse!   
 

[Jo]

  How did I miss this 

Well done Chris, that not only looks good but runs very nicely.

Jo

[crueby]

How did I miss this 

Well done Chris, that not only looks good but runs very nicely.

Jo

Thanks Jo!

[ddmckee54]

then will spend some time animating it for some cutaways/videos for the Boston Waterworks Museum

When you said that you were drawing the Allis, I guess I just assumed it was to be a future project.

You're doing the animations for the museum so they can show how the engine used to work?  That will be a lot simpler and cheaper than trying to make the big Allis go round and round.  Plus your animations will give the visitors a view of things on the engine that they would NEVER get in real life

[crueby]

then will spend some time animating it for some cutaways/videos for the Boston Waterworks Museum

When you said that you were drawing the Allis, I guess I just assumed it was to be a future project.

You're doing the animations for the museum so they can show how the engine used to work?  That will be a lot simpler and cheaper than trying to make the big Allis go round and round.  Plus your animations will give the visitors a view of things on the engine that they would NEVER get in real life

Exactly - the Boston museum already has some animations it shows on TV screens, done by someone else that are terrific, but kind of gloss over how the pumps themselves and the valves work, so I will be focussing on some cutaway views of those areas. When I was at the museum touring around the engines with the director, it was amazing for me to get to climb all over the engines, but was also able to pay that back by teaching him how a lot of the details worked since the last time any of thier engines ran was a generation or two ago. The force chambers especially were a mystery to them, they also had questions on the valves and compounding of the cylinders. Like other cities, Boston also had another building full of similar sized pumping engines next door that was all torn down, its great that they were able to save the Allis and the other few engines in the museum.


I'm signed up for a tour of the Cincinatti water museum in May, they have another large engine very like this one (brand of their engine escapes me at the moment), they also had another building with seven of the Holly engines in it, and they still have the giant book of blueprints from that building. Same basic design as the Buffalo ones, but a couple years earlier - will be interesting to look at those plans and see what is different. The historian there has started using my videos to show visitors how the engines looked in action, which is very neat!

I'd love to do a model of the Allis as well to go with the Holly model, but at least right now I'm a little burned out on that style engine. The Allis is basically the same era/size/type engine, but they made a lot of different design decisions than Holly did - not unusual for different manufacturers to have different designs! I may well go back and build a model of the Allis someday - maybe one step smaller in scale though to make it more manageable.

[ddmckee54]

maybe one step smaller in scale though to make it more manageable.

I dunno, then all those 2-56 threaded holes become 00-90's - or smaller.

[crueby]

maybe one step smaller in scale though to make it more manageable.

I dunno, then all those 2-56 threaded holes become 00-90's - or smaller.

Yeah, good point. A bunch were already at 1-72 and 0-80, and I just looked at the valve cranks and levers, would not want to go a lot smaller than the Holly ones without kidnapping George Britnell and giving him a Shop Elf t-shirt...!Could always make a static cutaway version model smaller, but not as much fun without it spinning round under its own power.

[ddmckee54]

One other thing about building smaller models...

The sad fact is, that as I've turned from a young man into an old fart I've found that the scale of MY models has increased.  It is SOOOO much easier to do a good job on a model when you can actually SEE the parts.  It's just that as the scale of the model gets bigger, there are so MANY flippin' details that you can now show - as you are well aware.

Don

[propforward]

[gary.a.ayres]

Wow!

The culmination of huge effort, but it would take many people a lifetime to build something so ambitious.

Absolutely magnificent.

 

[crueby]

Thanks Gary, much appreciated!

[gary.a.ayres]

 

[Stan Stocker]

I somehow missed the completion of this incredible project.  Well Done.  I'll be binge watching both Chris Rueby's (edit made, totally screwed up spelling) youtube videos, AND Gary Ayres' as well.  RC boats, forklifts, great pumping engines, and modular synths...

It's nerdvana!
Best to all,
Stan

[crueby]

I somehow missed the completion of this incredible project.  Well Done.  I'll be binge watching both Chris Reapy's youtube videos, AND Gary Ayres as well.  RC boats, forklifts, great pumping engines, and modular synths...

It's nerdvana!
Best to all,
Stan

[Art K]

Chris,
Sorry to join the end of the parade but somehow this wrap up escaped me. Phenomenal work and it runs and pumps like clockwork.
Art

[crueby]

Chris,
Sorry to join the end of the parade but somehow this wrap up escaped me. Phenomenal work and it runs and pumps like clockwork.
Art

Thanks Art!   


Just heard from the historian at the Cincinnati waterworks museum that they are back to giving monthly tours in April. I'm going to be there in May. They have four huge pumping engines built by RD Wood. Really looking forward to seeing them!

[Mcgyver]

Fantastic work Chris!  (as we've all come to expect from you)

Are the drawings likely to appear in Live Steam at some point?

[crueby]

Fantastic work Chris!  (as we've all come to expect from you)

Are the drawings likely to appear in Live Steam at some point?

Thanks Mcgyver! 

The editor at Live Steam did ask for a writeup on the Holly model, will likely appear this summer or fall after the Mann Wagon is done and before the Marion steam shovel finally starts (that one with plans). Its just a single-issue photo article with overview of the build, no plans for the Holly though in the article.


Are you interested in building a Holly model?

Chris

[Mcgyver]

Absolutely interested....whether that is a sane, rational or practical position is more than a little bit questionable....just based on the volume projects in the queue.  I'm not retired nor as prodigious a builder.  I keep having marvelous machines show up on the stoop that can't resist but they end up taking so much time. 

Anyway, as you publish and buy brass, I publish and buy shop stuff...I think a high resolution SLA printer is a compelling use for some funds.  The resolution and accuracy of some of them are just fantastic, close to a thou.  Lost wax cast engine parts would be one of the highlights of such a set up and those large pipes that model has would be an interesting experiment. 

Its semi idle musing....I'm just not in a position dig into it, but the notion certainly is appealing!

[crueby]

Absolutely interested....whether that is a sane, rational or practical position is more than a little bit questionable....just based on the volume projects in the queue.  I'm not retired nor as prodigious a builder.  I keep having marvelous machine show up on the stoop that can't resist but they end up taking so much time. 

Anyway, as you publish and buy brass, I publish and buy shop stuff...I think a high resolution SLA printer is a compelling use for some funds.  The resolution and accuracy of some of them are just fantastic, close to a thou.  Lost wax cast engine parts would be one of the highlights of such a set up and those large pipes that model has would be an interesting experiment. 

Its semi idle musing....I'm just not in a position dig into it, but the notion certainly is appealing!

Understood!  I did 3d print those lower pipes and housings, no reason the whole thing couldn't be printed a piece at a time, though making it run is less practical. I do have the 3d versions for both the Holly and Allis engines, it would still be a big project and a lot of printing, whether to print final parts or wax masters. Let me know if you want to actually proceed.

[Xldevil]

What a gorgeous engine.A high level of craftsmanship and so amazing to see it working similar to the original.
My deepest respect.
Cheers,Ralph

[crueby]

What a gorgeous engine.A high level of craftsmanship and so amazing to see it working similar to the original.
My deepest respect.
Cheers,Ralph

Thanks Ralph!