The Sabino Compound Engine

[Charles Lamont]

Note the highly unusual arrangement of the eccentric strap, with a 'gimbal'.

[crueby]

Note the highly unusual arrangement of the eccentric strap, with a 'gimbal'.

Good eye. The top end of the eccentric rod connects to a crank arm on the Corliss valve, so there is a slight side to side movement of the top end, so they hinged the bottom end.

[crueby]

Back in the shop this morning after the trip, and spent some time bending up the brass rails for the top/bottom of the cladding. These rails have a lip sticking down from the thicker portion, so bending them was interesting. Started with them clamped to the flange on the cylinder blocks, and pulled them around the curve. That tended to twist, so there was a lot of tweaking with pliers and vise and checking the fit. Finally got the top one to fit nicely - this is one piece all the way round, with a joint at the back middle:

The bottom rail is a little different, since there are gussets sticking up from the bottom plate to the cylinder walls, so the rails had to be made in two pieces, one just around the end at the HP end, the other goint the rest of the way round the LP and down the sides.

And yes, the one on the right in that picture is drooping down a bit in the middle, its just set in place, no fasteners yet.
A higher view:

Next step will be to drill/tap some small screws to hold the rails to the flanges...

[crueby]

One of the guys at the museum had a camera drone and got this video of the Lombards on parade:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaT1IP8NL_w" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaT1IP8NL_w</a>

[Roger B]

Spendid    I'm, as ever still following along and enjoying   

I may be visiting the top of Mass later this year so hopefully I can find some time to go exploring. I've been up the Cog on some previous visits 

[crueby]

Spendid  I'm, as ever still following along and enjoying 

I may be visiting the top of Mass later this year so hopefully I can find some time to go exploring. I've been up the Cog on some previous visits 

Lots of great things in that area  let me know if you want some tips on places to go.
 

[steamer]

Spendid    I'm, as ever still following along and enjoying   

I may be visiting the top of Mass later this year so hopefully I can find some time to go exploring. I've been up the Cog on some previous visits 

Let me know if you're in the Leominster Area......

Dave

[Roger B]

I will be in Dracut which from what you said before is not far away 

[steamer]

I will be in Dracut which from what you said before is not far away 

NOPE   Nor far at all.......let me know a week before....maybe we can catch a dinner!'

[crueby]

Another great Lombard video from Saturday, this one by Eric Schade, one of the new engineers we had. Some great angles of the mechanism!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR1QBafvVTs

[RReid]

Those vids, especially the last one, bring back fond memories of running the Bear Harbor Lumber Co. #1 "Gypsy" logging locomotive. I ran the "Falk" also, but the Gypsy was more similar to the Lombard, being geared rather than a rod loco. Wood smoke smells SO MUCH better than coal or oil smoke, like a rolling camp fire. As I see being done with the Lombard, we would take turns being engineer, fireman, or whatever else. My two boys would help with splitting wood, then at the end of the day, after the rides were done but while we still had steam, they would often get a supervised turn at the throttle.

This is not my video, but it gives a good look at the Gypsy:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gE8XLQ44_E" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gE8XLQ44_E</a>

[crueby]

Those vids, especially the last one, bring back fond memories of running the Bear Harbor Lumber Co. #1 "Gypsy" logging locomotive. I ran the "Falk" also, but the Gypsy was more similar to the Lombard, being geared rather than a rod loco. Wood smoke smells SO MUCH better than coal or oil smoke, like a rolling camp fire. As I see being done with the Lombard, we would take turns being engineer, fireman, or whatever else. My two boys would help with splitting wood, then at the end of the day, after the rides were done but while we still had steam, they would often get a supervised turn at the throttle.

This is not my video, but it gives a good look at the Gypsy:
[youtube1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gE8XLQ44_E[/youtube1]

That a neat loco. Some sort of clutch to just run the drum at the front as a winch, like a standalone donkey engine would?

[RReid]

Some sort of clutch to just run the drum at the front as a winch, like a standalone donkey engine would?

Not a clutch, but a sliding gear arrangement to disengage the wheels and engage the drum. Unfortunately that part never functioned during my time with it, and as far as I now still doesn't. Twenty+ years on I don't remember exactly what was missing, broken, or jammed though. According to the latest newsletter the Gypsy has a couple of broken staybolts in the firebox, and the Falk needs to be re-tubed. So for the first time in many (Covid excepted) years there probably won't be any monthly steam-ups and rides this summer.

[crueby]

The brass rails have been drilled/tapped to attach them to the flanges on the cylinder blocks. The rails themselves were tapped as well, while still clamped in place, so the screw engages in both the rail and the block. This way the screw heads can be filed off after final assembly (after painting the blocks later) and still hold the rails in position.

Started with the holes at one end, and worked my way around, putting clamps near the holes to keep the drill from pushing the rail around. Extra holes were put near the cylinder drain holes since most of the rail will be cut through at those points to give room for the drain piping.

For the bottom plates, it was easier to hold them separate from the cylinder blocks. With luck, these are the last holes to go into the bottom plates, which are made from that awful 304 stainless.

To hold the rails in place, I dug out three of the soldering fixtures made for the Mann frame rails, and cut off one end to make three-sided c clamps. As mentioned yesterday, the end by the HP cylinder has a separate short length of the brass rail, due to the vertical gussets. Another rail goes the rest of the way around.

Used a rotary tool bit to trim where the cylinder drains need to go past the rails

I also want to drill the rows of holes for the screws to hold the wood cladding boards, but can't do that till I know where the middle of each board is. So, need to make the boards. They are v-edged on the real engine, so a way to cut the 45 on the edges of the boards was needed. A jig was made out of some more Synthetic Aluminum (also know as Plywood). A slot was milled the size of the boards:

and some blocks of Synth-Ali attached with Synth-Loctite (AKA wood glue) to act as hold-downs. The jig was held in a small vise set at a 45 in the bigger vise, the end mill set to height with some trial and error, and I've started running the boards through to chamfer two edges on each.



End view of the first four boards (for scale, the boards are 0.21" wide)

Each board is long enough to get a pair of finished pieces

Got a pile of lumber to run through, I'll see if I can bribe the shop elves to run them through with some of the lemon sugar cookies made the other day... If not, I'll eat the cookies and do the boards myself!

[cnr6400]

What's all that brown stuff?  Mann, that was a great looking fixture for the brass rail!