New member from Staffordshire, England

[PaulR]

Hello, Paul from Staffordshire (England, GB, UK) here.

My interest is mostly in very small steam/air engines, mostly my own experiments with a mini-lathe and files (!) rather than building to existing plans for example:

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNPXCuc9uQ8" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNPXCuc9uQ8</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny2OehkQdiY" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny2OehkQdiY</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLTtAeZw-Sw" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLTtAeZw-Sw</a>

I've also built some of the simpler Elmer's engines.

I decided to take a break about 11 years ago and after a few months of inactivity decided to sell all my gear, tools and materials. Now, I've decided to take up the hobby again, bought a new mini-lathe and fitted out a little corner of my garage but the price of stuff now is a bit of a shock - I'll probably be turning bits of scrap for a few months until I've picked things up again!

Skimming through my old notes and looking at plans and articles I seem to have forgotten most of what I learned so expect to see some beginner questions and machining fails!

[mklotz]

... so expect to see some beginner questions and machining fails!

Welcome aboard, Paul

Keep in mind what one of our shared countrymen (British father, American mother) said...

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. - Winston Churchill

[Michael S.]

Hello and welcome,
these are beautiful little steam engines.
Isn't it like riding a bike? Learned once and never forgotten.

Michael

[Roger B]

Welcome to the Forum   

[paul gough]

Hello Paul, Good to see an experimentalist enthusiast, materials and tools (good ones) are indeed becoming expensive. Anyway welcome to our little corner of the world and hope we see some interesting engines from you. Regards, Paul Gough.

[Kim]

Hi Paul,
Welcome to the forum!  Those are some very nice little engines you've made there!
Kim

[Dave Otto]

Hi Paul, Welcome to MEM!

Dave

[redhouseluv]

Hello from sunny Essex UK (only kidding, no sun, just cold and wet)

Hope you enjoy the forum and I like your engines, I'm sure you'll get back into the swing of things once you start

[PaulR]

Isn't it like riding a bike? Learned once and never forgotten.

At least I haven't lost the knack of silver soldering, something which I enjoy far too much 

Did a test using flux powder and wire and my homemade brazing hearth (aka bits of Thermalite block in a biscuit tin!) which are all well over a decade old. A bit cut from some sort of steel and the end of an old brass towel rail (both of which will be used for engine building) volunteered for the experiment. Took barely a minute and turned out pretty good without any hiccups. Tested by filling the tube with water - it has a pinhole leak but I'm not going to be soldering up any boilers so ho hum!