Vertical Steam Engine build

[cheepo45]

I am working on the vertical engine from the Victorian Stationary Engines book by Stewart Hart (Excellent book by the way!)

 The first part I made was the flywheel (I like flywheels!)

It started out as a 3/4" slice of 5"diameter brass that was given to me by a friend.

The Lathe work was first - face, O.D., trepann the center cutout and finish with boring bars.

Then I set it up on a fixture in the mill. The spokes were cut out using my Prototrak CNC controller.

I then chamfered the spoke edges, flipped the fixture over and chamfered the other side.

It came out really well.
Scott[/img]

[Sanjay F]

You've done a great job there, its looking very nice!

I just looked up the book, it says full build for 3 models and I can see 2 on the front cover, what's the 3rd?

[cheepo45]

The third is a grasshopper hoisting engine - quite ornate!
 Scott

[cheepo45]

The next part I have completed is the top plate.
Sorry, I don't have any in-process pictures, but the part came out great!
I will be painting this metallic grey soon to go with the rest of the engine.
Scott

[Roger B]

Off to a great start   

[cheepo45]

The next completed parts are the Rotunds and Bases for the support columns.
 There was some interesting machining here! The bases are .750 square (19mm)
 Scott

[Sanjay F]

They look really cool, like mini doughnuts  - did you finish one half and then turn them around in the lathe and fix on a mandrel to machine the other side or turn the tool around?

[cheepo45]

I rounded the first side with a corner rounding end mill held in a lathe tool holder, drilled it, parted it most of the way through, then used a hand ground tool for the back radius. After some filing and polishing I parted it the rest of the way off.
 Scott

[cheepo45]

Hello everyone.
I have made some more progress on my engine.

The top plate has been painted, and the pillars and brass acorn nuts and washers have been completed.

I assembled what I could and it's starting to look like something!

 Scott

[Kim]

Those columns look great!  And the acorn nuts really top them off nicely!   

Kim

[cheepo45]

Here is some more progress on my engine.

I finished the base, made the bearing stands, bearings, and mounted the flywheel.

The steam cylinder and linkage is next.

Now that the weather is nicer, I have been busy with yard and outdoor work, as well as fishing when I can.

 Scott

[Michael S.]

It looks good, and I like the floorboards and tiles.

Michael

[cheepo45]

I got the terracotta tile sheet from amazon - they are made for dollhouse floors. I wanted it to look like an industrial building. I like the way its coming out. Now for the steam cylinder and linkage.....
 Scott

[cheepo45]

Hello everyone!

 Now that the dog days of summer are here, I have been able to spend a few nice afternoons in my cool basement shop.

I'm slowly but surely continuing to work on this engine.

The crank arm, cylinder base, cylinder, and cylinder top and bottom caps have been completed.

 Enjoy your summer!

 Scott

[cheepo45]

Hi again. Now that the weather is getting colder, I have done some more work on this engine. The steam cylinder is complete. It was quite a job doing the lagging, but it came out well. I also completed the connecting rod. The dual tapers were interesting to set up. I hadn't used my taper attachment in quite a while, so it was a learning experience! It came out well.
Now I need to work on linkages, etc. so I can have it done by the Cabin Fever Expo show in January.
Thanks for looking, Scott