Engines > Your Own Design
Chris's New Steering Engine
crueby:
Back in the shop again this morning, and got the ports/passages for the control valve milled/drilled in. These will direct steam/exhaust to the appropriate ports in the cylinder valves, depending on which direction the control valve is moved. Each end port has a passage out to the side of the valve body.
and the middle port has a hole out to the flange on the bottom, which will get the exhaust pipe soldered to it:
Also cut the valve rod to length, and drilled/tapped the end for a length of 4-40 threaded stock cut off a 1" screw, which will serve to hold the valve slider. In this picture the valve body is set next to the valve rod to help judge the length of the valve rod needed.
Then set the valve body onto the rod to measure the height needed for the frames to hold the control valve to the floor plate.
Next up will make the support frames for the valve body, which will leave the valve slider, the two manifolds out to the cylinders, and some gaskets to make. Oh, and some more pipes for the inlet/exhaust. And the lower chain guides. And anything else I'm forgetting. But, getting close to running it for real!
crueby:
and a simple set of stands made for the control valve...
cnr6400:
:ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: Looking great Chris! Not long until you are ready for functional tests I think!
The valve box on the stands reminds me of those robot deer / big dogs the jokers at D AR PA are developing. Might be an idea to make a second set of parts for making your own robot deer/dog to keep the shop elves out of the Elfensteiner stubbies until quitting time! :Lol:
crueby:
--- Quote from: cnr6400 on June 16, 2025, 07:29:58 pm --- :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: Looking great Chris! Not long until you are ready for functional tests I think!
The valve box on the stands reminds me of those robot deer / big dogs the jokers at D AR PA are developing. Might be an idea to make a second set of parts for making your own robot deer/dog to keep the shop elves out of the Elfensteiner stubbies until quitting time! :Lol:
--- End quote ---
Oh no, now I know what that smell is in the shop - metal deer beans! :paranoia:
crueby:
Took a bit of experimenting to find a way to hold the engine for drilling the floor plate without disassembling it all (and did not want to use the 'unexpected rapid disassembly' method that SpaceX uses on their test rockets), and came up with this spare vise clamped to the mill table:
that would hold the floor plate through the openings for drilling:
That got the holes drilled for holding the control valve frames to the floor
Before bolting it up permanantly, it needs to have the gaskets for the steam chest made, the exhaust pipe soldered to the flange underneath, gaskets made, and the top face lapped for the valve slider. In the meantime, the shop elves were making up teams to use it as an air hockey table...
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