Engines > Your Own Design
Chris's New Steering Engine
Michael S.:
It's always amazing how many versions of steering motors there are. Your new motor looks great, and it's going to be an interesting project.
That reminds me: the paddle steamer, which is a museum in my town, also has a steering engine that looks completely different. I definitely have to go there and take some photos.
Michael
( I found a picture on the internet. )
crueby:
--- Quote from: Michael S. on May 03, 2025, 08:35:37 PM ---It's always amazing how many versions of steering motors there are. Your new motor looks great, and it's going to be an interesting project.
That reminds me: the paddle steamer, which is a museum in my town, also has a steering engine that looks completely different. I definitely have to go there and take some photos.
Michael
( I found a picture on the internet. )
--- End quote ---
Interesting layout! I've seen other ones with the angled cylinders like that in some of the early patents, and in catalogs like from Hyde if I recall correctly. It would be interesting to see more pictures and details of that one.
The Liberty Ship had a fairly large one, cylinders on either side, that was geared directly to the rudder post. That one had control rods leading forward and up to the bridge where the steering wheel is. All sorts of designs of them! Until I saw the one at Mystic Seaport I never knew about steering engines, never thought or realized they would be needed.
crueby:
After drilling/boring the cylinders and crosshead guides out to 0.8" of the 1" final bore, I moved over to the mill to cut the flats for the mounting bases and steam chest bases. Measured a number of times to ensure these flats would not encroach on the final bores!
and also cut/trimmed the blocks for the bases. They fit between the flanges at the ends of the cylinders. Final cut was a light truing cut on the faces that will be against the cylinder flats and soldered, since raw flat bar stock is never quite flat and true - holding a piece against a good straightedge and up to a bright light will usually show a little wavyness across the width.
Here are the parts so far:
Next step will be to drill/tap some for some small screws to hold the blocks in position against the cylinders for soldering, then will take them outside to silver solder them. I also like to put a few small center punch marks on the flats of the blocks so there will be room for the solder to wick in.
crueby:
Was up bright and early today (well, it was cloudy, so dim and early? :Lol: ) and got the screws in to hold the mounting base and the steam chest base drilled/tapped for a brass screw to hold them together for silver soldering. The holes were drilled tap-size in through the joint, with the blocks clamped in place, then tapped with the blocks still in the clamps. That way there is no clearance size hole to give it wiggle room. Here are the parts, ready for soldering:
The screws are to the side of future fasteners and passages. Turned out one screw on each was enough to hold things. Then outside to solder them up, and into the pickle solution for a while to clean them up. The solder flowed nicely through the joints, and I could even see it come out up higher at the edges of the flanges - I used some extra solder to ensure good coverage right through the seams, so there would be no leaks out from the passages. Here are the parts so far:
Then, after making a list of steps for all the operations to come, I chucked up the first cylinder and took a light trueing cut down the bore. You can see that I used a hose clamp to attach a scrap block of brass to counterbalance the cylinder, the two soldered on blocks took it way off balance and made the lathe want to shake above very low speeds. With this on there, it runs pretty smooth. I have some stick-on wheel weights that I could have used in addition, but were not needed this time.
Then got out the bore gauge, and found the right tip combination for this size hole, and checked for any taper down the length of the bore.
It turns (pun!) out that there was a couple thou difference end to end (over 1.6") so I tweaked the headstock over slightly, and on the second attempt it was right on the money. Got lucky, usually takes a couple tries. So, then was ready to bore it out the rest of the way. I swtched to a larger diameter bar, since this one was ringing just a little at higher speeds - it was no problem on starting the hole, but now that the hole is larger I could switch over.
The bore came out glass smooth, and I also took a trueing cut on the face of the flange so the crosshead guide would bolt on square to the bore, and put a slight chamfer on the corner into the bore to make it easier to get the piston/ring started.
Next session I'll move the chuck with the cylinder still in place over to the rotary table on the mill to drill the holes for the end cap and crosshead to attach to. Then will chuck up the end cap, drill it, as well as the hole for the piston rod and its ring. Then bore and drill the crosshead guide to match the hole pattern. After that, will do the same sequence on the other cylinder. After all that, it will be time to trim off the excess material at the outer end of the cylinder, and drill it and the end cap. Keeping things in this order should ensure that all the parts line up when bolted together. Lots to keep track of, which is why I started by making the list!
Michael S.:
The cylinders don't have any time to rest. They're always rotating, and then they have to lose weight.
A good start on the cylinder! :cheers:
Michael
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