Another mystery engine.....

[Sanjay F]

While I'm waiting for various bits to arrive for my next build I pulled this shiny little brass engine off the 'to do' shelf to see if I can get it to run. I don't know who made it or when but it has a few interesting features

1. Reversing gear (which I've never played with), but presume when the lever is over to the left the engine turns clockwise and vice versa; judging from the position of the eccentrics?
2. No valve chest cover, which means setting the timing is going to be guess work! I think I'll try keep turning one eccentric until it does something
3. No valve rod adjustment so have to presume the valve rod is positioned so ports open evenly?

Does anyone have one of these or recognise it from somewhere or have any clever ideas of how to set the timing when I can't see the ports - x-ray vision would be helpful 

https://youtube.com/shorts/Hqp3b2XPbVk

[Sanjay F]

Here's the action atm, all very rickety and I think there should be a bolt at the the top of the lever arm to hold it in position?

Also a contender for the 'wonky flywheel' award! 

https://youtube.com/shorts/BfzYmnWc3Eo?feature=share

[crueby]

Yes, normally there would be a bolt in that hole at the top and through the curved slot to keep it in position, with some sort of levered or winged nut so you could put it in position and lock it there..

[Jasonb]

You can often look through the inlet hole in the side of the chest and watch the valve, as there is no nut put a mark centrally on the sid eof the valve so you can see that it moves equally each side of central.

There should be a bolt with knurled nut or lever to lock the position of the valve lever to the quadrant that is part of the top of the valve chest

[Sanjay F]

You can often look through the inlet hole in the side of the chest and watch the valve, as there is no nut put a mark centrally on the sid eof the valve so you can see that it moves equally each side of central.

There should be a bolt with knurled nut or lever to lock the position of the valve lever to the quadrant that is part of the top of the valve chest

Looking through the inlet, that'a a good idea, I'll do that now! I've just put a 7BA nut and bolt through the hole in the lever for now and it's starting to behave less erratically.

The flywheel screws onto the crankshaft and is then locked with a nut on the front. I've never seen that before but the trouble is it pushes the back of the flywheel against the metal base, so will need another nut or spacer behind it to prevent that happening

[Chipswitheverything]

With the deep heads on the hand made bolts, and the general style , and much use of brass, I would think that this engine is quite considerably old, going back to the time that Model Engineer Magazine very first appeared - late Victorian era? Dave

[Sanjay F]

With the deep heads on the hand made bolts, and the general style , and much use of brass, I would think that this engine is quite considerably old, going back to the time that Model Engineer Magazine very first appeared - late Victorian era? Dave

Oh wow really I did notice the bolts are strange, the heads are very long unlike anything I've seen before.

Good news though, after a few hours of messing around with both eccentrics we have a running engine in both directions! Definitely could do with the timing tweaking and try and ignore the flywheel motion when you watch the video! 

https://youtube.com/shorts/6D0SZ5J13ho?feature=share

[Admiral_dk]

Great improvement Sanjay 

Per 

[Grateful Ted]

Now that’s a little engine with big personality.
I like it, wobbly flywheel and all.  :-)

[Michael S.]

I'm glad the little motor is running again. And in both directions, too.

From the first few pictures, it looks like the motor was once gold-plated?

Best regards, Michael

[Sanjay F]

I actually wondered if it had been brass plated, which I didn't know was possible until I looked it up. There's the usual electroplating and a process called 'brassing' which I'd never heard of?

A gold plated engine would be cool, need a home test kit 

[crueby]

I thought 'brassing' was wearing away the outer plating to expose the brass surface of the part underneath?

[Sanjay F]

I'm no expert, far from it, but read this

"Brassing" is a technique where a thin layer of brass is deposited onto steel by heating the steel and using a brass brush or wheel to rub the brass onto the surface.
The heat causes the brass to melt slightly, and the friction from the brush or wheel helps to bond it to the steel.
This method is often used for decorative purposes and can be done with relatively simple tools like a torch and a brass brush or wheel.
The success of this method depends on the compatibility of the metals and the ability to control the heat and friction.

[crueby]

Interesting, never heard of that technique. Sounds complicated!

[Vixen]

It is also possible to do brass electroplating in an industrial setting. They use copper cyanide and zinc cyanide electrolytes and separate copper and zinc anodes, each has a separate power supply to allow control the brass alloy ratio.
Not the sort of stuff for kiddies should try at home. 

Mike