A Mini Tower Clock

[crueby]

The mini-tower clock is awesome!

I'm not sure if you have already said this, but how long does it run on a wind?

Thanks!


It goes for about 4 days on a full wind, I think.  Not sure when the spring tension gets low enough to throw off the tick period, up to now I've  been making changes too often to run uninterrupted.  Its keeping good time now and in its final location, and I am  keeping notes now. When I  designed it I  didn't know  how many turns these spring drums gave, they just spec what clocks they fit, no tech details, so I  was taking a chance on them. 3 or 4 days between  winds is fine, longer than my antique chronometer  with a 56 hour run, worse than my more modern clocks. Way better than my antique  ships clock that needs winding every day!

[Kim]

And 3 or 4 days is plenty if you have your steam winding engine setup to wind the clock automatically!   Though you may want to put in the ability to block certain hours for winding so you don't wake up when the engine kicks in at 2:00am! 

Kim

[crueby]

And 3 or 4 days is plenty if you have your steam winding engine setup to wind the clock automatically!   Though you may want to put in the ability to block certain hours for winding so you don't wake up when the engine kicks in at 2:00am! 

Kim

And the compressor kicking in to top up the tank at 2:01am...   

[cnr6400]

Could be worse - if you had a steam boiler powering the engine the unmuffled safety valve could blow off at 2 am , 330 am, 415 am, etc.   

[crueby]

Could be worse - if you had a steam boiler powering the engine the unmuffled safety valve could blow off at 2 am , 330 am, 415 am, etc.   

THAT would wake me up fast!

[crueby]

With the click springs assembled onto the chain sprocket shafts, the striking clock was re-assembled. Added a larger fan blade to the strike fan to slow it a little bit too.

Got it back up on the wall shelf, threaded in the new chains, and it started back up running for the first time in several years:

Great to have it going again! Also put the tower clock into its place in the Engine Room, keeping the Sabino engine company:

So, that wraps up the side clock projects! Thanks for following along.   

Now, back to the steam engines!!      First decision was which one to build next.      One that I've been drawing up in the background for a while is the oscillating engine from the steamship Diesbar over in Germany. Michael from this forum has been helping me a lot with it, getting pictures and finding videos showing it running. He had pointed me at a book with plans for a model version, but it was smaller scale and simplified from the original, and I wanted to have the model be more true to the real engine. I started a new CAD drawing from scratch, using all the pictures and the known key measurements (bore/stroke, etc) as a guide. Here is where the CAD version stands now:

and an animation showing how it all moves:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvpaEwQNF1A" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvpaEwQNF1A</a>
I do not have the 2D drawings generated yet, plus there is another set of engines that I have been wanting to build for a long time: the collection of slew/crowd engines from the steam shovels that I have drawn up:

Clockwise from the top (appropriate for this thread  ) are the Erie, Bucyrus, Marion, and Thew versions of slew/crowd engines from early 1900s steam shovels. I built small versions of the Marion engine for my Marion 91 model years ago. As is common with small bore steam engines, they like to run at a faster speed than larger ones, so this time I upped the scales so they wound up with around 1" diameter pistons. All of these engines use a valve system that allows them to run forward and reverse with a single eccentric, controlled by a single lever that also controls the speed of the engine. They all did the same functions, swinging the boom side to side (slew) and pushing the dipper stick with the bucket in and out (crowd), on the steam shovels. The valve systems are all based on the same original patent from the mid 1800s, but with slightly different arrangements of the parts. I think they would make a neat collection of engines, all built to a similar size in the 1:6 to 1:8 scale range.

To show what one of the engines built for the Marion 91 model years ago runs like, here is a short video:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roqZ7EZn_1k" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roqZ7EZn_1k</a>

So, that will be the next build - four engines. The other question is which to build first?     Then I had the idea of building them all at once, going through each subassembly four times - cylinder, steam chest, crosshead, etc, alternating through the four. The setups for each would be pretty much the same. Could be interesting to try this approach! Given all the almost-same parts, I'll need to set up four zones on the assembly bench to keep them all together with the proper engine! First I'll need to set out some shop-gnome traps to make sure no parts get stolen...  I have the 2D paper plans for each one all ready to go, scaled to the sizes for this build (these builds?) Also have a couple lengths of 2" and 2-1/4" brass round bar (bought cheap as drops from a commercial supplier) suitable for the cylinders and crosshead guides.

When I built the smaller versions of the Marion engines, I carved the main frame/crossheads and cylinder blocks/steam chests out of single blocks of steel. This time, with the larger scale, the subassemblies will have to be pieced up, which will require lots more silver soldering to make up the equivalent of the castings that the original engines were built from.

The shop elves are getting things in the shop ready, picking bar stock, laying out plans, and the apprentice-elf is getting things cleaned up from the clock work. I'll be starting a new thread soon...
Chris

[Michael S.]

That's a good sign! 👍 The steam engines used for dredging look interesting.

I haven't received any further information about the Diesbar paddle steamer engine yet. It could be because the paddle steamers are in winter storage.

Michael 

[crueby]

Thanks Michael!

For those who have not seen it, here is the page for the Marion 91 model.
https://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php/topic,9265.0.html

There is also a build log:
https://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php/topic,7530.0.html

The Marion 91 is a favorite of mine since the original machine is only about 15 minutes drive from home...

[crueby]

With all the clocks ticking away, its put the shop elves to sleep...  Dreaming of new tools, counting sheep jumping over Bridgeports...  beer trucks making deliveries...   

[bent]

Awesome job on the clocks, Chris!  Amazing time warp you developed to get it all done, too! 

[pgp001]

Hi Chris

You are making some very impessive progress there.

Looking at your collection of four engines, one thing I noticed is that some of the valve rods are operated via a lever, how does this affect the gland seal etc where they enter the steam chest.
It looks like the valve rod will not be running in a straight line due to the arc of the lever. It obviously works because you have already done it, but just curious if that is how the full size one was designed.

Phil P

[crueby]

Hi Chris

You are making some very impessive progress there.

Looking at your collection of four engines, one thing I noticed is that some of the valve rods are operated via a lever, how does this affect the gland seal etc where they enter the steam chest.
It looks like the valve rod will not be running in a straight line due to the arc of the lever. It obviously works because you have already done it, but just curious if that is how the full size one was designed.

Phil P

Hi Phil,


That is exactly how the full sized engines were made. I first encountered it on the Lombard Log Hauler valve rods for its main engine. The lever only moves a few degrees so the rise/fall of the arc, which is centered on the travel, is tiny. The gland packing would allow that small wobble, and the way the rod goes through a slot in the valve does as well. They did not slot the connection from the lever to the valve rod.


I'll  put up a couple pics in a little while.
EDIT: Here are the pictures of a couple examples. First, the Lombard log hauler, which has the same kind of lever arrangement to the valve rod on top of the cylinder, the lever on the right end has a firm link to the valve rod, but since it moves just a few degrees you can't really see the rise/fall on the rod, which has enough flex and play in the gland to handle that:

This is the steering engine on the Marion, which is exactly the same as the slew/crowd engines, just 1/3 smaller and mounted vertically:

and the slew engine from the 91:

I have factory plans from a couple of the manufacturers showing the same thing. So, not uncommon!

[pgp001]

Chris

Thanks for that information, very interesting. I have not come across that arrangement before.
I bet modelling in CAD was a challenge, that arrangement would be tricky to animate as an assembly.

Phil P

[crueby]

Chris

Thanks for that information, very interesting. I have not come across that arrangement before.
I bet modelling in CAD was a challenge, that arrangement would be tricky to animate as an assembly.

Phil P

True on the CAD animation, that connection would have to be jointed as a pin-slot type probably, even though it isn't one. I did not animate those engines, so did not have the problem!