Project Vulcan

[Sanjay F]

Is it a bird, is it a plane (British bomber from 1950s) is it the planet where Spock from Star Trek originates or is it an Edgar Westbury Beam Engine?

Now we've clarified that here are some pictures of a rather nice, but at the same time sad looking engine. It rotates manually, but the engineering &  finish are somewhat questionable:

- Odd bolts and screws
- A displacement lubricator which is out of proportion with the rest of the engine
- A broken exhaust
- A flywheel held in place with a nail
- A terrible looking wooden base with faux bricks
- I removed a snapped off screw from the middle ot the top of the beam

and that's a cursory look without going into the mechanical details

I'm going to strip it down to its component parts, clean it up, replace all the bits I don't like or which are not in keeping, or finished incorrectly then build it back up. I think a solid wooden base with the flywheel cut into it with an outrigger bearing would look nice. At some point in the past the engine had a pump, you can see the holes in the base and the spigot where the rod was connected to the beam - I'm going to put that back.

I have copies of the 1950s ME where Edgar Westbury describes the build and interestingly, having read the articles, the castings were not available at the time of writing and in the process of being cast ..... that must've been annoying if you wanted to build it while following along!

Project Vulcan  .........here we go!

[Jasonb]

I'd consider a new crank as well, the thick aluminium one looks out of place.

Change those copper rivits on the eccentric "rod" to iron as it would most likely to have been wrought iron throughout on the full size.

If you go with the outrigger I would want to do some more drastic things with the base casting. It looks more like it belongs on a toy engine than a scale model. Even if the existing were cut lengthways and narrowed it would still have that same look. Myself I would build up something more in keeping, not so tall and bring the flywheel inboard of the outrigger bearing, add a pulley if you want.

This one like so many engines has the outrigger built into a wall, does not suit model engineers as most want the flywheel at the front where it can be seen. It worked a set of pumps in Nicholson's gin distillery, Findsbury London. c 1850

[Roger B]

Looks to be a fun project     

Hopefully the parallel motion is reasonably well made 

[Dave Otto]

That one looks to be somewhat different than the usual Stuart beam engines. Looks like another fun restoration project
I seem to remember that someone here built an engine similar to this from scratch, Willy maybe?

Dave
 

[Sanjay F]

That distillery engine looks very similar or in keeping with the Vulcan. Strange how we all notice different things, I never saw the rivets on the eccentric rod and yes they gotta go! I see what you mean about the outrigger, just move the existing one to the outside.

Did engines have 3 bearings, 2 supporting the flywheel and 1 on the crankshaft end?

I have only seen a couple of these Vulcans with this base others are mounted onto a steel plate - I quite like the one in the photo below. I didn't realise the crankshaft was aluminium let me go check it now!

[Jasonb]

3 bearings would be quite rare. Usually two with one being immediately behind the crank arm/disc. Then you would have the eccentric(s) and flywheel and finally the outrigger bearing. Pulleys could go outside the outrigger or between the two.

Just moving uour outer bearing would leave a lot of redundant casting on that side of the engine. I would be inclined to go for a narrower base more along the lines of a Stuart victoria or Beam but not that tall outrigger support they use. Easy enough to either sandwich a couple of thicknesses of plate together or mill a rebate around a thicker piece and then bond on a few bosse sfor hold down bolts, etc

[Jasonb]

Something like this. Probably needs a cut out to clear the crank arm and a raised boss if you are fitting the pump. Fairly simple piece of 1/4 or 6mm plate with a larger 1/8" or 3mm one below. The pads from the same thickness material as are the D shaped hold down bosses. Or mill from 1/2" or 12mm aluminium and just add the hold down bosses.

Looking at the Westbury article he did not show a bed casting so it is possible the one that Reeves now do which is the same as yours had the pattern made by someone else. that may explain why it is not really upto the detail of the rest of the engine.

[Sanjay F]

I'm looking your drawings and thinking I have all the measurements and boss heights from the current base and could just get it 3d printed including the outrigger piece to look the same? If I used Aluminium how to I attach the D-shaped bosses? A lot to think about!

I found this, clearly someone has put some effort into creating the CAD and animating it:

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKdjQdDY7iU" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKdjQdDY7iU</a>

The actual movement of the engine and parallel motion mechanism seems very smooth when turned by hand:

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsPddgFK_tY" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsPddgFK_tY</a>

[Jasonb]

Bosses can be stuck on with JB Weld. I would probably drill the bosses first, bond on and then finish the holes right through.

It starts to get into the size they say distortion may be possible so if 3D printing add a bit of height to allow for skimming the top raise dpads level and also flating the bottom.

3D printing will be about £150 or you could buy a bit of aluminium flat bar for £15. Add in a couple of nice sharp ali specific cutters and a tube of JBWeld and you would still have change from £30. Sandwich of 1/8, 1/4 and 1/8 would be about the same for metal and JBW.

[Chipswitheverything]

This model is a good candidate for a restoration - an attractive engine and prototype  essentially, but not any sort of historic artifact that needs debate over whether it should be largely left in original condition.
I'd go with the thought about having an outrigger bearing , and the flywheel partly inserted into the base arrangement, ( as I decided to do with my Major Beam build which you have checked out a while back ), I think it makes a pleasing balance of engine and base.
The slimline base design that Jason has indicated would look very nice. Dave

[Jasonb]

If you wanted a slightly simpler option, then the bottom lip could be reduced and just have the holes in the upper surface. Possibly add some small round bosses to them.

[Sanjay F]

I've been doing a little measuring up and moving the flywheel inwards and having an outrigger will not reduce the width of the bedplate significantly (last photo) unless I reduce the flywheel boss which will allow it to move closer to the eccentric.

The first photo shows the outer positions of the flywheel marked with and without the 10mm removed and if you look at the second photo it indicates what the boss would look like with 10mm removed. I'm don't think removing that from the boss will have an impact

EDIT: or turn the flywheel round the other way

[Jasonb]

You might gain another 6mm if you turn the eccentric so that its boss is towards the bearing rather than towards the flywheel.

[Sanjay F]

Yes very true, however, see below - I have spent the day drawing (yes pencil & paper, I really oughta get some free CAD software!) the new base and outrigger to scale and I think it'll look nice presuming I make it correctly  I also added a pad in for the pump. The dotted line is the old width so quite a trim!

The pads are are to the exact size of the fittings which will be placed them, however I will make them 1.5mm wider each side and used a ball nose end mill to get the nice finish.

Question: Is it best to make the pads and screw them in place and fill the screw holes with JB OR soldering them on? If so should I not get myself the bigger soldering nozzle discussed on my previous build

[Jasonb]

I would use a couple of CSK screws in each and a smear of JBWeld to bond them on. It's a big area to heat and not really needed for strength. If you have the threads that hold the various components go down into th emain sheet there is no real load on the pads.

You could add the fillet with filler rather than use a ball end cutter

Should the CL of teh flywheel be above the plate? I would have thought you need it to clear the flywheel and have it's side close to the "pit"