Yet Another Stuart Major Beam Engine

[simplyloco]

Hi folks. I've been absent for a while since I finished all those engines. I've just bought an unfinished Stuart Major that will keep me busy after I've finished my current locomotive, and I see that there is an excellent thread by Chipmaster to follow!



 I've been distracted by this which will be finished shortly...



I look forward to posting on here again.
John

[Jo]

Is this a second Major Beam after that one you beat me to in 2017 

And how's the Britannia coming on 

Jo

[simplyloco]

No, it isn't, as it is is my first Major beam, and the Britannia is just how I want it thank you.  Its condition is my business, not yours, and if you want to criticise or score points may I suggest you do it on the MECH forum?
John

[Jasonb]

Loco in the photo (don't think it is a Brit) looks good and does not look like it will need much more work before you get onto the beam at least to my non loco eyes.

Looks like someone had all the fun of machining the castings and has left you with the fiddly bits at least you won't have the problem of fitting the flywheel onto a lathe. What's the previous workmanship like?

[simplyloco]

Hi Jason. Yes, the 'major' work has been done, and I quite like doing the fiddly bits! What small bits that have been done are not done well, so there's a winter's work for me!
The loco is a Stirling 8 foot Single, circa 1870.
John

[Mcgyver]

That locomotive looks fantastic.  I've a set of major beam castings still aging away....nice to see one where things are getting done!

[simplyloco]

I've done an initial inspection today, just to give me an idea of that which I have bought. Even though the main casting work looks reasonable, there is much to rectify or replace. In summary, if I offered it to my two Shi-Tzus for breakfast they would relish it!
A few examples;
Entablature is two mm too fat against the main column. It ill have to be machined properly to size.


I would be ashamed of these parallel motion links!


As I would these!


This piston rod gland is well oversized and would not grip the packing if it tried!


Here's the porting. BTW the apertures are huge!


Here's the cylinder now that I have marked it out. I hope that he was going to machine the ports to size...


I'll put it all away and finish the Stirling.
Thanks for looking in.
John

[gary.a.ayres]

The loco looks amazing.

The Stuart Major will be quite some project - enjoy!

[simplyloco]

Back onto the Stuart Major as the Stirling Single is now 'resting' on the sideboard in the conservatory! I want to get the major components finished before I attack the detail, so I made a start on the cylinder porting. I haven't used the FB2 mill attachment for yonks, so it was nice to feel a 'real' mill at work rather than my Proxxon BF40. I used a 7/32 3 flute cutter, and just split the scribed lines by eye. The ball end cutter eased the flow in the bottom of the ports. Measuring up afterwards I'm only a a couple of tenths of a millimetre out so that is fine. I'm in two minds as to whether I should 'square up' the port ends. This is a plodding engine, and as I'm getting lazy in my old age I might just leave things as they are!
More tomorrow.
John

[simplyloco]

Mating the base plate to the cylinder casting.

I've got the seasonal activities out of the way so time to crack on! I was very unhappy with the plate/cylinder mating faces, so unhappy that I was seriously thinking of moving the whole thing on! However, I gave myself a shake and told myself "You are a precision engineer! Fix it!" so here are a few pics.

The problem: wrong base screw fixing pcd puts the cylinder 3mm out of position. The only solution was to machine the base plate boss to suit.



I knew that I was pushing my luck with this little boring head...



I removed the tailstock and got stuck in. Lowest revs and a gentle feel on the quill sufficed.



Gently does it until the tool touched the base plate surface.



I call this a result! I'll get rid of the chatter marks with a round file. V. Happy to move on.

[Chipmaster]

Hi John,

it was fortunate the cylinder mounting pad on the bedplate was sufficient to move the cylinder along, looks like an effective recovery.

Andy

[simplyloco]

Yes, I was quite lucky there! I found this archived ad from Station Road Steam. I love the black theme and I rather like the simplified drop links and I might just adopt them!
John
https://www.stationroadsteam.com/stuart-major-beam-engine-stock-code-5274/

[simplyloco]

There's no Valve Chest in the box!

A new CI casting from Stuart Turner is £50 plus postage, which I am not prepared to pay, so I found a bit of flat MS and started work this afternoon.
First job: slit it to size.



Chain drill and chisel it out the old fashioned way. I'm getting used to the new DRO now: that's a 5.8 mm drill being shifted 6.00 mm each time. No dramatic incursions into adjacent holes!


Hacked out with a 10mm 4 flute end mill.


Corners finished off with a 6mm end mill.


Tomorrow I'll make the gland boss and silver solder it in.

[Admiral_dk]

In the end you will be very satisfied with the replacement you made 
But that might not completely remove the annoyance of not getting what you paid for to begin with ....

Best wishes

Per

[simplyloco]

It's OK Per, I bought it from a deceased estate at very little money. It's just a bit of fun!