What do you want?

[Alyn Foundry]

What do you want?
I’m not a fan of steam engines, of an age when there were still plenty about doing the jobs they were made for. My interest lies in the evolution of the internal combustion engine and the diversity the era spawned.

The four stroke cycle, or Otto cycle named after its inventor NA Otto became the standard for virtually every engine throughout the last two centuries. For us model engineers simple 2:1 ratio gears are readily and more importantly, cheaply available in a multitude of Metric sizes and forms.  Back in the day it was timing gears, or the lack of them that dictated what kind of model was going to be built.  So…. is there any  interest in something new? Back to the title, what do you want?  I recently acquired a Bonny wee Tom Senior ’ simplex ‘ 1/12th HP engine very easy to build and get running.  Is this the sort of thing you folks want? What’s the criteria? Size, weight, material, complexity or, quite simply the price?
As they say up here in the North. ‘ speak thee mind ‘


   Graham.

[Vixen]

Hello Graham,

Not sure you would want to offer the type of multi-cylinder engine which appeal to me. However, I am sure the members will have lots of ideas and requests for the engines of your preferred era.

Nice set of oil lamps there. 'Down South' we are still very excited with the running water and gas light, there is even talk about 'lectricity'.

Cheers   

Mike

[Jasonb]

I think keeping the flywheels to around 175mm (7") will appeal to more people these days. I used to be that 9" would fit a Myford gap but with more Mini-Lathes about 7" would open up the market to more. This also keeps the castings and other materials to a reasomable cost

Open crank so you can see what is going on will tend to be more appealing as well as something that runs quite slowly.

Spark ignition is probably better in these sort of 25-30mm bore engines unless you have a very out of scale hot tube

Your Little Tom would be a good candidate and is something I have been saving up a few images for. With a bit of planning the same castings could probably be used for both push rod and side rod types

Horizontal seem more popular than verticals but I think that depends a bit on the subject, you know what I have started drawing up but with 225mm flywheels and hot tube it goes against what I said above. Though it would not be hard to scale it down and run with a 1/4 x 32 plug

I've had a bit of a run on steam engines lately, another finished a couple of days ago and I do seem to like those. Next will be a Raab Stirling style engine.

[Alyn Foundry]

Hello Graham,


Nice set of oil lamps there. 'Down South' we are still very excited with the running water and gas light, there is even talk about 'lectricity'.

Cheers   

Mike

Aye, the trusty 300 CP Aladdin’s all primed and ready for action. You Southerners are so lucky with your secure urban networks. The rural communities are much less fortunate, particularly in stormy weather.

   Graham.

I should have mentioned that due to collecting and exhibiting stationary engines a rare and incurable virus can be contracted called ‘ Tilley lamp fever ‘ as a consequence I now own an innumerable number of Paraffin lamps of varying degrees of rarity.

 

[Jo]

No idea what you are on about Graham

I want to be able to go out in the workshop and after half an hour, not get brain fog and to be able to continue making swarf for the rest of the day.



Record down in rural Hampshire for electricity outages was Christmas eve to New years day inclusive, 8 days. Many a Turkey was BBQed that year but the fact it was so cold meant we could safely leave out freezer contents outside to prevent it spoiling  . My neighbour has an internet speed which peaks at 300KBps, there is a malicious rumour that the phone is due to go over to fibre optic at some point which should improve the internet speed and yet still they still try to tell us than we are an advanced country  The gas mains has yet to reach us  and I would still be lifting water from my well except the local water company sucked the ground beneath my feet dry and were obliged to pipe water to the village and my household had to pay to connect to it to replace our private supply that they stole .

Jo

[Jasonb]

I suppose it is one of those things if you choose to live off the beaten track.

Back to canvasing what people might like in a new casting set which is what I took the opening post to be about.

One big decision is should it be a replica of an actual engine or would a freelance be accepted. Some of your more popular sellers have been freelance such as the CHUKs and RLE. This does have the advantage of being able to keep patterns and parts fairly simple which not only keeps costs down but would hopefully attract more to have a go rather than a complex close to scale replica like a Retlas or Gardner.

Could also be worth thinking if any of your existing patterns could be used. The Nattie with a change of head can be built as a side shaft a sI have done. The Ideal again with a change of head and a second boss for the cam stud bonded into the frame could again become a 4-stroke. Or forget the cam and make it a small epicyclic like the X-type. Just have atmospheric inlet and a rocker arm to do a conventional cam.

[Alyn Foundry]

No idea what you are on about Graham

I want to be able to go out in the workshop and after half an hour, not get brain fog and to be able to continue making swarf for the rest of the day.

Jo

You and me both Jo.
However Jason has addressed the question quite succinctly. Many of the engines I built over the years were based upon those rare and virtually unobtainable full size models that you see once in a while at the steam rallies.

Has the age of the model IC engine come to an end or is it down to the current economic climate?

Ah well, I think the next one will be one of these….

https://youtube.com/shorts/6OkECzIwZo8?feature=shared

   Graham.

[Jasonb]

Didn't Wayne Grenning do one of the similar Sombart Engines as a kit/ready made at one time. It's a nice subject but will it run on readily available gas? or could it have a hidden spark plug at the bottom with just a decorative carrier flame?

[Alyn Foundry]

Yes he did.

As of late the curator of the Anson engine museum has managed to get two of their non compression, open flame ignition engines to run on plain, ordinary Propane gas. Apparently the secret is to get the touch hole hot enough so that ignition commences. A hidden spark plug is also another option…. 

   Graham.

[Dave Otto]

As far as I know the Sombart was the only casting kit that Wayne ever offered. All of his remaining engines were only sold as finished  running engines.

Dave