I've just started my first – an S50. Only reason I chose it though was it was the cheapest horizontal engine they made (I had / have a preference for horizontal over vertical) so can't advise for / against the others though.

Have been impressed by the castings, kit and drawings so far. Tubal Cains has a write up in Model Engineering for the S50 if you're worried about the lack of books etc.

Good luck!

Joel

Brian

I fully endorse Jasons comments. If you go with the 10 H or V it will be very useful to have Harold's write up to "hold your hand" as you proceed. My experience with ST castings ( albeit from some years ago) is that they are of good quality and without hard spots or blow holes.

The only "difficulty" with machining at college is that the machinery is probably used to dealing with rather larger "stuff" than these small steam engines! It will still deal with the small ST parts of course but the set-ups may be more fiddly. The other problem I found at evening classes ( apart from that they were too short!) was that tools were often blunt or, again, destined for larger projects – so you will get practice in sharpening. It may be a good idea to reserve or supply your own tool bits for the project and keep them with your part completed work so that you don't need to waste time searching for and sharpening the tools each time.

I guess all the college equipment is metric and, unless things have changed, ST stuff is imperial. Again not a big problem but something to bear in mind as you will need to decide on one or the other and carry out the appropriate conversions – buy a cheap pocket calculator to keep in your overall pocket.

Regards

Norman

Edited By NJH on 26/11/2012 17:53:37

As Jason says personal preference comes to the fore in the choice between horizontal or vertical engines, the making of bits is the making of bits whichever configuration they are going tio end up in.

I finished a 10V a couple of months ago as my second project and used both Harold Hall's series in ME and the published booklet (which was primarily bought because it had the drawings converted to metric measurement) for guidance. I found that in many instances I took advice from the 2 sources and then found my own way of doing things. The Standard, or "A" frame, posed no particular difficulties in milling the feet and cylinder mounting face and as you are working at College I guess you will have access to a milling machine as well as a lathe.

I also have a 10H which I assembled from a ready machined kit and find that they are both equally fascinating to watch running. It really matters not what you build as long as you do it as well as you can and at the end see the thing spinning over. The sense of achievement is surprisingly gratifying.

Jim

Brian,

Tubal Cain articles are available on this very site, linked to from near the end of this thread

**LINK**

in ten PDFs. Worth downloading if you are buying the S50.

Gary