Hi Peter, you don’t say what the cylinder is for nor the piston material! steam would cause severe rust problems unless stainless is used. I/C engines need a cast iron liner to keep adequate lubrication film although chrome plating has been used.The problem is that soft steel gets picked up causing seizure. Hydraulic cylinders OK.

                                                                                                                             colin  

For my hot air/ stirling engines, I generally use steel for cylinders and cast iron for pistons, the exception is one with brass cylinder and aluminium piston with a teflon skirt, and one low temperature type with cast iron for both piston an d cylinder. My aims are, one; minimum fricton, two minimum cost, three whats in he junk box, in that order. Don’t know much about steam engines, but cast iron on steel sounds ok, just don’t go steel on steel. Ian S C

Posted by Jack Rogerson 1 on 21/11/2010 07:20:41:

 

 

ABC in O.S.engines do not mean Aluminium, Brass, Chrome. Chrome are replaced with other word: Composite. Or in newer word ABN/ABL

O.S. Mfg. replaced the chrome plating with nickel plating about 15-20 year since . There are some disadvandages with nickel plating in O.S. engines , it will peel of the liner…

 

See this link: abc link 

It is not much we can do with the plating in home workshop, not all folk has acess the plating equipments for home use.

 

The cast iron are good for the steam engines, the piston ring and liner will be made of cast iron. Both will run togheter without sign of abrasion when the steam engine are lubed with steam engine oil.

 

Hey John, that sounds like the Villiers 2 stroke I’v got on an alternator, 20-30 miniuts on load and it starts to slow, if you take it of load then OK , leave it a couple of min, it stops dead until it cools. When it was on a lawn mower it would go for ever flat out, just enough air movement to cool it. I suspect that aluminium and any othe metal + steam would be a no no, electrolitic reaction, corrosion, dead engine. Ian S C

Hi There

Seems it is ok now.

regards David

 

Hi Ramon

I doubt it.

I think the web designer is on holiday until January,.

Will ask him then.

regards David

 

Thanks David – let’s hope

 

Hi Jens – do you have any idea when Super Tigre first brought out ABC piston and liners.? I have been trying to think which was my first engine of this type – possibly a G15 bought in Singapore in ’66? A high revving, very powerful 2.5cc glow motor in it’s day but an absolute devil to hand start especially on suction feed but on pressure feed providing you didn’t flood it  now that was a different matter.

 

Regarding liner / piston material the three engines I have recently built have all had cast iron pistons with, in turn, EN1a, cast iron, and high tensile steel liners. All have proved very compatible but the engine that has bedded in best with exceptionally good compression and piston fit is the one with the liner made from EN1a.

 

Since I made them I have  found an article by George Aldrich which I long ago filed away extolling the merits of cast iron pistons in leaded steel liners. Until this surfaced this had been well forgotten so I was pleased to find it at this time. As it has much to commend for this function it is the way I shall go for my next small IC project which I hope to finally be able to get onto in a couple of weeks from  now.

 

Regards – Ramon

Peter

   In answer to your original query, steel as a cylinder liner in a steam loco is a no no. You will suffer with severe rusting problems, and a compatable material for the piston will also be a problem, as has already been mentioned differential expansion will rear its ugly head. My opinion is that the work involved in fitting gunmetal liners is not worth the agravation. My current loco has cylinders of slightly larger size than that of the Darjeeling. They are of cast iron with cast iron pistons, they have two iron piston rings in each piston. The cylinders were honed as Ray has indicated in his article. When tried on air I needed 50psi to get the thing moving, after a few minutes the pressure was lowered and after 15 mins the chassis ticked over on 5psi. I did make sure that plenty of engine oil (car) was introduced during this period. When the front cover was removed I had a beautiful bore in the cylinder. My advice stick with the cast iron.

‘Bout thirty years ago General Motors tried to build a four cylinder aluminium (or should it be “aluminum”) block with chromed cylinders.  Another one of GM’s abject failures, it proved impossible to bed the rings into the bores.  I think that it was used in the Chevy Chevette or some similar small car attempt before they got the Japanese to build the small stuff for them.  Anyway, the cars drank oil and most finished up on the scrap pile at an early age, the bodies weren’t much good either.

 

Ian