Hi all.

[Garry ClaptonParticipant @garryclapton51752]

My name is Garry and I live in Redcar in the north east, I’ve had an interest in model engineering for a long time but never quite found the time to really get into it, hopefully things are changing and I can start building. My strong interest is in traction engines although I will most likely start with small stationary engines..

[Garry ClaptonParticipant @garryclapton51752]

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

Welcome Garry, I went to Redcar Tech back in the 60s and would have landed up working for ICI or Dorman Long, but dad moved to Gt Yarmouth and I landed up working in engineering. You have come to the right place for help or advice, what equipment do you have ? Best Wishes, Noel.

[Jeff DaymanParticipant @jeffdayman43397]

Welcome Garry!

Small stationary engines are an excellent place to start. There are some free plans at the link below. The ones by Elmer Verburg, originally published by Live steam magazine in the USA, are good, and very simple engines to build.

http://www.plans-for-everything.com/hen_steam_engine_plans.html

The Verburg plans are in inches but if you want to work in metric you can easily convert decimal inches to mm by multiplying by 25,4. You can use the nearest metric thread sizes to the machine screw sizes on Verburg plans. #1-72 for example is very close to M1.5, #2-56 is close to M2, #3-48 is close to M2.5, #4-40 is close to M3, etc

As a cautionary note I would suggest staying away from plans by Julius De Waal until you are more experienced. He has a ton of plans online but there are some big problems with some of them, despite the nice CAD work.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Welcome to the hobby.

Stationary engines are a good starting point for model building. With a small one, you have something to show for your labours, quite soon, which builds confidence. A traction engine can be a long term project, rather than a week's work!

But if you are not familiar with machining, make your mistakes, (We all do! ) on mild steel rather than an expensive and possibly difficult to replace, casting.

Getting to know the machine and what you can do with it can be by making simple tools.

Not only will you gain experience, but the tools will be useful for years to come.

Howard

[Thor 🇳🇴Participant @thor]

Hi Garr,

Welcome to the forum. I agree with Jeff, Elmer's simpler engines should be a good start, I have made one of his oscillators. Stew Hart (a forum member) has designed steam engines that are suitable for befinners. In addition to the link Jeff provided; here are a few other links to free plans:

***Link*** (simple oscillator)

***Link***

 

Thor

 

Edited By Thor 🇳🇴 on 04/08/2022 06:44:56

[Mike HurleyParticipant @mikehurley60381]

Thor – Would like to check out your links in the above post, but they all fail on my system as a 'security risk'

Any ideas? or is it just my config?

regards. Mike

[Roger ClarkParticipant @rogerclark]

Posted by Mike Hurley on 04/08/2022 09:37:12:

Thor – Would like to check out your links in the above post, but they all fail on my system as a 'security risk'

Any ideas? or is it just my config?

regards. Mike

Mike, probably your settings as they open up fine on my pc.

Regards Roger

[Thor 🇳🇴Participant @thor]

Hi Mike,

I have sent you a PM.

Thor

[Garry ClaptonParticipant @garryclapton51752]

Thank you all for the welcome and thanks for the links, I’ve seen a lot of the plans posted on Pinterest which I like the look of and that’s most likely where I will start, I still have my metalwork project from school, a block and tackle where I cast and machined the alloy pulleys, machined up the brass centre bushes and fabbed up the hooks and side plates however my career took the path of gaming and amusement engineer which is where I am to this day. Along the way I bought a Myford Super 7 which now needs a refurb, a Modig milling machine and I’ve just recently bought a Warco wm250v lathe. So it’s no longer a case of finding the time but a case of making the time.

many thanks Garry.

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