New by looking for recommendations

[bryanhocParticipant @bryanhoc]

Hi all

retired Mechanical Engineer.

have just bought a draper milling machine and lathe for use in my workshop.

i am looking to build a few small steam engines.

I have been looking across the internet but would be interested in any recommendations for companies to buy from.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Assuming you want to buy plans/castings for engines then here are a few for starters.

Blackgates Engineering do 3 or 4 beginners size engines, a couple of which have metric drawings available which you are probably used to working with. Don’t be put off by the catalogue the engines look like this and this and this

Stuart Models are the usual suspects but generally all imperial

Reeves again have some engines suitable for beginners but imperial

Polly do some nice engines but I would not suggest them to start with as they are scale models of full size so more detailed and intricate, quite a few in metric.

There are also a reasonable number of designs about on the net like those by Stuew Hart that go under the Potty banner and I have a couple such as this and this as well as a couple more that are in Model Engineer. For materials my usual port of call is M-Machine do metric and imperial Tooling I have bought from ARC the most over the last 10years or so.

[bryanhocParticipant @bryanhoc]

Many thanks, useful info

 

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Welcome!

I guess you’re looking for a kit?  I’ll open by suggesting a Stuart.   Well established, popular, and their plans are error free I believe.

Not where I started though.  With many exceptions, kits are based on castings, a time honoured way of producing parts in a rough state, that have to be machined to size and finish.

Not for me.   I built engines as a way of learning technique, not for show, and all of them were made from stock.    No castings!  The stock came off-the-shelf from my local metal emporia, but there are several internet sources.   Have a read of this recent thread which discusses a supplier you might choose to avoid!  If going the stock route, avoid unknown scrap, and buy ‘free-cutting’ metal.  (Kits usually supply suitable metal, which is beginner friendly.)

My first engine was a Stewart Hart PottyMill, plans here.  Although this version is unconventional and tightly packed, I found no errors.  Difficulty about right for me as a beginner, made me think, but not too simple or too hard.

I run mine with compressed air because boilers are another game.

I assume you wanted a stationary engine too.   Ask again if a loco is wanted – they’re harder!

Years of fun ahead!

Cheers,

Dave

 

[PlasmaParticipant @plasma]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>All good advice from Jason.</p>
What about attempting a few tool making projects first, get into the feel of your machines before you start on a precision piece?

I did some of the hemingway kits that helped me to make more complex items on the lathe or mill.

Also the late great Harold Halls workshop tools are great to test your machining and bench work.

Only today I made a set of brass and aluminium dishes on the lathe. Two ally ones have a magnet let into the outside of the base to secure them to ferrous  surfaces and retain steel nuts and bolts inside during building og models  the brass ones are mixing cups for painting detail on models. So simple but still can be used to test your skills at machining to a size etc.

Plenty to get i to before you start on steam.

Mick

[Plasma]

On Plasma Said:

a few tool making projects first, get into the feel of your machines before you start on a precision piece?

Mick

Don’t let people catch you saying tool projects are not precision😄😄😄😄😄😄

Dave, there are some errors in Stuart drawings.

[PlasmaParticipant @plasma]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Ha ha you’re right Jason, I made the mini rule holder and height gauge from Hemingway and that needed some level of precision.</p>
The spherical turning tool also needed to be pretty accurate to get right.

As I’ve said before, I’m not an engineer and a lot of my stuff is the back street mechanicking that Fred Dibnah alluded to.

I made a lid for one of the aluminium dishes I mentioned and got a beautiful fit for it, but I wouldn’t say I could make another identical one lol.

Obviously I didn’t know the current level of experience of the OP or the amount of tooling he has access to.

So my suggestions may have been unnecessary.  If it were me I’d try a basic Stuart castings only kit to check my skills before investing in a more expensive kit.

Mick

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, Macc Models do these Live Steam Engine Kits

Regards Nick.

[JasonB]

On JasonB Said:

On Plasma Said:

a few tool making projects first, get into the feel of your machines before you start on a precision piece?

Mick

…

Dave, there are some errors in Stuart drawings.

Stap me, another illusion shattered!

If Bryan is reading this, lesson is don’t assume plans are perfect.   Not even commercial classics that have been around for more than a century.

No version control or any organised way of correcting or even listing mistakes in hobby world. And it’s a mix of professional and amateur work ranging from perfect to poor.  Missing and wrong dimensions, parts that can’t possibly fit together, mislabelling, mixed first and third angle projections, ambiguities, typos, missing lines, unnecessary tolerances etc.

Early LBSC is pretty good, genuinely providing all the ‘words and music’, with few errors, describing engines he’d built and tested.  His later work is more conceptual, and maybe was never built. Other loco designers have a mixed reputation.   Worth checking here and on the loco forums to see what others have found.

I like to start by modelling parts in 3D-CAD from 2D-drawings as a sanity check.  If many parts from the same set of plans are wrong, I model more.  In the absence of 3D-CAD paper and pencil work too.  Another reason for 3D modelling is it provides strong clues about how things might be made in the workshop.

Dave

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Just been looking at some of Jason’s recommendations and alighted on Blackgates for the first time in years and was very surprised at the content and what they are doing to preserve their pattern register by 3d scanning and printing patterns and not just for themselves.

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