Vulcan Beam Engine Restoration

[Peter HoerleinParticipant @peterhoerlein37724]

I inherited a part finished Vulcan Beam Engine from My Dad.  He never got it running so I thought I would give it a go to see if I could get it running.  Here is a photo of what I started with 

[Jim NicParticipant @jimnic]

That looks like a fair challenge.  Good luck

Jim

[paul raynerParticipant @paulrayner36054]

nice

[Peter HoerleinParticipant @peterhoerlein37724]

Thanks Jim,

 

I have tried a couple of times to add some more photos but it has failed.  I will try with just one photo and see if works.  Most of the components had to be remade or re-machined here is a progress photo

Well that seemed to work I will try some more.  The bridle links were remade as the originals were all different lengths.  The suspension links were remade to the original specification.  Machining the 10BA threads on the end of the link straps was tricky lots of .002″ cuts and a double run over with the 10BA die.

I finally got the engine running on air.  Very satisfying, only wish dad could see it.

 

 

[roy entwistleParticipant @royentwistle24699]

Peter  Your last couple of photos don’t show

 

[Thor 🇳🇴Participant @thor]

Well done Peter.

Thor

[Ches Green UKParticipant @chesgreenuk]

Peter,

What a good looking machine, and well done on completing and getting it running.

Is there a picture of the finished painted engine?

Ches

[Peter HoerleinParticipant @peterhoerlein37724]

Roy,

I think the size of my photos are too large.  I have reduced the sizes of my photos and hence resolution.  Here are the last two photos I have posted.

Detail of the drop links

 

[Peter HoerleinParticipant @peterhoerlein37724]

Ches,

It is not quite finished yet.  I have some steam/water pipes and fittings to make and mount the stop valve and then paint.  Almost done but I have put some more progress photos.

In the mean time I have started another project for one of my grandson’s birthday in February and need to get that finished and then get the Vulcan finished.

The engine was mounted on a 4mm steel plate and attached to Dads original wooden base which was quite well made.

The pump was re-machined and fitted to a new brass water tank.

Some steps and railings were added.

[Peter HoerleinParticipant @peterhoerlein37724]

Some other constructors of the Vulcan have found that the entablature bosses have been casted in the wrong.  Location.  I found the same thing and machined away the bosses and drilled the entablature at the correct location and silver soldered new bosses at the correct location.  When the 3/32″ pin hole was drilled 3 1/6″ from the end of the entablature it was dead centre on the bosses.  I found that this length was critical to get the piston rod to run true to the cylinder

[Peter HoerleinParticipant @peterhoerlein37724]

Edgar T Westbury published a governor design for the Vulcan and I thought I would give it a go.

The governor valve was quite tricky to make and I had three goes at making the spindle. Has anyone else made one of these valves? As I would like to know any times or tricks in making it.   Here is my completed valve.

The bevel gears were imperial and I could not find a supplier of small DP gears so I had a go at machining them.  I had to make the cutters first and then machine the gears.  It was an interesting exercise and the gears turned out OK for a first attempt.

The bridge piece was cast in bronze from a 3D print.  It was first go at casting and the piece was not perfect but it was usable and machined up OK.

Here is the finished governor.  I have found it to be mainly ornamental as it does not control speed and is either fully open or fully closed.  The valve passes and I am not sure how to improve it.  Has anyone else had experience with small governor valves?  and getting them to work properly?

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

The issue of the governer valve may be due to a lack of, or to much damping (friction) ? Or links that are to short ? That bronze casting looks fine from here ! Noel.

[Ches Green UKParticipant @chesgreenuk]

Peter,

I built the Stuart Governor for my Stuart Beam.

It is run off compressed air, and from what I could tell the Governor control of air entering the cylinder was either On or Off. However, steam may behave differently?

Ches

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Small governors are tricky. I think they have to be driven faster than full size, but memory might play me false. There was a very good article by Tubal Cain (the English one, not that American upstart) in ME many years ago. If you want a copy send me a pm

[Ches Green UKParticipant @chesgreenuk]

Duncan,

I found this ME 2017 thread (which you participated in) on Steam Engine Governors ….https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/topic/steam-engine-governors/

Down at the smaller modelling scale some forces, that were insignificant at full size, start to play a more important role eg stiction. It’s a very good read for me.

Ches

[Peter HoerleinParticipant @peterhoerlein37724]

Thanks Noel,

I found that if I had the air pressure just right the governor would be oscillate between open and close and attempt to control speed and hence some dampening would improve control.  I was also wondering the same thing as Ches to see if steam behave differently to air.  I will attache my boiler and see what difference it makes.

Ches, Ducan,

Thanks for info and link I will need to digest it all.  I think I have managed to reduce stiction as much as possible but the travel in the governor is quite small and the lever arm is quite long and hence quite a bit of gain probably making whole system unstable.

I have spent most of my working career calibrating and tuning electro-hydraulic governor on large steam turbines in the power industry but these small mechanical governors are a different beast.

[Peter HoerleinParticipant @peterhoerlein37724]

It has been a while but I finally got around to finishing the beam engine.  Here are a few pictures of the completed restoration.  I have been working a couple of LBSC projects prior to completing this resoration

 

[Peter HoerleinParticipant @peterhoerlein37724]

Here is my build of LBSC kiddies fire engine it was made for my grandson’s 5th Birthday.  It was built from the redrawn metric plans by J.A.M De Waal.

The oscillating steam engine is a little underpowered but it will run at walking pace.  I had to reduce the bore of the pump from 14mm to 10mm to get it to work else it stalled the engine.  It will pump but I would not like to use it to put out a fire.  I initially made all the chassis from steel but this made the fire engine too heavy to run.  I re-made all the chassis and structural components as well as the rear body section out of aluminium and this made a big improvement in the running of the engine.  I only found one mistake on the drawings.  The holes on the chassis for the fuel tank brackets should be M3 not M4.

Here are a few pictures of the completed engine.

[Peter HoerleinParticipant @peterhoerlein37724]

I also finished the LBSC Stanleyette steam car project originally published in ME October 1955.  My uncle started the project but never finished it and asked if I would like it.  I modified the suspension a bit to make it look like the real car.   The engine runs very well and drives the car at quite a pace.  I found that if the fuel tank is filled to the top it  will overflow the burners after a while a there will be a blazing fire under the car as all the metho leaks out onto the ground.  I am not sure what is happening I think the metho is either boiling or expanding from the heat.  I put a overflow screw about half way up on the side of the fuel tank to prevent over filling of the fuel tank.  I had to re-make the cylinders as the 10BA through bolts interfered with the slide rods.  I reduced the 3/32 dimension from the edge of the cylinder by a 1/64 to allow the slide rods to be screwed further into the cylinders.  I got my son to 3d print some patterns for the wheels and I cast these in aluminium and used some Meccano tyres to make it look more authentic.  I would like to know if anyone has either printed or casted  there own tyres.

Here are some pictures of the completed engine

 

 

 

[StevePParticipant @stevepye68246]

Lovely work.

Steve

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Fine work!

It’s good to see some of these lesser-known designs like the steam-car brought to life, too.

[Peter HoerleinParticipant @peterhoerlein37724]

Thanks Steve and Nigel.  I have been retired 2 years now and spend most days in the shed tinkering and I am finding quite enjoyable.

[Author]

Posts