On Sun, 13 Jul 2003 21:12:51 GMT, Gunner
wrote:

A thread came up a day or three ago, about building some sort of motor
to run a small generator or a belt to supply power to :stuff: in
either remote locations or in the event of a long term power failure.

A serious question to the group....in your individual opinions, does
anyone have any suggestions for a simply made from common materials,
with minimal machining, steam engine?

Would it be possible to convert an internal combustion engine, for
example a VW engine, to run on steam?

Given the numbers of steamers here on RCM, and itinerant inventors,
somebody should have some ideas. Think of it as Junk Yard Wars.....

The only criteria is that it be easy to assemble from common
materials, capable of running an automotive generator (at the least)
and can be done with minimal tools, or simple machine tools. If it can
be scaled up for larger gennys/line shafts, that would be a plus.

Thanks in advance, let the fun begin.

Gunner

When I was a kid I made a 3.5 hp B&S into a steam engine. Pretty
easy. Dissassemble the engine, yank out the camshaft, weld lobes on
the back side of each cam, take the shaft to the belly grinder and
clean it up. Square it up some mroe with a file. Re-assemble. Ditch
the Carb and exhaust. I think I may have put the intake in the
exhaust port (it was allready threaded nice for a pipe nipple). It
ran ok off the air compressor, can't remember what pressure, wasn't
much as I just held the air gun in the intake pipe and wrapped my
glove around it to make it seal well enough to run.. Would have run
better with an additional flywheel to carry it from one cycle to the
next. It ran though, and didn't take much.

Funny thing is a couple years later I was fixing an engine for my
go-kart, it had a busted cam. The only engine I had sitting around
with a cam that would fit was the one in my steam engine........ I
wasn't old enough to drive so I didn't have any other recourse. Yup,
pulled the shaft, ground off my built up lobes, filed them clean. Bit
of emmery cloth and the cam was in my engine. thought it might tear
up the followers, but the thing ran fine for years. Think I still got
it somewhere.

Dave