As promised last year, this winters project was the boiler.
Built it up out of some scrap copper pipe and some falloff 18g copper sheet
I had laying around.
All silver and brass brazed joints. I pressure tested it to 75psi. It
puckered the inner fire box a little but nothing scary. I designed the
relief valve to blowoff at a max of 30psi.

I mounted it to the engine and tested it with steam for the first time on
Sunday. I got the engine to chug around a few times, but mostly I found
where the leaks in the pipe joints and packings were.

Yesterday, I tightened up everything and lapped the valve and tried again.

Had a couple of false starts and then chugged to life pretty as you please.

Photos are in the dropbox
pksteam21.txt
pksteam8.JPG
pksteam7.JPG
pksteam6.jpg

I still have to round up some real steam oil and build a displacement oiler.
But that is for another day.

Paul K. Dickman


"Paul K. Dickman" wrote in message news:...
Having spent my entire adult life applying my metalworking skills to the
jewelery and decorative arts trades, Christmas has long ceased to be a
time of good cheer. Instead it has turned into an unending frenzy of other
peoples problems.

To wind down from this time, it has been my custom to use the comparative
lull of the twelve days of Christmas to work on something for my own
amusement.

The last few years it has been a model steam engine. I have had one on my
Christmas list since I was eight years old but never got one. I realized
that I had amassed all the tools and skills I needed to make one, so I
made that my holiday project.

Three years ago I cut all the patterns and cast them. The next year I
fabricated the crank and machined the bearings and crosshead guides from
some scrap bronze I had.

This year I built the base from some half inch angle iron and finally got
around to fitting everything together.

This morning it was, after three years, in a condition to be tested.

I am very pleased. With no more adjustment to the eccentric than the
eyeball method, I oiled it up and hooked it to my compressor.

It popped to life easy as you please, self started at around 12 psi and
chugged along at one stroke a second at 15 psi.

By 20 it was running about 180 rpm and it continue to wind to about 45 psi
where it was running so fast it was going to walk off the bench.

As I said before, I am very pleased.

Next year I'll start on the boiler.

Paul K. Dickman