On Sun, 11 Aug 2013 22:46:48 -0500, Ignoramus12972
wrote:

By the way, my kids want me to make a homemade steam engine. Something
that can be made with basic machine tools, such as lathe and a
mill. At first, I want to avoid steam entirely and just run it from
compressed air.

My question is, does anyone know of a reasonable plan, with valving,
governor, etc, that could be made in a few weekends. Thanks.

i

If you want *really* simple, build an oscillating engine first. You
can build them from scraps and bar stock. There are many plans around;
this is just one I grabbed as an example:

http://www.steves-workshop.co.uk/ste...impleoscil.htm

One of my first projects, when I got my SB lathe, was to build a
Stuart 10V steam engine from a set of Stuart's castings. These make
really nice-looking models that run well and that can develop some
power.

The tricky part of steam engines, for the first-timer, is the boilers.
You apparently recognize that.

--
Ed Huntress