Have any folks here been to the Sycamore Steam Show in Sycamore, Illinois
before?

http://www.threshingbee.org/

It's not clear from the site if they actually fire anything up of if it's
just a picnic with lots of tractors in display.

On Tue, 6 Aug 2013 17:23:50 +0000 (UTC), Cydrome Leader
wrote:

Have any folks here been to the Sycamore Steam Show in Sycamore, Illinois
before?

http://www.threshingbee.org/

It's not clear from the site if they actually fire anything up of if it's
just a picnic with lots of tractors in display.


In years past they have had a saw mill running and a daily parade of
antique tractors, usually including at least a few steam traction
engines, plus displays of stationary engines from models up to full
size (=100 HP), many of which are running during the show. It's well
worth a few hours and the weather this weekend looks pretty decent so
far as temperature is concerned.

If you are in the Geneseo IL area, this is another good show:

http://ae-ta.com/

On Sat, 10 Aug 2013 12:54:32 -0500, Anonymous wrote:
On Tue, 6 Aug 2013 17:23:50 +0000 (UTC), Cydrome Leader wrote:
Have any folks here been to the Sycamore Steam Show in Sycamore, Illinois
before?

http://www.threshingbee.org/

It's not clear from the site if they actually fire anything up of if it's
just a picnic with lots of tractors in display.

In years past they have had a saw mill running and a daily parade of
antique tractors, usually including at least a few steam traction
engines, plus displays of stationary engines from models up to full
size (=100 HP), many of which are running during the show. It's well
worth a few hours and the weather this weekend looks pretty decent so
far as temperature is concerned.

If you are in the Geneseo IL area, this is another good show:
http://ae-ta.com/

The Oblong, IL steam show is on this weekend, 9 Aug - 11 Aug 2013
http://www.eventcrazy.com/Oblong-IL/events/details/4532-Antique-Tractor-and-Engine-Show
(http://www.theonlyoblong.com/antique_engine/ shows last year's dates)

Oblong's in eastern IL, about an hour away from Effingham,
Terre Haute, and Vincennes.

Watching the large engines (100 hp Fairbanks-Morse, 75 hp Superior,
60 hp Muncie) start up is pretty interesting. There are a lot of
small engines, models, antique cars, and steam tractors as well.

--
jiw

Thanks for mentioning that event.

I was at that show today, it was great. Lots of amazing looking steam
tractors, hay threshing, all kinds of fun things, a little bit of
everything for all ages. It also was not a ripoff, like those
"festivals".

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-2...811_150920.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6...811_145457.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-I...811_132939.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-g...811_132511.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ6sCd6II0U

i

On Sun, 11 Aug 2013 17:23:08 -0500, Ignoramus12972
wrote:

Thanks for mentioning that event.

I was at that show today, it was great. Lots of amazing looking steam
tractors, hay threshing, all kinds of fun things, a little bit of
everything for all ages. It also was not a ripoff, like those
"festivals".

Yeah, those are fun, aren't they? We have Pottsville up here. Back in
LoCal, we had the Antique Steam and Gas Museum. Same same. Parades
around their acreage including steam traction engines, tractors, old
paving machines, steam locos on sections of track going nowhere but
looking good with a head of steam, wheelwrights making wheels,
blacksmiths installing red-hot steel 'tires' or making gew jaws,
watching hit'n'miss engines powering antique sheep shears, kids
getting dirty and having fun. All in all, a good day every time.
I bought some of my Stanley hand planes and other antique hand tools
at those shindigs, usually for a song.


https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-2...811_150920.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6...811_145457.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-I...811_132939.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-g...811_132511.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ6sCd6II0U

i

--
They must find it difficult,
those who have taken authority as truth,
rather than truth as authority.
-- Gerald Massey, Egyptologist

On 2013-08-11, Larry Jaques wrote:
Yeah, those are fun, aren't they? We have Pottsville up here. Back in
LoCal, we had the Antique Steam and Gas Museum. Same same. Parades

Yes, great all around. But I have a question. Those flat belts, if
they are of considerable length, are folded into "figure 8". I wonder
why, to avoid thel flopping around?

i

Ignoramus12972 wrote:

On 2013-08-11, Larry Jaques wrote:
Yeah, those are fun, aren't they? We have Pottsville up here. Back in
LoCal, we had the Antique Steam and Gas Museum. Same same. Parades

Yes, great all around. But I have a question. Those flat belts, if
they are of considerable length, are folded into "figure 8". I wonder
why, to avoid thel flopping around?

Do you mean why are they given a twist so that
they are shaped like a Mobius strip.

The reason is it makes the belt last longer because the belt
contacts the pulleys on both sides.

-jim



i

On Sun, 11 Aug 2013 18:09:10 -0500, Ignoramus12972
wrote:

On 2013-08-11, Larry Jaques wrote:
Yeah, those are fun, aren't they? We have Pottsville up here. Back in
LoCal, we had the Antique Steam and Gas Museum. Same same. Parades

Yes, great all around. But I have a question. Those flat belts, if
they are of considerable length, are folded into "figure 8". I wonder
why, to avoid thel flopping around?

I've seen most run straight, like this: http://tinyurl.com/lq2uky4

And some pulleys are 90 degrees off from one another, so they look
like an 8. http://tinyurl.com/kfqvsa6

But I do recall seeing some figure 8s, too. Here's some info for both
of us. Starting near the bottom, with Research Continues:
http://tinyurl.com/l8w5ykh

The answer which makes sense is the directionality. You reverse the
rotation by flipping the belt 180 degrees on one side.

--
They must find it difficult,
those who have taken authority as truth,
rather than truth as authority.
-- Gerald Massey, Egyptologist

On Sun, 11 Aug 2013 18:09:10 -0500, Ignoramus12972
wrote:

On 2013-08-11, Larry Jaques wrote:
Yeah, those are fun, aren't they? We have Pottsville up here. Back in
LoCal, we had the Antique Steam and Gas Museum. Same same. Parades

Yes, great all around. But I have a question. Those flat belts, if
they are of considerable length, are folded into "figure 8". I wonder
why, to avoid thel flopping around?

i
And to reverse the rotation.. On the thresher we ran the belt straight
off the 44 Massey pulley. To run the circular saw we had to twist the
belt to run it or the belt came out the "work" side. To run the silo
filler IIRC we had to twist the belt for our silo because of where we
had to place the tractor to line up the belt. If we could have run the
belt through the fence, we could have run the belt straight.

On 2013-08-11, BQ340 wrote:
On 8/11/2013 7:09 PM, Ignoramus12972 wrote:
On 2013-08-11, Larry Jaques wrote:
Yeah, those are fun, aren't they? We have Pottsville up here. Back in
LoCal, we had the Antique Steam and Gas Museum. Same same. Parades

Yes, great all around. But I have a question. Those flat belts, if
they are of considerable length, are folded into "figure 8". I wonder
why, to avoid thel flopping around?

i


To reverse the rotational direction?

I thought so too, but then I saw some things where direction did not
seem to matter, and they did it anyway.

i

On 2013-08-12, jim "sjedgingN0Sp"@m wrote:


Ignoramus12972 wrote:

On 2013-08-11, Larry Jaques wrote:
Yeah, those are fun, aren't they? We have Pottsville up here. Back in
LoCal, we had the Antique Steam and Gas Museum. Same same. Parades

Yes, great all around. But I have a question. Those flat belts, if
they are of considerable length, are folded into "figure 8". I wonder
why, to avoid thel flopping around?

Do you mean why are they given a twist so that
they are shaped like a Mobius strip.

The reason is it makes the belt last longer because the belt
contacts the pulleys on both sides.

That's a smart idea, but this is not what I saw. I saw a figure 8.

i

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

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

On Mon, 12 Aug 2013 05:23:42 -0400, Ed Huntress
wrote:

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

Well, Steamboat Ed does, but I think he gave up on Usenet.

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.

I know I do! Which is why I was looking at Bryan Boilers, they have a
nice little water-tube boiler that looks to be just the right size.
You can make a shroud to disguise it as a Scotch Marine.

Has all the safety ratings and such, so they don't have to worry
about you blowing up in the middle of the lake...

And they can make it rated ASME Power and go to 300 PSI - but 200 is
probably plenty. I need to see if they want it mounted fore and aft
or abeam.

Only drawback I can see is no superheater - Oh Well, so much for
towing water-skiers...

I can get a "junked" fiberglass party-boat hull for near nothing,
nothing wrong other than a full refit and repower would cost more than
a new boat, so they throw it out. (Golf Cart batteries aren't cheap.)

And Beckett has an oil burner for Steam Cleaners that runs on 12-Volts
15-A (20A with the ignition coil running) that looks like it would be
a perfect match - the advanced controls have a CdS flame photosensor
to cut the coil once it's lit, and the fuel if you lose the fire.

The other big bugaboos are water feed - It's easy to put a direct
drive pump straight off the engine while it's running - but it also
needs a modulatable Penberthy Injector or a steam duplex feed pump (or
both) for while you're puttering, with a Raspberry PI and flow sensors
making sure it's feeding right.

And I need to make a turbogenerator to run the burner, navigation
lights, etc. - an efficient multi-stage turbine and a set of planetary
gears, then hitch it to an auto alternator. Fun part is finding a
2.5-HP rated turbine - 250 to 1000-HP is easy.

After that, making a condenser out of copper pipe and a hot-well is
easy.

-- Bruce --

On Mon, 12 Aug 2013 22:21:39 -0700, "Bruce L. Bergman (munged human
readable)" wrote:

On Mon, 12 Aug 2013 05:23:42 -0400, Ed Huntress
wrote:

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

Well, Steamboat Ed does, but I think he gave up on Usenet.

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.

I know I do! Which is why I was looking at Bryan Boilers, they have a
nice little water-tube boiler that looks to be just the right size.
You can make a shroud to disguise it as a Scotch Marine.

Has all the safety ratings and such, so they don't have to worry
about you blowing up in the middle of the lake...

And they can make it rated ASME Power and go to 300 PSI - but 200 is
probably plenty. I need to see if they want it mounted fore and aft
or abeam.

Only drawback I can see is no superheater - Oh Well, so much for
towing water-skiers...

I can get a "junked" fiberglass party-boat hull for near nothing,
nothing wrong other than a full refit and repower would cost more than
a new boat, so they throw it out. (Golf Cart batteries aren't cheap.)

And Beckett has an oil burner for Steam Cleaners that runs on 12-Volts
15-A (20A with the ignition coil running) that looks like it would be
a perfect match - the advanced controls have a CdS flame photosensor
to cut the coil once it's lit, and the fuel if you lose the fire.

The other big bugaboos are water feed - It's easy to put a direct
drive pump straight off the engine while it's running - but it also
needs a modulatable Penberthy Injector or a steam duplex feed pump (or
both) for while you're puttering, with a Raspberry PI and flow sensors
making sure it's feeding right.

And I need to make a turbogenerator to run the burner, navigation
lights, etc. - an efficient multi-stage turbine and a set of planetary
gears, then hitch it to an auto alternator. Fun part is finding a
2.5-HP rated turbine - 250 to 1000-HP is easy.

After that, making a condenser out of copper pipe and a hot-well is
easy.

-- Bruce --

Bruce, that sounds like a career...or a life-long hobby.

That's real steam, but, of course, little demo models like Iggy is
talking about don't need all that stuff.

--
Ed Huntress

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

Take a look at PM Research - they sell a number of casting kits
including steam and internal combustion engines as well as a bunch of
scale model machine tools for overhead line drive. I'm not sure why,
but Google warns that their web site can "harm your computer". I've
been there before many times with no harm done, but maybe somebody
hacked their web site.

If you want bar stock engines, try:

http://www.model-engine-plans.com/

which features quality plans sets from Jerry Howell. He passed away a
few years ago and the site is now run by his son. You might like the
Stirling engine kits, which run on the heat from a cup of coffee. They
sell plan sets and, in some cases, parts kits for items that are hard
to find.

For a really simple engine, try this one by Rudy Kouhoupt:

http://bay-com.com/Machining_DVD/sit...-1html-76.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCHYn...re=context-gau

Mike