Vertical steam engine

[martinka]

Got a bit bored with scroll sawing recently and decided to finish off a little steam engine that I started last March after seeing a series on building it by Tubal Cain (mrpete222) of youtube fame.

video - http://s288.photobucket.com/user/haydut ... k.mp4.html

 

[CHJ]

Neat Job there, just got to do something for it to drive now.

 

[martinka]

Need a boiler first, Chas, but after pricing the copper to make one, I'll stick to running it on air.

 

[monkeybiter]

You could pipe it up to your Mamod on your photobucket,

 

[martinka]

You could pipe it up to your Mamod on your photobucket,

I could, but now I got that running OK, I don't want to disturb it. Might be easier to just buy another Mamod that needs restoring and use the boiler off that. The one I have only cost 20 quid.

 

[monkeybiter]

I think you did well there!

 

[martinka]

The Mamod looked a bit poorly when I got it. The whistle was loose in the boiler and the holes (can't call them bearings) in the frame for the shaft were badly worn, as was the 'little end'. I drilled them out and made brass bearings for them so it ran much smoother and cut down on the noise. I had to make a burner too, but my first attempt from tin was an abject failure, so I milled one from a block of aluminium.
I keep being asked if I am reliving my childhood. Well, no, at 65 years old, the Mamod was my first steam engine.

 

[adidat]

Very nice is it from a casting kit?

Almost got my bridgeport set up and fancy something like this!

Adidat

 

[monkeybiter]

My Dad and Granddad had a model shop in Ramsgate when I was a kid, and my Granddad used to scratch build OO gauge locos [including winding motors and injection moulding wheels on machines he built] so when I was given a Mamod [the same model as your £20 acquisition] it was on a board with a pulley driving an overhead shaft running a tiny saw bench and a vertical hammer. It may still be kicking about in the garage roof, but all the bits my Granddad added were a bit squashed out of shape the last time I saw it ten to fifteen years ago.
I'd forgotten about it until I saw your last piccy.

 

[martinka]

Very nice is it from a casting kit?

Almost got my bridgeport set up and fancy something like this!

Adidat

It's made from aluminium, steel and brass that I had in the garage, no castings needed. There's an 8 part series on building it on youtube. Part one is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4K_iKndlMk
There's a link to email someone for the drawings below part eight. He's also just finished a series on building an oscillating engine.

If you haven't already seen tubalcain's / mrpete222's youtube channel, it's well worth a look. He's a great teacher and has something like 600 videos on youtube.


Mike, when you were a kid, you must have been like, erm, like a kid in a toyshop. I know someone who has, or had last time I was there, the Mamod workshop, and in good working order. I might have to get one, or even try building one. I fancy the hammer as I used to use one when I first worked at the pit.

 

[monkeybiter]

Well bugger me! I didn't know there was an official Mamod set, memory tells me that mine were made by my Granddad from bent steel sheet rather than castings, but a lot of time has passed and the colours look right so I could well be wrong.