Author Topic: French Beam Engine  (Read 46339 times)

Offline Imagineering

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 52
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #25 on: May 18, 2011, 04:34:20 AM »

Hmmmmmmmm,  I seem to have one of these lurking around myself . . . :D



Missing a Spoke though  :doh:

M.


Offline doubletop

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 50
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #26 on: May 18, 2011, 05:37:25 AM »
Thanks Saw, plenty more to do yet.

Murray

Nice; but you do need to do something with that CNC setup of yours and fix the missing steps. Your stuff seems to end up being asymmetric........

Pete

Offline Imagineering

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 52
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #27 on: May 18, 2011, 07:18:52 AM »
Murray
Nice; but you do need to do something with that CNC setup of yours and fix the missing steps. Your stuff seems to end up being asymmetric........
Pete

Yeah, I'm still trying to cure that BackLash problem. So much for making a Clock - I couldn't machine a round Cog if I tried . . . :(



M.
« Last Edit: May 18, 2011, 07:20:27 AM by Imagineering »

Offline doubletop

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 50
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #28 on: May 19, 2011, 04:06:53 PM »
Thanks Murray; Having seen them I can confirm these gears mesh and rotate which is pretty weird when you see it for the first time.

Yesterday was just little things; the flywheel outer was attached to the inner. It aligned well and runs true, which is encouraging, the rim of the inner just needs a quick skim down to size. I made the two parts for the eccentric and the crank and that was it. It all fits together nicely, it turns with no tight spots, rubbing or squeaks and not too loose that it rattles around.



The next step is either back to the little bits and bobs on the cylinder or the cross-head. I'm still waiting for the material for the piston rod to be delivered so I'm stuck there for the moment.

Pete

Offline Bogstandard

  • Bogs Group
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1107
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #29 on: May 19, 2011, 06:29:09 PM »
Just to add a little interest Pete, this is the sister engine made by John-Som, flywheel as shown in my topic. Yours has the floating beam whereas John's has the column support, but still basically the same size, rough shape etc. A very nice and elegant looking engine.

John stated that the flywheel could do with being a bit heavier on the rim, to allow it to run a lot slower. So you have made the correct decision to make yours as you have.




John
If you don't try it, you will never know if you can do it.

Location - Crewe, Cheshire

Skype - bandit175

Offline doubletop

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 50
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #30 on: May 19, 2011, 10:12:11 PM »
John

Thanks for that very interesting and provides some ideas for finishing. I was hoping it would run slowly. We went out to see the Crofton Beam Engines  last time we were in the UK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUx7kwZqa00

http://www.croftonbeamengines.org/intro.html

Something like that lazy flip flop is what I was hoping to achieve with this, although this engine is a grasshopper and nothing like those at Crofton.

The heavy flywheel is a happy accident as the outer is a piece of scrap that Murray (Imagineering) came across. I had just faced it up to see what it was and it was just about perfect for this.  All I have done since is round the outer edges. You'll see Murray has done a similar flywheel for something he is in the process of building and no doubt will reveal at some point.

It has also occurred to me that most of the parts for this engine would be directly transferable to the engine John Som made. When I've finished I may just make the other parts then I can have one or the other.

regards

Pete

Offline doubletop

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 50
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #31 on: May 28, 2011, 06:34:21 AM »
I've been a bit remiss this week on posting progress, but progress has been made every day. I was going to do a retrospective of the parts made each day but it was too many photos. So here are a few pics of the current state

Piston and Eccentric



'A' Frames



Valve Gear



Column and Beam



Jig for soldering the fabricated connecting rod



If I hadn't messed up the connecting rod today by giving it too much heat and melting the yoke I would have all the parts completed to the point of everything being machined but not finished. I take the view that spending a lot of time polishing a parts to find there is something wrong with it because it doesn't fit for whatever reason. For example the dimensions on drawings for the crank are incorrect and the crank pin and crank are incompatible, as drawn. I hadn't noticed until the other day. It can also be the case that it is necessary to assemble and disassemble things more than once, potentially messing up any fine finish you may have done.

Hopefully I can get the connecting rod sorted in due course and do some initial tests on air. It then does need a complete strip  down and the parts finishing. This model uses a locitite to hold a lot of the parts in place. I don't plan to do any gluing together until everything is ready for it, otherwise its guaranteed something will have to come apart

Pete


 


Offline NickG

  • Madmodder Committee
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1890
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #32 on: May 28, 2011, 09:55:16 AM »
Nice work Pete, I do love that design and it's been on my list of projects for some time. I've always wanted to make a beam engine. It was buying a beam engine in a junk shop that gradually got me started in Model Engineering - selling it for a profit and using the money for tools and such like. Always wanted to replace it with something worthy!

Nick
Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline sbwhart

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3530
  • Country: gb
  • Smile, Be Happy, Have Fun and Rock Until you Drop
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #33 on: May 28, 2011, 04:51:15 PM »
Some nice neat maching their Peter  :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:


Stew
A little bit of clearance never got in the road
 :wave:

Location:- Crewe Cheshire

Offline doubletop

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 50
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #34 on: May 28, 2011, 08:51:07 PM »
Thanks Nick and Stew

A beam engine has always been on my list of things to do. Now I've got my loco working I realised I needed to get back to doing something serious, rather a bit here and a bit there. Those French plans are pretty good and have enough in then to try different techniques and with the DRO's on the mill helping considerably with accuracy. As with anything there are things I would have done differently, but that's the learning process.

regards

Pete

Offline doubletop

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 50
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #35 on: May 30, 2011, 05:34:22 AM »
OK I had to share this with you as soon as I could.

I remade the melted con-rod yoke today, this time in steel to remove the risk of another meltdown. I then assembled the whole thing to see how it all fitted together. It just needed a little skim of the piston, (I’m using O rings so the seal won’t be an issue), adjustment of the length of the piston rod (the design provides for this) and an ‘eyeballed’ setup of the valve timing. With plenty of oil it was a little bit tight but no really tight spots that required a hammer to shift. It felt ‘right’ so I had to give it a go so I quickly made a ¼” x 40 inlet port and connected to the airline. With a flick of the flywheel it was off (this is not a self starter).

This video is the first run, I didn’t even have time to tidy up the bench

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E8lTwT2RNs

Its running on about 10psi of air, not a single gasket or any silicon in sight, just metal on metal. None of the bolts or pins are secured with loctite. You can see one of the pins working its way out, hear the leaking air and see oil seeping out of the bottom cylinder cover.

All in all I’m pretty pleased with that. It just needs a strip down, parts finishing, a bit of paint here and there to highlight things and the obligatory wooden base.

……………….and before Murray says it, it probably now needs its own boiler, but that’s another day.

Pete

Offline sbwhart

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3530
  • Country: gb
  • Smile, Be Happy, Have Fun and Rock Until you Drop
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #36 on: May 30, 2011, 05:45:22 AM »
Well done Peter  :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
 
:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

 :ddb: :ddb: :ddb: :ddb: :ddb: :ddb: :ddb: :ddb: :ddb:

 :nrocks:

Stew




A little bit of clearance never got in the road
 :wave:

Location:- Crewe Cheshire

Offline Bogstandard

  • Bogs Group
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1107
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #37 on: May 30, 2011, 05:51:23 AM »
A very nice first run there Pete, congratulations to you.

I am sure that heavier weight flywheel has made all the difference to how it runs. I reckon that when it is fully tuned in, it will tick over at just a few rpm.

I looked at the plans for both these engines, and came to the conclusion that just doubling everything up would make really impressive display models.
I doubt if ever I would have the time to complete just one.


John
If you don't try it, you will never know if you can do it.

Location - Crewe, Cheshire

Skype - bandit175

Offline doubletop

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 50
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #38 on: May 30, 2011, 06:18:28 AM »
Stew & John; once again thanks for your support.

I'm pretty pleased with it working out of the box. As you say it should run nicely once, sealed, run in and properly finished. A doubled up version would look impressive although this was at the maximum of the capacity of my little lathe.

This guys plans are pretty good but as I had said previously I did find an error on the crank and there were inadequate dimensions on the A frames that I had to re-draw to work out what where the cutout holes needed to go (attached). None of which would stop me doing another of his at some point.

regards

Pete



Rob.Wilson

  • Guest
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #39 on: May 30, 2011, 06:20:45 AM »
Well done Pete  :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:


Thats a fine engine you have built  :thumbup:

Rob

Offline HS93

  • In Memoriam
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 788
  • Country: gb
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #40 on: May 30, 2011, 06:22:08 AM »
Nice I like the finnish on the cylinder.realy nice and quick.

Peter
I am usless at metalwork, Oh and cannot spell either . failure

Offline doubletop

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 50
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #41 on: May 30, 2011, 07:02:55 AM »
Thanks Rob I am pleased with it.

Peter

The method I used for the cylinder is the same as for my previous two engines. This approach is driven by not having large lumps of bronze or brass available to machine the whole thing from solid, or having castings. Machining the radius of the recess for the cylinder in the valve block very slightly under size of the radius of the cylinder means it sits in alignment when soldering. Having got my soldering technique more or less sorted now it went together well. The sand blaster just gives it a nice finish and helped with the 'blending' of the two parts.

The milling of the radius wasn't that quick, each quadrant was around 250 steps, maybe too many, but better small cuts than large gouges that go wrong. Getting the SINO DRO to do the 'smooth arc' function correctly needs a bit of practice. It can seem to be doing the right thing at first and then head off pointing if mid air or somewhere else strange. I now step through the cut sequence to see where it wants to go before switching on the mill. Getting any of the start parameters wrong can lead to apparent odd behavior. Once you get it right you realise its a case of operator GIGO.

Pete

Offline NickG

  • Madmodder Committee
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1890
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #42 on: May 30, 2011, 09:36:24 AM »
Very very nice Pete.  :thumbup:
Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline doubletop

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 50
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #43 on: May 30, 2011, 03:35:55 PM »
Thanks Nick

Strip down and finishing starts today

Pete

Offline Doc

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 98
  • Country: us
  • Old but still usefull (I hope) ?
    • My Youtube Channel
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #44 on: May 30, 2011, 09:12:36 PM »
Nice engine good job!

Offline saw

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1003
  • Country: se
  • lucky amateur
    • Svenssons AckordsWerkstad
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #45 on: May 31, 2011, 09:53:46 AM »
Nice good work  :clap: :clap: :thumbup:
_________________________
Greetings / Benni
http://myprojecty.wordpress.com/category/steam-engine/

Offline kvom

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 520
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #46 on: May 31, 2011, 10:14:16 AM »
With the cylinder's sand blast finish looking so nice, why not do the same on the steam chest?

Great build.

Offline doubletop

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 50
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #47 on: June 01, 2011, 04:11:30 PM »
Doc, Saw, Kvom

Thanks for your support and apologies for my tardy reply;

It was club night last night so was doing a bit of a tidy up for the 'show and tell'. Funny how when you strip it down and re-build it doesn't seem to go back together as well as it did the first time. However, leaks have now been dealt with and tightening of the glands has stiffened things up a bit. I am going to remake the crank pin as the drawings suggest making it from a bolt but the clearance on the bolt shank is too much and the engine now knocks as a result of the tightness of the rest of it.

Kvom

I could have sand blasted the steam chest but felt the contrast added to the overall effect. There are a few cosmetic bits I need to do to finish this off but I'll save the remaining jobs for the weekend. In the meantime I'm fixing a few parts for one of the club members locos.

Pete

Offline doubletop

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 50
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #48 on: June 06, 2011, 07:40:02 AM »

Offline arnoldb

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 515
  • Country: na
  • Windhoek, Namibia
Re: French Beam Engine
« Reply #49 on: June 06, 2011, 08:16:54 AM »
Nice one Pete  :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: - Well Done!

Kind regards, Arnold