steam engine project PM Research #6

[Hkcarbine]

This is some of the parts and machines in my project. Victor 1630 with Kalamazoo 10" 6 jaw set-tru chuck, flywheel finished truing up. on tail stock is the crosshead, inboard head, valve train linkage toggle, and oil cup. Love the bolt circle function on the mill DRO! Mill with roatry and tailstock set up to cut 1/8" keyways on crank shafts.

Roger Q
AKA Hkcarbine

 

[Hkcarbine]

bore is 1.5" stroke is 2.5"

should be great fun. been thinking about building an boiler when engine is done. Any suggestions? Looks like the boiler may be more difficult to build than the engine!

Roger Q

 

[b.lindsey]

I had missed this thread Hk and hope it is still going well. PMR puts out some nice castings and I assume this is true for their larger engines as well. Will look forward to seeing this progress.

Bill

 

[GWRdriver]

author=Hkcarbine link=topic=1200.msg5851#msg5851 date=1299175656 Looks like the boiler may be more difficult to build than the engine! - Roger

Like most things that kind of depends upon what tools and skills you have. It would be easy for me, but then I've been building them for a long time. Not too long ago I built a copper vertical boiler for someone in IL for a PMR #4. This one was 6" diam x 18" long. I think a 6x18 is on the large side for a #4, at least for demonstration running, but too much boiler never hurt anything. The picture below is of fitting the heads.

Also not too long ago the above #4 engine itself came back to me to diagnose what was causing it to bind, and essentially be unoperable. It was full of binds and excessive friction. Apparently he had found a "master machinist" (How often have we heard THAT term??) to build this for him and in a word, it was a mess. It appeared to me that during machining nothing, or very little, had been indicated in. Nothing was square, parallel, or accurately aligned and the worst of the bunch was the crankshaft. A few fits had been made excessively sloppy to create running clearances, which failed to produce the desired results. A few bolts were out of place because the places where they should have been had broken taps in the holes, and these weren't small screws. Anyway, you get the picture and I managed to salvage everything and make a smooth running engine but during the process I couldn't help but wonder who the "master machinist" was that did this to him.

I will have to say I was impressed with the PMR #4, it makes up into a very stout engine.