Recent content by rhankey

There are usually at least as many methods to machine a part as there are opinions and the tools/machines at hand. I personally think it would be preferable to use a lathe, as it is easier to ensure the flywheel rim spins perfectly true to the crankshaft and it is easier to sand/polish the rim...

Here is a photo of the pieces of the tube forming jig I made to bend the two steam tubes for the triple. For each tube, I had to make a bending form with correct bending radius, a clamping block, and a roller. The three parts are grooved for the diameter of the tube being bent. As I...

Nice collection of pretzels you have there. ;-) I remember fretting over how to make those two tubes for some time, as I was determined to nail the radius bends given in the plans so the pipes would remain close to the cylinder heads. I was able to achieve the 1/4" and 5/16" radius bends...

Mine worked out to have about one revolution more travel than really needed. If you don't want to make another 2-start reversing shaft, the other option might be to make the reversing lever (part 33) slightly shorter.

Alec, Stuart specifies 18 Brass Round Head screws that are 7BA x 3/16" long to secure the lagging (or what you refer to as the shroud). That size seemed perfectly to scale on my engine. An expansion engine like the Stuart triple is not designed to run on air. Unless you have reworked the...

I'm not sure how well the valve timing would work if drawing a vacuum from the exhaust port. Be it a vacuum pump to the exhaust or compressed air to the inlet of the LP cylinder, you would need to keep the pressures low, as it would be pretty easy to bend a rod or crank. The LP cylinder is...

A triple expansion engine won't run well on air unless you have a lot of blow by, plumb the air directly to each of the three cylinders, utilize some sort of simpling valve to direct air to all three cylinders, or otherwise. An expansion engine is predicated on steam being able to work multiple...

It does look like an older #8 to me. A side view of the casting would also help confirm the vintage. The older #8's stood a little taller than the newer #8's. Yours looks too tall for a modern #8, but it is hard to say for sure from the angle of the photos.

It looks like a Stuart #8 and some sort of oscillator engine in those photos. If you are not confident of your abilities to tackle the #8 right away, how about tackling the oscillator engine first - assuming you have plans for it. Oscillators are much easier to make.

The drawing does not make it clear whether the ratio is for angle of one side of the taper, or that of the cone (both sides). I am guessing it is the angle of just one side. If so, you would need to multiply the ratio X 2 to get the correct big end diameter.

I would imagine the half nut has a lockout for when the carriage feed is engaged as no good would come from attempting to have both the half nut and the carriage feed engaged at the same time. Sounds like time to pull the apron apart.

With your second diagram, all you have done is increase the effective throw slightly which will increase torque at the expense or RPM. Top dead center is in line with the hypotenuse of the triangle you have effectively created. In other words, TDC is not at 9 o'clock as you have drawn it, but...

Unless the boring head rotates with the work piece, what you are describing would only turn a taper.

That is not so. Here is a enlargement of the drawing. the top of the rod/nut protrudes 1/16" above the top of the piston.

The drawings do show the piston rod extending 1/16" above the top of the pistons... And from a math perspective, the piston rod has a 3/8" threaded section. The threaded section of the piston is 1/4", the top of which is 1/16" below the top of the piston. So when you do the math (3/8" - 1/4"...