Recent content by Tony Bird

Hi, Sorry for the delay in replying. A couple of points using your existing set up. Certainly improving the insulation of the boiler and steam pipe will help a little. What could make a bit of a difference is having a bit of super heat, running the steam pipe under the boiler in a loop and...

Hi, With a friend I swapped a couple of Hornby tin plate carriages for a Stirling engine that wasn’t working. I have never made a Stirling engine from scratch though along with some steam engines I have repaired/restored some. The job turned out to be quite straight forward, the model was...

Are you sure they aren't bronze?

Hi Johan, 'Owen the Oil' as we call him was bought a garden railway exhibition many years ago, supplier not known. My main engineering hobby is making locomotives and rolling stock for my garden railway. The scale is 16 mm to the foot or 7/8" scale about 22 mm to the foot, resin figures are...

Hi, Have you determined if it runs better one way than the other? Often oscillators do... due to the inevitable very slight variation of ports, alignment, friction, piston fit, etc...? One way to check is: Run it "clockwise" down to "minimum air before stalling, count the revs per minute...

Hello again, I was wrong the shoulder was only on three sides, see photographs which might also help. Take care. Tony.

Hi, Interesting use of 2 pieces of brass silver soldered together. As this needs to be steam-tight after machining, how did you flux the joint to ensure complete penetration? I was taught how to soft solder wipe a joint when tinning a large surface, then using 2 tinned surfaces together form a...

Hi, At last, to the great relief of all, not least the author, we are at the finishing post, and the last posting on the construction of the Biscuit Tin Steam Engine. With the exception of the ‘T’ pipe connector, all the original parts were used. The original and new components were assembled...

The last major component to be made was the regulator, its construction being similar to that of the warm up valves and the cylinder port block. Namely, a rectangular plate of brass with holes drilled in it, some of these holes being plugged. The vale fitted being the same as the warm up valve...

Hi, Continuing, the description of the construction of the displacement lubricator made for the Biscuit Tin Steam Engine. A top plug was made for the lubricator which had a recess turned in it for an ‘0’ ring and was threaded for a screw cover. (P.111). The top plug fitted in the lubricator...

Hi, If the engine is ever to be run on steam it will need a lubricator, I am not very keen on displacement lubricators that have a drain cock as they can be a bit messy when being drained. I prefer to empty the water from the lubricator with a syringe; as well as being cleaner, it has the...

Hi, As can be seen in the last photograph of the previous post a start had been made on fitting the reversing valve. Which when found looked like this. (P.082). It had been taken apart and cleaned at the beginning of this project. (P.083). To be able to fit the reversing valve to the engine...

Hi, As promised in the previous posting a short video of the water pump in operation. The pump works quite well and is self-priming. It would probably work a little better if the pump ram went into the space between the two valves. Possibly at a later date a new longer ram might be tried...

Hi, Meanwhile back with the water feed pump. What follows is usually how I construct a water pump. The diameter of the ball seating is calculated by dividing the diameter of the ball by 1.40, which should seat the ball as shown in the drawing. (P.063). Usually for this type of pump a ‘T’...

Hi, When running on steam oscillating engines often have a problem starting as there is no easy way of getting rid of the condensing steam and any residual oil in the system. Unlike most steam engines it isn’t easy to fit drain cocks. A way that I have found of at least easing this condensation...