Help with Gardner design

TonyM · Oct 29, 2018

Hi All
Twenty or so years ago I found a Gardner 3F in a blacksmiths shop in Notting Hill of all places. I restored it and showed it at the usual meets including the Great Dorset steam fair for a couple of years.

I would love to build a scale model as my next project but can't find enough info on the web. I have a few photos but can't get enough detail to scale many parts. I am looking at a fairly large model with 8 to 9 inch flywheels. Many of the engines were a similar design. I found that Alyn foundry made castings of a model O but they are no longer available. I also found a similar engine on youtube.
I have started some basic design but would love to get more accuracy of scale.

Can anyone help me with any drawings of a Gardner. It does not matter if they are the exact model or if they are dimensioned I just need to get some better ideas of scale.
Thanks
TonyM

Jasonb · Oct 29, 2018

Graham Corry owner of Alyn Foundry is active on Model Engine Maker forum, suggest you ask there and he may even have some spare castings from the O that could be used or adapted. I got most of the X-type castings from him earlier this year and he has just run off a small batch of castings for other regular members of that forum so I have another couple of his engines to make too. I have also made a CHUK and Robinson based on his drawings but scratch built.

Mike1 · Oct 29, 2018

A look at this site may help certainly worth a look, http://www.enginemuseum.org/index.html I may be wrong on this but I think the museum used to do castings for the Gardner Model O.

Mike.

TonyM · Oct 30, 2018

Thanks Jason and Mike.
I have been in contact with Graham and have dropped an email to the engine museum. It's good to know that the Alyn foundry 1/2 size Gardner O used 9 inch flywheels which fit nicely into the 1/4 scale I was intending for the 3F. The icing on the cake would be if I could find any castings around for the O model as the basic design didn't change much between the various engines over some thirty years .

MRA · Oct 30, 2018

I do some volunteering at the Anson Engine Museum - there are quite a few Gardners, I'll have a look and see if there's a 3F if I'm down there Fri. They may well have drawings, but I imagine it would take a fair donation to persuade someone to copy them for you! I'll ask next time I'm down there.

TonyM · Oct 30, 2018

Thanks MRA. Making a fair donation for drawings is fine by me if it gets me heading in the right direction. Even some fairly basic stuff would help. I have sent them an email and await an answer but it was more in regards to the 1/2 scale 0 which I am beginning to suspect does not give the same bore and stroke. Although the flywheel size is similar as is the bore. I believe the 1/2 scale 0 has 1 3/8 bore with 2 inch stroke. I believe the 3F had something like a 1 to 2 bore stroke ratio. Though my memory could be way off as it was over 20 years ago I restored it. A longer stroke would probably not be possible with the castings for the 0. Having said that I could possibly adjust bore to get the scale.

Help with Gardner design

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Help with Gardner design

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