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Hello Sarah, You say that the hole is blind. Is it due to a void in the casting? If so you might be able to open the bore a little more to get rid of the hole, and modify your piston to fit the new dimensions. You have to take into consideration the clearances of the ports so there will be...

Hello, I might have missed something, but are you asking the question for a steam engine or gas engine. I'm not sure nylon rings would work very well in a gas engine. I have used them in steam engines which I run only on compressed air and they work fine with many hours of running time...

Camnefdt, The plaster slurry method works well. I have also just painted the pattern with 2 coats of latex paint which forms a barrier between the foam and sand. Also to join all the pieces of the foam together I use J B Weld quick setting epoxy. The solvents in epoxy do not disolve the foam...

Camnefdt, You need to use DRY sand for the lost foam casting process. I use very fine sandblasting sand. In order to have the force of the molton metal get into all of the small sections of the foam pattern, the pouring sprue needs to be much larger than one used for wet green sand. I make a...

Hello TIM One more thing. The last item in my journal was an entry that totaled up the hours I spent building the engine and fixtures from start to having it run. It was 122 hours, 45 minutes over the span of about one year...

Hello Tim, I built one of these engines in 2006. I keep a journal of most of the engines I build, especially if I make changes to the design, and to note machining set-ups. So I might be able to help you somewhat. Very seldom do I make an engine exactly like it is designed. Some work, some...

Thanks Dave, I do not have any idea about what it takes to do all of the things you have been doing to keep this site going, But I really appreciate your doing them. I have gotten a lot of valuable information from the discussions, and with talking with other model builders at shows like Cabin...

Hello Tim, Very nice build. I agree with George and his suggestion about doing the bore first then finishing the OD. I have made several Upshur engines, and my method is to cut the legnth of cylinder stock slightly longer than required. Center in a 4 jaw chuck, center drill, drill through...

Hello Brian, Very timely post. I am currently making an Upshur engine, and last night I made the two cast iron rings for the aluminum piston. The cylinder is .750 DOM steel tubing. I have made several of these engines, and used various methods for rings including Viton. I used to go through...

I have attended the Cabin Fever shows for several years, and have enjoyed every one. Yes the auction portion seems to be taking over a greater percentage of both the floor space, and the organizers attention every year, but that is economics. This event certainly wasn't cheep. I got there Friday...

John, I have used molding boards for several of my more complicated patterns, but just the split pattern for the flywheel. From your last post it sounds like you may not have rammed the first flask hard enough to support the second half when it was flipped over. I ram the first half somewhat...

I made a curved spoke flywheel pattern last winter that was 7" dia. It was split through the center and had two short pins in one half to locate the halves together. I placed the half without the pins face up on a board set half of the flask on the board and rammed in the sand. I then place...

Hello Trout, Looking forward to your progress with the Upshur engine. I found that the weight of the flywheel (s) made a noticeable difference in the engines speed. The heaveyer the flywheel the slower the rpms. I have used Aluminum solid machined to the specs and the engine ran too fast for me...

That was a very good explanation of the hit and miss cycle Rudy. I have an additional comment which probally applies to all engines of this type. When the engine cycles in the "miss" mode, and the exhaust valve is held open, cool air is drawn into the cylinder. With this happening for several...

Thanks for the information Marv and Stan. I was heating the regenerator at the end nearest the engine. Today I removed the second flywheel, and made a new restrictor that when inserted in the tube end of the engine fills the entire legnth back to the "inside of the head nearest the piston. I...

I have been building one of these Lamina Flow engines for two months using only the information from this site, and others on the web. No formal plans. I got it together last week, and can not get it to run. Rather than putting it on a shelf I am determined to get it working, and would...

Hello DaveB, I have built a few Upshur Designs over the past 15 years, and have seen many more at shows over that time. No two were exactly alike!!! It seems that everyone does some modifying to the plans. Two things that helped me were to use a standard DOM steel pipe for the cylinder...