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Well I woke up one day late last year yearning to build a “whacky engine”. You know the kind; Large, made from reclaimed parts, lots of pipes and spinning things and no bling. I started with the Moriya engine plans. I like this design because you can scale it up or down and it always works...

It was a some what rainy day up at the Burls Creek Automotive Flee Market on Friday, but I did make a nice score. I found this 1981 D-M Tools DMH-80 portable hack saw, and I ended up getting it for $40. It is a nice simple design, a geared motor turns a circuler crank...

I bought this PM Research 3BI kit from the Steam Show in Milton this past summer and I built most of it during the Xmas break. I also Incorporated a PM Dynamo that I bought from the same show last year. One day I hope to make the PM Boiler to go with this setup. This kit was fairly complicated...

I was taking apart a couple of weed-eater motors the other day, looking for possible ignition parts for the Webster Gas Engine that I plan on building. One of these "Cheap" engines had an ignition system that did not have any points controlling the spark. I guess it just uses the relationship...

Here is my latest project....A CRACKER. I built this for 3 reasons: 1. It's neat! 2. Even though I am not a big rail fan, I wanted to get at least one build under my belt. 3. It answers the age old question: What does it do?.........I find people just don't get the stationary engine stuff...

Well after my failure to get my AlphaVictory engine to run, I decided to finish a project that I started 5 years ago. This is actually what got me into model engine building. I had bought a few "Toy" steam engines on Ebay (Mamod, Jensen, Wilesco and Weeden) and thought I could make my own. So I...

This is not a model engine, but it is a engine. During the summer I spend most of my spare time in the garage, and thought you might like to see the results of my other hobby. I collect old Iron Horse engines that where made in Canada during the 1940's. I bought this ex-army generator set a...

I picked up a "green" wheel for my grinder. I want to resharpen some of my Carbide tipped lathe bits. My question is, do you "dip" these type of bits in water like you do for HSS or let them air cool? Ironhorse

Time for a new project. I have had my Lathe & mill for about 3 years now, and I think it is time to design my own engine. I have decided to build an Alpha-type Hot-Air Engine.I was going to call this the "Alpha V" but after my wife saw the drawing, she put up 2 fingers and said "Victory" so the...

I found this site last year and thought some of the members would be interested. It is a trade publication called " The National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors" I know it sounds like a boring read, but each issue has at least one feature article about steam stuff. There is a...

Hi all...............Happy Newyear A few months ago I noticed that a couple of my model engines where starting to corrode >:( After some head scratching ???, I think I figured it out.............salt. We have a water softener installed by the entrance to my shop. A few weeks before I...

I bought a Dynamo kit this summer at the Cookstown Steam Show. It was a fairly basic build without much drama ( did not break any tools or castings). I posted this picture a while ago in responce to a fellow modeler on holding the casting on the mill. Looks a bit complicated, but I could not...

Usually I don't do much machining in the summer, but their was a lot of cold and rainy days this summer. So I did manage to build one engine. I saw this MESCO motor somewhere, maybe this site, and I thought it was an interesting design. The single lever controls both direction and speed. Later I...

I found some interesting plans and software from Jon Bondy here: http://www.jonbondy.com/software.htm These are plans and software to measure a small engines RPM and Power. It is a simple system that can calculate the power by measuring the time it takes to recover from a near stall using the...

Well this is not about engines, but I found these plans a while ago and knew I would build it some day, It is so interesting. Something that you inject compressed air into and out one end comes cold air and hot out of the other, has to be investigated :D Here is a link to the story and plans...

I found this animation of an interesting Hot-Air engine at Matt Keveney's Animation site http://www.keveney.com/Engines.html Most 2 cylinder/2 piston Hot-Air engines I have seen have one "loose" piston (displacer). This engine has both pistons sealed. After studying this animation I think it...

Here is the first part of my build of the Moriya Stirling Engine, originally designed by Dr.James Senft. I changed a few things alone the way, the biggest was not to build it as a fan but to put on a flywheel instead. It will have a built-in propane burner and a modified Oak box when finished...

Well here are some pictures and video of my latest engine. I got the idea from a picture I saw in "Home Mechanics For Amateurs" and thought it would be a neat engine to build. There where only a couple of cut-away drawings, but no dimensions so I had to wing it. I modified the way the...

I finally finished the boiler ;D. Here is a video of it steaming a ARGUS wobbler designed by Edgar T. Westbury: The burner was fun to build. I got the plans for the "Marty Burner" (this site) and built one. I found that the flame was too concentrated on only one coil, so I kept the main body...

I attended the Milton Ontario Canada Steam-Era show yesterday and here are some pictures. This is one of my favorite local shows, they have steam, gas and model engines on display. The show continues until Monday, so if you are in the area, it is worth it to visit.