Grasshopper Half Beam Steam Engine from Bengs

[fbonte]

Hello everyone,
I bought a second kit from Bengs : the Grasshopper steam engine.
Over the weekend, I finished the engine itself. What's left to do is the water pump and the steam valve and then it's ready for painting and final tuning of course.
Will try to make a build video and final result soon...

To be honest: I don't think I will be building another kit engine like this. Sure, they are fun to build, but I much prefer building from scratch based on existing plans.

 

[GreenTwin]

It runs very well, and has a fascinating beam motion.

Scratch builds are more challenging, but challenge is part of the fun I think.

 

[Jasonb]

The Bengs kits do serve a purpose by allowing those without milling facilities to make an engine they would otherwise not be able to do on just a lathe. Closer to working with castings in a way though they do add some of the holes to those "castings" They are also are a good stepping stone to doing fully fabricated engines in the future.

 

[timo_gross]

The Bengs kits do serve a purpose by allowing those without milling facilities to make an engine they would otherwise not be able to do on just a lathe. Closer to working with castings in a way though they do add some of the holes to those "castings" They are also are a good stepping stone to doing fully fabricated engines in the future.

Yes, they are some "in between" not a "ready machined kit", not a materials only. I was having an eye on the valve steam engine, but too many parts pre-manufactured. Material kits are also sometimes not the most clever option, if heavy things are shipped long distance.

Difficult to please everybody.

 

[stanstocker]

I had not seen these partial kits before. Pretty interesting. These would be great for someone at the beginning of a hobby machining interest. That's where I was around 30 years ago, decent wood worker, bought a 9 inch lathe mostly for functional repair work but also for fun. No mill, decent drill press sort of home shop deal. One of these kits would allow the pleasure of making or at least finish machining most of the parts and doing as much polishing and graining as you wish while still giving the less experienced builder a good chance at success.

An added benefit is someone can actually see if this sort of stuff is really for them. I've known people who knew they would love making model boats, railroads, stone walls, whatever, right up to the point they complete the first thing and they realize the idea was far more attractive than the actual nature of the work. A person who fixes up lots of stuff can almost always find some use for a lathe, but having a lot of money tied up in an unused mill that just takes up space is rough.