Greetings from Michigan

[ErikBolyard]

Hello everyone,
17 year old engine enthusiast here. I’ve been working on a few projects for awhile now (with some advice and aid from my much more experienced father).

Currently, I’m in process on both a Jerry Howell Miser Sterling engine and a Powerhouse 4 Cycle ICE. I also have the plans for a Vicky Victorian sterling, when I finally get around to finishing my other two engines.

I recently got a thumb engine completed and running (Bill Reichart’s plans). Some pictures are included below!

Good to meet everyone, and I look forward to seeing everyone’s work and advice!

 

[minh-thanh]

A beautiful engine !
Welcome !
Glad to have you.

 

[SmithDoor]

Hello everyone,
17 year old engine enthusiast here. I’ve been working on a few projects for awhile now (with some advice and aid from my much more experienced father).

Currently, I’m in process on both a Jerry Howell Miser Sterling engine and a Powerhouse 4 Cycle ICE. I also have the plans for a Vicky Victorian sterling, when I finally get around to finishing my other two engines.

I recently got a thumb engine completed and running (Bill Reichart’s plans). Some pictures are included below!


View attachment 153552
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View attachment 153554



Good to meet everyone, and I look forward to seeing everyone’s work and advice!

Welcome to the group

Dave

 

[wce4]

Hello everyone,
17 year old engine enthusiast here. I’ve been working on a few projects for awhile now (with some advice and aid from my much more experienced father).

Currently, I’m in process on both a Jerry Howell Miser Sterling engine and a Powerhouse 4 Cycle ICE. I also have the plans for a Vicky Victorian sterling, when I finally get around to finishing my other two engines.

I recently got a thumb engine completed and running (Bill Reichart’s plans). Some pictures are included below!


View attachment 153552
View attachment 153553
View attachment 153554



Good to meet everyone, and I look forward to seeing everyone’s work and advice!

Welcome, sharp looking finger power engine.

 

[gbritnell]

Welcome to the forum. A very nice first project! Well done!

 

[kuhncw]

Nice work! Welcome to the group, Erik.

Chuck

 

[Bazzer]

Hello everyone,
17 year old engine enthusiast here. I’ve been working on a few projects for awhile now (with some advice and aid from my much more experienced father).

Currently, I’m in process on both a Jerry Howell Miser Sterling engine and a Powerhouse 4 Cycle ICE. I also have the plans for a Vicky Victorian sterling, when I finally get around to finishing my other two engines.

I recently got a thumb engine completed and running (Bill Reichart’s plans). Some pictures are included below!


View attachment 153552
View attachment 153553
View attachment 153554



Good to meet everyone, and I look forward to seeing everyone’s work and advice!

Nice work, congratulations

 

[Wonk]

Congrats on a beautiful little engine. The craftsmanship in it looks to be extremely well done. Did you produce those parts on manual machinery or CNC?

 

[ErikBolyard]

Congrats on a beautiful little engine. The craftsmanship in it looks to be extremely well done. Did you produce those parts on manual machinery or CNC?

All parts were done manually except for the spokes on the flywheel.
I don’t own a decent rotary table at the moment, so it was indicated on the center bore and cut on a Tormach.

 

[awake]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Bazzer]

All parts were done manually except for the spokes on the flywheel.
I don’t own a decent rotary table at the moment, so it was indicated on the center bore and cut on a Tormach.

Next time that I am in Michigan then I will visit Willow Run, I think that is fairly close to where you live.

Is there much of the factory left where Ford made the B24 bombers in WW2, I am really interested in that era of manufacturing.

 

[Apprentice707]

Welcome ErikBolvard

B

 

[ErikBolyard]

Next time that I am in Michigan then I will visit Willow Run, I think that is fairly close to where you live.

Is there much of the factory left where Ford made the B24 bombers in WW2, I am really interested in that era of manufacturing.

Unfortunately, not much is left of the plant.
The Yankee Air Museum purchased a part of the factory, and they use it to store many of their larger aircraft (some of which are still flight worthy).
The remaining 95% of the factory was auctioned off and demolished in the early 2010s.

The museum is still open to the public in a different building, with a range of jets on display including an F4 Phantom.

Down the road they also have a B-52 in a field, which they’ve been working on since the military donated it in (I believe) the 80s.

 

[Gordon]

Welcome from another Michigander on the other end of the age spectrum.

 

[Steamchick]

Hi, Another engine well presented but the next must be more demanding of your skills. "The challenge" is part of the fun making models. As is the history of the real full sized version of the model. This one looks full sized, but the art of Model Engineering was traditionally to make a model to prove the Engineering, but much smaller than the original so a Salesman (Often the Company owner!) could take it by horse - or carriage, to show his wealth and position - and to demonstrate to the possible customer how everything worked. My Grandfather's Uncle had a coal truck made in 1/12th scale so he could sell the coal trucks to the coal mine owners, Also a 50th scale Coal "drop" for emptying those trucks straight into the ships alongside the wharf.

Neither of these could be taken to mine owners, many of whom were only just considering investing in railways. His business also built and installed over 160 Steam Engines for pumping and winding engines for raising coal from deep mines, the bore of one engine in preservation is about 12inches...

so the Model was a useful sales tool for something so large! (My challenge is to make a model of it!).
Usually the mine owners could not read drawings very well to grasp the fine details of function, but a working model could.
I suspect the original Thumb engine was to demonstrate the crank motion? (More than an educational toy?). Do you have any history of it as a design?
Enjoy the hobby and WELCOME!
K2

 

[Steamchick]

https://www.instructables.com/Wooden-Finger-Engine/

 

[GRAUBELE]

Hello Erik

Welcome to the forum.

I think my following pictures fit the topic, manually driven lathe.
Demonstrated at a 2017 steam meeting in Nuremberg (Germany).

Regards
Dieter

 

[Steamchick]

Hi Deiter, Much like my Father's and his Father's... 1930 lathe mounted on a sewing machine treadle. As a small child, I made things with my sister operating the treadle as she was smaller than me and could fit under the lathe, where I could not reach the treadle when stood on a bench to operate the lathe! Later I made engines when I inherited the lathe after my Father passed... and it had a 1/4 HP (just less than 200W) motor to drive it. It still had plenty of torque through the back gearing to cut the OD on a 4 in (105mm) cast iron flywheel casting... But you could see the lathe twist when a "heavy" cut was applied!
Thanks for the memory!
K2

 

[Bazzer]

Unfortunately, not much is left of the plant.
The Yankee Air Museum purchased a part of the factory, and they use it to store many of their larger aircraft (some of which are still flight worthy).
The remaining 95% of the factory was auctioned off and demolished in the early 2010s.

The museum is still open to the public in a different building, with a range of jets on display including an F4 Phantom.

Down the road they also have a B-52 in a field, which they’ve been working on since the military donated it in (I believe) the 80s.

OK that is a shame, in Detroit it self there is so much industrial heritage (and wreakage) that it is a most interesting place to visit.

The Ford factory at Piquet Avenue and then the High Land Park shell are interesting to me along with many others.