Lindsey beam engine

[mklotz]

I was intrigued by Bill Lindsey's little beam engine and wanted to have my own version of it for my collection.*

I didn't follow Bill's** plans religiously, preferring to add both some simplifications and complexities of my own. Nevertheless, Bill's plans were very clear, complete and easy to follow. Highly recommended.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmY85voQ3NQ[/ame]

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* My life goal (no, I'm not a birder) is to have a model of every conceivable way one can transform heat to mechanical motion. (It's important to have goals that you'll never accomplish else what would you do when you finish?)

** Bill's screen name here is "wlindiii".

 

[zeusrekning]

(It's important to have goals that you'll never accomplish else what would you do when you finish?)

Marv , I agree with that 100% Also I think that is a cool little engine.
Tim

 

[rake60]

Very nice!

I love the sound of it running.

Rick

 

[Philjoe5]

Neat engine Marv. Is the sound I'm hearing the compressor or is that little engine purring like that? I like it :bow:

Cheers,
Phil

 

[b.lindsey]

Marv,

I very much like your own personalization of the engine...that is half the fun...taking a basic design and adding your own touches. Admittedly, from a designers standpoint, it is just as nice to see what ideas others can add and that is gratifying also. I like the cutouts in the beam especially!!

Thanks for the kind words also.

Bill

 

[mklotz]

Neat engine Marv. Is the sound I'm hearing the compressor or is that little engine purring like that? I like it :bow:

The sound is an airbrush compressor. I use it for many of my smaller engines mainly because, as you can hear, it's very quiet. Mine cost ~$50 and has both a pressure gage and a water trap.

 

[Brass_Machine]

Thats pretty neat. I need to order a few plans from Lindsey once I get my finances straightened out. Nice job Marv

 

[Cedge]

Marv
Beautiful work!!. You've nearly described my own guidelines for my collection. I'm pretty much a steamer at heart and soon after I acquired my first hand made engine, A Stuart Beam, I got interested in the various variations of getting power to the flywheel.

Each engine in the collection has some sort of "difference". Oscillation, single and double acting, slide valve, poppet valve, rectilinear, epicyclical, single cylinders, multiple cylinders, rotary, even one with a curved cylinder.... the list goes on. My current build is adding another variation of the oscillation function, while the recent Elbow engine added a harmonic cycle engine. I'll never own an example of every function, but then I don't think I set out to "finish" anything when I began collecting these addictive machines.

With collectors rapidly escalating prices of handmade engines, I'm very pleased to be able to begin machining my own. I'd be hard pressed to even begin my collecting efforts at today's prices. There is a gorgeous model of a La France Fire Wagon being offered on Ebay right now. The entry bid is $39,900.00, but no actual bids yet. The lesser Coles Power model version is being offered at 10 grand and its not one of the best builds I've seen. A pair recent sales fetched $22,000 and $17,000 for these. I'm still scratching my head over the high dollars I've seen tossed around of late.

Steve

 

[mklotz]

Steve,

Yes, that's what I meant. I'm intrigued with all the clever mechanizations that the steam community has invented. I think Elmer Verburg had the same disease since many of his designs are mechanically interesting without regard to practical use.

It's really impossible to price an engine you've made. Even paying myself only a $25/hour pittance, my engines would price out to values so high that no one would buy them. (Just as well, I'm not trying to make a business out of it. Making your hobby into a business is a sure way to have a lousy business and no hobby.)

I'm constantly asked at shows, "Are they for sale?" When I answer "no", the next cretinous question is "But what would they cost if they were for sale?"

I generally follow up with, "Ok, just for you, they're all on sale today. You can have anything on the table for $5000." That generally gets rid of them in a hurry.

 

[chiliviking]

Nice Engine. The lightning holes in the beam give it class.

 

[Cedge]

Marv
I'd strongly suggest upping your "shock price" a bit. In the past couple of years, I've alreay seen $5000 change hands for casting made engines, several times. You'd feel damned silly about having to sell one when the shock effect failed to appear.

A hand made engine never leaves my clutches once it become a part of the collection. I just get too attached to them, I guess...LOL. I thought about making a duplicate of my current build, to sell, but then i decided it would be nice to have the only one of its kind in the whole world...(grin). Not that I'd mind others having a similar engine... but they'll have to build it...LOL

Steve