Nutty Engine

[Kactiguy]

I've posted a few times to the forum, but I've never really introduced myself, so here goes. I am a children's book illustrator by trade, but I also love to tinker and build things. I have loved model steam engines since I was a kid and I have always wanted to be able to build them. I have access to a mill and a lathe at my dad's house a few blocks away, but nothing of my own...yet. My first engine was a stirling, built from whatever I could find. There are photos of it, and my second engine here:
http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=650.msg4161#msg4161

I just finished my third engine today. I'm pretty happy with it. I call it the Nutty Engine for obvious reasons. The whole thing was built using nuts and bolts with the exception of the crank pin, base flywheel hub and the main axle. The flywheel was made from a huge pipefitting nut. I turned the piston, cylinder and flywheel hub on the lathe. It took off running the first time I put air to it. You can check it out in the video.

[youtube=425,350]SgXW3fgTXYA[/youtube]

Hopefully I'll be able to do more things in the future. I'm new to this hobby, so I'm still learning tons. Maybe I'll be getting my own lathe soon.

Edited by tattoomike to embed video.

 

[cfellows]

Pretty clever! And it runs well... nice work!

Chuck

 

[wareagle]

Very nice! This is a cool little engine!

Welcome to the site, we are very glad you are here! Thanks for sharing your latest creation, and look forward to seeing more.

 

[Cedge]

Way too cool!!!... LOL

 

[tattoomike68]

Thats sweet, I love to see an engine thats not like the others.

Very fine...

 

[dparker]

Kactiguy: That is very clever and quite a imagination to make those engines from stock at hand. I wish I could just make things like that but I seem to do better at following somebody else's plans or ideas. I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings but these kind of engines would be what I would look at more closely the first time around the displays at a engine show. The enginuity (pun intended) of them is great!
Don

 

[Brass_Machine]

Really really cool!

Eric

 

[lugnut]

COOL, Kactiguy
now I want to know more about you and your very unique engine. That nut and bolt thing is the most exciting thing I've seen in a long time and I and I'm sure a bunch more of us want to know more!
Thanks for sharing
You get my vote for the most original engine so far
Mel

 

[Cedge]

Me thinks the Tin Falcon is gonna love this one....(grin)

Steve

 

[shred]

Very nice. I once used a large brass nut for a Brassy Babe flywheel, but it's not in that league. I really like the nuts-n-bolts theme, it works well

 

[Kactiguy]

Thanks everybody! dparker- I had a conversation yesterday with an old friend about that same thing. When you look at many highly polished, finely crafted engines, you kinda expect them to run--it's a given. But, when you see something thrown together from a pile of seemingly junk, and it runs, it's gives you a different appreciation for it. That thing shouldn't run, but it does. Wow.

The idea for this thing came from really wanting to build something, but what? I was looking at a big nut and bolt on my desk and I started to see possibilities. I took a couple minutes and did a few sketches and a quick model in Sketchup to see if it might work. Then I just started going through piles of junk, looking at stuff, holding them together, seeing if they might work together. I mostly just winged it.

Here is the sketchup model. You can see that I first pictured it as a vertical engine, but I thought that would look too much like the last one I built, so...

 

[rake60]

Great little engine!

Rick

 

[deere_x475guy]

I've got to weight in here also. I seen this last night shortly after you posted it and wanted to comment then but could only come up with words like creative!!!!, imaginative!!!! and fantastic!!! and it just seemed like not enough. Thanks so much for sharing the pics. This may just give me a different way of looking at engines.

 

[Bogstandard]

Lovely bit of inventive work there K.
Seems like you enjoy making different creations from unexpected materials.
Keep it up, and keep showing us.

John

 

[Powder keg]

I'm with other's here. I wish I was a poet so the words to describe this engine could be found...

Any plans? I'd love to display one of those:O)

Great job!!!

 

[GrahamC]

Simplisticly crude, extremely creative, and fabulous in execution!

Marvelous, simply marvelous!

cheers, Graham in Ottawa Canada

 

[ChooChooMike]

Kactiguy - do you have some basic dimensions for this engine ? Like what size bolts you used for the various parts ?

This is such a unique looking engine, I think I'm going to build one this semester in my school shop !

Thanks !
Mike

 

[Steam4ian]

G'day Kactiguy

What a rebolting engine! I must build one, but do it without using a lathe.

I held our at the machines exhibits at our club field day and would like to have something simple to show people that they could build. This could be the answer.


Thanks
Ian

 

[Kactiguy]

Choochoo- I don't really have any dimensions to speak of. I built mine by looking at a bunch of bolts and thinking "hmmm, I wonder if I could build a cylinder out of that?". I was looking for the biggest bolts I had, but I'm sure it could be built out of any size. I used two 15/16 bolts for the main parts. The big one is 4 inches long, the short one is about 1 1/2. The axle is 1/4 inch. The flywheel was made from a big 2 3/4 hexagon pipe fitting. Part of the fun was seeing what I could do with the stuff I had on hand.

 

[LeChatNoir]

Hey Kactiguy…

Great engine. I’m a big fan of repurposing found and scrounged materials for other things. Nice…