Oil & Sm. Steam Engine, How & Where

[Troutsqueezer]

Howdy Guys and Gals (are there any gals out there?),

Well, I got the small wobbler running today and it's so cute! woohoo1 Impressed the wifey big time. I may get a rotary table out of this if I'm lucky. Pic is posted in Photos and Videos section. So now the question comes up:

How do you folks typically oil these smaller engines? I started by putting a little dab of light oil (Hopper's gun oil) in the oil well I created over the bearing/bushing on the crankshaft and put a dab where the connecting rod and crankshaft meet but I was thinking about the best method for getting it into the cylinder. Logic tells me to put a drop or two, maybe each time I run it, into the steam connector and from there it should find its way into the cylinder.

Am I on the right track?

-Trout

 

[Metal Butcher]

Hi, I use a small needle oiler filled with turbine oil, although any non detergent oil will do.
Before running an engine I put a very small amount on all the bearing, pivot, and slide points along with two drops into the air/steam intake fitting.

After running I clean up the excess with toilet tissue and a tooth pick to guide it into tight places.

That's all there is to it.

-MB

 

[Deanofid]

I do it about the same way as MB, and I have some engines I made over a decade ago that still run great.

If you just run on air, machine oil is all you need, and putting a drop or two in the air inlet will do the trick for a running session of a half hour or so, unless you are running the engine really fast. You'll soon figure out how much oil to put into the inlet, as when you first start the engine, it will blow a gob out if you put in too much. On an engine with a bore under about 1/2", a single drop will do.

Most any light machine oil will work well for air operated engines. Zoom oil, 3 in 1, Hoppe's gun oil, Rem-oil, 10 wt motor oil, etc.

If you operate on steam, you can still use light machine oil for the cylinder, but the steam will wash it out pretty quick, so your running sessions need to be short between lube sessions, unless you use an oiler with steam oil.

For the bearing surfaces, crankshaft, rod journal, piston pin, etc, it takes surprisingly small amounts of oil to last a long time. If you have oil running out of the bearings, you are probably using too much.

Have fun with the new RT! Your missus must be very impressed indeed!
Happy day.

Dean

 

[Troutsqueezer]

Thanks guys. Sounds like my instincts were pretty close.

I'm going to bring the engine into one of the labs here at Intel tomorrow by request and fire it up. There are a number of geeks here who want to see it first hand, maybe some of them will get hooked.

 

[black85vette]

Trout; since you work with high tech geeks how about combining the technologies. I am thinking a steam engine controlled and operated by microprocessor. Use sensors to get position info and control timing / throttle. Then solenoids to operate valves and controls. So replace that low tech manual / mechanical stuff with some high tech electronics. Heck, lets go whole hog. Include bluetooth so you can control it from your phone. :big:

 

[mklotz]

I can see the build log now.

First, melt some sand...

 

[Philjoe5]

Front page story in todays' Wall Street Journal has just such a story about an MIT student who has a CNC mill in his dorm room. Also references are made to "hackerspaces", places where folks can get together and share tools, electronic gear etc. Seems as though the geeks have discovered low cost machine tools and like us have found a kind of nirvana. So can a computer controlled steam engine be far behind?

Cheers,
Phil

 

[Tin Falcon]

Trout I would say you are on the right track. I use starette instrument oil on my engines a dab here and there.
my smallest engine is easily over oiled and will chocked if to much oil is applied.

the article phil mentioned can be read here
http://blog.makerbot.com/2009/11/11/wall-street-journal-article-tinkering-makes-comeback-amid-crisis/
Tin

 

[rake60]

I have never lubricated any of my model builds.
They have all been run dry.
On the other hand, after I see it run once it's tossed into the
corner of the basement and I move on to another project.

The Doctor calls it; "Hobby Attention Deficit Disorder."

Rick

 

[Troutsqueezer]

Trout; since you work with high tech geeks how about combining the technologies. I am thinking a steam engine controlled and operated by microprocessor. Use sensors to get position info and control timing / throttle. Then solenoids to operate valves and controls. So replace that low tech manual / mechanical stuff with some high tech electronics. Heck, lets go whole hog. Include bluetooth so you can control it from your phone. :big:

Not so far fetched as one might think although not with an Intel microprocessor. There is a company called Parallax that sells the perfect little CPU for such things, it comes with eeprom and there are 15 ports you can configure for active high or low that will source or sink around 100mA or so. I bought a little Penguin robot from them which uses this "Stamp" processor with the intent of making some myself since a lot of it is cnc'd alum. It'll do bluetooth, GPS, sound tracking, light tracking, etc. but you need the right attachments. It'll cost ya about $49 for the basic Stamp (the CPU, not the robot). http://www.parallax.com/

>I can see the build log now. First, melt some sand...

First you need the fab. Cost: ~ $4 Billion. A bit of trivia: it takes 28,000 different engineers each with their own area of expertise to design and build each Intel fab. They are the world's most sophisticated buildings, by far.

I have to say though, I like these steam engines for the hands-on experience and the fact they are not electronic. ;D

Rick, I'm speechless. I'll give ya a couple bucks each for those "basement queens". Heck, I'll even pay the shipping. *beer*

Thanks to all for the replies. The question was answered with the usual HMEM high level of adroitness.

-trout

 

[black85vette]

Not so far fetched as one might think although not with an Intel microprocessor. There is a company called Parallax that sells the perfect little CPU for such things, it comes with eeprom and there are 15 ports you can configure for active high or low that will source or sink around 100mA or so. I bought a little Penguin robot from them which uses this "Stamp" processor with the intent of making some myself since a lot of it is cnc'd alum. It'll do bluetooth, GPS, sound tracking, light tracking, etc. but you need the right attachments. It'll cost ya about $49 for the basic Stamp (the CPU, not the robot). http://www.parallax.com/

Yeah, but I want it steam powered!! Actually, I have a couple of Parallax stamps. They are easy to work with. One of them is now an electronic keyer for my Ham radio. Used a reed relay for isolation and current handling.

 

[tmuir]

Yeah, but I want it steam powered!! Actually, I have a couple of Parallax stamps. They are easy to work with. One of them is now an electronic keyer for my Ham radio. Used a reed relay for isolation and current handling.

I take it you have seen Crabfu's R2S2 (R2D2's predecessor)
http://www.crabfu.com/steamtoys/r2s2/

If you like weird steam powered R2D2s, crabs, tanks and trucks his website is well worth a visit.