Suitable boiler plans for a 1 1/2" bore Stationary Engine

[ned100]

Hello all

I have just built a Bolton No:7 mill engine - 1 1/2" bore and I am finding it extremely difficult to find plans for a boiler to run this engine. By that, I mean plans for a boiler I might be able build myself, but most of my research leads me to ready made boilers for rather expensive prices.

Does anybody out there have a lead to plans for such a boiler?? I don't want to cut corners and build something unsafe, so it would be built to the boiler code, inspected and tested.

I am quite willing to pay for a good set of plans, even some that may be scaled up to suit.

I am still finishing off the finer detail on the engine like piping, painting etc, and the engine can be seen in it's fairly basic "first run on air"stage in the engines section of the home page of this site, and here:

[ame="http://youtu.be/d4zgnFl7Nm8"]http://youtu.be/d4zgnFl7Nm8[/ame]

Any help, pointers, assistance or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in anticipation,

Ned

 

[lensman57]

Hello all

I have just built a Bolton No:7 mill engine - 1 1/2" bore and I am finding it extremely difficult to find plans for a boiler to run this engine. By that, I mean plans for a boiler I might be able build myself, but most of my research leads me to ready made boilers for rather expensive prices.

Does anybody out there have a lead to plans for such a boiler?? I don't want to cut corners and build something unsafe, so it would be built to the boiler code, inspected and tested.

I am quite willing to pay for a good set of plans, even some that may be scaled up to suit.

I am still finishing off the finer detail on the engine like piping, painting etc, and the engine can be seen in it's fairly basic "first run on air"stage in the engines section of the home page of this site, and here:

http://youtu.be/d4zgnFl7Nm8

Any help, pointers, assistance or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in anticipation,

Ned

Hi Ned,

You have my sympathy, I gave up the idea of building any steam engine because of the same reasons that you have mentioned. My research also confirmed how tricky it was to build a safe working boiler large enough to run an engine economiclly. I think that your engine would probaly need a boiler of 6" diameter and quite high heating area to make up enough steam and these are not cheap. I also think that even if you built the boiler unless you have the necessarry test certificates and insurance, you'd not be able to to take the boiler to any formal gatherings.
I myself just watch the videos for now.
Here is one with all the necessarry steps for a small boiler.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_Tq2uCD6qA[/ame]

Regards,

A.G

 

[GYoung]

You could adapt a boiler made for another application and possibly get what you might be looking for. Coles' sells a 2 inch scale Case Traction Engine in kit form and sold in various segments. I believe the boiler, offered as either pre-made or in kit form, is at a size (output wise) that you are looking for. The 2" Scaled Case uses an engine with a 1 & 5/8" bore and 1 & 3/4" stroke.
Good luck on your quest

 

[GWRdriver]

That's a nicely done quick and informative video, but I have two comments about what I see there. First, the head forming process he uses is far more complicated and difficult than necessary. It is much easier and quicker and uses less copper material to simply beat the heads over a male former. Secondly it appears to me the flue, the burner tube, is too small for its length and for the burner used. It appears the flue won't provide enough headroom for the flame to fully develop, meaning fully combust, and transfer maximum heat. In addition to increasing the diameter of the flue I would shorten the burner and then add cross-tubes or cross bars (thermal conductors) to the flue. In my experience this would maximize the steaming capacity of this particular boiler - it would make more steam using less fuel.

One consideration, probably the first consideration actually, is whether your boiler must supply steam for a "working" engine, one that is actually going to be required to pull a load, or one for demonstration steaming only. A demonstration boiler can be somewhat smaller than a working boiler.

There are two aspects to model boiler capacity, steam generation and steam storage. For demonstrations all you need is the ability to generate a certain amount of steam and a relatively small boiler will do that. For a working engine you need both generating and storage capacity and that requires a larger boiler. For demonstration purposes I think a 4" boiler, either horizontal or vertical, with a good flue and burner design, would run your engine at relaxed rpm quite easily. For a working engine something with more steam storage capacity would needed.

 

[Marty Feldman]

Have you had your hands on the two KN Harris books?

 

[aonemarine]

maybe this will work...
http://www.tinypower.com/store.php?crn=58&rn=282&action=show_detail

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

Some time ago I posted some photographs of a boiler that I made, which you might find helps.

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/f42/boiler-construction-photographs-14115/


If you have any questions please ask.


Regards Tony.

 

[ned100]

Marty, I have only recently downloaded the two Harris books (after I started this thread) and am still reading. Some great stuff there. I have ordered a set of plans for a 5" vertical boiler which I may be able to adapt to my requirements. I'm thinking that maybe a 6" diameter boiler about 12 - 18" long should be able to handle anything I build.

Thanks for your interest.

Ned

 

[ned100]

Thanks Aonemarine, Probably a bit too big for me - they look good though

Cheers,

Ned

 

[ned100]

Hi,

Some time ago I posted some photographs of a boiler that I made, which you might find helps.

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/f42/boiler-construction-photographs-14115/


If you have any questions please ask.


Regards Tony.

Tony,

Many thanks for replying, and the link to your boiler build pics. They are very well done and provide some valuable insight into building a boiler.

Did you ever get the PDF done??

Cheers,

Ned

 

[lennardhme]

As you are in Oz. I suggest you get the AALS copper boiler regs, available from SMEX [ & others ]
Gives good ideas on boiler designs as well as the building regs. You may need to join a mod. eng. club to have the boiler approved.
[There are also sub miniature copper boiler regs, but this would be too small for your needs.] A 6" copper boiler would be ample, but as you will find, copper is not cheap.
The other alternative is a steel boiler, much cheaper, but hard to come by the materials & you will need an approved welder to do the job for you. Steel boiler regs also available at SMEX as well as a lot of informative downloads.

 

[chrsbrbnk]

the welding of a safe steel boiler is as easy as making a safe soldered copper boiler so I don't know if I would write off making a steel one. The only way to find out if its legal is read to the code. the regs are often size specific

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi Ned,

Did you ever get the PDF done??

Someone on the group whose name escapes me did for me but how to access them I don't know.

Regards Tony.

 

[oliomio]

Hi
I built a Bolton 7 and then enquired about a boiler from the Bolton7 supplier. EJ WINTER Sydney. Kelly Mayberry supplied plans snd castings for s 4" horizontal boiler and that works very well. It can be seen working on video and photos at johnsmachines.com
Not cheap though. By the time I bought copper tube , plate, fittings gauges etc etc it added up to $600 approx. very satisfying to see it working though.
John



Sent from my iPhone using Model Engines

 

[ned100]

Thanks John,

I have since seen some plans published in Australian Model Engineer magazine, but as I am now building a NSWGR C32 class locomotive from the Winter plans, I will just tap some steam from that to see the mill engine run on steam. Admittedly that will be quite some time away, now that I have seen how much work there is in building a locmotive

Cheers,

Ned

 

[tractorjimm]

Hi
I have an old but never used vertical fire tube boiler. ~6-1/2" dia x ~11" high; no firebox per se but a 3" space for the burner below the firetubes. It is copper construction and appears designed for propane or spirits firing. Approximately 21 tubes 1/2" dia. brazed into formed heads which are riveted to the shell. Includes pressure gage, safety, and sight glass. If interested I can send photos. Looks professionally made.
regards,
Jim

 

[ned100]

Hi
I have an old but never used vertical fire tube boiler. ~6-1/2" dia x ~11" high; no firebox per se but a 3" space for the burner below the firetubes. It is copper construction and appears designed for propane or spirits firing. Approximately 21 tubes 1/2" dia. brazed into formed heads which are riveted to the shell. Includes pressure gage, safety, and sight glass. If interested I can send photos. Looks professionally made.
regards,
Jim

Tractorjim,

I would be very interested in seeing the photographs thanks

Ned

 

[vederstein]

What about a water tube boiler?

This guy on Youtube has a set of videos showing how he built a water tube boiler. I'm very slowly building a smaller version of the same design concept.

http://youtu.be/4Ift3UNKLvs

Remember - water tube boilers are much more safe than fire tube boilers because the amount of pressurized water is much less and if there is a tube burst, the shell should contain and deflect the steam in a safe direction.

http://youtu.be/4Ift3UNKLvs

...Ved.

 

[tractorjimm]

I have a beauty for sale on ebay. All copper, appears unused. Riveted sheets, boiler is 6-1/2" dia with 21 fire tubes i/2" dia rolled into sheets. 14 inch overall height; flue tubes 9-10 inches long. includes very well built gas burner, pressure gauge, regulator valve, sight glass, and blowdown fitting. weighs over 13 pounds just copper and brass.

 

[AlbertdeWitte]

Hi Guys

I am more or less in the same position, I finished PMR #6 Engine and would love to build Bolton's #7 in future. Their boiler would run both, but not at the same time.

I was hoping to find a boiler that could run both at the same time, but no luck so far.

One has to carefully calculate the amount of steam required against the surface heat availability from the boiler. I would prefer doing it in copper though

Any ideas would be appreciated