Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

Well, it is typical of build quality I have seen on current (new) D6 engines, I am trying to decide if I should fire it as is and then make some tuning adjustments, OR just Do them now...

The Good:

- I love the black base look.

- really pleased to see the upgraded bearing towers with oil cups.

-VERY pleased to have inline oiler for cylinders.

-Very pleased to have steam valve control on a Wilesco Ocillator.

-the spring loaded axle pin the cylinder Ocillator rocks on does Not have a screw head to remove it, but rather a "C" clip. This is good as the cylinders are mirrored to each other so getting a screw driver in there would be very difficult. I believe this IS an important upgrade but my New D5 badly needed the flat face of cylinder (steam port side) lapped flat to run well. I will inspect this twin to see if Wilesco did better job on the D12....If the Face is Not flat, I am hopeful the pin IS removable to allow the Face to be lapped flat.

Things I may prefure different:

-I personally would prefure a Nickel plated boiler as I feel it stays nice looking for a very long time, however I think Wilesco likes to offer the brass to go Well with "red" bricks (I agree) but may require more maintenance or just let it patina natural as it will.

-would have prefured the round knob steam control valve fitted to larger engines.

The "needs tunning":

-both cylinders are out of alignment, the outboard cylinder is fair but I will improve it....the inboard cylinder is about 2.5 degrees out of square to flywheel axle and the inboard crank arm is not running true as well. I can correct these things fairly easily I believe.

As I tinker more and then run it I will report back more info.

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Its a nice looking twin Ben
To bad it's got some QC issues ,but I'm sure you'll get it adjusted in short order, Wilesco  uses a type of coating on their boilers to keep them looking good longer.

Thanks Bruce! I wonder if this is a "limited edition" or will Wilesco continue to offer it?...I guess it does not matter, I collect "hobby grade" engines so that I CAN modify them without greatly reduce the value, mods are fun for me.

Update:

If I roll the outboard crank pin to precisely 12 oclock the inboard crank pin is at 7 o'clock rather than 6 o'clock (where I think it should be) by my calculations that is about 30 degrees off....this is my FIRST twin...am I correct in thinking the crank pins should be 180 degrees from each other? It's an easy adjustment to correct...

Thanks Jan...I am enjoying it!

Update: First, I want to say that I am absolutely sure this engine would have ran on "steam" power, right out of the box,... However...it was not in a high state of tune.

Before adjusting anything, I just oiled it and connected to my aquarium pump at 2.32 PSI...it would "try" a little but not run on such low PSI

  I did notice the power pulse was much stronger from the outboard cylinder and the "closer" that I got the crank pins to "true" 180 deg from each other the more the inboard cylinder power started to equal the outboard cylinder power, so I have answered my own question about that!
  Next I trued both cylinders to be square to the Flywheel axle and with a bit more oil and gentle adjustments so as not to break any solder joints she slowly started to run on the 2.32 PSI and after running for a few minutes even started to pick up speed!

I am quite thrilled with the D12 running on this low PSI because it is doing it with "Stock" springs!....I had to drop down to a soft "ink pen spring" to get my D5 to run on 2.32 PSI
 
I had forgotten just how much smoother Twin Cylinder engines run, she is whisper quiet on aquarium pump power!

I am only about half done with my tune, the Rods are now square to the Flywheel axle(looking down from above the engine)
  But if you view the L shape parts the Cylinders mount to from the front firebox door side...those are a little out of square to.
  Tomorrow I am going to partially dissassemble the engine and get the "timing" to perfect 180 deg...also my inboard oil cup is flowing MUCH less oil so I want to inspect if it is slightly blocked by powder coat or if the outboard bearing hole is just larger.

Current state of tune the D12 will run at about 85% of full throttle on my aquarium pump, my best running Wilesco will run with the aquarium pump set at only 40% so I Can measure if I am making improvement.

Neat little engine, and I am loving "tinkering" with it to get it to run on such low PSI.

Photo: there is oil everywhere and the chimney is removed so I can wrench without bumping it off...so not a beauty photo...BUT...it is running in photo on aquarium pump, the spokes are transparent at this speed and nice and quiet!


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An interesting engine Ben ,where did you find it ?

Ben, you may have 1 of the only "wild thirteens" in the USA ! Quite the accomplishment indeed , looking forward to your video.

Update:

Success!!...I have not corrected the geometry (squareness) of the "L" brackets yet, but this morning have just been gentle "running in" the D12 on aquarium pump low pressure. I don't really know if it is "better" to run a steam engine in on "steam" power? But it is certainly more relaxing to run in on aquarium pump...it is just humming away in background and I stop it frequently to add oil...it has been running for about 3.5 hours now on 2.32 PSI and on the last stop I noticed it picked up quite a bit of RPM this time after I oiled it...so I took a toothpick and carefully removed the "helper" counter spring while it was running....bingo! The valve port plates have run in well enough that she runs on Full stock spring pressure at 2.32 PSI!
  As a test I dripped some runny MMO on the running outer cylinders right at the friction point, my outboard cylinder looks totally sealed but I am getting just a few tiny air bubbles on my inboard cylinder so perhaps I will do my tear down now and see why the Inboard cylinder is taking longer, I expect I will find a tiny flaw, but I feel sure just a bit more running in would do the job as well.

Photo of D12 running on air pump with no "helper" spring.

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Close up of the stock springs:

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Thanks for posting this.

Your twin has the best of all the Wilesco color combinations. Very classy looking!

Gil