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Author Topic: And then there were FOUR!  (Read 2873 times)

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And then there were FOUR!
« on: May 01, 2024, 12:04:47 pm »
Just received my fourth K.J. Miller Junior Engineer Steam Engine #100 "STEAMLINER".

A recent eBay win for a bit under $100 total delivered, which I picked it up because this one seems to be essentially complete, unlike two of my prior three which are both one configuration machines. While this one does seem to have all the major structural parts, its original box in fair condition, with all internal packing dividers and all three sets of plans, it is missing the power cord, and the boiler is dismounted from the repainted (red) base. The base repaint is not surprising as essentially every one of these I've ever seen has the gray base paint flaking and peeling off prodigiously! This one seems to have a mostly pretty good rattle can finish, and so far, seems to be holding on pretty well. The boiler being unwired and unmounted doesn't bother me too much as I'm likely to just "scavenge" the structural parts to complete one of my other engines so it can be completely reconfigurable too. But at looking this one's boiler over, I see nothing really wrong with it, other than a smear of what might be epoxy along the base gasket seam line. However, I see no structural cracks nor damage to the boilers plastic shell, so wonder if they just tried to seal a leak from a cracked or dried out gasket, and not the boiler shell itself?!?!

Whatever the case, this should give me a spare set of carbon electrodes and a spare boiler shell and fittings, if ever I might need to replace them on one of my other engines as well.

Photos from original eBay listing:


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"Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not wisdom, Wisdom is not truth, Truth is not beauty, Beauty is not love, Love is not music: Music is THE BEST...   
Wisdom is the domain of the Wis (which is extinct). Beauty is a French phonetic corruption of a short cloth neck ornament currently in resurgence..."
F. Zappa ... by way of Mary, the girl from the bus.

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Re: And then there were FOUR!
« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2024, 12:12:16 pm »
  You are a good KJ Miller club member.  Four is good, more is better.
Now, you need to make a 'threesome' video and look for the KJ Miller
air pump to run it.  They are cool, too!

The one below is my first video, from a smartphone.



Happy Steaming,
Wayne



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Re: And then there were FOUR!
« Reply #2 on: May 01, 2024, 12:58:24 pm »
Hey Wayne ... nice trio you have running there!

Didn't quite do all three at once, but otherwise complied with your wishes if viewed in two separate videos as posted for the GPU back in 2021 I think.

Anyway, have a look at these two videos:




https://youtu.be/6bkM8RCQ1Eo?si=R0grO2xt7QH_0uhS
"Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not wisdom, Wisdom is not truth, Truth is not beauty, Beauty is not love, Love is not music: Music is THE BEST...   
Wisdom is the domain of the Wis (which is extinct). Beauty is a French phonetic corruption of a short cloth neck ornament currently in resurgence..."
F. Zappa ... by way of Mary, the girl from the bus.

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Re: And then there were FOUR!
« Reply #3 on: May 01, 2024, 02:02:21 pm »
Hey guys, what ya got going here, a Miller mini forum?
I have one but it's new in the box. The cord is still
bundled up from the factory.
Tommy

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Re: And then there were FOUR!
« Reply #4 on: May 02, 2024, 10:01:52 pm »
This reminds me that I have a recent restoration of one of these that I have been meaning to post on the restoration section. I have owned three of these and still have two, including one set of all the parts to make the other two variants (and the three "blueprint" pages).

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Re: And then there were FOUR!
« Reply #5 on: May 03, 2024, 12:07:12 am »
Looking forward to seeing them ..... any chance of a video?
"Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not wisdom, Wisdom is not truth, Truth is not beauty, Beauty is not love, Love is not music: Music is THE BEST...   
Wisdom is the domain of the Wis (which is extinct). Beauty is a French phonetic corruption of a short cloth neck ornament currently in resurgence..."
F. Zappa ... by way of Mary, the girl from the bus.

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Re: And then there were FOUR!
« Reply #6 on: May 15, 2024, 10:27:49 am »
There is another one of these rather interesting steam plants, currently up on eBay. It is in the Beam Engine configuration, has a box in decent shape, and has all three blueprints, but does not appear to have any of the other needed parts to build the two other configurations.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/335394073784?
"Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not wisdom, Wisdom is not truth, Truth is not beauty, Beauty is not love, Love is not music: Music is THE BEST...   
Wisdom is the domain of the Wis (which is extinct). Beauty is a French phonetic corruption of a short cloth neck ornament currently in resurgence..."
F. Zappa ... by way of Mary, the girl from the bus.