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

My second engine is here, I put it togather "bone stock" as I have all ready done some light mods to my first unit. It was satisfying to see my mods had indeed improved the running of the first unit, it's about 1/3 faster and quieter.
 
The one in front is the modified unit the flywheel has had light cuts (in lathe) on the outer portion to true it BUT the largest improvement so far is the back side of flywheel hub (facing bearings) was given a clean up cut in lathe then the important part...I moved in .015 and took a second cut but stopped just short of the bore leaving a high spot to seat against the ball bearing inner race (only). This prevents the flywheel from rubbing on the bearing dust shield and also the outer race. If you zoom my photo there is a stock flywheel and pulley in front of the engines, the pulley all ready has the feature I just described done to it right from China...why they skipped this critical feature on the flywheel side we may Never know.
  The only other thing I have done so far to the front engine is wash the grease out of the bearings and replace with light oil, this helps them turn a bit more freely but is not as important as the first mod.
  Next up I plan to spot-face the bearing bore as the bearings fit the bore loosely and the bearing has a flange that comes to rest on the raw casting rather than a machined surface.
  I will update this thread as I experiment with these engines. Please feel free to share your own mods or Ideas I could try to improve the running or looks of these engines? I may paint them eventually but will leave them bare until I am finished with the mods.

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My first engine kit came with the cheap Pipette in front...it is nearly worthless accessory for this engine, And I saw a YouTube review where the reviewer stated as much....they must be watching (sometimes) in China as the second engine came with the needle dispenser bottle, this is ideal for injecting fuel into the tank thru the vent hole with no need for wrenches.

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I did file off the Chinese writing/characters on mine. Felt it was an immediate improvement in looks.

Yes, that will happen on mine to! After the bearing mod, the thing I want to tackle next is the power piston side, it has a brass Cylinder bore BUT a brass piston as well...in my trade we try to avoid rubbing the 2 same materials to gather and better still to have 10 points of (hardness) difference on the Rockwell scale between the moving(touching) parts. I need to source some hard graphite rod to make a new piston but plan to try polish bore and turn an aluminum piston to see if that cuts down on vibration at high speed as the Aluminum will offer lighter reciprocating mass.

Hey Bruce!...I was able to score a quantity of 4 for $80 shipped, or $20 each (ebay make an offer)I have an offer in for 4 more at $18 each but that has not been accepted yet so I may have found the bottom.
  I am collecting them as I plan to mount several in a row on a wood board and gang them all to gather to make a power plant....not sure how big my gang will be yet

Quote from: St Paul Steam on March 09, 2021, 02:00:17 pm

Well reasoned Ben , I contemplated getting 4 of these , one for each of my Grandchildren.

You "could" try just one at first...you know, just to be quite certain the model has the child friendly characteristics you seek?
  I "may" have ulterior motives as there "may" be a number of members that would enjoy seeing what the "SPS effect" has on an engine born in china....just saying

I think you may have done all the improvements that can be had on these (I may copy many of your idea's) , I did think that I would ask each Grandchild what color they would each individually want for their engine.

Quote from: ShadetreeMotorcycle on March 09, 2021, 02:33:17 pm

Hey Bruce!...I was able to score a quantity of 4 for $80 shipped, or $20 each (ebay make an offer)I have an offer in for 4 more at $18 each but that has not been accepted yet so I may have found the bottom.
  I am collecting them as I plan to mount several in a row on a wood board and gang them all to gather to make a power plant....not sure how big my gang will be yet

Do these have any appreciable power Ben ? You could use a Wilesco transmission to "gang" them up.

When you get rid of the bearing rub issue they make a little power, not a great deal of it. The adjustable speed stirling I got with my last order with glass displacer easily makes twice as much power. But I like the all metal construction and the rather vintage look, I can lightly touch the belt pulley with my finger and it will slow the engine but not stop it so there is Something there!
   I thought to do a Wilesco Transmission like you spoke of, if I get a paint color combo I like, may try Navy Blue base/flywheel with black power cylinder and cooling fins.
   Thought it might look cool to have about 8 of them in a neat row about 1/2" spacing...likely need a 3rd bearing tower on the transmission. Then would like to put maybe one street lamp over each engine. Like to mount each with 2 knurled nuts counterbore from bottom of board so I can take any engine off line to service or run solo without tools required to remove. These are one of the few engines I can afford to have 8 copys of on hand!

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 I think you may have done all the improvements that can be had on these (I may copy many of your idea's) , I did think that I would ask each Grandchild what color they would each individually want for their engine.
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I think this is a great idea!...children Notice when adults let them personalize there gifts. You "may" find yourself spraying some rather "interesting" colors, but it will be worth it, they will remember for the rest of there lives.

So you don't have 24" length of board ,you could mount 4 opposing each other...

I did think about this, a 4+4 configuration would give me the smallest footprint, I do think a "straight eight" configuration would "look" neat, but I think your estimate of 24 inch long board is quite accurate. I will dry stack them both ways and decide which I prefure. My last order of 4 engines tryed to deliver today but mailman was scared of my driveway so off to the post office