Gentlemen,
It's been awhile since I posted but in my defense I have been busy. With the show season over I needed a project but wanted to get away from I.C. engines for awhile. Building and sorting out the flathead V-8 kind of drained me.
Two of my favorite steam engines are the beam type and the triple expansion. I have build a couple of beams but have never done a triple so starting with the drawings for the Stuart compound launch I began designing my own. The big difference is that this one will be half size of the compound launch. I used the bores for the compound launch then proportioned the L.P. cylinder accordingly. The H.P. cylinder has a bore of .375, the I.P. cylinder is .625 and the L.P. cylinder is .875. The cylinders, steam chests and covers are all made from iron. The rods and valve straps and main base are brass, somewhat similar to what the Stuart is. All of the stanchions, piston shafts and valve rods are stainless steel. The steel pieces are made from 1144 stressproof steel. The small bolts are M1.2 x .25 and there are about 80 of them in various lengths and configurations. The main bearing bolts are 2-56 while almost all the set screws are 1-72 thread.
I have some pictures of the bits and pieces as I was building it should anyone like to see them. For now I'll just post the engine as newly completed. All that remains is to construct the pipework. The last picture has an American half dollar for a size comparison. It is 1.20" diameter
gbritnell [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ]
Bonjour,
This beauty should be in a boat
Beautiful engine - first class craftsmanship.
Hi George, Thanks for posting this project. You never cease to amaze with your enormous talent for constructing tiny engines!
It's awesome!
Gil
Hello George fantastic work, it looks beautiful.
Like yourself the beam engine and triple expansion engines are my favourites i have 2 beam engines but not a triple one can only dream...well done...Steve
Fantastic work George!
Interesting to note the LP cylinder is the same diameter as the fifty cent coin, i'm guessing the IP is around the same as a quarter and the HP as a dime?
I've always thought that combination of coins is almost ideal as a triple configuration.
Really quality work there George, this will be a interesting build to watch & ultimately see running.
Swift Fox,
You're pretty close on the coin sizes. What I did for the L.P. Cylinder size calculation was to take the size difference (in sq. in.) between the H.P. and I.P cylinders and use that ratio for it's dimension.
gbritnell
