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

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Here is the resolution of the issue.  Jin asked me to disassemble it and clean out the cylinder.  I did that and found when disassembled that the cylinder really looked clean, as well as the piston. 

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I cleaned the cylinder and piston first with mineral spirits, then acetone.  Last I used isopropyl alcohol to clean up any residue.  When I made the first pass cleaning the cylinder the cloth came outwith a residue on it.  Upon drying the cloth it looked like brass dust.  It was on the piston as well as in the bottom of the cylinder.

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I reassembled the engine and fired it up.  It took off running just fine, a bit on the fast side. 

So I am happy with the engine and told Jin all is well.

As an aside, the speed is a bit much.  Having worked with my 1/4 scale the issue is likely the size of the burner, way too much heat and I cannot crank it down far enough.  The 1/4 scale called out a 2" diameter burner, I made 3/4" ceramic burner and it moves along very nice, does not overheat.  I may fiddle with that someday.  The pump is another issue, those little drips and dribbles, in my opinion do not provide enough cooling.  The stroke on that pump should have water flowing out.  My guess is the check valves leak badly both the ball in the bottom and flap valve on the piston - at least my guess on the design. Checks in something that small require some construction finesse. Another item to put on the list for improvement some day.

It is a cool little engine, now back to building my Breisch air cooled ignitor hit and miss engine. I think I may need to move the 1/8th scale Rider Ericsson castings up on the construction list.  Having 3 of them running next to each other would be a great little display.

Bob