Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines
The Regular Stuff: Chat, Buy, Sell, Off Topic, etc. => General Discussion - Model & Toy Steam Engines – Stirling Cycle – Flame Lickers – Small Antique Originals => Topic started by: RedRyder on January 26, 2026, 08:53:52 am
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Thanks Gil appreciated mate.
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Gil, the engines at these shows that are running on air.....how often do they oil them?
Do they try and get oil into the cylinders?
Hi Jim, It's easy to feed oil into the cylinders.
- Some of the more detailed models have a plug you can remove to put oil in on top of the piston.
- On others we open the condensate drain valves and put in oil with a needle oiler.
- Some exhibitors use air tool oil supplies which give oil atomized air.
- We can also put oil in air lines or in the steam chest inlet before starting.
To your inquiry, a precision built engine that runs slowly, with a good synthetic oil can be run all day on a single oiling in the morning.
For example, an engine running at 25 RPM will make 10,500 revolutions in 7 hours.
A car engine at 1,000 RPM will make 10,500 revolutions in 10 1/2 minutes.
You can open the drain and let all the oil out of a car engine (not recommended) and it will continue running at a high idle speed with little or no damage for 10 minutes. You have probably seen the old TV ads that promote an additive that lets a car engine run for 1/2 hour after draining the oil. The truth is many would run at idle speed for that length of time with good quality oil but without the additive (also not recommended). In addition, car engines have to handle a major thrashing from the constant explosions required to run them. A steam engine on low pressure air or steam experiences none of the indignities of a constant stream of explosions.
Even knowing this, for my slower running models, I will shut them down mid-day and re-lubricate everything.
On live steam, low pressure saturated steam (0-20 psi) with lo load will effectively continually lubricate the cylinder with water.
Gil
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Gil, the engines at these shows that are running on air.....how often do they oil them?
Do they try and get oil into the cylinders?
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Gil I'm thoroughly enjoying working my way through these an vicariously coming along with you and Simone.
I'd love that shark!!!! Boy oh boy could I have some fun with that with people swimming out the front of my home!!!!!
And wow how impressive was that 14 year old lad.....he knew what he was doing....fantastic!
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Nick and Gil: I WANTED to go and I even have friends who I could ride with, but the distance from Philadelphia (PHL) to St. Barthelemy (SBH) is approximately 1,685 to 1,691 miles :) I am usually on the island in early January (my birthday Jan. 9th.) Someday!
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Very impressive displays with a wide variety of engines. Thanks for posting the videos, Gil. Someday I hope to be able to attend the show.
How have you passed this up living so close???
Jim, you are only about an hour and a half from the Lebanon Valley Expo Center.
Cabin Fever is a must see. Exhibitors come from as far as Idaho, Montana, and Oregon, even Saskatchewan.
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Very impressive displays with a wide variety of engines. Thanks for posting the videos, Gil. Someday I hope to be able to attend the show.
How have you passed this up living so close???
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Very impressive displays with a wide variety of engines. Thanks for posting the videos, Gil. Someday I hope to be able to attend the show.
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Really enjoyed watching these on the tv today Gil! And I see a friend of mine from MN made it there as well!
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I've gotta watch all of these but will need to break them down into different categories/sessions.
The morning Coffee viewing, the mid-day Popcorn viewing and the evening Beer or Cocktail viewing!!! ;c)
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Bonjour,
I thoroughly enjoyed watching these videos in detail, as they showcase exceptional machines in operation.
Thanks again, Gil.
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Greetings all,
Here are links to our show videos.
The show is presented in 3 parts.
Part 3 includes a segment on Don Sadler and his engines which were featured this year at Cabin Fever Expo.
The segment on Don and his engines is also published as a standalone 15 minute video.
Enjoy,
Gil
Part 1
https://youtu.be/imT8I33mSHs (https://youtu.be/imT8I33mSHs)
Part 2
https://youtu.be/rNud7trtaIc (https://youtu.be/rNud7trtaIc)
Part 3
https://youtu.be/kr2GV2991no (https://youtu.be/kr2GV2991no)
Just Don
https://youtu.be/2ihlNdJSo50 (https://youtu.be/2ihlNdJSo50)