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: komet163b on March 27, 2021, 03:20:45 pm
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I've said to myself 'No more KJ Millers'. So...
I just picked up, on EBAY, another KJ Miller.
The base is horrible, but the rest is in decent
shape. And, it actually works! I added some pix...
Goes well with all my steam engines.
Good Day,
Wayne
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Congrats!
Have a couple here myself, and yes...
They do go extremely well with steam engines ;D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vai44JhY1qI
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Speechless. Checkmate!
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Jan, just last week I was thinking of doing the same thing with One of my KJ's and a 20R.
Almost the same color as the Jensen base. Thanks, now I don't have too. :D
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Tom, do it!
It´s a fun build, and a neat little accessory.
Sadly i never did anything with mine, besides chirping a Jensen whistle...
However, there´s a Best Practices Expo and Conference in Chicago this November.
A wide open door for you being located so close, to make a name for yourself in the compressed air world.
(Dunno what name you´ll get there though, but am certain you´ll get one ;) )
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Don't know anything about these, but they look great...especially Jans!
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I saw some these on eBay....sometimes at a low price, do they all have the polish metal under the paint or has Jan restored better than new? :)
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Komet163b, whose posting this is, has a couple pictures of his in it's original finish.
Mine almost match's the base on my Jensen 20R. Jan's is tricked out. It does look like a
chrome dome on it.
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So Jan .... how much pressure do you think you can pump up before stalling that Jensen 20 R, or is it best run with no load, just pumping air at atmospheric pressure?
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Sorry for derailing your thread here Wayne :-\
As far as the dome on mine goes, these a cast from some sort of "cheapish" white metal (is that the correct term?), quite similar to the material used on the old skinny Jensen flywheels, and will buff to a chrome finish on its own...if you help it to it, with a bit of elbowgrease.
When it comes to the air flow and pressure output, when being run by the Jensen 20 here, is very low to say the least.
I was planning to build it into some sort of vertical acrylic tube water-accessory, as the minute amount of air available, could be let into the bottom, and stir some motion/bubbles in that element.
But eventually discarded the idea entirely, as i have plenty of other projects lined up.
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Thanks for that reply Jan. I was simply thinking that catching the air from that pump, and confining it in a metered/gauged way, would provide a standard measure of work load that could be used to compare relative "horsepower" ratings of different engines and gearing systems. I've often thought of building a simple winching system that you could adjust weight/distance vs time of lift, but the pumped pressure capability would perhaps be an even easier system.
Also sorry for derailing your thread down a different track Wayne!
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I was hoping it put out enough umpf to run the air back into the boiler so I could shut the heat off
and let them feed each other. You know like, perpetual motion. Just a pipe dream, better put the pipe
away. ;D
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Thanks for all your comments. I do like that shiny dome.
The hook-up to the Jensen is priceless. Good to have a
motor with some oomph! Glad I have the electric motor.
I hooked the compressor up to my Jensen (that has a pressure
gauge) and pretty quickly had it over one atmosphere, but did
not get much more. No better than my nebulizer pump, but puts
out more volume and is...way cool in comparison.
Wayne
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I "want" to restore a KJ Miller similar to Jan's...been trying to think what fun things I could do with it in addition to chirping steam whistles....It occurred to me it would make a dandy balloon inflater with that air outlet on top....
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I got one on the way! Does not look to need restoration ( other than base) but the price was right. The drab paint color has to go. Can anything be done to improve internals of these?
[attachimg=1]
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Drab Color? It is original and looks great.
Maybe you could pinstripe part of it if you
want it to be special.
Good Luck,
Wayne
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Pinstripe is not a bad idea, I could play around with some pinstripe tape to get a design worked out that I like and then peel and try it in painted pin stripe. Also like to put it on a wood board. The color may grow on me when I see it in person and clean it.
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I will tell you, mine is a shaker. I'm 'cogitatin' on
mounting my cleaned up compressor on some sort of heavy,
dense base. I'd then mount that on a sheet of good vibration
absorber. Then, it won't dance around so much.
Wayne
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I plan to pull mine apart to evaluate the internals, I will look to see if there is an easy way to add counter balance weight to the crankshaft to smooth things out a bit.
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Until I read this posting I didn't know these things existed! So thanks guys for the postings. Intrigued I immediately headed over to ebay and managed to find this one over here in the UK.
One thing I did notice is that it appears to have a different cylinder casting.
(https://www.officeofsteamforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alspcs.com%2FKJ_Comp4W.jpg&hash=a8041bce727e47c76a92f8cfe61a1b8a342f4022)
(https://www.officeofsteamforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alspcs.com%2FKJ_Comp5W.jpg&hash=e30527fe30afdfa70afc31744ef89d37cf4aa11b)
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Nice!...I don't know much about them as well, but yours has crank case vent(rectangular hole) facing the name plate...most I have seen this hole faces the electric motor. It's fun to take an old mechanical thing and clean up and put back into service. I like the cleaner design of your model. Definitely post photo's if you get her fixed up!
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For sure, a different casting for the cylinder and crankcase.
I wonder what else KJ Miller made?
Wayne
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Wayne should probably be getting a commission check from ebay for all the KJ miller sales his thread is generating.
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...managed to find this one over here in the UK.
I also imported my 220V version from the UK.
Assume that was the only European exportmarket?
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I was trying so see what the difference was on the Cylinder casting, then it occurred to me....Alan's unit does Not have the carry handle, Duh! I really like my carry handle so I'm not trading mine in any time soon. It looks like the "carry" handle cyl may fit the clean crank case so that might be a build possibility!