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

I bought this a few weeks ago & it's taken me till this long to post, I'd like to say it came with no issues & that I liked it right away, unfortunately it was a while before I began to like it after the initial disappointment wore off & the repairs were made.

this is happy unboxing day.



Hummm....still happy, but knowing somethings wrong, but kind of refusing to believe it yet. it does sure take a lot of air to run & seems to leak really bad.



Ok, now I've found the source of the massive air leakage (after playing around with the gland for an hour), seems they mis-drilled 4 holes in the top of the cylinder housing...& just left them unplugged, 1 hole leaked terribly, 2 somewhat, 1 not at all it would seem. all were tapped & plugged with a 6/32 allen plug ground down as much as possible. this cylinder assembly should have been replaced when the error was made (not sent out to the customer)



holes tapped & plugged.



Ok, now the leaks are plugged...now we discover the timing it way off, it didnt move in shipping (it was actually packaged very well) this took me an unusually long time to do as I had to isolate each cylinder from the other (remove connecting rod) & time as best I could for each cylinder (X2)



Now were really getting things sorted, but another defect from the factory rears its ugly head.



alrighty then, one last imperfection that would have been nice if it had been caught & fixed before shipping to customer.



Now for the good 

Engine all repaired & running good.



But, will it run on steam?



Now, why didnt you just send it back Bruce & not deal with an engine with that many problems that was bought brand new...it was never offered, yes, I did contact Maciek & he apologized sincerely & profusely, He blamed everything on his father. I suggested that "he" check these for quality control BEFORE they left his shop. he did offer a 10% discount which didnt even cover shipping, or about half of my shop rate of 5 hrs to put things right on what should have been a perfect engine already. even the promised discount didnt come when promised, & after a few days I had to inquire about it, again this oversight was blamed on his elderly dad (his words) not attending to it, so Maciek did so fairly promptly.
now let's hear "the rest of the story" would I buy it again...Yes, provided it came running as good as I now have it
it's a beautiful plant & runs wonderfully (now)

Good thing it landed in your hands Bruce!

Were some other poor fellow to have received this beautiful travesty, it might have put them completely out of the hobby!!!

Thanks Daniel & Gil, unfortunately the joy of getting a new engine in the shop tarnished rapidly as more and more defects became prevalent, the seller wasn't very interested in a return and the shipping cost was prohibited at $70 per trip. After figuring out I could put it right, I charged into the repairs. It took me a few days of getting my "mind right" again to be able to talk respectfully about it. I sometimes have little patience for such lack of quality assurance (especially on a new purchase). A weakness I need to work on.

I have brought 2 of their engines .
The Steeple single cylinder . And the twin horizontal.
Both arrive in nuclear proof wooden boxes that require a screwdriver to get into .
Both need valve gland packing which is not a major.
The biggest issue i have is the exhaust there is nothing to pipe it any where .
I have run the vertical on steam but only after i removed the steam chest to thread exhaust holes and fit copper tube so i can fit rubber hose to pipe it away

Cheers
Dennis

"Once bitten, twice shy". Glad you got it sorted, but it would leave me VERY hesitant to get one.

Bruce, you did a great job sorting out this engine.

PSE is very fortunate that it landed on your doorstep and that you have the skills and equipment required to repair it.

I agree it should never have been shipped in that condition.

Now the good stuff.....

You have a super nice looking engine..!!

Thanks for showing us the whole story.

Gil

Well said Gil.

Nice work Bruce.

Bruce - thank you for the very interesting reportage of this beautiful machine.
It is not the best reputation for the PSE company - the bad cylinder top should
have been discarded! On the other side it is a very nice design and workmanship
(like the old english ones) Fortunately it reached your home and you have the skills
to handle the mess - it also makes satisfaction to bring it to perfection.
Congrats, Arnold

Great job Bruce, as always!!!

Sorry that you had to though, as I (as the others in here) also think that they should up their standards considerably, when it comes to deeming an engine ready for sale.

I purchased one of their first engines (single cylinder mill engine), and for similar reasons immediately gifted it away after the initial inspection, to an elderly family member who wanted it for cupboard display only.
Your experience here only further cements my suspicion, that PSE mostly have customers that want a stationary ornament on their desktop, since their reputation isn't completely ruined yet.

I suspect your right Jan (btw ,good to hear from you 😊) I asked PSE for the cylinder bore dimensions a few days , but have not heard anymore from them...
I really didn't expect it to run on steam well, if at all, but it did run well on steam, now I'm having difficulty  running it well on air again 🙄
I wish I had tested them (PSE) on a much cheaper (well less expensive) model 😔