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Member postings for kristian woolf

Here is a list of all the postings kristian woolf has made in our forums. Click on a thread name to jump to the thread.

Thread: case hardening mild steel
16/01/2012 20:08:22
Hi
I understand what your saying and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have waited. haha. the problem is my engineering teacher was a aeronautical engineer and if its not to pin point accuracy its not good enough, which i suppose is quite understandable from him.
15/01/2012 21:57:27
Hope everyone has had a good Christmas and new year. I have made the eccentric rod and nearly finished the cylinder block and sleeve, ect. but we are waiting to bore it out until we get an internal micrometer. And I am going to cast the flywheel out of aluminium and fill the outer rim with cast lead to bring up the kinetic energy whilst in motion without making the whole flywheel weigh to much. At the moment I am making the mould for it on the wood turning lathe and is coming along pretty well.
Thread: Reaming fed rates
07/01/2012 17:20:08
Hi is there a formula to work out feed rates on different material whilst reaming. Cheers
Thread: case hardening mild steel
15/12/2011 21:54:25
right Iv had a thought, I am going to use an aluminium cylinder with a gunmetal sleeve inside it, this way I don't have to weight out on materials. I can get a piece of gun metal the size I want for about a tenner !!
15/12/2011 18:59:20
Right new update blunted 2 cutters at school cutting down 5 mm of cast iron. Going to have to use brass or gun metal i think
12/12/2011 20:23:22
Iv worked out some drawings which work on CAD Ill get it all together tomorrow an put up again.
11/12/2011 22:05:20
Posted by Terryd on 11/12/2011 17:47:07:
Hi Kristian,
 
Here is an animation of how a steam engine slide valve works. This is for a double acting valve. The exhaust 'port' is from the centre. The valve is usually a square or rectangular block with the underside hollowed out, not a cup shape as shown here The push rod is usually threaded so that the length can be adjusted to get the length adjusted for optimum performance.
 
Part of the design task is to get the spacing of the inlet positions and the size of the rebate (hollowed out section) just right. There are many drawings of basic cylinders on the internet in various projects. The design is pretty universal it is the detail that is different. A good example is in teh drawings for Dacre, a steam engine project Here. You can download the drawings from the LH sidebar. They are for a locomotive but the basic design or the cylinder and valve gear is the same for a stationary engine. A bonus is that a much smaller piece of brass is needed as well
 
Best regards
 
Terry

Thanks Terry , I had seen a animation like this before but disgarded it because i thought it may get too complex but obviously not, I have 3 free lessons tomorrow so i will spend them trying to work out how I can make this happen. It could save me £40

11/12/2011 14:21:51
There is one for the inlet which is nearest to you when you see it on the video, then the other eccentric rod is for the exhaust so all the steam or air doesnt escape when it is under pressure, if that makes sense.
10/12/2011 21:08:56
Iv posted a design of the engine on another topic page. http://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=61343
Thread: Steam engine Design
10/12/2011 21:07:43
For those that have been following my other post, here is is my design for my model stationary steam engine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYUiLy0FjqU&feature=youtu.be Sorry its a bit jarrey at the beggining.
Thread: case hardening mild steel
08/12/2011 19:30:39
I will get some pictures up of the process as soon as possible.
07/12/2011 17:13:26
Posted by Terryd on 07/12/2011 16:55:34:
 
Posted by mick H on 07/12/2011 14:44:25:
Richard and Terry.......I wonder whether I am missing something fundamental...a while back there was a thread concerning condensation and subsequent rust etc forming on tools and machines and this despite treatments with various oils, waxes and assorted unguents. You have both mentioned the use of mild steel as suitable material for a steam cylinder and this seems to be contrary to what I and others have experienced when steel and water get it together.....oil or no oil.
 
I am about to embark on an outside cylinder loco shortly.......should I abandon thoughts of gunmetal castings for the cylinders and fabricate them out of mild steel? Definitely cheaper.

Hi Mick,

 
Mild steel is ok if there is a steam oil supply perhaps through a displacement oiler and a drain cock of some kind. It will last ok if run on compressed air. Remember cylinders on real locos weren't made of bronze, brass or gunmetal, they were cast iron. When water and cast iron get together the result is also rust.
 
Remember the project we are talking about is by a young student probably with limited resources and experience, for a gcse. One of 10 or 12 he will be taking. The engine may not run on steam given the time available in the school workshops it is unlikely that a decent boiler could be made anyway. A lot of us run our stationary engines on compressed air these days. Knowing students as I do there will probably be many errors and mistakes along the way, your way could be very expensive for a 15 year old.
 
In these circumstances it is not always the ultimate solution but the realistic one which must be considered. There has to be compromises. If he finds that he likes the hobby he has a lifetime ahead to go for the ultimate.
 
In your case I would think that mild steel would be ok if you were to merely run it for a few hours for fun or as a demonstration and then put it on display. However if you wish to run the loco regularly under steam I suggest that your first solution i.e. gunmetal is he choice you should and will go with.
 
It's simply horses for courses.
 
Regards
 
Terry
 
 

Its for my A level project so we have pretty much unlimited time and our engineering workshop is pretty good for a schools. We have just had a new ALC block built with around £1 million worth of equipment.

I have managed to get hold of some large round 6 inches ish cast iron bar which i will use for the cyclinder now.
06/12/2011 21:53:38
Okay thankyou, it does look very expensive, Ill see what school has in its stock and Illl see what I can do
06/12/2011 18:34:17
Does anyone know where I can get some brass or something similar for the cylinder of about 45x40 square and 70 mm long. 3 Pieces. Iv looked all over ebay and there is absolutely nothing I can find.
05/12/2011 20:15:07
Thankyou if you could do that id be really grateful and get some money off to you. The price of this gun metal is considerably cheaper than what I saw earlier thankyou. About £150 cheaper!!
05/12/2011 19:30:01
Also luckily at school we have a huge chunk of bronze, about a kilo that we are allowed to use, but know ones found a use for it yet.
05/12/2011 19:28:30
Thankyou again,
Thankyou for this post just looked at some prices of gunmetal !!!!!! I was going to but a hole or something in above the piston so that it can be oiled but I needed to find an effective way of doing so. Thanks I will take a look at that book.
05/12/2011 19:16:10
Thankyou for your reply , The engine is a stationary engine and the cyclinder will be a 12mm hole reemed into a block of metal. It is quite hard to explain how I have done it but my engineering teacher reckons it should work if i get the timing right in the valves. Do you know where I can get hold of gun metal. Thankyou
05/12/2011 18:12:44
Hi ,
I am in the design process of creating a model steam engine for my engineering project at school, and Im not sure what materials i should use for the cyclinder. Would it be any good to machine the mild steel then do the case hardening process or would that warp the dimensions. Or should i use different materials for the cylinder and piston. Thankyou
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