Sanderson Beam Engine

Well, I had the drawings; now I've got the castings - from ebay

Rod

I cut my modelling teeth on beam engines, there is something special about slow running. Now I want one! What are you doing for a boiler?

You'll never get that traction engine started, I recon you have caught the casting bug from Jo

Fizzy, my steam experience is strictly limited to a 10V 30 years ago, oh and a well stalled Jenny Lind. I think it will probably be compressed air powered but my particular ethic is that the model must be steam capable - so the correct heat resisting materials must used.

Jason, you may well be right Did I mention the orphaned Lady Stephanie? Perhaps I'm laying in a stock for when the revolution comes

Cheers,

Rod

understood, but a steam engine without steam isnt a steam engine (IMHO), plus it wont smell right!

What does steam smell like?

Hot oil and sulpherous fumes - I fully understand where Fizzy is coming from

So no gas firing then

Like Rod most of mine are destined for air (except the IC engines) but all made so they could run on steam. I think the only one that I have put steam to is my Stuart Beam but holding a blowlamp under the Mamod did not do it's paintwork much good

For mr the hissing and dripping along with the smell is what its all about.

Rod

It looks like your castings are the same as mine were except that your base appears to be CI were as mine is Ali.

If your castings are the same vintage as mine one thing you might want to check is the top cyl. cover. I found that the distance between the piston rod and valve rod gland bosses was about 3/16" too short. So I cut it in half just shy of the valve rod boss and silver soldered a piece of steel ~3/16" wide between the two pieces to give the required 1" dimension between the piston rod and valve rod. See pics.

John

Edited By John Purdy on 25/03/2016 20:22:44

Edited By John Purdy on 25/03/2016 20:24:26

Rod or anyone else with these drawings

On the Blackgates drawings for the Sanderson does the pin, on the arm on the end of the valve shaft, that engages with the locking lever on the end of the eccentric rod disconnect unit have a groove turned in it for a slot in the locking lever to slide into to connect the eccentric rod to the valve shaft? My drawings show a flat on the pin and a flat on the lever to mate with it. I can see this only working if the pin is free to rotate in the arm which I think would be hard to accomplish with no slop in this size.

John Purdy

John,

I'm not really familiar enough with this engine at present to fully understand the bits you are referring to. Is this the part you mean?

Thanks for the heads up on the cylinder cover, mine looks OK.

Even my baseplate is bronze - I suspect the scrap value may be more than I paid for the castings

Rod

Rod

Yes that's part of it. What I would like to know is does the 1/8" pin on the valve cross rod that the eccentric rod valve end and latching lever fit on to have a groove in it for the latching lever to fit into. It appears from your drawing that it must as the latching lever has a 3/32" round ended slot in it, whereas my drawing shows it flat.

John

Hello everyone. I'm new to this forum, so please forgive any lapse of etiquette.

This seems to be one of the only, thread regarding the 1/12 scale Sanderson beam engine produced by Clarkson & Son.

Some time ago I was donated a box of stuff by an old engineer, and amongst the contents was a partially assembled Sanderson (mostly the cast parts) on a makeshift wooden base and a full set of drawings + a company catalogue. On closer inspection (after chasing all the spiders out) it would appear that all of the brass parts are missing; whether robbed for scrap or just separated from the kit and never passed along, at sometime in the past, I'll never know.

I've already helped out a chap in America by sending him the blueprints to copy and return. I thought I would 'spread the love' so to speak, and offer up the same to anyone on here who needs a set of original blueprints to work from. I know there is a new classified 'want' ad for these, but the site won't allow me, being a new subscriber, to view or respond to that person. Perhaps, if he's on here regularly, he will know who I mean and make contact through this thread.

There is too much missing from this model for it to be a feasible project for my retirement, as I now live in a tiny flat with no workshop space. So I will have to pass it along to someone with the facilities to resurrect it back to working condition. This isn't an advert for it - I don't want to break any forum rules, but if someone on here with more experience could advise me on how to go about selling what I've got, it would be most appreciated.

I think Blackgates still hold the copyright to these drawings and may not be too happy with you spreading the love.

They can also supply any missing bronze castings.

If these are Clackson's castings, beware of chill spots! I built their table engine many years ago, and they were a nightmare, especially to a novice. I didn'tb know about cooking the castings in a solid fuel stove to anneal them. Also, if you wish to refer to the original drawings, I believe they were published in "The engineer and machineist's assistant" about 1845. The Science Museum library has a copy.

Maurice Cox.

A nice evocative photo. Look at that and think of the years of pleasure before you finally make a start

Neil

It is generally said to be OK to make copies for your own personal use, making copies for others is not whether for free or payment.

There is nothing wrong with selling on the original drawings.