Mary Baseplate

Hi all, I've started to build the beam engine 'Mary' from scratch. Now the baseplate is around 9" long and three wide and half an inch thick but a lot of the underside is hollow.

Surely I don't buy a huge chuck of steel and then reduce a lot of it to swarf? Are there any other ways of doing this?

Make it from Ali is one option as its a bit quicker to machine and you can leave the inside solid and still be able to pick the engine up. Or just make from steel plate and don't worry about hollowing it out.

It can also be fabricated with a 3/16 or 1/4" to and 4 strips to form the side, either screw together and fill the holes or weld if you can weld. This one is 6"x4" x3" and welded, hollow inside

You could also use a steel top and a hard plastic such as Corian to build up the thickness I did my big Benson that way

I'm going to be doing one soon that is 16" x 6" x 1.5" if you can hang on I'll post some photos. I did have a large bit of structural steel put away for this but since getting some photos of the original engine will now go for a 1/4" steel top with 1.5x0.5 aluminium for the downstand.

J

Edited By JasonB on 02/10/2012 18:23:22

Edited By JasonB on 02/10/2012 18:26:37

Hi Wolfie

My first engine was a Mary built from a cast kit, the base as suplied is an ally casting, do as Jason suggested and make it from a bit of ally plate (about 12mm thick) there is always plenty of off cuts for sale on ebay it will set you back about £15, or you could try your luck down at your local metal recycling emporium.

Stew

Another suggestion -

1. find a short scrap piece of steel rectangular tubing to form the vertical body

2. weld/braze/solder on a plate a bit bigger than the tube for the base

3. weld/braze/solder on a plate for the top

4. weld/braze/solder on washers or nuts for the 4 base bosses

5. add filler or JB weld if desired to give a "draft angle" effect for the sides

JD

PS another one yet - heat up some scrap aluminum in a soup can over an air-blown charcoal fire and sand cast the shape. You need a wood pattern and sand mould for that though.

Having just had a look at the Mary drawings on Reeves site I would say making the base from two layers of material will be the best bet.

Cut the lower one to size and use a bull nose or home ground cutter to profile the 4 sides, drill say 6mm where the six bolting down holes go and JB weld in some short lengths of rod. The top layer can just be a smaller square edged plate fixed on top.

Hi Wolfie, I have a Mary half finished, this is from castings, the base is an ali casting, bought them about 25 years ago second hand, I think I paid about 15 quid, good luck wih the build, I also have the original build series by Tubal cain in Popular mechanics.

Neville

Good Luck with Mary Wolfie,

I have been working on the beam engine Lady Stephanie for about eight years...

Neil

Just so we all know what Wolfie is making, here is a drawing of the baseplate found on the web

Had a suitable bit in the router this afternoon so ran this off from some scrap MDF to show what I was saying about making from two plates.

Edited By JasonB on 03/10/2012 16:39:10

try using hardwood with metal plate inserts as long asit is well protected it will be ok

regards

peter