The first steam engine you built

Hello i am both a new member and also new to MSE,i was wondering if you guys could give me a bit of input regarding the first engine you built.I obviously want to build something simple to begin with,a kit would be ideal as i would like it to be an educational project with my young son (nuts about steam engines,short on patience!).I was thinking of some sort of static engine that i could run a motor/dynamo off of,to show him the relationship between chemical,mechanical and electrical energy.Any and all replies are greatly appreciated.

Brandon

We need to define what you term a "KIT"

On the one hand there are ready machined engines that just need to be painted and assembled, these would be the most comprehensive type of kits but you are paying for someone else to do the machining.

The next step would be a kit that includes all materials needed for you to machine and assemble an engine, these would include raw castings, all metal in bar and rod form together with nuts, bolts etc.

Finally there are kits which just have the raw castings and it is upto the builder to source all the other bar, rod & fixings.

The usual suggestion for a first time engine is one from The Stuart range, either the S50, 10V or 10H, these come in teh first and second options. If you are looking to machine these then there is a lot of information on the web and in book form as they are popular subjects. My first one was the 10V. There is a dynamo in teh range

You could also take a look at some of the American made kits from PM Research, available in teh UK from Forrest Clasics, these are castings& material kits. The build of a couple of these have been covered in ME over the last year or so, again they do a dynamo.

Cotswold do some ready to assemble kits but their macining kit sare a bit too advanced for a first time project, they have a couple with dynamos but not cheap.They also do some kits you machine yoursel but not ideal starter subject

You then com eto the castings only type kits, Reeves have a good range and a couple would be OK for starters like the. Brunell again do casting kits but most would not be ideal for a beginner. The same applies to the casting only kits from Bruce engineering, very nice but not for a beginner

J

Edited By JasonB on 22/01/2013 17:20:06

Hi Brandon

If you are new to ME and have a lathe you could do worse than go along the path that many have and build a Stuart Turner Kit - you can see details HERE. My experience of their castings is very good and there are models of varying size and complexity. If you go for the cheaper and smaller end then a common choice is the No. 10 V or 10 H Both are quite straightforward and have the additional benefit of a comprehensive, illustrated, construction guide by Harold Hall - ex Editor of MEW and frequent contributor to this forum. Details of his site HERE and the construction notes HERE

That should give you a start!

( Harold I hope you like the - well deserved- plug!)

Regards

Norman

Edited By NJH on 22/01/2013 17:19:14

Like many other beginners when I started in model engineering in 1963 I made a Stuart Turner number 10 vertical steam engine from a set of castings. Sets of these castings are still available together with a "how to do it" book. The only difference is the price of my set was £2 including purchase tax but plus postage now they are £73.50 plus VAT!

I went about this differently.. I bought an already built and running loco, and learnt alot by keeping this going, then, whilst enjoying using my working loco started building my first loco (a Simplex). If I hadnt gone down this route I know that I'd have lost patience and become dispondent due to the time it can take to build. I did learn alot in maintaining an already working loco as they always need something fixing !!

If you want a quick intorduction and something that will quickly grab the attention of a youngster, then a fully machined kit is the way. the 10V is over £400 plus VAT

If you want to do all the work yourself a set of 10V castings and a small lathe will probably not be too much different in cost and you will have a small lathe left over at the end

Whichever way you choose a 10V WILL run happily on the steam jet from a home cappuccino machine (but one from a car boot as if your wife is like mine the cappuccino machine is her prized possession and not to be abused in this way).

The problem with the second choice is that you will fee the need to get more bits, models tools etc..... but the upside is that folks here will happily help if you get stuck at any point.

My first engine is now gone, (the solder melted) but then I built a 10V using the Andrew Smith guide book and it all went exactly according to plan.

Good luck,

Neil

Edited By Stub Mandrel on 22/01/2013 20:07:16

Neil

That's a really good idea - I must persuade the boss to buy a cappuccino machine!

N

Brandon,

My introduction was when my older brother received a very simple Mamod steam plant. It consisted of a low pressure boiler fired by meths connected to a simple oscillating engine.

At 15, I tried to build a very simple slide valve engine as part of a schools project but there was insufficient workshop time to complete it. I eventually built it just 1 to 2 years ago (you can see it in my photo album on this site).

My advice would be to buy a simple engine similar to Mamod to show a working engine straight out of the box. If you have a workshop then you could build a very simple steam plant that could be built using stock metal for a few tens of pounds (certainly not hundreds). There is a site which shows various simple engine designs by a chap known as Elmer. If you are interested - I will try to locate the site for you.

PhilH

My first steam engine was a stuart 10V, still runs perfectly after 32 years of pretty heavy usage. Mind you, back then the castings cost around $30 - different now.

Phil's suggestion of one of Elmer's engines has a lot of merit.

**LINK**

Hi Brandon

Following from Phils answer above you could get the best opf both worlds - buy a Mamod kit - comes up pretty easily with Google. That way you should get fairly simple to build engine that stands a good chance of working straight away.

Keith

As a youngster many years ago my interests was wildlife then a secondary modern school was built and was one of the first pupils at it.

The metalwork teacher was fantastic who was also a model engineer and I made a horizontal mill engine that was in model engineer ETW design?

The only bought part a cast flywheel another pupil who no longer is with us had the same experience and the respect we had for that teacher stays with me today.

Very happy memories.

Paul

Hi Brandon,

If you don't want to spend a lot of money on a kit with castings, Phil's suggestion of building one of Elmer Verburg's engine is good advice. Elmer's engines are made from stock materials, some are easy to build, others a bit more advanced. He even has one with a generator (#40). Click on the link supplied above and download one of Elmer's engines.

Regards

Thor

Hi Brandon

The other option for a quick build is the Popular range of oscilating engines from Reeves, I rermember building the Stuart 10V as a youngster took ages and never built a boiler no suitable soldering equipment for a boiler of the size required at home.

But I do rember the first popular engine I built and a pot boiler fired by meths. I have a victorian steam launch powered by a popular V twin that is good fun to sail.

Olly

Thanks Norman for giving my web site a mention. I am sure you, with others, will realise that even though much of it was taken from my MEW articles there has been lot of work in adding them to the web. Typically, reducing the file size of almost 1000 pictures (twice, page size and large view size)was quite a task. So the more times it gets viewed the more it becomes worthwhile.

Thanks again

Harold

My first steam engine was /is made from a kit bought on ebay, it was about £20. Contains all the material to build a simple oscilator including boiler. All the metal is bar stock etc. I think this is the way for a first model as any mistakes are cheap to remake, and they will be some, also the boiler can be silver soldered with simple kit. Very basic but amazing to see it work, even now in my dotage.

Hi Brandon .My first engine,built many years ago, was a Stuart Turner S50 mill engine ,still have it and it will run from a 12v tyre pump.My great grandsons love watching it .I made it with an early myford and a few hand tools.

Good luck with whatever you choose .Maurice

Wow,thankyou all so much for your replies.I`ve got plenty of food for thought now.A stuart Turner engine sounds favourite for a beginner(both cost and complexity).Harold your website is now permanantly welded to my favourites list,as is Elmer Verburgs site! Have to say ive never been on a forum with so many helpful people,you are all a credit to the ME world. Thankyou

Brandon

Hi brandon, I had been building stirling engines for a number of years when the local High School run a night course, subject a model steam engine, so I signed up, it was a little engine, and boiler, similar to a Mamod type engine. We where given plans, and materials, and let loose in the workshop. After reading the drawing, I modified it quite a bit, and built it, streaching out the time taken by helping some of the other builders. The boiler is a piece of 40 mm dia copper tube, 100 mm long (the drawing says 50 mm x 115 mm), we got rashoned on the copper, that was the whole stock. The ends were flanged, and silver soldered, along with the bush for the safty valve, and the bush for the steam outlet. The drawing specifies the use of ordenary lead tin solder, and a staythrough the boiler. No lathe needed, although I did use one for my flywheel, which I made from 50 mm dia brass (my supply), the others made theirs from 40 mm dia aluminium, some of those engines had a bit of difficulty getting going, and when they did, had to run at high speed, where as mine runs very slowly if required. Just got to find a bit of brass tube 25 mm long, and anything from 5 mm to 7 mm bore, just depending on what size bit you can find for a piston. A couple of years ago another of the motors arrived in my workshop, it was the one that did not work, so I rebuilt that one too. Ian S C

Stuart 10V castings £88.20 inc vat Stuart 10V

Reeves popular single cylinder oscillator castings £43.57 Reeves Popular

Both come with all materials and fixings.

10V is much bigger and much more like a 'real' steam engine.

Having bought both the Stuart castings were to a higher standard.

You pays your money and makes your choice.

Your mileage may vary.

Joey