Grasshopper Engine

Does anyone know where I can obtain castings for the Grasshopper Engine by Sydney Owen, I know that Brunell do a similar engine but I do not really want to go down that path.

Kevin

Hi Kevin

Why don't you talk to Grahame?

He may have it in stock.

Give him a chance, see if you can do a deal.

regards David

How similar do you want it to be?

Bruce engineering do the Easton & Anderson that Anthony Mound described

Stuart Models also do a grasshopper

Or you could just make it from scratch possibly substituting a cylinder and flywheel casting from one of the other beam engines that Reeves do. I'm well on my way to completing a scratch built E&A at double the size of teh bruce offering with a lot more detail added, see here

J

Edited By JasonB on 30/01/2013 13:01:47

Thanks for your answers,

I already have the drawings for the Syd Owen Grasshopper Engine and the two that have been mentioned from Bruce eng & Brunell do not fit the bill.

My question was does anyone know of suppliers of castings for this particular engine , if not I have found a suitable flywheel and would machine the rest of the components from solid.

Kevin

I've never seen castings available but they may have been in the sixtys when the article was writen

J

Kevin

Sorry I cannot help you find an answer but I think David C has already mentioned the name of a potential supplier, he replied just few minutes after you first posed the question

I must admit that its not a supplier I know of, so you will have to Google it (or as DC again)

Ian

Thanks for your answer Ian , the supplier that David mentioned was Brunell and the Grasshopper Engine they do is not what I require.

Kevin

My reply was meant as a dig at DC!

I was not sure whether he was being ultra neutral as a moderator (in that he did not show any bias to any one supplier), but also, his reply meant absolutely nothing to anybody that did not know anybody called Grahame.

I know two people called Grahame but niether of them knows anything about casting, on the other hand one of them does go fishing,

Ian

Hi Ian

I misunderstood.

I thought you did not want to use Brunel for reasons posted on another thread.

I did not realise the engine was not what you want.

One of the Model Engineer contributors made it from the solid + a flywheel casting I think.

I think he wrote it up in ME but not dead sure.

That engine was an update of one published in ME back in the late40s, early 50s I believe.

It was also originally metric.

regards David

Would that be the one by A. Ebeltoft from March 1949? I have the drawings for that which are indeed in metric. Kevin, PM me if you want a copy.

Looks to be quite doable from solid and possibly a 5" Stuart Flywheel, bit on the small side for me but doubled up with a 10" wheel would be nice.

J

Hi Jason

I think that is the one.

regards david

The original design was by Ebeltoft but the drawings that I have are for the one serialised in ME Nov -Dec 1965 , I have the extracts from these issues.

The size of the engine is 13" long x 13" high x 61/2" wide and has 8 1/4" diam flywheel.

Kevin

Happened to be looking at Hit & miss engines and remembered that Canadian Model Engineering do a Grasshopper that is a dead ringer for the Owen one but looks to have been scaled up 50%. from the earlyer design, I had assumed they were the same size

Edited By JasonB on 31/01/2013 16:42:42

All the dimensions of that Canadian Grasshopper match the 1965 Sydney Owen design.

Jo

Thanks Jo, another one to add to the collection?

J

Thanks Jason,

It matches the Syd Owen one to a tee , I will e-mail Canadian for more details.

By the way what size of boiler would I need to power this size of engine?

Kevin

Probably 4-5" dia the capacity is largish but hopefully it won't want too much steam as it should be quite slow running.

I have heard that their Hit & miss castings are good quality so the same should apply to the steam engines.

Make sure you post some pictures of progress.

Jason,

I am still trying to be good and not buy any more castings. I already have my eye on something very sexy to add to my collection, something that I have no doubt will be both challenging and I anticipate will find very rewarding .

Jo

Edited By Jo on 31/01/2013 18:53:50

Thanks Jason, my GLR 4" vertical should be OK then.

Kevin