I finished collecting all the raw materials I need for my next machining project. I like to get the materials lined up before starting. This new project will be for a compound marine steam engine model that can run on either steam or compressed air (but compressed air version requires a different lubrication technique).
The plans and photos are from a four book series “The Shop Wisdom of Rudy Kouhoupt” which I own and I made copies for my shop notebook for my building notes. The only parts I won’t make are the stainless steel threaded rod materials and nuts. The finished engine will weigh approximately 5 pounds and be approximately 3”W x 5”L x 6.5”H in size. The two cylinder bores are 0.875” for the high pressure side and 1.250” for the low pressure side and both have a 0.812” stroke.
The reversing valve gear is based on a Stephenson’s link motion. The engine is self-starting except for one very small potential dead spot which is highly unlikely but can be overcome by temporarily supplying high pressure steam to both cylinders using a manual bypass valve if this was powering an RC boat (or just rotating the flywheel by hand).
Attached are a few photos for the initial stage of the project showing the first page of the article by Rudy, one page of my machining notebook pages for the project (this one has the engine entablature part laid out and ready for machining), and a photo of my Unimat milling squaring the sides to the engine entablature.
I have a 12”X18” black granite surface plate and a 12” digital surface gage that makes the part layout process at lot easier. The most difficult raw stock to find was piece of 1.5” diameter solid silicon bronze rod that was about 5” long. This will be machined true and bored out as thin liners for the LP and HP cylinder heads. I found what I needed as an odd piece sold on eBay but not inexpensive The rest of the raw materials include 6061 aluminum, stainless 303 (free machining version of 304), and brass C360 in forms of rods, plates and bar stock.
I will post additional photos are the work progresses.
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