The Home Machinist!

Fred, I would never have guessed that that engine was a Chloe at heart ... well done!!! At this point, I am a bit fearful of making too many design changes until I get my engine under steam for a while. Things like the crossheads, etc. are fairly easy to get at without completely disassembling thing...

LivingLegend wrote:South Bend Lathe no longer exists.... PERIOD.

Okay ... it has been a while. 10 years ago, they offered the service for that 10K heavy ... they wanted $1500 to grind, scrape it, and put on a new leadscrew and line everything back up.

Sorry to hear that they are completely gone.

On this engine (Maxitrak Li'l Jo), the crosshead is cast bronze. The connecting rod bearing is bronze and the fitting the attaches the rod to the crosshead appears to be made from steel. Currently, I am just squirting oil onto the top of the rod through the gap between the rod and the bottom of the ...

I feel your pain. I spent several years seeking a decent lathe and mill when I lived near Columbus, Ohio. Every day, I would scan the classified. I would periodically check with some dealers that occasionally had "smaller" stuff. (One had a lathe with a 33ft long bed and a 3 ft swing.) The...

How low presure depends on a few factors: Is it a D valve or piston valve? What type of rings, iron, Telfon (TM) or rubber o-ring? How stiff the ecentrics, valve gear and rods are to turn over? How much friction is there in main rod packings? Rob D valve Teflon rings The eccentrics will slowly flop...

When it will turn over very slowly I know it is running freely. How slow is slowly? I switched to using some 32wt motion oil for lubing the valves and cylinders and it runs better, but it stalls below ~12-15psi. I am used to little G scale live steamers that would run on 5psi when broken in. I did ...

I found some notes from Barry about the estimated fraction force of the engine I am building. From his notes, he estimated 117lb of force. I am curious if anyone has built a fixture for testing this? For the traction engines, there are a number of belt pulley horsepower testing methods from crude Ba...

I just got my Li'l Jo chassis assembled and made a fitting with a quick-connect to hook it up to my compressor. The motion is working fine, aside from a few set/grub screws that I will need to dimple to their shafts. The question is ... how much running in should I do? I lubed the cylinders and valv...

Hi all, I just joined and the intro e-mail suggested that I introduce myself. I started in this hobby a while ago, but with two teenage boys, I don't get much time to work on things. I own an 1891 Groton Traction Engine, an RMI 2 1/2" scale, 7 1/2" gauge 25t 0-4-0 switch engine, a Maxitrak...