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Simple Oscillating Steam Engine For Beginners

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2021 7:13 am
by dampfmann
I am looking for suggestions of simple oscillating single cylinder steam engines with plans as a beginner shop project. I've looked across the internet and there are several examples, but has anyone on the board actually built one of these models? Any tips?

Thanks,

Marty

Re: Simple Oscillating Steam Engine For Beginners

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2021 10:45 am
by rmac
I made an extremely crude oscillating cylinder engine a few years back as an exercise to see what I could do with recycled HDPE plastic. It ran successfully on compressed air right after I finished it, but over time the plastic parts warped enough that it bound up too tight to run.

There's a video of it running here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vhQVH1eITY

As far as tips go, just pick one and go for it. They're simple and easy to get running. (And make it from something other than HDPE!)

-- Russell Mac

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Re: Simple Oscillating Steam Engine For Beginners

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2021 11:23 am
by John Hasler
Did you anneal the HDPE?

Re: Simple Oscillating Steam Engine For Beginners

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2021 11:31 am
by rmac
John Hasler wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2021 11:23 am Did you anneal the HDPE?
No. I cast it into blocks and then machined the engine parts from them. How would you go about annealing it?

-- Russell Mac

Re: Simple Oscillating Steam Engine For Beginners

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2021 1:12 pm
by John Hasler

Re: Simple Oscillating Steam Engine For Beginners

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2021 1:28 pm
by rmac
How about that! Thanks. Sounds easy enough unless some precise control of the heating and cooling rates is critical. My HDPE "foundry" consists of a $10.00 thrift shop toaster oven with a questionable thermostat. On the positive side, it keeps the HDPE out of the oven in the kitchen, which in turn helps to maintain domestic tranquility.

-- Russell Mac

Re: Simple Oscillating Steam Engine For Beginners

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2021 4:54 pm
by Steamer Al
"Making Simple Model Steam Engines" by Stan Bray has some good designs for engines, boilers, and pretty much everything need to get started. Also has good how-to intructions for his designs. I do find some of the stuff a bit crude, but with a little imagination you can take the designs and make something quite pretty.

Alex

Re: Simple Oscillating Steam Engine For Beginners

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2021 10:04 pm
by FKreider
Google "elmer's engines" lots of very simple plans. I just recently completed Elmer's Fancy oscillating design.