{"id":1141,"date":"2008-03-11T06:00:55","date_gmt":"2008-03-10T20:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/?p=1141"},"modified":"2008-03-11T06:00:55","modified_gmt":"2008-03-10T20:00:55","slug":"steam-engine-gage-vr1a-graham-industries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/?p=1141","title":{"rendered":"Steam engine – GAGE VR1A Graham Industries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes I’ve been neglecting this blog a little, but grab a cuppa because this is really neat \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

It was my birthday recently and a pleasant surprise arrived right on time from the USA. It was a package – tantalisingly box-like
\n\"box\"<\/p>\n

When I opened it, out came a package of metal bits and a reassuringly large instruction manual from Graham Industries – a detailed working live steam model engine. It is a single-cylinder, double acting engine with a stephenson link reversing gear – the sort you get on steam trains.<\/p>\n

\"GAGE <\/p>\n

I had a rough idea of how this worked, but was always keen to see it in a tactile way to really understand the principle – which is outlined here<\/strong><\/a>, but is better illustrated here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

I borrowed a beading tray from Sharon<\/strong><\/a> to prevent the loss of small parts – the bolts are tiny and in good scale with the engine.<\/p>\n

And so I set to work on the assembly. The manual opened with a lovely line drawing showing the relationship of components and separate drawings of the valve gear
\n\"GAGE<\/p>\n

The cylinder and piston assembly was first – and the manual was well illustrated with step-by-step photos. The package even included proper paper gaskets to ensure proper sealing.
\n\"GAGE<\/p>\n

Then came the valve gear – a slide valve that would move up and down to reveal the ports in sequence
\n\"GAGE<\/p>\n

Then it was time to assemble the frame
\n\"GAGE<\/p>\n

The crankshaft followed with the valve eccentrics, the beautifully machined brass flywheel, and the connecting rod was added to the crank-pin <\/p>\n

\"GAGE<\/p>\n

And finally the engine was complete. The detail is fantastic. Each of the bolts holding moving parts runs in a brass bushing to minimise friction, and the engine runs on fairly low pressure air or steam.<\/p>\n

\"GAGE<\/p>\n

Here is the completed engine.
\n\"GAGE<\/p>\n

I did a test run first using a tiny air compressor run off my car’s cigarette lighter, and it ran briefly before one of the bolts vibrated loose on the reversing gear. This was fixed with a light dab of loctite, and then I adjusted the valve timing lightly (yes it is fully tunable!) until it ran well in both directions from the air compressor.<\/p>\n

But a steam engine isn’t a steam engine unless it runs on steam is it? So, not having a boiler to hand I went for the next best thing – a milk steamer from a cappucino machine – it had a steam valve to act as a throttle, and with a couple of bits of clear plastic tubing (fuel line) I stepped down the size so it would fit on both the milk steamer and the engine. And within moments, the engine ran smoothly – without the harshness I found running it on air – and without the problem of possibly setting off the smoke alarms!<\/p>\n

Here it is running on steam
\n<\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

Cheers
\nJerry <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yes I’ve been neglecting this blog a little, but grab a cuppa because this is really neat \ud83d\ude42 It was my birthday recently and a pleasant surprise arrived right on time from the USA. It was a package – tantalisingly box-like When I opened it, out came a package of metal bits and a reassuringly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2,13,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-journal","category-steam","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}