[modeleng] Re: Thoughts on future projects....
- From: stepney <alan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: modeleng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2012 11:11:41 +0000
Coming back to the steam options that Chris mentioned,
I know someone who has done a lot of research on steam bikes. An
ex-university lecturer, he has written an interesting paper on them plus
a comprehensive survey. There was one running at the St Agnes rally a
few years ago.
Generally, they werent too successful as motorbikes, but could be good fun.
As for steam boats, there was an interesting flash steam boiler at... I
think it was Donnington, a few years ago. I have photos and details
somewhere.
It made a compact unit that provided lots of steam.
Plus, of course, no actual pressure vessel to test.
That would be my choice for such a vessel. The other option is a
vertical boiler, which is common and for which there are numerous
designs available.
For the engine, and without doing any calculations, I would guess that 3
or 4hp, would suffice.
(Paddles being less efficient than a screw, and to raise the efficiency
of paddles means quite complex paddle design, so I assume they would be
fairly basic=less efficient.)
There are lots of engines that would provide that power. Some of the
Leak designs would do, but for a paddle steamer, I would go with an
inverted V, much like the model that Tel built last year (or was it the
year before?).
An enlarged version of that would give a low CofG, and take up little space.
Alan
On 15/03/2012 11:36, Chris Crosskey wrote:
> Hi folks,
> I need some advice...
>
> In the next month or so the move of my old workshop at my parents house to my
> new very much larger workshop at my house will be complete (it's only taken
> two years to sort it out :))...
>
> Given how I work I rather suspect I will want to have three projects on the
> go once I've settled in..
>
> 1: The restoration of my horizontal mill...
> 2: Construction of an Orrery
> 3: It's about time I built something powered by steam...
>
> The mill is an old Herbert Simplimill, built like a tank, not all that big
> but weighs nearly a ton, I've got the vertical head for it and have tracked
> down some tooling... apart form just putting it back together and getting it
> running right I need to make some changegears for it as that's what it uses
> for setting speeds (and feeds) and I'm considering long-term putting
> Norton-style gearboxes on it for speed and feed selection.... The actual
> things I might do rather sooner than long-term is make a quill-based vertical
> head for it so that I can use it as a drilling machine, and I have a slotting
> head (from something else) that I'd like to get working on it too. Would
> welcome advice from people who have recommissioned mills or similar machines
> from a big pile of parts....
>
> The orrery is just something I want for my lounge and if it takes me 15 years
> to get through that much watchmaking then so be it, I'll take it in easy
> stages, start off with an earth and moon, add a Sun, then the inner planets,
> then Mars, then build separate sets for the giants then get the whole lot
> working as one.... Don't need advice for that..
>
> The third bit is the one where it gets more complicated.... I've got two
> things in mind.... A steam powered bicycle based on the Hope layout probably
> built onto a butchers bike or similar, or a steam paddle launch. The launch
> would need to have a disassemblable hull ...I know how to do the
> disassemblable bit but I've never built a boat hull before and would need a
> design that I could adapt... Hopefully by making it disassemblable I could
> build an 18-foot or so paddle launch which would fit onto a smallish trailer.
> I've seen a launch that size (paddle too) running off the boiler and engine
> of a 7 ½" Shay (literarally mounted in the hull minus its wheels with the
> shaft taken to the paddle drive.... I'd prefer to do it with a vertical
> boiler of some description and a freelance two or three cylinder engine....
> Any advice welcome there too... I'd want the boiler to get within the model
> boiler regs for ease of certification (it's not that the regs are less tight,
> it's just it's ea
> sier to find a tester and cheaper to get done...)... are there any designs
> for vertical or marine boilers near the model limit? What sort of pressure
> would be sane? 80psi? 150psi? What does a 7 ½" Shay have in terms of
> bar-litres and engine bore/stroke?
>
> chrisc
>
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