tools, materials & knowledge for model makers
How Many Parts in an Engine? I was wondering and thinking about the oscillating steam engine plans that I have just produced in CAD. This is a very simple engine. There are 21 separate parts in this exploded assembly drawing, of which 19 parts need to be made from stock material. However, this drawing does … Read more
Looking for inspiration for a steam valve design. Thought I would share a bit of a search of the internet, books and reference papers. I’ve already discussed the different options for the Burrell Steam Valve principle of operation: Make a valve part of the saddle Fit a standard steam valve to the side of the … Read more
All the time I’ve been making the cylinder and saddle I’ve been concerned with the Burrell steam valve. How do I control the steam? I think I have three options: Make a valve part of the saddle Fit a standard steam valve to the side of the saddle Fit remote standard valve and run pipes back … Read more
This is a tiny oscillating engine that was made by Roy Taylor around 1995-1998 Up close like this it doesn′t look quite so beautiful. However, in the images below you can see it against a common match and you then get the scale – quite remarkable. Compressed air/steam goes in through the pipe and exhausts … Read more
I’ve roughed the Burrell valve chest out of brass. The valve pushrod bearings were made as one part, silvered soldered into the valve chest. The centre part was then removed on the milling machine. This part is quite small as the Burrell is just 1/20th scale. The main valve chest is 22 x 20 x … Read more
I needed to put the Burrell crosshead guide in context. As in bolt it to the cylinder block and check it against the engine overall. After making the crosshead guide I was nervous that it looked a tad large against the cylinder. “However, I will reserve judgement until this is put in context with the … Read more
For the design of the Miniature Burrell Valve inspiration is coming from the Stuart 10V. Maybe more than inspiration, I’m measuring the valve dimensions and halving them. This Stuart engine I made over 40 years ago and it still runs like a dream. Hence I thought that these would be good dimensions to measure up … Read more
Looking at Burrell cylinder block ideas for the miniature Burrell traction engine. The issue is this traction engine is 1/20th scale and the cylinder bore is just 12mm with a stroke of 12mm. All of this makes it fiddly and I need to simplify the design to make it work. However, the real difficulty is … Read more
I thought it would be good to talk about oscillating engines. In particular the oscillating engine I made some time ago. A double acting oscillator with a geared flywheel. The valve on the oscillating engine is very simple. So simple that at first it is difficult to understand how enough steam enters the cylinder. However, … Read more
Water is such a key element of life and everything we do that I thought I should pull together a page on the properties of water. Spurred on by making a steam boiler I thought I should pull some references together for this wonderful working fluid. In the model engineering workshop we drink it, either as … Read more