Hero II Steam engine

oldstuff · Hero II Steam engine

My first Hero bit the dust, so I made another one a little better than the first.
I'm kinda picturing a Hero III now, maybe all brass on a finished base...

johnreid

I like it.

Nick

What happened to Hero I?

oldstuff

Poor soldering due to my lack of practice is mostly responsible for Hero one's retirement.
It sprung a leak at the bottom end cap, so I soldered it up. Then, it leaked at the filler
cap bush, and I fixed that...only to have the bottom cap start leaking again.

Les Marsh

That's great, well done.

MooseMan

Love it!

I'm thinking, Hero's engine wass a sphere.....would one of those copper floats you find in a WC flush mechanism make a good boiler?

mc_mc

I do like these engines, total simplicity.

Is that mark 1 in the background?

Great stuff!

Steve_S

Wow, that's great Chuck! I wonder how many RPM it's doing?!

Sandman

Jeez, that's a flyer Chuck.

Great stuff mate.

steamyjim

steamyjim

That realy is a brilliant engine Chuck!

Mamodman123

Thats brilliant chuck!

Very clever!

IndianaRog

Chuck is back in the saddle!!!!!!!!!!! What a nice improvement and Mark III is already in the thinking stage

steamgranny

Also have a soft spot for Hero engines, perhaps because it's the ancestor of everything we have today?
And very glad to see Chuck back too, crafting more elegant wonders & posting

oldstuff

Roundy

i am building a heroes engine 4 my gcse project- all i have at the moment are my the technical drawings for it on a cad program- it is well on its way to beeing built tho!!!!

xlchainsaw

very nice and it would look good if you painted a spiral onto it

oldstuff

I like that alot, Roundy! Looks like it'll have a safety valve, too. I've not seen a
Hero engine arranged like this before. Very cool, novel design with great potential.
The bearing will be critical, though...these Heroes hate friction.

Roundy

bessytractor

I really like that. Makes me want to have a go

oldstuff

Hero engines are quite fun, BT. When it comes to steam, I'm a flywheel and
piston man. Yet, the Hero engine has been a very pleasant diversion with
it's simplicity and different set of variables to overcome in making it work.

My all brass Hero project has suffered a terrible blow. I was so pleased at
the look of the new rig, too. But there is a crucial design flaw that makes
the whirling engine slow and eventually stop about halfway into a run.
It just sits there with plenty of steam eagerly shooting out of its ears.

I take the same engine and set it on the Hero II frame and it does great.
A full 14 minute run. Why? What's the problem with the Hero III frame?

Answer: The lower spindle point bears about 95% of the friction, and it being
soft brass, wears down fast. So fast, the engine can't even complete one full run!
So for now, I've got the Hero II spindle on it.

mogogear

A very nice set up... I like clean and "not over engineered" - Thumbs up!

tmuir

Can you drill a hole in the end of the brass rod and set a bit of steel rod in it to be the pivot point so it won't wear down?

The all brass one looks good even if it doesn't work properly.

oldstuff

Tmuir: That could be the ticket! I'll try that, thanks.

Other items on the to-do list: that finial on the post has gotta be replaced,
the base should be stained and finished, and the engine needs polishing!

Mogogear: Thanks Mo, I mostly prefer simple and straight forward designs, too.
But the next one could be a departure from this. I could make a right fancy
"Whorehouse Hero" out of all the old brass lamp parts I've accumulated!

mogogear

Hey - I am in the audience- anything you guys make is always fun to check out!!

Get that brothel in to action

MooseMan

"Whorehouse Hero"!

Now there's a Marvel Comic!

oldstuff

Yes, soon to debut as a Saturday morning cartoon. Excellent, MooseMan!
Does he wear a cape? How 'bout a big purple hat!

Inspired by tmuir's suggestion, I tackled the Hero III dilema, thusly:

I started with a short length of steel rod and cut both it and the brass point to form a joint.
I drilled both shanks, but left the hole in the brass shank slightly larger so screw would pass
through and tapped the steel shank end. Satisfied the joint would be tight and stable, I dis-
assembled the pieces to work on the steel part. I chucked the untouched end of the rod
up in a drill and ground the point from that angle and finished it with the Dremel. Not perfect,
but not bad either. Works for me!

Steve_S

Very clever Chuck... that looks very good!

mogogear

oldstuff

Got a better finial for the post, completed the new burner, polished it up for a photoshoot,
and damn! My camera's making beep noises...I think the batteries need charging. $#!%*!!!

oldstuff

I was able to get one pic, camera batteries charging.

The burner is something new I wanted to try. The curly handle isn't a rod, it's a tube
so it also functions a vent for the burner...neat! Can't wait to test run it!

mogogear

Go get those batteries charged , man - go!!

Question -will this eventually wear a hole in the bottom of your boiler? Or do you also have a indented steel spin point for your new steel "needle" bearing...

tmuir

Glad you got it sorted chuck and look forward to the video.

oldstuff

Good question, mo. I merely put a dimple in the end cap; it's just a thin brass cap
spinning on a steel needle.

Well, it runs fantastic...nearly perfect. It self starts and you even get a wee bit
of low whistle out of her! About ten minutes into the run, it really began to kick out
the RPMs...I swear this thing could power a dynamo or at least a toy! When the
rpms get high, you get a bit of a shimmy. The dimple and/or placement of the fill cap
is a tad off, so it's not as balanced as it could be. On this run, it ran out of steam
after 19 minutes and I blew out the burner. The engine didn't stop turning for another
two minutes. I intended for the new burner to match this engine(Hero II), but it's
too big. So, I'll probably make a Hero III with a larger boiler. Hoping to a vid next...

mogogear

Ok, another "out there " question...Could you mount opposing pole magnets on top and bottom.. and get it to spin frictionless??....

never mind - just a food for thought brain storm..

tmuir

johnreid

Maybe some high density plastics

Bubba

tmuir

oldstuff

This one has sound...

It's going alot faster than the vid shows!

Bubba

mogogear

COOOooooooL!

oldstuff

Bubba: I was kinda wondering about that, too. But these have to develop momentum and
I think the drag would probably stall it. I thought if you could drop a drive wheel
on top of it when it going flat out, then maybe it could power something light
like a hammer or saw-toy.

Hey mo, could ya hear it singin'?

mogogear

Oh yeah, like a sweet light note!! That kind of thing was the first steam engine I saw from a teacher in a science class 40 years ago...

I think that is why it makes me smile so much!!

Thanks for chargin' those batteries!!

tmuir

Les Marsh

Sandman

Excellent work as usual Chuck.

I particularly like the burner with the handle that is also a vent.

Surely a piece of ingenious home building.

johnreid

IndianaRog

Chuck, that is both functional and elegant...you can sure put together a classy piece of kit. The burner too was a great piece of creativity and beauty.

Funny, but I was dreaming last nite about how to make top and bottom frictionless bearing points on such an engine (no, wasn't dreaming about you Chuck, just the Hero!!).

I thought perhaps a pair of needle tips could rest in top and bottom indentations of the tank...needle bases held in place via holes drilled in the brass frame and friction fit (or add in a bit of JB Weld)...not sure the JB would hold up well on the bottom one with flame, but if it were friction pressed into frame it wouldn't reall matter. Just a thought.

Anyhow, watching that video it may not need such bearings, it seemed to spin perfectly with no evidence of drag. It is so good to have you back with us Chuck, your ingenuity is top drawer.

oldstuff

That's funny Rog. I was at a party a couple nights ago in dreamland.
Hillary Clinton was flirting with me and Bill got pissed off. Some could
argue it was a nightmare, not a dream...but I woke up laughing.

JB Weld is pretty tough stuff. I've heard stories of people using it to plug a
hole in the engine block of a car. I've tried it in steam building with good results
but only for light duty stuff like to add threads in a homemade safety valve.
I've thought about using it for boiler end caps...I think it would work fine
but it'd be permanent and you couldn't undo it if need be.
But I think, in a direct flame situation, it might burn.

tmuir

Just saw the video Chuck.
What can I say but brilliant and yes I could hear the faint whistle.