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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 10:27 pm Post subject: Through the parting veil of steam it's...
G'day, and Welcome to my shabby little display
It's so nice to see you all here, braving the heat and humidity. I hope you can hear me above the puffs, chuffs, clicks, clatters, and a few clunks.
For those who don't know me, I'm Mr. "O". My friends just call me Mark. We're all friends here, so QED and all of that.
I don't have a whole lot to show, since I'm a procrastinating bugger who can't get organized for an event that was planned months ago.
But I'm a dab hand at working under pressure, so let's go!
First off I'm going to reiterate that I am *not* a collector. Furthermore, what I do not collect the most, are Jensen engines.
(shades of Bizarro-speak there..)
Though I had no interest in it at first, I soon had the urge to modify and kit bash these toys.
I quickly found the modern Jensen hobby line to be a fine platform for modification, for the engines are cheap to find used,
they use many interchangeable parts, and they are built to be simple, plain, and robust; all of which makes them ideal for a hammer & chisel
(tongs & torch?) mechanic to get stuck in to.
Model 25-I (improved)
The very first effort was to "upgrade" my newly purchased Model 25 with a flywheel from the Model 55, to give the new engine
the running characteristics of the old cast iron 25's
A very simple modification, since the flywheel is a drop-in replacement. You *do* lose the use of the artificial governor, though, but that's not a concern of mine.
Model 85-I (improved)
This one was an early attempt to civilize the Model 85. This is a fun little engine. It does a cute little dance across the table, and spits oil, scalding water, and steam from its steam-chest exhaust port with casual and liberal abandon
Here is an early video, and the germ of the idea
And here's an old video clip of the finished product, before I sent it off to a friend last xmas
And some stills
Model 75 Testbed
Having picked up a somewhat shabby used Model 75 I decided to answer a few questions. Firstly: if a M55 (3 inch, cast iron) flywheel makes a 25/75 engine go better, would a Model 20 (4 inch cast iron) flywheel make it better?
Well, as you might be able to see, this one was not simply a drop-in replacement. In order to fit the larger flywheel, I had to remove some metal from the front, the back, and the bottom sides. Fortunately the top fit just fine
Here's one of the videos (there are plenty more at my youtube site)
Someone once commented that it "takes a week to reverse"
To me that slow acceleration curve is the charm of this mod, and once I tuned it properly, this engine became a spectacular slow runner.
At the end of the video you can see the original cast aluminum Jensen 3 inch flywheel that you will find on all of the hobby line engines.
This engine also became the subject for a few more experiements: a crude inline displacement lubricator, and "superheating" in similar vein to some of the older Mamod engines.
Here are some photos documenting those efforts
The "Mk-I" superheater, along with the second effort at an oiler. No I cannot bend brass for beans. This was before I got my hands on good copper line.
All joints, naturally, must be silver soldered. The mistake I made was in soft-soldering the join between superheater and Jensen factory steam line. The heat was just too much and that joint was always melting on me.
The Mk-II heater came to be out of my being unimpressed with the first one. I had originally planned to make 3 passes under the boiler, but I just could not get my tubing bent tightly enough.
This one worked quite well, really. This time I silver soldered the superheater to the Jensen steam line, but there was still a problem.
Instead of telling you, I'll let my past self in this old video explain
That short bit of brass tube over the nickel line is to patch a hole in said line where my original lubricator sat (it was too close to the boiler and tended to send oil into the boiler, so I removed it).
Probably a good time to mention that I am ever looking for that perfect meths burner design. This is one not-so-perfect one.
Anyway, I later reverted the 75 to a standard Jensen steam line. Maybe if my line were steam tight the superheater would have made a difference, but that's now up to someone else to determine.
Anyway, that's part 1 of Mr O's Story Time done. I hope you'll come back.
There won't be a vast quantity of engines on display here, just a few of my more -- interesting -- ones _________________
If you can't find the proper tool, use a hammer.
I'm going to jump around a bit, because I have some new video to show you of my favorite little "ugly". That engine being...
The Frakensteam 65/85
Sometimes you just want to have some fun and get messy, or is that get messy and have fun.... Either way, this little bugger is both messy AND fun
2 new videos of Franky running a workshop with one hand, and a radio with the other
And swapping the loads around to better make use of Frank's abilities
And here's the original music video, which I am the only person in the world who really likes (probably because I have the original file which is NOT ruined by youtube lossy compression of wmv files..)
There is a clip show at the end with some construction photos, if you can get through the whole thing... Yes, it really was an exercise in gratuitous use of subtitles. I figured I'd go that way instead of trying to talk the walk.
I don't have any really good stills... Here's a few of them anyway
And here's a look at my finally-perfected burner system (perfected, but not necessarily perfect)
_________________
If you can't find the proper tool, use a hammer.
I always love seeing your engines, and especially the mad mod work that you have done... it was you that made me start ripping apart old inkjet printers for stepper motors and buying leds at Radioshack...
Thanks for Franky, one of my faves...
Cheers _________________ Quando omni flunkus moritati
(Edit: Thanks. Franky is a favorite of mine too. Just needed a good meths burner and some solder globbed over the leaks )
Ah, This makes for a nice opportunity to take an aside and talk ^*~Burners~*^
Everyone likes to play with fire at some point, and in some way, from matches to H-bombs.
Without Fire, there would be no Steam, and without Steam, there would be no ^*~FUN~*^
..okay, I am deliberately avoiding discussion of Mr Jensen's pedestrian predilection with leccy heaters..
But fire is no good unless you can deliver it on time, on target, and in desired quantity, soldier.
Meths Burners
We all know it: Esbit sucks.
Well, to be more specific, Esbit Stinks. It stinks to high heaven and inversely altitudinally proportioned hell.
It's expensive, short-burning, and bound to get you thrown out of your own house also.
It's also pretty safe. But, then, we're all big lads and lasses, so we choose ~meths~ (unless we've got wads of cash to dump into gas systems).
I've dabbled and dallied with alcohol burners, from pedestrian copies of established types, to derivations of the work of others (Hullo Ranger ), to reasonably original attempts.
Here is a nice and simple bucket-burner (rolls off the tongue better than Tray Type Vapourizing Lamp)
And a smaller one
These two, made from brass, brass, and more brass, were intended for an SE2a that came to me lacking its burner, and the larger one for a SteamCo engine that had a horrid tablet tray.
Both work well, but the 2 main problems with these simple burners are 1 - limited run time: these will burn less than 12 minutes.
2 - a disturbing tendency to suddenly overflow 1-2 minutes into the burn, spilling flaming pools of alcohol on the engine, under the engine, and onto whatever is under the engine.
It makes for Living In Interesting Times in the truest traditions of the particular curse.
Here is my next particular evolution of the tray burner:
A chicken-feed system. The purpose is to limit the amount of fuel in the tray with a automatic regulation system, preventing spills, and to extend the run time via the use of a sealed remote fuel tank.
This particular burner worked well, save that the soft-soldered cap at the far end kept falling off
The main problem was that the automatic fuel feed was not very well automated. The return line to the fuel tank (air displaces fuel, allowing fuel to flow into the burner through the feed line) tends to get filled with fuel, resulting in vapour lock (except that it's a liquid, and not a vapour).
The only way to solve this is to partially unscrew the top of the tank, which allows unchecked quantitied of fuel to flood the burner if you're not bloody careful, thus entirely negating the purpose of this system and thereby making it an utter failure.
The next burner I do not have a picture of, but you can see it in the video I posted of the Jensen 75. It basically took the previous burner, swapped fire tubes for the tray, and added a sump at the burner for a small quantity of fuel to reside in. This was an improvement over the tray type, but it still suffers from fluid lock in the return line. Fortunately it is not nearly as prone to spilling over, so I may yet resurrect this design
The final type of burner I've tried is my favorite.
Fundamentally it is a manual chicken feed system, featuring a larger fuel cell at the engine - enough for several minutes worth of running, like a tray burner - plus a remote tank used for both the initial fueling and topping up during the run.
It uses twin fire tubes, as these are much simpler to build than wick tubes. The bit of paper between the tubes is a preheating measure - soak it in meths, set it alight, and it'll burn long enough to heat and light the burner (only use it outside).
The burner, in it's engine, and the remote tank. The fuel level in the tank is never more than half full. When the tank is level with the engine base, excess fuel (from expansion of meths) will flow out of the burner tank back into the remote tank.
To top up the burner tank, simply raise the remote tank for a few seconds, to let fuel flow into the burner tank, and then set it down to let excess run back.
The fuel inlet line is BELOW the level of the fire tubes, maling it extremely unlikely that the tubes will ever flood, unless you do a Statue Of Liberty and hold that remote tank up high for far too long - in which case the small vent hole on the top of the end cap of the burner tank will spurt out some meths.
Magical Magnetic Canadian pennies are soldered to the bottom...
And a mighty powerful hard drive magnet goes under the engine.
This burner isn't going anywhere unless you MAKE it!
A larger version for my D22
The problem with this one is that the single copper-pipe fire tube is just too big and thick. It's a pain to preheat. It's much better to use a pair of smaller tubes of copper or brass.
The idea of the single large tube was that I could perforate it along its length and not worry about fuel not getting to the far end. I suspect it would work okay is I had used K&S brass rather than plumbing pipe. I just wanted to make it all out of plumbing fittings.
The last type I tried is experimental. Basically converting a wick type burner tube to a vapour type. This was a simplification of a rather elegant looking element made by Ranger.
The inner casing is held in position by a bit of frayed cotton cord, which probably also helps the thing to not bubble over.
I intend to build a burner based on this design, someday.
A taller version, with Speed Holes(tm) which do nothing that I can tell...
Anyway. There are more videos to browse, and the photo albums have other pictures in them as well. I don't have to tell anyone here how to back-hack a URL to get there
Next, when my fingers have cooled down, I'll resume yacking about my favorite things. Hope I'm being visual enough to keep you lot interested. I know I like the sound of my own keyboard too (it's a sweet clicky one ), so let me know if it's off-putting _________________
If you can't find the proper tool, use a hammer.
Deep from the laboratory archives comes my next mad mod.
...well, it's not really all that Mad, but I like it anyway
Steamworks Super 70
The Jensen 70 is an undervalued powerhouse in the Jensen lineup. It is a double-acting oscillator built around the Model 25 cylinder. Pair that up with the same electrically heated boiler and you should have an engine that is on par with, or more powerful than the 25 due, if nothing else, to it not having to drive a valve system and linkages.
If nothing else it's an extremely fast engine. Like the Model 5 before it: it goes one way only, and gets there very fast.
It's also a no-frills machine, and isn't much to look at, being meant to serve more as a power plant than as a visual display piece (in my opinion anyway).
It also happily spits water and stream straight out of its twin non-ported exhaust ports
Here's a video of my 70 as it arrived, having been modified by someone else by the addition of a 3 inch boiler
I don't think the 3" boiler makes it go any faster than a stock engine. It just helps it go faster for longer.
You'll note by my words, spoken so long ago, that I was initially not very impressed with this engine.
That has changed.
I removed the engine from the board, removed the inappropriate boiler (needed for something else), and came up with this
The "Super" 70 features a modified engine mount (I like mine on the left...being left handed might have something to do with it). It has its exhaust ports ducted to a stack. The crank shaft was rebuilt a bit longer to accomodate a Model 55 flywheel (making the 70 a bit more Model 5'ish in the acceleration dept.)
And, as a bit of a "spur" of the moment bit of lunacy, a spur gear pressed on to the end of the shaft, driving a similarly equipped Model 15 AC generator
As I did not have a boiler for this engine, I temporarily used a nasty old one from an old Model 25. Since then I have replaced it with a factory new boiler that I still have to repaint black (no photos yet).
Closeup of the gears
An overly long video (sorry), that you might want to jump around in, or skip altogether. It DOES show running without the generator, which gives you a notion of how the 55 flywheel affects the thing
This clip shows some good slow running, and the generator to good effect. I know it takes 2 minutes before I rev it enough to light the generator. I apologize for my early obsession with overly long videos. I was just discouraged by all of the 25 second'ish clips on youtube and overcompensated
If you skip ahead to 5:30 minutes or so you will see that there is enough power to drive a "PSM" stepper generator and The Radio.
The 70 is very much an under appreciated engine. All it needs is a little love and imagination to make it something special.
Early proof-of-concept mockup with another 70 that would later donate it's boiler to that Model 25 I had mentioned. The spur gears are only on finger tight. They have no grub screws in them, and were a snug enough fit that they do not need them. I doubt I will ever be removing them now, for the effort that it will entail.
And another action shot, with the second generator.
If I were to build this one again, I would re-shaft the Model 15 (which I did not have the guts to do back then) with a longer shaft that would accomodate an external PTO. I hate having captive drive pulleys, since you're stuck with using spring belts.
I'd also put on a shorter chimney with a drain, so I don't have to periodically suck out water with a syringe
Thanks for stopping by. I'll have something else to show you later on _________________
If you can't find the proper tool, use a hammer.
(edit: Ta I've got an idea for another gear drive project or two. The execution is bothering me, though)
And now for something completely different..
Turbines!!!!
Steam turbines: that segment of the toy steam market that is more about the Audio than the Visual.
Not much to look at, and not a whole lot of power, generally, but a noise that will annoy your parents and drive your cat up the wall
First up, the Empire B-35. This engine dates, probably, from some time in the 1930's
The Empire is probably the most turbiney sounding turbine when it's slowly spooling up. The video doesn't do the audio justice. Suffice to say, though, that if you want a nice sounding turbine (and don't care that it should probably be measured in mouse power rather than horsepower), then you owe it to yourself to find one of these.
The Empire whistle is also one of the nicest sounding toy steam whistles I've ever heard. Again the video doesn't do it justice.
Next up the Wilesco T90
The video has a lot of boring explanation (I think it's the only vid I have of it). Please skip ahead to about 1:10 to see it actually run.
At 2:30 there is a nice unencumbered spooling-up and down of the thing.
Actually the camera got the sound of this one quite well.
The T90 is a decent modern turbine, with a fair bit of power (unlike the Empire, which is a display piece more than anything).
The compromise is in the built quality. The plastic turbine is a bit off-putting. But, if you can find one cheap enough, it's not a bad little machine.
Now for the Big one: Jensen's Model 95G
Pairing up a 3" electrically heated boiler and a turbine unit Made in Germany, this is probably the finest steam turbine power plant model made today. Fairly powerful, very noisy, and quality made, it has everything.
Costs a fair bundle, but it's well worth it if you can swing it.
Reasonable length video here. I know there's a lot of gear noise in the background. The camera is muting the turbine whine and picking up more on the gears. There are better videos on youtube than mine, but I can't exactly post those here!
As for mods, I *did* try a model 55 flywheel on the 95, but it really has no advantage. If you want to slow the acceleration it's far better to open the regulator slowly. And since there are no dead spots in the cycle of the engine, as there are in traditional engines, you don't need any extra mass to smooth the thing out at low speeds.
Nope, other than a black paint job that the firebox will probably get one day, there's nothing much I can think to do to "improve" the 95G
So there you have it:
Empire B35 - a feast for the ears
Wilesco T90 - an economical choice with enough power to keep it interesting
Jensen 95G - When money is less of an object than the object of your desires.
.... Is it just me or did this show and tell become more of a buyers guide? Sheesh...time to lighten up...
Please stop by later. I think I've still got a couple things to show. _________________
If you can't find the proper tool, use a hammer.
Bought a Jensen 20 last year. Great engine, but sorely lacking in unf* when it came to doing any serious work.
The problem? The old 500 watt blanket heater cannot maintain even 10psi when the beast is going flat out for any length of time.
Solution?
This is also the only photo I have of the original engine. Here my 3" model 70 boiler is slaved to it. as a proof of concept.
(Tape on the flywheel is masking for using the tachometer)
Double your heating capacity, double your operating pressure: QED
And, in this case, double your operating pressure, double your RPMs.
And, here's how it look after I decided to make things permanent, mounting the whole thing on a nice board and adding a cast base generator that I had bought in another sale
And this summer I got around to fixing the paint (one firebox was nasty...still is, but at least is now only semi-nasty when you look close)
I also bought a Model 100 set, minus the board, and swiped the lineshaft from it
Cleaned up the cabling a little, and as a finishing touch, stuck a vanity decal on it
And here is a toy poodle, for scale
Yes, he always looks like he's expecting a beatin', even though he has lead a quiet and utterly pampered life. Just a born coward.
I don't have any recent vids of this engine, and most of the ones I do have are not featuring the engine, but the experiments that I use it for. It's really my workhorse when it comes to power generation.
I boast that I have not yet hooked up a load that it cannot drive. I know that I *can*, but none of my experiments have required it thus far.
This engine has a proper displacement lubricator
Built by Mr Bogstandard (whom I have not seen around here in ages....)
Really a first class piece of work. All silver soldered, so all I had to do was split my steam line, trim off a quarter inch or so, and soft solder the part on to it.
One day I'll try to nickel plate it. I bought a home plating kit ages ago and have yet to try it... Actually I don't even know where it is at this point
A Few Misc Things
First off, if someone knows what this is, I'd love to know
All I know is it belong to my uncle, probably back in the 50's, or maybe 40's
The boiler is rotted out underneath.
By some bit of serendipity I found an identical boiler on ebay a while back. The only thing keeping me from restoring it is that the boiler is mounted to the frame via angle irons, and these are riveted to the boiler with copper rivets (solid head ones). So it's a matter of finding the proper rivets, removing the end caps, etc etc etc, all of which I *really* don't want to do at this point.
Here's Scotty the Scotch-Yoke engine, running off the exhaust of a Jensen 75. Actually it's also running off of whatever steam is blowing past the piston and valves as well, since it'll run with the 75 stationary
And here is my Demi-Girth Fleischmann 130/2 on it's first run
This one might be worth seeing. I think it's still the only Jensen 45 video on youtube. It's another horribly long video. Skip ahead to the 1 minute mark to see it run. Please skip ahead to 6:15 to see it running a Model 100 machine shop.
You know your videos are too long when you yourself can't stand to watch them all the way through
Well, that's about all for now.
I'll look through my photos tomorrow and see if there's anything else I can show you fine folks
Thanks for stopping by!
_________________
If you can't find the proper tool, use a hammer.
I'm giving Frank a bit of a refit today. A little polish, a decal, and some blue paint on the flywheels. I've decided my signature style will be Oxford Blue highlights instead of Jensen Red.
At least on the commodity engines. I don't think I'll repaint the model 20 flywheel or generator magnet. Maybe if I acquire a more shabby cast base 15 in the future...
Haven't had time to look for anything else to post today.
Here's a classic one, though. Shows the power of the Jensen 25. If it could maintain SV-popping pressure in the boiler it'd be a real powerhouse.
Maybe a double boiler 25 is in the future
Naw, I think I'd go with a modern 3" boiler, if anything.
Roller going slow
Another one
And an SR-1 going not-so-slow
Once turkeyday is over I'll have some time to come back to this. I think it's going to be a week before I can see everything that everyone has posted during this event. Amazing stuff, everyone! _________________
If you can't find the proper tool, use a hammer.
The 20 was really just a solution to a problem. But it turned out nice in the end.
It would be great if Jensen could revisit the idea of a "Deluxe" line some day.
The pictures I've seen of engines in Gil's and Steve's collections of Deluxe models are simply spectacular. They're Jensen to the next level of refinement.
They could always outsource the painting and staining jobs to you _________________
If you can't find the proper tool, use a hammer.
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Engine of the Month December Rob's
Accucraft "Ruby" Locomotive Kit 2008 / 2009
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I've got an idea for another gear drive project or two. The execution is bothering me, though)
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