The Home Machinist!

Paul, how many pounds per hour of fuel are you going to burn ? Or how big is the grate (if coal fired). Multiply that by 10, and that's a rough (but good enough for this) answer. So, if you have 2 sq ft of grate (288"), you likely can burn not more than 100 lb/hr, and generate ~1000 lb hr of st...

I suppose I should note something about the wagon above- it started out as someone else's project, in the form of David Turner (who moved to NZ from Ontario) boiler, which got a rather large dent put into it where the cylinder should have sat. (it's a 1 1/2" Allchin boiler). That's all that arr...

A much younger (6 years ago !) view of the wagon that David built: https://live.staticflickr.com/3859/14633515979_634076f470.jpg DSC_0009 by Peach James , on Flickr With the trailer finished: https://live.staticflickr.com/8719/16966649739_5c81a6981d.jpg M4H02863 by Peach James , on Flickr

Hey Jack, how about another snow photo? The forecast for you is a lovely blizzard with gusts to 50 mph and a wind chill of 17. So poke the camera out the window and show us what that looks like! :P Come on taking pictures out the window seems kinda lame the Canadians over on the 3.5" Facebook ...

did this in the middle east desert decades ago -> was the only way to get an injector to work at all. Ya, but you have to add: " And I didn't have to burn ANY coal, all I needed was my wife's makeup mirror to direct a little bit of solar energy onto the boiler..." 127F in the engine room ...

There are several 7.25" gauge steam turbine engines out there- there is even a 5" gauge Kerosene Castle (gas turbine) engine. IIRC, the most successful of the 7.25" gauge turbine enthusiasts is a Frenchman.

Dan, you're not a stoker ! I'm a Stoker. 00122, Mar Eng Art :) Alternative fuels: Coal Steam coal Coal Briquettes (and dam'n all patent fuels !) wood Charcoal Charcoal Briquettes Oil Propane Grain Alcohol Wood Alcohol Corn Husks Corn kernals Wood Pellets Pet. Coke I think that's about all that I've ...

Mountaineer- which one ? I have/had one from TSME- it's safely ensconced with dad due to really needing a heavy general, something about a kid driving about 800 miles (!) with it or so :). (still young person at work with steam...but not THAT young any more). It's run at several Canadian locations, ...

Start them early...

vime 20070617 09 by Peach James, on Flickr

Bill, in these days of Youtube, I'd refer to that as a "Future Matt" problem. (from SuperFastMatt, who has converted a Jag to electric, and built a few other things...hes building a land speed car now...) In the past, dad and I managed to totally mess up with a pump on Thing, that was held...

Or, if one has a CNC mill, one can thread cut in the mill... Over on Traction Talk, the guy building the Devonshire in the US did exactly that. https://www.tractiontalkforum.com//showthread.php?t=45771 (it's in the bit about the water pump, on page 7. I think you have to be a member of TT to view th...

Dad's gone down a few rabbit holes over the years- the worst (bar none) was the Marshal in 3" that the owner wanted dad to make run. All the parts individually were OK. But not one would fit...the cylinder block (UK style traction engine, where it is mounted direct to boiler) couldn't be made t...