small steam engine design/drawings wanted

[Kimball McGinley]

I would like to find a small steam engine design that I can use as training tool (no pun intended) here at work. Even an oscillating engine might be O.K.
As a senior engineer, I have been asked to help train our new hires. If I could get some drawings or models (SolidWorks would be terrific) I could alter them for training purposes. I could create some interferences, chose poor materials, add bad tolerances, etc.
Does anybody here have anything of the like that I could obtain? I am willing to pay for it, by the way.

[Sandiapaul]

Have a look around here, there is a Plans and Drawings section:

http://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php

Here is another great resource with lots of plans:

http://modelengineeringwebsite.com/Simp ... plans.html

[K. Browers]

You can also try here
http://www.john-tom.com/

[Tharper]

Hello Kimball,

Each year the Mechanical Engineering Technology students at the University of Maine at Orono build small, simple steam engines.
Working individually and in teams the first year students have to use Solidworks to develop a set of working drawings. (The master set has
intentional errors etc.) Then they work for the rest of the year fabricating the engines. In May they hold a contest to see which teams engine
reaches the highest rpm on a given air pressure. The whole idea is to teach them basic machine skills and practical application of fit and tolerances.
Here is a link to a film of the 2014 completion:
https://youtu.be/4-Op_X04a1k

[ccvstmr]

Nice to know (and see) some schools are moving back to design/build course work. What a great way to get some excellent "hands-on" experience! Would have thought the teams might have been a little too large as some students might not have gotten enough experience. However in the real world...it IS all about teamwork.

Had to chuckle...there was a guy in the background with a T-shirt that I think read...Failure is always an option. Not trying would have been the worst kind of failure.

Perhaps their next class will be...Vibration Analysis!

Great experience for these young adults. Maybe there's a live steamer in there somewhere! Carl B.

[Tharper]

In the past the UMO MET students have worked with live steam..... This is the 1908 Lombard Log hauler they completed in 2014 as a capstone project which included the installation of a new boiler, new cylinders and the complete restoration of the drivetrain.

It runs fantastic and its a joy to operate this unique beast.

[Cary Stewart]

There was a small steam engine kit sold by Caldwell Industries and American Edelstaal in the early to late 1970s for about $6.85. something over 15,000 of these kits were sold. Both companies are now gone. The original Caldwell instruction sheet was a B size drawing printed on both sides. The Edelstaal version had a small booklet with better instructions and a small booklet by Mr. Smith of Stuart-Turner engine fame also wrote an instruction book for this engine. The engine is a very simple single acting engine made from bar and flat stock. It was intended to be a first project for people who had purchased the Unimat DB200 (cast iron) or SL ( die cast) machines. If you think that a very small engine (1/2" bore X 5/8" stroke) size would be of any interest I would be most happy to talk to you about it and mail what I have about the Caldwell OCLE (Open Column Launch Engine). The design is similar to the engine that powered the movie African Queen. Please contact me via PM if interested.
Best, Cary Stewart

[dnevil]

Lots of good info on Caldwell Industries Open Column Launch engine can be found here:

http://ibls.org/mediawiki/index.php?tit ... Industries

Regards,
Daris

[dnevil]

Kimball,

Don Althouse "reverse engineered" LBSC's "Virginia" from the original plans. He modeled the locomotive in SolidWorks, and his analysis was very thorough. He found several issues with the original design, which he explains and solves these issues in his write-up.

http://ibls.org/mediawiki/index.php?tit ... s_Virginia

If this looks like it will fit your need then send me a PM, and I can give you Don's email address.

Regards,
Daris

[Kimball McGinley]

Thanks everyone for all the ideas. I think I have a line on one that will be suitable, just a little 1/2 bore 3/4 stroke mill engine.

Kimball