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Steam related discussions.
Re: Trackless Locomotive - 22 days ago
Well, I plumbed everything up and tried to do an atmospheric steam test. The circulation is working great in the video, and the stack temperature is pretty low too. It's really neat to see the sight glass on the output of the coils. Video here! Unfortunately right after I took the video the circuit breaker popped (unrelated), and in the time it took for me to go reset it and come back, my blby zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Trackless Locomotive - 29 days ago
Disaster! I didn't realize that the tubing I ordered had such thick walls. It's almost impossible to bend, impossible to flare, and the I.D. is too small to have good flow rate. What a waste of good tubing and $45. https://i.imgur.com/B4XMFvU.jpg Look at how thick that is! This stuff belongs in a science lab doing fischer toph synthesis or something. I might try to resell it or use it for stby zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Trackless Locomotive - 4 weeks ago
Oh no, this is just a regular lamont with the circulation pump running full speed all the time. I was just bored at work thinking about stuff. I've got that copper pancake coil stack and was thinking about testing out small monotube ideas with it at some point just to tinker with while I save up for the steam drum on the lamont. The lamont is going to be coal fired. I'm going to have two flow cby zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Trackless Locomotive - 4 weeks ago
My tubing arrives today. Hopefully I can work on it this weekend. In the meantime I have the check valve array for the circulation pump set up. https://i.imgur.com/DERqOLA.jpg Also, does anyone have any info on the watermann steam pump system? I thought about dinking around with my old pancake coil trying to make it a little monotube for something using that setup. I thought maybe instead ofby zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Trackless Locomotive - 4 weeks ago
So there's not much you can make for a boiler on a CNC. But I made a sight glass. Turns out the glass I have fits perfectly inside a 3/8 sch 40 pipe, and the couplers I have can fit 3 silicone o rings inside a little cavity between the two threaded end parts. I even managed to cut the glass the first time. The secret was to take a well dressed grinding wheel (not cutoff disc) and roll the tube agaby zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Trackless Locomotive - 4 weeks ago
I found 100 feet of 1/4in stainless steel tubing for $45! I think that settles my indecision on tube diameter. I only hope that I am able to bend and flare it. The only other big purchase that I can think of besides the tubing is the steam drum. If I get a chance, I'd like to add a little sight glass to the output of the circulation coils. That would be useful to see what's coming out.by zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Trackless Locomotive - 5 weeks ago
Unfortunately for whatever reason fusion 360 does not have a proper helix tool, only this weird coil maker tool. That's fine though because it's just a visual representation of hand wrapped coils. Looks like 3/8in steel tubing is pretty comparable as far as $/square foot goes, I already ordered 25 feet of 1/4in, but I can always use more tubing. I found some reasonably priced 3/8in steel tubby zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Trackless Locomotive - 5 weeks ago
So I sketched up a quick model of what I'm planning on. It's all 1/4in steel tubing. My circulation pump uses a double acting cylinder, so I'll have two circuits: the water wall and the pancake coil. The water wall calculates out to being like 80 feet long with 2.6 square feet of surface area, but it's not going to be that long because I have to route the coils around the firebox door. Since it'sby zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Trackless Locomotive - 5 weeks ago
I could see the intermittent nature of a piston pump helping to scrub steam bubbles off the walls of the tubing. I mostly made the centrifugal pump because I had the idea and the parts laying around, but I still want to test it. I have the piston pump I built earlier on this thread, I just need to get new check valves for it. That would probably be better as it's double acting, so I can set up twoby zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Trackless Locomotive - 5 weeks ago
I've mostly posted my progress on other websites, and forgot to post anything here, so here's a short summary. Well, I built an engine. I ended up using the rv water heater for a boiler, and it worked well enough. Unfortunately, it was limited to 60-70psi. My little one cylinder engine just couldn't make enough torque to pull me around. So I rebuilt it into a two cylinder engine. The whole thing wby zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Trackless Locomotive - 3 months ago
The time has finally come for me to make a real steam engine. I've made several of various types and sizes before, but I've never really run any of them on live steam. I did a little bit of test running on steam with a solenoid valve engine I built several years ago, but there were drawbacks with the valves that made it not run very well, and it wasn't worth the effort to work around them at the tby zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Trackless Locomotive - 4 months ago
I guess? Anything I've read is that those kinds of things are more to protect the glass from say, random coal shovel impacts. You don't really see fully encased gauge glasses very often. Normally it's designed in such a way that you can easily isolate it, and sometimes even replace the glass while under steam.by zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Trackless Locomotive - 4 months ago
I've got a preliminary gauge put together. I think I'm going to remake the plates that hold the rods, as the rods are way too close to the fittings. I just made adapters to hold the glass with o-rings that screw into 1/4npt, with some off the shelf needle valves. I can't recommend enough using a CNC to thread mill large diameter threads. Perfect threads with little to no effort even in tool steel.by zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Force circulation steam generator design - 4 months ago
It depends entirely on what state you're in. Most states have exceptions for boilers that power a vehicle. This is because stanley boilers aren't up to code because they use wire wrap for strength, and the state boiler regulators aren't going to force their owners to change them. It's funny, the ASME boiler code is very expensive if you try to buy it. But pretty much every section of it is postby zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Trackless Locomotive - 4 months ago
I finished my hand feed pump / hydro test pump. It's just an industrial air cylinder and some check valves. I also attached another picture of the circulation pump. I need to start working on the framework from the boiler, so I can figure out how big my chassis is going to be. I'm not sure if I should make the chassis out of steel or wood. I can always bolt steel brackets to a wood frame andby zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Force circulation steam generator design - 4 months ago
In Michigan, all boilers on steam powered vehicles are exempt, except for vehicles that travel on rails. So the steam scale locomotives must still be inspected, but it's only $15.by zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Trackless Locomotive - 4 months ago
Just finished rebuilding the circulation pump, with CNC machined aluminum parts instead of printed plastic. I'm using the cylinder and motor from the steam scooter. The cylinder bore is 20 or 25mm I think, and the stroke is 50mm. The motor is rated for 35rpm at 12v. The cylinder isn't rebuildable, but it it's bad, it's only like $15 for a new one. Conservative estimate is 0.016 liters per second iby zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Brazilian Steam Vehicle Update - 5 months ago
I've been pondering the safety of this myself. Air tanks like this are usually made using 1/8in mild steel. The ASME boiler code wall thickness calculation for 100psi produces a wall thickness requirement of around 0.080in thick depending on how you run the numbers, giving a reasonable safety margin for a 0.125in thick wall. Except there's a special callout in the code that shell walls should be aby zimirken - SteamStuff
Trackless Locomotive - 5 months ago
I'm back. Long story short, my toddler found a train game she likes to play, and after watching her play it, and then playing a realistic steam train simulator game myself, the old steam bug started biting again. I did a whole lot of tinkering and experimenting back several years ago, but I never really got a whole steam powerplant working. I've gotten some upgrades too. I've gotten pretty goodby zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Finally Building an Engine - 3 years ago
My print bed is 200 x 180 x 175 mm. I haven't used it since spring so it's due for a tune up.by zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Hard Chroming of Piston Rods - 3 years ago
Electroless nickel plating is very common in industry and produces a bright shiny part that can be mistaken for chrome. Shiny linear rods usually aren't chromed but actually nickel plated. Hard chrome is generally being replaced with nitriding and electroless nickel.by zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Hard Chroming of Piston Rods - 3 years ago
Keep in mind that hard chrome reduces fatigue life because the brittleness of the chrome allows fatigue cracks to start more easily. Once they have started in the chrome, they will grow down into the metal underneath.by zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Finally Building an Engine - 3 years ago
Export a step file and post it.by zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Finally Building an Engine - 3 years ago
39mm (~1.5in) piston and ring for a chainsaw I suppose I could skip the whole piston and ring design and build process and just buy a premade piston and ring, and use my original idea of DOM steel tubing for cylinder bored to 39mm. Speaking of lubrication, is there a rule of thumb for ideal ratio of steam usage to oil usage? I wouldn't have any problem setting up an oil injector that was geaby zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Finally Building an Engine - 3 years ago
Rotary slide valve, think corliss valves, but likely run by either a straight eccentric or a cam. However, I might try a poppet valve instead. Depends on how the design ends up flowing. Couple of questions on materials. Probably won't be running over 400f. I'm planning on using DOM steel tubing for the cylinder bore, and I'm thinking aluminum for the piston? Also, for the rotary slide valve,by zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Finally Building an Engine - 3 years ago
It's a single acting twin with a planned ~40% cutoff. It won't be self starting, but I'll be able to blip power to the motor/generator to start it turning over with a diode bypass switch or something.by zimirken - SteamStuff
Finally Building an Engine - 3 years ago
So I now have access to a cnc that can cut steel at my new job. I've been thinking about making an engine. I'm thinking of a configuration like the stuart sirius engine. Single acting, two cylinder, 1.5" x 1.5", but with rotary slide valves. At 80 psi steam this gives me around 1300 watts which is plenty for a moped sized vehicle. I'm not going to have variable valve timing, at least atby zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Resonant circuit - 3 years ago
There are many ways to do this electrically. Capacitive coupling and inductive coupling. Also common in industry is ultrasonic sensing of fluid and flow in tubing. Capacitive sensing is easy in theory but it suffers from drift that will require more complicated programming to compensate for. It gets harder when you aren't looking for a solid water level. Capacitive sensing can tell you if thereby zimirken - SteamStuff
Re: Cleaning out the vaporizer - 3 years ago
Peter Brow Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > When it comes to fuel vaporizers, "crud happens". > Apologies for my latest "where'd he go?' episode; > I've been away steam designing. Latest bit just > so happens to be a simplified pilot vaporizer. > Like my latest design for the main burner > vaporizer, this one uses stock/offby zimirken - SteamStuff