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Re: Cleaning out the vaporizer - 5 years ago
Sorry Pat; thanks, good advice; I just started the new thread.by Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Stanley Steam Automatic - 5 years ago
For Stanley Steam Automatic diaphragms, how about this: Ultra-Strength Easy-to-Form 510 Bronze Sheets (Scroll down one item) The print copy of Catalog 105 [1999] has more info than current print or online catalogs: "Made of alloy 510 phosphor bronze, these coils provide good corrosion resistance in most environments. They're used for making almost every style of flat andby Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Cleaning out the vaporizer - 5 years ago
For diaphragms, how about this: Ultra-Strength Easy-to-Form 510 Bronze Sheets https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/124/3891 (Scroll down one item) The print copy of Catalog 105 [1999] has more info than current print or online catalogs: "Made of alloy 510 phosphor bronze, these coils provide good corrosion resistance in most environments. They're used for making almost every styleby Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Resonant circuit - 5 years ago
Hi Ron, Read "Driving Without Gas", by John Ware Lincoln, before writing any obituaries for solid-biofueled steam cars, or proclaiming the inherent eternal superiority of gasogene/IC vehicles. Lincoln actually built & ran gasogene/IC cars. 50% of the energy in the fuel goes straight out the stack, pure waste. Used copies can probably be had from Amazon or eBay for a few bucks.by Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Cleaning out the vaporizer - 5 years ago
Steam Jedi Master Coburn "Ben" Benson told me "A.B.C. A Beryllium Copper diaphragm". Old Light Steam Power drawings say "brass" for the diaphragm. A few years ago, I found 2 sources for beryllium copper diaphragms, ready to bolt-into a standard Stanley Steam Automatic, with the 12-bolt pattern. NB: beryllium alloys are reportedly toxic; careful chip/coolant disposby Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Resonant circuit - 5 years ago
Ken, Things like this are often "complicated". I want to see the book, so I am patient and tolerant of any and all complications. I suspect that many other readers of this Forum think likewise. Best wishes to everyone working on Jim Crank's book about the Doble steam car; may their efforts succeed, and may the book be available to everyone interested in the very near future. I sby Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Resonant circuit - 5 years ago
Right on Jeremy; where is Jim Crank's long-awaited Doble book at, anyway? I offer my sincere very best wishes to everyone working to make this book available to everyone interested. There is great interest in this book among the light-steam/steam car community. To quote Larry The Cable Guy, "git 'er done!" Peterby Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Resonant circuit - 5 years ago
OK, that version, with Kharitonov & the Red Army Choir, ended up sounding a bit glorious, in a Soviet kind of way. Then again, my dreary/tedious design work might some day end up contributing to the glory of the American Homeland. The USSA automotive equivalent of Mr. Kalashnikov's famously durable rifle ["throw a handful of sand into the receiver and it still works fine"] would noby Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Resonant circuit - 5 years ago
Hi Ron and Jeremy, Oh yeah, I did the numbers on that and figured something like 1/16th inch relative expansion/travel for an 18" brass tube between 500psi boiler and 150F steel reference rods flanking it. Somebody will probably now run the numbers and say, no, not 0.0625", actually 0.06245", you're totally wrong Peter, we're going to ignore everything you say from now on becausby Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Resonant circuit - 5 years ago
Hi Jamison, I'd go with the expansion tube setup. Remember that the "thermal expansion" is "differential expansion", of course. With a Stanley expansion-tube 'Feedwater Automatic", the brass expansion tube's expansion/lengthening with heat due to water level drop is _relative_ to the temp of the 2 steel rods on either side of the tube. The 2 steel "reference rodsby Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Cleaning out the vaporizer - 5 years ago
Hi Ron, Something like 25-30 years ago I knew somebody who heated his apartment with a wick-type kerosene space heater. I don't know why he used it; his apartment had a gas wall heater, maybe there was some problem with it, like the heat didn't get to all the rooms. Anyway, he had an arrangement with a fuel supply company across the street from Lindbergh Field, San Diego's international airpby Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Cleaning out the vaporizer - 5 years ago
Hi Herb, I do plan to use gasoline, but with a non-Stanley fuel pump that is vented such that any major fuel leaks from pump packing will overflow and drip on the ground rather than accumulate in a Stanley-style pump box under wood floorboards. This fuel pump has a splash-lube oil bath case which should continuously lubricate the fuel pump plunger and packing, while also excluding airborne dby Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Cleaning out the vaporizer - 5 years ago
Hi Rick, The first steam car I ever rode in, Jim King's 10hp Stanley, had basically the same pilot setup as you describe. Except that it ran on butane, from a small plumber's-torch-sized tank in a bread-loaf-sized small wicker basket on the starboard running board. Jeff Theobald was the operator/chauffeur that day; he opened the wicker basket lid, turned a valve knob to "open", thenby Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Cleaning out the vaporizer - 5 years ago
Hi Rick, Good plan: "doing the homework" -- IE, taking the time to carefully figure out the concept and details, plan the fabrication, blueprint things, etc.. This will save you time & rework later in the workshop. I got my "stages" kind of mixed up there. My December 8th posts refer to "sub-stages" within the "Stage One" mentioned in the Nby Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Cleaning out the vaporizer - 5 years ago
Hi Ron, Excellent! My guess {?} is that you cut off most of the original lever, welded on a new tab, ground the welds, and black oxide coated it? Great way to get it strong as heck and exactly the shape needed for the job.by Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Cleaning out the vaporizer - 5 years ago
Not to mention Stage 4: steam cars running on solid biofuels. ICE cars can do the same, but with twice the fuel consumption due to energy-conversion losses. Carbon-neutral advantage for IC cars: negative-zero.by Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Cleaning out the vaporizer - 5 years ago
"Whatever you do, Big Oil/Big Auto/Big Government will stop it". Umm, no. Good Tech beats "Big" whatever. Deal with it.by Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Cleaning out the vaporizer - 5 years ago
Stage 2 & 3 of my burner-control design project include a method of converting manual 1/4-turn ball valves to pull-cable/automatic actuation, and a linear-cam multi-valve actuation method via pull-cables. Stage 3 seems unlikely to be of interest to anyone other than myself, but if anyone is interested in converting a 90-degree pivot ball valve to linear-motion actuation, then I will post draby Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Cleaning out the vaporizer - 5 years ago
Just finished blueprints for "Stanleyoid" pilot light/burner with carbon-blowout and diesel glow-plug electric preheat/ignition cold-start. Imagine Stanley system with no main/pilot vaporizer carbon clogging or fussy startup/maintenance problems. Pull lever, pilot and main burners light, boiler steams up, open throttle and go. Even with today's crummy "pump gasoline". Heyby Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Hard Chroming of Piston Rods - 5 years ago
Thanks Pat & Rolly, I'm giving this another look. It definitely beefs up the engine frame. I also like the Eric Delling-designed Stanley Model 740 "U-joint" crossheads; big improvement over crossheads in earlier Stanley engines. I found a way to increase the bearing area on those by 50% without mechanical clearance, strength, or weight problems; also looking at "best Babbiby Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Hard Chroming of Piston Rods - 5 years ago
Hi Pat, Any ideas for improving piston rod/packing life beyond what you have achieved? Perhaps something which looked promising, but was too un-original for your historic Stanleys? Maybe something worth a try by somebody scratch-building a new steam car engine, with no originality concerns? Peterby Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Cleaning out the vaporizer - 5 years ago
By way of update, my latest "tangent" is working out a vaporizing-burner carbon-cleanout system, following my paraphrase of Ron's comments: "If it wasn't for vaporizing burners plugging up, then traditional steam cars would be virtually trouble-free". In the concept system which I am now working on, the "Easy-Clean", every time the car is refueled [100-200 miles],by Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Hard Chroming of Piston Rods - 5 years ago
Hi Pat, Sorry about the long reply time; lately I have been going downright cross-eyed at the drawing board on other things, and have had no time to check this Forum. Just a thought; is it possible that 200-500 miles between adjustment/repacking of engine stuffing boxes is in fact evidence of "not so good" piston/valve rod surfaces and/or packing materials/oils, rather than evidenceby Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Finally Building an Engine - 5 years ago
"The cylinder oil consumption ranges from 0.1 pint to 4 pints per million sq. ft. of surface swept over by the piston (perimeter of piston X distance travelled) with an average of 0.8 pint per million sq. ft.. The average consumption per million sq. ft. will be less in large poppet-valve engines than in small slide-valve engines." -- "Kent's Mechanical Engineers' Handbook",by Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Hard Chroming of Piston Rods - 5 years ago
High-carbon drill rod stock for engine piston and valve rods and Garlock 98 carbon/carbon packing for piston rod and valve rod stuffing boxes. Hard-chromed/ground rod good for low-temp pump plungers, but differential thermal expansion between hi-temp steel rods & chrome plating give micro-cracked chrome surfaces which chew up packing. Me, zero experience/engineering-credentials; I only repeaby Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Wood seat construction - 5 years ago
In 2015 I turned my workshop into a bookcase factory, with bookcases having the previously-mentioned "Revolution Ply" for their backplates. The point being, "Revolution Ply" is stronger than 1/8 inch lauan, but thicker and not as flexible. In the 1988 car body project, I was able to curve the lauan as tight as a 3-inch radius in a few places; after building a lot of stuffby Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Wood seat construction - 5 years ago
Hi Rick, In 1988/9 I built a modern car body pattern with 1/8" thick lauan/lewon plywood bent onto forms. Pulled a few fiberglass-panel molds off of the pattern before I had to move and destroy the forms and molds. All simple curves, but observers compared the body design to popular cars of the era; photos taken before busting it all up did not turn out due to camera failure. When Iby Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Double Drum Boiler - 5 years ago
Hi Rick, The Stanley H5 is a wonderful car. I completely understand the desire to build an H5 replica. A few years ago a steam buddy YouTubed a bunch of steam and steam car videos which I shot in England in 2005. Includes H5 & I think 2-3 other Stanleys which I got a ride in. At the time I was very seriously shopping for a Stanley. Soon after, I experienced some omens and epiphanies whby Peter Brow - SteamStuff
Re: Cleaning out the vaporizer - 5 years ago
Hi Rick, Best of luck with your relocation. I just did this myself a few years ago, SoCal to Central Texas, and I don't envy you the workshop takedown/reassembly job. Your car sounds very similar to mine, except that mine is not intended to be a replica of any actual antique steam car, more of an "antique-style hot rod". The idea is a fun steam roadster for a fraction of the costby Peter Brow - SteamStuff