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[gondolier88]

Hi Nick,

Well done, a really great little engine- all the more exciting as I work with a V-twin at work that resembles this model quite a lot.

One slight criticism- and slight it is- you have gone to the trouble to make proper gland nuts with holes rather than flats- a detail rarely seen on model engines, however the cylinder covers on those excuisite cylinders have huge hexagons on the top to tighten them in- surely something a little more elegant if the engine goes into production could be devised- at list for the top covers?

Greg

[kno3]

The engine looks even better in burgundy Nick. I would also like to see the cylinders painted though, as well as the water gauge fittings (of course in burgundy). The shorter water gauge fittings suit the boiler better.
But you still left that ring/hole in the engine frame, what is it for - a pump?
I can't see a gas tank in the pictures. Is there room for it on the same base plate?

[Circlip]

What was the statement Kno3 ?? Oh yes, Give the guy a break  

 Yes, you still haven't told us what the rogue hole is for Nick. To hang it up with??

 Super job,(AGAIN) and a fitting "Back end" to the boiler, but another "Through flo" Lubricator?

 Regards  Ian.

[MONAHAN STEAM MODELS]

The rouge hole next to the crank shaft is for attaching a key chain ring or for wearing the engine as a necklace.

Just kidding of course. That will be the next stage of the build. We're not done yet. The engines are ready at this point. The rouge hole is for an optional accessory.

Kno3,

There is room that was left on the base plate next to the oil trap for the a refillable fuel tank. That will be another optional accessory since not everyone will require it.

Boatmadman,

The Scottish Malt is saved for celebrations. The Jameson is the day to day workhorse lubricant around the shop! 

Greg,

How the heck are you! It's great to hear from you. I hope the move went smoothly and you and yours are all settle in now.

I appreciate your feedback and honesty with the cylinder head covers but I should mention two things. As each new part has appeared on the post, literally anywhere from a hundred to a few hundred where also made depending on what the part was. Although many parts were made in these quantities, some parts were only made in very limited quantities. There is enough parts to build roughly 30 complete engines to start with. If the engine proves to be successful then we will produce the rest of the missing parts to complete another 100 engines.

I have to say I did think long and hard about the hex shape on the cylinder covers before making the final decision to implement it into the design. The hex is only 1/4" so it's small. I had to think about what tools would be available to most folks out there who need to remove the cylinder covers. Just one of the ideas I had originally thought of, was making a special drilled hole pattern into the cylinder covers instead of the hex shape which would have required use to supply a special tool for removing the covers. Then I thought this tool could get lost and then people would be up a creek without a paddle so I opted for the hex shape. I guess in the end what is nice is the covers are removable so if someone would like to change the cover to a design they would much more prefer, than they could easily do so.


So it sounds so far that the burgundy color is the much more preferred color? 

[kno3]

Nick, how long are you going to keep the rogue hole mystery going on? 

Burgundy looks great indeed.

[pipercub1772]

hi nick ,great set up any information on the steaming  time you're expecting without a water pump ,by the way the new burgundy colour was always going to be a winer, allan

[MONAHAN STEAM MODELS]

Hi Allen,

Steaming times should range anywhere from 20minutes running the engine flat out at top speed with no load to 35minutes just moving along at a scale speed. The longer run times are more dependent on prop size and engine speed.

Kno3,

I was thinking of keeping the rogue hole an on going mystery forever just like the Bermuda triangle but since it's the final stage in the engine build I'll just go ahead and spill the beans now. As many of you had already guessed it's for mounting the optional crank driven water pump.

Ian,
Thanks for the kind compliments! I was going to offer a different style of lubricator but I was trying to keep costs down for now. A adjustable metering type of lubricator was what I originally had in mind so I design the current manifold to be easily removable for upgrades later for those of you who need them. The current lubricator shown on the engine works great though and it only has a 1mm orifice in it to properly meter the oil consumption.


Everyone,

At this point the engines with out the water pumps are ready for purchase so I've gone ahead and put some temporary pictures and descriptions up on the website so they can be available for purchase. The production run of the optional water pumps is starting now and I imagine they'll be finished within a week or so depending on how many work hours we can fit into a day. The Vertical steam plants are also now available on the website. The waiting period for those will be slightly longer than the engines due to the fact they will be built and assembled per order until we have a chance to build up an already assembled inventory of them.

Although I produced enough parts to make over a hundred of these engines, a few key parts I only produced in limited quantities for the time being until we see how popular these engines are with folks. There's enough parts for now to build 30 engines. Some will be sold with steam plants I imagine so who knows how long the first batch will last. It's any ones guess at this point. I've done my best to keep the prices as low as possible for the amount of work that has gone into the parts for each engine and boiler. It's up to you guys now. As it stands now the price shown on the website will be introductory until a firm grasp of all the assembly labor can be figured out and scaled. The price will not be going any lower I can already assure you of that unless we start selling an unholy amount of these little buggers.


The build is not over yet!!!!!!

We still have a optional water pump to make and the optional refillable fuel tank. I have a gut feeling that another boiler option will be available too in the not so distant future. 

At some point very soon maybe tomorrow hopefully, video of the engine running will be taken and posted on youtube.

I have to say that I'm very happy with the way the engine runs. It's quite with almost zero vibration. It reminds me of a little sewing machine. This is definitely an engine I'm proud to put my name on.

[MONAHAN STEAM MODELS]

Work began over the weekend on the crankshaft driven water pump.

The main pump body shown in the pictures is made up of three parts which get silver soldered together. The main pump body snugly fits into the socket in the main engine frame. The output fitting that will screw into the front o the pump where it passes through the engine frame will lock the pump into place. The pump's piston is made from stainless steel. The bore and stroke of the pump is 1/8" by 7/16".

There's more parts that go to the pump so stay tuned.

[Bunkerbarge]

That is a beautifully neat arrangement Nick.  The best designs are always so simple.

[MONAHAN STEAM MODELS]

Thanks Richard,

Trust me it looks simple now that it's done but figuring out that little pump took many hours, many different designs and a whole bucket full of curse words. I must have designed 20 different pumps to work with this engine most of which were absolutely hideous and out of scale. A lot of the designs just didn't go with the rest of the look of the engine. Finally one night after working on what must have been the 20th design, around 2 o'clock in the morning I laid the ground work for the final design you see here. Wait till you see the rest of the goodies that bolt onto it.

[benjaml1]

Macro digital photography is unforgiving on hard objects. That passes with flying colours.... Simply stunning... 

[kno3]

Aha, so there's finally some light in the hole mystery! 
Is the pump going to be driven by a scotch yoke, or is it oscillating?

[MONAHAN STEAM MODELS]

Yup, The pump is going to be driven with a scotch yoke.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phqsga3CZAI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyybgGiJXeg

[Bernhard]

Great...sweet one it is,,,, ,,,.......And it don't spit water allover the hole place?..........What psi..will it be working at,,,,,,,,,and is it thirsty?

Regards Bernhard

[MONAHAN STEAM MODELS]

Thanks Bernhard,

I've been running this engine at varying pressures. Its happy doing work at pressures from 15psi up to 55psi. It goes like a bat out of hell at 55psi though. In the video the pressure was varying between 20-40. The cylinders aren't using a 100% filling of steam so it's economical on steam consumption. Although as you can see from the video the engine doesn't spit much at all, don't be fooled. It still spits! Have you heard that expression, "say it don't spray it"? I'd say it probably spits about that much.

[kno3]

A smooth runner, very nice. I'm not sure what you mean by 100% filling as being economical, could you explain? I thought a lower filling percentage to allow for some for steam expansion and is more economical. Not that this would be of great concern in a little model engine, just curious.

[MONAHAN STEAM MODELS]

Hi Calin,

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

The cylinders are not being filled 100%. If you go back and read my post again, you'll see I used the word "aren't" being filled 100%.

[Bunkerbarge]

So obviously the downside of that is that you will not have as much power available.  It would be interesting to see just what size and displacement of model this engine would power.  I do have a Richmond that has been made with 8mm pistons and it pushes 35 pounds of model at way above scale speed so I'm sure this would be comparable.

[MONAHAN STEAM MODELS]

Hi BB,

The cylinders are being filled about 85% so there's not much if any power loss.


Build Update:

Well I managed to get some more parts made for the water pump this week.

Since the last build update I made the Input/Output Banjo bolts for the water pump. The banjo bolts house the one way check valve fittings as well as they also severe the purpose of holding the Input/Output Banjo fittings in place. I also managed to get the both the Input Banjo fittings made as well as the Output Banjo fitting. The Output Banjo fitting has a 3/16"-40 threaded boss for attaching either a bypass valve as shown in the pictures below or you have the option of screwing on a 3/16"-40 to 1/4"-40 instead and running a copper line further away from the engine to bypass valve. The Output Banjo fitting is also cross drilled for silver soldering on the 5/32" copper output line which leads to the boiler's check valve. The Input Banjo fitting is threaded 1/4"-40. The banjo fittings can be swiveled around their axis to accommodate most plumbing requirements.

The next part to be made was the water pump's piston gland nut. I modeled the looks of this part exactly after gland nuts that are commonly found on full sized make-up feed water pumps. We have way too many of these full sized steam water pump's kicking around our other shop. You almost can't walk anywhere with out tripping over one of them.

The final part that needed to be made was the scotch yoke which threads onto the 1/8" stainless steel water pump piston. Well the water pump is now complete. I'm very happy with the way everything with the pump turned out and the final look as well as layout of it all.

The next stage of the build will the optional refillable fuel tank.

[derekwarner]

Goodness Nick...those last three snaps "Cirrus w Pump" 1a, 2a & 3a... superlatives in comment ...would be difficuilt to offer  .....Derek

PS ...I notice those three branch off take marks still feature in your desk top    photographs.........

[MONAHAN STEAM MODELS]

PS ...I notice those three branch off take marks still feature in your desk top    photographs.........

Ha! If you saw my desk then you'd understand! Those three spots happen to be right smack dab in the middle of the only clear spot on the desk!   

[kno3]

Nick, it's looking even better now. I notice the feed water pipe goes into the firebox, probably to pre-heat the water. Good idea!

There's one thing I don't quite understand. The pump's piston/cylinder extends past the fittings for intake and output ending in a cul-de-sac. So did you carve some small channels in there for the water to move or...?

[MONAHAN STEAM MODELS]

Kno3,

Yup, there are channels cut inside the water pump to allow the water to circulate to the inlet and outlet fittings. Great eye for noticing that!

P.S. I got a little side tracked at the shop today and made this boiler. It will be the boiler for the Compact Horizontal Cirrus steam plants. Total weight for what you see here is 18 ounces. There are 7 water tubes. I'm going to hydro test it tomorrow morning before I paint it, so that I can begin assembling it.

[kno3]

Great! How much water does it hold?
About the pump: would it be possible to see those channels in a pic or drawing?

P.S: How come your cigarettes don't have a big sign saying they cause cancer or any other terrible disease, like those found around here do? Did you happen to find a healthy variety? 

[Circlip]

Got a CNC blowtorch as well Nick???? Your Silver Soldering is better than most can achieve with soft solders, AGAIN

  Regards   Ian