FE Power Forums
FE Power Forums => Non-FE Discussion Forum => Topic started by: Hemi Joel on August 23, 2014, 01:13:48 PM
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Last year, we found this antique steam engine at a farm auction. It was neglected and stuck, like it had been cast aside as obsolete junk 100 years ago. I could not control myself, I had to bid on it and win.
I figured it would be a good project for my retirement years. But my son Cam took a liking to it, and began a weekly ritual of spraying every moving part with penetrating oil. A couple months ago, he got the head bolts loose and the valve body bolts, and started spraying the insides.
Yesterday day he called me at work and said he had a surprise for me when I got home. He wouldn't tell me what it was, but he was so enthusiastic, I though he had a new puppy or something. But when I got home, he showed me the steam engine, running on compressed air!
He told me that every time he sprayed it, he tried to turn the flywheel. This time it moved! So he got busy taking apart the main bearing caps, cleaning and lubricating everything, untill it spun over freely. Then he made new gaskets for it and put it together, hooked up and air hose, and voila!
I love old junk, especially if it works. Now I have try to find some tpye of a small boiler to run it. I was thinking it would be cool to hook it up to a line shaft system and run some antique ceiling fans off of it.
Here is a video of it:
http://youtu.be/DVSmPWyNaz4
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Very cool!
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I second "stang". That is way cool. 8)
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Keep in mind it has to be a high pressure boiler which requires a license to operate. Your average home boiler runs at 12psi a high pressure to run a slave needs to be 50-100 psi.
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I second "stang". That is way cool. 8)
OK, although being called "stang" is cool, I added my name to my sig. I know most of you guys know it, but I figure after close to 18 years of FE forum and close to 3 here, I may as well sign my posts :)
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Lol
Pardon
Habit
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X3 on the cool factor. 8)
I know two things about boilers and steam.
They are hot and something is getting scalded if it ruptures.
I like the air hose myself and you can't beat the cool factor for running overhead fans with it.
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You need to adapt that flyball governer to run the pressure regulator. Now that would be awesome! At least get the flyball governor spinning while the engine runs :-)
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That thing is really cool, Joel. Congrats to Cam on getting it unstuck, I'm impressed!
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Aghh the need for a 50-100psi steam to run it is a nightmare. Must have been used in an industrial plant not Farmer Joes grain machine.
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They were common everywhere 100 years ago. Stationary and steam engines were used for farming, mills, machine shops and factory processes like feed mills and textile plants. I have seen a lot of them in scoops and churches to run ventilation and generators for lighting. Running a boiler was just like a steam engine, you had a engineer and a tender. The engineer maintained the operation and feeding of water to maintain the level in the sight glass. The box tender handled stoking the box, oiling of components and maintenance of the slave engines and radiators.
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Way back then, as a docent at the Henry Ford museum explained, every farm had tons of wood and stumps that were cut, plowed and pulled from soon-to-be arable fields. This wood powered the steam boiler and allowed even remotely located farms to have all kinds of handy "power" tools. Some really big boilers and even bigger steam engines even powered some truly gigantic saws in outdoor sawmills!
Think this old MN sawmill isn't too far from Jay's place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXFEf31xrUA
Btw, here's some 'portable" steam power...check out the steam tractor in the backgound!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knqxlRRmwlg
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Great stuff Joel, I'll add my congrats to Cam for carefully waiting it out 'till it got loose so nothing got broken. Bet it'll never seize again, like all other cool stuff once rescued it gets special treatment from here on out 8).
Love the sawmill video Bob, trot an OSHA guy in there and he'd have a heart attack on the spot.
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couldn't you use a water heater? municipal systems can be 60-80 psi the tank is probably designed for double that. If that's a really dumb idea tell me why by the way!
edit to say just watched the sawmill video, that's awesome
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Coolest thing I've seen all week! :)
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Love the sawmill video Bob, trot an OSHA guy in there and he'd have a heart attack on the spot.
My Dad worked in a steam powered sawmill in the '30's - accidents were a fact of life. He said he was never so happy to get a different job, although the other job turned out to be breaking rocks and wheeling them in a wheelbarrow for 25 cents a day when they were building the PA Turnpike.. ???