The Williamson Engine

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
I know that this is not actually a railway item but, it would fit on my layout in some form or other. If the powers that be think that it shouldn't be here, I fully understand.

I started building this engine back in the late 70's or early 80's and for some reason or other packed it all away as unfinished project. While waiting for an NRM drawing of a PBV to arrive, my next railway project, I thought that I'd go back to working on this. Although I had done some work in cleaning up the column, it's an aluminium casting, I spent something like another two or three hours going over it again. It's not perfect but it's the best that I can do. I also spent some time going over all of the bits and pieces, re identifying with them and checking to see what I had or had't done. I'm okay with the project now and will start work on the main bearings and fixing the column to it's base.
The engine is described in the book of words as, a little engine built by Williams Brothers of Kendal and shown at the International Exhibition of 1862 with a bore of 6 1/2".

Jon

IMG_4606.JPG IMG_4609.JPG
 

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Here is the progress so far. The main bearings have been fitted and the four pieces, entablature, column, base and plinth= all fit together okay. The governor pulley bracket fits onto the front main bearing on the entablature hence the extra long studs. In checking over the plinth, I found that I had drilled the four holes 5 BA clearance instead of 5 BA thread. I had to make some new studs to enable the base to be fixed to the plinth and these were 5 BA one end and 4 BA the other. I made these in brass and shall blacken them on final assembly. I'm not very up on how steam engines work. The guide suggested that the next thing to do was to mark out and drill for the exhaust port but, the drawings don't say where that is :D. So, I'm going to machine up the cylinder as per the drawing and hope for the best.
I have another book of words for another engine by the same author where he uses the same cylinder block but, the exhaust port is in a different position, hey ho.

Jon

P.S. I've had another look at the drawing and I think that there's a mistake. The exhaust goes out through the bottom of the cylinder and base. The hole in the base is 4 mm and mates up with the 3.7 mm hole in the base of the cylinder, shown bottom right hand corner. It states that the 3.7 mm hole should be drilled 1/16" deep until it meets the plugged cross hole. Well, it ain't gonna do that if drilled at just a 1/16"deep, more like 1" is needed if it has to reach that cross hole. At least, I think that's how it works. All comments gratefully received.


IMG_4615-001.JPG

IMG_4610-001.JPG IMG_4613.JPG
 

simond

Western Thunderer
Jon,

your cylinder is 1 & 5/8 long. The cross hole (on section F) is 9/16 from one end thus 1 & 1/16” from t’other.

I agree that it looks like a misprint.

hth
Simon
 

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Most of the cylinder components are now finished including the steam chest and cover. The crank shaft and flywheel are in place although I wasn't happy with the fit of the wheel on the shaft. I therefore enlarged the opening in the wheel, fixed a piece of brass in with loctite and drilled and bored for a nice sliding fit on the shaft.

Jon

IMG_4628.JPG IMG_4631.JPG
 

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
This the eccentric strap, the second one as I cleaned off too much from the faces after it was cut in half and had to order another. I used one of the Titanium strips as a clamp and it work extremely well. So well that I had to sing their praises again here. As can be seen, I bent it to shape and slid it over the strap. The taper produces a bit of spring so that the two halves were held together very neatly. I used a blow torch to solder the two halves and the Titanium didn't budge at all. I'm very pleased with the result.
I used Carr's 179 degree solder paste as can be seen in the first picture.

Jon

IMG_4632.JPG IMG_4633.JPG IMG_4634.JPG
 

Mikemill

Western Thunderer
John

I made a pair of toolmakers clamps solely for soldering use, as you can imagine they have a rough life, but a quick swipe with a wire brush and a drop of oil and they are ready to go again.


Mike
 
Top