That crank is beautiful Lionel, and it's really making me reconsider bolting mine together. I'm not really familiar with the 6A, so where does the eccentric for the cylinder away from the camera go? The engine I'm planning this for is going to be a pyramidal 5-cylinder quadruple expansion with a reh...

I'm currently working on my own engine design, and it seems like the biggest source of headaches is the crankshaft design and lubrication. I haven't been able to find anything regarding the crank bearings or lubrication. I'm currently planning on doing something along the lines of a built-up, bolted...

Another advantage of the trolling motor is safety. A lot of models are remote control from a keyfob, which means that if you ever fall overboard with the throttle shut you can use the trolling motor to bring the boat back to you. Maybe more of a concern for a fishing vessel, but still it can't hurt.

I don't think it is some terrible negative thing to observe that many people new to the forum and to steam tend to want to re-invent the wheel. Or think that starting with a square wheel is a reasonable idea. Especially when their first improvement of the square wheel is to a triangular one! Fewer ...

Be sure to keep us posted!

"As for materials, I'm planning on going all overbuilt, with schedule 80 pipe for the steam and mud drums and schedule 40 pipe for the water tubes. I really don't care about weight much for such an important component, so I'm aiming for a safety factor of 10, and hydrotesting at 1200 PSI on each pa...

Let us know how it works out.

I think there are a couple in the Steam Boat Association "approved design" library. Kevin Slater at Steamwell Boilers (Manor Farm Engineering) would know of others, and would be worth talking to anyway By the way, if you want to go to 300 psi, then copper is certainly taboo in the UK, regardless of...

Hi Tom, for coal firing i prefer a thre-drum-boiler. They have a bigger water-capacity than the ofeldts with vertical drum (up to three times). There are a lot of designs for a three-drum different from yarrows like roberts or STUART Mandip (Kelly built such one for his RECIPROCA). Here is one of m...

If it's for a steamboat, and you're coal firing, go for the Yarrow. They're somewhat bigger and heavier than the Ofeldts for the same steaming capacity, and the time to reach pressure is a little worse, but the real point is that Yarrows are very easy for external tube cleaning, which you'll need t...