The Steamboating Forum

I managed to buy bronze for two clamps for eccentrics. I made two such clamps. Two more are on the way. My challenge is to make a steam engine without complex ball bearings, which were rare in the 19th century and were not used on small steam boats. I don’t know what will be the effectiveness of the bronze clamps, it is possible that the crank shaft will not rotate well. Perhaps someone will have some information on this issue, please share. Ingvar.

Make them fit good and keep them greased and they will work very good.

Ron

Nice to see you are still making progress.

That bronze looks lovely. Such a nice metal.

Regards

Pete

Ron! Thanks for support. I hope your opinion is based on extensive technical knowledge. It inspires me. Pete! After such words, I immediately bought another piece of bronze for making clamps. The cost of such a piece of bronze in my region is 350 US dollars. I have heard that bronze is much cheaper in the UK. Best regards Ingvar.

When building the Margaret S. engine, I calculated bearing pressures far above recommended practice found in handbooks. I made brass bushings for the walking beam bearings, running well lubricated on hard steel pins. In a few days running these brass bushings were already showing unacceptable wear, so I made new bushings of bronze. Those new bushings are ten years old now, and still holding up well. The point here is that bronze bearing material, with proper lubrication, is able to exceed most published recommendations.

"I hope your opinion is based on extensive technical knowledge.''

No, just experience. Lightly loaded rotating or sliding components work well with bronze. Most common is ''aluminum bronze'' general purpose type which really isn't considered a go to bearing bronze but works well for that purpose as long as it is kept lubricated. Bearing bronzes are 800-900 series or Ampco types. Which are much more expensive. Although I've seen these much harder bronzes damage steel shafting. Pick your poison as they say.

Wow $350 USD for that much bronze.. That amount in the picture would be around $60 here in the US. For now anyway.

I have to revise this, I didn't realize how large those were, it would be about the same price here. It has went up quite a bit just recently. Lumber has tripled in price in the last year.

Ron

How nice to be able to get slices of bronze in large diameters. I have had a quick Google here and nothing came up anywhere near 25cm diameter. I will investigate further!

Nice pictures!

Regards

Pete

Leeds bronze have this but it is an expensive way of doing it, a simple pattern would allow a casting, much cheaper.
Jack

Dear Jack! I cannot even make castings from bronze. Therefore, it is necessary to resort to mechanical processing, despite the fact that it is more expensive. Perhaps in the future I will be able to make bronze castings when I have access to the necessary equipment. In the meantime, here are some new photos that Pete will probably like. Ingvar.

Freezerrr12 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 27, 2021 7:13 pm Dear Jack! I cannot even make castings from bronze. Therefore, it is necessary to resort to mechanical processing, despite the fact that it is more expensive. Perhaps in the future I will be able to make bronze castings when I have access to the necessary equipment. In the meantime, here are some new photos that Pete will probably like. Ingvar.

Sir,

I make you the same offer I have given to other international steamboaters. If you need something specific that I can get over the internet in the USA that you can't get where you live, I can buy it and ship it to you, and I will take your word that you will send me the money once the item arrives.

Previously I did this for a few steamboaters who wanted steam rated stainless steel flexible hosing for connecting a steam engine so the piping gets some dampening from any engine vibration. That was from mcmaster carr, but I am willing to buy it for you from any website that ships to the US.

Online metals has some bearing bronze - https://www.onlinemetals.com

Just email me with what you want and I can make it happen. (andrewjalics@gmail.com)

-cyberbadger