Miniature Traction Engine

[Nigel Taylor]

Thought I would share with you all the long term project that is on my workbench at the moment.

This is a 1/20th scale working Burrell traction engine. The 1/20th scale was an accident as I took an drawing from the Burrell works and scaled it in elevation to fit on a page of A4.

The smokebox and axle is starting to come together

The rear wheels have also been designed, machined and assembled:

These are just 97mm in diameter.

This is an image of the parts laying on the A4 drawing

The final image shows the number of parts I haven't made yet rather than the number complete......

 

[toolsntat]

Lovely, true craftsmanship and all respect to you for doing it.
Do you look in on Traction Talk?
Cheers Andy
https://tractiontalkforum.com/

 

[powertools]

I hope that you will keep updating this as I would like to follow your progress.

 

[paulrbarnard]

That looks fantastic. My Dad builds live steam trains so i appreciate the amount of work that goes in to these things. Definitely post more progress.

 

[Nigel Taylor]

Lovely, true craftsmanship and all respect to you for doing it.
Do you look in on Traction Talk?
Cheers Andy
https://tractiontalkforum.com/

Hi Andy, yes, a good forum. Thanks, Nigel

 

[AES]

Lovely job. A man after my own heart (and before he died, my dad was a traction engine man too. But in his case it was primarily a Fowler Showman's engine). But for me, the primary "trigger" is/used to be "it's got to fly"!

Good luck though, you've got lots of fascinating work ahead, and please keep us posted - especially pix please.

 

[Nigel Taylor]

Had to go back to basics on the door hinge for the smokebox, broke the design down further and looked again at the assembly. Plus I tried some silver solder paste from CooksonGold, not cheap but wow.

 

[Nigel Taylor]

Been improving the brass etching by cleaning the plate with acetone before applying the resist and etching.

 

[bourbon]

That brass etching is impressive

 

[Orraloon]

Way way above my metal working level but great to watch.
Regards
John

 

[Nigel Taylor]

I have now machined the brass chimney top, silver soldered it in place and then re-machined.

I think you can only just see the silver solder line....

 

[Nigel Taylor]

Tip: Blue permanent marker works as a great alternative to engineers blue and it's cleaner.

This is my marking out of the hornplates for the Burrell in 1/16th inch thick brass

This is them then cutout, filed to the lines and then the pair of plates split apart (they were held together with double sided tape)

These were then bolted to the firebox. I just had to prop all of the parts together and get a photo.....

this and many more projects are on my gallery page

 

[Nigel Taylor]

I spent Saturday afternoon adding the beading to the edge of the tender. It's not perfect as half-round brass beading tends to rotate as you try and bend it flat around corners. I should have made some jigs.

I also used some very old flux, it worked perfectly considering just how old it is....

I posted the image from the tin of fluxite as it just makes me smile.

 

[AES]

Beading looks good mate. A +1 for Fluxite, no matter how old, but if not teaching granny, DO make sure you flush under running water with an old toothbrush to get rid of ALL residue.

P.S. my tin is so corroded you can't see "the little devil" any more!

 

[paulrbarnard]

Things like fluxes tend to be a little less effective than they used to, or at least they seem to be to me. I assume the nasty ingredients that made them so effective are no longer permitted. It's the same for electronics solder. Modern lead free just doesn't seem to work as well. I acknowledge it could simply be the rose tinted spectacles of age or the lingering effects of lead poisoning.

 

[AES]

No, I think you're right Paul. Not so sure about electronics work (I only use cored solder for the little I do in that area and it still works OK), but definitely is so for metal working "soldering", both hard n soft. Less "acid" in them I guess. Fortunately I have a good stock of old-fashioned tinman's lead solder (+ a gurt big iron) and just use Fluxite for soft soldering.

 

[Nigel Taylor]

I've been machining Phosphor Bronze (for the rear axle bearings) using the carbide bits designed for machining aluminium - wow, no use of cutting fluid and the results are superb.

 

[Nigel Taylor]

Once I had made the bearings I just had to assemble the parts I have made to date

The engine was designed to fit on a sheet of A4 in elevation and here it is sat on top of an A4 notebook.

 

[gregmcateer]

This is just beyond stunning.
Lovely to see the Frys label - reminded me that my best mates dad used to be senior chemist there many years ago.
Thanks for sharing your incredible work.
Greg

 

[Nigel Taylor]

This is just beyond stunning.
Lovely to see the Frys label - reminded me that my best mates dad used to be senior chemist there many years ago.
Thanks for sharing your incredible work.
Greg

Hi Greg,
Thanks for the comments. As a maker you always see the issues with it. I'm a self-taught engineer over many years, but still make things in a way that probably makes the pro's wince. I get there in the end by making parts a few times.
The Fry's label on the front of the tin is so good, it great and would make a great T-shirt.
Best regards,
Nigel