Mike's P.M. Research No. 6 Steam Engine

[ErichKeane]

I'm having a blast with it. Honestly I don't care about the hour count, it is all for fun.

The No. 6 is tied for the biggest steam engine they make. This is fun for me for sure. Only limitation is that is uses a LOT of steam/compressed air, so you need to have a good compressor to run it. Mine may not be able to keep up continuously.

The smaller engines look like less work, but have a ton of tiny parts. Gas hit and miss engines are the next level up and they seems to have a massive jump in complexity and difficulty. I have been follow an Edwards #5 radial engine on here that is super impressive.

I've learned more about machining doing this engine than all of my projects before it combined. Seriously

I did a PM#3 and had a similar feeling on it! I thought it was a lot of fun and pushed me quite a bit! The small parts of the #3 ended up being on a bit fiddly for me, so I kind of wish I'd done one of the bigger engines.

I DID do a hit-miss engine after that, but never got it running :/ It again had some very small parts (and I ended up scrapping about 60% of my tries as a result), and for some reason I just couldn't get it working.

 

[macardoso]

I did a PM#3 and had a similar feeling on it! I thought it was a lot of fun and pushed me quite a bit! The small parts of the #3 ended up being on a bit fiddly for me, so I kind of wish I'd done one of the bigger engines.

I DID do a hit-miss engine after that, but never got it running :/ It again had some very small parts (and I ended up scrapping about 60% of my tries as a result), and for some reason I just couldn't get it working.

Bummer, that really sucks. Any idea why it didn't run?

 

[ErichKeane]

Bummer, that really sucks. Any idea why it didn't run?

No real idea... I had all the necessary components (Air, Fuel, Spark, Compresson) and spent a bunch of time trying to get it to run, but nothing worked. I eventually gave up on it.

I SUSPECT it might be the carb, which was so small and fiddly that making it was really difficult. Otherwise, everything else was pretty much on spot. I had considered mailing/gifting it to anyone on the forum who wanted to make an attempt at getting it running, but I ended up just tossing it on a shelf in my garage.

 

[brino]

Only limitation is that is uses a LOT of steam/compressed air, so you need to have a good compressor to run it. Mine may not be able to keep up continuously.

So this entire project is just to justify a new compressor?
Jeez....the lengths some guys won't go!

I've learned more about machining doing this engine than all of my projects before it combined. Seriously

I do NOT doubt that in the least.
....and I appreciate you bringing us all along. I have learned from it too!

-brino

 

[macardoso]

So this entire project is just to justify a new compressor?
Jeez....the lengths some guys won't go!




I do NOT doubt that in the least.
....and I appreciate you bringing us all along. I have learned from it too!

-brino

Lol. The real kicker would be justifying building a steam boiler to run this. I might leave that to my buddy. I will miss working on this, but I am also looking forward to checking this off my project list so I can start on some new ones!

I enjoy sharing this stuff and it really keeps me going.

 

[macardoso]

AHHHH S***.

Spun the jog pendant, had it set to the wrong axis.

 

[Boswell]

Spun the jog pendant, had it set to the wrong axis

Never happened to me. (well, not recently ... as in this week )

 

[Lo-Fi]

Oh no, that's a bit gutting! What's the plan?

 

[ErichKeane]

Fortunately PM research is really good about selling replacement castings fairly affordably. Alternatively you could turn one from some brass rod if you were ok with losing the casting marks.

 

[brino]

AHHHH S***.

Spun the jog pendant, had it set to the wrong axis.

I was there Sunday! (.....unlike @Boswell, apparently)

I had moved the X-Y-Z feed select lever from Z-axis to X-axis to be able to move the table manually........it drags a little when trying to turn the same axis manually....... in order to drill a hole.

Luckily I did NOT have the drill bit low enough to contact the work.....so no harm but my ego......

It is "par for the course" as they say......the only people that never fail are the ones that don't do anything.

-brino