Corliss Engine

[Jo]

Fellow Corliss builders:

Following on from a query from Gugger I have been in discussions with Muffets over the Bevel gears for the Hartnell Governor on the Southworth Corliss Engines. Checking dimensions with the drawings the steel gears we seem to need are:

B064 401 SP (£6.59)
B064 401 SC (£12.22)

Plus £3 P&P (UK) and the dreaded Vat man's cut.

These are the only 64DP Bevels they now do in 4:1. I have ordered a pair which I should have tomorrow.

Jo
----------------
Quick up date: Very happy with the gears turned up as promised the following morning. They are the right ones as far as I can see without building up the governor.

[lancelot]

Hello Jo,
thank you for the info, must get a set, although methinks it might be a while before I need them ;D
All the best for now,
John.

[lancelot]

Hi Jo and Gugger,
gears just arrived this morning, had a quick look at where they were going to fit... ...very tight...my casting is almost 1/16'' short of drawing dim. across front face...and that is without even starting machiningI think they will make it but there will be not much room for ''Fettling''....remember what Peter said about the castings working out smaller...just clean up the outside with a File... ;D are you still working on the traction Engine, Jo.
All the best for now,
John.

[gugger]

Hello John,
My gears are on the way to Switzerland, should arrive Monday or Tuesday.
I had some additional work with undersized cylinders. I have not checked my casting for the governor. But I will not play around anymore with an undersized part, it will be better to machine a housing from full material.

Walter

[lancelot]

Hello Gugger,
when I come round to doing the Governor bits I will have a word with Peter to see if he has any castings with dimensions closer to the drawings, if not I will go your way...would you happen to have any sketches, or photos, that might visually translate the ''Porting'' between the cylinder and inlet and exhaust valve chambers? if so, it would be appreciated if you could copy them to me...
All the best for now,
John.

[gugger]

Hello John,
I did put just now some photos of the cylinders in my photoalbum

s89.photobucket.com/albums/k206/Gugger_2006/

subalbum Corliss. The photos are of the exhaust HP and LP cylinders. Inlet is just about the same only difference is in the hight of the slots.
Any further questions? Do not hesitate......

Walter

[lancelot]

Thank you Walter for the photos, that makes it a lot clearer. I take it that cutter is a commercially available one ?, talked to Peter southworth re/ governor casting, tends to think no problem and gears will fit fine, will just have to watch my set up and machining.
All the best for now,
John.

[Jo]

Hi John.

I have nearly finished my nephew's Clayton, all that is left is the final stages of making the cab and some plumbing. Then I can see if I can get the engine running (famous last words). Which means I am verging on starting on the Corliss.

Last night I took the trouble of going through A Throp's drawings and working out what parts the four cylinder corliss would need and what it look like. The extra flywheel and intermediate cylinder is not a problem (I already have two high pressure iron cylinders), plus replacement bed plates. But I do not like the look of the lugs that are being used to join the tandem cylinders. It helped me decide that I will build the cross compound.

Any photo's of your progress?

Jo

[lancelot]

Hello Jo,
just got back from my friends shop where he has spent some considerable time and trouble in setting up the Flywheel for the Corliss,took near 41/2 hours of work, the skin was as tough as glass, but when finished looked great...just have to true up round some of the barring teeth. Now I can progress the shaft and bearings and push the build along...could not work on shaft until I obtained a fixed steady for my lathe...will put some photos up when it is starting to look more like an engine...interesting fact... the bloke who turned my flywheel worked on one of the full size Corliss engines that ran in an old mill near where I live...remember the Packers I had to fit between the flywheel halves...very same on the full size one he worked on!
All the best for now,
John.

[Myford Matt]

Hi Jo, Walter and John

Following a small bequest, I'm tempted by a Southworth Corliss as a longterm project. I have a set of drawings and I'm having a good think about which version to go for.

Any chance of some (more) photos of progress to date?

Many thanks

Matt

[lancelot]

Hi Matt,
mine is on hold at the moment until I finish building the ''James Coombes'' and adding it to the steam plant I am trying to complete. At present Walter, to my knowlege, is the only one who has any photos of the ''Southworth'' engine build on the net, currently I am at the stage where the 3 parts of the engine bed are machined and bolted together, the flywheel and crankshaft assys, are basically finished, along with bearing assys, outer support pillar and the foundation base for engine itself...this is the single cylinder corliss valved engine...I presently have a Myford speed ten and a Chester conquest mill...machining those parts were right on the limits of them...to do the flywheel will take a fairly heavy duty lathe...Hopefully Walter may put up some shots of progress on his build...when I start back on building it I want a clear head as the next stages will be quite challenging...
All the best for now,
John.

PS...forgot ...there are some shots of the machining of my engine build in the ''images'' section...

[Myford Matt]

Thanks John

I've seen your machining shots. It's nice to see what a small mill is capable of achieving. Mine is of similar capacity if a 'little' older; a Centec 2A. Like your 10, I suspect my Super 7 is not up to the flywheel, so I'd probably tackle it at the SMEE.

I can only find one picture from Walter - are there others?

Jo - how's progress?

Cheers

Matt

[lancelot]

Yes Matt,
there are quite a few, click on ''Guggers'' photo shop link...[Up this page a bit] and open...then click on ''Corliss'' [to left of screen] that should open his shots of the build progress on the corliss he is building...
All the best for now,
John.

[Myford Matt]

DOh!! Me stupid

Thanks John - EXACTLY what I was looking for.

Cheers

Matt

[gugger]

Since I placed my last pictures in Photobucket I did progress a bit with my project. So the new placed photos will show a bit more.
However, I still have a long way to go before I will have a "Gold Medal" worthy engine. Then that is what I am aiming for.
But I am afraid, the costs to ever show that engine in England on an exhibition are to high. But since I am very familiar with the British Model Engineering scene, I know exactly what quality is required/requested.

: s89.photobucket.com/albums/k206/Gugger_2006/ just pick Corliss on the left and you will get all the pictures.

Walter

[lancelot]

Hi Walter, in FFFFFRRRRZZZing and wet Northern Ireland...the Rain never seems to stop here...Thank you for the extra photos, Oh Boy, have I a long way to go... your engine looks brilliant even now at this stage.
All the best for now,
John.

[gugger]

John,
What are you complaining about? You have just the right weather to make progress with your engine.

Here in Switzerland we had for weeks beautiful weather it is only raining since yesterday.

Walter

[paul]

Walter, that's a beauty!

Mind you, the holes in that plate near the centre of the image look very close to the edge!

[gugger]

Paul,nothing to worry about. the board I am using at the moment is temporary. I will finally use a far better quality of thick multi ply wood with everything mounted on the right spot.

Walter

[Myford Matt]

Lovely work Walter - many thanks for posting.

Matt