maisie

[bolmas]

does anyone have the cylinder drawings for maisie as supplied by blackgates?i am looking to use the cylider for another project and would like to ask a couple of questions.

MANY THANKS

[GeorgeRay]

I doubt whether such a thing exists outside the pattern makers. You probably need to get someone to measure up a set of raw castings. My Maisie cylinders came via Reeves some 20 years ago and if you want their sizes I can easily measure them off, they are on the table next to my computer as I type this. They have been machined to length though so that will be one dimension that I couldn't give you.

[bolmas]

i know blackgates supply the castings but didnt realise they never supplied the drawings. i will have to look for something else suitable.

THANKS

[GeorgeRay]

Are you after the drawing of the casting as provided or do you mean the final machined item. There is no reason for any casting supplier to provide a drawing of the casting since it doesn't help in producing the model. The machined cylinder drawings are on sheet 4 of the drawings as supplied in my set from what was MAP. This will be available from any of the reputable model suppliers. So if it is information on the machined cylinders ask away and I will try and answer.

[bolmas]

what i need is someone with the drawings supplied by blackgates to enable a model engineer in his own workshop to produce the finished maisie.

i know the bore of cylinder is 1 1/4 inch but i need to know the finished overall length of the cylinder,the cylinder port sizes, and the distance from the base of the cylinder to the centre of the crank

MANY THANKS FOR ANY HELP YOU CAN GIVE

[GeorgeRay]

As designed by LBSC, the overal length of the cylinder is 2 1/4 inches, remember that the end covers have a register 1/16 deep which enters the cylinder bore. The port are all 5/8 wide the inlets are 3/32 long and the exhaust 1/4 the lands between the ports are 3/32. These are LBSC's dimensions as given on his plans which are no doubt the ones which blackgates would sell unless they have alteres the design in some way. I'm not sure what you mean by 'and the distance from the base of the cylinder to the centre of the crank'. If you mean the distance from the middle of the cylinder to the driving axle this is not actually dimensioned but by adding up the individual elemets then it works out at 11 3/8". If you need any more info you can always e-mail me off the board or simply reply to this and others can join in as required. Hope this helps.

[bolmas]

excellent!! many thanks indeed. the only other dimension was the distance from the nearest end of the cylinder casting to the centre of the crank, but if the centre of the casting is 11 1/8 then the end is 1 1/8 nearer it is therefore 10 inches away.

i am looking at using a maisie cylinder, taking off the flanges for mounting it in the frames, and using it for a single cylinder stationary engine.

i am a relative beginner and am currently designing and build a vertical engine. i started to build a horizontal engine from castings but the castings were so bad i gave up and salvaged the cylinder and flywheel to make the engine i am working on.

it has now become a challenge to build engines using as few if any castings as possible!!

once again many thanks.

[GeorgeRay]

Glad to have been of service. If you need any further details of the cylinder assemble just let me know. I have a set of drawings and a very dog eared copy of the building book plus some of the original issues of Model engineer describing the construction. So between those the answer to dimensioning questions can probably be found.

[bolmas]

would the dog eared copy be for sale by any chance? i would like to build a vertical stationary engine using a maisie cylinder. the rest i would make up as i go along,the same as the engine i am building now.

[GeorgeRay]

Unfortunately I'm still building so wouldn't want to part with it. There was a copy on e-bay not too long ago. I think if you obtained the drawing sheet that I mentioned this would probably be of more help as far as cylinders are concerned. The book is more how to build Maisie and probably wouldn't help with a stationary engine. Others on this board may have a different idea though.

[John Lee]

bolmas said:

would the dog eared copy be for sale by any chance? i would like to build a vertical stationary engine using a maisie cylinder. the rest i would make up as i go along,the same as the engine i am building now.

Why buy a dog eared copy?? Ahh this is an old post I know. The Maisie (bless her, I started one 40 years ago and eventually finished it) is available now as "Words and Music" from (I think) Nexus Publications again

[alanstepney]

Can I just add that it is an excellent loco that pulls well and goes on and on and on.

[John Lee]

alanstepney said:

Can I just add that it is an excellent loco that pulls well and goes on and on and on.

It was the "Maisie" book that got me into engineering Alan; started as a late teenager but finished many years later after an engineering apprenticeship. One of LBSC's better efforts, it worked as described, and still does. It's a real shame that 3 1/2 inch guage is becoming increasingly neglected as people think bigger is better "ahem!"

If any loco was a "classic" model engineer design this is it..love em! It's not "fiddly" and much better as a beginners project than a Tich or a crude 5 inch design IMHO

John