A STEAM ENGINE AND STEAM PARTS FROM CHINA - IN THE WORKSHOP
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- Опубліковано 25 сер 2024
- A Steam Engine And Steam Parts From China - In The Workshop - a friend of mine sent me these parts that he bought from www.microcosm-e... to see what I thought of them - here are my reviews and opinions of the parts....... IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP ME AND BECOME A PATRON OF MY UA-cam CHANNEL VIA "PATREON", OR IF YOU WISH TO SUPPORT ME VIA 'PAYPAL" IN ORDER TO HELP ME FUND THE PRODUCTION OF THESE SPECIALIST MODEL STEAM ENGINE TUTORIAL VIDEOS - PLEASE GO TO:
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or ........ / keithappleton
There are also links to many more of my videos from the MainSteam Website: www.mainsteam.c...
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I love youtube so much. With a few clicks you are transported to a land far away on Keith Appleton’s work bench. It brings people together in the right way. Great video Keith. Ive probably watched it 5x now.
A few years ago I was hovering around some of the model engineering forums. The guy who runs microcosm used to post on those forums (some of them banned him for poor English and spam, or other excuses for snobbery against Chinese engines).
He is very enthusiastic about his work, and as well as advertising his products he also posted some of his personal work which included some very impressive scratch built steam boats.
A sad part of most forums even in their heyday
On some of the forums he was banned for placing adds as posts and not replying to questions. He would post ten or more pictures of his engines with a link to his ebay site on every section of a forum, and then post the same on other forums. Some of his first work was very poor looking, but it has improved immensely. I would not hesitate now to recommend his products.
Thanks ... I will check his site...
I recently bought a gas refill adapter from a well respected model steam supplier in the UK. To say that it is a disaster would be a compliment. With it screwed fully onto the gas bottle, the limiter circlip prevents it opening the valve in the bulk tank. With it removed, there's more liquid gas leaking from the fitting than going into the engine's gas tank. And then the fit is so loose at the engine's tank that I can barely fill it to 10% of volume.
I've now added Microcosm to my bookmarks as a supplier of model steam supplies.
A review like this could bring you into a whole new hobby.
Having recently developed an interest in model engineering, it is nice to see this level of craftsmanship both from you, and from the chinese manufacturing.
I've worked (amongst other things) as a cabinet maker, and about 8 years ago the chinese broke out into the high end tooling market, competing with the likes of lie nielson or veritas, but at half the price point. The costs were still steep for an apprentice, as I was then, but far more affordable!
As others have said, they have the skills and tooling to make anything, to any standard. It just depends how much you aee willing to pay!
I have accumulated what might seem to be a ridiculous number of mechanical wristwatches. I like them over quartz watches because they have charm, and are very dependable even if they're not especially accurate. About 15 years ago, the quality of chinese-made movements was spotty. The materials like the wheels and springs were not always finished well and they needed a bit more servicing, occasional reassembly and running-in to run well. About 10 years ago, when I was building a new watch, I bought a slightly more expensive chinese movement in place of a low-end swiss movement to save a couple dollars, and it was remarkably good -- easily as good as an off-the-shelf japanese movement, and cheaper. I think that more chinese companies were getting better tooling and paying better attention to tolerances and finishing, because I've bought 3-4 chinese watches and movements since then and they've all been really great, and some of them are quite beautifully finished. I write this to say that the quality of chinese manufacturing really has been improving in a lot of areas, and more than one might assume.
I work at a clock and watch sales/service shop, and the Chinese are really stepping up their game. There are Panerai (made by Rolex) movements so good they're nearly indistinguishable from the authentic item. Tons of manufacturers make all their case/band parts in China, and have given them the equipment and training to do so. It's only a matter of time until China could put Switzerland out of business (any many other groups/manufacturers), if they so desired. We've given them everything they need to do it, without having to invest decades in R&D.
Oh, my goodness: Chinese manufacturers who are finally making quality products that have been machined to good standards (instead of the cheap rubbish that they've been making until now).
Kevin, from my experience China (and other countries known for "low quality cheap stuff") has always made good products. The "crap" reputation comes from buyers seeing two items and thinking "Oh, this one is one quarter the price of the other" and buying the cheaper one.
I suspect that if you shop around, you might find a similar engine with crap quality standards, and it will likely have a lower price.
China has more genuine craftspeople than most countries. However, if you ask them to make cheap crap, they'll happily oblige. Equally if you ask them (and pay them) to make quality, they're more than capable.
That governor's gonna look great on a beam engine, with its mounting painted in a matching color. :)
As far as the axle pump, I discarded the short piston and machined a larger and longer piston and barrel to increase the stroke to 1 1/8 inch and bolted it to the pump assembly. Made a new eccentric assembly for the desired stroke.The pump assembly is very well made. You can build a piston assembly of any size desired and just bolt the pump assembly to it. So far it works fine.
My tent ,sleeping bag and down jacket are all from china , all are very well made, they have to be i am trusting them to keep me alive in inclement weather On sumits , they are learning that people will buy there products but only once if they are bad but will come back for more if good, its great to See a fair unbiased review with no snobery as are all your reviews kieth
really like this review style videos - you should consider doing more of these reviewing other engines! very interesting
G'day Keith they are beautiful pieces you know I remember when anything you got from Japan was known to be rubbish but look at their engineering standards now. The Chinese are catching up all my work shop machines are Chinese made and I fine them alright for what I am doing, that was a good segment thanks John
I would say those microcosm prices are on the outrageous side, however.
Lovely toys
do you think it could be retrofitted with proper bushings to extend the lifespan? ie new rods and mains. I'm looking at building a steam powered paddle wheel and the gear reduction required to move the two big paddles would put the rpm at a decent rate for a good amount of time.
I was considering one of these for a climax type locomotive
Nice to see them when they run on actual steam. So many hand made so called steam engines are never run on anything but compressed air which in my mind ignores some challenges in dealing with heat, and condensation issues.
Regarding chinese quality I agree. Many mechanical devices from china require being torn down, adjusted, and reassembled before being ready for us, in some cases parts need to be redesigned.
I had a look at some of the Microcosm products. they do have a way of not using bronze or steel where it's needed, and also I'm not a fan of the fasteners. I do like the flyball governors. There is a beam engine I might like to have, just as an example from China, but like many hobbyists I enjoy building my engines and machining when possible, so most of what China has available is out.
Microcosm sells mostly on Banggood. their governors have good reviews from YT steam hobbyists
Jin (Microcosm) does make some nice stuff, I have some of his Governors and they are OK . . . .
Hi Keith;
I was looking at the Microcosm web site today and the engine you have can be purchased with a fly ball governor that looks just like the one you were showing us in your video. This appears to be a very nice engine. I would like it better if it were painted though. Thanks for sharing your video, it's 1st class as usual.
Thank you for Keith Appleton.Jin
My pleasure Jin - you make very good things {:-)))
Very nice looking work on the engine and accessories.
Looks like you could make a new arbor (?) for a larger pipe bender to achieve a tighter radius bend.
I like the governor,and really look forward to seeing your application for it.It is now Jan 25,2019.I know it is hard to predict when you will use it,but do you have some idea?Also,your camera work is the greatest!Nothing like a clear ,steady video.
Looks like the crankshaft is bent the way the flywheel wobbles around ?
Noticed some flywheel runout. Great video thank you!
yes me too, it occurs when the grub screw is tightened .....
Wonderful products thanks for sharing
Thank you for those reviews, and I did find it quite useful!
Thanks for the pointer
wow those really look nice, thanks for the upload
it looks a lot like a saito t2dr steam engine
its a beautiful little engine
Are there bushes between the main rods and the crankshaft? It looks like there is a lot of side play.
as you can clearly see in the video there are no bushes in that position - they are not required anyway ..... there is little actual "side play"
Kieth would that small governor work with a Stuart 10 H I would really like a governor for one I own and Stuart themselves don’t seem to make one that small nice video thanks
Yes I think it would probably look OK with A Number 10 . . .
Thanks for responding Kieth love your videos keep up the tremendous work
Hello Keith,
Have you seen the Microcosm Q2B V-twin cylinder steam engine advertised on Ebay for £332?
Microcosm also produce a tiny steam turbine engine & a single cylinder oscillator that is distributed in the UK by Banggood, both for around £20. For that price, I just placed an order, but the turbine has me considering the possibility a steam turbine driven generator/electric motored 16 mm loco using a spare Mamod SL1 boiler & associated butane gas burner that I have.
I have a twin microcosm engine with reversing gear, it's quite nice but alas it is made from Brass, so it would wear quickly in a working installation - if only they would make parts like the main bearings from Gunmetal or Phosphor Bronze. . .
oh that propane what u use is made in finland :D
That's pretty amazing. Cute too!
12:22 Now this here is a flyball, guv'nor.
Nice videos you make,,, Thanks,,, did you try to run under steam,,, cant find a video if you did,,
Thanks Bernhard, I just ran it on compressed air to test it I think .......
Walletmelting at them prices O.o I only get by on me disability and these products are just so out of my reach and that's before HM Customs have had their fun applying their pound o' flesh... Oh well I still got me Mamod's and Wilesco's and SEL's to keep me occupied :)
Where can I buy the the steam engine that you show in this video? Is there any a version with combined boiler and engine that can run on liquid fuel?
Wondering the same, I did not find Microcosm's website all that helpful.
Did you catch that center top cap hammering up and down at the end of the video? around 13:20 mark. Or did you loosen them for its first runs?
it is a video anomaly .... if you look at the video more closely you will see that everything in that clip is "hammering up and down" - the centre bearing is not loose.
Interesting...
Wow, looks like that could run a generator pretty nice :)
alas it would wear out very quickly if it was continuously driving a generator . . . . .
I wanted a mamod 1 steam engine. That was the cheapest one and I needed to save pocket money one shilling a week for less than a year. Take dad with me as the price would have gone up but in any case the shop did not have a mamod 1 so I needed more money from dad to purchase the Mamod 2. It was very under powered and a string with a knot would not go past the not neither would a rubber band , one of those worked a bit and my Meccano steam car moved at 10mm a minute.
}:-))) Happy days though ......
True that 4 inches is small but in China, that's about average.
That looks like a copy of a Saito from Japan.
No, it is quite different to a Saito in many ways.