Sleepless Night

Here’s a start on a triple expansion marine steam engine with reversing gear.

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Have no clue what a triple expansion marine thing is. But it’s looking pretty cool so far. :+1:

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A triple expansion engine has three cylinders, each of which is larger than the previous one. The high pressure steam is fed into the smallest cylinder first. It is exhausted into the middle cylinder and then into the largest cylinder so the same steam does effectively three times the work.

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A little more progress.

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Wow, that looks very cool! Or hot, once those boiler tubes are operational. :slight_smile:

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Thank you. The box with the tubes is actually a condenser for the exhaust steam and the thing on the lower right it a pump that pumps cold water into the condenser and the condensed and tepid water back to the reservoir before it goes to the boiler again. There’s a load of plumbing yet to do on this side of the engine.

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Another WIP.

The pump and the plumbing is mostly finished. Time to move on to the cylinders, steam valves and that kind of stuff. Timing the engine will be interesting.

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Wow that’s cool ! I’m not going to ask how big it is. I promise. :wink:

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What makes it “marine”, as opposed to “terrestrial”? Does it use the surrounding water from the ship or boat?

The condenser and pump are typical of marine engines. As I understand it they tend to recycle the water since fresh water availablity at sea is limited. Don’t want to run saltwater through the boiler. I guess there’s no reason it couldn’t be run on land, though.

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That makes sense. Thanks. I should have thought it through… google has made me lazy. :upside_down_face:

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Every time I think (foolishly) that I do great work, I look at your stuff and I am truly humbled!

Aw, shucks. Thank you.

Crank and flywheel done along with the low- and mid-pressure cylinders and their steam chests.

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Most of the plumbing is done. Finish that and then on to the pistons, steam valves, and the reversing gear.

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My attempt at @TheOnlyAaron’s parts from yesterday’s live stream.

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Good show :+1: That was right up your wheelhouse :wink:

Thank you. Aaron was more fun. :wink:

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Eccentrics, eccentric straps, and the reversing linkage stuff is all that’s left.

The worm and worm gear are part of the reversing mechanism.

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