this is what you will receive with the
steam engine kit you have the boiler the
top of the boiler and the steam engine
sits on top of that this is the tray
which fits at the top of these three
pillars and the alcohol burner which is
also the base for the steam engine and
the three pillars fit in here this is
much better than the glass alcohol
burner that's pictured in the listing
this becomes a very stable base it's
very nicely machined there's no
scratches or anything in this and it
comes with a spare wick and a spare
o-ring the oil ring goes up here and
seals the boiler to the top of the
boiler there is a one-sheet exploded
view showing all the pieces for the
steam engines the three pillars fit in
here and I want to point out that they
are not straight they're a little bit
curved and they're curved inward take
this one piece and you turn it out to
take the part that's called the tray
very gently stick those ends in there
and take this one and very gently push
out that way
and set that piece in there and make
sure it's got a good grip these being
curved provides a little bit of spring
tension to hold that piece in place try
not to move these back and forth with
any force you don't want to egg out
these holes this holds everything
together pretty nicely and then the
steam engine just drops down in there
when you get through running this and
this whole thing has had a chance to
cool off you'll have to hold on to this
tray and pick the steam engine up out of
here if you don't then this whole thing
comes out of the alcohol burner and you
have to put all these pieces back in
again look a little closer at the pieces
for the steam engine there's a rod
that's threaded on both ends one side
threads into the base of the cylinder
and the other side
is spring loaded with this nut if you
lose one of these this is a two
millimeter thread so it's a two
millimeter nut and if you can find a
small spring length up that would be
good otherwise you could take a small
spring from a ballpoint pen and put that
on there cut a piece of that spring off
and put a two millimeter washer on there
and then put a replacement two
millimeter nut will just push out of
there
there's a single port going into the
cylinder when the cylinder rotates down
it picks up steam from the boiler it
pushes that piston out momentum brings
the piston rod back in and it has
rotated to this position and it exhaust
out through here so it takes in steam
here it extends the piston momentum of
the flywheel brings it around and it
exhaust out through this port and that's
all there is to that very simple action
and that piston just comes out of there
that spring goes on there like that you
can hold it down with your thumb put
this nut back on there this is a fiber
lock nut so this is directly over the
fire I don't know how hot this is going
to get or how long that fiber inserts
going to last if it gets too hot unscrew
the boiler and then the top of the
boiler there's an o-ring and that's a
one and a half millimeter diameter or
cross-section by 24 millimeter outside
diameter metric or ring I would fill
this no more than half-full when this
starts boiling that water will be
sloshing up or bubbling up and that will
start coming up this vent hole and this
thing will start spraying hot water and
steam for the first minute or so that
it's running so there's really no reason
to overfill this and I use distilled
water won't have any calcium or minerals
in it that'll cause this thing to scale
up I tighten this inside just touch that
o-ring then I give it about a quarter
turn that's
plenty don't forget to oil this before
each run this is a rubbing surface where
this base of the cylinder is rotating
back and forth could be a lot of where
there in the hot water will wash that
oil out of there so you've got to really
at each time and put it on the pin and
in the back here and on this end where
the axle shaft goes through this bushing
a little oil will greatly extend its
life expectancy the tray is the piece
that fits at the top of the three
pillars and then the boiler this slides
down into that now on mine this was a
little bit too tight for my liking I
took a little Emery on my finger and
polished that out for a while until that
goes on there nice and smooth the
alcohol lamp is not the one that's
pictured on the website and this is
actually a much better deal than what's
pictured on the website and you'd have
to turn this about six and a half seven
times for it to come loose you would
fill this no I would fill it about that
full with alcohol I wouldn't overfill it
and adjust this wick to where it doesn't
stick out too far put that down in there
very carefully screw this on so it's not
to cross the threads the fire here is
much too large the radiated and
reflected heat from the flame heats up
the alcohol burner and that fire just
keeps getting bigger at this stage let's
steam engine is racing and turning
around around like it's on the turntable
you're running it too fast all you're
gonna do is cause premature failure
so we want to reduce the size of that
plant now I made the flame here about as
small as I could
and this actually too small but the
flame is not able to boil the water fast
enough and the steam engine is using
steam faster than the boiler can make it
so we need to find a happy medium this
fire is just big enough to reach the
bottom of the boiler when I see that
piston rod move on its own I know we're
getting close I'm starting to get a
little moisture come out of here bubbles
are starting to come out of here I have
steam coming up
this is a nice constant speed and this
thing is not dancing around and
vibrating like it's on a turntable
this is a nice steady running little
steam engine it's a nice model after it
runs for a couple of minutes I would
suggest going head and shutting it down
you don't want this to get so hot that
it would damage that o-ring up there if
you don't want to put your face down
here to blow this thing out you can use
a soda straw and then just blow it out
just make sure you don't inhale that
flame when this thing stops as soon as
the fire goes out you know that you're
running at about the right speed you can
relight that you'll take off again
you
you
