3-D Armenia by SalD – Hudson River Sidewheeler, 1847

[EJ_L]

Nice work! I love all the little details you have been including. They make for a much more incredible ship and like you said, the nice thing about modeling in 3D is that you are not trapped by physics in your build. You can add, remove and place anything, anywhere at anytime.

 

I don't think you can post videos directly here but if you upload them to YouTube, you can link them to your posts that way. I have seen many posts done that way.

[_SalD_]

Thanks EJ, now I have something else new to learn...posting to you tube

[wrkempson]

I had a hard time knowing what I was looking at on the drawing of the beam.  This link has a clearer drawing from an engineering book of 1891.

 

https://books.google.com/books?id=LuIOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA350&dq=walking+beam+steam+engines&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiO1ZGxxb_PAhWBOT4KHaQAA7YQ6AEIIzAB#v=onepage&q=walking%20beam%20steam%20engines&f=false

 

Scroll down to see your style of beam. 

 

This beam is of a truss design and is made in two pieces, the inner skeleton frame which is cast in one piece and the outer strap which is forged in one piece.  At either end of the strap are the "journals" for receiving the piston and driving rods.  The "journal" for the air pump is cast into the skeleton.  The strap is held to the frame by "gudgeons."  

 

The illustration in the link above shows the skeleton is thicker in the center.

 

I'm sure this is known to you, but it was a pleasant time for me to track this down, so I thought I would share it with others like me for whom this project is presenting an entirely new field of knowledge.

 

Wayne

Edited October 3, 2016 by wrkempson

[_SalD_]

Wayne, thanks for the reference.  I always enjoy studying the old engineering reference books, they're so much more simplified than today's text books since it was all hand calculations and not the pages and pages of computer generated calculations.

 

I thought the beam must have been made in different pieces but just wasn't sure how it was pieced together.  Your reference and explanation helps a lot.

 

I took a few pictures of the walking beam on the Ticonderoga at the Shelbrune Museum in Vermont this past summer, now it makes more sense.

 

 

[WackoWolf]

Thanks for the pictures.

[_SalD_]

After the frame I started work on the engine’s connecting rods and please forgive me if I don’t use the correct terminology for some of these parts as I’m not a machinist or ME, so please, feel free to correct me.

 

The first one is the braced connecting rod that links the walking beam to the paddlewheel crank. This wrought iron rod is approximately 30’ long by 10” in diameter and is stiffened at its midsection by supplementary rods which bear against braces affixed to its midsection.

 

 

The bearings were of the plain type and made of brass or bronze.  The bearing would be adjusted by means of tapered gibs.  What I’m not too sure of is the function of the two brass fitting shown on top of the bearings that you can see in the pictures I took of the Tiaconderoga’s connecting rods (previous post).  I’m thinking they’re some kind of grease fitting to lubricate the bearings. Not sure of their name.

 

 

The next set of connecting rods are located at the other end of the walking beam and connect the beam to the crosshead which connects to the piston rod of the engine.  These rods are roughly 10’-6” long and 6” in diameter.

 

 

Crosshead guide which sits on top of the engine's cylinder and is braced back to the frame.

 

 

Crosshead guide with connecting rods.

 

 

The next set of connecting rods are for the air pump.  These two slimmer rods are connected to the beam close to its quarter point.

 

 

All rods in place.

 

[wrkempson]

Beautiful. You have modeled everything except the grease. Well done!

 

Wayne

[_SalD_]

Thanks Wayne. I started this 3D model to help me build a scratch model of her but I think I've gotten a little carried away.  Some of the parts I'm detailing I could probably never replicate because of their size but it's fun to do and I am learning a few new things. 

[hexnut]

Thanks Wayne. I started this 3D model to help me build a scratch model of her but I think I've gotten a little carried away.  Some of the parts I'm detailing I could probably never replicate because of their size but it's fun to do and I am learning a few new things. 

Really nice work Sal! 

 

As far as making the physical parts, working as you are in the same size as your intended physical model is a huge advantage, as it allows you to start "distorting" some elements to size them to common stock, whether wood, brass, or model railroad-type (Grandt Line, Titchy Train, Archer, etc...) scale nuts and bolts, then sorting the remaining parts into turnings, photo-etch, 3-D prints, building a B.O.M. as you go...just as if you hadn't retired!

 

Of course making a 3-d model of Armenia "as built" is pretty awesome in of itself, I'm really enjoying watching this.

[Landlocked123]

HI Bob,

 

Where have you been? We miss you at CMMS.

 

Best,

John

[WackoWolf]

I was wondering the same thing. Was also waiting to see if you show up again.

[_SalD_]

Thanks Bob,  I appreciate the input and encouragement.

 

[_SalD_]

There were eccentric rods on either side of the engine that once the ship was under way would be engaged onto a rock shaft which operated the steam intake and exhaust valves (more on those to come).  The eccentrics are connected to the paddle-wheel shaft and have off-centered hubs which produce a back and forth movement in the eccentric rod.

 

 

Eccentric

 

 

This is how I believe the eccentric rod mounted to the eccentric.

 

 

Eccentric pair

 

 

Mounted to the paddle-wheel shaft.

 

[hexnut]

HI Bob,

 

Where have you been? We miss you at CMMS.

 

Best,

John

Thanks John, Joe,  miss you guys too.  Work has just been taking most of my energy lately--I've been making a lot of stuff, but all client work--I haven't touched my models in far too long.  Meanwhile, I'm enjoying watching Sal and the rest of you doing wonderful things...

Edited October 14, 2016 by hexnut

[_SalD_]

The engine is made up of a few major parts.

 

 

The first part that I modeled was the air pump.  The air pump was connected to the condenser and was used to draw off the condensed water and steam vapor.  This was fairly simple to model as a cylinder with a piston rod.  The air pump was operated by the two slimmer connecting rods coming down from the walking beam at the beams quarter point.

 

 

Next I started on the main engine which is comprised of the condenser, cylinder for the main piston rod and the live steam and exhaust steam pipes. 

 

 

Next I modeled the valve lifters for the live steam and exhaust steam.

 

 

The valve actuating mechanism consisted of a set of large, curved cams called “wipers” which worked against followers called “toes” which were affixed to vertical rods going to the steam and exhaust valves at the upper and lower ends of the two cylindrical vertical steam pipes. The drawing of the engine did not clearly show how these cams were laid out but I did find a good reference.   It was on goggle books called “Marine Boilers; Marine Engines; Western River Steamboats”

 

https://books.google.com/books?id=4Q9WAAAAMAAJ&dq=marine_boilers_marine_engines_western_ri.pdf&pg=RA1-PA73#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Even with this diagram I still ran into a little interference with the cams. It’s not clearly shown in the diagrams but I believe the outer cams must have had and offset to operate correctly.

 

 

Completed valve actuating mechanism.  The lower smaller cams with the starting bar was used by the engineer when first starting the engine either forward or in reverse.  The rock shafts were two separate shafts supported in the center by a common bushing.

 

 

The pressure gauges and clock layout was plagiarized from the Ticonderoga.

 

 

Engine, air pump with eccentrics

 

 

Engine in place

 

 

 

[WackoWolf]

WOW

[Elijah]

How do you get so many rivets on there ?

[_SalD_]

Elijah, it's easier than it looks with cad software.  First you make one, rivet or nut, then just copy it as many times as you like. If their in a circular pattern there is a command called 'Array' which will evenly distribute copies of an object in a circular pattern around a center point.  

[_SalD_]

To put things into perspective I added a couple workmen to give an idea of how big these engines were.  The upper figure is on the ship's main deck and the lower figure is below deck.  I cannot take credit for drawing the 3D man, I borrowed them from my former place of employment.  The person is roughly 6 foot tall.

 

[jbelwood]

Wow Sal that's a tremendous piece of machinery. However are you going to transfer that into a model? Could use one of those puppies for

my Portland if I ever get that far. See you at the next meeting.

 

John

[_SalD_]

Hi John, I'm not sure I'll be able to model the complete engine, I sort of get carried away doing the 3D drawing. It's more of a learning experience now than anything else.  I'll see you at the December meeting, I'll be on vacation for the November meeting. 

[mtaylor]

That is an impressive bit of machinery...  Congratulations on getting it figured out.

[EJ_L]

Adding those people really puts that into perspective and I must say, WOW! Excellent work!

[_SalD_]

It’s been a while since my last post.  It just seems I’m busier now after retiring than I was when I was working full time.

 

Working on the rudder to try and finish up the hull.

 

 

Started with the gudgeons and pintles

 

 

Next was the rudder itself.  It appeared to be constructed of individual timbers.

 

 

Rudder post and steering post added

 

 

Finally the steering chains and rudder stop chains were added.  Fortunately I found a ‘lisp’ program, which runs inside AutoCAD that actually draws the chain links along an established line.

 

[Elijah]

Wow. Those chains look very good! That is a nice rudder!

[_SalD_]

Thanks Elijah

[Richard Griffith]

Beautiful cad drawings Sal~!  Enjoy your vacation and see you in December.

 

BTW,  when you get to building the engine, the eccentrics would would be offset 90 degrees so as to prevent a top dead center problem, that is the engine would not start.    

 

Nice work!                            Duff

[_SalD_]

Thanks Duff, I had thought that would be the case and it makes sense.  Thanks for the info.

[_SalD_]

Hello all,

 

Back from vacation and finding it hard to get back into drafting up the Armenia, perhaps after the holidays.  There is something from our stay in Florida that I would like to share.  There was a sand sculpting competition at the beach across from our place and it's the first time we were down there when they had the event. I have to say I was truly impressed by with the amount of detail put into these sculptures. All the sculptures are 7 to 8 feet high.  If you would like more information here's the web site:  https://www.siestakeycrystalclassic.com/

 

Just a few of the dozen or so sculptures

 

 

First prize winner

 

 

[Elijah]

Wow! I wonder how they keep them from collapsing? Where in Florida is this?