Mamod stationary engine

[38thfoot]

Tried firing up my mamod stationary engine this afternoon for the first time in about 35 years, (lit her up and then retreated as pressure grew to see if she exploded!)

She seemingly produced plenty of steam and when prompted would give a couple of rotations of the fly wheel but wouldn't keep running.

There seemed to be a degree of friction within the cyclinder as the piston was a bit sticky.

Any tips for polishing/ reducing stickiness.

38

 

[TLR]

You could try putting steam oil on the piston and oiling all other moving parts.

Shaun

 

[Dtsteam]

It sounds like grungy old oil from when it was last used. You can whip the the piston out easily enough, so try the following :
The flywheel should spin freely without the piston - if not it may need oiling or more likely the frame is twisted
The piston should move easily in the cylinder - if not, then its likely to be old oil. Clean the piston and cylinder with light oil or meths - nothing abrasive as you don't want to remove any metal
The cylinder should waggle against the frame and you should be able to pull the cycling off the frame by a fraction - if not then the spring is too tight, and the retaining nut needs slackening off a little

The fibre washer in the safety valve may have perished, in which case it might look like there is plenty of steam, but not enough to do any useful work.

Hope this helps

 

[38thfoot]

Thanks for advice so far, if I can't get light steam oil (no local steamy shops) is there anything else that would work?

38

 

[sparky230]

http://www.dreamsteam.co.uk/

and they do mamod parts