Lempi, a steam powered half open launch built in 1877 in Warkaus, Finland

  • Thread starter Thread starter Moxis
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Moxis said:
Thank you Stephen. Yes, when running with compressed air the engine behaves almost the same. It seems that it has only two modes: Complete stillstand and full speed.
This is why I don't like very much about playing with steam, my ongoing project is an open launch with one cylinder steam engine which is powered by an electric gearmotor located hidden under the floor panels. Much easier to control the speed and behaves like a real steam engine with low speed so that you can really see the moving parts.
The engine, an early Stuart was donated to me by one of my friends who didn't have much to do with it. So I promised to build a boat for it. There will be a fake boiler installed on the gearmotor with all electronics inside:

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Hi Moxis,

It is an intriguing problem with your steam engine waiting for a solution. I take it that you don't really want to fault find your steam engine, that's ok.
I am happy to make suggestions if you wish.

Your open launch looks very nice, the electric motor is a good idea if you don't want to do live steam.

Cheers,
Stephen.
 
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Stevedownunder said:
Hi Moxis,

It is an intriguing problem with your steam engine waiting for a solution. I take it that you don't really want to fault find your steam engine, that's ok, I am happy to make suggestions if you wish.

Your open launch looks very nice, the electric motor is a good idea if you don't want to do live steam.

Cheers,
Stephen.
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Lovely work, Moxis!
I have nearly all the tools using which a steam engine could be built, but I haven't got either the patience, nor the expertise to do so - so I can just admire your work.
One word about the possible reasons why your engine runs the way it does - I assume that the friction in the engine is a bit on the high side, this is why it starts running only with higher pressure. I haven't got any solution for this though. The second engine might be built with somewhat looser tolerances.
Again, great work, congratulations!
János
 
Thanks Stephen and Janos! You both are right. I think the problem is too tight tolerances during building so that there is too much friction between the parts all around the engine. This is why I am not very interested to dismantle the whole engine and start to grind a bit here and there to have it run more easily. I rather let it be and concentrate myself into new projects.
As I told earlier I like more building of models than using them, so perhaps the new project will be a static one without any moving parts. We will see....
 
Moxis said:
When searching something new to build, I happened to find the scanned old drawings of former Ahlstrom shipyard which was situated in Warkaus Finland. Among them was a nice drawing of a half open steam launch Lempi (almost like "love" in English) from 1877. The ship was 60 feet long and equipped with a two cylinder compound steam engine.

I had never tried to make a model with working steam engine before, so immediately when I saw the plan I decided to build a model of her. And of course with a steam engine. To get enough space in the hull for all machinery needed, I decided to build the model in 1/15 scale, ending to about 110 cm long model. So the plans were downloaded and had printed in the correct size by a professional copy shop.

Because I have rather good quality metalworking machines like lathe and a milling machine at my workshop and have already some experience to use them, I decided to try to fabricate the steam engine by myself. I wanted the engine to be two cylinder, self starting, reversing, and have a real slide valve control.
When searching from Internet suitable engines, I soon found the drawings and set of castings of an engine called Marcher with appr. 11 mm bore and stroke, which would suit well into the hull of Lempi. So the drawings and castings were purchased and project could be started.

Main drawing of Lempi:

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Drawing of Marcher steam engine:

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Set of castings for Marcher:

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Hallo Matti alias @Moxis
we wish you all the BEST and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Birthday-Cake
After finishing the Lempi and Illmarinen, on which project you are actually working? Would be very interesting to see
 
Thank you Uwek for birthday wishes!

At the moment I am still working with armoured coastal cruiser Ilmarinen. She is built in 1/50 scale, resulting to 186 cm long model. In fact I started the project in September this year and so far have only made the hull and covered it with 0,1 mm aluminium foil plates. I assume the project to take 2...3 years to be finished, so there is itill a long way to go.
Attached are two pictures of the plated hull.20211215_214217.jpg20211215_214201.jpg
 
Moxis said:
Thank you Uwek for birthday wishes!

At the moment I am still working with armoured coastal cruiser Ilmarinen. She is built in 1/50 scale, resulting to 186 cm long model. In fact I started the project in September this year and so far have only made the hull and covered it with 0,1 mm aluminium foil plates. I assume the project to take 2...3 years to be finished, so there is itill a long way to go.
Attached are two pictures of the plated hull.View attachment 275829View attachment 275830
Click to expand...
Good to hear, that you are working on a new project
WOW - please start a building log - we would like to follow your interesting work for the next 2 to 3 years :cool:
 
Moxis said:
Thank you Stephen for your kind words and suggestions!

To be honest I have not run the steam engine of Lempi very many times. For some reason it does not perform as well as I would like. It is not starting very reliably when opening the steam control valve, and when opening the valve more it suddenly bursts into max. speed. The same happens when I am closing the valve, from max. speed into complete standstill without any smooth speed reduction.
For this reason I have not tried her but only once at the pond. It may be that this is due to not enough long running-in time. But as I have written elsewhere, I like more the building of models than using them. So this is why I have kind of forgotten her on my workshop table and started to work with new projects.

About twenty years ago when Admiral and me were seeking a new house to buy, my first criterium was that there must be enough room at the basement where to equip a nice workshop. And immediately when we found this house, we made decision to buy it. At the basement there was not only one dry and warm room for a workshop but two of them, so that the Admiral got also a nice room for her dollhouse projects. And since then we both have built our hobby rooms according to our wishes. And today, after 20 or so years we still enjoy working there. In fact the Admiral uses quite happily many of my machines like bandsaw, table saw, scroll saw & other tools for her projects and vice versa, so it is quite easy for me to get allowance for a new tool if I seem to need one.

Very good suggestion of yours is to add links of my projects into my signature. I remember once trying to do so, but for some reason it didn't work, so I quitted for further trying. I think I must try again, because as you said it would be a nice way for other people to find my builds if interested.
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I had exactly the same problem when I built the Stuart-Turner twin cylinder launch engine for Natterer (Link below). When assembled, It would barely turn by hand, never mind steam!
As a very competent engineer, I'm sure you know this trick, but just in case..........
I mounted it on the lathe with the crankshaft driven by the chuck with a couple of UJ's and ran it for several hours, with frequent stops for cooling, checking and lubrication, after which it behaved perfectly at all throttle openings.

Ted
 
Hello Moxis. I can only repeat what Uwe said. Please share the build of the Ilmarinen with us. I know it will be an education and fascinating to watch.
 
Heinrich said:
Hello Moxis. I can only repeat what Uwe said. Please share the build of the Ilmarinen with us. I know it will be an education and fascinating to watch.
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and what I forgot to mention in my earlier post - the hull is looking so amazing
 
This is an amazing build, making both the boat & the engine from scratch. About 60 years ago my father helped me build a one-cylinder (single acting) steam engine, using a piece of brass tube for the cylinder. I have toyed with the idea of building a twin, V-cylinder engine that I have plans for. Not sure if I'll ever get to it. Still trying to get my lobster boat built.
Attached is a photo of the same engine that my son built, circa 1975.
I look forward to your return from vacation so I can see your continuing work.
Happy modelling.
Steven
 

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Moxis said:
Thank you Uwek for birthday wishes!

At the moment I am still working with armoured coastal cruiser Ilmarinen. She is built in 1/50 scale, resulting to 186 cm long model. In fact I started the project in September this year and so far have only made the hull and covered it with 0,1 mm aluminium foil plates. I assume the project to take 2...3 years to be finished, so there is itill a long way to go.
Attached are two pictures of the plated hull.View attachment 275829View attachment 275830
Click to expand...
Wow, those aluminium plates are out of this world! Beautiful job!
János
 
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