Full Steam Ahead!

[hollyking]

I need to build something with my hands. I’ve had this craving for a while but I’ve never done anything with it. My few pitiful attempts early on were horrible disasters. Heck, I didn’t even take a shop class in high school.

In a fit of boredom while waiting for others to fix things so I could start working I started looking around at websites about steam engines. I came across a few pages with plans to build a working steam engine from parts you make by hand.

Now I’ve got a craving to learn some woodworking, metalworking and other related skills. Luckily I’ve learned enough wisdom to know that I just can’t dive in and expect to succeed. So I’ve started planning what skills, supplies and equipment I need. The next step is to start finding some classes to get the basics down.

Eventually I’ll have to find a lathe, drill press and a few other large tools to use. There’s a business idea for you. A rental workshop. You pay $X/hour to use the space, tools and supplies. I wonder if there would be enough desire to make a go of it.

Why can’t I have won the damn lottery already so I would have a nice house with a decent garage to keep all this stuff? ;)

Comments

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

Take a look at blueridgemachinery.com -- they have both machinery and some fairly simple kits for diy engines. There are ones that are self-porting: the piston moves rotationally.
here's a LEGO version. It goes 'foof foof' at about 200 rpm.

It's *hard* to make pistons/rings, without some experience. The nice thing about self-porting setups is you only have to make one: no need for a spool valve/crosshead.
You might also consider trying the Stirling engine in last quarter's MAKE magazine: that's a really neat design that requires no machining at all, and there are a lot of other Stirling designs that use glass syringes for pistons, leaving you to work on the remainder of the plumbing and see if it's what you really enjoy doing.

You might consider a 3-in-1 machine like a Shopsmith: it takes up a lot less space and they're not horribly expensive. You won't hate yourself as much the first time you slam the toolbit into the chuck and gouge it up, compared to how you'd feel if you'd done the same thing with a brand-new Myford Super 7.

There are still some community colleges that teach classes in machining and woodworking. There are also, for woodworking, a lot of local wood sales places that have weekly or monthly classes. We have a Rockler near my place that teaches intro and intermediate woodturning classes on a biweekly basis.