Todd McBride
Member
Am refining this steam bicycle project so I can ride it in parades etc. Built it last summer and displayed it running on stand in static display.
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Steam Bicycle Project
- Thread starter Todd McBride
- Start date
Now that's unique. Release your inner steampunk. I second the call for video!
What video formats are we allowed to post John? My attempt to upload a MOV file was blocked.
That bike is sooo cool as is the boat.
Where do the funds to support the hosting of this website come from?
Sometimes people give us some cash or a sponsorship but mostly the premium members subscriptions keep it going. It's all volunteer. I tend to do the most editing type of stuff, Josh started it @Jwest7788 with a kijiji ad which I answered, Josh is the technical guy, and @Alexander Alex is our pro machinist and another admin. Josh has a company doing web marketing, I'm in IT as a business analyst, and Alex as I said is a professional machinist.There's a side bar conversation.
When can we see Todd riding the steam punk bike?
When can we see Todd riding the steam punk bike?
Project #2: @Todd McBride builds a steam powered Segway. Irony in motion.
Todd McBride
Member
I couldn't seem to load the .mp4 file of this steam bicycle running so I threw in various photos of the build. They include;
a) part of the heap of laser cut parts I had cut by the Rockyview Hutterites using the laser cutter they partner with Conterra Industries
b) the tube bundle for the boiler consisting of 7 1/2" Sch 40 tubes. Don't suppose my MIG welding would do on a nuclear reactor bundle!
c) the steam engine part way along construction. This was my novel layout to suit a bicycle, not your normal pattern for a steam engine.
d) an old carbide light my neighbor donated to the project. A little hard to find carbide in Canada these days but an oldtimer at Pioneer Acres mined some out of his old acetylene generator drum. The light actually works!
Don't have good pictures of the steam whistle I made from 1" copper plumbing pipe. A steam engine has got to have one of those. The tabletop model ones are too small and the one on my steam boat, the Alice May, is way too large. After I figured out the physics of a steam whistle it wasn't too hard to make. It will about deafen anyone in the garage with a 125# head of steam.
Will post more pictures in the spring when I pull the bike out of the shed for summer.
a) part of the heap of laser cut parts I had cut by the Rockyview Hutterites using the laser cutter they partner with Conterra Industries
b) the tube bundle for the boiler consisting of 7 1/2" Sch 40 tubes. Don't suppose my MIG welding would do on a nuclear reactor bundle!
c) the steam engine part way along construction. This was my novel layout to suit a bicycle, not your normal pattern for a steam engine.
d) an old carbide light my neighbor donated to the project. A little hard to find carbide in Canada these days but an oldtimer at Pioneer Acres mined some out of his old acetylene generator drum. The light actually works!
Don't have good pictures of the steam whistle I made from 1" copper plumbing pipe. A steam engine has got to have one of those. The tabletop model ones are too small and the one on my steam boat, the Alice May, is way too large. After I figured out the physics of a steam whistle it wasn't too hard to make. It will about deafen anyone in the garage with a 125# head of steam.
Will post more pictures in the spring when I pull the bike out of the shed for summer.
DPittman
Ultra Member
Looks like fun. I'd love a few basic pointers on making a steam whistle for a tiny boiler. However I'm sure I would never get up to 125lbs of steam. Any secrets your willing to share. I did a bit of internet searching a year or two ago but couldn't seem to find much info on the basic design of them.
Todd McBride
Member
The key thing is the steam needs to escape at sonic velocity through a annular ring that pointing up into the upper cup of the whistle. That seems to require at least 30psi in my whistle. My steam enters the bottom "cup", and escapes by flowing up between the outside of a washer and the 1" pipe (maybe a .005 ring gap). Spaced about 1/2" above that annular gap is the bottom edge of the top cup that is about 3" long consisting of a capped piece of 1" copper pipe. That sonic steam jet oscillates into and out of the top cup depending on the cup length and gap and that creates the extreme noise that is the steam whistle. The whistle works on air even as low as 20psi but really screams on steam above 30psi, even better at 140psi.
If I ever get my CX 709 lathe working and some 1" brass bar stock I will be able to make a proper job of that steam whistle, though my plumbing fittings work and look not bad.