Steam Engine Oilers

by John

Knowing that I have an interest in CNC machining, Tom, from the Vintage Machinery Club in Geelong asked me to make a pair of oilers for a very old Wedlake and Dendy steam engine.  The engine is a large (to me anyway) stationary engine, which is run on steam several times each year.  The oilers for the cross slides were missing.

We searched the Internet for pictures of W&D steam engines, but could find no pictures or diagrams of the oilers.  So Tom sketched a design, and I drew a CAD diagram.  The dimensions were finally determined by the materials which I had available…  some 1.5″ brass rod and some 1.5″ copper tube.

This is the almost finished product.

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Just needs 1/4″ BSPT fittings and and oil wick tube so they can be fitted to the engine.

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The copper tube silver soldered to the brass cylinders (top), the brass blanks for the lids (bottom) and the mandrel to hold the assembly (bottom centre) during CNC turning and drilling.

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The mandrel to hold the body (left) and the mandrel for the lid (right).  The cap screw head and hole in the mandrel have a 2 degree taper.  The slits were cut with a 1mm thick friction blade.

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Rough turning the base.

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Turning the lid.  The mandrel is held in an ER32 collet chuck

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Engraving the lid.  Using a mister for cooling and lubrication.  16000rpm, 200mm/min, 90 degree TC engraving cutter.

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The oilers work by wicking the oil from the reservoir into a tube which drains through the base onto the engine slide.  When the wick tubes are fitted the oilers can be fitted to the engine.

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The 1865 Wedlake and Dendy

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1865

My lathe is a Boxford TCL125, using Mach3.  The G code is generated using Ezilathe.

Below is a link to an oil cup from “USS Monitor”, of American civil war fame.   One of the first ironclads, powered only by steam.

http://www.marinersmuseum.org/blog/2010/04/one-oil-cup-down/

(ps. The  lathe which I was converting to CNC was the subject of previous posts and is now working, but needs some guards fitted and a bit of fine tuning.)