Castings, Where to find ?

[Tom Booth]

One of the things I'd like to do, when I'm better set up for it, is, short of making my own castings from scratch, send for some pre made castings, that maybe just need a bit of machining in a small home workshop. Or that I could take to a local machine shop to have finished up.

I'm mostly interested in reproduction castings for antique Stirling / Hot air engines, but also any available castings for Stirling / hot air engines of any type.

Sourcing castings, however seems to be quite a job in itself You aren't likely to find any available through any of the popular online sources like Amazon or eBay.

It is necessary to do some digging, and possibly send a email or make a phone call to arrange a sale, or to have the castings made or put on order.

Anyway, I've searched the forum a few times but haven't found anything like a comprehensive list. Some very few references scattered here and there.

I might actually like to go into some sort of business making reproduction engines from castings, possibly reselling castings, to make them more easily available.

Personally it took me some hours to locate a few sources. Actually placing an order with those that I did find was problematic, as mentioned, more involved than just clicking a "But Now" button and, I'm not entirely sure which are actually still in "business", if making castings could be called a business.

Another reason I'd like to get castings of and build some of these old engines is just for historic preservation. It seems like, over the years, they have been getting harder and harder to find.


Here are some pictures of a beautiful Stirling engine fan casting kit:

stirling-engine-stove-fan_1.jpg (9.13 KiB) Viewed 3346 times

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From Myers Engine Works:

https://www.myersengines.com/engines/st ... engine.htm


The website, however seems possibly outdated ?

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Out here in the country where nearly everyone burns wood or coal, there could be a market for such beautiful stove top fans, and there are people coming into the forum, and elsewhere online asking where they could buy a good stovetop Stirling fan

But how many of those people have their own machine shop?

I know I want one.

Please don't anyone recommend getting a stove top peltier powered fan!

[Tom Booth]

Calling the phone number provided on this website went to a recording. I'll try an email.

Sounds like what you get when a cell phone is out of range, maybe ? At least the number still rings.

Putting the number in a search turned up this post from several months ago:

https://www.homemodelenginemachinist.co ... 699/page-2

It illustrates the rather tenuous availability of castings generally. If some one individual making castings passes away, that may be it. But, I'm hesitant to buy through a PayPal account linked to an aol email address. Does anyone still use AOL ?

[Tom Booth]

Looks like maybe a new website is under construction ?

Resize_20220908_160041_1719.jpg (89.2 KiB) Viewed 3341 times

Anyway, sorting out how to order any one particular casting can be rather tedious.

I'm hoping to save others some time and frustration at least.

I'm not too hopeful that my email will be answered in a timely manner.

https://www.smokstak.com/forum/threads/ ... rks.41103/

But that just seems to be the nature of the "business". Preserving these old castings is not really a business, I don't think.

[Tom Booth]

Myers Engine Works is listed as a vendor at this FUTURE "Cabin Fever Model Engineering Expo Show & Auctions" which is somewhat reassuring I guess, maybe ?

Assuming it is not a going out of business sort of auction.


https://www.cabinfeverexpo.com/vendors

Vendors Who Attended "Cabin Fever Expo 2022"
or Are Planning on Attending
"Cabin Fever Expo 2023"

Not a certainty.

[Tom Booth]

This is a nice engine "built from castings from Myers Engine Works."

https://youtu.be/3Arv4HsuGKU

But two days and no response. Still cannot get through by phone. AOL mail, from what I can find about it, is apparently in the process of being phased out, but it did not bounce.

[Tom Booth]

Here is a page of suppliers for antique and scale model engines, not exclusively hot air or Stirling, it says it was "updated" last year and quite a few are already marked as "out of business"

I think I would like to see a consolidated listing including photos and/or video of Stirling engine castings with confirmed availability.

This list includes gasoline engines, model airplanes and everything else so it is still quite a lot to search through, but it's a start:


http://www.antiquengines.com/Davis_Mode ... _List_.htm

[Tom Booth]

I wanted to report that I did receive an email from Brent Myers that they are working on the problem with the phone line. As far as the availability of castings, that was not stated. "Witch engine are you interested in."

Any and all really, but as of now the stove fan in particular, will be my response.

It appears that the email was sent the day after my last post.

[Tom Booth]

A second email exchange seems to confirm that castings listed as "available" on the website should be available. "In most cases we will change the status of the engine when we are out of stock of that kit."

As far as the Fan in particular, "The kits we currently sell do not include fan blades". I think there are also a few other parts that are probably not included, like rod stock for the connecting rods and a glass globe from a Coleman lantern which is used as the displacer chamber.

"The description of the engines include pics of a actual kit. This help keep it simple. You can see what will be in your purchase."

I do not see those parts in the picture.

It should be noted as well, the "warning" on the site:

warning-label-med.jpg (11.68 KiB) Viewed 3271 times

I might like to do the machining to make these available. After I see if I can get one made, I might enquire about bulk purchases.

I'm still not able to play the video on the website or find any other video of a Myers fan in operation anywhere.

[Tom Booth]

I sent for the Myers stove fan. Not that I really need another project.

I have some doubts that I'll be able to complete it, given just my small mini lathe.

It also looks like a nice brass fan blade may cost as much or more than the castings.

[Tom Booth]

Maybe make an attractive casting for the hub. Then use wooden blades, which would be relatively inexpensive and easy to make, and still be attractive and good quality.

Something like this:

Resize_20220918_190957_7822.jpg (68.26 KiB) Viewed 3260 times

[Tom Booth]

I received another email from Myers Engine Works:

Most customers us brass door kick plates as blade stock.

Brent

Great idea!

Though that could still be quite pricey.

[Tom Booth]

Well, two weeks had past since ordering the fan casting, and I had not yet received any email confirmation. I also sent an email in reply inquiring about the status of the order, but with no response for a few days now, so I just tried the telephone again and got through.

Had a nice long chat.

Apparently PayPal had not sent a notification regarding the payment, which I was told is usual. Anyway the castings are pre-packaged and ready to go, so another family member had the casting sent out and I received the tracking # while still on the phone.

In actuality, the existing website is outdated and far from complete. There are about 40 additional castings not listed on the website. so if there is something someone is looking for, it might be worth making a call.

They are a very friendly, small family business and hardly ever sell a casting through the summer, but things pick up usually in the fall when hobbyist home machinists have more time in the shop I guess.

They sell about 70 engines a year on average, many go overseas. (Outside the US).

I will try to see if I can get a complete list of available castings.

BTW, Brent also mentioned the Cabin Fever expo which they will be attending.

The conversation was very upbeat and friendly, and my impression was they were horrified that the order had been missed and we're extremely apologetic.

Bret also mentioned that if I could document the build, with photos and specs and such, magazines, like Home Shop Machinist, Live Steam etc. are desperate for material and will pay from $400 to $700 for such articles.

He recommends contacting the magazines to get their requirements as far as format and photo requirements and such.

[Tom Booth]

Just noticed, somehow above it reads "Apparently PayPal had not sent a notification regarding the payment, which I was told is usual."

That should be UN-usual.

Sometimes, if I make some typo or other, my phones auto-spell corrector, word changer takes the liberty of substituting words entirely, without my having any kind of option, to choose, which is at best annoying but sometimes disastrous, if I'm not careful to re-read everything carefully.

Anyway, I did not want to give the wrong impression. The Myers seemed genuinely perplexed as ordinarily PayPal always sends notification and they could not understand how they could have missed my order.

[Tom Booth]

The stove fan castings arrived this afternoon.

https://youtu.be/r6ZlXOR7-74

The castings we're very well wrapped in newspaper and arrived undamaged. The castings had already been unpacked and put back in the box before I thought to make a video.

Nice solid castings. Going to be a lot of machining work.

Very nice, detailed drawings.

I was happy to see there is a fan hub. But not sure what to use for the glass. I don't think Coleman is making replacement globes for their old lanterns anymore.

[Tom Booth]

Although Coleman no longer lists the replacement globe on their website, using the same model # in the Myers stove fan blueprints, I did find that the globes do appear to be available.

Some globes that say they are able to fit Coleman lantern model 214a however list the globe as having a slightly smaller diameter 4.1 OD rather than 4 1/4" OD.

4 and 1/10 inch, would be a little too small I think. But I ordered that size anyway because they are 1/2 the price of those listed on this website, which has gloves with the exact dimensions specified:

https://www.oldcolemanparts.com/

So I ordered one of those as well, just for comparison

The base must be machined to fit the globe rather exactly for an air tight seal, and as can be seen, there is not much wiggle room.

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