5 Cylinder Rotary Steam Engine (3/12/2017)

While in high school, I apprenticed with a retired backgrind technician from Micron who’s now an amateur machinist. While working with him, I gained a lot of knowledge about machining, manufacturability, and tolerances. We did a lot of projects, but one of the ones that stands out is a five cylinder rotary steam engine.

Machining this took two or three months, working every weekend. The plans were from an old machinists magazine. Most of the parts were made from aluminum, but the bushings, connecting rods, cylinders, pistons, connecting rod hub, and some custom screws were made from brass because it’s self lubricating. We made a base for it from HDPE, and connected a hacksaw blade to one end to cut small branches in half.