My Site, My Stuff

6” Traction Engine Build

I started building the 6” scale version of the Little Samson traction engine shortly after finishing the 3” one. I liked it so much that i felt it would be really nice to have an identical pair of engines, albeit in different sizes: quarter scale and half scale.

This project took around four years to complete, partly due to the increase in size of the engineering required and partly due to the massive increase in cost of the materials needed which took longer to save funds for.

As this build log is being sold as a book, the web log here is very short, sorry.

The book is still available – please contact me.

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6” Cylinder next to 3” engine

On the right stands the 6” cylinder block casting, although only twice the size as its little 3” partner sitting on top of the finished engine, it seems much larger.

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6” Front fork in front of 3″ engine

The finished 6” front axle fork unit sitting in front of the 3” item, it’s a serious assembly and quite heavy.

 

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Boiler

The boiler on its delivery pallet, around 250kg of boiler steel! There is a 12” rule on top for scale.

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Bearing bracket
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Rear axle tube
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Crankshaft bearing
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Mandrel and bearing brass

Me driving the engine at a rally