Hello from Pat J

[PatJ]

Hello from Pat J.
I joined this forum a few years ago, but I guess I neglected to post anything, and forgot about it.

I started another steam forum, and then ran across this forum again, and noticed several common members.

A quick review of some of the posts on this forum show lots of real-world construction of boilers and engines, so that is a very good thing.

I am in the US, an located in the south (Bible belt).
My working background is an electrical design engineer, and I run my own consulting company, and do mainly large renovation projects for local municipalities. Most projects involve medium voltage, 480 volt systems, automated control systems, and some medium voltage airport lighting.

My interest in steam goes back to my high school science project, which as a scratch built steam engine and boiler.

Life and work has kept me busy, but I got back to studying the steam thing in earnest a few years ago, and decided to try and document some of the design criteria.

Recent developements include 3D modeling, and castings.

Can we post links back and forth between forums, or is that a no-no?
It gets tedious posting duplicates, and I have thousands of posts and photos.

Here is a screen shot of my most recent effort as far as a working engine goes, which is my bottle engine 3D design, and a photo of my furnace. You may have seen these already on other sites.

Pat J

[farmerden]

Good to see you over here Pat! I've enjoyed your comments over there and look forward to seeing what you send over here!! Den

[87gn@tahoe]

Welcome to the forum Pat.

Of which other forum are we speaking of?

I think posting a link is okay, as others have done it without consequence, but if you're not comfortable about posting a link, could you PM me the link(s) especially to your build thread?

Thanks,

wes

[PatJ]

Wes-

I run CSEE (Classic Steam Engine Engineering Forum).
I was reluctant to post the name here as I have found some forum owners are very particular about what they consider advertisements to another forum, which is not my intention.

Since I notice we have several common members, then I guess we are somewhat related.

My site developed out of my Dad's steam engine model building hobby, and then turned into sort of a Monty Python "sacred quest" for accurate and usable steam engine design information, which I have found is difficult to find.

My site has a lot of theoretical stuff, 3D modeling, etc, whereas this site has some superb hands-on construction of boilers and engines. I have constructed a boiler and operated it with a steam engine, and was also a boiler operator for a while at a large wood kiln drying operation, so I know a few things about boilers and their operation, but no expert by any stretch.

Part of my goal for this year is to melt and pour gray cast iron, and build a bottle engine with a 3" bore. From the standpoint of engine sizes, I guess the working size engines interest me more than the scale models, although I have designed several scale models.

Pat J

[artemis]

I visited the CSEEF last fall and was impressed with the amount of knowledge available there. Meant to add the site to the International Steamboat Society website http://www.steamboating.org links page as well as the one for the Northwest Steam Society website at http://www.northweststeamsociety.org but the Holidays got in the way. I'm happy to do so now and since I'm the webmaster for both of them, it's no problem. If you note my "signature" at the bottom of this reply, you'll see that I use the website for the ISS and there seems to be no problem. My take is (and has been for 40+ years) that we're all here to share information (and "tell lies"). Certainly none of us are getting rich off the hobby.

[SteamGuy]

After much confusion, I am changing back to my old screen name and login, so don't get confused. Its still PatJ here.