[skankin_giant]

As I seem to have drifted the Fuji X10/100 photo thread a bit off topic I thought I would create another thread so members can share their other hobbies.

My other love apart from photography (and the wife and kids....) is restoring vintage Stationary Engines, I would explain my need to do this as outsiders don’t really get the need to play with vintage stuff, I suppose it is a bit like playing with old cameras and lenses, just on a larger oilier scale....

I started this odd hobby back in 1991 when my Grandfather started taking me around, he being a founder member of one of the oldest preservation movements in the UK, the Kernow Old Vehicle Club. We very sadly lost him in 2010 to cancer and he is still missed greatly, his loss sent me into a bit of a spiral of depression where I went a bit mental buying this lumps of old iron to try and rekindle what we once had, was never to be so.

This is how I started out well my 2nd or 3rd year:



At the moment I have 9 engines, the one I have had the longest is my Norman S/C, these were used by the military for battery charging duties as part of charging sets, this one coming from about 1940. My grandfather bought this for me in 1994.

You Tube

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One of my grandfathers engines that has been left to me is this Villiers WX-II which was part of a garage compressor set used for inflating tires, and dates from around 1940 also, fairly late in production for this range of engines. This one need a new big end bearing, not looking forward to that job.....

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The rarest of my engines is my Stuart Turner WD Flat Twin, this dates from about 1938, Stuart Turner was put into competition with 3 other firms in 1928, they were tasked to produce a lightweight generator set for front line use by the British Army to power radio equipment. The Stuart Turner was the only company to meet the requirements and the engine went into production. One of these sets was used on a expedition up Everest and used at the base camp, the highest a Stationary Engine had been used at the time, this was later surpassed by a special adapted Norman S/C.

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Another engine of my Grandfathers I still have is a Sattley TA made by Nelson Brothers of America and sold by Montgomery Ward. This was imported into the UK in recent years (1980’s) and dates from the 1920’s.

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Another of my rarer items is a Scott (as it Scott Motorcycles, Flying Squirrel etc) PAB, which were used with the Bofors Anti Aircraft gun to power the Kerison Predictor self aiming computer, sadly the generator is missing. This engine is from about 1942 and is odd being loop scavenged with a boost port opposite the exhaust port, something that was later used by MZ with the Walter Kaaden expansion chamber. There is around 20 of these remaining.

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Another Scott is from 1930 and was their 1st attempt as Stationary Engines in an attempt to recoup some money from the failing motorcycle sales. Most were sold the the War Department. It has been painted in Scott purple in a nod to its past there is also only about 20 of these left.

You Tube

You Tube

I am currently working on a Stuart Turner P4 500w generator, this was found by the previous owner in a house about 8 miles away, it was used to power the lights. So far the engine has been overhauled having all new bearings and piston rings, the fun part starts with the generator.... This one is from 1938.

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You Tube

Another project is a Hymatic compressor set, this is odd being a 2 stroke and compressor which share a common crank, don’t know much more about this one.



Last one..... is a Villiers Mar-Vil, these engine were a bought in design when Johnson of America sold the design of their Utilimotor to Jacobson and Villiers. These were used for general tasks pumping water etc.



I’ve bored you enough already so will leave you all in peace now.... will be interested to hear what other people do to keep their mind busy when they are not taking pictures...

Cheers, Steve

[p38arover]

Love 'em.

If I ever see them at shows, they drag me in. I keep thinking I want to try that.

Hobbies? Too many at times. I want to get back into model RC planes and helis. I have the engines and the models. I need new radio gear. I'd like to get back into full size gliding - or jumping off cliffs and slope soaring.

I gave up skin-diving years ago. I really wasn't enjoying it but I still haven't sold my equipment.

Currently trying to restore a DeWalt Radial Arm Saw. It's costing more than just buying a reasonable brand of sliding combination saw. I just like repairing things - often it's not economic but I still like doing it.

I have my Yamaha XJR1300 motor cycle and my Range Rover (my 3rd Range Rover, but I've also had a Discovery, a Land Rover 110, and a Land Rover Series IIA) but I don't go 4WDing anymore. I want it to camp where I can't get to in a car. The car (really my wife's not mine) is a Subaru Forester turbo.

[PJ1]

Love old engines (and old British sports cars). I have an old Lister sitting in my woolshed (probably 1930s) which I would love to restore if I had time. Not terribly exotic, I know, but what I like about it is there is no model number. It just has "The Lister Engine" stamped on it.

[skankin_giant]

Love old engines (and old British sports cars). I have an old Lister sitting in my woolshed (probably 1930s) which I would love to restore if I had time. Not terribly exotic, I know, but what I like about it is there is no model number. It just has "The Lister Engine" stamped on it.

Has it’s brass tag dropped off? some of the larger Listers are quite thin on the ground now, the early small H is very sought after.

Cheers, Steve

[p38arover]

When I was about 12, it was my job to go down the back paddock to the pump shed next to the dam and crankstart the single cylinder kerosene engine (Start on petrol, change over to kero) that pumped water from underground (bore) up to the house tank. We only used the dam to swim in, the water was usually pretty brown from clay held in suspension.

For non-Aussie readers, many properties had man-made dams to hold rain or bore water. Usually there was no creek nearby, the dams were scraped out in a low spot to collect run-off. They are very important in rural Australia where there isn't the rainfall to maintain a creek system.

For Brisbanites, that back paddock is now the suburb of Calamvale!

The dams look like this:

[stormtech]

This is so interesting - thanks for sharing your hobby!

Around here at the small local summer fairs, there is a club of fellows with hit & miss engines and the older engines like yours. I gravitate toward them right away.

I used to play around with small diesel engines. Not the real old type, but the 3 cylinder jobs found in lawn equipment. I had so much fun with my first rebuild many years ago.

Finding broken down small diesel tractors to work on was tough, so I then started on the VW TDI (turbo diesel) cars. These were easier to find on the internet but had to travel some to get them. I did 3 of these over the years with this one being my latest and last one. This one was used and abused plus a catastophic engine failure due to a broken timing belt.

But now I've had to give all that up thanks to a nasty case of RA I somehow contracted a couple years ago. I am still searching for a hobby that I can physically do. I'm so used to doing work like above with my hands it is driving me nuts! And to think I used to do these projects while still working 70 hours a week.

[skankin_giant]

Thanks for joining in guys, glad I’m not the only nutter.....

My P4 Generator is coming along slowly, the engine has be rebuilt have all new bearings and rings.



It is now back in a reasonable state...





Just awaiting me to finish the generator and control box now, which might take a while!



I tried cars for a while, had a original Mini Cooper S and a Hillman Imp (Imp was much more fun!) but too much money for my taste



Cheers, Steve

[reeftool]

I've had a love of motorcycles since I was a young kid. My current ride.

[dadipentak]

I admire you tinkerers but fiddling with mechanicals is absolutely not my idea of a good time.

My other hobby takes me to places like this.






The problem is that there's usually an "either fly rod or camera" choice involved.

[StephenHampshire]

Re Stationary engines, My son has a rusty old Lister D he bought about 8 years ago, he hasn't done anything to it and it just takes up a lot of room under a tarp on my patio!
I am partial to a spot of swan frangling myself, but rarely get the opportunity these days. Other than that I cook on a preserved steam railway - an evening wine and dine train, the Watercress Belle

[Rupert]

Good lordy Skank! I thought you were just an engine hobbyist, but over here I find you are a full fledged "Engine Addict"!!!
Why didn't you seek help from us over in the Fuji thread, we would gladly counsel your addiction!

Seriously, I love to see people dedicated to their hobbies and keeping their minds and spirits in great condition doing it!

I shoot a lot of squirrels...can't say that is really a hobby.....if napping counts, then you can count me and Otis in, we do as much of that as we can!


Right Otis?


Regards!

[AquaDome]

I'm packing up to move, so I am coming to terms with just how many hobbies I have collected. Tinkering with tube amplifiers has been one of my bulkier passions over the last ten years, but the amplifier is just one stage in the RF path. I build hand-tuned systems beginning with a magnetic-loop antenna into an amplified preselector for the receive side, then a power amplifier and antenna tuner or trans-match on the output side. Each set is a custom build to a particular radio for a particular Ham band and takes me about two years to complete. Where I am moving to in Florida, I will have a 100' tower to build some antennas for.

For me, photography is my inexpensive hobby for quick gratification.

[Tom S.]

I'm packing up to move, so I am coming to terms with just how many hobbies I have collected. Tinkering with tube amplifiers has been one of my bulkier passions over the last ten years, but the amplifier is just one stage in the RF path. I build hand-tuned systems beginning with a magnetic-loop antenna into an amplified preselector for the receive side, then a power amplifier and antenna tuner or trans-match on the output side. Each set is a custom build to a particular radio for a particular Ham band and takes me about two years to complete. Where I am moving to in Florida, I will have a 100' tower to build some antennas for.

For me, photography is my inexpensive hobby for quick gratification.

After years of procrastination, I got my license last year. Township limits antenna height to 45 feet, and truth be told, it was high enough for me, especially when I was up there putting everything together!

[AquaDome]

After years of procrastination, I got my license last year. Township limits antenna height to 45 feet, and truth be told, it was high enough for me, especially when I was up there putting everything together!

That is a beautiful thing. I have been under antenna restrictions for ten years, so the job-site with the 100' tower was enough incentive to get me to come out of retirement and move across the country.

[Rupert]

it was high enough for me, especially when I was up there putting everything together!

Hey Tom, be very careful up there, I wouldn't wish this on anyone. I have always had a fear of heights...and with good reason, I keep falling off of high places.


I once worked high construction in a nuclear plant, I was the only guy among thousands that wore two safety belts. I never had more than one unhooked at a time.

Regards!