Photos: Craig Libuse
This was the fourth year for the GEARS show at the Kliever Armory in Portland, OR. Once again the weather was perfect and the local model engineering club did a great job of having everything ready for the vendors and spectators. Speaking of spectators, there were definitely more this year than last, and I'm sure Saturday was the best day they've had to date. Sherline did not send machines this year, but I was there as a representative of the Joe Martin Foundation and did bring along and give out Sherline catalogs and answer questions as well as letting each exhibitor at the show know about the Foundation, its museum, awards and projects. We shared a booth with Clyde Hackler of Plastools who does use a Sherline lathe to demonstrate the cutting ability of his carbide insert tools, so spectators still did get to see a machine in action.
Once again, our thanks to the Portland, Mid Valley and Emerald Valley Model Engineering clubs for putting on such a fun and professional show. For more information see the show web site at www.oregongears.org.
To view photos from past years of the GEARS show plus links to photos from many other shows, see the SHOWS page.
Click on any of the four links below to view .WMV files. They are only a few seconds long to keep file size down.
∙ Gene Corl's 1/3 scale small block Chevy V8 idling
∙ Gene's V8 being revved. (Short, only 2 or 3 seconds, but nice sound.)
∙ A unique opposed engine by William Bartram. A still picture just doesn't do justice to the motion of this engine.
∙ A large marine engine from the 1800's running. It was made in San Francisco and called a "Frisco Kid", or so I overheard.
|
(Click on any photo to enlarge it to 800 pixel size.) |
|
|
|
Thanks to the show organizers, the Joe Martin
Foundation/Sherline booth was right inside the door as the visitors walked
in. We gave out lots of literature on the Foundation and its craftsmen
stars as well as Sherline catalogs and information. Thanks to all those
who came out to place an order, take advantage of the show special pricing
and help us cover some of the costs to attend shows like this. In the upper right corner of the first photo is Clyde Hackler of Plastools in Bellingham, Washington. Clyde attends each year and uses a Sherline lathe to demonstrate how well his carbide insert tools can remove metal. Those unfamiliar with Sherline tools got to see one in action taking some pretty impressive cuts that demonstrated both the power and the precision of the machine. Clyde is particularaly good at getting kids excited about cutting metal and always sends them back with a sample for "show and tell" at school. |
 |
Also sharing a section of tables with us were Robert and
Francis Washburn of Strictly IC
magazine fame. The magazine publishing duo of Robert and Francis were
recently awarded one of the Joe Martin Foundation's
Lifetime
Achievement Awards. The Portland Model Engineers, one of the host clubs for the event, had a nice display of members' engines. |
 |
Once again I can't resist including a picture of William Bartram
of Albany, Oregon and his unique engines. Mr. Bartram is fascinated with
non-round gears and his custom designed engines always feature
unconventional geartrains and eye-popping movements. Speaking of special engines, here is a V-16 made by Don Comstock. Note the bundle of snakes coming out of the distributor to fire all those sparkplugs. |
 |
A row of impressive engines graces one of the many tables
at the show. This "Candlestick Engine" illustrates that fun and interesting engines can be built with few materials. The challenge here was to build a running engine using only two 1/4" diameter by 12" long bars. This engine won the "Super Machinist" award at the 2005 Midwest Model Builder's Show Challenge. |
 |
A supercharged 6.3 Cubic inch (103 cc) Challenger V8 built
by Ken Hurst and Dwight Gilles is in front of a second version. Plenty of
miniature horsepower here! Jim Moyer sits behind three of the tiniest internal combustion engines at the show. The 1/6 scale 327 Chevy in the center is beautiful in its detail and presented many challenges in getting it to run. Tolerances become very critical at that size, and things like fuel molecules and electricity don't scale, but Jim stuck with it and worked out the problems. Also shown are a single cylinder and a 4-cylinder engine. The 4-cylinder is called the Coyotee and displaces .25 cu. in. or 3.5 cc. The bore is .400" and stroke .410." The engine took from 1964 to 1995 to complete. |
 |
For sale in the used machine tool tent outside was this
unique Astoba lathe with milling column. Our resident machine expert Jim
Clark explained that though marked Astoba, which was a German brand most
famously used on WWII U-boats, this is most likely made by Hummel in
Switzerland. They were asking $2000.00, and it came with a host of
original accessories. Probably not a bad buy. These boats were scratch built by Bob Eaton. The 1947 ChrisCraft Utility in the center caught my attention. It sits on a scale scratch built trailer too--a nice touch. I show this because it proves there is something for everyone's interest at a show like this, and for me--a lover of old ChrisCrafts--this was one of my highlights. |
 |
Norm Hayden is seen lubricating his "rectilinear" engine. The engine is shown in detail in the other photo. Norm saw a single-cylinder version of this engine at the 2005 show and was inspired to go home and design a 2-cylinder version and had it ready for the 2007 show. It has a bore of 2" and a piston stroke of 4". The finishes are first class too and show a craftsman's touch with a lot of attention to detail. |
 |
It's not all steam and gas engines at a show like this. Model engineering encompasses other fields as well, as these two half-size (.22 cal) Gattling guns illustrate. The one on the wheeled carriage at the left utilizes a round clip while the one on the tripod on the right uses the gravity feed method. While it is not legal to build one of these for sale, it is quite legal to build, own and shoot one of your own. Plans are available. The gravity feed model is not considered a "machine gun," although the other type clip might be a little more questionable in some states if made functional. |
 |
On the left is a Fairbanks Morse tractor left mostly in
raw metal finish. To tell the truth, I kind of prefer this, as once
painted they lose their scratch-built look and are sometimes mistaken for
something you can buy at a fancy toy store. The Mery engine in the center is running fine in the photo as the blurred parts will confirm. Morrison & Martin Engine Works sells nice kits to build your own version of this model engine. |
 |
This 7-cylinder radial was built by Allen Rose, who sat across from the Joe Martin Foundation booth for the 2-day show. Whenever he would fire it up conversation ceased and all attention was on the engine. It not only made a healthy sound, it occasionally shot flames out the short exhaust pipes. I bet it would have looked impressive in a dark room. |
 |
One of the nice things about traveling to a show in another city is to see what the city itself has to offer. Portland is at the Northern edge of Oregon on the Columbia River with the state of Washington on the other side. My hotel room looked out right on the river and a very interesting floating neighborhood of rather fancy houseboats. It looked like a very interesting way to live. I did see an "open house" sign on one and was tempted to take a tour to see what they were like and how much they cost, but I ran out of time. Maybe next year. It was nice on Sunday morning before the show to stand on the room's balcony sipping a cup of coffee and watch the sun come up over the river. About 60 miles or so to the West is the Pacific Ocean. Most shows are held in areas that have many other things you and your family can do, so keep that in mind if you'd like to see some of the fine work like we have shown above. |
Return to Sherline's Home Page
