After Elizabeth taught me patience with accurately drilling port and Simple Sam showed me that "basic" can still run sweetly, I fancied something a bit flashier but still dead simple.

Enter the Brass Wobbler — a small oscillating steam engine kit of materials I picked up here from eBay. For about £52 delivered, you get a bundle of brass bar, rod, plate — everything needed to machine your own shiny wobbler from scratch. No castings, no pre-machined tricky bits; just raw stock and your lathe/mill. The finished model stands roughly 4.5 inches tall on its base — compact enough for the shelf or a demo stand, posh enough to look like proper jewellery when polished.

Wobblers (aka wobbling oscillators) are about as minimal as live steam gets: single cylinder that rocks on a ball-joint or spherical pivot, ports in the cylinder face mate directly to ports in the base/steam chest. Steam pushes the piston one way; flywheel momentum returns it. No slide valve, no eccentric, no timing headaches. They run forwards or backwards on air/steam depending on which port you connect — magic!

Why This One?

• All-brass construction = beautiful golden finish, easy to machine/polish, corrosion-resistant.
• Tiny footprint — great for testing boiler ideas or just watching it tick over at low pressure.
• Pure from-bar-stock machining practice: turning, facing, milling slots/ports.
• Quick build compared to locos or beam engines — gratification in weeks, not months.
• After my earlier oscillators, this felt like levelling up in aesthetics without adding complexity.

The eBay kit is marketed as a "machinist's kit" and included easy to follow, hand drawn drawings.

Building the Wobbler

• Main Frame/Standard - 1/8” brass plate cut & machined. The upright brass frame supports the cylinder and crankshaft.
• Port Block — milled from brass block ports drilled & steam inlet/exhaust drilled and tapped.
• Cylinder — turned from brass round. The large brass cylinder is the most distinctive part of the engine.
• Piston & rod — Getting the fit right is essential—it needs to move freely while maintaining a reasonable seal.
• Flywheel — turned from brass.
• Base Plate - Aluminum flat, machined to size & edge chamfered.
• Wooden Base - Cut to size, then shaped using a router.

Completed Engine

Polish frenzy, steam connections, then first proper steam run.

I am planning on pairing it with a simple methylated spirits burner. If it behaves, it'll be a lovely showpiece!

Next project: tackling my first Elmer Verburg engine. Watch this space.