What would you do with it???

[Thom2]

I was helping clear out a warehouse awhile back and came across this:



It was just too priceless to pass up, I mean, when would I EVER find ANOTHER one????

It's apparently out of a locomotive (or Paul Bunyan's weed wacker????), and while I already have an idea of what I'm going to do with it, I thought I'd ask the creative bunch here and see what kind of ideas you guys might have.


Thom
inquisitive in PA

[cwsmith]

Thom,

Interesting, are you sure it's out of a locomotive? Looks like a smaller version of some of the power pistons I've seen in engine-process compressors. An "engine-process" compressor is basically a very large engine with the end cylinders acting as a compressor, to drive nat gas through a pipeline.

Someday I'll figure out how to post pictures on here and perhaps then I can post some some examples. I've seen cylinders and pistons almost 36 inches in diameter and connecting rods that you couldn't put in the back of a pick-up.

Your piston looks pretty clean (obviously either lost in shipment or was stocked in the warehouse, waiting for a repair to come up). You could polish it up and put a cut glass table top on it. It would make a nice conversation piece in the home bar!

CWS

[bigstick509]

Cigar Ashtray

It would make one great cigar ashtray.

[Tom Miller]

Gosh, I guess I'd use it to drive screws.



What's that big thing it's sittin' on?






Regards,
Tom
p.s. Even the rings from that thing would be impressive!

[Stan]

Ok, now that looks like a 'mail box stand' just waiting to happen.

Or...

A keg base?

[Jim Boyd]

Looks like an chance to build a forge

[Otter]

Chillie Roster, yep yep.......

[Popeye]

I'm thinking a pedistal for a glass topped dining room table. Or coffee table. Which do you think Reva will let you get away with??? Pat

[Bruce Cohen]

Hey Thom,

Your garage (shop) floor needs to be painted

Happy Fathers Day

Bruce

[just4funsies]

Paperweight? Keychain?






(It may also have come from a marine engine. Seen some ENORMOUS ones.)

[WayneJ]

(It may also have come from a marine engine. Seen some ENORMOUS ones.)[/QUOTE]

Maybe from an old LST or a tug boat.Might make a good bird bath.
Wayne

[crokett]

Hmm....

Yard Art.
Base for a tool.
Carpet it and it is a cat scratching post
Turn it over and use it to pack down dirt for patios

[LCHIEN]

Thom, looks like Aluminum, not cast iron.
I would think locomotives would benefit from weight (Gives the engines more traction) and not be made of aluminum.

Whereas airplane, and to a lessor extent boat motors, would benfit from lighter weight.

[dwolsten]

I'm sure a locomotive has all the weight it needs from the chassis and the engine block(s). Higher reciprocating mass is always a bad thing in an engine: produces more vibration, reduces efficiency, etc. Why waste energy moving your pistons around when you can use that energy at the output shaft instead?

[LCHIEN]

I'm sure a locomotive has all the weight it needs from the chassis and the engine block(s). Higher reciprocating mass is always a bad thing in an engine: produces more vibration, reduces efficiency, etc. Why waste energy moving your pistons around when you can use that energy at the output shaft instead?

Ah, good points, didn't think thru my comments, and wandering far from my field of knowledge.