# Engine from Jan. 1953 Popular Science.



## GaryK (Apr 18, 2013)

Today after a lot of time with my CAD software I am starting work on a modified steam engine from a  Jan. 1953 Popular Science magazine.

You have all probably seen this engine at some time.










I saw a video of one of these running and it had a very unique sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TwRhMlzf58

I have decided to make a modified version. Mine will have a reverse lever and other modifications, but basically the same overall design.

Today I cut my first chips. I am starting with the heart of the engine. The cylinder block. If you have ever looked at the drawings you will see that they call out drilling steam passages from the end into the cylinder. which later get blocked off.

I didn't really like that so I divided the cylinder block into 3 pieces. Cutting off the steam chests from end. This allows me to drill the passages into the facing parts which will later be screwed together concealing them.

Here you can see the 3 pieces:






And here the two passages. They lead nowhere right now the will before I am done with this part. You can also see a dimple I added to each surface so that everything always goes back together the same way.

I lapped the surfaces for a perfect fit.






Here you can see the entire cylinder block assembled. I plan on leaving them assembled until everything is completed. Then I will take a very light pass on all the surfaces and polish them. Not sure if I want a matte or shiny finish. But either way  it will hide the seems.






Anyway that's my first day and the start of my new project.

Gary


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## neseng (Apr 18, 2013)

Hi Gary,
That should make a very nice little engine when completed.

<<You can also see a dimple I added to each surface so that everything always goes back together the same way.>>

And thank you, ..thank you, ..thank you, ..for concealing the dimple on the mating faces!  In my view, there is nothing that spoils a nicely made model engine more than bl***y great centre punch marks on adjacent joining faces!

Keep up the good work.

Cheers,      Norman.


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## Rivergypsy (Apr 18, 2013)

That's cute - I'll be watching


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## schilpr (Apr 18, 2013)

Anyway you can post the scans in a slightly larger format? would be nice to be able to read the text and sizes.

Looks like a great little engine.

Rob


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## GaryK (Apr 18, 2013)

schilpr said:


> Anyway you can post the scans in a slightly larger format? would be nice to be able to read the text and sizes.
> 
> Looks like a great little engine.
> 
> Rob



Rob,

Sorry, I posted them just so people would know what I was talking about.

You can see the entire article HERE

Gary


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## chucketn (Apr 18, 2013)

The referenced article is available as a .pdf from John-Tom's website here:

www.john-tom.com/MyPlans/Steam%20Engines/MarineEngine.pdf

Chuck


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## GaryK (Apr 18, 2013)

Got some more done today.

One of the modifications I am making is to eliminate the plate between the columns and the cylinder block.

What I'm doing is adding tabs directly to the bottom of the cylinder block. I think this looks cleaner.

First I machine some pockets for the tabs.






The drill and tap holes to complete this part.






I made the tabs from some 1" wide stock I had.






Drilled the holes and then on to the rotary table to round the ends






Then I put it all together.






They really turned out clean. I will take a clean up pass with a fly cutter when I'm done so the joints should disappear. 






And here is everything complete.






I'll remove them and put them back on after machining is done on the cylinder block.

Thanks it for now.

Gary


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## GaryK (Apr 19, 2013)

About the best and clearest plans for this engine are available HERE

There are some junk ones out there.

Gary


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## parisharma1 (Apr 19, 2013)

It's looking good quality products.


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## thayer (Apr 19, 2013)

I've always liked this one as well. One question with regards to the cylinder block. If you drilled and plugged as drawn wouldn't those also disappear with final finishing and be less work than cutting, drilling, tapping, lapping and then finishing?


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## GaryK (Apr 19, 2013)

thayer said:


> I've always liked this one as well. One question with regards to the cylinder block. If you drilled and plugged as drawn wouldn't those also disappear with final finishing and be less work than cutting, drilling, tapping, lapping and then finishing?




I had thought about plugging the holes. Plugging the holes was not in the drawings or the text. It did mention the sleeve for the valve have the holes drilled in one side that then rotated 180° to block them. I mentions holding the sleeve in with a set screw. Now that sleeve as called out has a wall thickness of 1/32" so I don't see how you could use a set screw without deforming the sleeve. I'll show how I plan to deal with that later.

I had another motive for doing it the way I did. I was going to mention it later. I added 1/4" to each of the blocks to increase the total length of the cylinder block from 4" to 4.5". The purpose of this was to create more room for the reversing gear I will be adding.

Gary


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## GaryK (Apr 20, 2013)

Completed the cylinder block yesterday.

Here I've just finished boring the cylinder holes. The valve bores have already been done.





You can see the passages from the valve to the cylinder in these next two photos.










The holes for the cylinder covers.






The exhaust ports






and the input ports.






and finally the completed cylinder block!

I'll leave it like this for all the test fitting and getting it running. After all is done I'll strip it all down to finish the surfaces on all the parts.






Next the upper and lower cylinder covers.

Gary


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## lennardhme (Apr 20, 2013)

Yes, a nice start & I will enjoy watching the build. Good to see some mods too!
thanks.


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## GaryK (Apr 21, 2013)

Got the upper and lower cylinder covers done.

Being so thin makes them a little hard to hold. You really have to plan out your operations in advance.






Then on to the lower cover. The rotary table rounds off the part where the gland nut is installed.






Shaping is complete, now on to the the mounting holes.






The bolt hole feature of my DRO saves a lot of time doing the math!






The upper covers complete. Using some temporary screws until the ones I ordered get here.






And also the bottom.






You might notice here another departure from the plans. The plan calls for a bracket to fasten the top of the crosshead guide. To eliminate another part
I incorporated the mounting holes into the bottom cover.

Now that the top end is complete, next I will start work on the bottom.

The base plate is next.

Gary


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## aonemarine (Apr 21, 2013)

are the lower cylinder covers on backwards? thought the crosshead guide was on the side with 3 supports?

Edit,  Nope thats right!


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## GaryK (Apr 21, 2013)

aonemarine said:


> are the lower cylinder covers on backwards? thought the crosshead guide was on the side with 3 supports?
> 
> Edit,  Nope thats right!




No, you are correct! Looks like I will be adding the 6th column after all. I'm glad you caught that now rather than me finding out when I did the final assemble.

That means another tab one the cylinder block after all. Thanks!

Gary


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## GaryK (Apr 23, 2013)

Got the base done yesterday.

Here it is all scribed:






Midway through cut. I drilled undersized holes in the corners so the endmill won't get sucked into the corners.






Half way there.






Now some holes to finish it up.






And finally done. I added the 6th tapped hole in the middle for the extra column I will need.






Crankshaft bearing blocks next.

Gary


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## GaryK (Apr 25, 2013)

Now for the bearing blocks. Here I have already squared up, drilled the mounting holes and a rough bearing hole. Just reaming them now.






And here they are. The bore is rougher than I wanted but they will get lapped anyway. Here you can also see the dimples and put on each set. This is to assure that the pairs stay together and in the correct orientation.






Here I'm just roughing the cap to shape.






The only way I figured out to get a nice small radius in the corner is to use my indexable endmill. I just take a pass, move it a little, take another pass and so on.






Here they are. Just need some smoothing out on the radius.






  I couldn't resist a mock up.











Coming up is the crankshaft.

Gary


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## GaryK (Apr 26, 2013)

Now before you say anything I know this is not the correct placement for the counterweights. It's just for looks. I didn't like the rectangular blocks like called out in the print.

That being said here are the blanks I started with.






I used the lathe to bring them to final thickness.






Then drilled and reamed the holes to .250.






Then I used a ball and flat endmill to machine the counterweights.






Here then are completed except for cleaning up.






I didn't want to bore you showing the shafts being made. The .312 SS shafts are just brought to length then the ends turned down to .251 for a press fit into the counterweights.

Here they are all assembled. It took some time on the lathe to get everything straight after the press fits. Then more time for lapping the shafts to the bearings, but everything fits perfectly now. 













Next is the connecting rods for the pistons.

Gary


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## aonemarine (Apr 26, 2013)

Taking shape quickly, very nice work!!


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## RonGinger (Apr 26, 2013)

The exhaust ports seem strange. Being in the center of the cylinder that means the exhaust occurs at one half the stroke- you loose the expansion of the last half stroke. Does this make it a Uniflow engine? What will you do to connect the exhaust ports? There doesnt seem to be a drawing of that side of the engine.

Very nice work on the engine,


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## GaryK (Apr 27, 2013)

RonGinger said:


> The exhaust ports seem strange. Being in the center of the cylinder that means the exhaust occurs at one half the stroke- you loose the expansion of the last half stroke. Does this make it a Uniflow engine? What will you do to connect the exhaust ports? There doesnt seem to be a drawing of that side of the engine.
> 
> Very nice work on the engine,



It is a Una-flow engine. I don't plan on doing anything for the exhaust side. Maybe in the future I might, but I like the way it sounded in the video and doing something might affect that.

We shall see.

Gary


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## GaryK (Apr 27, 2013)

I know I said the connecting rods are next, but I figured that I would knock these out real quick.

These are the valve sleeves which are located in the block at each end of the cylinder block.

I wanted to make them removable so I hold them in place with a set screw. (I screwed up and drilled holes in the input port side first so you see two sets of holes)

I cut a groove in the center of the sleeve so that any gouges the set screw made would be under flush so I would have no problem removing them.








Then with them screwed in place I used the existing holes to drill into the sleeve.











Here is an out of order picture with no holes in the sleeve yet but it shows the sleeve in place.






Now on to the connecting rods.

Gary


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## GaryK (Apr 28, 2013)

Now the connecting rods as promised. They are a lot of work and setups.
I am going to do these in two posts.

First I start with some .750" brass stock.






Then I turned the columns or shafts of the rods.






Then flattened the opposing sides.






Here they are with the small top end to the proper size. The crank end still needs to be brought to size.






Now I'm machining the other surface to size. You will notice I used a gauge pin under the end of the part as a spacer.






And here they are with both ends brought to size.






And here they are with the crank end cut off on the bandsaw, machined and tapped for screws.






Then I drilled and reamed the holes in both ends. Notice the gauge pin again.






And here they are complete to this point.






I'll finish them up next time.

Gary


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## GaryK (Apr 30, 2013)

Now for the conclusion of the connecting rods.

First I needed to make a fixture to turn the cheeks (for lack of a better term) of the crank end.






Then I mounted and turned them.






And they end up looking like this:






Then on to the slot. I used a .187" thick blade in the center to start. then moved it up and down to create a .250" gap.






Then rounded the base of the cut by plunging a 250" endmill.






Almost done, just another trip to the rotary table to round off the ends.






And they end up looking like this. Complete. Just need cleaning up.






Not sure what I'll start with next so we will have to wait and see.

Gary


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## GaryK (May 2, 2013)

Now for a couple of pretty simple parts.

The crosshead and slider for it.

Not really that much to say about them. Pretty straight forward.

The slider just has straight holes until I figure out what kind of fasteners I want to use.

Gary


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## canadianhorsepower (May 2, 2013)

awsome work, nice cleana nd well documented

were do you get your RED dye


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## GaryK (May 2, 2013)

canadianhorsepower said:


> awsome work, nice cleana nd well documented
> 
> were do you get your RED dye



Thanks!

The red is from Dykem which also makes blue.

You can find it HERE

Gary


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## Naiveambition (May 2, 2013)

I was looking for a suitable direction on turning con rods, and I have found it in your post. Thank you for taking. Your time to post these and your work.  One ? Though. When milling your square ends are the over sides to provide the curved outer edge,  and sized, or are they marked out beforehand amd milled to size. 

It will follow others saying your work is superb ,  I hope my similar engine can carry some of the status yours does/will.  I look forward to your thread as I'm sure many others do too.

Mike


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## Charles Lamont (May 2, 2013)

It's coming on at a fair old speed.

I have a question about the pistons. In a uniflow engine, as far as I have seen, the pistons are normally unusually long, equal to the stroke less the exhaust port width. It is hard to tell from the drawings, but it looks as though the pistons on this engine are more like the conventional thickness. Could you tell me what are the stroke, the effective length of the cylinder (less cover spigots), piston thickness, and exhaust port width (diameter), please?


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## GaryK (May 2, 2013)

Naiveambition said:


> When  milling your square ends are the over sides to provide the curved outer  edge,  and sized, or are they marked out beforehand amd milled to size.
> Mike



Sorry, but I don't understand your question?



Charles Lamont said:


> Could you tell me what are the stroke, the effective length of the cylinder (less cover spigots), piston thickness, and exhaust port width (diameter), please?



The cylinder length is 1 3/16". The stroke is 7/8", the pistons are 1/4" thick and 1" diameter. The exhaust port is 3 holes  .136" in diameter per cylinder.

Gary


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## GaryK (May 2, 2013)

Now for the crosshead / reversing gear mounting thing. I don't know the proper name.

First I squared up a blank.






Then while it was still square I drilled the holes for the reversing gear shaft. I found the edges on both ends before I drilled the holes. I didn't want the hole to wander, plus I didn't have a drill bit long enough even if I wanted to. 






Then using some spacers to save my bit and vise jaws I did some shaping.






Then I bring it to the proper thickness where needed.






Then using a 90° countersink I chamfer the edges.






Then reposition it to profile the other edge.






And here it is before any more holes.






Then the next two pics are the completed part.











I just picked a thick part for the set screws.

Next time I will probably be starting the eccentric straps. They look pretty involved.

I thought the same thing about this part when I first looked at it, but it was actually a very simple and fast part to make once I figured out a plan of attack.

Gary


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## hobby (May 3, 2013)

I like your setups, and the parts are very nice looking machined parts,
this is a very enjoyable progress to watch, lots of pictures makes for it really enjoyable to follow.
Thanks for sharing this with us.


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## Naiveambition (May 3, 2013)

Sorry for that.  I was trying to see If you turned your outer radius before or after milling the flats. I think it makes sense now looking thru your post again, are you turning first to size then mill the flats  The problem I am having is making sure when milling flats that they are  parallel  with the centerline, not sure how to lay it out starting from round.


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## GaryK (May 3, 2013)

Naiveambition said:


> Sorry for that.  I was trying to see If you turned your outer radius before or after milling the flats. I think it makes sense now looking thru your post again, are you turning first to size then mill the flats  The problem I am having is making sure when milling flats that they are  parallel  with the centerline, not sure how to lay it out starting from round.



For starting from round the second cut is the important one. Make sure it is equal to the first.

For example starting with a 1" bar. Make a cut along the length. Say you cut off .100".

Rotate your bar to rest on the flat and clamp it. Then just lower your cutter .100". You should end up with two surfaces parallel to you center line.


In my case both my square ends were different dimensions. That's why you see me using a gauge pin to make up the difference when I clamped it.

Make sure you have a wide enough parallel to set your round stock on.

Hope this helps.

Gary


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## drysdam (May 3, 2013)

I've been wondering how people are doing this! But how are you guiding it around the corners? Just by hand or is this CNC?

Also the setup is pretty genius. I would have done some dumb two-part thing by holding it vertical and then laying it down to put the radii in the corners.


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## GaryK (May 4, 2013)

Now for the eccentric straps. Since I am adding a reverse to this engine I will need 4 of them.

First thing I had to do was to make up some stock from a 3" diameter solid bar and save as much material as I can. I ended up with these funny shapes. 

I printed out patterns full size to make sure I didn't cut into the parts when roughing them out. 







Then I used the center line of the pattern against the top of my vise to cut the sides flat. This gave me enough of a flat to square both ends. It's not really critical as long as I have room to spare.






Then I squared a corner on the smaller parts and then drilled and tapped holes for temporary screws.






I marked the parts with small dimples in the mating surfaces to keep the pairs together.

Next I cut them to  final width. Then I drilled holes smaller than the final size in both ends.






Then I cut the taper on both edges. I calculated the sizes of the two gauge pins to give me the correct taper.






And here they are completed to this point.






I will continue in the next post.

Gary


Also:



drysdam said:


> I've been wondering how people are doing this! But how are you guiding it around the corners? Just by hand or is this CNC?
> 
> Also the setup is pretty genius. I would have done some dumb two-part thing by holding it vertical and then laying it down to put the radii in the corners.



It's all done by hand. I just figured out in advance where to stop and start the cuts.


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## GaryK (May 6, 2013)

This post will show the completion of the eccentric straps.

I start by boring the large end to final size.






Then I thin the part to the largest thickness, which is the small end.






Then bring the large end to final thickness.






Then using a .125" saw I cut the slot.






Then on to the rotary table to shape the upper part of the large end and bring the strap to final thickness.






Then using a ball endmill I radius the transition.






Now the worrisome part. I want to cut the profile on the lower half but I am concerned about the part jumping out the the fixture since I will be making a climb cut. What I did was to add a .002" shim under the clamp to make sure it was clamped securely and approached the cut from a direction to minimize the chance of the part coming loose. 

I left the screw in the other end.






Then I replaced the screw and removed the screw from the other end. 






Then just made the cut in the normal way since I wasn't worried about the part coming loose cutting from this direction. There is a very small amount of material left at the bottom edge because I left the mill .002" above the table so as not to cut into it.






Then I used a endmill to create a counter bore on both sides to leave a "rib" in the middle. It looks like the usual way to make this is to cut a groove instead of a rib, but I figured it would be easier to cut the groove in the eccentric.






Then lastly, here they are all done.






Not sure what part I will make next, but I will be running out of things to make pretty soon!

Gary


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## GaryK (May 7, 2013)

Now for the expansion link (I assume that's what's it's called)

First I make a fixture to hold the part at the correct radius.






Except for the cuts for the slot and the top edge, all the cuts are straight x-y cuts.











Then I just rounded the corners on the belt sander, which I'm pretty good at.
















That's really all there is to this part. A lot easier than it looks.

I won't bother posting the little part that goes in the slot.

Next is probably the eccentrics.

Gary


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## drysdam (May 7, 2013)

I need to try cutting curved slots pretty soon.


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## davewaldo (May 7, 2013)

This is a lovely build. Very inspiring for a new guy    Thanks for posting so many photos!

Dave.


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## GaryK (May 9, 2013)

Here are the piston and their rods. I made them a while ago so I'm just throwing them in here. I will be making some Teflon rings for them.







Now for the eccentrics. I start off turning some grooves in some 3/4" for the rib I made in the straps. Then I cut them off a little long.






Then since two of them were only 3/16" thick, I used a stop in my collet. I turned the surface of the stop square. Then I turned the part to thickness. two pieces to 3/16" and two to 3/8".






Here is a test fit.






Then a test fit for all of them. The reason I split them into pieces is that I have no idea how different the placement will be for forward and reverse. I will first get it running in just one direction and mark the location. Then the other direction. Once I know the location for both then I will pin and screw both pieces together.






The I drilled the 5/16" hole in all the pieces.






Then for the 3/8" thick parts I made a fixture to turn the hub for the screw to lock it to the shaft. This is another departure from the plans.






Here is the first one turned.






The next two pictures show the completed parts with 2 being mocked up.











Only a couple of parts left!

I think I have only have the flywheel, glands, Input air piping, piston rings and the valve spools.

Next I think I'll make the valve spools.

Gary

PS and the reversing gear linkage parts.


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## GaryK (May 12, 2013)

Two parts this time. First is the gland.

These were so small I knew I wouldn't be able to get much thread so close to the shoulder so I took a different approach. Since they weren't actually doing any actual hard work I figured I would make them two piece. 

I started with a piece of bar stock and cut the hex on my mill.






Then I drilled and reamed a hole. Next I threaded a length of material, turned down a length of it to press fit the nut I made.






Then I just pressed them together. (Yea, I know I should have blown the chips away before taking the picture)






Turned out pretty good.






The next part was the valve spools. Not much unique here here so I won't show the machining process.

Since I was adding a reversing gear to this engine I wasn't sure exactly how long the parts would end up so I made the in two pieces also. The slotted part was made long and then cut down to the correct size after testing the assembly in the engine.






The part isn't complete. I still have to machine flats on the slotted ends.






Here you can see the entire assemble. I think it turned out pretty good.






Next will be the rest of the reverse gear linkages.

Gary


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## GaryK (May 13, 2013)

Now on to the reversing linkage.

For some reason round bar stock seems a lot cheaper that rectangular so I start with that to make some square stock.






Then while it's square I drill the holes






Then using a point I center the hole on the rotary table. I press it into the hole and then tighten the clamps. Not 100% perfect but way more accurate than I need for this part.






Then I cut the ends of the parts.






Here are one set of parts with the ends all rounded.






Then while I still have two straight edges I remove the material in the middle.






The the other part.






That's it for now. Next time I'lll complete these parts.

Gary


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## GaryK (May 15, 2013)

Here's the completion of the reversing gear linkage

Using pins whose diameter I calculated to give me the proper taper, I cut the parts to width.






The other links are just straight cuts.






Then I cut down the ends to the proper height.






Then the same for the other link. Notice the drill bit used as a spacer. This will assure that the cut will be perfectly centered. Overkill but I did it anyway.






And here are the parts for a complete set of linkages.






Lastly a mockup of how they will fit into the engine.






The flywheel, input air piping, and piston rings are all that's left. Getting close!

Gary


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## drysdam (May 16, 2013)

I'm afraid I didn't get the bit about the drill bit used as a spacer. I couldn't tell what it was spacing or what it was supposed be centering.


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## tarawa (May 16, 2013)

Fantastic workmanship.  I don't think my eyes are good enough for this precision work!


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## GaryK (May 16, 2013)

drysdam said:


> I'm afraid I didn't get the bit about the drill bit used as a spacer. I couldn't tell what it was spacing or what it was supposed be centering.




The purpose of the spacer is this. Suppose my part is 1" thick. I want to remove 1/8" from each side.

I cut the first 1/8" from one side. Now I could either re-adjust the depth of cut another 1/8" deeper and cut the opposite side.

Or I could add a 1/8" spacer and set the part on it.  This will make up for the material I cut off during the first cut. Then I won't have to re-adjust the depth of the cut. It will also assure the cut is equal on both sides. 

Either way will work, but I think the spacer was faster.

Gary


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## aarggh (May 16, 2013)

I'm glad you explained the spacer bit there Gary, as I was trying to work that out myself. Great idea. and very, very nice work mate!

cheers, Ian


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## ChooChooMike (May 16, 2013)

Love all the pictures, especially all the little fixtures for the doodad parts !! Very clever setups !! KISS principle here for sure 

Mike


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## drysdam (May 16, 2013)

> Or I could add a 1/8" spacer and set the part on it. This will make up for the material I cut off during the first cut. Then I won't have to re-adjust the depth of the cut. It will also assure the cut is equal on both sides.



Aha, great idea! And I wouldn't ever have even understood this solution if I hadn't the problem myself. The more I learn, the more I realize that I'm just expanding my frontier of ignorance and need to iterate over the entire thing again to push it out farther.


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## charlesfitton (May 17, 2013)

I'm enjoying this whole article - It just make me feel bad that I'm not in the basement wrecking things myself...


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## drysdam (May 17, 2013)

Heh, I just now came up from the basement. Working on a magic trick by request of my son. I'm close to finishing, but if I keep working I'll have to start over. I'm sure you know what that's like.


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## GaryK (May 17, 2013)

I don't know why, but I wasn't looking forward to making this part, but It turned out pretty easy.

This picture is a little out of sequence since I didn't show if being made on the lathe. (actually I forgot to take a picture). Anyway  just turned the part and removed the bar and mounted it in the mill to drill the cross hole. Still being attached to the bar just made it easier.






Then I put it back in the lathe and cut it off.






Then here they are, the lathe work completed. I actually made three of them but screw up and drilled the second part all the way through instead of almost the way.






Then I drilled the air passage hole through to the cross hole.






Then to make sure the cross hole was aligned with the mounting holes I inserted the brass tubing and clamped it parallel to the jaws. 






I used a couple of parallels as spacers so I wouldn't drill in to the vise. Then drilled the mounting holes.






Next I mounted everything to the cylinder block so everything would be in the correct position.

Then I used plain old plumbers solder to permanently attach them.  






After it cooled down it was back to the mill to drill the air passage through the tubing.






All done. Just need to clean it up some more.






Getting real close here.

The flywheel is next.

Gary


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## GaryK (May 19, 2013)

Not much to making a flywheel.

First I cut a pocket in one side. (I forgot the picture. I was actually holding the part on the OD in the chuck.)






This allows me to hold it on the ID to turn the diameter and face the other side.






Then cut the pocket (for lack of a better term) in the other side.






Then drill the center hole.






Then on to the mill for the set screw hole. I had to use my extra long center drill for this.






And then the completed flywheel.






Last thing to make are the Teflon piston rings. 

Gary


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## GaryK (May 20, 2013)

Now for the last part. The piston rings.

Teflon is a good material for this job. They can stand the temperatures if I were to use steam and not just air to run this engine. Easy to machine and available. 

All I has was some sheet stock so I started with that.






I had to use a Forstner bit to rough out a hole to start with. I clamped it between two pieces of wood to hold it in place.






I ended up with my two blanks.






There's just enough material there to allow me to clamp it in the vise to bore the center hole to size.






Then I made a jig to turn the outside on the lathe.






Then to finish them off I used a razor blade to make a diagonal cut to allow me to fit them on to the pistons.






Well all the parts are done for now. I do have to figure out a lever to switch the reversing gear but I will save that for the end.

Now I will be putting a lot of time in at the bench cleaning everything up and fine fitting all the parts into a working machine.

I may post some of it if it is interesting enough. 

Gary


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## aarggh (May 20, 2013)

If you had one of the retaining edges not so proud of the groove, could you heat the nylon and slip it over then? The nylon ring on my nailgun recently failed, and looking at the replacement, it was smaller than the OD of the piston, so after hunting on Google found it was recommended to stick it for a couple minutes in boiling water, and then it should slip over and after a while settle back to it's nominal size. I haven't gotten around to it yet though so don't know foolproof that is. but it is what the manufacturer recommends anyway.

cheers, Ian


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## GaryK (May 20, 2013)

aarggh said:


> If you had one of the retaining edges not so proud of the groove, could you heat the nylon and slip it over then? The nylon ring on my nailgun recently failed, and looking at the replacement, it was smaller than the OD of the piston, so after hunting on Google found it was recommended to stick it for a couple minutes in boiling water, and then it should slip over and after a while settle back to it's nominal size. I haven't gotten around to it yet though so don't know foolproof that is. but it is what the manufacturer recommends anyway.
> 
> cheers, Ian



That might work with nylon, but Teflon is a lot more temperature tolerant. The temperature of steam won't affect it so boiling it won't. Cast iron rings have a gap so I really don't think it will have much difference.

Gary


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## Rutje (May 21, 2013)

Nice work Gary,

Half year ago i build the same machine. I keep it as close as possible as the drawing because it is my first steammachine. 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAMRjQgSL4o&feature=player_embedded[/ame]

Timo


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## jwcnc1911 (May 21, 2013)

Looking fantastic!  I love what you did to get an extra thread on that nut in post 43.  I've done this several times when the total depth of thread will literally only allow for a thread or two.  Your killing me how close you work to your vise jaws by the way!  Make you some soft jaws man!


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## GaryK (May 23, 2013)

jwcnc1911 said:


> Your killing me how close you work to your vise jaws by the way!  Make you some soft jaws man!



Soft jaws are for wimps!  30+ years and I have yet to hit them.

Seriously, I ALWAYS check for clearance before I ever do anything near the jaws.

The press together crankshaft doesn't seem to work out like I had hoped so I will be making a new one.

I also got the engine running on one cylinder to test the timing for the eccentrics. I will be making two new of those also. The two will have the setscrew for adjustment.

So things will just take a little longer than I thought.

Gary


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## GaryK (May 24, 2013)

Here's the new crankshaft.

Made in a more traditional way. My press fit one just had too much runout. This one is a lot better!

I like to double pin the parts in place. It eliminates any pivoting like with a single pin.

You will notice I also cut a groove in one end. This is to keep the set screw in the flywheel from gouging the shaft.

I think I will also add grooves for the eccentrics also or maybe just a hole.








I have started cleaning everything up, but I still have the two eccentrics with set screws to make.

Gary


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## GaryK (May 26, 2013)

I thought I would give you an update on my progress.

I thought that since this engine was more of a show piece rather than a work horse I would make it look good. I have added what I call a "Random Jeweled" finish.

Here's a picture of it on my workbench.






I have it all cleaned up, assembled and working in both forward and reverse.

The only thing I have left to do is to add a lever to switch from forward to reverse. I'm trying to make it simple yet functional.

I should be done in a day or two.

Gary


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## GaryK (May 27, 2013)

Just under 6 weeks and it's finally done.

Here's some pictures:

































And finally a video to prove it works!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktq28UbOf9Y[/ame]

Gary


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## mikegw1961 (May 28, 2013)

Gary
That is very nice. 

Mike


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## davewaldo (May 28, 2013)

Beautiful. How do you achieve that finish and will you use a lacquer or coating to preserve it?

Thanks for posting so many photos!


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## canadianhorsepower (May 28, 2013)

very nice work, love it Thm:

Brass must be cheap were you live


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## GaryK (May 29, 2013)

davewaldo said:


> Beautiful. How do you achieve that finish and will you use a lacquer or coating to preserve it?



I used a small Craytex (rubberized abrasive) in a Dremel tool. I  also used a water based polyurethane on everything. Mainly because if  dries very fast and it's what I had.




canadianhorsepower said:


> Brass must be cheap were you live



Brass isn't cheap anywhere that I know of.  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Gary


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## mnay (May 29, 2013)

Great job!!!!!!


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## Septic (May 29, 2013)

PTFE is a superb material for the purpose although my personal preference is to use either a two part piston, or helical pressure ring in order to maintain a continuous seal around the cylinder, but that's more due to lack of confidence in my ability to get a good seal, than any doubts over the validity of using "split" rings...


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## GaryK (May 30, 2013)

Septic said:


> PTFE is a superb material for the purpose although my personal preference is to use either a two part piston, or helical pressure ring in order to maintain a continuous seal around the cylinder, but that's more due to lack of confidence in my ability to get a good seal, than any doubts over the validity of using "split" rings...


 
The ring fit tight in the cylinder bore before I cut it. Since I used a razor to cut it, no material was removed. After I cut it I placed it back in the cylinder by itself to check it and saw no gap at all. Any air that gets past the ring will be microscopic. 

Gary


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## Septic (May 31, 2013)

You'r solution to the problem is quite adequate Gary and I don't mean to suggest otherwise... 

Even though doing it your way, very little pressure could be lost, I'd be constantly worrying about it because I'm so used to working with high pressure steam and hydraulics, which would blow through the tightest razor cut in microseconds.

My mindset is far too rigid really and even though I should lighten up, I've been at it so long that I have real problems accepting ....  Anal doesn't really cover it in my case...


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## GaryK (Jun 5, 2013)

Septic said:


> You'r solution to the problem is quite adequate Gary and I don't mean to suggest otherwise...
> 
> Even though doing it your way, very little pressure could be lost, I'd be constantly worrying about it because I'm so used to working with high pressure steam and hydraulics, which would blow through the tightest razor cut in microseconds.
> 
> My mindset is far too rigid really and even though I should lighten up, I've been at it so long that I have real problems accepting ....  Anal doesn't really cover it in my case...



I can understand with hydraulics, but I'll have to take your word about the blow through using steam.
When I plan on actually running something with steam, I'll keep that in mind.

Gary


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