# My first engine...



## arnoldb (Apr 14, 2009)

I've been working on my first one for a while. Building a small steam engine has been a dream of mine for the past 30+years, and it is high time to start turning dreams into reality. 

I've been working (very intermittently) on it from the start of the year. First up was the cylinder & piston - both need some more work though. I finished the crankshaft this weekend, but will most likely have to redo it - I think it warped. That I'll only find out once I finish the bearing blocks and mount them on a suitable base though.

Still a lot of work left, but at least some progress ;D


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## ChooChooMike (Apr 14, 2009)

Warm Welcome arnoldb ! Good start on your engine 

Do you have plans to share with us so we can see what the engine will look like ??

Mike


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## cobra428 (Apr 14, 2009)

Looking Good there arnoldb!!!
So Far Soooo good
TonyR


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## arnoldb (Apr 18, 2009)

Thanks Guys. I have very rudimentary plans, but am improvising as I go along, depending on what material I can find here in Windhoek. I finished the bearing blocks today, and as I thought, the crank has warped - if I spin it in the bearings, there is a small but noticeable wobble, so back to the drawing board 

I think my problem with the crank was caused by the HRS I've been using - finding good steel here is a problem. So I've been thinking and had one of those "DUH" moments. Over the years I have collected & stripped a couple of dot matrix line printers - all the shafts & stuff was lying hidden in a corner.  Grabbed the thickest shaft I have and cut the end off it, and lo & behold - in the cut mark there are sort of "concentric circles" - indicative of CRS. The steel also cut cleanly on the bandsaw, unlike the rough cuts I normally get from HRS.

The shaft is too thin to turn a crank from in one piece though, so I'll now re-fabricate a multi-part crank and silver solder it together. Also, on the original crank, I made the big-end bearing diameter 12 mm (I only had a 12 mm reamer) - but this won't work well.

Well lucky me - this month, I get my 13th cheque, so I splurged a bit and this morning bought a 6mm reamer, a 4mm slot mill and a couple of 3.3 mm drill bits (for tapping 4 mm threads) on my credit card. Wasn't too bad - N$ 320; about US$ 33 - and all quality items manufactured in South Africa. So the big-end bearing can come down to 6 mm, and I think the new crank will be a lot nicer.

I might have to remake the cylinder as well (also currently made of HRS) - I spent some more time lapping it, but it still seems to eat brass off the piston... 

Oh well, all good machining practice ;D - attached some pictures of the warped crank & bearing blocks.


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## bearcar1 (Apr 18, 2009)

Oh yeah! ;D My don't they look great when they are all bright and shiny? Good looking bearing blocks and crank. I know what you mean about finding good steel on the cheap. A friend of mine recently ran across a pile of steel rods a contractor had left in the parkway in front of his house. They were .875" diameter and about 4' in length, they had cross drilled holes on the first 20" but the rest was solid. They were a bit rusty but not real bad from being out in the weather for who knows how long. Anyway he gave them to me (a dozen) and I had my doubts about the quality of steel, thinking that they would be either too hard or that they would tearout when I tried to turn them. Low and behold :bow: they cut like butter all the way to the center and would polish up with some emery cloth. I was amazed and happy to get such a find, you just never know what you are going to find lying around in the strangest objects.

BC1


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## arnoldb (Apr 20, 2009)

Thanks bearcar1 . You've got very lucky with those bars!. Nearly ALL work I've done so far was in HRS, and from what I've researched so far, I'm actually fortunate to get "some" sort of finish on it - maybe it's good practice for when I can get my hands on something better. Also, I think my skills at grinding toolbits from HSS is improving, and some manual labour on a fine oilstone afterwards definitely helps 

I 'phoned a local engineering company (once again) today about stock. The salesman said they have some CRS in stock, so I'll pop around there tomorrow to see what they have. This specific company' sales people treated me like s...t in the past, but the salesman I spoke to today was a lot more helpful.

Here it's not even about finding materials on the cheap - it's about just _finding_ it!

Regards
Arnold


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## bearcar1 (Apr 20, 2009)

I see that you are in the shadows of the AUAS Mountain region of the great continent of Afrika. I can only imagine what locating suitable materials can be like. May I ask what make or model of lathe it is that you are using? Keep up the search and I do so hope you are able to get your hands on the metal you need to finish your project. Good luck.

Cheers 
BC1


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## arnoldb (Apr 21, 2009)

Thanks BC1. Yes, I'm surrounded by the Auas Mountains - Namibia is a STUNNING country to live in. I've had many opportunities to emigrate to South Africa and even overseas, but this place is in my blood, so I'm prepared to be a bit inconvenienced to live here 

My lathe's a Myford ML7 from 1970. I'll have to get/make a new cross slide nut for it soon, it's a bit worn. I will actually make a feedscrew and nut combination, and add an adjustable index - that's why my avatar is of the acme thread - that was my first ever attempt at it 

Regards, Arnold


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## arnoldb (Apr 21, 2009)

Whoo-hoo :big:

I found the metal candy-store in Windhoek!

Racks full of stock - stainless, silver steel, cast iron, and brass ;D 
At first this engineering firm only wanted to sell me meter-lengths of metal. I asked the salesman for a walk-about in their store room to see what they've got & spotted their off-cut bin. So I asked him about buying the off-cuts & he agreed :big: - price was not too bad either. Once I explained to the salesman what I wanted the metal for, he was a lot happier (I think they might feel threatened that someone might be taking work away from them), and invited me back whenever I'm looking for stock 

Got some 6mm silver steel, a hunk of 120mm diameter cast iron (I'm sure there are 2 flywheels hiding inside  ), piece of aluminum, slug of stainless & a small brass off-cut! I have sleep-over visitors for the week so it would be rude to ignore them & go to the shop, but don't think I'm not tempted


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## mklotz (Apr 21, 2009)

Arnold,

I've mentioned it here before but it's worth repeating.

When you go scrounging for machining related items, slip one of your model engines into your pocket. When you inquire about cut-offs, scrap, etc., pull it out and tell the employee that you want the items to make more model engines like this one.

Most folks are astounded that anybody can make anything but they're particularly in awe of engines. I imagine it's the fact that engines are more than static constructions - they actually work. That impresses them.)

This tactic works for more than just obtaining stock. I've used a functioning model engine as a ticket to get into:

several engine rooms in ships
fabrication and repair shop in museums
jewelry fabrication areas
etc.


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## 90LX_Notch (Apr 21, 2009)

mklotz, I remembered your tactic too late this past weekend. I probably could have done better at a swap meet I attended if I had brought my Elmer's Tiny at 1/2 scale.  Still, I did alright after I explained to the vendor's that I make little engines as a hobby. One vendor let me get an original 1939 South Bend "How To Run A Lathe" book for $2.00 as long as I promised to take care of it.


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## mklotz (Apr 21, 2009)

If you had brought the engine, he would probably have given you the book. 

The best "tickets" are engines that run, especially LTD Stirlings and flame suckers.

My favorite sushi chef was so delighted with my Stirling running both on a cup of hot tea and on a saucer of ice that he didn't charge me for lunch.

Stirlings are a bit too intellectual for bars. That's where flame suckers shine - especially dark bars where you can see the flame entering the engine. Always good for a few free beers.

Of course, if you really want to strike it rich in the bar, take your home made martini mixer with you.

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/showthread.php?t=25247&highlight=cement+mixer


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## arnoldb (Apr 22, 2009)

Thanks all - Mr Klotz, great tip. My next build will be a tiny pocket-sized engine that can run on breath power


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## Kermit (Apr 22, 2009)

arnoldb  said:
			
		

> Whoo-hoo :big:
> 
> I found the metal candy-store in Windhoek!



A bit tougher to do than it is in a city like Houston. Well done Sir!


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## mklotz (Apr 22, 2009)

arnoldb  said:
			
		

> Thanks all - Mr Klotz, great tip. My next build will be a tiny pocket-sized engine that can run on breath power



The Duclos Huff 'n Puff 






will unlock any door.

BTW, no need for the "Mr. Klotz". I appreciate the intended respect but "Marv" will do just fine.


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## arnoldb (Apr 22, 2009)

Thanks Marv. That's a nice looking small engine :bow: - I'll keep it in mind
Regards, Arnold


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## JMI (Apr 22, 2009)

mklotz  said:
			
		

> The Duclos Huff 'n Puff



Nice! Can plans for that engine be downloaded?

Thanks

Jim


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## JMI (Apr 23, 2009)

JMI  said:
			
		

> Nice! Can plans for that engine be downloaded?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Jim



Found the book and ordered it 

Jim


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## arnoldb (May 24, 2009)

Wow - a lot of LIFE has happened since I last posted - (LIFE happens!  )
I've been working 12+ hours a day including weekends at my job most of the time, and was peeking in on HMEM in between server re-boots, and grabbing quick looks in evenings while making some grub. This has been causing some serious "Workshop Envy" , as I could not get around to my workshop!

Well, for a change I got something done. I took stock of what I had done so far, what materials I had available, and what needed to be done. Darn, the answers just did NOT add up. Closely examining the already made cylinder and piston, I could visually see tiny cracks in the HRS cylinder, so "duh" - that's why the piston was being eaten up... (I also think some lapping compound got stuck in there)

Some things are not worth doing, and continuing along my current course _definitely_ was not. So I sat down, and started re-designing for the materials I have. Lots of crap-o-cad, some minor calculations, and then on to QCad which I use for drawings on Linux. Some more fiddling, and I think I have something better, with adequate material available even if I make a couple of mistakes.

First off, a new cylinder: The parts I salvaged from old dot matrix printers contains ~20mm ID ~28mmOD "pipes" from the platten rollers - these are covered in a hard plastic. I have a a couple of those approx 50 cm long..., ideal for a cylinder, with minor honing required.

The storeman at the "metal candy-store" gave me a piece of free-machining aluminum (for free!) 50mm diameter 40 mm long - this would work for cylinder heads. While I was about it, I could just as well make a double-acting engine; not too much extra effort involved.

Last weekend, I finished the cylinder heads, except for the packing gland. I don't drink things out of cans, but when a friend came to visit that drinks a popular soda as mix, I forewent the normal plastic bottles and bought cans - I needed them for chucking workpieces on "finished" surfaces ;D.

Attached some pictures of what I did last weekend:
1. Machining external dimensions on part of the cylinder heads & the packing gland.
2. I used a soda can strip to chuck and center the machined part in reverse in the 4-jaw. Here I drilled 4 holes in the cylinder heads (to be) for pulling them together around the cylinder.
3. Parted a groove to fit the cylinder in the piece that was to become the "blank" cylinder head.
4. Completed cylinder heads & links. There's a couple of pictures missing in between; I'll have to set up a photobucket account to show more ;D

The "links" were also made from printer shafts - salvaged from the tractor feed shafts. I simply drilled & tapped them M3 on each end for the cap-screws.

Bolted together like this, if I suck on the "open" end and stick my tongue in the hole, the whole assembly stays hanging on it, so pretty much a good seal, even without packing .


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## arnoldb (May 24, 2009)

Carrying on from previous post...

Thursday was a public holiday here in Namibia as well, so I got some more done 

Finished the packing gland and nut - sorry, forgot to take pictures. Not much for a day's work...

I drilled, bored & threaded the cylinder head gland part for M10x1.25 (I chose the metric fine, as it is a finer thread & I happen to have taps and dies for this, as I needed to buy them for making some parts for putting a new engine in my old Toyota Hilux; the Japanese seem to have an affinity to metric fine threads.

I fabricated the nut from a piece of round 3/4" brass, and finished off the hex-head using the dividing head and a threaded arbor I made for machining a new clutch arm pivot for aforementioned Hilux.

Today I made a couple of laps from broomstick to hone the cylinder - one for coarse compound, an an identical one for fine compound. As I don't have a SWBDMO, I rule the kitchen, so I got some aluminum foil to cover the bedways & important parts while lapping. Each lap also has a split sawed in the end, so that I can use a wood screw to turn in to increase lap-size. Turns out, I didn't need that . After finishing with each lap, I used more kitchen consumables - known as cling-wrap, and after marking the lap with the compound used, wrapped it up, "just in case".

Well, things were going too smoothly... With lapping done on the cylinder I had a "Arnold, you're a Freaking IDIOT" moment. I've been carefully planning on how to do everything, but it seems over-eagerness got the better of me...

I was actually planning to first mill a flat on the cylinder for the steam passage connection, and drill the steam ports _BEFORE_ lapping - this makes sense doesn't it? Well, I didn't do it :-[ - so, I have burrs on the inside of the cylinder after milling the flat and drilling the holes. For now, I used a grinding stone in the Dremel to clear that, but if it is not good, I'll have to redo the cylinder. Ah well, LIFE happens ;D

As I don't have a milling machine yet, all milling operations are confined to the Myford and the vertical slide. My plans were to use a piece of 20x16 brass bar to make the steam passages and valve block, but I could not get any - at least not in my current financial bracket. I was thinking of using a steel solid for this, but, fortunately, before I tried to tackle that, I had an idea :idea:. I have a 200mm long piece of brass tube 100mm OD 60 mm ID my dad left me here when he retired. Can't I coax a bit of 16x20x39mm rectangular brass from that? Well, some measuring, drawing and bandsawing produced it :big:. I first sawed of a 50mm long disc from the original. This I mounted on-end in the bandsaw and sawed of a part as in the one attached picture. The left-over piece can be coaxed into more rectangular/square bits, so not too much of a waste - I don't think I'll need the original size too much, except for making flywheel outer rings like Foozer 

As the Myford & vertical slide was set up nice & square for milling the flat on the cylinder, I just fly-cut the hacked piece of brass as well. Tomorrow, I'll carry on with cutting the steam & exhaust passages in the block, as well as the valve cylinder if possible.

Pictures:
1. The coarse wooden lap after use.
2. Coaxing a piece of round brass tube to give up a rectangular section :big:
3. Fly-cutting the above brass to a rectangular block. (I made the fly-cutter as one of my first lathe projects. This year, we had far-above normal rainfall which leaked into puddles in my workshop. A lot of my "things" rusted  - I'll have to spend some quality time de-rusting everything (Marv has a good solution for that  )
4. Where I was tonight - Cylinder assembly,packing gland finished, and brass block for valve & steam passages part-way. Flat milled on cylinder and ports drilled.

Now, I need to make some grub and pacify Shrek the African Grey parrot who owns me, and is insisting on some cheese, potato and apple ;D


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## Maryak (May 25, 2009)

Arnold,

Looking good. :bow: :bow:

Did you have any problems with taper using a wooden lap ??? ???

Best Regards
Bob


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## arnoldb (May 25, 2009)

Thanks Bob. 



> Did you have any problems with taper using a wooden lap Huh? Huh?


Not so far as I can establish. I make the lap long enough that the entire cylinder can be moved completely from one side to the other on it. With the lathe in high back-gear speed, and left hand on the clutch, I use my right hand to run the cylinder up and down the lap in side-to-side passes, and also allow it to rotate slowly while I do this. I can "feel" the tighter spots, so lap those slightly longer, until all feels even.

I know this is not the best way of lapping, but it is the best I could come up with for what I have available. ;D

Regards, Arnold


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## arnoldb (May 30, 2009)

I found some time to do more today :big:

Finished the valve block with it's steam passages - no real drama,but lot of careful cross-drilling. I have not yet started making up a set of drills with the cutting edges flattened for brass, so I had to be very careful, especially when joining up in angles  - first picture shows the completed block.

I have not yet practiced silver soldering, but with the knowledge gained from other threads here on HMEM (thanks guys :bow: ) I decided to give it a try. I filed a groove between the steam ports on the valve block on the face that needed to be soldered to the cylinder to make sure enough solder would wick get in there to "seal" the separate ports. Then thoroughly cleaned both surfaces, made and applied flux. I then tied the pieces together with binding wire to keep them in location and started heating the whole lot. 

Here the drama started  - my gas torch turned out to be too small for this job - I could not get the heat high enough, so I stopped & thought...

I have a portable butane/oxygen gas welding set as well - but the butane bottle was empty. I suddenly recalled the original owner telling me there was a fitting for the butane bottle to let it be (partly) refilled from a lighter-gas refill bottle. Found the adapter, so dashed to the convenience shop close by and bought a bottle of lighter gas. Refilled like a charm 

So I set everything up again, with the gas torch positioned on a platform and playing heat on the whole lot. When I saw things were as hot as they were going to get, I fired up the portable gas set. By applying it's more direct heat along where I wanted the silver solder to go, it started to melt and wick in  . It didn't turn out to be a very good job, but it worked, and I got things soldered - Picture 2 (UGLY!!!)

I then spent a good deal of time with water and Wet & Dry paper to clean thing up - a bit of work, but rewarding in it's own way. I had to re-lap both the cylinder and valve cylinder to get rid of the "nasty stuff" from the torching 

I also made the piston and half of the piston rod - that was easy for a change!

Picture 3 shows my progress so far with everything assembled - some light oil for the piston, and when I move it there is a VERY rewarding sound of air running through the steam passages woohoo1

Pic 4 shows everything disassembled again. Sunday I have to do the chores - cleaning the house, ironing et al, and I have out-of town visitors coming over, so I'll have to play the good host. So most likely no further machining until next weekend; I can't wait to get the valve done to see if it will actually work ???


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## Bill Mc (Jun 3, 2009)

Hi Arnoldb

    Not only is your engine coming along just fine but the plans you are drawing up look just fabulous. - Bill Mc Kinley


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## arnoldb (Jun 4, 2009)

Thanks Bill.

I'll upload the plans once the engine's a runner & I "adjusted" the plans for some minor design changes I've had to make so far ;D


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## bearcar1 (Jun 4, 2009)

Greetings AB, Those pieces of engine are looking quite nice. Well done. I truly enjoy hearing about and seeing a man do such fine work with what materials and tooling one has at hand. Bravo! It is too bad that you had to begin again but then you at least were wise enough to realize anything else would have been a waste of time and material and did a re-group and continued to this point successfully. Tally Ho!

Cheers
BC1


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## arnoldb (Jun 4, 2009)

Thanks BC1 

At least the "restarting" does not bother me too much - I learnt a fair amount about my lathe, how she handles, and how to do things 

Regards, Arnold


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## arnoldb (Jun 7, 2009)

Well, got some more done today 

Not much though, I finished the valve piston (on the second try  ) - I have to post a new message in the "boo boo" section :-[ )

The first photo is of drilling the port-holes into the valve cylinder. Had a nice (for me) surprise there... I located the bottom of the vice jaw on center, and being lazy, I just decided that I'd take the reading on the vertical slide to locate the center of the piece. Diameter of the piece is 12 mm, so converted to thou's & turns (my Myford IS imperial...) turned down the vertical feed. Had a quick look and things were NOT right; I expected to visually see the center drill, well, on center, and it wasn't even close! Recalculated & relocated - same thing - th_wtf1 , but interesting.

So I measured the threads on the vertical slide, and this was the surprise for me - my vertical slide is metric - not imperial, as I expected. This is nice, as I'm a "metric heretic" ;D - which makes my life a lot easier!.

Well, proceeded to do things and basically finished the cross drilling. Some slots needed milling, so, knowing I cannot use the normal chuck in the headstock for milling ( Dont ask! :hDe: previous experience :-[ ), changed to the 4-jaw chuck. Proceeded to mill the one short slot; no problems. Turned the valve around, and started on the longer slot on the other side. My 4mm cutter decided it's NOT a fun-day, and walked right out of the 4-jaw, and pierced the slot on the other side... BOO-BOO (picture 2 - part in bottom) - ruined the piece.

So I started from scratch, and eventually finished the valve. Not pretty, but will do. My lathe's got a good amount of play on the headstock bearings, so milling of any kind is risky and produce erratic results. Picture 2 (top piece) shows the "usable" valve piston with these erratic results - horrible, isn't it?. Picture 3 shows the cylinder turned 180 degrees - at least that part of milling was better...

The valve piston works like a charm in the valve-block - I expected a lot less, the way it looks... 

After the valve, I started on the piston rod cross/head link. That came out OK, but guess who has got some filing in his future to finish it  - picture 4.

Lessons learned today...
1. Double-check feed screws on machines/tables...
2. Tough one... Don't over-tighten the 4-jaw, but don't under-tighten it either - better yet, get/make a collet chuck...
3. I need a milling machine :wall: :wall:

Regards, Arnold

PS, anybody noticed me using a toolbit as a spacer? - that cheapy threading bit shred her tip the first time I tried to use her - so only good for spacing now ;D
Ohh.. 'Nother lesson: Need parallels... need money!

Pics:


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## arnoldb (Jul 8, 2009)

Been a long time since I posted anything; now I'm back to annoy everyone 

Shop-time has been scarce, so progress is a bit slow; I have leave for the rest of this week, so shop time might be more 

At least I got around to finishing the cross-head links, connecting rod and crankshaft webs.





A close-up of the big-end bearing "thingy" ;D - When I look at it it looks good to me, but my camera speaks too much truth on macro mode





I machined the crank webs as a single piece from a very BIG (50mm) bolt I had available, and then used the bandsaw to cut it in half to get the 2 webs. The cut sides then needed facing, which I did on a quickly-made expanding arbor. For the arbor, I just turned a scrap piece of HRS down to size with a nice shoulder, then drilled for a 6mm thread, and tapped using the 1st & second taps, and only a couple of threads in with the final tap. This left a nice tapered thread. A quick trip to the bandsaw to split part-way length-wise, and "Maryak's your uncle" to quote another member of the forum  Next photo shows one of the webs on the arbor after facing.





This morning I finished the main shaft for the crank - assembled for silver soldering:





Things were going too well - after my earlier experience with silver-soldering, I know I need my oxy-propane set, but the propane bottle is empty. Went to the local gas supplier to get it refilled, and they said "Sorry sir, we cannot refill those bottles anymore - we don't have the fittings for them" :wall: - that is the same company that sold & distributed them!
My only option is to fit the LPG regulator to one of my "camping" gas bottles (I have a lot of those). Problem is, I could not find any adapters to do this, so some more work is needed to make an adapter. I have a couple of "jet-cleaner" adapters that you take the jet out of the gas stove/light, screw into the cleaner, and onto the bottle. The jet is reversed, and when you open the bottle, the jet is "cleaned" if it was clogged. I can modify one of those to work as an adapter, but I need a 14x1.5mm tap for that. Nobody in Windhoek stocks it... "Special Order" only. Well, I spent some time (well, this entire afternoon) to single-point turn the beginings of tap out of silver steel; it should last for a one-time threading into brass without being hardened. Tomorrow, I'll mill & grind it to make cutting edges.





One of the items I started needing a lot was a marking-out platform, so I also splurged on a thick piece of 400x600x12mm glass today for just that purpose:





Regards, Arnold


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## Maryak (Jul 8, 2009)

Arnold,

Very Nice work. :bow: and thanks for the honourable mention.

Best Regards
Bob


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## arnoldb (Jul 9, 2009)

> Arnold,
> 
> Very Nice work. bow down and thanks for the honourable mention.
> 
> ...



Thanks Bob - I really appreciate the feedback.

Regards, Arnold


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## arnoldb (Jul 9, 2009)

I proceeded to finish the tap for the gas bottle fitting this morning - instead of milling the flutes on the tap, I just took the dremel & a fibre cutting disk to it - came out OK.
Tried to tap the brass adapter after drilling & boring correct size hole in it, and the tap would just jam up on start-up, so just used the bench grinder to remove some more of the metal behind the cutting edges. After this, tapping went in OK, but that brass squealed like a pig getting slaughtered.
Pretty much the crudest home-made tap:





With my gas works sorted out, I could now get back to my engine. Time to solder up that crank. Fluxed & ready for heat:





My camera's batteries became flatteries at this point, so no further photos of the day's work.
Maybe that is fortunate - things didn't go according to plan, and sensitive forum members should be spared the sights (and sounds) of what happened.
I had silver solder on parts of the assembly where I didn't want it, and in a couple of places I didn't have any where it was needed.
Some enlightenment did come towards the end of my efforts, so I took things apart and cleaned up again. Tomorrow I'll have another go; I have a good feeling about that 
For now - on to some of the good liquid produced in Scotland and some grub 

[Edit/added] I went back to http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=4903.0 and I can kick myself. I wish to humbly apologize to the members of this forum who contributed to that thread for getting nearly _everything_ wrong from the great advice you gave. :bow: Tomorrow I'll do it right!


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## arnoldb (Jul 10, 2009)

Another Miserable day in Windhoek - Weather-wise that is. In the workshop things went much better.

I cleaned all the crank's parts, and made a new crank pin. Then made a couple of punch marks on the circumference of the main shaft roughly on the webs' center lines and slipped them on; they stayed put in their places. Gave the new crank pin the same treatment.

Then I set to work with the tippex marker to mask off some lines & circles - result shown below. Must have made a very big boo-boo; I've never used so much tippex in my life :big:





Started fluxing; made the flux paste a little thicker than on previous occasions, and it stayed nicely in place, even if upside down:





Yesterday I realised I don't need the assistance of the small propane torch I've been using to try and heat up the assembly; Just use the oxy/propane set at a good whack. Get the flame below the parts to be soldered, and move it around to heat things up to a nice red glow; the flux then goes clear and start to flow; a bit more heat, and a dab with the silver solder rod, and voila - I still used too much silver solder though ;D
First web soldered - still glowing red hot; the camera flash makes it look a lot colder than it is:





After this, I just turned the whole assembly upside-down, added some more flux to the rest of the joints, heated & soldered. I got MUCH less of the oxidization I had than when I used the other torch to help heat up the assembly, so overall I'm happy.

I then proceeded to clean up the main shafts and web outsides - the silver-steel crank pin hardened up a lot with all the heating, so made for some interesting times on the web facings; a file still takes material off it easily, so it's not too hard&brittle - actually a good side-effect.
I then used my slitting saw to remove the main shaft part from between the webs:





Then I decided I must show some grit for a change, so I filed & sanded & sanded ;D
So this is where the crank is at tonight - not perfect, but it will do for me for now:





And a special THANKS GUYS to Paul, tel and gbritnell for the silver-soldering tips!

Regards, Arnold


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## RobWilson (Jul 10, 2009)

Great work arnold really like the look of that crank Thm:
Rob


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## kustomkb (Jul 10, 2009)

Very nice, well done!


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## Paolo (Jul 10, 2009)

Great work..a very attractive crank shaft design...!! I like it!!
Best regards 
Paolo


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## Maryak (Jul 10, 2009)

Arnold,

Nice crankshaft. :bow:

Best Regards
Bob


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## arnoldb (Jul 11, 2009)

Rob, kustomkb, Paolo & Bob - thanks very much for the kind words and interest.

Kind Regards, Arnold


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## bearcar1 (Jul 11, 2009)

Ah there is nothing like having a good crank (snicker) Great looking job you did there Arnold, I can't wait to see the engine when finished. Say, that conrod bearing looks suspiciously like the one that disappeared on me, how'd it get there? :big:


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## arnoldb (Jul 11, 2009)

bearcar1  said:
			
		

> Great looking job you did there Arnold, I can't wait to see the engine when finished.


Thanks Very much BC1 - and neither can I!



			
				bearcar1  said:
			
		

> Ah there is nothing like having a good crank (snicker)


 Rof} - at least I have one good one now :big:



			
				bearcar1  said:
			
		

> Say, that conrod bearing looks suspiciously like the one that disappeared on me, how'd it get there? :big:


Hmm... "Postal Service" ? - and they went and outdone themselves on the value-add; they lumped it up in an excess block of brass & I had to dig it out! :big: :big:

Kind Regards, Arnold


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## arnoldb (Jul 11, 2009)

Not much done today... Started on the base for the engine, from some pieces of flat bar.

All ready to be welded (at least my stick welding is better than my silver soldering :big: )






Weld cleaned up with my small angle grinder; turned around, another weld & cleaned up:





After some effort with a flap disk in the grinder:




I'm pretty sure my neighbors will be glad that's done!

Started making the crank bushes, and ruined it on the last cut; under size on the OD :rant: - and that was some phosphor-bronze! - Oh well, more stock for smaller future engines.
Regards, Arnold


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## arnoldb (Jul 12, 2009)

Some progress - Re-started & finished the crank bushes. My fiddling with the crank means that the main shafts came out too far below the 10mm they were supposed to be, so I did the next best thing...

I didn't have a small enough boring bar, so made one from silver steel, hardened it on the tip only. I didn't bother to temper - just climbed in with the oilstone and got good sharp finishes on the cutting edges. Then with some patient cross-feeding & tiny (not even 1/4 thou) infeed, got the bushes smack-on with a nice ID finish.

Close-up of the boring bar - the specks of "gold" is swarf from the final cuts:





Installed the bushes in the bearing blocks - crank runs nicely in them. A lot of marking-out on the base, bearing blocks and cylinder mount ensued - below is where I ended off today:





Well, tomorrow it is back to work - wish I had a couple more off days!

Regards, Arnold


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