# Latest 'build' in progress -- Smitty 101



## bearcar1 (Apr 9, 2009)

Well, after being laid off from work I turned to the shop to pass the time away until employment would come around again and I settled onto this engine. I purchased the drawings about 17-18 yrs. ago and always had it in the back of my mind (I have a mind?) to build. The drawings were inked by a Bob Smith of Scribe and Co. based out of San Diego, CA. The plans are very well drawn and I have not found any errors whatsoever in my examinations of them. However, not being one to leave anything alone, I have made some major changes from the original plans and have more in the works. This engine will become a four column, double acting, upright, with a bore of 1.000" and a stroke of 1.800". It will sport a Stephenson valve gearing arrangement that will be changed by a small handwheel. (at least that is my plan) The brass flywheel is 3.000" in diameter and is 1.250" in width. The original plans called for narrower flywheel than shown and did not call for the outboard bearing block that I added in order to support the extra weight. The crankshaft is a piece of .250" silver steel riding in bronze bushings. The original merely had it running in square aluminum bearing blocks. The next step will be to machine the cylinder and columns and fabricate the bottom cover. There's plenty more to come so stay tuned.


----------



## Maryak (Apr 9, 2009)

BC1,

Nice start, good luck with the rest of the build.

Best Regards
Bob


----------



## bearcar1 (Apr 9, 2009)

Thank you Bob, I am taking a break for a few minutes here. I pretty much have all of the stock for this engine in my stash of bits and bobs. The valve itself is going to be a 'spool valve' type riding in a bore in the steam chest which I just now realized I do not have a piece large enough to make it from. Drat. It should prove to be an interesting exercise on the lathe as up until now I have really only dealt with the traditional "D" type arrangements that are more commonly used. The bottom cylinder plate calls for being made from a single block of brass but after looking at it for a while I have decided that it would be a whole lot easier as well as more economical to fabricate it in two separate pieces and silver solder them together. So far so good and I will most likely have it erected later this evening, providing I don't foul up somewhere. 

BC1


----------



## Philjoe5 (Apr 9, 2009)

Looking good so far BC1 :bow:. I too am starting on an upright, double acting, oscillating rotary valve engine. It's based upon a horizontal engine which I've built. I like the bearing block design you have. What is the overall height of your engine?

Cheers,
Phil


----------



## bearcar1 (Apr 9, 2009)

Here is the progress so far. Like some great skyscraper rising from a a hole in the ground so is this engine taking shape. It is 8.625" in height. Coming next will be the valve sheaves or straps as they are sometimes referred to as, and the eccentrics. I'm planning on using a simple fixture plate in the mill vise to shape the valve straps. Tomorrow is another day.


----------



## bearcar1 (Apr 10, 2009)

Well, This A.M. has been interesting but here are the results thus far. The two eccentric discs and the valve strap blanks have been made. Now my plan is to attach the straps to a piece of Aluminum bar being held in the mill vise using a steel filing button the width of the strap on the small end and a larger version with a shoulder to fit the larger hole on the big end. The idea being to use a .500" diameter end mill and remove metal until the cutter just nips the two steel buttons. Back down to the shop and hopefully I will have been successful in this adventure by this evening.

BC1


----------



## bearcar1 (Apr 10, 2009)

This session went rather well. I was able to finish machining the valve straps as planned as well as the valve plate that will drive the valve rod. The next thing that I think I want to tackle is the conrod bearing. It is a split bearing with a threaded spigot on one end to accept the conrod. After that I think I will move on to the crank webs and get them out of the way and silver soldered up. Enough of this levity for one day.


----------



## bearcar1 (Apr 11, 2009)

Today was a strange day to say the very least. I finished up the Conrod bearing and had brought it upstairs to photograph. The wife wanted to go to the store and I decided to tag along for the ride. Now here is where I went into the twilight zone. We went to the store and had an enjoyable time in the market and upon returning home I went to pick up where I had left off on the engine. BUT! I could not for the life of me locate the part that I had spent the better part of the morning machining up!  ??? NOWHERE! NADA! ZIPPO! Nowhere. :shrug: th_bs The *only* thing I can think of is that I must have put the damned thing in my pocket absent mindedly :-[ and went off on our road trip and the piece fell out of my pocket somewhere on the adventure. I was very upset :rant: to say the least but succumbed to the dismal fact that I would have to start over again and make another part. I even had the conrod installed on the thing. Anyway, here is number two for your viewing pleasure. This evening I am going to work upon making the crank webs, at least get them cut out. These will look similar to the counterweighted items found in lawn mowers. I am going to add some cheeks as the originals drawings only call for .250" brass pieces. Now I'm going to go make certain I still have this piece and secure it in a well lighted, secure place, lest it decide to vaporize itself.
BC1


----------



## Maryak (Apr 11, 2009)

BC1

Sorry to read about the missing part. :'(

It's almost a given that it will re-appear after you have finished making the replacement. ;D

Best Regards
Bob


----------



## bearcar1 (Apr 12, 2009)

One would certainly think that wouldn't they Bob. I have searched literally everywhere for this piece. I even went so far as to sweep and vacuum the rugs and floors from counter to wall, looked under the seats in the car and under the floormats, in the driveway, even went and retraced our steps to/from and inside the stores. That puppy is GONE. If it does show up later I will probably give it a huge heave ho in an attempt to launch it into orbit for all of the aggravation it has caused me. But, if that is the worst thing that happens on this winding road to mechanical nirvana, then I will count my blessings and move onto other challenges. 

Today, after wolfing down about a dozen hard boiled eggs with horseradish (and yes they were colored eggs) and returning home from the mother-in-laws stickpoke I was able to get the crank webs layed out on .250" brass plate and rough sawn oversize, to shape. Tomorrow holds the tedious job of final shaping and possibly attachment to the crankshaft, we shall see.


----------



## bearcar1 (Apr 13, 2009)

The crank webs and cheeks are done and boy do my hands ache from filing to final shape.  I layed them out and cut them to rough shape last evening from .250" brass plate and the cheeks from .125" brass sheet. The original drawings did not call for the cheeks but I did some initial weighing of the piston which I had made from a piece of bronze, leftover from another project :shrug: and the piston rod and decided that a bit more weight would be a good idea, just in case. I can always either mill material from underneath the cheeks or leave them off entirely if it comes to that but I am in hopes that will not be necessary in the end. Tomorrow is silver solder day and that should prove to be entertainment at its finest. Then it is on to the knuckle that will be used to join the piston rod to the connecting rod. I still need to locate a small chunk of brass for the steam/valve chest as I can see that is going to be a hold up in this project.

Till next time
Cheers

BC1


----------



## deere_x475guy (Apr 13, 2009)

Your coming along nicely bearcar1 and the parts look good. Good luck with your silver soldering.


----------



## Maryak (Apr 13, 2009)

BC1,

Nice webs and counterweights. :bow:

Best Regards
Bob


----------



## bearcar1 (Apr 13, 2009)

Gentlemen, I thank you for your words of approval, it is most appreciated and after seeing the work that you fellows do, it makes it that much more gratifying. ;D Tonight I did some initial woodworking and did some gluing up of a base for the beastie. I selected White Oak and at this point am undecided whether to leave it natural and merely seal it or use a slightly darker color wash on it. Decisions, decisions. 

BC1


----------



## bearcar1 (Apr 14, 2009)

To further the development of this engine build I silver soldered the entire rotating assembly together today. It went surprisingly well. The original drawings came with a simple method of keeping everything in line by stacking four identical square plates together and drilling two holes in them that match the spacing of the crankpin to crankshaft. These then would be setup on a flat surface several inches apart from each other and rods placed through the holes, capturing the crank webs in the process. I opted to forego this as: 1) I did not wish to sacrifice some good plates in order to do so and: 2) thought of a simpler (for me) method that would be faster as well. I faced off a piece of 1.000" Aluminum round and drilled a deep hole through the center. Then I parted it off into two separate pieces. I placed one of these 'barrels' onto the crankshaft rod followed by the two crank webs followed by the second Aluminum 'barrel'. I found that two .250" cutter bit blanks between the webs shimmed with a small piece of Aluminum can stock (I was afraid that brass or steel would get stuck somewhere I did not want it to be) gave me the correct width I needed for the conrod bearing. The webs had been drilled and reamed to .250", this coupled with the Aluminum 'barrels' kept everything square with the crankshaft and the two cutters were long enough to capture the crankpin and crankshaft together and kept them inline. Several small "C" clamps were used to hold everything firmly in place. I soldered up the crankpin first and let the pieces cool back down. Once this was done I removed the cutter/shim combination and proceeded to solder up the webs, allowing each to cool back down before continuing to the next. This was my insurance that nothing would become overheated and allow a joint that was previously soldered to slip. (don't you just hate it when that happens?) Once it was all cooled down and I could handle it, I chucked one end of the assembly in the lathe and proceeded to take a couple of passes across the edges of the webs in order to assure their concentricity. Then, the piece was affixed back into the bearings and they were then bolted securely to the base. This prevented any unwanted lateral movement from being introduced when I cut the crankshaft out from between the webs. A new blade in the hacksaw did the deed well and a follow up with a sharp file to get everything flush did the trick. Due care being taken not to scar up the inside surfaces of the webs. When I was satisfied with that I found that the conrod bearing was a bit tight on the crankpin and I eased the inside solder joint with a three sided scraper. The one thing that I had not planned on was that the additional cheeks I added would interfere with the outboard columns so I reduced the thickness of both of them by .060" and all is right with the world now. th_wav I have begun to fabricate the 'knee joint' coupler between the con rod and the piston rod. This will be a custom one off part as the drawings simply show those two parts having a flat machined on one of their sides for about .500", in a scissors joint type arrangement, with a bolt securing them together. I really don't like that arrangement much so am going to set about a more substantial set up. Wish me luck.

BC1


----------



## cfellows (Apr 14, 2009)

Nothing more pleasing than a well crafted crankshaft!  :bow:

Chuck


----------



## bearcar1 (Apr 15, 2009)

Yes Chuck, I am rather proud of my crankshaft *ahem* ;D It had seemed a tad bit fiddly at first but as the fabrication sequence proceeded it seemed to naturally start coming together. To this point the engine has been one of the most enjoyable that I have ever built as it has a straight forward and rather simplistic design. Well suited for a shop class type of project or that first engine from barstock attempt. Although if one were to have a look see at the original drawings and compare them to this engine, the only similarities would be in the overall design as I have taken quite a few liberties with this one and changed just about the entire layout other than the column supports and the cylinder, which by the way does not have any trunk or crosshead rails. It utilizes a long spigot as part of the bottom cover that extends down and has an unthreaded cap that is held in place by two, 2-56 hex head screws. This longer fitting acts to guide the piston rod and absorbs the side loads that are placed upon the piston rod while it is in motion. In the end of this spigot a wide countersink hole has been bored and this is where the piston rod packing is wound into. When the cap is torqued down it compresses the packing in and around the piston rod thereby establishing the seal, unlike the usual threaded packing glands that are more commonly employed. This I think is a throwback towards the designs that are utilized by our brothers in the UK on their engines. Today I am attempting to fabricate from scratch the knee joint to connect the piston rod with the conrod. :fan: yum. TallyHO!!!

BC1


----------



## bearcar1 (Apr 15, 2009)

with sweat pouring off his brow like a spring rain he emerges from the depths of the dungeon buried deep below his castle fortress...............  Whew! I thought I was living one of those dark novel readers for a moment and then I realized it was all my imagination  Actually, I just came up for a bit and to display the progress on the knee joint for this engine. I won't bore you with what has already been said in regards to how this part of the engine is handled but will begin by saying mine started out as a piece of .500" square brass about two inches long. I cut a small bit roughly .750" off this piece to be used as a mating part. I then held the longer piece in the mill vise and machined a mortise slot .250" wide and .250" deep. I then turned my attention to the shorter piece and after setting it square in the mill vise, proceeded to mill off two adjacent sides to form the tenon to match the slot in the previous part. Not terribly difficult but care had to be taken in order for them both to fit and still be able to be axially equal. That is, when I put the two together in preparation to soft solder them back together they would not be offset to one another. After soft soldering them together and a bit of a go on the sides with a file to remove excess solder, it was off to my trusty SB that awaited me along the wall. I don't own any square collets but after this, I am definitely going to invest in a small set of the standard sizes. I centered the whole affair in the 4-jaw chuck and then performed the ritual center drill, followed up with the number drill for the 10-32 threads that were to follow. I drilled just deep enough so as not to break into the connecting pin hole that was yet to be drilled. I also made a small center pop mark on the parts to indicate the common side. (these things come to you sometimes in a flash of brilliance) The next step was to thread the part and turn the spigot that would accept the piston rod. Are you with me so far lads ??? I removed the part from the chuck and turned the part end over and gripped the part by the newly formed spigot and repeated the same steps for this end except I did not turn a spigot but a tapered form that would be a bit more appealing than a square-ish looking edge. After removing from the chuck and carefully laying out the position for the cross pin I placed a center pop on the side of the cajoined pieces using a magnifying glass as this part needed to be spot on center. Now I don't know about any of you but I have in the past used quick set araldite (epoxy) to hold pieces for machining and I did that in this instance as well after facing off the end of a scrap piece of Aluminum rod in the 4-jaw chuck. Once the adhesive had set, I used a wiggler in the tailstock and a DI mounted on the tool post to center up the pieces in preparation of drilling the cross hole. VERY carefully and SLOWLY I center drilled, through drilled, and reamed the pieces to .125". To release the parts from captivity of their quick and dirty 'faceplate' I used a propane torch. The adhesive let go with this persuasion and before the pieces had an opportunity to cool down I applied more heat and separated the two pieces. The following photos show the radius that I am filing on the piston rod piece and have quite a ways to go still. I felt the conrod piece need to be deepened just a tad and did so, I need to clean that up a bit still as you can plainly see. These have been the most labor intensive parts to machine on this engine so far and I'm not done with it yet. Tonight's agenda is more filing and test fitting, followed tomorrow with more fiddling and fitting more than likely. I can hardly wait.


----------



## bearcar1 (Apr 16, 2009)

Today found BC1 picking up and continuing from where he had left off last evening. That was the final shaping of the knee joint pieces. Here I thought that this would be a simple enough process, make up a couple of filing buttons and settle in for a few hours of manual labor, but NOOO!  When I got it all shaped and it was looking good to me I attempted to fit it up and immediately found the pieces to be too large th_wtf1 to fit up under the cylinder. Now I have to admit that I had not really given a great deal of thought process into the makings of a one-off knee and had failed to measure the space that was available to me. Well oh boy howdy! I'm here to tell you there isn't a great deal of room to be had. It did not really matter originally as this was supposed to be a simple scissor type joint fastened together with a nut and bolt. Well I went to plan "X" as I had not really made a plan "A" so that meant that a plan"B" would be useless. :shrug: I had to remove about .125" off of the beautiful and freshly made conrod part and then had to turn off the spigot that connected to the piston rod side, as well as reduce the thickness of the shelf on that end. So much for 'custom' work. OK, with that accomplished, I trial fit the whole affair back into place and found that the shelf that I had just recently thinned down was interfering on the heads of the two hex headed bolts securing the packing gland to the cylinder. Now what was I going to do. scratch.gif Well, I took the part to the mill and machined two slots in the shelf to allow clearance. After again fitting the pieces up I found that now the bottom face of the conrod side was brushing against the crank webs. Gimme a break! th_bs I took the whole thing apart, *again*, and proceeded to turn off .025" off of the diameter of the crank webs and once again put it all back together. A test turn revealed that I still had clearance troubles at the inside edges of the web bottoms. Dammit! I remembered seeing full scale cranks having edges that were beveled and decided to try that. Took it all apart *again* and went to work on the webs with a sharp file and after putting it all back together "we had lift-off" as they say in the aerospace industry. Hallelujah! :bow: It all spins quite nicely now but there isn't a great deal of room to spare, maybe .020" on each end of the stroke. woohoo1 I forgot the camera in the shop and do not feel like going to retrieve it so will post some more pics later. I'm going to be shifting gears just a bit and work on the wooden base and nameplate pedestal as I am lacking a small chunk of brass to make up the steam chest from. This will hold me up from finishing the engine portion of the build. Then I have to deal with fabricating the reverse gear mechanism, drag links, idler links, etc. You can bet your bottom dollar, I'll be doing my homework on those as I sure as Hell don't want to go through another day like today :big: Rof} but then again, that would take all of the fun out of this hobby now wouldn't it?

BC1


----------



## bearcar1 (Apr 17, 2009)

I just realized that I had promised more photos for you lads. Here, for your viewing critique, are the latest in this quest for steam power. One thing is certain, digital cameras are SOOO  unforgiving in terms of showing quite starkly, every little flaw and spec that the human eye would normally dismiss. Anyway, I had used a rag to wipe off some oil smudges and it deposited all sorts of little pieces that I did not notice myself until viewing these. I apologize for that :bow: I mainly wanted to show what it was that has kept me in a state of th_wtf1 the past few days. Now for those of you who are just not too bright :shrug: yes, that is a small center drill point acting as a pivot pin. I have yet to machine a shoulder bolt to fit. Also, I wanted to show the Oak picture frame type base complete with pedestal for displaying the engine name plate and builder's tag. This will more than likely be all of the photos for a while as I am still in search of a brass chunk that will suit my purpose of machining the valve chest. Until I locate a piece that is to my fancy, this collection of pieces is headed for a place on the bottom shelf, not the top one mind you ;D . I have been busy machining the adjuster that links the reversing plate and the valve, but nothing fancy to report there and that step will be completed in short order. Enjoy (I hope)
Cheers

BC1


----------



## bearcar1 (Apr 17, 2009)

Two more showing the packing gland up under the cylinder that I did battle with and another overall view. 
Thanks for looking.
BC1


----------



## cobra428 (Apr 17, 2009)

Nice BC1
Do the plans call for the center drill as a pivot pin? Thm:
Tony


----------



## bearcar1 (Apr 17, 2009)

Hiya Ton', yeah that does look cheesy in there doesn't it. I prolly' should have just stuck a small piece of rod in there for the photos, but I have been so used to looking at the beast with that CD in there I did not think much of it at the time. Rof} Now I'm embarrassed. I think I will just go to my room now and medicate heavily. :-*

BC1


----------



## cobra428 (Apr 17, 2009)

I didn't mean to pick on ya :hDe: Now, I have to go home and medicate myself too :big:
Tony


----------



## bearcar1 (Apr 18, 2009)

ASOK, Ton', if you hadn't I'm sure one of the other lads would have had a poke at my foolishness. :big: This evening has found me sanding and applying a wash coat of color (provincial oak) to the base, then tomorrow possibly if it has dried sufficiently I will lay on the first seal coat of Varathane. Ah the aromas of distilled hydrocarbons, they'll set one upright in a jiff I swear. :bow: Maybe I can do some measuring and calculations on that reverse arrangement.


----------



## bearcar1 (Apr 20, 2009)

Well now lads, I've been stuck at idle stickpoke for several days due to the lack of a chunk of brass that I required to machine up the steam chest to this engine. And being extremely frugal (read that as CHEAP : ) I had been scrounging for something that would meet my needs and not cost an arm and a leg. Instead I think that I have come up with a solution to this predicament that will only cost me an arm. ;D After staring at the drawings for an incredible amount of time :noidea: and playing engineer in my mind, it came to me in a blaze of instantaneous enlightenment :fan: . Instead of using a piece of .500" brass for this, and believe me I was considering using two .250" slabs joined together, I could fab up a piece of .375" to house the valve spindle and then bolt a cover of .125" onto that to achieve the final results. By doing this I would also make it a great deal easier to set the valve timing and also eliminate one of the through holes for the steam inlet. YES, my boy! You are a genius! Rof} Why not. The rest of the design has more or less been 'bashed' th_rulze so why not go for broke. I'm off to continue my quest for ultimate and everlasting gratification. Now to take the lump down from the bottom shelf, remember not the top one, and dust it off. Let the games begin anew. Release the hounds!!! :big:

BC1


----------



## bearcar1 (Apr 24, 2009)

Hello lads, it's beena bit of a dry spell here as I was stuck on not having the bits and bobs I required and have been procrastinating the purchase of these items and fell upon a solution that I was just sure would cure what ails me. What is it that ails me anyway? No matter, after my last revelation, I set about the task of drawing up my modifications and was all ready to begin when it was than I discovered that I did not have a piece of 'THAT' size. th_wtf1 th_bs. I felt my world spinning before my eyes like a just thrown string top. :toilet: Now it was back to square one and a major letdown as well. A couple of days elapse and by this time I was pretty much given to the fact that I would be forced to fabricate up my part by hard soldering two slabs of .250" brass (yes I made certain I had them in the pile of spare parts ;D ) Today rolls around and I slovenly trudge my way down to the shop to begin this session and when I open the drawer to extract the pieces I had assigned, I noticed a sizable length of 1.000" square peeking out from behind its bubble wrapped cocoon. There it was, staring at me like, "you moron" oh: So much for my 160IQ. I had overlooked this bar in my initial search as it was bundled with some other pieces and I had missed seeing it. To make this story just a tad longer and to quench your burning desires of knowing what transpired, ??? I'll tell you. I cut a short length of the bar off and split it down the long axis and made two pieces. One was just over .500" in thickness and the other was, who cares really, I had what I needed. Placing the newly acquired prize in the mill, it was faced down to my desired thickness and that is where I will leave you hanging until I have successfully completed my mission. Jeesh, who would have thought this would become so complicated? Till next time, Cheers. ;D


----------



## bearcar1 (Apr 25, 2009)

Ahh, FINALLY! A feeling of accomplishment and the pictures to prove it as well. ;D Today's episode was enjoyable and my efforts were rewarded with the successful machining of the pesky piece that has been holding me up all this time due to lack of material (or my own stupidity, you can be the judge of that choice : ). Be gentle now. The first thing I did was to layout the hole that was to be the home of the valve spindle and after indicating the location in the lathe chuck I proceeded to use progressively larger drills up to just below the finished size and then used a reamer to finish it off. Now this may sound rather boring (oh brother, another pun  ) but remember, the hole depth was close to 2.500". When the party was over and the dancing girls had all left, the hole was spot on, meaning that my tail stock was dead accurate. Life IS good woohoo1. With that out of the way my palms stopped sweating and I was able to proceed with laying out the holes for the steamways. I do not have a DRO and times like this is when I Really, and I mean REALLY! wish that I owned one. I did it the old fashioned way, with a magnifying glass and a sharp scriber point. Everything checked and double checked and it was off to the drill table fo some more excitement. :big: With that step out of the way it came time for some serious mill work. This comprised of two slots to join up the intake/exhaust holes with the holes in either end of the cylinder to a depth of .050". OK so far, now the other side. This is where it got interesting to a point. I was, in previous episode, going to use a thinner block and put a cover on it to make up the difference. This would have eliminated the need for yet another through hole running parallel to the hole I previously drilled, which was not my idea of fun the first time around th_bs. This secondary hole's sole purpose in life was to join up the two steam admission holes on the opposite side of the part. Taking a few avante garde notions from before, I decided to inlay a cover and mill the connection between the two inlets as shown. All in all, it turned out rather well and now I am off to offer the silver solder gods some almages :bow: as that is coming next, joining the cylinder and this piece together and off to the races  once again.

BC1


----------



## Maryak (Apr 25, 2009)

BC1,

Looking good :bow: - nice marking out tools, that is a vernier height gauge. ???

Best Regards
Bob


----------



## bearcar1 (Apr 25, 2009)

Thank you once again Bob. The instrument shown in that second photo is a 6" digital height gage made by Starrett. I enjoy it, as it makes scribing layout lines a breeze. I have a 12" vernier in the drawer that sees little use as my aging eyes do not function like they once did. (too much porn I suppose) :big: The digital unit reads direct from the deck (0.000") up to just over 6.000" and has two carbide blades attached so that scribing lines or checking deck heights is quite simple. I use it for sheet metal work as well as it is VERY accurate as opposed to the usual steel rule, square, and scribe methods commonly employed. 

BC1


----------



## ChooChooMike (Apr 27, 2009)

Looking very nice there BC !! Keep up with all the pix and words  :bow:


----------



## Philjoe5 (Apr 27, 2009)

Thanks for the pictures BC1.  :bow:Keep 'em coming. You are giving me lots of ideas for my current build. 

Cheers,
Phil


----------



## bearcar1 (Apr 27, 2009)

Thank you kind gentlemen, ??? I find that pictures stimulate the imagination as well as providing a better means of sharing ideas than mere words alone. I forget to take photos a lot of times during the actual machining and do apologize for that. Last evening was spent fitting up a cover for the steam chest as well as laying out the holes to secure it. Today opens with a session of tapping the 2-26 holes and the start of the flanges that are being made custom for this engine. Other than the valve spindle, there is nothing left of the original prints to be followed here as the remainder will be strictly one-off type of parts gleaned from my rather furtive imagination.  And yes, you are correct Phil, 'two wrongs do not make a right'. 

postulo bis quod incidere quondum 

BC1


----------



## bearcar1 (Apr 28, 2009)

Having had to do some yard work th_bs in between rain showers this past few days has slowed my progress down considerably but today however I was free to wreck havoc upon the shop and I took good advantage. Thm: I had finished fitting the cover to the steam chest and tapped all of the holes already. Now it was time to make up the pipe flanges that would get secured to that item and I chose to make them out of .312" brass and I had a small bit in the bin that would do nicely for the job. I cut it in half and stacked the pieces together and soft soldered them to make one bigger lump. The first picture here shows this and the other miscellaneous consumables that I turned up as filing buttons. The larger pieces are about .375" in dia. and the smaller ones are just under .312" but you could change these dimensions to suit whatever it is that you are building. The second shot (sorry for the blurriness) 8) shows all of the pieces together and the filing pretty much all done. I had to place another screw in the threaded holes to keep the parts registered as by now I had filed the solder joint away and the pieces had separated. At this stage one has to be careful as to not get to hasty and be certain that all has been filed down to the buttons, ignoring to do so will result in a flange that is egg shaped etc.:big: The third demonstrates how I held the soon to be finished parts in the lathe by turning up a small stub mandrel from aluminum rod and holding the flange securely with a bolt threaded into same. I used a round nosed cutter I had ground to use on a previous project that had about a .125" radius. After taking several slow and shallow cuts to get the look I was after I noted the dial reading and set up the carriage stop so that the second blank could be merely bolted onto the mandrel and the carriage moved into the piece until it hit the stop and viola!! two indentical pieces. woohoo1 The list of things to do is getting shorter and shorter but what remains is going to be a bit time consuming and a bit tedious from here on. :toilet: Stay tuned.

BC1


----------



## bearcar1 (May 2, 2009)

Greetings once again to all of you fellow addicts of metal. :bow: After this, I believe that I am going to start keeping an extra pair of skivvies in the shop for after those moments of 'intense' stress. :big: Over the past several days I have been able to make some progress and for the most part it was enjoyable, although there have been some memorable times that with which I will not share, as they are mine and mine alone. :-X These adventures were related to the act of silver soldering up the steam chest with the cylinder and also the turning of one of the most critical pieces of any engine, the valve spindle.  Normally I merely place the parts to be joined together, flux, and go on about the task of soldering. These pieces had quite a bit of surface area and I wanted to ensure that they were bonded together adequately and so there was no internal leakage of the steamways. I also needed to be certain that the parts, after all was said and done, would be square to each other. th_rulze I used an old jewelers trick that I had seen done but had never tried and that was to cut small bits of solder and place them on the surface of each piece and then flux and apply heat until the solder flowed. After this was done I had a nice thin, even layer of solder on each mating surface. When the pieces had cooled sufficiently, I went about setting them square by using a V-block on the surface plate, this insured that the cylinder was upright and the outside edge of the block was used then to align the steam chest in the exact same plane. Once I had everything to my liking, I used a small C-clamp and held the parts together and applied heat once again to the lump until I was certain the solder had again become molten and had flowed sufficiently. Are you with me so far ???. I had purposely machined the steam chest .010" longer than called for so there was .005" overhang on each end that I turned off after the pieces had cooled down. In doing so I had gotten distracted when some AH called and hung up on me. This was enough to make me forget to double check the grip of the chuck and you guessed it, the cylinder got tossed out onto the table. th_confused0052 The damage was a gouge in one side of the piece and a scratch on the other. :rant: th_bs I'll deal with that later as I had an idea :idea: about bling-ing up a rather plain jane and uninteresting part of the engine anyway. This is the reason I stated for having an extra pair of shorts on hand. ;D The next day after calming down, I got to making up the studs for the flanges and the cover and decided to make a union for the steam inlet pipe. That went remarkably smooth and my confidence once again returned. Thm: Finally, today, I plodded to the shop knowing that I would have to conquer yet one more hurdle in this marathon to completion. The dreaded, spindle valve. :hDe: Now on the outside, looking in, one would think this to be a snap, but then after closer inspection you would find out that it isn't a bouquet of roses. The spacing has to be spot on and the small diameter of the beast is .060" Not a Helluva lot of support there for a LOT of overhang. scratch.gif I ground the tool pictured and it worked like a jiff after I finally thought about how to go about working the part. I turned the upper part of the spindle first and then pulled it out of the collet far enough to do the second. I also had turned the topslide 90* to the crossslide in order to be able to have some control over advancing the cutter in .001" increments as needed. After all of this, some extra fine wet/dry paper and some WD40, followed by some metal polish and the spindle fits extremely well. That's about all for now mates, and I'm off to see about doing some final fitting, or not. As I said before, it starts to get tedious the closer the finish line becomes. Now where did I lay that extra pair of shorts. :big:

BC1


----------



## bearcar1 (May 4, 2009)

Today was one of those days when the simplest of tasks seems to take forever to accomplish.  I finally found the tiny hex key that fits the 4-40 hex head grub screws and then proceeded to fit up the valve train assembly to the crankshaft. I had to first reduce the width of one of the collars as I had left it a tad on the long side. After getting the whole mess lined up under the valve stem it was time to quit for the day and that is as far as it went. I said in a previous post that things were going to get tedious from here on and that is exactly what has occurred. I'm still eyeballing and planning on how I want to go about making a handwheel and jackscrew to operate a drag link etc.
Tomorrow is yet another day in the life of a modeler. :big:

Best regards :bow:

BC1


----------



## Maryak (May 5, 2009)

BC1,

Is the drag link slot straight, or is it another photo distortion. ??? Most follow the curve of the rod radius; but then again there is a lot more I don't know than I do know 

Best Regards
Bob


----------



## bearcar1 (May 5, 2009)

Hi Bob, that is a goodly question. I wondered about that same thing but the drawings only called out a straight slot so that is what I went with. If it doesn't work out this way, I will have to remake the piece with the slot on an arc. There is still quite a bit of fiddling to be done before I am going to be happy with it. I have to machine the shouldered fasteners for the conrod/piston rod pivot (remember the small center drill? Rof}) and the pivot in the adjuster fitting. So very many things and so very little time. :wall: but it feels so good when I stop.


BC1


----------



## bearcar1 (May 11, 2009)

And yet another glorious day to all of you. :bow: As we begin a new week of interest, I thought I'd bring everyone up to date on the progress of the 'Smitty 101' build I am currently undertaking. As you all may recall a few posts back I had gotten distracted and wound up damaging the outside of the cylinder :fan: :rant: and had to figure a method by which to disguise the FU.  Well, after considering cladding the beast with some slats of Ebony wood that I have on hand I settled upon this idea of "beading" the outer surface like is seen on many of the older engines from the late 1800's. I once again forgot to take photos of the events but here is a shot of the jig I made up to achieve my goal. It consists of a short scrap of AL that got a .500" spigot turned on one end and a leftover scrap of .250" AL plate (explains the grooves and hole remnants in the photo) with a .500" hole bored in it and pressed upon the spigot. This was left in the lathe and the plate was turned down to the outside diameter of a piece of copper pipe I had laying around that had an inside diameter of 1.500", the exact same as the outside diameter of my cylinder. ;D After cutting three rings from the pipe I turned a small step on the AL spindle/plate that was a friction fit to the rings. Placing each one on the spindle/plate and squaring up each end and final finishing to .265" thickness, a nice round figure don't you think?, ;D a 60* bevel was introduced and it was off to the mill to cut the openings. It was apparent to me that the rings would not be held sufficiently so I returned the lump to the lathe and I drilled and tapped a hole for a 10-32 hex head screw. Now I could use a piece of AL bar and secure the rings to the fixture without the fear of them being pushed off. :toilet: I centered up the mill cutter over the stub of the fixture and advanced the piece accordingly so that when the singing was all over and the fat lady had gone home (alone), I had successfully created an opening .980" wide. The part looked like the letter "C" and it fit snugly upon the outside of the cylinder when offered up. Some flux, a little heat and some soft .027" diameter solder and all was right with the world once again. To be safe, I did each ring separately allowing each to cool back to room temperature before proceeding to the next, thus eliminating the risk of the joint between the steam chest and cylinder from becoming compromised. A bit of a lick with some emory cloth and a quick and dirty buff and Voila! 8) no more scarred up cylinder surface.  I had considered banding it with brass but decided on the use of copper to give a bit more of an interesting color to the overall appearance. The Ebony would have been sharp but I am afraid it would have left the impression of Abe Lincoln's hat sitting on some closet shelf. Rof} Also in these past few sessions I was able to replace the center drill I was using for a temporary piston rod pin, actually I used a center drill the same size that had become very dull. I merely ground the ends off and surfaced them with a stone to the correct length and used Loctite 620 and surface activator prep to hold it in the yoke. I've yet to get motivated enough to complete the making of the 2-56 studs to hold the valve cover on and the 4-40 studs for the top cylinder cover but that will wait for another day, or two...... :

Cheers to all until next time

BC1


----------



## 4156df (Jun 9, 2009)

BC1,

Don't know why I didn't see this post until today, but here's a belated "nicely done!" The copper looks just right and really dresses up the cylinder. 

Dennis


----------



## SignalFailure (Jun 10, 2009)

4156df  said:
			
		

> Don't know why I didn't see this post until today, but here's a belated "nicely done!"



Same here Dennis. It's clearly the ramblings of a mad-man. I mean, who would misplace a part and have to make it again? Who would bu$$er up a major part and admit to it? Who would confess that they enjoyed going to the market *and* spill the beans on their fantasy about having a couple of skivvies and a spare pair of shorts in the basement???

 Thm: :big:


----------



## bearcar1 (Jun 10, 2009)

Rof} Rof} Rof} Truly the rantings of a deranged lunatic with way too much time on his hands, that, or some maniac with a cotton fetish! :big: :big: 

BC1
Jim


----------



## bearcar1 (Aug 4, 2009)

Well now lads, it has been far too long since I posted about The Smitty. I have to openly admit that I for some reason or another had lost interest in it. Perhaps it was the fact that I was having so much trouble with conjuring up a suitable method of directional change in the rather limited confines underneath the cylinder platform. I really can't say. Anyway after resorting to quit a bit of stumbling scratch.gif and mumbling :redface2: I had retired the whole thing to the top shelf on the wall :hDe:. I began to feel guilty about that as it sat there looking lonesome and forlorn. It was even attempting to attract my attention, much as a sailor of old would get drawn to the rocky shoals by the songs of the sirens. Finally, I had to cover in up, lest I succumb to its alluring presence. That seemed to help but the spectre 8) remained and it wasn't until I received an email from a fellow member that said rather politely to give it another go stickpoke that I began to ponder anew how I could finish the job that was started so many months ago. Before i drew the curtain and abandoned the project, I had turned up a very nice grooved pulley from an old brake caliper piston that I had in the drawer and had made a nice tapered hub for it that I soldered in place Thm:. This piece, I placed on the business end of the crankshaft and took comfort in knowing that the engine could now transfer power to whatever device I deemed suitable. When the time came to recover from my hiatus I retrieved the engine from its high perch and placed it upon the work table and quickly found that I could not remove the pulley! It wouldn't budge one single iota . What had happened was the liquid flux I used to solder the pulley hub and rim together and taken up residence inside the bore and had begun to become rather intimate with the shaft, to the early stages of corrosion and had seized the pieces tightly. In my efforts with a gear puller to extricate the offending pieces from each other, it was then made apparent to me that the soldered joint of the shaft and the crank web was not up to the task and one side failed. th_bs I attempted to make it right but my efforts were for naught as no matter how hard I tried there was a tiny, perceivable wobble at the end of the shaft. Not wanting to have the thing look like some wheel on a clown car at the circus, the best solution to the problem was to install a brand new shaft. th_confused0052 I found that the solder I had applied did not stick real well onto the original shaft and in my own defense must add that I don't think that I allowed enough clearance for the solder to wick properly oh: and now after going through the motions of undoing the joints, cleaning them up and making certain there was space for the solder to flow properly, I have what appears before you now. Whew! I just need to saw out the central portion of the new shaft and have begun the agonizing process of hacking together some sort of mechanism to allow the valve plate to be moved forwards and backwards without binding. I know what I want to do but the columns are being uncooperative and are in the way, at least for now :toilet: Time will tell. Thanks Paul.

BC1
Jim


----------



## cobra428 (Aug 4, 2009)

Hi Jim,
I was wondering what happened to you on this engine. It's a really nice looker, so don't give up on her. 
Tony


----------



## bearcar1 (Aug 4, 2009)

Thank you Tony, I appreciate your kind words :bow:. Having to make another crank assembly seemed to fuel a desire to push forward and with some luck I will be successful in my efforts. I'm hopeful : that I will not have to 're-design' the outboard set of columns in order to reach my goal. Oh course I could merely go with the set-up as drawn th_rulze but would prefer not to resort to that if at all possible.


BC1
Jim


----------



## arnoldb (Aug 4, 2009)

At least a restart BC1  Thm:

Don't know why I missed this build of your's in the past - so had to go back a bit to check up on it.
And now I know why you said in my one (also sort-of-on-the-shelf-for-now :hDe: ) build why I've got your con rod bearing ;D

Regards, Arnold


----------



## bearcar1 (Aug 4, 2009)

Yes I am a bit 'up' now to get going again Arnold. Thank you for taking the time to re-hash this thread, and I still have my suspicions regarding that conrod bearing :big:. Today was short but I took a baby step in getting things in place. Here is the beginnings of the linkage, it is not yet cut to length but has been through drilled to clear a #3 bolt and I am undecided as yet if I am going straddle the rear outboard column or perhaps I can squeak it to the inside face of the column. I have a need now for some .030" brass strips to use as drag links that will mate up to that post on the valve plate. Figuring the length of those should prove to be interesting as well. I'll try to keep everyone up-to-date on the progress. Cheerio!

BC1
Jim


----------

