# Pacific Vapor Engine from Morrison & Marvin Castings



## idahoan

Hello everyone,

First I want to say how much I have been enjoying everyone&#8217;s build threads and I know that I don&#8217;t comment on them and the updates nearly enough. There is really a lot of great work going on here (My favorite place on the net).

So I thought I would start a thread on my current project; it is an 1890 Pacific Vapor Engine from Morrison and Marvin castings. The engine was originally modeled by Lester Bowman who did a beautiful job making patterns and drawings. Lester made an engine for himself and there may have been some extra castings produced at that time but I don&#8217;t know for sure. 

Roland Morrison took Lester&#8217;s (beautiful) original wood patterns and has been painstakingly using them as masters to create foundry proof match plate patterns from Dyanacast resin for a small run of castings. 

The castings that I am using for my engine are from Morrison & Marvin&#8217;s new match plate patterns.

This is apt to be a long build because; well I have a real job, family and other things that take up my time. But I am committed and will do my best to keep on track.

I have a few parts made to date so for a while I will be playing catch-up. I started with machining the base (seemed logical) so that is where I will start this build.

Dave 






The base casting as received





Indicated, shimmed and ready for the first cut.





Clean up cut of the top surface





Flipped over and the bottom cleaned up 





Then a light skim cut with the Newfield flycutter for a nice finish





Set up to drill the mounting holes





Indicating the base prior to drilling the air intake hole pattern.





In the process of drilling.





Chips removed; Nice!





Here is the finished base except for the body casting mounting holes and intake pipe hole which will be drilled and taped later; after the body is machined.

The Pacific engines have this unique and pleasing diamond shaped air intake hole pattern. The air intake pipe will be plumed into the base where the engine will pull its air from. 

I guess some of the early engine manufactures felt the air in the confines of the base would be cleaner.

More to follow and thanks for checking in,
Dave


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## rudydubya

Thanks for sharing your build here Dave. I'm looking forward to following your progress. That's going to be one classy engine.

Regards,
Rudy


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## vcutajar

Hi Dave

Interesting engine. I have already pulled up my seat. All I need now is some popcorn and a softdrink.

Vince


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## lazylathe

That looks to be a fair sized engine Dave!

Nice way covers that you made for your mill too!!! ;D

Can you tell us a bit more about the machines you are working on?
And maybe a pic of a completed engine?

Consider another chair pulled up to watch along!

Andrew


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## b.lindsey

HI Dave...certainly looks to be a very interesting project and judging by that base casting, some nice materials to be working from too!! Will be following along with much interest.

Bill


Edit: here's a link to the website showing the engine: http://www.morrisonandmarvin.com/pacific.php


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## compspecial

They appear to be lovely castings Dave, machine beautifully too!
                    Stew.


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## rhitee93

I'm in for the ride. That is a great looking base design. I can't wait to see the rest


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## idahoan

Thanks for the interest in my project and the kind words.

The Pacific is a rather unique engine with several interesting features. First is its pleasing bottle frame; the engine is a gearless 4 stroke design using a crossover cam located on the crankshaft. Attached to the crossover cam is a secondary lift cam which opens the exhaust valve. There is a piston trip ignitor along with a primitive surface carburetor. The fuel mixture is controlled by gas and air cocks in the intake plumbing.

Bill,
Thanks for posting the link to the Morrison and Marvin web site; both of those engines are fantastic pieces of model engineering; I can only hope my engine turns out as nice.

Andrew,
As far as my machines at home; I have a 9x42 Acra Mill (Bridgeport Clone). I purchased it new in 1987 and converted it to 2axis CNC about 10 years later. I have recently within the last year or so been running it with Mach3 software.

My lathe is a Weiler Condor; it is a nice German toolroom lathe (13" X 32") that I purchased from my employer around 1997.

Along with these I have other small machines one would find in a home machine shop. Band saws, belt sander, drill press, etc.








Here is a shot of a full-sized Pacific taken at one of the California Gold engine shows.

Next up; work on the cylinder.
Dave


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## idahoan

I started work on the cylinder next because the body casting hadnt been received yet. Quite a bit of time was spent fettling (sp) before the machining was started.

I ended up flipping the cylinder end for end a couple of times because I wanted to make sure I didnt back my self into a corner. There was minimal material on the OD at the top above the exhaust valve boss and I wanted to be sure it was running as true as possible.

Considerable time was spent indicating to be sure every thing was going to work out ok.





Here the cylinder is set up and aligned in the 3 jaw chuck for the initial cuts.





A skim cut was taken in the bore to clean it up and also a cut on the OD of the flange so there would be something to indicate when the cylinder was flipped around. Both of my 3 jaw and 6jaw chucks are set tru chucks; which makes them nice for this type of work.





The bottom end of the cylinder was roughed out and the cylinder flipped back around and chucked up on the newly machined skirt.





Now the bore is brought to with in .010 of final size.






Flipped around yet again (and indicated in) the register surface was cut under the cylinder flange. I dont remember why I didnt do this on the first set up; but I'm sure I had a good reason.










In the same setup the bosses for the water jacket cover were machined to size.






A final cut was taken in the 6 jaw chuck to bring the bore to the proper size for the shrink fit of liner.


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## idahoan

I decided to drill and tap the water ports before the liner was installed so there would be plenty of space for the pipe tap. They are tapped 1/6&#8221; NPT which is also the same as 5/16-32 MTP.





Here is the cylinder set up in the mill to tap the water ports. The exhaust valve chest mounting boss had previously been milled. This is used as the angular datum for the bolt patterns and the other ports, water, intake, oil, and ignitor ports.





I didn&#8217;t take many pictures of the liner machining; here is an early shot drilling the cast iron bar stock.

The liner is a pretty straight forward turning job; however I did leave it a little long so I could face both ends after it was installed in the cylinder. About .005&#8221; was also left on each end of the cylinder for a finish pass after liner installation. This created an almost invisible joint.





With the liner now installed and bored (.003&#8221; was left for honing) the bolt patterns are being drilled. Notice the exhaust valve chest; mounting boss is positioned against the fixed jaw of the vise.





Now the cylinder is flipped over and indicated in to drill and tap the head stud circle. The two smaller holes are water passages; they intersect the water jacket space and will feed water to the head.





Here is the mostly finished cylinder. Left to do at this point is to finish the exhaust valve chest, mounting boss but I will wait until the valve chest is machined. The water jacket cover mounting holes need to be drilled and tapped and the ignitor holes finished.

Also completed at this point are the two oiler holes drilled and tapped ¼-40 MTP and the intake port drilled and tapped 1/16&#8221; NPT

Thanks for checking in.

Dave


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## idahoan

A beautiful set of lost wax cast bronze water jacket covers were included in the casting kit. These covers are cast-flat and need to be bent to fit the curvature of the bosses on the cylinder. I wanted to bend them before the holes were drilled because I was concerned the holes may cause problems in the bending operation.






The covers were milled to length plus .005&#8221; for a cleanup cut after they were bent. Also at this time the mounting holes were spotted for future reference.






I made some quick and dirty tooling to bend the plates in the arbor press. The bronze is quite springy and needs to be over-bent due the spring-back. I guessed about 10% and hit it pretty close.





The press tool was made from a piece of Nylon that was in the scrap box and worked great. I did an initial bend without the pocket for the letters and it didn't work to well so a pocket was cut to clear the letters and it worked much better. The aluminum mandrill also from the scrap box already had the shoulder on it which worked well to keep the cover square with the bend axis.





Another piece of tooling was made to hold the covers for machining. It was turned to the same diameter as the pads on the cylinder. I transferred the 5C chuck from the lathe to the spin-indexer in the mill without removing the mandrill to insure concentricity.
Not shown in the pictures is that the top and bottom center holes were drilled in the vise after they were bent.





The indexer was used to roll the cover to the left and then to the right rows of holes. The covers were clearance drilled and the mandrill drilled and tapped 2-56. After the covers were secured to the mandrel with all the screws, the profile was milled using the CNC.









Here is a shot of the indexing setup.






One of the finished covers before being removed from the mandrel.

An expanding mandrel was made to hold the cylinder for secondary machining operation which has worked out well. Here it is being set up to drill and tap the 2-56 holes to mount the water jacket covers. On the original engine these bosses were cored and open to the water jacket; but on the model there is no reason for this and they are purely for looks.




The cover was manually positioned on the cylinder boss for the best possible alignment (it is a casting after all) and once the top center hole was located all the others were located from this datum.







Here are the beautiful little covers bent, drilled and ready to mount on the cylinder!





After an enjoyable afternoon in the shop here are the fruits of my labor.





And a profile shot.

Next up will be the construction of the crankshaft.

Thanks for checking in,
Dave


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## deverett

I nearly got a set of these castings from Roland Morrison when they were first offered. Seeing the complexity of the engine, I'm glad I didn't - it is beyond my capability. I will just sit back, watch and admire your beautiful work, Dave.

Dave
The Emerald Isle


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## idahoan

Thanks Dave

I have been waiting a while for the castings and it is nice to be able to get going on them and see at least some amount of progress.

This has been a fun project so far because my good fried here in Boise is also building one. He is quite a bit farther along than me; but he is retired and has much more shop time than I.

It is nice to be able to talk things over, share ideas and occasionally send Roland some progress photos.

Are you going to come and see us at the GEARS show this year?

Best regards,
Dave


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## idahoan

I got a harebrained idea to make the crank out of 1144 Stress-Proof thinking that it may stay a little straighter as the excess material was cut away. The smallest piece I could get that would work was 2 ½&#8221; dia. So a bunch of material needed to be removed.

After facing the stock to length in my lathe at home I took the blank to work so I could cut it down in my mill there. Flood coolant, a face mill and a 10 hp. Spindle motor made quick work of it.

Also while in the mill at work I drilled the centers and removed the excess material for the throw.





Cutting to length




The Stress-Proof sure turns nice




In my mill at work getting ready to make the round bar into a rectangle




Pretty much to size; I left .050&#8221; on the thickness so I could finish it on my friends shaper later on.




Set up to drill the centers




Action shot!




And the finished centers

More later,
Dave


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## rudydubya

Oooooo... ;D I do love watching crankshafts being made. And nice work on the water jacket covers. Following with interest.

Regards,
Rudy


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## b.lindsey

Beautiful work on every piece so far Dave. Those little covers will add a lot to the finished engine too!! The pictures as always are stunning...looking forward to each new update.

Bill


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## idahoan

Thanks for the kind words guys,

Continuing work on the crank.
After the excess material was removed for the throw; I did have to straighten it a little. It had about .02&#8221; bow over the length; a little tweaking in the arbor press got it acceptable.





Here is the blank set up in the lathe to turn the throw. The wire near the end is hold the blank against a threaded stud which I&#8217;m using to drive the blank. The stud is screwed into a hole in the flange of the collet adaptor.





Action shot!





Here it is with the throw pretty much finished. Besides the turning tool shown I also use small left and right hand insert tools to finish the inside faces of the cheeks





Using the band saw to blank out the extra material; the Roll-In saw makes this part of the job a breeze.





Both sides have been cut and now it&#8217;s ready to go back in the lathe; it&#8217;s starting to look like a crankshaft now.





Set up between centers and turning the long end.




I ended up turning the shafts to fractional dimensions larger than the finished size so I could rough it out and use collets for holding the already turned ends. My original plan was to do the whole job between centers; but I was fighting chatter real bad and the collet solved this aggravating problem. Here it is flipped around and working on the short end




Here is the set up in the mill to cut the key ways.




And a closer shot.




After the crank was finished I took it over to my friends shop and used his shaper to finish the cheeks to .750&#8221; thick. Remember that I had left them over size in anticipation of this. The shaper creates a finish that looks like it could have been ground. The shaper is also going to get a workout cutting the bearing pads on the body casting.




As I told my buddy; the bench centers allow you analyze or agonize over really small TIR numbers. Over all I&#8217;m very happy with the way the crank turned out.

Next up; starting work on the body casting.

Thanks for checking in.
Dave


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## vcutajar

Dave

Still following your work on the engine and absorbing your photos. A picture is better than a thousand words.

Vince


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## rudydubya

Nice work on the crankshaft Dave. And thanks for showing the use of the bench centers.

Regards,
Rudy


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## idahoan

Hi Lester

Thank you for the generous complements on my Pacific; it means a lot to me.
I was able to view your engine in Benton city back in 2009 along with your little Samson; both of which are beautiful engines. Hopefully someday I will be able to meet you in person and also see your finished Pacific run.

When Roland told me that there may be castings available I was excited and honored to be included in such an interesting and fun project. It has been a bit of a wait but well worth it.

The history you have provided on the engines is great; I have some pictures of Antons engine given to me by Roland as well as pictures of Buzzs engine that I took at Antique Power land. I have searched the net for a picture or two of the Mystery House engine but haven't had any luck. Do you by any chance have pictures of this engine?
Do you know what the HP of Antons engine is?

Max and I both are using Rolands 1/16 gas and air cocks and I have been working on a design for the intake valve body that will complement these cocks and the 1/16 piping.

We have thought about the piston trip ignitor but at this time neither one of us are exactly sure what we are going to do. I may give it a try just for fun; but as you did we may end up switching to something different.

Thanks for checking in; its great to have you on board.

Dave


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## idahoan

Rudy,

The bench centers are a pretty nice tool (luxury) to have; they definitely aren't necessary for the type of work we do. These were acquired as an excess item from my employer a couple of years ago. This is the first time I have been able to put them to use.

Thanks for checking in.

Dave


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## idahoan

Well I finally got started on the body casting a couple of weeks ago. After spending about a ½ a day fettling the openings to the crank case I was ready to start machining.

Sorry I didn&#8217;t take any pictures of my initial set up; but it involved fixturing the casting right side up on some parallels and a little shimming to get every thing plumb; then taking a light skim on the cylinder flange to just barely clean it up.






Then the casting was turned over and clamped down on this newly machined surface. Here after roughing with an insert cutter a light skim is taken with the Newfield fly cutter.





I wanted a nice fit on the base and a good datum for future machining operations so a tool path was created and a light cut taken around the base. If all goes well the center point of this profile will be the center line of the cylinder.





At this point it was an easy task to drill the mounting holes.





Now the body is turned over and located against a couple of parallels that were previously indicated in. This picked up my center line for the cylinder. The body has been machined to the 7.5&#8221; over all height; and here is being checked with the height gage.





Now the register is cut to locate the cylinder; also a clearance cut is made deeper in the bore to clear the cylinder skirt. On my casting this clearance cut only took a skim at 3 and 9 o&#8217;clock and didn&#8217;t touch any where else.





The bolt circle for the cylinder is also done at this time.





Using the boring head to finish the OD of the cylinder flange; I roughed it out with an end mill but the boring head leaves a nicer finish.





Test fitting the cylinder; all is well.

I was able to spend some time on the body today and made some progress on the main bearing saddles. Hopefully I will have another update and photos in a day or so.

Thanks for checking in.
Dave


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## tvoght

It's always great to see updates on this project. The photos and descriptions are very clear.


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## idahoan

Hello everyone

Well the pace is probably going to slow up some; I reached the point where the completed work and pictures have all been posted. I have been working on the crank bearings and hoped to have them completed by this coming weekend but I doubt that is going to happen we will see though.





This is the set up to machine the crankshaft clearance between the main bearing saddles.





It is a long way down and the 3/8&#8221; extend length carbide end mill just makes it past the end of the saddle without hitting the body





Starting the cut; I went down in .04&#8221; steps then took a finish pass a full depth.





All finished; there is about .004&#8221; of endplay clearance for the crank.





Now the body is mounted on the angle plate (notice the parallel under the base flange) to machine the main bearing saddle to the proper width.





Now flipped over and the same treatment for the other side. .005&#8221; was left for a clean up cut after the main caps are fitted.





I took the body casting over to my friends shop to use his shaper on the top surface of the saddles. I&#8217;m sorry I intended to take my camera and forgot it. There is a little more shaper work to be done so I will try to remember to take the camera next time.

Anyway here are the saddles after using the shaper to cut them down to the proper height.





Next up is to layout the relief grooves that locate the main caps; and I get to use some of my tools that haven&#8217;t seen the light of day for years.





With a freshly sharpened scriber on the height gage the crank centerline and layout lines for the reliefs are located and scribed.





With the layout on both sides finished the body is ready to go back to the shaper; maybe tomorrow.

Thanks for checking in.

Dave


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## idahoan

Thanks tvoht,

My posts are usually done at the end of the day over a couple of pints; so if I'm not clear on something hopefully you guys will ask what it was that I was trying to convey ;D

Dave


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## lazylathe

Another amazing update!! :bow:

This is going to be a beauty when it is done!

Andrew


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## idahoan

Thanks Andrew; 
Hopefully the day it is done won't be too many years down the road.

I took the base casting back over to my buddy&#8217;s shop to machine the locating reliefs in the main bearing saddles.






Here it is set up on the shaper; when he did his body casting he decided that it would be best to do the saddles one at a time instead of trying to get a bar long enough and a set up that would allow both of them to be cut at the same time. The shaper could do it but it would have required some tooling to mount the base beyond the block on the shaper. As the bearings are going to be bored anyway it really didn't matter.









Getting started; there is no DRO or edge finder on a shaper; so it is pretty much working to your layout lines. I did set up a 1&#8221; travel indicator on a mag base so that I could stop at the same point at each end of the cut.





Action shot!
I did use an adjustable parallel and mic to measure the dimension of the cut. The target was .875&#8221;. I got one spot-on and the other a couple of thou over. The caps are cut to fit so the finial dimension isn't super critical.






All finished and ready for the next operation.




This is the first time for me on the shaper; it is a fun tool and I can see how one could be a great addition to the home shop.

Thanks for checking in.
Dave


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## idahoan

Hi everyone,

I got the bearing caps machined and fit to the body last week; there still is quite a bit of work to do on the bearings; but at least there is some progress.





Here are the caps as received cast as a pair.





I decided the best way for me to deal with them would be to saw them apart and work on them individually.





The caps were aligned so the bolt bosses were aligned vertically by eye with a precision square; then a very light cut taken to give a reference surface. The cap then flipped over and the same done to create two parallel surfaces. Due the thickness of the caps these surfaces will be mostly removed in later operations.





Not shown; a skim cut was taken off the bottom on the caps using the newly machined surfaces to hold on to and a parallel to sit it on; referencing the top of the cap.
This operation made the top and bottom parallel; checking here with a square.





Now having 3 machined surfaces the holes were located, drilled and spot faced.





Using the drilled holes for alignment each end of the caps were brought to length; the outboard ends left .005 long so that a skim cut could be taken after they are mounted.





Again using the holes as a datum and locating the cap on parallels using the spot faced bolt holes; the final thickness and the locating boss is machined.

Next I will be drilling and tapping the mounting holes and fitting the caps.



Thanks for checking in,
Dave


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## vcutajar

Hi Dave

Still following your build and learning on the way. I'm impressed how clean you keep your workshop. Keep it up.

Vince


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## idahoan

Thanks Vince,

I have always been a little more on the organized and clean side (perfectionist maybe?); I have a hard time getting anything done if it gets too cluttered; and I have to stop and clean. I can&#8217;t help it; it is just the way I&#8217;m wired.

The main cap mounting holes on this engine present a problem due to the bottle frame it is impossible to drill and tap them from straight above. This operation required a little special tooling. So here is how I chose to tackle this problem.






A pair of drill fixtures that fit in the main cap reliefs were machined from CRS. If these were going to be used more than once they should be hardened; but for a one shot deal I decided to leave them soft.





Here is a close up of the drill and driver; the drill was made using a new 135 deg. split point screw machine drill which had most of the shank cut off. The drive portion was made from a 5/16 socket head cap screw (SHCS) with the threads removed and the drill bit silver soldered into a hole drilled through the length of the screw. The bit was held with a pair of aluminum soft jaws in my bench vise for soldering. The driver was made from a Bondhus ¼&#8221; ball driver cut down and pressed into a piece of 3/8&#8221; stock.

I had originally planed on just chucking up the hex driver in the drill chuck but the run out was awful; so I went to plan B which was to shorten up the ball driver and press it into the 3/8&#8221; stock.





Here is the drilling operation; the fixture is clamped into position with a parallel machinist clamp. Using my battery powered drill this operation was done by hand. With the new split point drill it was very easy to drill the 4 mounting holes.





Here is a close up shot of drill and the driver. The ball hex and the bit were lubricated with some machine oil to make things run a little smoother.


The finished holes ready for tapping.





Here is the hi-tech tapping set up; using a tap guide the holes were tapped first with a spiral point tap and then finished up with a new bottoming tap.





Holes have been drilled and tapped and the bearing caps secured with temporary socket head cap screws.





Here is a closer view.

Next operation is to set up and drill the clearance holes to pour the Babbitt bearings. The Babbitt will be drilled and bored similar to the previous operation.

Thanks for checking in.

Dave


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## arnoldb

Lovely work Dave.

I particularly like your round-the-corner drill :bow:

Kind regards, Arnold


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## b.lindsey

Its nice to see all the progress you have made Dave. This is really going to be one sweet looking engine!!

Bill


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## lazylathe

When i grow up i want to be just like you Dave!!! ;D

Beautiful work on every part! :bow:

Andrew


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## idahoan

Arnold, Bill, Andrew, thanks for the comments; I really appreciate it.

Andrew you are way too kind but thanks anyway.


Dave


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## idahoan

Hi everyone

Well I&#8217;m at the end of my picture files again; I may get some work done on Sunday as there is a local engine show on Saturday that I plan to attend. I do some side jobs in my shop at home and it has been a bit slow lately; which has allowed more time for the Pacific project. This may or may not continue; but as I have spare time I will continue work on the engine.

I got the flywheel casting form Morrison & Marvin the other day; so once I have the crank shaft spinning in the new Babbitt bearings the flywheel will probably be next.

I did make a small diversion last weekend to machine the exhaust valve lift cam. I made 3 of them; one for me, one for my friend, and a spare. So I may post the pictures of this little job before pouring and machining the bearings.





Here is my set up in the mill to drill and ream the main bearing bores. I was originally going to bore them to size but I had a ¾&#8221; reamer so chose to use it instead.





After the upper bearing was opened up to ¼&#8221; a long center drill was use to spot the lower hole using the upper one as a guide for the drill.





Stepping up through the drill bits and using the quill power feed the bores were opened up to 23/32&#8221; which was the closest drill I have to the ¾&#8221; target.




Again using the power quill feed the ¾&#8221; chucking reamer was passed through the bores.




Nice finish from the reamer; but I will probably rough the bores up a bit (sand blast) to give the Babbitt some tooth.

The next step will be to do some profiling on the castings to make the bearing caps line up with body casting. Then on to pouring the bearings.

Thanks for checking in.

Dave


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## idahoan

Hi everyone

Not much to report this weekend but I did get some time today to work on profiling the main bearing saddles and caps.





An endmill is used to machine the sides of the saddles down to match the caps. Due to the way the core is made the bearing saddles have some draft that needs to be removed.





A ball endmill is used to rough in the reliefs on the flywheel side of the engine.





After an afternoons work using files burrs and emery here are some shots of the result.
1st With the bearing caps removed.





And a top view.





Here is a before shot of the flywheel side bearing.





And after.





Here is a shot of the governor side.





And finally a couple of shots of the major parts.





Standing at a little over 15&#8221; tall she&#8217;s starting to look like an engine!

I&#8217;m very pleased with how the bearing castings turned out. Now I just need to get some Babbitt poured; maybe next weekend.

Thanks for checking in.

Dave


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## Orrin

Dave, I am in awe of your machining skills. Your pictorial is teaching me a great deal. Thank you for posting and sharing your secrets. 

Your photography is on par with your craftsmanship. Would you mind telling a bit about your set-up? Do you use a light tent? Umbrella? You've managed to take superbly sharp pictures with great depth of field and complete absence of harsh shadows.

Best regards, 
Orrin


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## idahoan

Hi Orrin

Wow thanks for the very generous and kind words; I really appreciate them. So far this has been a very enjoyable project with some interesting machine work and set ups. Im also getting to do some design work and 3D modeling on a few parts; stay tuned.

A photographer Im not; really I just get lucky. Because Im a little on the picky side I usually take many pictures to get the ones that I post. I have been using a Cannon Power Shot SD1200 IS Digital Elph (my wifes camera) and it does a pretty good job.

I have a newer Cannon Digital at work and it is even better; Im thinking a new camera may be in my future.

I resize the photos using IrfanView (a free program) before uploading them to Web Shots. There is a sharpen option that I use when re-sizing and re-sampling as it seems to improve the image quality.

As far as lighting; some times I will play around with the task lamp or work lamp on the machine but that is about it. I dislike dark fuzzy pictures so I work at getting what I post good enough to see what is going on.

Thanks again for the kind words.
Dave


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## steamer

That is some mighty nice machining there Dave!
 :bow: :bow: :bow:

Dave


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## idahoan

Thanks Dave,

I appreciate that.

Dave


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## b.lindsey

Dave....it just keeps getting brautiful-er and beautiful-er!!! :bow: :bow:
Bill


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## rhitee93

That is looking sharp! I am excited to see the bearing pouring process.


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## Orrin

> I resize the photos using IrfanView (a free program) before uploading them to Web Shots. There is a sharpen option that I use when re-sizing and re-sampling as it seems to improve the image quality.



Thank you for that, Dave. I've been taking advantage of IrfanView's many features for a long time; but, have never experimented with sharpening. I'll give it a try. You certainly have done a great job of photography, as well as machining. 

Best regards, 
Orrin


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## idahoan

Hi everyone,

I had a pretty good weekend in the shop and was able to make good progress on the Pacific main bearings.

I spent most for Saturday prepping and pouring the Babbitt and Sunday doing machine work.






Starting out some Babbitt anchors were machined into the bearing caps and saddles. The caps were pretty straightforward using a 5/32&#8221; endmill the anchors were drilled about .08&#8221; deep.





For the body I modified my main cap drilling fixtures to drill the anchors using the 10-32 tap drill. By counter boring the fixture the shoulder on SHCS was used as a drill depth stop.





Here the fixture is set up on the body casting.





And the drilling in progress.





Here the four anchor pin holes are drilled and ready for the next step.





Aluminum shims (.040&#8221 were cut and placed in the reliefs for the bearing caps; there is still some of the relief available to locate the main cap. These shims will create the parting line of the bearings.





Aluminum plates were cut and placed over the inside of the bearing bores. Then they were held in place with a bolt and nut used as a jack screw.





Here is the assembly ready for the Babbitt damming clay; the shims were left about .125&#8221; long so extra Babbitt could be poured to cover the shrink as it cooled.





Babbitt damming clay is applied around the bearing bores and up to the height of the shims. This will allow more Babbitt to be poured than is needed for the shrink as mentioned above.





Here is my melting setup; this nice propane stove my brother got surplus from his employer and the cast iron bottom pouring ladle was an eBay purchase.





The Babbitt is warming up to 800° F. and will char a pine stick when inserted. Also the bearing castings are preheated with a propane torch to remove any moisture.





Sorry I can&#8217;t shoot and pour at the same time. But here is one of the bearings just after pouring.





After both bearings have been poured the center plates are removed; looks pretty good.





The damming clay is removed from the outside of the bearings.





After cutting the excess Babbitt down to the iron casting the caps are removed.





And a closer shot of the body.





Now some shims are needed to be able to adjust for wear in the future. I first punched the hole and then trimmed the inside edge with sharp scissors.
Then the hole was aligned the hole in the bearing cap and the outline traced with a sharp scriber.





Then the shim is cut out using scissors.





Here is the punch that I used to punch the holes in the shim. These are a little on the pricy side but sure work nice. It also has pilots and can be used to punch shim washers.





And a nice little pile of bearing shims.





The shims are placed on the upper parting surface of the bearing caps.





With the shims installed and the caps tightened up the body is set up in the mill to drill and bore the bearings.
I used pretty much the same drill as before (no pun intended). Center drill, drill and bore to size. Again the upper bearing was opened up to .25&#8221; and then it was used to guide a long center drill for the lower bearing.





Stepping up through the drills the bore was opened up to 19/32&#8221;.





I made an adaptor to use my 3/8&#8221; solid carbide insert boring bar in the boring head. This worked well except I had to run it pretty slow to avoid chatter.





Here is the finished bore; some hand work and secondary machining operation are still needing to be done, so stay tuned.





I&#8217;m happy to report that the crankshaft does fit in the body and turns. It is a little tight and has no endplay but these are problems I can deal with; better than too loose.

Thanks for checking in.
Dave


----------



## ShedBoy

I watch a couple of older gentleman one day pour some bearings on an old Tangeye motor. They did it with the crank in situ which they blackened with soot from a welding torch running on aceteylene, shims and dams in place then hand scraped them to size. Wonderful to watch these two blokes work and when finished it turned like it was on rollers. I am going to have a go at it one day, thanks for the pics of the process. :bow: 

Brock


----------



## vcutajar

Dave

Wow. Still following your journey and admiring they way you do things. Just out of curiosity what metal did you use for the bearings.

Vince


----------



## steamer

Oh man!  Dave what a great blow by blow ! 
A bunch of karma from me!  and great job! :bow: :bow:

Dave


----------



## idahoan

Brock,
Pouring bearings on large engines is a skill that one doesnt see much of any more. Getting the mandrel or original shaft aligned properly with the bore and setting the center distance for the crank and cam gears takes some patience, skill, and creative fixturing; along with scraping the bearings in after they are poured.

My good friend has poured a few in place bearings for some of his smaller hit & miss engines, fun stuff.

I have poured some larger ingots for split insert bearings on a 3hp engine of mine. The ingots were machined to fit the bearing saddles and crank, then shimmed and scraped for the final fit. This is a very enjoyable task; or at least to me it is. With this engine it was just easier to pour blank bearings and machine them to fit.

Vince
The Babbitt metal is a composition of Tin, Lead, and Antimony and sometimes copper. I dont know the exact alloy of this metal as it came from a large shop here in town. They let my buddy pick up a bunch of scrap from around their melting pot. Some of these scraps were off cuts from jobs that had already been poured. Very large bearings are not uncommon for this shop. It is nothing for them to pour and machine a bearing for a 16 shaft.

For Lead based Babbitt the ratios would be approximately 80% lead, 5% Tin and 15% Antimony.


Brock, Vince and Dave;
Thanks for the kind words, and following along with my project; I really appreciate it.

Best regards,
Dave


----------



## mhirst121

Excellent work Dave, really love the look of this engine, I will one day hopefully get around to doing one. In the meantime I will sit back and enjoy your build.

Cheers,
MartinH


----------



## deverett

Great work and write up, Dave.

As a matter of interest, I used to use babbitt for pouring sockets on wire rope terminations before the days of resin fasteners. Biggest wires were 4" diameter with a breaking strength of 705 tonnes.

Dave
The Emerald Isle


----------



## Don1966

Wow! That is some great work there Dave. I love how it is starting to take shape. The babbitt bearing photos are awesome. I just learned some useful stuff here keep up the great work and teaching.

Don


----------



## idahoan

Hi everyone,

Martin, Dave & Don
Thanks so much for the comments and checking in I appreciate it.

I didn't make much progress this weekend as I had some paying jobs in the shop to take care of. I was able to make the main cap studs and nuts along with a little hand work on the bearings.





Because the parting line of the bearing is not on the centerline of the crank shaft the upper bearing shell needs to have some clearance so that it can be dropped over the crank. This was done by hand with a triangle scraper; scrape a little check the fit and repeat until the cap could be dropped into position.





Making the nuts is a pretty straight forward turning job; here is the way I did it. First the hex stock was faced, center drilled and drilled. Then the shoulder was turned.





Then the nut is parted off a little over length.





Flipped around in the chuck the nut is tapped&#8217;





A mandrel was turned to hold the nut so the top side could be finished.





The nut is screwed on to the mandrel and faced to length; then the bevel is cut.





Here are the finished studs and nuts.





And installed on the engine.


----------



## idahoan

Hi everyone,

After getting the main bearings and hardware finished I wanted to address the crankshaft lubrication. Not wanting to use off the shelf lubricators I chose to model the Lunkenheimer Tiger #1 grease cup. I have always liked the looks of this cup and have a few NOS ones on the shelf for a full sized engine restoration project.

I decided on using 3/16 MTP for the threads and after a little head scratching, and measuring I decided that .35 scale would workout pretty good. So here is the construction of my 1/3 scale Lunk. grease cups.

It would be nice to say this was an afternoon project but I messed around with them for the better part of two days.






Here is one of the finished cups along with the pattern.





And here is another view.





First all the diameters of the body were turned and the MTP threads cut using a die in a tailstock die holder.





Then the body was transferred to the mill and the hex cut using a spin indexer.





Back in the lathe the 20° bevel is cut on the bottom of the hex using a boring bar.





Now the ½-36 threads are single point threaded.





The bodies are parted off a little long then re-chucked in a 9/32&#8221; collet.





After facing to length a counter bore is drilled to match the prototype.





The cap was turned, bored, knurled and single point threaded all in one setup.





Then they were parted off a little long.





Using the body as a mandrel and screwing the cap up against the collet the caps were faced to length and the chamfer cut.

Not shown; the cap was drilled and a dummy rivet installed. This rivet holds a spring detent on the full sized cup.





Here are a pair of the finished cups ready for service.






And one last shot of them installed on the engine.

Thanks for checking in.
Dave


----------



## ProdEng

Dave,

I have enjoyed all of your build so far but have to admit I like the the attention to detail on the small parts the most. The studs, nuts and grease cups are all nice to look at on there own but then all the parts together look so crisp. When I look at your machining I immediately think of aerospace parts, very precise. Looking forward to the next instalment.

Jan


----------



## Don1966

Dave that is awesome and I love the way they look it adds class to your engine. Great work as usual and keep up the great thread.

Don


----------



## ShedBoy

beautiful grease cups. Are you going to be reproducing the engraving on them?

Brock


----------



## idahoan

Hi Everyone

Jan, Don, & Brock, thanks for the kind words and following along.

Brock I would very much like to attempt reproducing the engraving; the letters will only be ~.03&#8221; tall so I&#8217;m researching what kind of tool would be best for this task. I&#8217;m open for suggestions.

I was able to get some work done on the flywheel this last weekend; as with the other castings I prefer to do as much fettling as possible before doing any machining.






Here is the flywheel casting after smoothing out some of the bumps. The castings are sandblasted after fettling to give everything a uniform finish.





Using my 8&#8221; Adjust-Tru chuck the flywheel is indicated in. First the spokes and inner rim are adjusted with a DTI for the best possible run out. Then the inner rim is adjusted radialy using the Adjust-Tru feature of the chuck.

A solid carbide boring bar with a brazed tool is used to knock the OD down close to the finished dimension.





After a little fussing around I was able to reach around and machine the back side with one of my insert holders.





Then the front face is cut. The front and rear faces are machined relative to the center rim so everything looks right.





The hub is faced to the proper dimension relative the face on the same side. Then center drilled and drilled close to the finished size.





Using a boring bar the bore is brought to the final dimension.
Not shown; the flywheel is reversed in the chuck, indicated in and the hub on the back side is machined to the proper dimension. Also the chamfers are cut on this side as well.





My buddy had already made the broach bushing for the tapered key; so I borrowed it and here is the broaching operation.





And finally here are a couple pictures of the engine showing off its new flywheel.





I still need to make the tapered gib head key; maybe this weekend!

Thanks for checking in,
Dave


----------



## ShedBoy

My partner use to engrave trophies for a job at one stage using a cnc engraver, she made some name tags for the animals with some tiny writing. Maybe take some trial slugs to a trophy shop and see if they can do it.

Oh and nice wheel 

Brock


----------



## vcutajar

The engine with the flywheel on is looking great.

Vince


----------



## steamer

What Brock said! ....if that doesn't work, I would look into photoetching!

Great blow by blow on the right way to set up a flywheel casting for machining! :bow:

What make of lathe is that?

Dave


PS  Nevermind.....I see it's a Weiler.....seems a very nice lathe with all the right bits!


----------



## gbritnell

Hi Dave,
Outstanding work on your engine. As stated, your attention to detail is first rate. It looks like the M&M castings are nice and clean. That sure makes it easier to work with. 
As a side note on the engraving, I wanted engraved I.D. plates made up for my engine boxes so after scouring the Yellow Pages I went to a trophy engraving shop. I explained what I wanted and he said they didn't do actual cutter engraving any longer, at least not for what I wanted. His alternative was to do some type of photo etching. It's nice but not engraved. 
gbritnell


----------



## NickG

Hi Dave,

Glad I found this project, looks a fantastic engine... something different to the norm. The castings look good but your machining even better! I have not seen white metal bearings done before either. We have an old car that needs an engine rebuild and has white metal big ends, will have to find someone that can do it or a shell bearing that would fit. Looking at your post it's almost tempting to try it myself but it'd be an awkward shape to grip and I think you made it look far easier than it was!

Nick


----------



## idahoan

Brock, Vince, Dave (Steamer), George, & Nick

Wow! Thanks guys for all the great support; it really means a lot to me, especially from some of our most talented members.

With regards to the lettering on the grease cups; here is a picture of what I am trying to do. I really want to do this myself and having access to CNC mill both at work and home it should be doable.







What I&#8217;m trying to determine is the best type of cutter. I have some good information from an acquaintance on how to grind a cutter on the Deckel SO grinder that will work. So this may be the first try.

I have also been looking at the diamond drag engravers on eBay; they are only about $70.00 so this is also a possibility.

I will do the CAD work on the letters and most likely do the engraving on my Fadal mill at work. I will keep you guys posted on the outcome.

George I think I&#8217;m familiar with the type of photo etching you are referring to. I have also done some name plate etching for full sized engines and a couple of models using ferric chloride and a laser printed mask. This may be a possibility but I think I want to give engraving a try.

Dave; the Weiler is my pride and joy. I was able to purchase it from a local machinery dealer here in town. It came from my employer and due to some consolidation they were getting rid of a bunch of machinery and tooling; I purchased 18 or so years ago.

It went from the plant directly to my garage. It was purchased new by my employer for the tool and die shop so I&#8217;m the second owner. After moving out of the tool shop it spent some time in one of the maintenance departments where I happened to be working at the time. I replaced the cross feed screw and nuts during that time; these parts cost more than most HSM guys spend on a whole new lathe. I glad I didn&#8217;t have to by them out of my own pocket.

One strange thing is there was no follow rest or steady rest purchased with the lathe. I purchased one on eBay that would work and re-machined the base to fit the Weiler.

I have sense purchased the proper steady from a guy over on the PM web site. Also because the 3 jaw was huge 8&#8221; a few years back I purchased 3 & 6 jaw Bison chucks both in 6&#8221; size. The back plates had to be machined by me because of the funky DIN spindle nose.

It is a relatively rigid machine and will happily remove .2&#8221; from the diameter of aluminum or leaded steel stock.

Funny story; I started working in the Model Shop at work (R&D machine shop) about a year and a half ago; this is a small shop with only 5 of us. One day, one of my coworkers and I were digging through a small cabinet looking for something when we found,-------the carriage stop for my Weiler! Boy was I happy with that; it even had the matching serial number stamped on it.


Ok I will quit rambling now; But thanks again guys for all your kind words; it makes my day.


Dave


----------



## rhitee93

Great work Dave. That is one sexy looking engine. I had somehow lost track of this build, and spent my lunch hour catching up.

Thanks for all the detail on the babbit pour. Thanks also for pointing out how you make the nuts on my PMR#1 build log. I really like your results and plan to do something similar.


----------



## gbritnell

Hi Dave,
At work when we did 'special jobs' for retiring executives we would engrave a lot of text on brass plates. The tools we used were just the pointed engraving tools that are ground flat just past the centerline. They seemed to work just fine. 
gbritnell


----------



## kustomkb

Beautiful work Dave. 

It is great to see the poured babbit bearings. When I went to trade school we were taught how to blue and scrape them in. It has since been dropped from the curriculum...

Great shop too!


----------



## Don1966

That is some very impressive work Dave. You still have my interest.

Don


----------



## idahoan

Hi Guys

Brian, Kevin, Don, 

Thanks for the kind words; I was hoping to get some work done on the Pacific this weekend but my time seems to be getting vacuumed up with other commitments.
I may get some time for myself on Sunday; we'll see.

George, I think I have the type of single lip engraving that you are describing; I purchased it to engrave a logo on some alternator brackets that I make. I wasn't very happy with it and just chocked it up to not enough spindle RPM. 

With the very small depth of cut on the grease cup letters it just may work; I will have to do a test cut and see what happens.

Thanks again guys,
Dave


----------



## idahoan

Hi Everyone,

Well it has been a long dry spell for the Pacific but I finally got a couple of days to play over the holiday weekend.

I was able to get all the 12-24 high crown bolts made; as well as some machining to the bottom of the cylinder mounting flange.





The 5/16" hex stock was chucked in the small 3 jaw; turned, chamfered and threaded with the tail stock die holder.





The the bolts are turned around and held in a collet; turned to length and the radius cut using a form tool.





Here are the finished bolts; the long ones will be used to hold the engine to the skids or base when the time comes.





Here are the cylinder mounting bolts installed; note there are two of them under the water ports that have to be shorter to clear the piping. This is the way the original engines were.





Here is a worms eye view of the same.





One detail still needing attention on the body casting was to thin the cylinder mounting flange. The way mine came out I needed to remove almost .1" to get it to the .281" dimension on the print.






A support bar was made to support the flange end while the body was held  in the 4 jaw chuck. The center was left a little loose while the flange was indicated; then tightened enough to support the body.





Here you can see the rough cast uneven surface of the underside of the flange.





And after a little machining and blending.

Hopefully my next update won't be another 2 months away but I'm afraid I won't be able to get much more done before the GEARS show at the end of the month. 

Thanks for checking in.

Dave


----------



## rhitee93

Looking good Dave.  I am very happy to see this project is still alive.  I was worried we had lost it in the change over.


----------



## idahoan

Thanks Brian,

I was lucky earlier this year to have time to work on the engine; then I got very busy both at my day job and also my home shop. I have also been doing some repairs on a Brockway Phillips hot air fan for a friend; I may post a picture of it when it is completed.

Hopefully this fall and winter I will continue to have time for the Pacific; there also has been some background work going on for the crossover cam and it's follower shoe. When I get a minute I will post a couple of pictures of that also.

Best regards,
Dave


----------



## vcutajar

Dave

It's good to see some more progress on the engine.

Vince


----------



## idahoan

Thanks Vince

I appreciate it.

Dave


----------



## ProdEng

Thanks for the update Dave, I really enjoy looking at your methods and the crisp details your machining produces.


----------



## starnovice

Hey Dave, I am really enjoying this build.  I am learning a lot of techniques for doing the machining.  It was good to see you at GEARS.  Hope you get time to get back to this build soon.

Pat Wicker


----------



## idahoan

Thanks Pat and also Jan from a while ago.

I have managed to get a couple of small items worked on; I need to find time to get posting again. Hopefully I will have some more time after the fall yard work is finished.
I found out that Web Shots where I have a lot of pictures and all the Pacific and MM Vise pictures will be changing over to a new site called Smile. What this means is as of Dec.31 all my links to the pictures in my build posts will not work anymore :wall:.

So along with trying to do some new updates I need to deal with this. I have a Photo bucket account and have started moving my photos over there; wow what a pain. If anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears.

The new Smile (Web shots replacement) apparently will not allow public links to your pictures and after the first month it won't be free.

Pat thanks go out to you and the team for putting together another great GEARS show.

Dave


----------



## idahoan

Hi all,

  Well here is a long coming update on my Pacific project. I have been working on the exhaust valve chest casting and some of the related timing parts. The relationship of all these parts is somewhat critical so everything works properly. I took only the minimum amount from the valve chest mating surfaces to clean the rough casting. I wanted to keep the valve (initially) as far from the center line of the engine as possible. As it turned out this worked out well; if you build one of these engines I would highly recommend proceeding with caution at this stage.

  You will probably notice that some of the pictures seem out of order; this is because I stuffed the casting and had to request a new one from Roland. The ports have a D shaped hole that connect the ports above and below the valve seat; well the first one on the exit side came out fine but when I did the inlet side I neglected to rotate the D 180 degrees and cut right into the valve seat. So I did things a little differently on the new casting as far as the order of operations.





  Here is the raw casting after a little cleanup and a trip through the blast cabinet.





  Holding onto the valve guide I was able to satisfactorily center up the casting in my little 3 jaw chuck. Working carefully the chucking boss was faced and center drilled.





  The chucking boss is finished turned and the top of the casting faced off.





  The casting is flipped around and the valve guide rough turned as well as the bottom being faced off.





  In the mill vice the casting is squared with the side surfaces which will not be machined.





  The gasket surface is cleaned up (just barely).





  Using the centerline as the datum the sides are machined to match the boss on the cylinder. The mounting holes were also drilled at this time.





  Back in the lathe the valve guide is turned to size and length; I removed quite a bit of material from the bottom so the chest would match its mounting boss on the cylinder.





  Flipped around the chucking lug was removed and the boring and threading done for the valve chamber and plug. Most of the chucking lug was removed in the band saw first.





  The print said to spot face the nut locations but I prefer the look of having the whole surfaced milled so that is how I finished the mounting flanges.





  Here the water jacket ports are being faced off.





  Spot drilled.





  Drilled.





  And taped 1/16-27 NPT.





  Finished; same for the other side.





  The valve guide is indicated in.





  The valve guide is drilled and reamed.





  The exhaust port is taped ¼ NPT. 

  I still need to do a little hand work and cut the valve seat but for the most part the valve chest is complete.

  Thanks for checking in.
  Dave


----------



## vcutajar

Sorry to hear of your mishap with the casting but glad that you are now back on track.  As always very informative setup photos.

Vince


----------



## Generatorgus

Hi Dave, 
I'm happy to see you finally got a break and managed to get some time in on your Pacific project.
When I first found out you started work on it, you were already on page 8.  By the time I got caught up you were in work mode and not making any progress on it. I was somewhat dissapointed, as I'm sure you were.
I hope you get the time to keep it going.  
I'll be watching and hopefully learning.

GUS


----------



## idahoan

Thanks guys,

Gus; it has been a pretty long dry spell but now that winter is just around the corner and bulk of the yard work done I hope to be back doing regular updates. I also get to rebuild a 30s vintage Aermotor windmill gear box  for my brother this winter; that will be fun. 

I have not been completely idle; a couple of other small parts were completed and I did take photos. So I will get them added to the build in the near future. We did a little work to improve the cross over cam. This is a purchased part from a machine shop in MT. and the original profile they were making didn't play well with the Lester's design of the follower shoe.

The new cam design works real nice and I will have some photos of it down the road a bit. 

Thanks everyone for checking in.
Dave


----------



## starnovice

Hi Dave,
I really appreciate you taking so much time to show all of the steps in detail and explaining why you do things the way you do.  Frankly I never realized how much attention to detail went into making the really beautiful engines.

th_wav

Pat


----------



## idahoan

Thanks Pat

  Im doing my best to show how I go about things (right or wrong) and maybe someone can find something useful in all this. A plus for me is knowing that there are a bunch of guys checking for updates on my progress which tends to keep me somewhat motivated to keep working and posting progress updates.






  Here are some shots of the mostly completed valve chest doing a trial fit on the cylinder.










  This is the D shaped port that got me into trouble on the first go around. On the inlet side the port is on the top of the hole.

  Thanks for checking in,
  Dave


----------



## idahoan

Hi everyone

  I decided to continue on with the exhaust valve and related parts; I would like to try to finish this assembly before I move on to the piston, rod, and head.

  My plan thus far is to deviate from the plans somewhat; Im working to keep everything proper as far as the prototype goes. I decided not to use a couple of iron castings that came with the kit; the first one is the top support; this part guides the bottom end of the valve and also serves as a pivot for the top end of the swing arm. The reason is, first I like the look of the brass parts on the original engine; and second I dont plan (at this time) to use the governor and I didnt want to hack the governor latch mount off of it incase I change my mind later.

  I modeled the top support in Alibre and carved it out on my CNC here at home. It is only a 2 axis so there was a lot of hand work involved.





  Here is the basic profile being cut from brass bar stock.





  The boss for the swing arm pivot is machined as it is centered in the support but not as thick.





  After the top side was machined the part was turned over and the bulk of the excess material removed from one end (notice the valve guide was reamed in the previous step).
  Using the valve guide as the datum the bottom side of the pivot boss is machined.





  The rest of the excess material is removed in the band saw.





  After the support is brought to proper thickness the excess junk will be cut away.

  I got carried away and didnt take very many pictures of this process but after the machine work was completed quite a bit of time was spent with files and sandpaper getting an acceptable shape.





  I also got carried away and neglected to leave enough material for the bosses on the top and bottom of the valve guide; those were turned up and silver soldered in place.

   Never the less Im pleased how the support came out and fits the engine.

  Thanks for checking in.
  Dave


----------



## vcutajar

Wow Dave.  That support really looks the part.

Vince


----------



## idahoan

Hi Everyone

  Continuing on with the exhaust valve and related parts the body casting needed some more machine work to fit the upper and lower swing arm supports. I altered the shape of the bottom support bracket from the print just a little; all the brackets I have seen pictures of are a little different shape and style from one to the other. I think the horsepower of the engine and possibly age determined the style of the support. I chose to model the simple right angle support with its mounting holes in line above each other.





  Here the body casting along with the cylinder is set up in the mill and dialed in using the crank bearing for the datum. Every thing is based off of the center line of the engine.





  The upper support mounting pads are machined to the final height; this is based on the valve chest mounting boss. I set my valve chest and upper support on the surface plate and measured the valve stem centerline. As it turns out on my engine they are in the same plane; so this is what I cut the pads to.

  I will remove .01 form the valve chest later to accommodate the copper valve chest gasket thickness.





  The pads are spotted, drilled, and tapped for the upper support.





  The exhaust port is drilled into the cylinder.





  Finished!





  Here is a mock-up shot with a dummy valve stem and temporary hardware.


  Thanks for checking in.
  Dave


----------



## idahoan

Hi Vince

I forgot to say thanks for your comments; this project has been a blast so far and I appreciate you sticking it out.

Best regards,
Dave


----------



## idahoan

Hi Everyone

  Im still working on exhaust valve related stuff; here are a group of pictures showing the machining of the swing arm. The swing arm holds the crossover cam follower shoe and the valve lifter. It is suspended between the upper and lower supports and pivots on setscrews with a 60° point.

  I figured that the easiest way to hang onto this casting would be to make a fixture that allowed all machining operations to be done in one set up.





  Here is the raw casting for the swing arm.





  The fixture is a button V block and strap clamp indexed in a square collet block.





  Here is the swing arm casting mounted in the fixture. The fixture was set on the surface plate and the follower shoe pivot housing was indicated to be in the same plane as the center line of the V. this was accomplished by flipping the block over and adjusting the position until the same indicator reading was obtained both ways.





  The sides of the valve lifter mounting surface are brought to the proper thickness.





  Standing the block vertical the 3rd face of the valve lifter surface is machined.





  Also at this time the length of the follower shoe housing is machined as well as the top end of the arm. This length is measured from the top of the follower shoe housing.





  Laying the block down with the swing arm upside down; the bottom pivot area is machined flat. 





  The follower shoe housing is centered up, spotted, drilled and reamed.





  The upper and lower pivots are centered up and center drilled.





  The last operation is to machine the round area on the top above where the valve lifter will mount.





  Here is the finished swing arm; the pivot hole for that valve lifter needs to be added but not until a few more parts are completed.

  Thanks for checking in.
  Dave


----------



## Orrin

Dave, your fixture is a stroke of genius!  That's a great idea.  

Thank you for showing it to us.

Best regards,
Orrin


----------



## idahoan

Thanks for the compliment Orrin; I appreciate it.

Dave


----------



## thompsms

Dear Dave,

I was lucky enough to come across this train of material today. What an extraordinary resource! 

The photographs are all just of a truly stunning quality, such that the contrasts between the greys is sufficient to show the components and their surfaces perfectly.

The techniques are exciting and varied (the white metal bearings story threw me back to my 16-year old self, handing the white metal crankshaft bearings on my fathers Triumph Mayflower car in about 1962).

Your descriptions are just so well written. I can't tell you how many published mechanics books have i purchased and read recently, where I have to read and re-read pages over a period of days in order to decifer meaning.

So here in these pages you have woven a perfectly clear and exciting, engaging story.

Not only are you a master at your chosen craft, you are a master at the craft of taking others along your journey too.

Please turn this one into a book! The material is already there.

Martin Thompson


----------



## rhitee93

I just caught up with your progress Dave, and I am as impressed as ever.  Very nicely done, and a very enjoyable read.  Thm:


----------



## idahoan

Martin

Wow thank you for the very kind and generous words; this whole project has been an interesting journey for me in more ways than one.

Writing is not one of my strong points although I did do some technical writing in my previous job (Equipment Maintenance Technician); I struggle to put my thoughts down on paper (so to speak) but do the best I can.

As I have said before this build article is a way to help keep me focused and moving forward; which isn't always an easy task. 

Thanks again,
It really makes it all worthwhile for to me to know that my fellow model engine builders are following along and enjoying the updates.

Dave


----------



## idahoan

Hi Brian

Thanks for checking in; I appreciate your kind words and that you are still following along with my build.

Dave


----------



## thompsms

Dave,

I'm sure that you remember that Dickens wrote his books as a series of weekly instalments that his avid readers would be waiting for. Your own writing is very clear and cogent, despite your use of techniques I have never seen before. That combination of really excellent pictures and clear text is just what we are looking for. Please re-set your opinion of your efforts here, your documentation abilty certainly equals your delightfully impressive machining skills.

I can't wait for more instalments.

Martin


----------



## idahoan

Well; Web Shots killed all my earlier links and removed my photos as promiced when they switched over to Smile. So now I have the tedious task to restore all the pictures from Photo Bucket. I guess I will attempt to do a few at a time until they are all done.

Dave


----------



## idahoan

Hi Everyone

Well I have been struggling to get an update posted; I have some old work and some new work to post and it is starting to get confusing to me what to do next. So if some of the dates and order of pictures seem a little strange that is why.

Last time I had machined the upper swing arm bracket and swingarm so now we will move the bottom bracket and the cross over cam follower shoe. Eventually it will all come together and make since (hopefully). 

I&#8217;m also still trying to restore my missing photos from my earlier posts. I still have all the pictures but need to be uploaded to PhotoBucket and the links fixed.





As I think that I had said before I had also changed the design of the bottom bracket slightly from the blue prints. It was modeled in Alibre and printed in full scale so the position and fit could be checked.







Once I was happy; the body casting was cleaned up to give the bracket a nice flat place to sit.







Then the mounting holes spotted.







Drilled and tapped.






Brass stock for the bracket is faced off.






Then the profile machined.







After laying the stock and locating the datum the pivot bolt hole is drilled and tapped.







Then the end is rounded over.







Flipped the other direction the mounting holes are drilled and the end rounded over.







Standing the stock back up in the vise the bracket is sawn from the stock.








Almost done!







Checking the fit.







Here is the bracket after some hand work and a trip through the blast cabinet; also the proper hardware has been machined and installed.

Next time the bronze follower shoe.



Thanks for checking in,

Dave


----------



## idahoan

Hi Everyone

Now on to the follower shoe; this was my first trial part I had made this summer. I made a couple extras that I can finish up if needed.

The original shoe was a bronze casting so I decided to make mine one piece instead of a silver soldered assembly.





Here the blank has been turned from 660 bronze stock.





Then the excess was cut off in the band saw.





And the other side.





The blank was machined to the proper thickness; here it is standing behind a rapid proto-type  part that I  made at work.





Here the blank is set up in the mill to machine the first side; I did this at work on my CNC but could easily be made on a manual machine.





The first side has been surfaced with a small carbide ball end mill.





  Working on the second side





Here is the part off of the mill next to one of the prototype parts.





Because the shank was left oversize for rigidity a split collet was made to hold the cam so the shank could be turned down.





Here is the collet in use.





And finally a group shot with all the parts and the proper hardware machined and installed.

Thanks for checking in.
Dave


----------



## vcutajar

Wow Dave.

How I wish I had CNC capability.  Someday, maybe.

Vince


----------



## myrickman

Nice work on the governor bracketry, Dave. I'll have to remember the tip of printing out layouts and using them to check fits. It is going to be a sweet machine when you finish.


----------



## idahoan

Thanks Myrickman I appreciate it.

Vince, I really enjoy the whole process CAD/ CAM and running the machine. I converted my mill over 15 years ago and taught myself how to run it (the CNCpart). It has been a wonderful journey. 

I had a good background in manual machining and this was a logical progression for me I have never been sorry for heading down this path. It also worked out favorably for me when an opening became available in the shop where I now work. Had It not been for my CNC experience (although somewhat limited) Iwouldnt have been considered for this position.

Dave


----------



## idahoan

Hi Everyone

I wanted to post a picture of a large Pacific that currently lives at Antique Powerland near Brooks Oregon. This is the engine that caused me fabricate the brass upper swing arm bracket and soon to follow brass valve lifter assembly. This is a large engine (I'm not sure of the horse power but it stands well over 6ft. Tall) so some of the proportions are different  than the model.






This engine also has the hit & miss dog bone governor.

As I think I may have indicated before; at this time I'm not planning on using the governor on my engine because it occupies space on the crankshaft that I have other plans for.

Thanks for checking in,
Dave


----------



## Jasonb

Not seen that type of governor before, I assume that as the speed increases it straightens up and pulls the spool out to work the lever.

J


----------



## idahoan

You are correct Jason: there is a link at the bottom of the weight that is connected to the spool which operates the latch arm.





Here is another view.

Dave


----------



## idahoan

Hi everyone,

I have been tidying up a few loose ends on the bottom end with regards to the timing parts.

You may have noticed in that last few pictures of my engine that the main bearing area had some pretty sharp corners. This was because I needed to remove some material from the casting to shift the crossover cam closer to the center line of the engine. I spend a good part of the morning filling and blending in this area.

The crossover cam was also substantially trimmed to get things to come out to my liking. I will go over that later. Hopefully with in the next couple of days.

One other thing I didn't cover was when I had the body set up in the mill to fit the upper swing arm bracket; I took a cut across the bottom surface of the bosses as there was quit a bit of extra material in this area. This required some filling and blending to match the machined surfaces with the casting.






Here is the body after some hand work; notice the top and bottom surfaces on the bosses are now parallel.





This picture shows the fit of the upper swing arm bracket on the bosses.

Going back to last summer the lift cam was machined last summer; I made a couple of extras one for my friend who is working on his Pacific and one more just in-case.





Staring out the stock is faced.





Then Drilled.





And bored to size.





Then set up in the mill in a V block and indicated in.





Both directions.





The mounting holes are spotted and drilled.





Then the profile machined.





Ready to go back in the lathe.





The Cams are parted off to the proper length





Here are the finished cams.

Thanks for checking in.

Dave


----------



## Generatorgus

Dave, beautiful work as usual and the pictures, studio quality.

I have a couple of questions if you have time.

First, the finish on the parts as they come out of the machine is perfect.  Do you use carbide and insert tooling for the most part?

Second, the indicator shown is mounted directly in the mill chuck.  Is it made just for that?  Mine has dovetails on the back and top and I can't put it directly in the chuck, I have to use a holder.  What brand is it?
I can't quite read the name on the face.

GUS


----------



## idahoan

Thanks Gus,

I use (when ever I can) positive geometry insert tooling. The ones I use quite often are TCGX inserts from Sandvik; some years back I was able to put together a pretty good stockpile from eBay. These inserts are fragile due to their high rake and very sharp edges; but used with care they work great on most free machining metals and plastics.

We just bought some Kennemetal holders and inserts at work to use on the Hardinge HLVs. I could look them up if you are interested; they are available form MSC but inexpensive.

The indicator is an Swiss made Interapid; these are in my book one of the finest test indicators ever made. 

If you are in the market for one check on Long Island Indicator web site as they have a lot of good information. When buying a used one say off of eBay there are some earlier models to stay away from because they are not repairable. http://longislandindicator.com/p23.html

Oh and to answer you question the shank is integral to the indicator; it is on a friction pivot so it is easy to position.

Best regards,
Dave


----------



## idahoan

Hi everyone

Today I got the cap for the exhaust valve machined; not a major accomplishment but one more little piece. I deviated somewhat from the plans  (do we see a pattern here?). I have seen some photos of a Pacific engine (maybe it was a Union or Regan as there all related) that had a pleasing dome shape on the top as well as the outer rim of the flange having a nice radius. The flange also overhung the boss on the valve chest slightly. So this is how I decide to make mine.





Starting with a piece of 660 bearing bronze (I like the color) it was faced and turned.





Then single point threaded 9/16"-18 to match the valve chest.





The radius on the rim was hand filed, sanded and polished.





Flipped around the stock brought to length.
I had calculated all the points in my CAD program and a step over and cut approach was used to form the dome.
Here you can see the small lines that need to be sanded out to fully define the shape.





Here it is after some blending ready to cut the hex.





Set up in the mill and indicated in.





The hex is cut.





And returned to the lathe to put the 15 deg. bevel on the hex.





Here it is installed on the valve chest; now I need to make the copper sealing washer to go under it.

Thanks for checking in,
Dave


----------



## starnovice

Dave, I really like the dome design.  It gives it a nice touch.

Pat


----------



## idahoan

Hi Everyone 

Thanks Pat; I'm pleased with how that little cap turned out; there is a surprising amount of work in it.

I managed to get get a little more accomplished yesterday. I countersunk the mounting holes in the lift cam which as far as I know is how the original was mounted to the crossover cam. I also got the square head set screws machined and casehardened. 

The crossover cam was made by Samuel Park at Imperium Tool and Instrument in Bute MT. He has these cams available for Pacific builders. That is unless you have a 4th axis on your CNC or want to design and fab an ingenious machining fixture as Lester did for his engine. 

These cams are a nice piece of work, reasonably priced, and the crossover motion is very smooth.





Here is the cam as received; note the extra material on the inside end which can be machined away to adjust the position of the cam on the crank.





Here is the cam after removing the proper amount of material for my engine and valve lifter arrangement.





As I had indicated before I removed quite a bit of material from the cam and the main bearing housing as well.
This is because I want to have the lift arm more inline with the lift cam (personal preference here); also I will be machining my lift arm from brass stock instead of using the supplied iron casting.

If you look at the pictures of the original engine you can see kind of how the lift arm will look. The one for the model will be slightly different as the model is scaled from a smaller engine.





Checking the fit on the engine; notice the lift cam has been installed with the proper flat head screws and the square head set screws to secure the crossover cam to the crankshaft.





Here is a side view showing the engagement of the follower shoe and swing arm.





And a view from the back side.

Next I will probably tackle the lift arm and bronze shoe that runs on the lift cam and opens the exhaust valve.

Thanks for checking in.
Dave


----------



## reevespulley

Dave, I believe the brass parts on Buzz's Pacific at Brooks are reproduction parts. They were cast in brass because of the convenience of casting. Originally they were cast iron, in my opinion.


----------



## idahoan

Hi Reevespulley

I can't say for sure, I assumed that they were original; it would be interesting to to know.

I had the privilege of being able to view a copy of an original Pacific blue print and it identified the upper and lower swing arm brackets as brass, the swing arm as cast iron and the valve lifter also as a brass casting.

Probably doesn't matter either way; but its still a pretty cool design and mechanism.

Dave


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## Niceonetidy

Dave,
That looks like a nice Engine.  I'm always impressed how clean everyone keeps their workshops.  It make mine look like a Junk Yard,
Happy New year,
Colin


----------



## reevespulley

Dave, I have an original 1hp Pacific Marine engine. Of course, it does not have the hit and miss mechanism but I had to make all the marine gearing and clutch mechanism for it when I restored it. I have copies of the original prints for the marine components. BTW, I am also making one of the Pacific models and have found your thread very interesting to follow. I wish I had known about it before I began my efforts. It would have either helped me or scared me out of starting it. I have the ignitor mechanism and battery saver yet to fabricate. Since everyone is leaving their models unpainted, I decided to paint mine.  I compliment you on all the fine work. Mike


----------



## idahoan

Hi Mike

Thanks for the kind words; wow an original Pacific engine, that would be something special to have in the collection, I would love to see some pictures of your engines both the model and your 1hp marine. If this is possible you can send me a PM and I will give you my email.

I had decided some time ago not to use the governor on my engine; I really like the rhythmic beat of a nice throttle governed engine.

It sounds like you are pretty close to having your model running? A good friend of mine here in Boise recently got his running; I'm not sure if he is going to paint it or not. He is still thinking about it and currently working on the cooling system and muffler; I will most likely paint mine.

I'm not sure of the exact numbers but it seems that there are more than a few of these engines under construction at this time. I don't work very fast but I enjoy myself. My buddy and I got our castings at the same time an you can see how much farther along he is than I (his engine runs).

I made some good progress this weekend on the valve lifter; and was hoping to get an update posted but everything is working against me, maybe tomorrow.

Dave


----------



## idahoan

Thanks Colin

This has been a very enjoyable project so far.

Happy New year,
Dave



Niceonetidy said:


> Dave,
> That looks like a nice Engine.  I'm always impressed how clean everyone keeps their workshops.  It make mine look like a Junk Yard,
> Happy New year,
> Colin


----------



## idahoan

Hi Everyone
  I had hoped to make great progress on the Pacific over the holidays; but I have been helping my brother rebuild a 1930s vintage windmill and it consumed quite a bit of my shop time.

  I was able to sneak into work for a couple of afternoons and get my valve lifter well on its way; then finished it up in my home shop. This was a milestone for me as all the timing parts are now finished and after the exhaust valve is completed and its seat cut it will be on to a different part of the engine.

  I chose to make this part from scratch and as I have indicated before I made some modifications to change the alignment of these parts.  
  I just want to say if anyone is curious, there is nothing wrong with the castings or drawings; this is just something I wanted to try and as I indicated awhile back; if it didnt work I would use the castings and machine them to the print.
  The valve lifter was designed in a 3d CAD program and printed on one of our rapid prototype machines to check the fit.  Once satisfied the basic shape was programmed and run on the CNC.






  Here the bottom side of the lifter has been roughed out with a ¼ ball end mill.





  Then followed by a 1/8 and finally a 1/16 ball end mill.





  Ready for the next operation, made two just in case.





  The block is flipped over and the top side is surfaced. The web pieces holding the chucking lugs on are located where the slots will be cut.





  Standing on edge the holes are spotted and drilled.





  Ready for the finishing operations.





  I needed the bronze shoe so it was made before the lifter was finished. Here a piece of prop shaft (Naval Bronze) was turned, faced and set up in the mill.





  The profile of the shoe is machined.





  Then back in the lathe the shoe is parted off.










  The first chucking piece is cut off.





  The lifter is set up on a fixture plate, indicated in and clamped down.





  The shoe slot is milled using the recently completed shoe to check the fit.





  Back to the saw the other lug is removed.





  Due to the shape this operation took some creative use of parallels to hang on to it.





  Indicated in the slot for the swing arm is machined.





  Before and after;  cutting the slots was kind of a tedious process mainly because I didnt want to screw up after putting that much work into it.





  The swing arm is set up and drilled for the pivot bolt.





  And finally a fit check with the new parts; Im a happy guy!





  Heres a different view.





  Just for grins here is the printed part alongside its machined counterpart. This is a low resolution print .01" slice.

I got a little carried away with pictures on this one; hopefully you don't mind.
Thanks for checking in,
  Dave


----------



## aonemarine

Thanks for all the pictures, I'm working on getting a cnc mill so its good to see how things are done. Now I'm curious as to how you go about the programming for flipping the part. I assume its figured out in the cam program. I'll figure it out when the time comes, hopefully......


----------



## idahoan

Hi Aonemarine


  Ask five guys and you will probably get five different answers. Im learning all the time especially in the surfacing department.
  What I did here was to shift my first operation in the CAM software .05 +X and Y. Then create a bounding box around the part (the part was imported into the CAM program with the chucking lugs attached). The block was faced off and the perimeter of the stock machined before the surfacing operations. 


All the remaining operations (2nd & 3rd) were set at 0.0. in the cam program. So when you flip your part over it is being located by 3 surfaces that you just machined; (the top, side and back). The excess material that was use to hold the part during the first operation is just faced off.
  This way you only need to set your origin in the machine once as far as X and Y are concerned.


  What I have been taught, works and makes since to me; is to always have my top of part at 0 and my tools set at the bottom i.e. top of parallels, vise bed, fixture plate etc. then my Z fixture offset is always a real number; (stock thickness minus a cleanup cut), (on second, third etc. operations the actual part thickness). This way it is easier to keep my limited number of brain cells in agreement.
  Hopefully this makes some since; as I said ask someone else and you may get a totally different answer. The key is to do what works for you.


  Dave


----------



## aonemarine

ok now im sitting here scratching my head trying to figure out what you are talking about with the off sets and bounding box.  It will probably make more sense once I have the cam program and start fooling around with it....


----------



## Generatorgus

Wow Dave, this just keeps getting better!!
GUS


----------



## kvom

To clarify a bit on the above questions:

1) The CNC g-code program needs to move the tool relative to the stock.  So at the start of each operation, there needs to be a zero point in all three dimensions.  The programmer can choose that zero point anywhere he wants.  Typically the zero point in the Z axis is either the top of the stock or the bottom of the stock.  Here Dave chose the bottom of the stock.  That means that all the movements of the tip of the tool will be above the bottom, or positive Z coordinates.

2) For 3D milling, the programmer restricts the tool movement  to within a specified volume, typically the stock or part of it.  This is the bounding box.  Here he needed to leave the two holding "tabs" on either end, so the bounding box excludes them from any cutting.

3) Here Dave used three different tools to get progressively finer details.  For the first one, he wants to "rough", meaning removing all stock to within a given clearance dimension in all 3 axes.  For the second tool, you don't need to rough, but you still need a clearance.  For the final finish pass, you use a 0 clearance.

4) For 3D milling on two sides, you need to flip the part in either the X or Y direction.  The CAM program will typically take that into account in generating the g-code.


----------



## aonemarine

Kvom, I undestand what you mean there, but what doesnt make sense is  _*  "What I did here was to shift my first operation in the CAM software .05&#8221; +X and &#8211;Y."*_      it sounds like he is only off setting the work on the positive X and negative Y by .050"  Thats what im trying to figure out as to why.... Im sure its something obvious that I am over looking.....Typical me LOL


----------



## idahoan

Hi Kvom

Thanks for clearing up what I attempted to say; I'm not always very good at getting my thoughts down on paper, so to speak.

I do prefer to use the top of my part as my Z fixture offset G54 and my tools set at the bottom of the part so all Z moves will be negative; I know some guys don't like to do it this way but it works for me. As I indicated before this makes the Z fixture values easier for me to keep track of in my head.

Aonemarine

Think of the bounding box as just a piece of geometry drawn in by the CAM program; you select your part and the program draws a box around it. It can be either 2d or 3d and if you want to put an offset in to make the box larger you can do that as well; it is just a handy tool included in some CAM programs.

So on this part because it was an odd shape and I wanted to drive the cutter all the way around the stock to clean it up. The bounding box gave me a 2d box around my part that I could use for a tool path contour.

As far as shifting the offset for the first op; this just shifted my part in the CAM program so there would be material to cut on the reference surfaces (rear vise jaw, and work stop)

If you left the part at 0x0 and cut around it there wouldn't be any material to cut on the left and back sides; the end was saw cut and the back was mill finish bar.

 So essentially you are just adjusting the position of the tool paths on your raw stock. 
The .05" value is just a number that I routinely use; sometimes more sometimes less depending on the condition and size of the raw stock. 

You could also shift your work origin in your CNC controller but when you flip your part over for  second op. you would have to shift it back or the 2nd op would be shifted by the amount you changed your G54 work offset.

I not sure if any of this makes since or not; hopefully it does.

Dave


----------



## aonemarine

Makes sense now, boy am I in for a learning curve...


----------



## idahoan

Hi everyone,

  I havent had much time to work on the engine but I did manage to get the exhaust valve finished this last weekend.
  I decided to make a two piece valve using a cast iron head and steel stem; this is the way the valves on some of the old engines were made. Due the length of this valve (over 6) this one was a good candidate.






  Starting with the chucking lug that was cut off of the valve chest; it was turned, faced, drilled, reamed and parted off. 





  I pressed the valve head onto a 1/8 dowel pin to hang on to while facing it to length.





  Then the top end of the stem hole was opened up with a 60 degree countersink.





  A piece of precision ground stainless rod is used for the stem. Here it is being turned for the press fit of the head.





  The head was pressed onto the stem and is ready to be peened.





  While heating the end of the stem with a torch the stem is peened to lock the head on to the stem. There is a piece of steel on the bench under the vise supporting the end of the valve. A few taps with a small ball peen hammer and it is done.




  After facing the head notice the 60 degree chamfer is now completely full of valve stem. I dont think that head is going anywhere.





  Next a seat cutter was made; ala George Britnell. I made it with 5 flutes hoping that it would have less chance of chatter.





  Here it is after heat treating a little cleanup and stoning.





  The cutter worked great; here is a picture through my microscope (wanted to see if I could do it); the valve seat shows as a dark circle near the edge.





  Here is another shot with the valve chest tilted a little. You can see the seat better in this picture.





  After  just a little lapping with extra fine Timesaver compound you can see the contact area on the valve.





  Here is the completed valve next to the seat cutter.

  Thanks for checking in,
  Dave


----------



## vcutajar

Nice one Dave.  Another way of doing the valves.  Thanks for showing because it is a new method for me.

Vince


----------



## JLeatherman

That's a great looking valve.  Thanks for the in-depth pictures, not just of this stage but the whole process.  I'm always glad to see another update in this thread when I log into the site.  I know I'm going to learn something.


----------



## RolandMM

Dave,  You are correct in the assembly of the valve.  Many early engines had a cast iron head on a steel stem.  I will attach a picture of my Pierce engine of the same era showing the rivet head on the valve.

No one however, except Dave, machined off the rivet head and polished it into a piece of jewelry.  Splendid photos and explanation. Thank you

Roland


----------



## idahoan

Vince, JLeatherman and Roland,

Thanks for the comments guys; I appreciate it. Hopefully I may get some time this weekend to work on the engine (we'll see).

Roland welcome to HMEM; your expert knowledge on this project is great asset to have here.

Dave


----------



## idahoan

Hi everyone

  I havent had much time for the Pacific lately but I did manage to find enough shop time to get the exhaust valve spring and keeper finished. Its not much but at least its something.





  Starting out the spring wire is passed through the tensioner and then through the cross hole in the mandrel.





  Then the wire is bent over to keep it from pulling out of the mandrel.





  Starting the winding process; the lathe quick change is set to give the proper number of coils per inch. At first a few close wraps are completed; the lathe carriage is moved by had to keep the coils tight. Then the half nut is engaged and the carriage is moved by the gearing. I usually turn the spindle by hand making sure to keep tension on the wire.





  When the proper number of coils are wound the half nut is disengaged and a few tight coils are wound at the far end.





  Then the tension is backed off and the wire cut with some music wire nippers.





  After the spring is removed from the mandrel the excess coils are cut with the nippers.





  After the excess coils are removed the ends of the spring are ground flat with the belt sander.





  The keeper is an easy turning job. Here it is mostly roughed out; a boss was turned to fit in the inside of the spring to help keep it centered on the valve stem.





  Transferred to the mill the set screw hole is located, drilled and taped.





  After parting it off the keeper is mounted on a 3/16 piece of stock so the bottom could be finished.





  Here is the spring and keeper mounted on the engine.

  Thanks for checking in,
  Dave


----------



## starnovice

Really nice Dave.  Can you give us a picture and some background on the tensioner? Also, you mention "music wire nippers" are these different then regular wire cutters?

Pat


----------



## cfellows

Really nice work on those springs.  Well, really nice work on the whole project, but for some reason, those springs really impressed me.  I tend to use whatever is available and just cut them off to the right length, hoping no one will look to close at them.

Valve seat cutter is also a nice piece of work.  Thanks to you and George for making and showing those.  

Any estimate on when you'll get to the hot tube?  Kind of looking forward to seeing what that's going to look like.

Chuck


----------



## Generatorgus

starnovice said:


> Really nice Dave. Can you give us a picture and some background on the tensioner? Also, you mention "music wire nippers" are these different then regular wire cutters?
> 
> Pat


 
Ditto that, I can see a number wheel, not much else.  
Also the nipper thing.  Not sure what they are, but I once blew half of the jaw off of a fairly descent quality diagonals cutting a a not very thick piece of spring wire. 
Also can't not say, nice work, as usual.

GUS


----------



## myrickman

I like the spring tricks! Especially putting a few extra end wraps to tidy things up. She is shaping up nicely....precision all the way..


----------



## idahoan

Thanks guys I appreciate it,

  The spring wire tensioner is a handy little device I made many years ago from plans (if I remember correctly) in one of the Strictly IC Magazines. I did a quick look this evening but I couldnt dig it up. I will keep looking to see if I can find it.

  It has a couple of nice features; the vee supports the mandrel so a center isnt needed unless you want to use one. The tension dial has number and a pointer so you can get more consistent results from spring to spring. It usually takes me a few tries or more to get an acceptable spring.














  Watch eBay for the nippers; Starrett makes a real nice pair but they are pricy; I had sticker shock when went to their web site and looked them up.
  They are compound leverage and have adjustable high speed steel cutting blades. The blades can be sharpened on a surface grinder.
  Mine are a different brand but it wouldnt surprise me to find out they were made by Starrett; they look just the same.









  Thanks again for the kind words,
  Dave


----------



## starnovice

Thanks Dave, I am especially glad to learn about the nippers before I ruined a pair of wire cutters.

Pat


----------



## Rivergypsy

Very nice work, Dave - I like it!


----------



## idahoan

Hi Everyone

  Wow it has been 3 months since my last update; where does the time go? I got real busy with a windmill rebuilding project this last winter among other things and the Pacific kind of got neglected. The only items I have got done since my last post was to finish the head studs and nuts and made a small start on the head castings. 

  The prints call for high crown bolts for the head but I prefer the look of studs and nuts so that is what my engine is going to have.

  I have some vacation time next week after Memorial Day and I'm hoping to be able to spend some quality shop time working on the Pacific.




  I have covered how I make these parts in an earlier part of the build so here I just going to show the completed parts.




  And a different view




    Here are the head castings; the head is made in two pieces so it will have a water jacket. The two parts will be a shrink fit.  The chucking lugs have been turned and things roughed inn. The top of the head gets fully machined and polished. Im also deviating from the plans somewhat on the water jacket design; this will keep me from having to drill and plug passages through the outer rim of the head.

  Thanks for checking in,
  Dave


----------



## vcutajar

Good to see you back at it Dave.

Vince


----------



## Generatorgus

Ditto what Vince said.


----------



## Rivergypsy

Ditto as well - looking forward to seeing more of this


----------



## idahoan

Hi everyone

  Well I have finally been able to spend some quality shop time on the Pacific; within the last week I was able to finish up the cylinder head. Another little milestone in its construction.
  As I had indicated earlier the internal design was altered somewhat to keep from having to drill and plug holes in the side of the head. I created a cavity which would have been more like the original cored water jacket. This way the holes that connect to the ports on the top surface of the cylinder open directly into the water jacket cavity; Im happy with the way it all turned out.




  Here are the castings after machining the chucking lugs.




  Starting with the upper casting the head is profiled.




  I created a 2D CAD drawing of the curve profile and put in an intersection point every .0025. These dimensions were entered into an Excel Spread sheet that could be printed and used at the lathe. The dome is a little more than ½ way done here.




   Here is a sample of one of the 3 pages used to create the upper curve.




  After some careful filling and sanding Im quite please with the result.




  Soft jaws were bored and the upper casting flipped around to work on the underside.




  The chucking lug is cut off and the head machined to the proper thickness.




  The head is counter bored both for cylinder clearance and the register for the lower casting.




  Using a pair of soft jaws in the milling vise the next part of the cavity is machined; the holes are also drill at this time. Notice the one boss that is a little extra big; this is where the outlet port will pass through and the inlet ports will fall between the bosses.








  Back in the lathe the internal dome is machined using the same method as on the top; only this time using a boring bar.




  Starting on the lower casting the baffles are turned to be a slip fit in the cylinder and the OD is turned to press into the upper casting.







  Transferred to the mill and indicated in; the bolt circle is drilled along with the two water ports.








  The lower casting is parted from the chucking lug using an insert parting tool.  Jus a little bit of work on a lapping plate removed the tool marks and left a nice flat surface.








  Here are the upper and lower castings ready for assembly.








  And after assembly.




  One more detail to take care of is drilling and tapping the water outlet port.  





  Here is the finished head installed on the engine; Im really pleased how it all turned out.

  Thanks for checking in,
  Dave


----------



## vcutajar

Great work Dave.

Really enjoyed the step-by-step progress report.

Vince


----------



## Lawijt

I get a heart attack wright now........What a beautifull work.


----------



## idahoan

Thanks for the kind words guys; I appreciate it

Dave


----------



## Rivergypsy

Very, very nice work as usual, Dave - well done Thm:


----------



## idahoan

Hi everyone,

  I have been able to make some progress on the piston this week;  so far all is going well but is was a bit of a challenge to get it dialed in.




  Here is a shot of the raw aluminum casting.




  And a view of the inside.




  The casting was chucked in the small 3 jaw chuck and tapped around to get it running true. After it was running about as good as I could get it the chucking lug was machined.





  After the chucking lug was machined the piston was flipped around and chucked in my baby Sherline 5C 4 jaw chuck.  This is a sweet little chuck for small work. 



  The inside of the piston was indicated in. first I centered the inside of the wrist pin bosses then centered the inside of the skirt 90 degrees to  the pin bosses. A lot of checking here but I finally got it to a point I was comfortable with.




  The outside was rough turned leaving about .005 to remove later.




  The inside of the skirt was turned along with facing the bosses where the wrist pin set screw jam nuts will seat.




   The piston was flipped around and the chucking lug turned true with the piston body. A size was chosen that would fit in a standard collet (25/32) which is about where it cleaned up.





  The piston now put in the indexing fixture; using an adjustable parallel and precision to square the pin bosses . This indexer can pivot 90 degrees so the plan is to mill the inside surfaces of the pin bosses then rotate the piston down drill and ream the wrist pin hole.




  The bottom of the piston is indicated in; also with the piston horizontal the indexer was indicated parallel with the X axis.





  The inside surfaces of the pin bosses have been milled to .750 and the set screw hole spotted just for a sanity check. I will probably drill and ream the pin hole first then rotate it back up and do the drilling and tapping for the set screws.

  Thanks for checking in.

  Dave


----------



## jwcnc1911

Fantastic work on that piston!  What's the nub on the end for?  Simply for workholding?


----------



## idahoan

Thanks for the comments guys; yes the nub is just for chucking and get mostly machined away.

Dave


----------



## idahoan

Hi Everyone

  I got my cylinder back from my friend who honed it on Sunnen power hone; it came out beautifully and dead on the 1.750 diameter.




  Continuing work on the piston the indexing head is rotated down to the horizontal position and indicated in.




  The wristpin hole is now spotted, drilled and reamed.




  The indexer is rotated back up and the wristpin retainer screw holes are drilled and tapped. I didnt want to run the reamer across the holes so that is why I seem to be jumping back and forth.




  Back in the lathe chucking lug has been cut off and the top of the piston finished; the threaded hole is for the post that works the piston trip ignitor.




  A mandrill was turned that is a very light push fit on the ID of the piston skirt.




  With the piston installed on the mandrill and the center in place the piston is turned to its final size.




  Without disturbing the setup the ring grooves are cut using a Thinbit; the rings are .062wide. Also but not shown I cut 3 .03 X .01 deep oil grooves in the skirt area. Being a vertical engine Im hoping this may retain some of the oil and help keep it lubed.




  I didnt take any pictures of the construction but here is the wrist pin and square head set screws. Both the pin and screws have been case hardened.




  And finally a couple shots of the completed piston with the hardware installed.





  Thanks for checking in,
  Dave


----------



## vcutajar

Nice work Dave.

Vince


----------



## idahoan

Thanks Vince

I appreciate it.

Dave


----------



## Generatorgus

What could I say, just that I wish you were showing all this good stuff when I was building the Wyvern.
Not that the my workmanship would have been any better, but the methods I used sure would have.
Keep it coming.

GUS


----------



## Rivergypsy

Beautiful work as usual, Dave - keep up the good work!


----------



## idahoan

Thanks for the kind words guys it is a appreciated.

Gus is the Wayven finished? I thought you kind of left us hanging? 

Dave


----------



## Generatorgus

No Dave, sorry to say the Wyvern is not quite finished, a few more things to do but I got side tracked.
I went back to work on my Fairbanks Morse 45A diesel (not a model), which I started restoring about 3 or 4 months before work on the Wyvern began.
It's also near completion.
The Wyvern made first smoke months ago, and I really feel the need to smell some diesel smoke now.

Summer is never a very productive time for me, too many distractions.

GUS


----------



## idahoan

Looks like you are doing a great job on the 45A; I seem to remember seeing some of the dissasembly shots.

Dave


----------



## Philipintexas

There is nothing I can add in the way of compliments that hasn't been said already, I arrived late to your project but have studied every post and continue to be amazed at your workmanship and the quality of your parts. My question is; having built Morrison & Marvin's 6-cycle MERY engine, I know their castings are first rate, but without the extensive tooling you have and the CNC capabilities, could this model be completed by us mere mortals with amateur skills, a lathe and mill-drill?? Your brass parts and the 2-part head seem out of reach for someone who doesn't have CNC, do the plans and castings offer alternative methods?


----------



## idahoan

Hi Philip

If you built the Mery there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to build a Pacific. My good friend here in town (who has also built a Mery) finished his pacific a month or so ago. It is a beautiful engine and runs real nice; he has a 12x36 lathe and a Bridgeport style mill; all manual.

If you have enough swing in your lathe to turn the flywheel and enough Z height on your mill to work on the body casting you should be good to go. 

There are iron castings in the kit for the brass parts that I did on the CNC and if you follow Lester's blue prints the fancy machining isn't needed in the water jacket of the head; having access to a CNC mill, it is fun to play.
The main bearing saddles may present a challenge with out a shaper but there are other ways this part can be machined. I have seen this engine built using bronze bearings instead the the poured Babbitt.

It is a fun and interesting engine to build and I have been thoroughly enjoying the project; although I don't get to spend as much time in it as I would like._*

Dave
*_


----------



## idahoan

Hi Everyone

  Here are some construction photos of the Pacific rod; the rod has brasses on each end with a turned steel center. I wonder if this is a hold out from the steam engine designs; the split small end bearing isnt something you see very often on an IC engine.
  I accidently deleted the construction of the brasses and didnt take any of the hardware machining. The brasses were left a little oversize on the radius so they could be turned as a unit assembled on the rod. I roughed them out on the CNC so that is how I originally generated the radius.




  First a suitable piece of 12L14 stock was faced to length and centered on both ends.





  Then the center was machined just a little larger than the finished fat part in the middle of the rod.





  Using a V block the profile on each end of the rod was machined leaving the radius on the ends a few thou over for turning later; also at this time the holes were drilled.





  Here the 1/16 hole is drilled all the way to the middle of the rod for oiling; it gets an intersecting hole put in later.





  Back in the lathe and indicated in using a 4 jaw chuck the first taper is machined and the radius at the root is also cut with the same tool.
  You may notice that in the next few pictures the radius at the root is smaller; that is because I goofed and made it too large the first time. I re-ground the tool and went back and re-cut them.
  Not shown the rod is flipped and the same was done for the other end.





  Turning the radius on the sides was a bit of a challenge; the radius is not centered with the rod axis so the rod assembly needed to be offset for turning.
  A fixture was made the mount the rod assembly to with the proper offset; two sets of mounting holes were included. One set for each end of the rod. 
  First the big end is done; first one side the rod is removed and rotated and then the other side is turned. Two pair of special stepped studs were made as the one end of each of the brasses is threaded so a thread size that would slide through the threaded hole was chosen.





  First the big end is done; first one side the rod is removed and rotated and then the other side is turned. Two pair of special stepped studs were made as the one end of each of the brasses is threaded so a thread size that would slide through the threaded hole was chosen.





  And after the first side is completed; you can see part of the fixture was machined away so the tool would clear the end of the bearing.




  The completed piston and rod assembly with the proper hardware





  Here is a shot of the inside.
  I need to do a thorough cleaning of the cylinder then I can do a test fit of the new parts.

  Thanks for checking in,
  Dave


----------



## Rivergypsy

Very, very nice work Dave!!


----------



## idahoan

Thanks!

Dave


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## lovemanop

You work out Come Very beautiful. 
manop Thailand. I use the Language Translation are sorry


----------



## idahoan

Hi Everyone

  I had a few modifications that I wanted to do the the engine base before I started on the ignitor and intake valve chest. To facilitate casting and to have a place for the core print there was a large hole in the top of the base. This would allow the waste oil to drain down through the base and on to the skid.

  The base needed to be sealed up and a proper drain put in; as far as I know this is the way the original engines were. I have seen several different locations for the drain in photos and I chose to run it out the side as seen on a Pacific/Union marine engine.

  Also bosses were added for the mounting bolts as well as a boss for the intake air pipe to pass through.




  Here is a shot of the base casting showing the cored hole.






  A piece of ½ hot rolled steel was rescued from the scrap box .






  The top side of the new oil pan is machined along with the outer profile. Then it was flipped over and milled to the desired thickness.







  The base was set up in the mill and a matching pocket cut to hold the new oil pan.







  The oil pan was a light tap in fit and glued in place using Loctite anaerobic gasket sealer. It was left about .01 proud and faced off after the adhesive cured.







  And a shot from the bottom.






  After taking a skim cut with a fly cutter it is now nice and flat.






  Set up in the mill the base is counter bored for the new boss.






  Using a ¼ ball end mill the oil drain is connected to the pan area.






  Here the new boss has been installed and taped for the drain pipe. Also a little blending work has been done with Devcon steel filled epoxy.






  The bosses were turned from cast iron bar stock. 






  The holes in the base were machined to accommodate the new bosses.






  Then they were Loctited in place.






  And finally a shot of the new air intake boss along with the new mounting bosses after a little body work with the Devcon.




Now on the to the piston trip ignitor,
  Thanks for checking in.
  Dave


----------



## Generatorgus

Hi Dave, 
Every time I tune in here I am always amazed at the quality of your work and the attention to detail as well as the machining set ups and methods.
Well done.  Thanks for letting us watch and learn.

GUS


----------



## idahoan

Thanks for stopping by Gus, and also for your comments,

Dave


----------



## idahoan

Hi everyone

  I was able to spend some time late last month and got the engraving done on the Lunkenheimer grease cups. Armed with a new spring-loaded diamond engraver from 2L and some encouragement from Gary Hart, I gave it a try.

  The geometry was created in Solid Works using a photo of the original as a drawing template; then on to the CAM program to create the tool path.

  After a few test cuts I had the feed and speed pretty well dialed in; Im pleased how good they came out. Because the diamond displaces the material instead of cutting it the bumps needed to be carefully sanded off.

  The letters are approximately .03 tall and ended up being about .005 deep.

  Here are a few pictures, one showing the original I used as a pattern.











This was a fun little task and I already have an idea where I will use it next.

Thanks for checking in,
Dave


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## myrickman

The base bosses are a neat feature/trick I must file away for future use. The Lunkenheimer miniatures are a sweet finishing touch. Thanks a bunch for the posts and the top shelf craftsmanship.


----------



## idahoan

Thanks for checking in Myrickman,

I appreciate the kind words.

Dave


----------



## idahoan

Hi Everyone

  I finally was able to carve out some time to work on the piston trip ignitor.  The cylinder casting had bosses cast for the feed throughs; but the way my cylinder finished up I wasn&#8217;t completely happy with the position of the boss relative to where the holes should be.

  My original plan was to completely remove the boss and counter bore the cylinder to create a flat area for the insulator to sit. I actually did this but then wasn&#8217;t overly happy with the way it looked. Part of the reason was I sized the counter bore to fit some mica washers I had on hand; and after the fact the scale just wasn&#8217;t correct. So after thinking about it for a few days I decided to go ahead and replace the bosses.

   The new bosses were turned and then pressed and Loctited into the counter bore. A small fillet was added with the Devcon and I was starting to feel better about how it was all looking.  I have seen these engines both ways (with the counter bore and also with the boss) so I would say either way could be correct.

  The Devcon I have been using is called Plastic Steel Putty (A) it is a steel reinforced epoxy; the mix ratio is 9:1 by weight or 2.5:1 by volume. This gives you some idea of the amount of steel filler that it has in it. It is not cheap but a much better product than JB Weld types of epoxies.




  Here are the two new ignitor bosses. 




  And a close-up shot.




  I decided to counter bore the inside of the cylinder for the mica to sit in; as far as I know this is also how the original engine was done. I modified a standard counter bore (cut off) so it would fit in the cylinder bore.




  Teflon insulator bushings were turned along with the start of the feed throughs; the feed throughs were made form 303 stainless steel.  




  The feed through is milled half way to form the clamp area for the blade.




  Then drilled and tapped; also the edge is given a small radius to remove a stress point from the balde.




  The clamp blocks are machined and counter bored to accept a boss for the clamp screw.




  The bosses are silver soldered in place.




  Here they are after cleaning and a trip through the blast cabinet.




  The blades are machined out of a commercial air compressor valve spring; the spring just happened to be the right thickness. The stock is screwed to a chucking piece and the clamps removed.




  The blades are profiled using a small carbide end mill.




  Here they are ready for the points to be installed; also made a couple of spares while I was set up and going.



 
  The points were machined out of meteor metal that I purchased from one of the magneto guys a number of years ago. I think that it is high in Nickel but not sure what else is in it. I plan to take a sample to work and have one of the guys in the lab check it out. 

  I may also try German silver point material as this is what one of the gas engine suppliers is selling for Ignitor point replacements in the full sized antique engines

  The points were swaged in place after machining.



  Here is the lineup of all the parts for one feed through assembly. The mica washers are added or removed to properly align the points. The outside insulator is made from linen phenolic followed by a thin washer punched from some blue spring steel and then the brass nut/ wire clamp.




  Here are all the parts installed in the cylinder; notice the brass button screwed into the top of the piston.




  Here is a shot through the exhaust port; the button on the piston closes the points on the way up and then the point open as the piston starts back down.

  Because room is tight all fine adjustments will be made using shims; either under the trip button or under the blades. I lengthened my connecting rod to increase the compression ratio so there is not enough room for the stud and jam nut that would have originally been used on the top of the piston.


Here are a couple shots of the outside parts.








  The major problem with this system is there is no spark advance; the engine will always runs in a retarded condition. It was 1890 after all and this engine represents some of the very early US engine development.


  Thanks for checking in.
  Dave


----------



## Rivergypsy

Absolutely beautiful work, Dave - top job!


----------



## idahoan

Thanks for checking in Dave.

I appreciate the comments.

Dave


----------



## Hpais

Dave,

Amazing work, you're a true craftsman. I'm extremely impressed.


----------



## idahoan

Hi everyone

I have been struggling trying to get an update posted on the Pacific; I havent been able to make much progress lately but hopefully that will change.

The next part on the engine is the intake valve assembly; there isnt anything in the way of plans or a casting for this part. Only some guidelines form Lester Bowman on the prints of what he did on his model.

Some of the guys that have built this engine use a modified check valve for the intake valve chest with good results.

Roland Morrison (Morrison & Marvin) supplies a nice set of lost wax castings for the fuel and air cocks that are designed for 1/6 pipe and are a real nice fit on the Pacific. 

Using the size of the hand valves to go by and looking at photos and drawings of the original engines I designed an intake valve assembly that I feel complements the hand valves and fits the scale of the engine nicely.

 This valve could have been made as a built up assembly but I chose to carve it from solid stock using CNC.




Here is my Alibre (Geomagic) assembly drawing of the valve.




Starting out the first side is roughed out.




Here the finish tool path is running on the first side of the valve body.




The first side finished.




The block is flipped over and the second side roughed out.




After finishing the  second side the valve body is ready for some secondary machining operations.
More to follow.

Thanks for checking in.
Dave


----------



## Rivergypsy

Hi Dave,

Beautiful work as usual - that's some really tidy 3D work you've done there. I'm quite envious - it looks as though your mill has a much bigger program memory than mine does to get that sort of finish. What sort of mill and CAM system are you using?

Dave


----------



## idahoan

Thanks Dave!

I have been doing the 3 axis work on my mill at work; it is a 22"X16" Fadal and I use Master CAM X5 for programming. I'm lucky that the small shop (R&D Model Shop) that I work in, we all have our own dedicated machines. My work station is right at my machine so it is no problem to DNC large programs. 

Solid Works and Master CAM at work and Geo-magic (Alibre) and Bob CAD at home.

I'm not thrilled about the faceting; but with a quick rub with some fine sand paper it disappears quickly.

Thanks again for the comments,
Dave


----------



## Rivergypsy

Ah, now I'm jealous! I share an Interact, but for some reason, and I've not had it happen before, I just can't get DNC to work on this one so it really limits the finishes possible. What sort of field does your model shop work in?

Have you been modelling much of your Pacific in SW? I do like to take 2D plans into SW, as it's a great way of spotting drawing errors or conflicts before they get to the metal (not that it always works!!)


----------



## Swifty

Absolutely magnificent work, would love to have a CNC mill, ran one at work for some time but it was mostly 2.5D.

Paul.


----------



## idahoan

Hi Dave 

We work in the imaging and printing business; it's not a small company I'm sure you have heard of it.

We have one Interact in the shop and I know not log ago they needed to run a large program on it; I think what they ended up doing to make it work was so set the baud rate down to 600 both at the the machine and the terminal program. After that it was working fine; the terminal/editor program we use in CIMCO Edit.

Paul, thanks for the kind words and checking in on my project.

Dave


----------



## idahoan

Hi Everyone

  Here is the continuation of the intake valve construction.
  The valve body was removed from the frame using the band saw; Im sorry I got carried away and didnt take many machining pictures. It was all pretty straight forward; I decided instead of reaching down through the 1/16 pipe openings to cut the ports that I would make an insert that would have the ports, valve seat and threads for the cap. My buddy gave me a bad time about it but it all worked out well.




  After some machine work and fettling here is the valve body ready to have the insert installed.




  Here is a shot of the insert; you can see the ports and the valve seat on the edge of the flat land.




  And a different view.




  The insert was Loctited in place with high strength cylindrical bonder (609) also I always use the primer.




  After the Loctite set the top of the insert was faced off flush with the bronze body.




  Here is a shot of the valve; the original had the tapered top like this one does (at least the one I saw a photo of did).




  The two remaining parts were the cap and the bob weight. The cap was designed to look like the one on the exhaust chest only smaller.




  Here is a shot of the cap installed on the body.




  And finally a couple shot of the completed valve assembly installed on the engine.





  Im very pleased with how it turned out; hopefully it will perform ok as well.

I still need to make the copper sealing washers for both valves.

  Now on to the gas and air hand cocks.


  Thanks again for checking in and the comments.
  Dave


----------



## Rivergypsy

As usual, very very nice work!

Nice looking toolbox too - I may have to turn some brass  knobs for mine now to keep up ;D


----------



## idahoan

Thanks Dave

I appreciate it!

Dave


----------



## Generatorgus

Dave,
I'm still following your build and I wait for the next installment like a kid waiting for the next issue of Superman.

It just keeps getting better.

I'll be interested to see the sealing washers. I just made a feeble attempt at making some copper spark plug washers a couple days ago, not very pretty.

GUS


----------



## idahoan

Thanks Gus!

I was thinking about you the other day; wondering what you have been up to?

Dave


----------



## vcutajar

Dave, that valve is a real beauty.  

Vince


----------



## idahoan

Thanks Vince,

Dave


----------



## Generatorgus

Dave,
I was busy with summer, which means engine shows, trying to stay cool, finishing my FM diesel project (BTW; runs great), goofing of as much as possible and even went on the road to do some paying work so I could continue doing the afore mentioned items.

Now it's starting to be winter, which means locking myself in the shop and not coming out until spring.
I'm resuming the changes/improvements on the Wyvern and should have that project done.
Then I have to decide what I want to tackle next.
I have two casting kits on the shelf but I find I'm wanting to do something scratch built, maybe a 1/3 scale H. Ford engine, but I also have a hankering to make a cannon.
I also am trying to get used to/learn how to use a new computer, cellphone and camera. The old computer crashed, the old camera went to visit the washing machine and I strangled my cellphone.

Add to that I picked up a  "Make your computer run faster" bug yesterday while downloading a free ringtone.  The computer still works, I just can't find my startup screen. Nothing is for free, there's always a price to pay.

Sorry for the rant, but you asked, I think?


----------



## Rivergypsy

Personal opinion, Gus, but whilst I'd sort the computer and camera, I'd leave the cellphone dead - life in the workshop is much quieter and less interupted without it ;D

I'm looking forward to your next project though - both sound like fun. I've got plans for a Napolean cannon here which keep nagging at me, but our firearms laws mean we don't get the same amount of fun as you do


----------



## idahoan

Hi everyone,

  The Pacific doesn&#8217;t have any type of mixer or carburetor just 3 hand cocks; one for air one for gas and the third acts as a throttle. Primitive I know but after all it was 1890.

  Morrison and Marvin supply these beautiful bronze investment cast hand cocks. These are scaled directly from originals of the same period.

  To properly make these valves there really is no getting around having to make some fixtures. I thought about this a lot (procrastinated) about how I was going to do it. Having access to rapid prototyping equipment at work I decided that I would like to try making some machining fixtures on the 3D printers.
  So maybe part of this segment should be titled adventures in 3d printing.




  Here are the valve castings from Morrison and Marvin. I did just a little fettling to remove the mold lines and then a trip through the bead blaster which restored the original finish.




  Starting with the body castings; they were held in a hex collet and indicated in. Carefully the end was faced and center drilled. The main diameter was turned and a notch cut as a reference to where they would be cut off.




  Here are the bodies ready for the next operation.




  Flipped around and held in a collet the bore for the ID thread is opened up with a boring bar to maintain concentricity with the opposite end.




  The 1/16&#8221; NPT or 5/16&#8221;MTP is taped using a guide in the tailstock.




  After the bodies have been cut and faced to length the taper for the pipe thread is machined using a boring bar. Also the hole through the center will be drilled.




  Here are the three bodies ready to have the threads milled. A couple of reasons for wanting to mill the threads; this something I have never done and will (hopefully) result in better threads than with using a die.




  Here is my first printed fixture; this one done on a FDM machine (Fused Deposition Modeling) the most common 3d printer you see these days.




  The assembled fixture in the mill ready to mill the threads. This type of fixture could also easily be used in a 4 jaw chuck.




  I indicated each one in but surprisingly they were all within a couple thou of each other.




  Here is an action shot of the thread milling operation.




  With just a little tweaking I was getting an acceptable thread; I did run a couple of aluminum dummy parts to get it dialed in.




  The three valve bodies ready for the next operation.

  I kind of went overboard on the pictures so I will post more later.

  Thanks for checking in,
  Dave


----------



## Rivergypsy

They're some lovely castings you've got there, Dave, and a very clever idea on 3D printing your fixtures. We've got a 3D printer here, and whilst I've used it to print prototypes, I'd never considered tooling - thanks for a great tip!


----------



## RCupp

Oh no, more pictures are a good thing!!
Fantastic work!


----------



## idahoan

Hi everyone

Before I continuing on with the body machining I wanted to get the handle plugs machined; this way I would have a gage to know when I had bored the bodies deep enough.

This operation required the next fixture; this one was done on our SLA (Stereo Lithography) machine. The SLA builds parts by rastering a laser across the top surface of a vat of UV sensitive resin. The part is built in .003 layers and drops deeper into the vat as the parts are built. The SLA is one of the most accurate of all the rapid prototyping machines.




Here is the fixture along with the handle plug casting.




Assembled and ready for the mill




Like before each part was indicated in; but this proved unnecessary as they were all within a couple thousandths.




A small program was created that faced to length, machined the two diameters, cut the flat, milled the threads, chamfered the end and centered drilled it. Here is the result; as before a couple of aluminum test parts were machined to check the program.




Here are the 3 handle plugs ready for the next operation.




Notice the rather large hole; Im sure this was fine for a full sized engine but on a model it will make it a challenge to get the mixture set properly.




My attempted solution lies in this little pile of brass parts.




After machining they were given several center punch marks to allow room for the solder to flow.




Assembled in the handle plug; they were left long and will be machined along with the rest of the taper.




Here are a couple of shots just after soldering the inserts in place.




The diamond orifice pattern is typical of the gas valves used on some of the early stationary engines




After another trip through the blast cabinet the handle plugs were set up to machine the taper; instead of than turning them between centers a collet was used on the #10 threaded end to hold the handle. Everything on this end was machined in the same setup so this worked out just fine.




Rather than grind a special tool I though what the heck the parting tool looks like it just may work; wrong application I know but using light cuts the insert parting blade did a beautiful job turning he taper on the handles.

Now we can move on to boring the bodies.

Thanks for checking in.
Dave


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## idahoan

Dave
  Hi everyone,

  Here is the last set of photos dealing with the construction of the hand cocks.

  The bodies needed to be bored and faced on each end; the top gets a tapered surface that the indicating lines will be engraved on. Another printed fixture was designed and made; I was hoping to run these on the SLA machine (Stereo Lithography) but it was booked up so I built them on one of our FDM 3d printers. This process in not as accurate and some hand work was required to get the fixture to completely close up on the body casting. Also the OD of the fixture was machined to help in the setup of each valve body.





  Here is the split round fixture with the body casting in place.





  Here it is closed up; each end of the body can be machined as well as the bore. Each time the fixture is put in the lathe the part is indicated in both axially and radially.




  The bore is machined using a small solid carbide boring bar. The same compound setting was used that was used to turn the taper on the handle plug. The finished handle plugs were used as a gage the get the proper size of the bore





  The top surface is cleaned up at the prober angle to give a nice surface for engraving the indicating lines.





  A tapered plug fixture was turned to allow the body casting to be held in a 5C indexer for engraving the lines. The lines were patterned so the valve may flipped 180 and still have the handle pointing down when the valve is fully open.





  Next up was the thrust washer with a D shaped hole; there was some discussion about this a while back on the forum. I decided to go for the fabricated version as opposed to making a punch.

  A couple bits of 660 bearing bronze were silver soldered together after drilling the proper sized hole and milling it down to where the flat is located.





  Indicated in the Sherline 4 jaw chuck the first side of the washer was machined and then parted off.





  Flipped around and held in a collet the bottom sided was profiled and polished.





  The SLA handle fixture was modified to expose the area of the handle where the pointer goes. Set up in the mill, the pointer hole was drilled. The pointer is a piece of .032 music wire cut sharpened and Loctited in place. The washers and nut help align the handle in the fixture because the fixture was designed the hold the raw casting and not the machined one.










  The last two shots are of the completed valves ready to be installed on the engine; it sure was nice have that little project behind me. Had I been thinking I may have bought a few more castings and made some spares for possible future project.

  Thanks for checking in.

  Dave


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## Rivergypsy

Absolutely stunning work again Dave!! :bow:


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## idahoan

Thanks for the kind words Dave,


  Here are a couple shots of the engine with the valves fitted and the intake plumbing pretty much complete.










  Thanks for checking in,

  Dave


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## Wizard69

I have to say this is one amazing thread.   I just wasted a couple of hours salting on page one and going all the way through to the end.   This is one amazing build.


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## idahoan

Thanks for the kind words,

I have been side tracked by a couple other projects and really need to get back and do some more work done on the Pacific.

Dave


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## Heffalump

Hi Dave,

This is some really high quality work, thanks so much for sharing. I've only read this page, but I'm going to set aside some time to read through the whole thread.


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## Rivergypsy

LMAO!! I know exactly where you're coming from about getting sidetracked - the compound and two more designs have had me offof the entablature for a while now ;D


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## Generatorgus

Rivergypsy said:


> LMAO!! I know exactly where you're coming from about getting sidetracked - the compound and two more designs have had me offof the entablature for a while now ;D


 
"Gets Sidetracked" is my Indian name.
GUS


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## Rivergypsy

Lucky we don't get school reports anymore. I can see it now - 'tries hard but easily led astray...'


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## myrickman

Dave- those gas cocks are the cherry on the sundae ! The engine turned out stunning and I picked up a lot of helpful tips following the build. Your high standards are certainly something to try to emulate. Thanks for sharing its construction.


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## Rivergypsy

Hi Dave,

 How's it going with this one? Looking forward to updates 

 Dave


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## idahoan

Hi Guys,

Sorry I have been slacking on this project; I took what I thought was going to be a short breather to work on my CNC upgrade project. Also I tore into my old Van Norman indexing head to refurbish it, along with making two missing index plates; I do need this to cut the pump gears for the Pacific. So this was necessary.

So between these projects, the extra paying work that comes into my shop, the day job, and 3 weeks ago I broke the little finger on my right hand. My arm and hand are in a cast and that has slowed me down in the shop quite a bit.

One other project I have been working on (Pacific related) are 3d CAD models for the Gould's double acting force pump that the engine will eventually run. 

So don't give up hope; I will get going on it again hopefully within the next few weeks; if nothing more than to reacquaint my self with a good friend.

Thanks for checking on me,

Dave


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## Rivergypsy

Hi Dave,

 That's not good news on the accident - how did you mange that one? Good luck and fingers crossed for a speedy recovery! Have you got any pictures of the pump?

 Dave


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## Generatorgus

Glad to here your still working towards the Pacific, the pump should be interesting.  I have a full size 3x4 Myers Bulldozer that I used to run at engine shows.  I'm quite amused at how people will spend time watching moving water.

About the finger, it's  got me also wondering how you accomplished that. It's not at all difficult to get fingers or hands in harms way.
Seems I remember a picture of a rather nasty burned hand someone else posted  a while ago.

Be safe out there.
I'll try to remember that myself.
GUS


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## idahoan

Hi Dave and Gus,

No this wasn't shop related.

It was Rugby the 25lb Cavalier King Charles Spaniel's fault; I had bent down to give him a pet and when I stood up and started to step over him he also stood up (which I didn't see) and tripped me. Well the rest is history; one surgery and 6 little stainless pins, a cast and I'm good to go. I get the cast off next Wednesday for a check to see how things are going. I have had it for 3 weeks now and I'm ready to be done with it.

Here is a shot of the pump outfit; I'm hoping to be able to pull this off but it is going to be a bunch of work. But that's why we do this; right?

My brother who is and Auto CAD master has been helping me turn this semi iso view into front, side, and end views in Auto CAD. This in not as straight forward as it may seem because the scaling is all over the place; and there are lots of compromises to get things to look right.

I will take the 2D views and turn them into a full 3D model using either Geomagic at home or SolidWorks at the day job. all the internal features will need to be created; passage ways, check valves, etc.

I was hoping to  have the whole thing completed by early fall; but the way things are going it probably isn't going to happen.

Twenty hours of overtime this paycheck alone and it probably isn't going to let up for the next few months this along with every thing else has slowed my progress to a crawl.





Pacific Vapor Engine and Pump

Thanks for checking in,
Dave


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## Rivergypsy

Oh, now I do like that, Dave - very nice! Unusual too, at least in my experience. You're right though, it is a long and sometimes painful process to turn what look to be detailed images into even 2D files, let alone 3D, which is something I learnt rapidly when I started pulling the Leavitt patent info together.

 Dogs can be good like that, can't they? We've got a weimaraner that's had me over a few times, usually with a last minute U-turn when I'm in a rush


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## Generatorgus

Spaniels... they'll do it every time.  I guess they think it's funny.

That's a neat  pump setup, it will be a nice addition to the project. 

Pretty difficult to scale and build things from a prospective drawing, kind of a reverse 3D process with not much to base dimensions on.


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## LSEW

Dave, the work on your model is an inspiration it all of us. Excellent work.

I hope that finger is getting back to normal, seems that's the big reason for the diversion. I hope to see this engine running, as I have one partly done on my bench too.

That pump looks interesting. At one time in the past I was considering making castings for that very pump, but just got busy on other stuff. You say you are making Solidworks models of it, would you like some castings too?

maury


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## idahoan

Hi Maury

Thanks for checking up on me.

The finger is coming along as well as can be expected I guess; it has been a long haul. I got the pins taken out on April 4th and then the stitches 10 days later, so at this point Im just trying to get the range of motion back to somewhat normal. Its not keeping me from working in the shop though.

  Things have gotten very busy in the home shop and I just havent had any time to work on my own things. The CNC upgrade project has stalled again although I did get the sheet metal punched out for the keyboard and mouse tray at work this week; now I just need to find time to get it folded up with the press brake. This is the missing piece that I need to be able to get the new control panel installed on the my mill.

  I have also spent some spare time working on the pump CAD model (not as much as I would like though).

  Here is a screen shot of what I have so far; there still a quite a bit of tweaking left to do on these parts, but it is a start. I have really been struggling with the base trying to get it to look right.




  Its not small, it will be over 8 tall and the base has roughly a 4X 6 footprint. The tie studs are ¼ in diameter.  Im calling my Pacific a 1/3 scale model of a 3/4hp engine. That makes the pump about ½ the size of the engine. I think it will make a nice display.

  Castings? I hadnt thought that; my plan was to machine/fabricate the whole project; leveraging heavily on the CNC.  Im not sure what would be involved it turning this into castings.

  Dave


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## LSEW

Dave, I will be leaving for NAMES on Tuesday, be gone for a week, but can give you some specifics about making patterns when I get back. When you have a model you are happy with send me a copy. What version of Solidworks do you have, I have 2013. I understand there are incompatibilities with opening files of different versions.

For making patterns:
First thing is to decide what sections will be separate parts. make a model of each.

What I do then is to add material to the model for all of the machined surfaces. Also, material for a core print is added at this point if there is to be a core in the part.

Second, I scale the model for shrinkage.


Third, If the part needs to have a cope and a drag, 2 piece mold, I do a split along the parting line and convert the part into 2 parts.

Last I add draft, about 1.5 to 2 deg on external surfaces and 2 to 4 deg on internal surfaces.

Then I CNC the part out of a soft material like REN Shape or cherry wood.
This can be used as a pattern.

If you heed a core box, such as the bulb on the top of the pump, a core box can be made by making a model of the cavity and cutting it out of a solid block.

This is just an overview, can add more detail if you want to go this rout. If you want I'd be willing to help, and I can cast some parts out of bronze.

maury


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## LSEW

Dave, looking at the model you have drawn, I have a few suggestions for dividing up the pump if you want to go with castings. 

The bulb on top with the finial on the bottom would make a nice part. There needs to be a hole on top for a core print, so there would be a threaded finial on top too.

the base holding the bulb would make a nice part. I assume there probably is some valving and porting inside this part. 

The main section with the cylinder is an obvious choice. The cylinder would want to be cored out too. If not, shrinkage would become a problem.

There need to be end caps, I assume you have not drawn these yet.

The base I would make in 3 pieces as the parting line on the casting could become messy. The other option is use a core and cast the part up side down. I'd want to see the details of the model on this part.

Some ideas.

maury


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## idahoan

Hi Maury

I hope you had a good time at NAMES and also a good trip.

Wow what an incredible offer on the castings; this would be a wonderful learning opportunity for me as I do have interest in the pattern making area. Casting maybe someday but that would be down the road a ways (retirement) as I just dont have enough time for my current projects.

The pump as it stands now is 3 parts, the base, the middle section, and the top cover which includes the pressure dome. There will also be the end caps and packing gland but these will be made from bar stock.

I havent put any of the internal passages in at this time; I wanted to get the outside shape so that I was pleased with it. Then start to figure out how to do all the internals. Making cores will probably put a whole different twist on what can be done.

I would love to make all the patterns and core boxes.

Thanks again, if this works out it will be fun project


Dave


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## AlanHaisley

Dave,
 Do you have any clue what the six vertical flanges with horizontal holes on the base are for? 
 Alan


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## idahoan

Hi Alan,

Yes; the flanges were to attach handles for manual operation. on some of the pumps there was a handle on each end so two guys could work the pump at the same time. The pump would have been available as a hand operated unit or powered with the optional drive assembly. This is based on my observations looking at the old Goulds catalogs.

Attached is a similar pump from about the same time period; this pump is probably about 5 years newer based on the copyright of 1895 in the catalog. 

Maury and I have been busy on the pump project and I have been able to spend some time working on my engine yesterday and today. 

I should have some sort of an update in the very near future.

Thanks,
Dave


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## Charles Lamont

LSEW said:


> The base I would make in 3 pieces as the parting line on the casting could become messy. The other option is use a core and cast the part up side down. I'd want to see the details of the model on this part.
> maury



The base looks to me like a case for using an oddside.

Apart from allowing a non-planar parting line, it often helps to ensure better registration than is achieved with a split pattern relying on worn moulding boxes for registration.


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## idahoan

Hi everyone,

  Work has started to progress on the pump and related drive components and I finally have some progress pictures to share. Maury from Lone Star Engine Works has graciously offered to help me create castings for the Goulds pump and drive assembly; we have both been busy working on this part of the project most of the summer as time allows. Maury is very skilled at machining, pattern work and metal casting and this has been a wonderful opportunity for me to learn more about this part of our hobby.

  I have the 3d models mostly complete and Maury has been taking my models and doing the necessary operations to turn them into patterns, adding machining allowance, draft, core prints, and scaling for shrinkage. We both have been making patterns and core boxes and I will have an update showing some of this work moving forward.

  If you look back at post #207 you can see a drawing of the pumping outfit. I purchased this original 1892 advertisement off eBay many years ago; having no idea that someday I would be building the engine, I just liked it. After starting on the engine it was always my desire to make the pump too. The missing part of the equation was, how is the large bull gear mounted to the engine. A photo loaned to me by Lester Bowman (the original creator of the Pacific Model) answered this question.

  Now, knowing how the gear is mounted and that it was a bolt on attachment to the engine I thought I just might be able to pull this off.




  This is a photo of an original bull gear bracket mounted on the engine base and crankcase. There is a real good chance that this is the only one of these in existence. Photo complements of Lester Bowman.




  I started out modeling the bracket and working out gear sizes that would best match the original and still fit the model. Once the design seemed like it was going to work, the parts were printed to check the fit on the engine.





  Here is the SLA gear set being checked to see how the gears are going to look mounted on the engine.




  I was going to make the gears but this is a another area where Maury offered his assistance. Maury made the pinion gear and I finished it by adding the collar. If you look back at the original you can see the gear has this collar where the set screws are to mount the gear to the crank shaft.




  After the collar was turned and pressed onto the gear it was set up in the mill using a collet block to add the setscrew holes.




  A pair of period correct square head setscrews were made and case hardened.




  I machined my bull gear blank from a 6&#8221; slice of gray cast iron, and then sent it down to Maury where he used his gear hobber to cut the teeth. The gear came out beautiful, Maury does nice work!
  Here the blank is faced, turned, and bored.




  The band saw was used to slab off the extra material for use on a future project.




  Back in the lathe the other side of the gear blank is faced to proper thickness.




  Here is finished gear with the related hardware. The shaft was case hardened and polished and the iron gear will run directly on the shaft. If it gives me any trouble down the road I will install a bronze bushing. An oil hole was drilled through the bolt and the shaft also drilled to allow for oiling of the gear. Check out those nice teeth!




  This is the first casting produced, Maury machined the pattern for the bracket and poured the casting. If you looked closely at Maury&#8217;s F&G thread you can see this casting was included along with the pump parts that he had cast for the F&G engine.




  Back view of the same bracket.




  After a little fettling the casting is set up in the vise; a light skim is taken across the pads and the mounting holes drilled. A light cleanup cut was also taken across the gear surface, it will be further machined later on.




  The upper mounting lug is machined to proper thickness.




  The upper mounting lug is drilled and counter sunk using the same datum surface as the first operation.




  A light skim is taken to true up the 5deg. of the mounting surface.




  The engine was disassembled and mounted on an angle plate then dialed in. The crank shaft center line was also established at this time.




  Working from the crank center line the mounting holes were drilled and taped in the engine castings. A pair of high crown dome head bolts were also machined to mount the bracket to the engine. The modern flat head screw will be replaced with a proper slotted head screw later on.




  Using the Blake Coax indicator to pick up the center of the crank axis.




  Checking the gear mesh before boring the shaft hole.




  The shaft hole was drilled and bored; also at this time the bracket was faced using the facing head to insure the face was perpendicular to the shaft axis.




  I took the opportunity at this time to drill, tap, and spot face for the spark saver still needing to be made.




  Here the gears are mounted on the engine (they run real nice!).









  I can&#8217;t express how happy I am to see the gears mounted on the engine. This has been a dream of mine since I started the construction of the engine; this is a milestone for me and now I can see that it is going be a reality. The rest of the pump is coming along nicely and there will be updates coming showing the construction of the pump. Hopefully Maury will also be able to share some of his work along with mine.
  I would like to thank Maury for offering to dive into this project with me and share his expertise; we both have been having a great time collaborating and sharing ideas; and I&#8217;m getting an education on the casting process. If not for him I wouldn&#8217;t be nearly this far along.

  Thanks for checking in,
  Dave


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## idahoan

Hi everyone

  I managed to carve out a little bit of time over the holidays to work on the Pacific. I didnt get very much done but every little bit get me closer to the end.

  There are a couple parts (safety devices) that go in the fuel inlet piping between the vapor carburetor and the engine. The first one is the flame arrester; this device has a stack of metal screens inside a housing that in the event of a backfire will quench and extinguish a flame that is moving back up the pipe.

  The next piece is a check valve/ relief valve assembly that mounts directly on the vapor carburetor. In the event of a backfire the relief valve opens and vents the excess pressure which keeps it from trying to push back into the carburetor. Also contained in this assembly is a swing check valve that opens when the engine pulls vacuum to let fuel through and then seals when the vacuum is removed.

  I started with the flame arrester and then will move onto the check valve assembly.
  Below is the patent that I have been working from; you can see both of these parts in the drawing and how they are used.








  The flame arrester was modeled in Geomagic; Using the existing piping and hand cocks as a guide I played with the size and shape until I came up with something I was pleased with.




  Starting out the insides of both the top and bottom were machined; leaving the bottom half long for something to chuck on to.





  The top was screwed onto the bottom and then faced to length.





  Here the top section has been machined to length.





  The stock wont fit in a collet so the bottom was held in a 3 jaw chuck and also faced to length.





  Both the top and bottom had the hex cut and the 1/16 NPT threads put in.





  I used the step and cut method to generate the profile of the oval shape. One end was held using a ½ hex collet then when flipped around to profile the other end a round collet was used on one of the steps. This worked out better to maintain concentricity end to end.





  After some hand work with files and sand paper here is the final shape.





  I still need to punch out the stack of screens to fit inside but the will be done later.





  Here it is installed on the engine; Im pleased with how it looks and complements the other parts on the engine.


  I have also made a good start on the check valve assembly and will hopefully have an update on it in the near future.
  Thanks for checking in.
  Dave


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## Cymro77

Beautiful work! Do you work with or for a machine shop?  The quality of work looks professional.  Thanks for sharing.
Cymro77


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## idahoan

Cymro77 thanks for the kind words.

I do work as a machinist at my day job; I have been doing machine work for more than 30 years now, but most of my professional carer has been in the repair and maintenance of high tech process equipment. A little over 4 years ago I was able to move into the R&D Model Shop at work and it has been a job that I thoroughly enjoy.

Thanks again,
Dave


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