# Building one of Rudy's steamers



## Deanofid (Oct 23, 2009)

Hi all;

After quite a bit of deciding and un-deciding on what I want to build for my next engine, I finally made the choice of one of Rudy Kouhoupt's engines. I've always liked Rudy's work, but have only built one of his projects in the past.
Settling on something to use my free time on sometimes seems to take half an age, for me. I work in the shop most days, but not always on something that is just for fun, like an engine.  I usually work from my own scribbles, and having nice prints, as Rudy always drew, is kind of nice! 

So, here's the start of the project. This engine is one that was featured in one of his books, and I think also in a machinists magazine. The prints are copyrighted, so I can't put them here, but if you want to build this engine, it's in his first "Shop Wisdom" book. He didn't give it a catchy name, like some builders do. He just called it "A Horizontal Stationary Engine". 








The first thing I'll make is the base and sub base. To start, the ends are milled off square to clean up my hack saw marks. The sub base is thinner and will be a little wider than the base, and both pieces need to be milled to width. Since the sub base is too thin to mill unsupported, I clamped them both together for this step. Being thicker, the base provides extra support needed for milling the two. When the sub base is brought to size, it's removed from the sandwich, and the base is milled further to bring it to the proper width. The piece of scrap metal near the moveable jaw is just for a little extra support for the whole thing.









When the base has been brought to size, it's time to drill it full of holes. The holes can be laid out using a scribe and straight edge, but I usually find that if I have a lot to do it's better to center spot them all using coordinates on the milling machine. The letters marked on the piece are to remind me of the different hole sizes needed. The X on the left end of the piece is to mark my reference edge.









Next the base with the spotted holes is clamped to the sub base, and while drilling the holes through the base, the sub base gets its holes spotted at the same time, except for a few that are outside the dimensions of the base.









Now all the holes that are to be threaded are tapped. I use a tapping block anytime I can, especially when tapping small holes, like 2-56, or even up to size 8. It keeps the tap straight in the hole. Starting a tap crooked is probably the best way to break one. All you need for one is shown in the picture above. Just drill through holes in a disc for the sizes of whatever taps you are worried about breaking, (which is to say, all small ones!). 

For aluminum, I use paraffin wax instead of a tapping fluid. It makes a big difference in the tapping effort, which means less torque on those tiny taps that break so easily. Just rub the threads of the tap on it to fill the flutes. Also, it doesn't leave a mess to clean up, like liquid tapping juice.








Since the next step for the base and sub base is to mill away the contours, the crank throw slot, and the exhaust slot, the pieces will need some kind of support that holds them up above the top of the milling vise, or off the milling table, depending on how you do things. A cheap source of sacrificial packing for jobs like this is wood. Here, a piece of dimensioned poplar is being tapped for screws that will go through the base pieces to hold each one securely to the piece of wood. Most types of wood that are not too soft will take threaded holes just like metal, and they're really easy to tap. As long as the wood will hold the threads without stripping out under moderate tightening, it will work fine. 
Wood screws work better, of course, but you can't always find the tiny sizes needed if all you have is small holes in your work piece.









Here you can see how well the wooden packing piece works. The contours have been milled away in the base.









And here the crank throw slot has been milled out. When all the milling is done on the two base pieces, the piece of wood can be fly cut to use another day, or can just be tossed in the fireplace. When your jig pieces only cost 25 cents, you don't feel so bad about using them!

Similar milling is done to the sub base, and is basically the same thing as just done here, so I won't show that piece.









So, here are the two base pieces, drilled 'n milled, and just needing a little filing and sanding to finish them up.

I deviated from Rudy's prints a little out of necessity. The sub base was made from slightly thicker material because that's what I had on hand. The crank throw slots were made square bottomed because I didn't have a large enough end mill to make them fully radiused. If it happens that the crank throw slots need the radius later on for some functional reason, I'll file them out at that time.

Well, that's the start of it. Maybe I'll get a little more done tomorrow. Depends on work...

Dean


----------



## 4156df (Oct 23, 2009)

Dean,

Looking forward to following along on your build. Great start and a super write-up.

Dennis


----------



## 4wheels (Oct 23, 2009)

Ditto the coments above. I really like Rudy's engines and he designed at least one of every conceivable type. His set of 10 small display engines c/w display case was most inspired and a great early project. They featured in "Live Steam" some years ago. I have started the horo engine with hackworth valve gear. Will post details when I return to construction. Keep up the good work & I look forward to more of your posts.
Cheers,


----------



## Krown Kustoms (Oct 23, 2009)

nice start.
I use the wood idea when cutting plate, or profiling on the cnc, I have been known to set "0" a little low.
(I have a few reamers made from small end mills)
-B-


----------



## Deanofid (Oct 23, 2009)

Dennis, 4wheels, and -B-, thanks for having a look. I appreciate your comments.


----------



## Deanofid (Oct 23, 2009)

A little more done today;






The bearing blocks are supposed to be made from 3/8" aluminum flat bar, but all I have close to that size is 1/2", so I'll rough out the blocks and fly cut them to the proper thickness later. Once a couple of blocks are squared up and brought to length, they're put into the mill vise side by side and the center part for the bearings is milled away.










When the bottom half of the bearings are to size, they are basically just a rectangle with a notch in the middle. The next step is to mill an angle on each end of the two blocks. 
The print doesn't give this angle. Instead, it shows the dimensioned points of all the corners of the piece. To me, it's easier to set this up if I know the angle, so I made a simple drawing of the piece and measured it. Then set a simple adjustable protractor to that angle and set the surface of the part that needs to be milled away to the protractor blade, like in the picture above. This method works well for non-critical angles. Of course, the person building has to decide what is critical, and what is not. Usually, decorative angles like this are not.










Then made a few passes with the fly cutter until the flat that forms the angle met the bottom surface of the lower bearing block. I took only about .015" per cut with this setup so the fly cutter didn't knock the piece out of postion.










The bottom and top pieces are shown in the picture above. The top pieces are the smaller ones. 










The pieces still need their mounting holes drilled and tapped. The print for this piece shows four 4-40 tapped holes in this piece, two in the bottom and two in the top, all tapped 1/4" deep. Instead of drilling four separate holes, I just drilled two all the way through the piece, since both sets of opposing threaded holes are on the same center line. 
When I had the holes drilled, they were tapped the 1/4" deep called for in the print, two from the top, two from the bottom.










The bearing top caps are much the same as the bottom parts, except they have clearance holes instead of being tapped. There is also a tapped hole in the center of the top caps for oil cups, shown being done in the picture above.

Enough milling for a bit. Next up I'll do a couple of oil cups for the bearing caps.

Thanks for having a look,

Dean


----------



## arnoldb (Oct 24, 2009)

Looking good Dean Thm:

Regards, Arnold


----------



## Deanofid (Oct 24, 2009)

Thanks for checking in on it, Arnold. Appreciate that!

Was able to do a little more on it today.






For the oil cups, I turned up a piece of 3/16 brass rod. Note the cutter being used is completely flat on the top surface. It's what you need for cutting brass. The flat top keeps the cutter from trying to grab the brass piece, and makes for a fine finish. It's a standard configuration for HSS cutting tools used for brass turning.










The end of the piece is threaded 4-40 with a die. This will go into the tapped hole in the bearing top cap.










Then the piece is drilled through. For tiny bits and a fast spinning piece, peck it like a chicken! Small bits need to be cleaned out often.

This drill bit has been honed just for use on brass. It correlates to the way a tool is made for brass turning, explained above. The very front of the cutting edge is stoned flat, and it will cut brass like crazy and never grab. 
If you've ever had a drill bit grab and pull itself into brass, you know what I'm talking about. If it happens on a small bit, it will snap it right off. On bigger bits, it will usually spin them in the chuck. If you dedicate a set of bits for brass, and take the sharp cutting edge off of them, you can feed them into brass almost as fast as you want, and they will not grab. They just cut away, pretty as you please. I have a set of bits just for brass, and have ground the cutting edges on all of them flat using a stone. You can do a set in about 10 minutes.










Once all the work on this end is done, the piece is parted off. I dropped the first one on the floor, but amazingly I found it!










The last step on the oil cup is to reverse it and put it in a chuck so I can drill the well for the oil. Again, a drill bit with a honed-flat edge is used.










There it is. Dirty fingers for scale. Didn't have a quarter handy.









This is where I end up today. Proper studs and nuts have yet to be made for mounting to the base, and a finish fly cut will be taken on the assembled pieces to smooth up the joints between top and bottom bearing caps.

Thinking about making the bearings and crank next. I have no square stock to use for the bearings, so I'll have to cut squares out of round stock. Maybe tomorrow.

Dean


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Oct 25, 2009)

Nice Dean. Nice pics and tips.

I'm interested in the tips about drill bits and brass but I'm still very new to jargon and methods. Can you tell me more about how you modified the drill bit for brass? When I look at the pic of the drill bit...I can't tell what you did.

Also, I was reviewing your thread. The first pic of the post on bearing blocks shows an end mill roughing out a large groove. I'm learning about milling. Did you cut that at depth? Or take several passes to get there?

Thanks.


----------



## Deanofid (Oct 25, 2009)

zeeprogrammer  said:
			
		

> I'm interested in the tips about drill bits and brass but I'm still very new to jargon and methods. Can you tell me more about how you modified the drill bit for brass? When I look at the pic of the drill bit...I can't tell what you did.



Hi Zee. Thanks for having a look and commenting on the thread.

You can't see the difference in the pic of the drill in the post above, but I took some close-ups of how to do it, and what to look for.






This is how a stock drill bit looks on the end. It comes to a very sharp edge where the bit cuts metal (arrow). That same sharp edge that cuts steel so well will also dig in hard in brass and suck the bit into the work.








To take that sharp edge down, you run the cutting edge of the bit along a honing stone. The idea is to make it flat, which is no good for cutting steel, but cuts brass very well, and stops the grabbing problem. Run the bit in the direction of the arrow towards you, honing in only one direction. It usually takes 3-5 strokes to get the sharp edge off and condition it for brass cutting. (I realize the arrow has two heads, but hone the bit in only one direction.)









When you are done it will look like this. The shiny part you see is where the sharp edge has been honed down flat. It only takes a very small flat to be effective. 

I mentioned that I have a set of bits done this way, but once done, they won't cut steel like they used to, and should only be used on brass. You need more than one set of bits if you're going to do this. One for steel, one for brass. Keep them separate from your other bits.

The milling cut being made for the bearing blocks was done in about four or five steps. It's 3/8" deep. My milling machine is small, and while it will take that full cut at once, there's no use in working it that hard. Also, when cutting to a measured depth, like in this shot, or for cutting a pocket, you want to kind of "sneak up" on it so you don't go over your mark. If you take it all at once, you might go too deep.

Dean


----------



## JimN (Oct 25, 2009)

Nice work, and thanks for the info on drill bits for brass. I have always had that problem of the bits grabing while working with brass, now know why and how to fix it.

JimN


----------



## Krown Kustoms (Oct 25, 2009)

Yes, thanks for the tip.
-B-
By the way, the bearing blocks look great.


----------



## 4wheels (Oct 26, 2009)

Hi Dean,
Nice tips - nice engine - keep it up.
Cheers,


----------



## Deanofid (Oct 26, 2009)

Jim, -B-, and Brian, thanks much for looking in on it. I appreciate your comments. 
I have a few more to put up tomorrow, then have to get at the paying jobs. You know how it goes.

Dean


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Oct 26, 2009)

Thanks very much Dean. The pictures showing how the drill bits are done were great. I was surprised just how grabby drilling brass is, so this is very useful to me.


----------



## Deanofid (Oct 26, 2009)

You're welcome, Zee! I'm pleased if you found something useful there. Was just a little tidbit I learned from a clockmaker years ago. A nice old gent who didn't think he "owned" his tricks. 

Just a little more progress today. Spent a silly amount of time turning round stock into square, but it's all fun 'n games. 






This is the piece I started with to make some square stock that will used for the bearings.
I have quite a few pieces of various sized brass round stock that I got a few years ago from a screw machine shop. If I remember right, I got two five gallon buckets full of drops for about $25, and all of it is round and hex stock. If you need short pieces of brass, aluminum, and sometimes 12L14 or 303 round or hex, a screw machine shop is a good place to look. The auto chuckers they use won't feed the last few inches of stock from a full length, so it ends up in the drop box and is recycled. Even if you pay recycling prices for it, or a little more, it's still way cheaper than buying from a metal supplier. Consider that the 3/4" square stock I needed for the bearings is about $2 an INCH if purchased from a web supplier.










And this is what I ended up with a while later. A 3/4" square piece. Took a while, but sometimes you have to use what you've got.










After cutting off a couple of pieces for the bearings, they will be put into the bearing blocks.










Then the block and bearing assemblies are fly cut for an even finish. I had left the aluminum bearing blocks a little over sized when making them earlier, so I could remove a bit of material from the sides in this step.










And another progress shot. Soon, I'll bore the bearings and start work on the crankshaft.

Dean


----------



## arnoldb (Oct 27, 2009)

That's looking good Dean  Thm:.

Regards, Arnold


----------



## Artie (Oct 27, 2009)

Bugger looking good..... that last pic is just downright PRETTY! 

 :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow:


----------



## Deanofid (Oct 27, 2009)

Arnold and Artie, thanks much! Glad to have your comments.


Today started out as crankshaft day, but I petered out before I got it done. Cut out the pieces, and of course, the only flat stock I had to make the crank throws was way over sized, so spent a lot of time milling them down. From 1/4" x 1" CRS flat bar down to 3/16" x 5/8 for the size of the throws. 

I took pictures, and had witty banter all made up, but when I went to put the pictures on my computer, the flash card blew a gasket, (or whatever it is they do that makes them quit working). 
So, all I have is a couple of pics to share. Oh well. It saved you all from the banter.






These are the crank throws, done except for a little finish work. The holes have a bevel on one side only. The smaller hole has it on one side, the larger hole on the other, to let the solder form a little fillet when the shafts are soldered in.









Here's the stuff to start the next session. Maybe tomorrow. There's always a "maybe" or a "tomorrow" in there somewhere...

Dean


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Oct 27, 2009)

Sorry Dean. I'm not impressed. Now had that been a 'tan' M&M...well!
On the other hand...had it been a 'tan' M&M...I might wonder why you still have it. :big:

Thanks for explaining the bevels..I was wondering about that.


----------



## Deanofid (Oct 27, 2009)

I'm tellin' ya, Zee, M&Ms are universal. Useful in the shop, an you can eat 'em, too.


----------



## Twmaster (Oct 27, 2009)

The green M&M's are the 'special' ones. At least for me! :big:

Dean, like all the other projects I've seen you do this is simply magnificent. I recently found this forum and am looking to build a couple steamers.

I'll be following this thread.


----------



## va4ngo (Oct 27, 2009)

Hello Dean.

Any reason why the bearing blocks were made square rather than round, Apart from a larger housing needed to accomodate blocks?
Round would have seemed easier to machine.

Phil


----------



## Deanofid (Oct 27, 2009)

Twmaster  said:
			
		

> The green M&M's are the 'special' ones. At least for me!
> 
> Dean, like all the other projects I've seen you do this is simply magnificent. I recently found this forum and am looking to build a couple steamers.
> 
> I'll be following this thread.



Hi Mike! Nice to bump into you here. Thanks for the kind words!
All M&M's are special, to me. My favorite candy!
Any particular engines in mind yet?




> Hello Dean.
> 
> Any reason why the bearing blocks were made square rather than round, Apart from a larger housing needed to accomodate blocks?
> Round would have seemed easier to machine.
> ...



Hi Phil;
I don't know of any reason from an engineering standpoint. They could be simple round bushings if that's what a person wanted to use. I'm (mostly) following Rudy's prints on this one, and that's just the way he did it. It's nice to go "by the book" now and then", though using round bearings would have had me done with the entire bearing assembly in half the time.

Thanks a lot for looking in!

Dean


----------



## Twmaster (Oct 28, 2009)

Dean,

Don't thank me. Your projects are an inspiration to me. Before I get about building any engines I need to get a working lathe in the shop. I'm awaiting some brass to finish making parts for my little Craftsman 109. I'm also awaiting a tooling plate for my mill so I can replicate the carriage gibs on my Rivett #8 and 608. 

Then I will set about making a couple of steamers. When I was a much younger child I had a Jensen #60 motor with boiler. It was a wobbler. I'd like to replicate that (in spirit, not exactly). I'm also fond of the Stirling's and the beam engines. 

Wish I could play, er, I mean, work in my shop all day... ;D


----------



## 4wheels (Oct 28, 2009)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> As far as I'm aware one advantage with square bearings is that they will not rotate with the shaft. Round bearings usually require pinning or force fitting to prevent rotation. Engine coming on very nicely - I like it.
> Cheers,


----------



## Deanofid (Oct 28, 2009)

Mike, I'll bet people here would like to see your Rivett lathes when you get them fixed up!


Brian, thanks again for checking in on the build!









Today the crank pin and crank journal got done. 
The crank pin is .312" dia, and was turned from 3/8" drill rod. (Who buys 5/16" drill rod? I guess I should).










Then it is parted off a tad long, and faced to length. I see my parting tool is a little high, here.










For the crank journal I used 1/2" drill rod. It has two diameters, one of .437" in the middle that fits into the large holes of the crank throws, and diameters of .375" on either side that fit into the main bearings and through the fly wheels.

I turned this piece between centers to make sure I got a shaft that was concentric on each end. The shot above shows how the steady rest is set up. It's run up near the chuck, tightened to the lathe bed, and the fingers are adjusted to the shaft.









Then the steady rest is run down the shaft and tightened to the bed near the end of the shaft so the end can be faced off and center drilled to take a dead or live center. After one end is done, the same is done for the other.










Since the diameter of the piece has to be reduced by over .060", and it will flex right about the middle where the shorter, but larger diameter sits, I used a follow rest while bringing it down to the first diameter. 
In the picture above, I've put the follow rest in the wrong T-slot of the cross slide. I changed it before I started cutting. The closer it is in line with the tool bit, the better.










After I had the larger diameter turned to size, I changed the larger dead center for a live center, and removed the follow rest. (The follow rest can't be used so well when you have to cut up to a shoulder.)

When the smaller diameter on this end had been turned to size, the piece is flipped end for end and put back between centers to cut the other end. If you use centers for turning something like this, you can swap ends on it over and over and know it will always go right back to the centerline of the lathe spindle, (as long as you have your tail stock dialed-in to the head stock!).










That's the whole afternoon's work. Not much! Just a little everyday.
I left the crank shaft long. I want to put a pulley on one end, or maybe both, so I can belt the engine to make it "do something". I'll cut the ends to length when I figure out how long I want them.










Progress shot.
Next, maybe get the crankshaft soldered up and bore the engine bearings.

Dean


----------



## Twmaster (Oct 28, 2009)

That is very sexy stuff Dean.

Thanks for the 'green' M&M...

Last photo brings a whole new meaning to 'trolling' the forums...


----------



## Deanofid (Oct 28, 2009)

Hey, easy on the troll, Mike. He's the only one in the shop that knows a thing about this machining stuff!

That green one was just for you!

Thanks for checking up on the build.

Dean


----------



## Deanofid (Oct 30, 2009)

Next step I'll bore the bearings.






I want to make sure the bearings are bored true, so I'll do them in place on the engine base. 
The base is packed up on the lathe cross slide so the center line of the crank shaft holes in 
the bearings are in line with the lathe spindle.










The hole position has been laid out on one of the bearing blocks, and center punched. 
Then a prick punch is put in a collet in the lathe and the assembly is then packed up so 
the prick punch goes into the punch mark. At this point, the screws that hold the base 
haven't been tightened. Just snugged a little.










When I'm sure the piece is the right height it is squared to a face plate. Then the hold
down screws are tightened good 'n tight.










After adjusting the piece back and forth with the cross slide dial to make sure the 
prick punch is dead center, the bearing block is spot drilled and checked for position. 
If you drill a small center spot like this, you can pretty well see if you got the right
spot by eye. Your eye will naturally want to center up the "X" layout lines and the 
spot. If it looks like it's off, it probably is. (If it were off, I could turn the 
bearing block around and start over.) Thing is, you can pretty well tell when the 
prick punch goes into the bottom of the punch mark when you are setting up, so it's a
fairly reliable method when working to layout lines. If you make your layout lines deep
enough, you don't even need to punch things like this. As long as the point on the 
prick punch is sharp, you can actually feel it as it drops into one line, then the other.










With everything square, centered, and otherwise copacetic, the bearing blocks are drilled
right through, first with a small bit, then one just under the final bore, and then 
reamed as in the picture above. This will make a nice straight bore for the crankshaft.
You can achieve an even better bore by align boring (some folks call it line boring), 
but for this engine, reaming will do very well, especially in brass.










Now the crankshaft is tried to see if it's a good running fit, and to check for any
problems. The crankshaft hasn't yet been soldered, and I'm checking this first so if
there is a problem after soldering it up, I'll know it isn't the bearings that are causing
the trouble. Saves time if I have to trouble shoot things later.










Crankshaft soldering;
This is the result of the first soldering step. The large rings of solder that can
be seen on the top left surface and the bottom right one are what came through the joint
when soldering from the other side. Looks like the solder flowed fine. In the shot
above, the piece has been turned over and is ready for the second go-round, and you can
see that the second two bevels, (top right one and bottom left), haven't yet been done.

I didn't use hard solder for this fit up. The brand used here is Harris Stay Brite,
and though the container it came in says it's silver solder, it's not the type that can be
used for high pressure boilers. It says it contains no lead or cadmium, so I would guess
it's mostly zinc with a dab of silver put in to make it flow. Works fine for small fit ups
that aren't going into high stress places. Probably not what you want for soldering up a
crank for an I.C. engine, but for parts on small steamers that are not actually under steam
pressure, (i.e. boilers & fittings), it works well. 

Harris also sells a good "real" silver solder in the USA. Google them if you need the good
45% silver stuff.










When the crank has cooled down, and after taking a toothbrush to it in some hot soapy water,
it's chucked up again and a live center put in the center hole in the end of the shaft. Then
the outside faces of the crank throw are cleaned up, along with the excess rings of solder 
left from the soldering process. Same is done for the other side.

Last thing in the lathe is to make the radius on the crank throw off set. Forgot to take a
picture of that, but it just involved taking light cuts with the lathe turning fairly slow so
it didn't take the tip off the tool from the interrupted cut.










Then the crank is put into the milling machine and the center is cut out of the larger shaft.
This is the time to think twice and cut once, for sure! I vaguely remember cutting the 
wrong shaft out from between the throws in the past. It was just as easy as cutting the
correct one...










So there it is. Close to being done. Obviously needs a little finish work, and there
are a few places on the crank pin that solder has built up that will have to be removed.










Progress so far, with a hint of a little more done in the back ground. That's for
another post.

Dean


----------



## ke7hr (Oct 30, 2009)

Thank you, Dean, for such great photos, tips, and narrative on the building process. I am learning a lot by watching this build.


----------



## Twmaster (Oct 30, 2009)

Once again that's really great looking work.

First a tip, then a question...

That silver solder can be found in most any good hobby shop. Dunno about the DIY stores.

I myself have never soldered with silver solder. Can you offer any tips for it's use? Other than the obvious tips like making sure all is clean and fits well.


----------



## Artie (Oct 30, 2009)

not really, its very easy to use.... keep heat to a minimum though, it doesnt like to get too hot.. thats a practise and 'feel' thing though...

Good luck

Rob


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Oct 30, 2009)

I echo the sentiments. Great thread and excellent tips.
I still want to see a tan M&M though.


----------



## Deanofid (Oct 30, 2009)

Paul, Mike, Rob, and Zee; Thanks much for your comments, and for checking up on the build.

Mike, the solder I used on the crank is actually better named "silver bearing solder". It's done the same as other soft solder, but it will work on steel easier. I clean everything in naphtha then fit it up, put on a little flux and heat it with a propane torch. when flux starts to bubble, keep trying the solder until it starts to flow. This solder melts at about 450 f.

"Real" silver solder takes a lot more heat. You need to make a hearth made out of a few fire bricks to hold the heat from a propane torch, because they don't have much to spare. Most real silver solder, or hard solder, melts at above 1000 f. Some of it is picky about the flux, and if you go to the Harris web site, you can find what flux to use for which solder.

Zee, I'll see if I can find a spray paint can... You knew exactly how big things were by the size of the coin though, right?

Thx,

Dean


----------



## arnoldb (Oct 30, 2009)

Good going Dean 

Regards, Arnold

(PS, if you can't find a spray can with tan paint, suck some of the top layer off a brown one and tippex back the m's :big


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Oct 30, 2009)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> Zee, You knew exactly how big things were by the size of the coin though, right?



Yeah! Well...no! But your question made me go back and realize it's true size. It hadn't hit me till then. Nice!

As for faking the tan M&Ms...I used to work for the company...don't forget the 'm'.

[EDIT: Rats. Just saw Arnold's post. He thought of it. Still...it's just not right to mess with chocolate. Not right at all. ]


----------



## Deanofid (Oct 31, 2009)

Arnold, thanks for checking in again, and for the tips on how to fool Zee with the M&M's.

Uh, Hi Zee! Please disregard that first sentence.
The coin is (I think), 10 Yen. Near the size of a quarter, smaller than a sycamore seed ball, bigger than an M&M. Maybe I should just say the crank shaft is 3/8" diameter?


Fly wheel rim;

There are two of these things needed, and I started on the first one while the crankshaft was cooling off after soldering it.







I started with a piece of 4 1/4" diameter .25" wall DOM tubing that had been cut one inch long. I want to 
get them down to about 5/8" thick, so it will take a while on my little lathe. Starting by mounting one piece 
up in the four jaw chuck, and dialing it in within a few thou, I faced off the end and then got busy cleaning 
up the outside. My lathe cross slide won't go under the piece, so I turned the tool post sideways and 
put a left hand cutter in it to cut the diameter of the piece. I just needed to get under the skin a few 
thousandths to round it up nice. The skin on this stuff is a little tough, probably from being worked over a 
mandrel during manufacture. The first few cuts came out a little jagged. After I got into it a bit, it cleaned up nicely.









Next, a few passes on the inside using a boring bar, doing the same thing I did for the OD. 










Then take it out of the chuck and mount up the finished end and dial it in. After that, 
cut, cut, cut, until I got it down to a usable rim thickness. (A little more has to come off later.) 


This may not look like much being done for the folks with full sized lathes, but it takes 
a while for us guys with miniature machines. Like turning a 8.5" diameter work piece on 
a 9" South Bend. It's all relative, all fun.










One down, one to go. Then I have to do something about the spokes.

Dean


----------



## arnoldb (Nov 1, 2009)

:bow: Nicely done Dean; that's right at your lathe's limits ;D

Regards, Arnold


----------



## walnotr (Nov 1, 2009)

Well done Dean, I know you are one for pushing the limits on the Taig Lathe. For those of you that haven't done so, check out the 4" rotary table Dean built awhile ago.

http://www.deansphotographica.com/machining/projects/mill/rotary/rotary1.html

Always a great write-up and plenty of good tips on how to do things throughout. 

Steve C.


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 1, 2009)

Arnold, thanks again for looking in. I appreciate your keeping track of the thread!

Steve, Thanks! Like you and Arnold note well, I do seem to find some _slightly_ out-sized projects for this little lathe.  The physical dimensions of the Taig lathe belie it's upper capacity, though when turning things like this, it does eat up a bit of time. It certainly is a rigid little thing, and the spindle is just plain tough.


Starting work on the fly wheel spokes.







For the spokes, I started out with a couple of pieces of 4" x 4"x 1/8" CRS and cut the corners off to get rid of 
what waste I could. I drew a copy of the pattern to help with locating mounting holes that would be used 
for machining, but would later be cut away as waste. Mainly, I want to make sure I don't put a hole in the 
middle of what will become a spoke.











A couple of punch marks are made through the paper template for holes to mount the pieces to a face plate.










I also put a punch mark in what would become the approximate center of the spoke piece so I could eyeball a 
location through the back side of the face plate. The center is not critical at this point, but will help getting 
things somewhat centered to start with. Then the both pieces are tightened down.










The corners are cut off and the pieces brought to size using the old Craftsman. I used the Craftsman for
this step because it is a _little_ bigger than the Taig, and I could get a cutter pointing straight into the interrupted
cut that the corners of the steel plates present to the tool bit. 










Then it's center drilled and drilled through 3/8". After this step the piece is put back in the other lathe. I made 
a spindle nose for the Craftsman so it will take the chucks from my Taig lathe. That way I can transfer work 
back and forth between them without having to do any additional setup. Just take the chuck with the work 
in it from one lathe and slap it on the other and everything remains centered up.











The hole in the plates is then bored out to take the hub that will hold the spokes to the crankshaft.











For the next step, I need to spot the holes in the fly wheel plates. The holes will form the bottom of the 
spokes where they come to the center of the fly wheel. 

I made this auxiliary spindle a few years ago, just for doing this kind of thing. It has a center hole in the chuck 
shaft, so it's easy to get it centered, which is what is being done in the picture above.











Here's my setup for drilling the spoke bottoms. The aux spindle is cranked over to give the radius needed for 
the spoke holes. There will be six of them, and they are indexed using the head stock plate. The DI is used 
so I don't drill clear through the spoke plates and into my face plate.











After all the holes are spotted they are drilled through 3/8".











This shot should give an idea of what the finished fly wheel will look like, if I don't screw up too badly.











Here is today's progress shot. Photo credit to Rudy Kouhoupt.
Next, some head scratchin' to work up a pin plate jig for cutting the spokes. Rudy did it with a hacksaw. I actually 
do get nice curvy lines when using a hacksaw. I never know which way they are going to go, though.. I may 
have better luck using an RT.

Dean


----------



## Artie (Nov 1, 2009)

Hi Dean, I have a basic idea in my head and Im going to try to explain it (badly...of course..). This is relevant for mill use, im not sure how this could be utilised elsewhere.

Firslty, IF the curvatur of the spoke is linear (constant curve, not compound), continue it on till it completes the full circle.. the centre of this circle is your jig pivot point make and attach the jig to this point, it will be used to move back and forth to cut the curvatur of the spoke. The flywheel (minus the outter ring) itself pivots on its own hub to move from spoke to spoke, this will need some form, of simple indexing (RT I expect).

Of course you will need to do this twice to cut each side of the spoke as these will have slightly different pivot point for the jig IF they are in any way tapered.

Sorry this lacks detail, it just came to me in a flash while I was reading your post...

Good luck


----------



## Artie (Nov 1, 2009)

By the way.. I vote we adopt the M n M as the international measurement of 'scale'.... works for me!!


----------



## mklotz (Nov 1, 2009)

If you're cutting curved spokes, you may want to look at Steve's interpretation of Philip Duclos' method...

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=3169.msg30253#msg30253


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 1, 2009)

Thanks for the comments, Artie. I think you picked up on the idea of a pin plate jig that I mentioned. I've used them before on larger RTs, but have to make one to fit the little 4" RT I have in my shop. 

The jig is just a plate with a couple of pins in it to locate each radius in turn, and they key on holes already drilled in the plates. The only part that might seem tricky, until you see it, is locating the origin of the radius for the spokes. It falls on a point that cannot be jigged easily, since it is inside an adjacent spoke.  It can be located by a pin prick though, or off the CL of the hub bore, and once under the spindle, (along with the center of the RT), the outside of the radius, plus tool diameter, can be found via coordinates on the mill. 
I'll try to document it well. Seeing is easier than reading about it, usually.

Dean


----------



## Artie (Nov 1, 2009)

Thank you Merv, thats exactly what I was visualising... good call.


----------



## mklotz (Nov 1, 2009)

Merv?


----------



## Artie (Nov 1, 2009)

mklotz  said:
			
		

> Merv?



oops.... fat fingered..my apologies MARV.... :-X


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 1, 2009)

Marv, that's the method I had in mind when I wrote about a pin plate jig. 
I was a big fan of Phil Duclos' articles in the good ol' days of HSM. I have his article on spokes here somewhere. Phil and Rudy were the main reasons I bought HSM back then. They were full of it, and by "it" I mean really good stuff!

Thanks for the link.

Dean


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 2, 2009)

Hi all;

Some more done today. Made up the jig pin plate and got to work on the spokes.






This jig will position the origin of the radius that forms the spokes for the fly wheels. It also holds the work piece
 up off the surface of my rotary table so I don't mill into it. I started with a 1/2" thick piece of aluminum. The
 main reason for it being so thick is to hold the jig pins steady. If something thinner was used, like 1/4", the pins
 might have a tendency to wobble. First step is to drill and ream a hole for a different pin that will align the jig to
 the center of the RT.









The same pin fits snug in the center of the RT.
At this point I set the RT to zero and tightened the table clamps.











Then two holes are drilled and counter bored for hold down screws. The screws can't stick up above the surface 
of the jig, another reason to use thick material.










The RT is mounted to the milling machine and the jig plate is mounted on the RT. With the jig plate screws tight,
 the RT is adjusted on the mill table to get the edge of the jig dialed in. This is for future reference.










Then the center of the RT is found with a ground pin in the spindle. The X and Y movements are used until
the pin will slip into the hole through the plate in into the RT.










For the first jig pin hole, the X and Y tables are cranked over to where the center of the fly wheel will be,
 (eventually).  The convenient point to start for the origin of the radius of the spokes is the center line of the RT.
 From there, I can back track to the location of the center of what will be the fly wheel using the X and Y
 movements of the milling machine. That's where I am in the shot above, and that point is spotted with a center
 drill. The other pin will be on the center line of the hole circle that was drilled in the spoke pieces earlier, and it is
 located right off the spot just drilled.










After those two holes are spotted, they are drilled and reamed to 3/8".










The next step is to turn up a couple of pins that will locate the plates to cut the spokes. One is made to fit the
 center hole of the plates, and the other is made to fit the six holes drilled in the plates that will form the bottom of
 the spokes. The pins need to be a close fit in the jig plate, so they don't wobble. They won't be taking a lot of 
pressure, but they have to remain steady as the spoke piece is changed from one cut to the next. They could be
 pressed in, but then I won't be able to use this plate for any other jig jobs, so I just made them a nice close fit. 










These are the pins all turned up and ready to go.










The pins go in the jig plate and the work piece fits over them. 
Just one more thing to do on the jig plate. A couple of holes are drilled and tapped for screws that will hold down
 the work piece.










Finally, the jig plate is mounted on the RT again, and again oriented to the center line of the RT with the ground
 pin. After the jig plate and the RT are lined up, the ground pin is left in the center of the RT and the back edge of
 the jig plate is dialed in and the jig plate tightened down to the RT. Then the ground pin is removed.










Finally, the spoke piece is set over the pins and fastened down. Just to make sure I hadn't goofed up, (it happens all the time!) I blued a section of the work piece and scored it with a stylus to see that things went where I expected. Looks about right. The start of the cut is dialed straight off the center position of the RT, over to the edge of either of the two adjacent holes. 

When an end mill is put in the spindle, the position will be found the same way, minus half the diameter of the end
 mill, or plus half that same diameter, depending on which side of the spoke is being cut.











First cut. Nothing broke. Nothing looks too goofy. So I'll continue.










The first cut starting on the second set of holes and the waste falls away forming the first spoke. 










You have to remember to come back to "home base" at the end of each cut, and don't go past it or you'll start to
 cut the other side of the hole, in toward the center of the fly wheel. 










When the last piece falls out.. Spokes. One down, one to go.

You can see little bumps where I played chicken with the end mill. The end mill won. I was chicken to get too
 close to the edge of the starting holes. I'd rather play the "file a while" game than re-cut this entire piece. I
 have the same chicken instincts whether doing things like these spokes or cutting out clock wheels. File a while. 








It should look something like this when it's soldered up. Looks like quite a bit of filing to do, really. 

That's it for now.

Dean


----------



## Twmaster (Nov 3, 2009)

Um. Wow. :bow: :bow:

I could not understand the 'how' of this reading the back and forth between you and Marv. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Bravo Dean.


----------



## arnoldb (Nov 3, 2009)

Very well done & demonstrated Dean Thm:

Regards, Arnold


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Nov 3, 2009)

Okay. Tan M&M or not....very impressive (not that I'm anyone to impress).
Excellent post.
Thanks for the great detail.


----------



## Bill Mc (Nov 3, 2009)

Hi Deanofid - I like your Craftsman lathe that I see in your photos. What model is it? Is it an older lathe? - Thanks - Billmc


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 3, 2009)

Hi all;

Mike, Arnold, and Zee, thanks much for the kind words! It's nice to hear your comments.

Bill, it's a Craftsman 109-20630. This model is about 60 years old, and they are commonly referred to as a Craftsman AA or 109 lathe. If you'd like to know a little more about it, go to my web page an scroll down to the bottom of the page. Click on the picture of the lathe. 
http://www.deansphotographica.com/machining/projects/projects.html
Also, http://www.lathes.co.uk/ has a good section on them.


I had a little time in the shop, but spent most of the day doing the "earn-a-living" thing.







Not a lot done. Just cut the second set of spokes and started work on the second fly wheel rim.

I began this rim on the old Craftsman, since it will rough out a piece a little faster than the Taig, but it will 
still end up on the Taig, which will do a nicer finish.

Dean


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Nov 3, 2009)

Not a lot done he says. I managed to square up a rectangular bit of aluminum last night. Or I think I did. That is...I think it's rectangular.


----------



## Twmaster (Nov 3, 2009)

Zee:

got a good square? That should tell you the scoop.

Dean:

Nice to see the old #109 in action... I really need to get those gibs made for mine. That and that saddle retainer is about all the hard stuff left.


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 4, 2009)

Hi Zee; 
"Not a lot done" usually means I took a long time to go a short distance! It takes a while cutting big round things on little lathes. Sometimes I plan a day out and think I'll get so much done, and then, when shop time comes to an end, I feel like I've been whacking away at the same hunk of iron all day.

Mike, hope you get your AA up and going soon. You can make the gibs from flat brass stock. You just need to knock the corners off with a file. The carriage gib takes a little more work, but if you make it from brass it will go pretty fast.


Again, not a lot done today. Some days are like that.
Still pecking away at these fly wheels. After looking at them for a while, I decided the rims were too wide, so I 
put them both back in the lathe and took another 1/8" off. Then went on to the next widget.








The fly wheel hubs are a simple turning job.










And that's done.










Here are the fit ups for the complete fly wheels. Soldering next, and then they will be trued in the lathe. 
I'm ready to move on to another part. Enough fly wheel stuff for now!

Dean


----------



## Twmaster (Nov 4, 2009)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> Mike, hope you get your AA up and going soon. You can make the gibs from flat brass stock. You just need to knock the corners off with a file. The carriage gib takes a little more work, but if you make it from brass it will go pretty fast.



Dean,

Again I cannot tell you how amazing that work looks. 

I'm off work tomorrow and will be tramming my mill up and then making a 60 degree gib cutting fixture. Just an FYI, I got my gauge out and the dovetails on the cross slide and compound on the 109 are 60 deg. I'll be using that fixture for other things so it's worth it to for me to have it in my box of tricks.

I got my brass stock for the gibs in yesterday. I'm awaiting the stock for the carriage gib. I've been scrubbing the ways and other parts on the old 109 getting ready for re-assembly.

Oops. Sorry. did not mean to wander off topic.


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 4, 2009)

Twmaster  said:
			
		

> Oops. Sorry. did not mean to wander off topic.



Heck, that's alright Mike. The 109 is part of this project anyway. I made about half a mile of chips with it today re-working the silly fly wheels.
Thank you for the comments!

Dean


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Nov 5, 2009)

They look great Dean. Keep up the detail. Very interesting.


----------



## Bill Mc (Nov 5, 2009)

Hi Deanofid - Thanks for all that information on your lathe. It was very interesting. I still say that some of the older machinery was a lot simpler to use and just as effective (accurate). Like they say, the machine is only as good as the person running it! - Billmc


----------



## Twmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

Bill Mc  said:
			
		

> Like they say, the machine is only as good as the person running it! - Billmc



Oh dear. I am in big trouble then...

 :big:


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 6, 2009)

Thanks again, Zee.
Mike, I just look at it this way. These machines were made for a man to run. Just like with anything else, practice helps.

Bill, you're welcome! Most older machines were made to last, and to do a good job over their life time. Some were made to a lesser standard, though. The little Craftsman AA lathes are a really light machine. Only about 70 lbs for a machine with a 6" swing, and the spindle in them is itsy bitsy. Something like .550 OD. They can do pretty good work, but keeping them in trim is essential to your project at hand.


Well, I just had to get the fly wheels finished up, even though it seems like I've been working on them a long time.








Here, the soldering job has been done on one of the fly wheels. Same solder as I used for the crankshaft. 
After things had cooled off a bit, I went to wash the flux off my hands, and took the fly wheels along for a scrub 
with a toothbrush and hot soapy water.










Then each wheel is mounted up on a face plate for truing. The spokes are blocked up with square steel pieces, 
since the hub that sticks out on the other side won't let them sit flat. Then they are just snugged a bit with the 
hold down nuts so the piece can be centered. 

I had drilled center holes in one side of each hub just for this purpose when I made them. The dead center in the 
tail stock is run into the center hole and the piece can be positioned. Then the hold downs are tightened.










Then the wide rim surface and it's edge are trued up all nice and stuff..










The center hole is then drilled through and reamed to fit the crankshaft. After it's reamed, the piece is flipped over 
onto the other side and the other edge of the rim is trued. 
It's done similar to the first side, except to center it this time, a rod the size of the hub bore is put in the tail stock 
drill chuck to center it.










Those things are done! Here's a fit up shot, with some bits I cut up for tomorrow's work, along with today's 
offering to the god of steel. My last good Starret blade. Oh well, it's been on the saw for about a year.










'Til next time, then!

Dean


----------



## arnoldb (Nov 7, 2009)

Nice job Dean Thm:

Regards, Arnold


----------



## cfellows (Nov 8, 2009)

Very nice work and a great thread. Good pictures, too! Love following these builds.

Chuck


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 8, 2009)

Thanks again, Arnold!
And thank you, Chuck, for having a look-see.

I appreciate everyone's comments.

Dean


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 9, 2009)

Hi all;

Just a bunch of little bits today, mostly for the crosshead guide.








I spent a little time milling the ends off the crosshead guide base and spacers to get them to length and 
square them up, then settled into drilling. I used milling machine coordinates to locate each hole.










There were a couple of the pieces that I didn't have as stock metal, so had to mill them to proper thickness. 
On this piece, the closest I had was 5/16" x 1/4", but it needed to be 5/16" x 1/16". Cut, cut, cut!










After getting them down to within a few thou of finished thickness, I ran a fly cutter over them.










These are the finished pieces. The two stubby pieces at the top of the picture are for the cylinder 
mount. The smallest one is for the eccentric shaft guide. The rest are crosshead bits.










The next thing to do was to make the crosshead studs. They need to be threaded for 2-56 each end, and I 
don't have any round stock that's the right size for that, so I turned down a few inches of 3/32" drill rod and 
threaded the ends.










One down, five to go.










When they're all made up, they tread into the base.










Here are the bits all assembled into the crosshead guide. I made the nuts too, but forgot to take pictures of that. 
They don't represent much of a story, really. Get the size hex rod you need, drill it and tap it for the threads you 
want, and part off whatever looks like a nut. If you need six, do it six times.










A little more done. Quite a bit to go.

Dean


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Nov 9, 2009)

Nice work Dean. Very consistent. Wish I could say the same about your choice in M&Ms.

Seriously though...nice tip for some of us..."milled down to a few thou and then switched to a flycutter". Helpful.


----------



## kvom (Nov 10, 2009)

Nice job!

Those 2-56 studs are super. My lazy self would have cut the heads off some screws.


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 11, 2009)

Zee, thanks again. I'm sorry for subjecting you to M&M's that are not tan colored. I'm just a poor boy, and can only afford the red, yellow, and green types. I checked on ebay for tan M&M's, but they are way out of my price range!

Kvom, thanks! Cutting the heads off some screws would have saved some time. I don't have any 2-56 screws that long, though.

This project is kind of on hold for a couple days. I bought a new (old) lathe, and am preoccupied getting it cleaned up and fit for duty. It's hard to let a lathe sit in pieces in boxes on the floor while making little parts for the engine. I get distracted! 

Dean


----------



## Twmaster (Nov 11, 2009)

Dean,

As always your work is magnificent. I learn something almost every time I check out your progress!

So, a new (old) lathe... You gonna tell us what it is? Oh, and pics or it doesn't exist!


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 11, 2009)

Thanks Mike!

"So, a new (old) lathe... You gonna tell us what it is? Oh, and pics or it doesn't exist!"

For your doubts, all you get is a pic of the spindle tear down. You get to guess. Lots of folks here will recognize it.

It's coming to me in dribs 'n drabs. The previous owner sent it in five separate boxes. Still waiting on a couple of them.






Dean


----------



## Jack B (Nov 11, 2009)

Hi Dean: Those 2-56 studs you made look nice. I have a favorite very old time hardware store where I can usually get old stuff. The nice people who work there tore the screw department apart looking for 2-56 screws and the longest they had was 3/4 of an inch. I did manage to get some nuts. So I plan on turning some stock down and making mine two. Good luck with your lathe project. I am always doing two things at one time to.     Jack


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 12, 2009)

Thanks Jack! I appreciate your comments, especially since we are building twins. 
I've never been able to find any kind of 2-56 screws longer than 1/2" where I live. It's a small town, (3500), and some little bits are not to be had, (but if you want something for a John Deere, you're in luck!). I make most any fastener I need that is smaller than 4-40, out of necessity. I kind of like making my own cap screw nuts in the smaller sizes, simply because most store bought items look oversized across the flats.


Got a little done today. I'm not a fast builder. Been occupied with the new/old lathe, and plowing this
morning's eight inches of snow off my 1/2 mile long driveway. Excuses, excuses.









This will be the big end of the connecting rod. Remember that piece of 3/4" square that was made
from a piece of round stock earlier? This is some more of it, here. It will be .625" square when I 
get done with it. Hack-sawed a little piece of it off and in the picture it's being cleaned up with the fly
 cutter.











Once the piece is brought to its proper thickness, it's put on end to take one side down to finished 
size. It needs to be square, and in this shot I'm checking it with a small machinists square and a 
flashlight. The flashlight helps you see the edge of the piece against the square, and by the light 
that comes through, you can see if it's square or not.











I need to drill the cross holes in the piece next. Above, a cigarette paper is being used to find the edge 
of the work piece. I've known a number of ol' machinists that use this method, even though an edge 
finder might be handy, and I use it often myself.

For those who may not be familiar with it, you put your piece of paper against the work piece and run 
your tool up near it, then crank the slide over slowly while pulling the paper back until you feel the tool 
start to barely pinch the paper. You do this with the machine turned off, by the way. When the paper 
starts to get stuck between the tool and work piece, you're there, within the thickness of the paper.
These particular papers, (Top brand) dial at .001" thick. If you buy a different type for rolling up your la 
bambas, they might be thicker..

Some machinists do this trick with the machine running, and when the tool snatches the paper from 
between their fingers, they know it's good. For my part, I'm pretty attached to my fingers, and would 
rather do it with the machine turned off.












The holes are drilled through for a 2-56 tap. 
The blue line is an index mark so I keep the pieces matched up after it is cut in half.











Then the piece is cut in half with a hack saw. I would have used a slitting saw, but I seem to have
misplaced the arbor that fits my milling machine. At this point, the piece is to the proper width, but 
was left long to allow for the saw cut.











After the two pieces are cleaned up from the hack saw job, and brought to the correct width on the mill 
at the same time, the holes in one piece are tapped 2-56. Tapping small holes in brass is almost fun. 
There's so little chance for trauma or drama, like when using small taps in hard metal.











The bottom half is on the right, and it has the tapped holes. The top part, on the left, has had its two 
holes drilled out to #43 clearance holes for the two little cap screws.












After putting the two pieces back together using the cap screws, the piece was center drilled at the 
location of centerline for the bore for the crank pin. At that point, I realized I didn't have a 5/16 reamer 
to finish the job in the mill, so while it was still in the mill vise I drilled a small hole clear through. Then to 
the lathe I go. 
The piece was mounted using a piece of tool steel between it and the face of the chuck to keep it 
square, then the tool steel was removed. Note the pieces of paper wrapped around the brass piece. I 
don't want marks in these soft brass bits. I centered it by eye close as I could, then dialed it in with the 
old Gem held in the tool post. I like this type of DTI, and prefer them to my other DTI's. They're pretty 
darn reliable, the point is easy to reposition, and though they only operate in one direction at a time, 
you can switch directions with a flick of the lever on the (other) side of the body.











Then the piece is bored for .312" plus a smidge, for a close running fit on the crank pin.
A "smidge", by the way, is different for different sizes of running fits. Machinery Handbook has a section
on them, I believe.











The last step I'll show is cutting the relief on the sides. Simple turning job. I used a 5/16 piece of drill 
bit as an arbor, with a couple of snips of paper squeezed between the work piece and the arbor to 
make it tight. If the pieces of paper aren't used, the piece will simply spin on the arbor, since it is the 
same size as the crank pin, and is a running fit in the work piece. An oil cup has to be made for this, but 
I won't show it here since I already showed the same things being made for the main bearings earlier in 
this thread.











That's it for today. I know it's a lot of pictures for such a little thing, but I figured a few folks might 
want to see it.

'Til the next part, thanks for having a look.

Dean


----------



## ke7hr (Nov 13, 2009)

Great work, Dean. I learn a lot by watching all of the detailed threads and this one is a good one. Thanks!


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Nov 13, 2009)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> Tapping small holes in brass is almost fun. There's so little chance for trauma or drama, like when using small taps in hard metal.
> 
> I know it's a lot of pictures for such a little thing, but I figured a few folks might
> want to see it.



That 'little chance' is a function of experience. Or change 'trauma' to 'success' and you will have described me. I have a pic somewhere on my own thread showing a piece of brass with a broken tap. ;D

I'm a 'few folks'! Thanks for the detailed descriptions and pics. Really good stuff.


----------



## bearcar1 (Nov 13, 2009)

Dean, your blow-by-blow commentary is terrific Thm: as are the photos that accompany the same. The end results, well, they are just plain magnificent . I do appreciate all of your time in documenting what some would call mundane and boring steps, but it is easy to take these things for granted and refreshing to see perhaps better methods of execution than one is used to. BRAVO! The flywheels still have me a bit turned around but I just need to settle down and concentrate a bit more to fully grasp the sequence of events :noidea:. Thank you for sharing this adventure with us. *discussion*

BC1
Jim


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 13, 2009)

Paul, thank you! I appreciate you checking out the build. If you see something you can use, all the better. 

Jim, thank you very much! I'm humbled by such kind comments. Very much appreciated! 

Zee, thanks again. Always glad to see your comments! 
I know taps are sometimes a problem, especially when a person is still gaining experience. There is a very subjective aspect to it, when it comes to the "feel" of things when turning the tap, but there are a few things to do that are not technique dependent that will increase your chances of success.

Start the tap straight in the hole, and keep it straight. Starting a tap just a little crooked is probably the biggest cause of broken taps. Make yourself a tapping block and use it always.

Use lubrication if it's called for. Not really needed in brass, but aluminum benefits from it because it has a tendency to gum up the tap flutes. Steel is just plain hard, and lube will help with cutting, breaking the chip, and to keep chips from jamming in the flutes. With machinable cast iron, I don't usually use a lube. 

Don't put any side load on the tap. The tapping block helps here. You can break a tap with a side load even when going into a previously tapped hole. This is connected to keeping the tap straight, but even if you keep it going straight, if you put pressure on the side of the tap, it will break, especially in the smaller sizes. Using a guide, like the spindle of a drill press will help.

Break the chip often, and back out the tap completely and clean out the hole when tapping blind holes.



Still pecking away at the engine, a little at a time.
Finished up the con rod today. Here are some more pics and natter. 






This piece will be the small end of the rod, that connects to the slipper on the cross head. It needs three holes drilled in it, and two of them tapped. The smallest one needed is 2-56, and I'm in the habit 
of tapping the smallest holes that are needed in a piece first, if it fits in with how the piece has to be 
made.  I don't break a tap too often, but it does happen, and there's no way around it. If you make 
stuff, you'll break a tap now and then. By doing the smallest threaded holes first, if one should break, 
you haven't got so much time invested in the piece if it ends up as scrap.










Next the piece is turned on its side and the bore for the slipper shaft is reamed. The end was also drilled 
and tapped for the shaft that connects the two ends of the con rod. In Rudy's prints, he shows it being 
soldered into this piece, but I want to thread it, as it's easier to time the two ends of the rod when it's 
done.










I turned up the rod that goes into the ends of the two bearing ends. No pictures of that little job. Just 
turned a 1/8" diameter on one end and thread the other end to match the thread in the rod's small end.

In the picture above, I'm checking to see if things are square. For small items like this you can get a 
pretty good idea of how things sit in relation to each other by eyeballing it against a flat surface, like the 
bed of the lathe. It's not precise, but you would be surprised how close your eye will judge things when 
it has a reference.









I've made round ends on things like clevis ends or rod end eyes using this method (above) for many
years, but had always used a small end mill to do it. Marv mentioned in a post that he used a carbide 
bur instead of an end mill, and it's a very good suggestion. The bur has so many cutting edges that it 
doesn't seem to want to grab, as an end mill sometimes will. Thanks Marv, (Merv?).










So, these are the parts that need to go together. The bottom piece is the flange that holds the rod to 
the larger bearing. It's not quite finished yet.










Here, the flat piece has been soldered to the rod, using the same solder I used for the fly wheels, (silver 
bearing soft solder). 










The rod is put in a collet in the lathe and then the end of the flat mounting piece is turned down. I made 
it from 1/8" thick material, but it needs to be 1/16" thick when finished. This step also assures that the 
flat end of the piece is perfectly square to the rod. (Obviously the solder held up well.)










The last machining step on the flat piece is to drill the mounting holes to attach it to the large end 
bearing. I used two machinist clamps to hold it together while drilling, but removed one for this picture. 
 This is the way Rudy did it, so I followed his example. He knew what he was doing.










Ka-rud! I made up some more oil cups similar to the ones made earlier in this thread for the crank 
bearings. While checking for fit... Well, you can see what I did. I'm sure glad they were made of
brass. I drilled it out with a pin vise, (finger drill) and re-tapped the hole, and all was well, but it took a 
while. The threads are not that delicate, but are quite small. I broke it off doing something dumb. 
 After cutting the thread on the work piece, and while it was still being held in the lathe, I threaded the 
crank end onto it to check it. Turning the lathe pulley by hand while holding the crank end between my 
fingers made a lot more torque than the little thing could stand, and it gave up the ghost.










Here are all the pieces except for a little bushing that goes into the small end piece. 










And here is the completed connecting rod.

Well, the bed for my new/old lathe came today, and I have enough pieces to start putting it together, 
so the steam engine will probably be on hold for the weekend. 

Thanks for having a look. More steam engine stuff in a couple of days.

Dean


----------



## 4wheels (Nov 15, 2009)

Hi Dean,
I very much like the style of the engineering that has gone into the connecting rod. My favorite bolted joint twixt rod and big end and the imitation shell bearing. The oilers just finish off the piece and gives it that full size effect without actually going there. Great. Keep it up.
Cheers,
Brian


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 15, 2009)

Thank you, Brian! Your comments are much appreciated.
Those little oilers will only hold a small drop of oil, but they will keep things nice and slippery. I needed three of them, and ended up making five. One you saw in the pic broke, and one rolled away to never-never land. Once a tiny part goes under the bench... well, you know. It's usually a goner.

Dean


----------



## Twmaster (Nov 15, 2009)

My shop-vac is usually good at finding things. When something small is missing I check the shop-vac!


----------



## Toyman01 (Nov 16, 2009)

Deanofid, your work is amazing! I have had Taig lathe for almost 10 years and it has never turned (pun intended) out that kind of work. I shoved it out of the way when I got a Southbend 9a. I will have to uncover it and tune it back up. The big one is good for large items but I had forgotten how much fun I had with the Taig. Thank you for sharing your work with us.


----------



## arnoldb (Nov 16, 2009)

Your build is coming along really well Dean and looking Great! :bow:

Arnold


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 17, 2009)

Thanks again, Arnold!

Mike, those shop vacs can really get the stuff down their gullet. I have a little tap wrench that I made long ago. I've had to dig it out of the vac a few times. 
I keep looking for money in there, but no luck yet..

Toyman, thanks very much for the nice comments!
Much appreciated.

Dean


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 17, 2009)

Today was snow tire day at my house, which took up much of the afternoon, so only this little bit got done. 








This will become the top of the cross head slipper. The slipper has two pieces, steel where 
the con rod and the piston rod connect, and a brass foot that slips inside the cross head 
guides. The two will be soldered together.

In the shot above, I have a piece of left over something in CRS. It looks like a mouse has 
been gnawing on it! I'm taking an .050 d.o.c. about half the width of the 1/4" end mill to 
square an end. That end mill is just about worn out, and I ended up replacing it after getting 
this piece cut to shape. It still cuts well enough, but the finish was showing a lot of marks. 
I'll use it only for roughing after this.











After the piece is cut to its rectangular shape, I replaced the end mill with a new one. I'm 
just about to cut the center slot in the piece, but first, a skim cut was taken off the top. 
It is probably not necessary for this particular piece, but it's a good machining practice. 
When cutting slots and such, and especially when cutting things like dovetails, it's important 
to have surfaces parallel. So, I usually skim anything like this right before cutting then next 
parallel surface, just out of habit.

After the top cut, the piece was centered and the slot cut, seen in the next picture.










Here, the slot has been cut, and it's being center drilled for a hole that will be tapped. I just 
made sure to drill the hole deep enough that it would go clear through after I had finished the 
bottom of the piece.










This is all that can be done in the mill, for now.










A cross hole has to be drilled through the sloted part for the piston rod pin. If I had started with 
a piece that was a stock size of material, I would have drilled this hole first. Since it had to be 
made from oversized stock, that couldn't be done. 

The location for the hole is laid out, and a piece of wood and some shims are put between the 
two "ears" so they will not be deformed while drilling. The shims are just to keep the wooden 
piece nice and tight in the slot.










Then the piece is center punched and spot drilled. The wood piece serves a second purpose here, 
which is to keep the piece flat on the top of the vise jaws. The piece is clamped on the larger 
waste material, so I don't have to worry about scarring the "good" part. Then the piece is drilled 
through and reamed.










Another use for the wooden piece. I used a file to clean up what will be the finished slipper. 
In this picture, the wood piece is wedged between the ears to keep them from vibrating while 
I'm filing across the narrow dimensions of them. Vibrations in a thin piece will cause the file 
to skip over the part, and the finish suffers.










Still using the waste piece for work holding, the top corners of the ears are filed to a radius that 
suits me. 

The diagonal marks you see are from using a fast cutting file. I started the radius with an eight 
inch double cut mill bastard. That's a good size for removing a lot of material from a small work 
piece. As file sizes go up, (in length), the the tooth size on the file changes, even though the 
name of the cut is the same. In other words, a 4" mill cut file will be much finer than a 12" mill 
cut file.  
Filing is a whole 'nuther aspect to machine work, and is a subject in itself. If a few folks would 
like to know more about it, I can write more...

Back to this little part. After I had roughed out the radius with the double cut, I finished it up with 
a finer file.










When I had done most of the filing, the waste piece was cut off. I left it on as long as possible, 
mainly for something to grab in the vise. The threads that were on the end were from a test 
thread done some time back, for some forgotten project. 










Now it's back to the mill to get rid of the nasty end.










Then the previously drilled hole is wiggled in, and the hole is tapped 5-40.










And that's the whole days work. Well, only a few hours, really. Spent most of the day chasing 
around town. Didn't even get to work on the new/old lathe today!

Next time, the slipper foot. Sounds like a Cinderella story...

Dean


----------



## ozzie46 (Nov 17, 2009)

_ Filing is a whole 'nuther aspect to machine work, and is a subject in itself. If a few folks would
like to know more about it, I can write more..._


  Dean,
 I'm interested, that is a nice finish. Mine looks like.... well you know.

 Ron


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Nov 17, 2009)

Another great post Dean.

Yeah...I'm interested in learning more about filing too.

You feed your mice too much swarf.


----------



## Twmaster (Nov 17, 2009)

Me three on filing!


----------



## 4156df (Nov 17, 2009)

Yes please on more filing.
Dennis


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 17, 2009)

ozzie46  said:
			
		

> Dean,
> I'm interested, that is a nice finish. Mine looks like.... well you know.
> 
> Ron



Like a mouse gnawed on it? 

Ron, Zee, Mike, and Dennis, thanks for checking in on the build.

I'll write up a post on filing sometime this week. Maybe it should be a new thread. 
I know there are a number of other fellows on the forum who know some filing 
tricks. It might be good to get some discussion going on it. 


I got some more little tid bits done on the steam engine. Today was pick up day. 
Pick up on all the little niggling things that were yet to be done on the parts made so far. 









First, I made the foot for the slipper. It's just a rectangular piece of 1/8" brass, 
and above, it's about to be soldered to the top piece. 










Next up was the connecting rod small end bushing, and the cross pin that holds it to the slipper. 
Just LRT's. No pics of the process.










Now, for one of the things that have been nagging at me. The print shows the 
fly wheels being attached via a pin driven into a hole drilled on the line where the 
outside of the crankshaft and the inner diameter of the fly wheel bore meet. 
I want to put a pulley on one end of the crankshaft, so the pin method described 
in the print won't work. I decided to use set screws, but since the fly wheel hub 
is inside the rim, I can't tap a hole straight in. So, I set up as shown in the picture 
above, and milled a flat on each inner hub, then drilled and tapped into the flat for
the set screw.










I don't want the set screws to scar the crankshaft when they are tightened, so 
a small piece of lead shot is put into the set screw hole before the screw goes in. 
Then, when it's tightened, the piece of shot will deform against the shaft, and 
protect it from the end of the screw.

The picture shows a #8 lead shot, which fits perfectly in a #6 threaded hole. 
You can buy this stuff in bags at a real sporting goods store, or, if you don't 
happen to need 25 pounds of it, get it from a shotgun shell. 










So, that's one little niggling project done. If you look at the left side of the shot above, 
you'll see niggling project #2. I don't want slot head screws holding on the bearing caps. 
I only used them for fitting up and holding things together until I got around to taking 
care of them. I want studs and proper looking nuts for this job. I don't like the kind of 
nuts that hardware stores sell for small fasteners. They are too flat, and too large in 
diameter, and just don't look right to me. That's the next step.










Here's a quick series of shots on making stud or cap screw nuts. 

Get a piece of hex rod the right size. That is, whatever size looks good to you. 
Drill and tap down the center for the screw size needed.










Part off to a length that suits you.










Thread the new nut onto a threaded shaft or screw and use it to hold the nut while 
you finish off the burs left from parting off. That's it.










Here's the slipper finished.










New stud nuts on the bearing caps.










Progress so far. 

Dean


----------



## Twmaster (Nov 18, 2009)

Dean,

Once again, I seem to get a tip or other hunk of useful knowledge with just about every progress post you make. Thank you.

As to the filing.. yea, I think a new thread on the subject would be great!


----------



## 4156df (Nov 18, 2009)

Dean,
I think a separate thread on filing is the way to go. I'd hate to see this thread drift too far away from this excellent build!
Dennis


----------



## Russel (Nov 18, 2009)

Great craftmanship! I am following this thread with great interest! Thanks for posting your fine work. OT: I recently spent a couple hours going over your website. I was particularly impressed with the rotary table you made. I have to smile every time I see your smiley face on the aluminum plate. (Last seen with a vice clamped on it.)

Russ


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Nov 18, 2009)

Excellent. And more juicy tips. I like the lead shot idea.
I also liked the way you made the flat for the set screw.


----------



## mklotz (Nov 18, 2009)

Very nice work, Dean.

On the matter of scale nuts and such "looking right", here's a set of rules that I use that seems to work for my eye. As always, YMMV.


Scale fastener dimensions

D = bolt major diameter

Across flats dimension of bolt hex head and matching nut = 1.5*D
Bolt head thickness = 0.7*D
Nut thickness = 0.9*D


----------



## deere_x475guy (Nov 18, 2009)

I concur with what everyone else has stated and like Zee said great tip on the lead shot....I have pounds of that stored away from my shot shell reloading days. As a matter of fact I have about a half of bag of shot laying on the lathe and use it to help dampen any vibration I get when I bore a deep hole, that is if I can't get around it any other way.


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 18, 2009)

Mike, Dennis, Russ, Zee, Marv, and Bob, thanks all for the kindly remarks. I was surprised today when I saw this many comments to the thread.

I started a thread in Tips and Tricks on the filing subject, for those of you who mentioned that you would like to see more about it. Thanks for the encouragement. 

Marv, thanks for sharing your formula. After measuring a number of shop made nuts I have here, I find that my eye must be calibrated fairly close to what looks "right" to you, too. Your calculation comes to within a few thou of the different nut sizes I've made up.

Russ, thanks for the comments about the RT, too. And the "smiley face" aluminum plate.

Dean


----------



## arnoldb (Nov 19, 2009)

Very nice progress Dean. And lots of good tips 

Regards, Arnold


----------



## NickG (Nov 19, 2009)

Dean,

Just seen this topic and flicked through the 7 pages. Beautiful work and as people keep saying, lots of tips to be picked up. The engine is looking fantastic.

Nick


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 19, 2009)

Arnold and Nick, thanks much! I appreciate your comments, as always.

Nothing much going on this engine today. I have the new/old Atlas up and running, and have a day's worth of sorting to do on it. Needs new spindle bearings. Atlas/Clausing has them on the way! Yea!

Dean


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 22, 2009)

My new/old lathe has been keeping me from this engine project. Maybe I'll get back to it Monday.
Here's what has had me pre-occupied. I've had it completely torn down and bit by bit, have it back together. In the vid, you also get a slightly cheesey grin and a shot of the trash can as a bonus!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S7Jz8oN3vU[/ame]

I guess I don't know how to imbed it, so click the blue link.

Wait.. Maybe I got it.


Dean


----------



## joe d (Nov 22, 2009)

Dean

That's one really nice trash can ya got there.... :big:

Nice lathe, too! Won't pass judgement on any cheesy grins, lest somebody sees mine someday.

Cheers, Joe


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Nov 22, 2009)

Nice vid Dean.
Nice whiplash you gave me too. ;D Take those pans a little slower!


----------



## Powder keg (Nov 22, 2009)

Looking great!!! Like the finishes you are getting.


----------



## Twmaster (Nov 22, 2009)

Schweeet! Nice old Atlas Dean.


----------



## Artie (Nov 22, 2009)

Yeah, I really got excited when I noticed the classic "Dornier' style trash can... is that an original or a replica (there are SOOO many replicas on the markets these days).... oh.... very nice lathe as well..... now that trash can.......

 ;D

Nice job mate.....


----------



## metalnwood (Nov 22, 2009)

Hello Dean, I am looking for my next engine and I wanted to do something like this but I can't find the plans for this to have a look at.  I have been to Rudy's site but I only see sterlings, flame lickers and IC?

  I don't suppose you could post a link to his page please?


  Edit: What a dope, it's in you first post that you didn't get it from his site!
  Edit 2: Double dope, its not even by the guy I thought it was, shame 

Thanks,
Jason


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 22, 2009)

Not sure if you still want the link, Jason, but will post it anyway.
The prints come from the book "The Shop Wisdom of Rudy Kouhoupt" and can be purchased from this page:

https://secure.villagepress.com/store/items/detail/item/821

I've seen them on Amazon, too.

There is a lot more than just the prints for this particular engine in the book. It has 4-5 engines in all, plus many shop projects.

Dean


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 23, 2009)

Began work on the cylinder today.









First, cut out all the stock pieces for the main cylinder assembly. Cylinder, valve plate, 
steam chest and cover plate.










The holes for the fasteners that hold the four pieces together are all located from the valve 
cover plate, so the first operation was to clamp the cover plate to the cylinder block, and 
spot all the holes. I drilled clear through the plate, and then into the cylinder to the needed 
depth for tapped holes. Later, I'll drill out the holes in the plate for clearance over the studs 
that hold the pieces together.










The cover plate is then removed, and the outlines of the valve pockets are milled with a 1/16" 
end mill. These pockets were located via mill table coordinates. I didn't notice anything called 
out for the radius in the corners of the pockets, but figured 1/32" would be about right. 










After the pocket outlines are done, the waste material is removed with a larger end mill. 
Faster that way, and saves on smaller tools. They break pretty easily. For removing this 
material, I picked the same end mill size that was also needed for the center exhaust slot.
In the shot above, I have that center slot cut, but I misread the print. The slot was 
supposed to be a bit longer. I had to put the piece back in the milling machine later to 
correct that.










Next side, and more holes. The shot above shows a bottoming tap being used to thread 
the holes. These holes are shallow enough that a taper tap bottomed out before cutting 
the first full thread. Normally, I'd start a hole with a taper tap. It makes things a lot easier 
at the start of threading.  Even a plug tap would make things easier, but didn't have one 
of those in this size.

A couple more holes were tapped on another side, but I won't show that. 










Here, the piece has been mounted in the vise at a 45 deg angle to mill the exhaust passage 
that connects the exhaust pipe hole with the exhaust port on the cylinder face. 

When milling into a "V", like this, in brass, and plunge milling into brass in any case, the 
milling machine needs to really be going. Like 5000 rpm for this 7/64" end mill. If you go 
at it with a slow spindle speed, the cutting edge on the end mill tends to grab at the brass 
and will want to suck it up toward the spindle. That kind of thing can make a mess.

Another thing about plunging... Make sure your end mill is made for it! You need a center
cutting end mill for plunging where there is no pilot hole to start with.

And something else. Plunging into any metal puts weird forces on the milling machine. A 
fellow with a big ol' B'port machine will not notice it so much when using smaller end mills,
but for many of us who have small machines to begin with, plunging gives them a work out.
To a small milling machine, small end mills may not be small.. They may be big, in proportion.
So, if you've got a small machine, give it a fightin' chance when plunging, and lock her gibs
nice and snug. 

And.. no, that's all on this point for now.










Then another 45 degree setup to mill the cylinder ports, one on each end. I chose to mill 
these ports before boring the cylinder. Rudy had it the other way 'round. He bored the 
cylinder first, then cut the ports. It seems to me that doing it the way I'm showing it here 
will save having to clean up the bur brought up by the end mill inside the top cap recess 
where this port will end up.

This little step took quite a few passes. This is the longest end mill I have in this size, and 
it's barely long enough. I was concerned about running the shoulder of the tiny bit into the 
edge of the port pocket. I know from experience that cutting on the end mill's shoulder will pop them right off. Would also mess up the work piece.

It all came out well, though.










Here's the slot that is the result of the previous milling step, and where the work will end for today.

Next will be the cylinder boring, and then... some other stuff.

Dean


----------



## thayer (Nov 23, 2009)

Hi Dean, it looks great!

I've got a quick newbie question for you when you have the time. When you are tracing the perimeter of the valve pockets with the 1/16 end mill, what sort of DOC, and feeds are you using with that 5k on the spindle?

Thanks,

Thayer


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 24, 2009)

Hi Thayer;

The depth of the pockets is .060", and I cut that full amount at one swipe. My machine is manual, so I can't tell you the actual feed rate, but I can say it only took about two minutes to cut the perimeter on each pocket. 

Hope that helps!

Dean


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Nov 24, 2009)

Looks good Dean.

My little project showed the cylinder being done before the ports as well but I did the ports first. After boring and reaming the cylinder I found the ports were nearly closed by metal being pushed over/into them. My material was aluminum though and that might make a difference.


----------



## thayer (Nov 24, 2009)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> Hi Thayer;
> 
> The depth of the pockets is .060", and I cut that full amount at one swipe. My machine is manual, so I can't tell you the actual feed rate, but I can say it only took about two minutes to cut the perimeter on each pocket.
> 
> ...



It definitely does, thank you very much.

Thayer


----------



## arnoldb (Nov 24, 2009)

Well done Dean, & very well presented !

Regards, Arnold


----------



## Twmaster (Nov 24, 2009)

Dean, nicely done. As I have said before, I learn some new technique almost every post I see on your projects.


----------



## Artie (Nov 24, 2009)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> The depth of the pockets is .060", and I cut that full amount at one swipe. Dean



Hi Dean, it must be a scale thing.. depth of cut 0.060", thats 1.5mm (sorry about metricating), it looks more like 3mm and just wanted to confirm the cut depth as its a job I will shortly be doing.

Thanks

Artie


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 24, 2009)

Zee, thanks again for your comments. 
Some aluminum is kind of gooey, or mushy, and will smear over small openings. Thinking about the kind of aluminum that plugs small end mills, here. Sometimes your tool may just need a little touch up, or something like a spritz of WD 40 will help. Sometimes, nothing will help much.

Arnold and Mike, thanks a lot for continuing to check in on the build.
Always appreciate that!

Hi Artie;
The cut was .060" deep with a 1/16" end mill. It probably looks like more because of the close shot and the lighting/shadows. Sorry, I don't know much about your medicating. I hope you get over it soon... 


Today.. Boring. 

Cylinder boring!








I chose to align bore this piece. It is easier just to chuck it up in a four jaw and run a reamer 
through it, but I don't have a reamer larger than 1/2". The bore is .625". Anyway, I don't 
mind doing the needed set up for an align boring job, (some folks call it line-boring). I've used 
this method for a lot of projects, and it works well.

First thing to do is find the center of the cylinder. I don't have a surface plate, but the finished 
surface of my bench is quite flat. I used a surface gauge to mark out square lines on the end 
of the work piece, then reset the gauge to mark out another smaller square.










Doing it this way gives you a neat little grid. You could just mark out one square for the 
same result as in the picture above, but marking a second smaller square gives you a kind 
of bullseye target and you can easily see if you've got something off center. Laying out 
the "X" that marks center is just a matter of running a line through the corners of the squares.










Then the piece is center punched using a magnifying glass, and put into a vise on the lathe 
cross slide. Shims are used to bring the piece to the right height to match the punch mark 
to the head stock center. The cross slide centers it fore and aft. 
The same thing can be done without a vise. You'd just have to make a cross bar with a 
couple of holes in it to bolt down across the top of the work piece. 

At this point, the cross slide gib is locked.










For a final check before making any chips, I ran a DI over the top and side of the piece, just 
to make sure it wasn't caddywhumpus in some direction. When everything looks good, a 
hole is drilled through the center of the piece. Biggest drill bit I have is 1/2", so that what 
I used. The bit was honed for cutting brass, of course.










This is the setup for align boring. After the hole through the center of the piece has been 
drilled, a boring bar that has a center hole drilled in each end is passed through the piece 
and mounted between centers. 










The boring bar is cross drilled to take a bit made from small drill rod. A set screw holds the 
bit tight in the hole.

Here, I've taken the start of the cut. For each cut, the set screw is loosened and the cutting 
bit extended out of the hole a little. The bit is short enough that only one end sticks out of 
the cross hole that goes through the bar. 
To set the tool for a certain cut, I divide the bore size I want by two, then add one half the 
diameter of the boring bar. Set the tool to that measurement, and the tool will cut the diameter needed.

For instance, the bore I want here is .625". The diameter of the boring bar is .375".

.625" / 2 = .3125"

.3125" + .1875" (half the dia of the boring bar) = .500". Nice round number in this case.

By measuring the distance from the tool tip to the back side of the boring bar OD, you can 
set the tool to cut just what you want.










The shot above shows the recess that will take the inner boss on one of the end caps. 
The same tool is used to cut both end recesses, and the bore. The tool is ground to a sort 
of wedge shape, and will cut in either directing just by rotating it 180 deg. (It has a similar 
cutting edge whether going to the right or left, right side up, or upside down.)










To measure the bore, the boring bar can be removed at any time, and since it is run between 
centers, I know it will go back into the same cutting position each time I remove it and return 
it to its place between the centers. 

I use simple telescoping bore snap gauges for this kind of stuff. They take a little practice to 
get used to, but they work pretty well, for me.











This shot shows where the end cap recess just broke through to the end of the threaded hole 
for one of the condensation drains. It's supposed to be like that!










And this one shows the steam passage after the recess has been bored.

I got the piston and rod done too. I'll put pics up for that tomorrow. 

Dean


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Nov 24, 2009)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> caddywhumpus



Did you and Marv go to the same school? I need to get your guys' dictionary. ;D

Great post Dean. Great thread.


----------



## Artie (Nov 24, 2009)

Thanks mate...no not MEDICATING... METRICATING.... converting to millimetres (60 thou = 1.5mm)... maybe I should medicate.... might make the world seem like a nicer place....... 8)

Really enjoying the posts.. thanks again, looks great!

Artie


----------



## ozzie46 (Nov 25, 2009)

Dean, Great job. As for a surface plate, go to one of those places that makes granite counter tops and ask for the sink cut outs. I got several for free. The polished surface is very flat.

 Ron


----------



## NickG (Nov 25, 2009)

Dean,

Great work, a lot of people bore cylinders between centres, it seems like the accepted method. It looks a joy to do with nice square stock compared with a rough ass casting!

I'm struggling to see how the valve - port arrangement works on this - different to the conventional type of slide valves I've seen! ???

Nick


----------



## va4ngo (Nov 25, 2009)

Dean, 
Like the idea of squares for visually lining up the hole centres, I have never seen that in any other instructions.

You have used what appears to be a piece of 3/8" rod for the boring bar 

1. What Material did you use for the boring bar.
2. The boring bar is the full length of the lathe centres. Why not use a much shorter rod for this to minimise flex (or is this not an issue)
3. Was the drill rod used for the cutter hardened after forming to shape.
4. I assume the cross drilled hole for cutter misses the Micrometer when measuring the cutter protrusion?
5. If you needed say a 1" bore, would you then need to go to a larger diameter boring bar rod?


Phil


----------



## tel (Nov 25, 2009)

NickG  said:
			
		

> I'm struggling to see how the valve - port arrangement works on this - different to the conventional type of slide valves I've seen! ???
> 
> Nick



Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that have a separate port face piece, with the conventional ports cut in it, on top of that face.


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 25, 2009)

My.. More replies than I expected! 

Zee, Artie, Ron, Nick, Phil, Tel; Thanks a lot for checking in on the thread.

Zee, it's a common machinist's term, pretty sure.

Artie; Just pullin' yer chain, mate.

Ron, Thanks for the tip! I have a small piece of nice beveled edge thick glass around here somewhere, but I've moved things around the shop lately, and can't lay a finger on it. I usually use that, but the real thing would be nice.

Nick, like Tel says, there's a plate that goes on the cylinder. You'll see it down a bit in this post.

Phil;
1) Drill rod, but CRS works just as well.
2) It was just one that I had already made up. Yes, a shorter one would be more rigid. The last cuts have to be pretty shallow with a light duty bar like this one. 
3) Yes, hardened and tempered, like if you were making most other kinds of cutting tool.
4)  The mic sits right on top of the cross drilled hole when measuring. The hole is a smaller diameter than the pads on a mic, by about half, so it doesn't interfere with measurements. 
Another way to do it is to make a gauge from a small rectangular piece of steel. Just cut a slot in the piece of steel to the same depth that the cutter on the boring bar will need to stick out for the final cut. You can judge your other cuts by eye, and when it comes time for the finish cut, use the gauge to set the cutting bit.
5) Oh yeah. I sure would. Use the largest diameter boring bar that is practical. 

Tel, you got it!


Here's the piston work;








I started with a kind of over long piece of brass stock for the piston..

Seriously, I don't like cutting working sized pieces of brass off of longer stock, simply because 
it's so expensive. By the time I cut a piece long enough for work holding and making the part, 
half of it would end up as scrap box material. So, I chucked up a longer piece I had and put the 
steady rest on it. Then, when I part it off, the majority of the longer piece will be intact. 










This is a mistake. I caught it one second after "just in the nick of time" happened. Got 
carried away roughing out. Another piece for the scrap crate. (I'm way beyond scrap _box_.)
Everyone does this kind of stuff. Some people keep it to themselves...










Try again, and this time, measure well before I think I'm "about there". Here's the good piston 
having a hole reamed through it. Then it's parted off.










Then, cut a piece of 1/8" drill rod and thread the end that will go into the cross head slipper. 
Then the piece is parted to length. 

I put this picture here mainly so I could mention something about the small straight edge rule 
behind the threaded piece. When taking pictures of little bits, and you have your camera in 
macro mode, if you put something directly behind the object you want to be in focus it will help 
the camera "see" it. Sometimes on a thin piece that has a large background, the camera wants 
to focus on something other than the small bit. Putting something right behind it, the camera will 
pick up on the contrast and focus on the smaller piece. This is just for auto focus cameras. 










Next, the steam chest is milled out. A straight forward milling job, and everything was 
located by coordinate.

I milled the piece as shown, and when I got to the last .020" or so in the bottom of the slots 
you see here, I milled through first the two longer slots, then one short end, letting the thin 
web of the other short end hold the waste piece in place. Then, put a little pressure on the 
top of the waste piece with a pencil eraser as I cut the final short side. This helps keep the 
piece from pinching the end mill as the last cut is taken, which would cause a ruckus. 










Then milled the end of the piece that will form the valve slide rod bore and packing guide, and 
drilled and tapped the needed holes. Those M&M's just came out of nowhere.










Milled slots in the valve face plate.











Next I turned my attention to the fasteners needed to attach the steam chest, valve plate, 
and cover plate to the cylinder. The print shows studs and nuts. I've made enough of those 
for the time being, and since I had some 1/8" stainless hex rod, thought I would use cap screws instead. 

This one shot tells what was done, but just in case, it was like this; Turn the hex rod down in 
steps to the diameter needed for threading. Thread the end. Pull a little more of the rod 
through the chuck, and part off the end of the screw to what looks good to me. Then, 
(adjust the parting tool, and,) do it seven more times.










This is what I've got so far.





Here's how the cylinder pieces go together;






The cylinder.









The valve face plate.









The steam chest.









The cover plate.










And everything buttoned down tight. 
I'm thinking I might make that cover plate again. Not sure yet. It was cut from a stock 
piece of 1" wide brass flat, and the edges are rounded over a little. It's also a different kind 
of brass than the rest of the cylinder parts, and has a slightly off color. 

That's it for now.
Happy Thanksgiving.

Dean


----------



## joe d (Nov 25, 2009)

This is looking good, Dean! I have also been enjoying following along to see your set-ups in the Taig, so I can shamelessly steal them for my own use. :big: :big: 

Have a good Thanksgiving.

Joe


----------



## NickG (Nov 26, 2009)

Dean,

Looks like you are nearly there! Thanks for showing the scrap piston - at least it's not just me that does it. I did the same on the pistons for my flame gulper - I might have noticed slightly before you did and I hope I have saved them, if not I'll have to make some new ones! I understand the port arrangement now, is that just to make it easier to drill the angled holes or is there another reason for those voids behind the ports?

Nick


----------



## Toyman01 (Nov 26, 2009)

As usual beautiful work. Thanks for sharing. I am learning a bunch just following this thread. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 26, 2009)

joe d  said:
			
		

> This is looking good, Dean! I have also been enjoying following along to see your set-ups in the Taig, so I can shamelessly steal them for my own use.



Ha! That's how I got 'em, Joe. There is a very tiny percentage among us who come up with anything original. Us mortals simply see it, and do it. Thank you for having a look. (BTW, Joe, I have a bunch more stuff about the Taig machines on my website, in the link at the bottom of this post.)




			
				NickG said:
			
		

> Looks like you are nearly there! Thanks for showing the scrap piston



Hi Nick; It's getting there. I'm not a very fast builder. Still eccentric, glands, cylinder ends, valve things, and other bits to be made. 
That scrap piston is just a small example of the skeletons in my closet!


Toyman, thank you again for checking in, and for your comments. Much appreciated!

Dean


----------



## joe d (Nov 26, 2009)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> (BTW, Joe, I have a bunch more stuff about the Taig machines on my website, in the link at the bottom of this post.)



Dean: I've been to look several times already... some really nice stuff you've done there! I've got a very bad case of MULTIPLE PROJECTITUS thanks to you :big: :big:

Cheers, Joe


----------



## Twmaster (Nov 26, 2009)

Dumb question time. Are there gaskets placed between the steam box and it's cover? And the cylinder for that matter?


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 26, 2009)

Joe, thanks again!

Mike, yes. I have a few gaskets to make.

Dean


----------



## Twmaster (Nov 26, 2009)

Thanks Dean. What are you using for gasket material?


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 26, 2009)

Mike, if I can find some thin paper gasket stock at the auto parts store, I'll use it. Often what they have is too thick, though. I just want a couple thou.

In the past I've used paper from a grocery sack, or for very thin gaskets like I will need here, the paper from those nice thin kind of small brown flat paper sacks like you get when you buy a greeting card or other flat goods. I cut out the shape I need, then put light oil on it, like 3-in-1, and let it soak in well. Then put the gasket between a couple of thick paper towels and put a weight on top of the whole works over night. It makes a nice oiled gasket. You have to make sure the paper you use is not waxed. If it is, the oil won't soak in. 

I made a paper gasket for the crankcase cover on an IC engine I built some years back using plain printer paper given the oil treatment. That worked well too. That particular crankcase has oil in it all the time.  Has never leaked a drop.

The parts need to have a good mating surface to start with. The steam chest pieces will be surfaced on a piece of glass first, using 600 to 1200 wet or dry paper. I'll get to that when I'm down to the finish work on this build.

Dean


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 26, 2009)

NickG  said:
			
		

> Dean,
> I understand the port arrangement now, is that just to make it easier to drill the angled holes or is there another reason for those voids behind the ports?
> 
> Nick



Nick, I missed answering this part of your post in an earlier reply. 

The larger voids in the side of the cylinder are just steam passages that lead from valve plate to the angled holes that go into the ends of the cylinder bore.
I think if it had straight passages from the bore to the valve face, the angle of the hole would eat into the bore kind of like a slot that would end up extending from the end of the cylinder down to about 1/2 the length of the piston, when it was at TDC. Not sure about that, but just looking at it, it would seem so.  It's a 5/8" bore in a 1" square piece of stock, so the cylinder wall ends up being only 3/16" thick. Anyway, I'm just kind of following the print. It's how Rudy did it, so... me too.

Dean


----------



## NickG (Nov 27, 2009)

Dean,

Thanks for that, I understand it now! That is usually the hardest part of a slide valve engine drilling the angled holes from bottom of ports to break out at the top of the bore.

Well done.

Nick


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 27, 2009)

Thank you again, Nick.


Well, after the big feed yesterday, I'm still as stuffed as that turkey was, but managed 
to waddle into the shop to fiddle up a couple of parts.








This will be the gland for the valve rod. First part I made with the new/old lathe, and what 
would have taken me 10 minutes on my trusty Taig, took a couple of hours on the Atlas. 
Not because there's anything wrong with the new lathe, but because I'm still getting things 
set up on it. Things like centering the tail stock, and like that. So, really, I was playing with 
the new toy, and making a part while doing it.

Here, I've turned down a piece of brass flat bar to the profile of the gland nut.










The Atlas doesn't have a micro dial on the carriage. Neither does my Taig. Or my 
Craftsman 109. Or my old Webster Whitcomb. Wait... The Webster doesn't even have 
a carriage! What's going on here?


Anyway, this shot is just showing how a DI was set up for temporary measurements on 
the Atlas carriage, so I would know how long I was making the gland piece. I'll make a depth 
stop and DI mount for it soon. 










The piece is drilled and reamed for the valve rod.










Then it's parted off. I hadn't used this parting tool and holder for so long I had to think 
about it for a few minutes. It was left from a time many years ago when I had a larger lathe. 
For some reason, I kept it. 

I cleaned up the back of the piece after parting it, and drilled the two mounting holes through 
it. I noticed a little movement in the piece as it was being parted off. I watched close. Not 
the chuck.. New bearings for this lathe just arrived a couple days ago. Guess I'd better put 
them in!










The little 0-80 screws I had on hand that will hold the gland to the steam chest were over long 
by about 5/32", so I cut 'em off.

If you need to shorten a screw, run it through a die and leave the die on it while you cut the 
screw. Then file the end of the screw down a little to dress it up, and thread it back out of the 
die. This way, the die will clean up the boogered thread on the end of the screw, and it will 
thread into a hole or nut like it should. 










Here's the gland in its place. 
Close up pictures sure do tell how much finish work I have ahead of me!










For the valve, I used the waste piece left over from making the steam chest. I knew that 
bit would come in handy. 

I filed this piece to shape and dimension before putting it in the mill vise to finish it up. It was 
pretty close already in the shorter dimensions, and only about 1/8" too long overall, so I just 
hit it a few licks with the file to get it to size.










Then, into the milling machine with it, and milled the perimeter of the valve face with a 
1/32" end mill. The prints say to use a two piece valve, with the face made of stainless. Well, 
I don't have any. 

So, it's going to be solid brass. 










After the perimeter was milled to depth, I switched to a 1/16" end mill and finished out 
the pocket.










Then turned the piece over to make the slots for the rod and adjusting block.










And that's it, for today. Steam chest gland and the valve. Two little parts. A whole 
afternoon of goofing off.

Thanks for looking.

Dean


----------



## Artie (Nov 28, 2009)

Goofing off? I think not.. looks good mate...

Artie


----------



## kvom (Nov 28, 2009)

1/32" endmill? That's small! My smallest is 1/16" and I am nervous about feeding it.  Nice work.


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 28, 2009)

Artie and Kvom, thanks for your comments!

Dean


----------



## NickG (Nov 29, 2009)

Dean,

Great work as usual! 1/32" is bloomin small! Think smallest I've ever used is 1/8"!

I like that type of valve with the slots.

Nick


----------



## Deanofid (Nov 30, 2009)

NickG  said:
			
		

> Dean,
> 
> Great work as usual! 1/32" is bloomin small! Think smallest I've ever used is 1/8"!
> 
> ...



After a using smaller end mill sizes for a while, 1/8" seems big and sturdy! I get nervous using the little ones, just like anyone else. Hold your mouth right, hold your breath, hold your horses, and all like that.
I've broken a few of them, too. 

Nothing new on this build today. Pesky paying jobs wanting to be done. That's the way it goes.

Dean


----------



## NickG (Dec 1, 2009)

I can't imagine using 1/32" What milling machine do you have Dean?

That is the way it goes. It's sometimes good to have a break anyway. I'm forever trying to set deadlines and timescales and it never works. I guess it boils down to the fact this is low priority unfortunately.

Nick


----------



## Twmaster (Dec 1, 2009)

Nick,

Dean has a Taig milling machine (as do I) http://www.taigtools.com/mmill.html

Funny, I've been unemployed for a week now. It seems as I am as busy as ever and have even -less- time for my projects....

Deadlines? We don't have no skinkingk deadlines!


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 1, 2009)

Wellll... Got a little dab done today. Not much, but after spending the day inside an 
old Copal shutter, a bit of time on the fun side of the shop was welcome.








This will be the valve rod locking block. It sits in the larger slot of the valve and allows for 
adjustment of the valve rod. I did what I could on this while it was still attached to a larger 
piece, to make it a little easier to handle. There is a cross hole in it, which has been drilled, 
and a tapped hole for a set screw. 

The hole is so shallow that it needed a plug tap to make any threads. A taper tap hits 
bottom before it starts to cut. When these two holes are done, the piece is cut off, and 
the end cleaned up.











In this shot, a nub of 4-40 screw is being cut off to make the set screw. (It's like a grub 
screw, for yoo-all who are off shore.) 
I'm using a jewelers saw to cut this little thing. A little more on that, later.











For making the slot in the set screw, I start with a regular nut for that sized fastener, and 
cut a slot that meets at two opposing points on the nut. This will be the guide for making 
the set screw slot. How deep to saw this slot depends on how big your set screw will be. 
For this one, 4-40, I sawed about 1/4 way throught the nut.











Then, thread in the little nub of the screw that had been cut off prior. Start with the screw 
just below the surface of the nut, and use the slot that has been cut in the nut to guide the 
saw blade. You may have to hold the screw from the bottom with a pencil eraser to keep 
it from trying to spin, until the slot gets started. Once a bit of a line has been cut into the 
screw, back it up a turn and finish cutting the slot to a sensible depth.











This is a jewelers saw, for anyone who might be wondering. I can't think of any reason 
not to have one of these in the shop. Really good for cutting out shapes in thin material. 
Besides, they're dirt cheap. 

If you'll look at the previous picture, you'll see that the teeth on the blade are pointing 
toward the operator, (me). This is the way one of these saws is used. The blades are very 
thin, as you can see, and if you try to use this type of saw to cut on the forward stroke, as 
with a hacksaw, you'll go through five blades an hour. Put the blade in so it cuts on the back 
stroke, and it'll last a long time. You can afford to go through a few blades, though. They 
run about $7 per gross.











So, that's that little thing, with the set screw in place.










The next piece is the small clevis that goes on the other end of the valve rod. I do what 
I can with it while it's still attached to the larger piece of stock.










Then cut it off and put it on end to mill the slot and drill the needed hole through the back 
side of it. When I need to drill a hole through a small bit, like this, I set it on a parallel to 
get it level in the vise, then snug the vise without tapping the piece down onto the parallel(s), 
as you normally would. The parallel will be slightly loose under the piece, and can be pulled 
out. 

Usually, I'd leave a piece long, and just end up with another cut-off for the scrap box. 
Sometimes I'm feeling cheap, and... do it the hard way.










The valve, from the other day, and today's big accomplishment. 
Man, my work is really cutting into my play time.










That's how it goes together.

Maybe some more tomorrow.

Thanks again to all who are having a peek now and then!

Dean


----------



## Twmaster (Dec 1, 2009)

Am I missing something? I cannot see any pics....


----------



## Metal Butcher (Dec 1, 2009)

Twmaster  said:
			
		

> Am I missing something? I cannot see any pics....



Same here!

-MB


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 1, 2009)

I can't see pics on any post on the forum right now, Mike. I know my server is serving them. I have a gob of web pages of my own, and they all load.
I'm sure someone will see it and know what to do soon. Unless the whole interwebs is breaking down...

Can't see 'em on your posts either, MB! It's a conspiracy against us!


----------



## Twmaster (Dec 1, 2009)

Well foo....

Voice = 'Monty Pyton'

Oh dear. The Intartubes have exploded!


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 2, 2009)

The pictures are back, thanks to the guys who work so hard keeping this place running. 
Three cheers, guys!

Dean


----------



## joe d (Dec 2, 2009)

Dean

Re-read yesterday's offering today, it's much better with illustrations :big:

I like that jeweller's saw, going to have to get me one of those...
The project is coming along very nicely. Looking forward to the next instalment :

Cheers, Joe


----------



## Toyman01 (Dec 2, 2009)

The jewelers saw is a great idea. I usually use a hack saw, and the small things look like they have been hacked. Keep up the inspiring work. Thanks again. Allen.


----------



## cobra428 (Dec 2, 2009)

Deanofid,
What kind of blade are you using? I just seem to find woodworking ones. Are you using a fine workworking one? I've been looking for a metal blade for my Delta Jig saw. Variable speed 16" throat.....it would be a beautiful thing






Tony


----------



## Twmaster (Dec 2, 2009)

Tony, I had a Hitachi saw like your Delta. I used wood blades to cut aluminum on the thing.


----------



## cobra428 (Dec 2, 2009)

Twmaster,
Thanks, nice to know. I figure as soon as I started the cut there wouldn't be any teeth anymore

Tony


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 3, 2009)

Hi Tony;
The blades I get are for metal. I use them for brass, al, and steel. They are like tiny hack saw blades.
You can get them and the saw frames from these guys;

http://www.timesavers.com/findbydesc/SearchCatalogMain.asp?ProdDesc=jewelers+saw

I don't know if they are for use with an electric scroll saw. They are flat on the end, no pins, and they are very thin. On some blade cuts, you can barely see the teeth. 

Hope this helps.

Dean


----------



## NickG (Dec 3, 2009)

Dean, beautiful work. Your slot head grub screw was much better than mine - did mine with a junior hacksaw blade! :-\ 
managed to get it off centre!
Nick


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 4, 2009)

Nick, thank you, again! 
I do appreciate everyone's comments and support.


Another day gone by, (a few days!), and again, only a few bits done. The new/old 
Atlas has held my attention for a few days, getting it fitted up and in trim for serious 
work. (Might be modeling work, but it's still serious!)








This bit will be the valve rod guide. Just a round piece with a hole reamed through.











The little piece being threaded here will be the cross pin that holds the eccentric rod to the 
valve rod clevis. Using the Atlas here, and the first "real" pieces made using the new three jaw.

Spent some hours cutting the back plate for it yesterday, and the time spent was worth it. 
It runs out at just over a thou with a DI running on a gauge pin. Much better than I expected 
from this non-brand chuck.

The die holder is from Taig. They make pretty nice stuff at a reasonable price. These die 
holders have a 1/2" guide pin that is made for mounting on a Taig tail stock, but works 
great in a chuck, too. They only hold round dies.










This piece that has been marked out with a surface gauge will be the support for the valve 
rod guide. The print calls for 1/16" steel sheet, but I'm using hard brass, 'cause that's what 
I've got. The two holes that are punched deeper, the ones that are easier to see, will be 
the mounting holes. The two lighter punch marks will be drilled to form a radius in two of 
the inside corners.










I cut this piece out with the jewelers saw. It means more work than if done in the milling 
machine, but I just felt like fiddling around today. As can be seen, I have a hard time staying 
on the line. That's mainly because I can't find a happy medium for my eyes between the 
top and bottom of my bifocals, and if I wear a cheater, I can't seem to find a comfortable 
distance to work. That's my excuse.

The jewelers saw can cut nearly 90 deg angles. In the background you can see the piece 
of paraffin wax that is used to lube the blade. 










Here's the cut out piece. I knew I would have a bit of filing work...










For filing thin sections, like on this piece, they get put between a couple of pieces of wood. 
It keeps the noise down, and the wood keeps filings from being imbedded in softer metals 
when they are tightened in the vise.










These are the three bits done, along with today's offering to the gods of steel, (or brass). 
Broken blades happen.










To get the guide and its support lined up for soldering, the bits were assembled with the 
valve rod in its bore in the steam chest. I left the rod with my slightly oily finger prints all 
over it, and was careful not to get any flux on it or inside the guide bore. The flux didn't 
care about that at all, and flowed into the guide bore, along with the solder, (red arrow). 
Soldered up tighter than a janitor in a drum. 
Shoot.










So, put on some gloves, heated it up well again with the torch, and quickly pulled the shaft 
out of the guide. Naturally, the guide support came loose too. 
Then try again. This time, put a liberal amount of oil on the shaft, being careful not to let 
any get into what would be the solder joint, and hit it with the heat. Since it was already 
tinned from the first try, the two bits eagerly joined and the oil gave off a stink. But the shaft
didn't stick this time. 
Should have just smoked the shaft with a candle in the first place. Don't know why I didn't.










That's better, and that's the day's work. Came out nicely lined up, and the valve shaft 
moves easily through the guide and steam chest.










There's the progress shot. I keep getting closer, but I'm not getting done! It'll get there,
eventually.

Thanks for looking in.

Dean


----------



## Twmaster (Dec 4, 2009)

Dean, that is really coming together. Looking grand!

I spent the entirety of this evening mounting my old Atlas. All my joints now hurt. Time for some liquid pain killer and read the board!


----------



## cobra428 (Dec 4, 2009)

Dean,
It is looking magnificent. Can't wait for the running

Tony


----------



## NickG (Dec 5, 2009)

It's a beauty, not much to do now, don't rush, you'll be there soon.

Nick


----------



## 4156df (Dec 5, 2009)

> Should have just smoked the shaft with a candle in the first place.



Dean,
What's that about smoking the shaft?? Is that a solder resist method? Really enjoying (and learning from) this thread.
Dennis


----------



## arnoldb (Dec 5, 2009)

You're doing a lovely job Dean - great progress :bow:

And like Dennis asked ?

Regards, Arnold


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 5, 2009)

Mike, Tony, Dennis, Nick, Arnold; Thank you again guys, for your kind remarks and encouragement!

Nick, I've never been in much of a rush. That's why it takes me so long to get an engine done. 

Dennis and Arnold, by smoking the shaft, I meant use a candle flame to get soot on the part where I didn't want the solder to stick.  Candle soot has a little grease in it, along with the soot. It will often keep solder from flowing to the part that is smoked. Like Dennis suggested, a solder resist.

There are other things people use to do the same thing. Maybe some are more effective. I come across one now and then, but I forget them. I need to write that stuff down.. 

Dean


----------



## Metal Butcher (Dec 5, 2009)

Dean. Have you ever tried drawing a 'solder flow containment dam' with a soft lead pencil? I used this method with good results in the past to solder and braze.

Usually I forget and just roll the dice and regret. :big:

-MB


----------



## gbritnell (Dec 6, 2009)

Hi Dean, I have a friend that does a lot of brass work. He uses a yellow ocher pigment to coat the parts he doesn't want solder to flow into or on. He gets it at the art supply store. I haven't personally used it but I have seen his builds and pictures and it works great.
gbritnell


----------



## NickG (Dec 6, 2009)

some good tips there guys. we should all be producing neatly soldered joints soon then :big:


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 6, 2009)

Metal Butcher  said:
			
		

> Dean. Have you ever tried drawing a 'solder flow containment dam' with a soft lead pencil? I used this method with good results in the past to solder and braze.
> 
> -MB



I've never tried that, MB. It's one of the ways that I've heard mentioned, but keep forgetting. Thanks for bringing it up! I have pencils!

George, thanks for the yellow ocher tip. Does your friend use just the dry pigment, or do you mean the oil paint that comes in a tube?
Thanks again.

Dean


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Dec 7, 2009)

Gosh Dean. You're really moving along. I can't believe how far back I was.
Fantastic thread. I am really enjoying it and learning a lot.
I appreciate all the great details as well as the additional tips from the other members.
Great brass work.

I noticed a holder (rods and brass fittings) that was holding a DTI about 3 pages back. Did you make that?


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 7, 2009)

Hi Zee. Thanks a lot for your comments on the thread!
I'm glad to see the tips from other members, too. 
You'll note I put in some of my goofs...

If this is the DI holder you mean, yes, I made it.






Hit the link at the bottom of this post, and you will find it on that page somewhere 
near the bottom. There's a short write-up for it, if you want to check it out.


Did a little work on the cylinder heads today.







They're mainly brass round things. Not LRT's, really. Medium round things. 
Depending on your point of view.

Chucked up a piece of round stock, drilled and reamed where necessary.
Fun using the carriage feed on the Atlas to get this stuff down to size. 
I might get spoiled.  










Then, part 'er off, and make another one, similar, but different.

It's easy parting off stuff on the Atlas. 
I'm gonna get spoiled...











Then flip the pieces and shape up the other ends. 

Gosh, this was easy on the Atlas. 
I'm _spoiled_! 
...and too tickled to get any work done!










That's all that got done today.

Tomorrow will be hole drilling day, putting the mounting holes in the cylinder for the heads, 
and if I don't goof off so much, maybe I'll get a little more done.

The new/old lathe actually distracts me, like when I was a boy with a new bicycle. 
Then, I couldn't keep my mind on my school work. It's kinda like that. Silly. 
Guess I'm still just a boy.










That's it for progress, today. Here's the "so-far" shot.

Thank you all again, for looking in on the thread.

Dean


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Dec 7, 2009)

Thanks Dean. Not just a tool...it's a good quality looking tool.

No cutting fluid when parting? Because it's brass?


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 7, 2009)

zeeprogrammer  said:
			
		

> Thanks Dean. Not just a tool...it's a good quality looking tool.
> 
> No cutting fluid when parting? Because it's brass?



Thank you, Zee.
Yes, because it's brass. 

Dean


----------



## 4156df (Dec 8, 2009)

Dean,
She's looking like a steamer. Keep the photos coming.
Dennis


----------



## Twmaster (Dec 8, 2009)

Careful there Dean. That Taig might get a tad jealous and eat the next part or three you try to make on her... Hell hath no fury like a machine tool scorned....


----------



## NickG (Dec 8, 2009)

Really nice Dean. Is it all going to be polished or painted?

Nearly there!

Nick


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 8, 2009)

Thanks Dennis!

Mike, I'm so attached to that little Taig... Nothing will take its place. And she knows it.

Nick, a little paint, lot of polish, and even a piece of, eh, wood.


Thanks for checking in, guys!

Dean


----------



## Metal Butcher (Dec 8, 2009)

Dean, your moving along nicely!

In a previos post you mentioned paint, polish and eh, wood. Eh, wood? Do you hate working with wood the way I do? I don't get along with the stuff at all, and it seems to hate me. I use little touches like that to make my builds a little more attractive. 

I'm anxious and can't wait to see your final picture post and video! 

Humor; But don't go overboard with the "bling!." I don't need the competition!  ;D

-MB


----------



## NickG (Dec 8, 2009)

Wood?? :-X Pah!

I see there is a minimal amount of wood on the engine in your avatar! Wasted away at every opportunity!

Nick


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 8, 2009)

Metal Butcher  said:
			
		

> Dean, your moving along nicely!
> 
> In a previos post you mentioned paint, polish and eh, wood. Eh, wood? Do you hate working with wood the way I do? I don't get along with the stuff at all, and it seems to hate me. I use little touches like that to make my builds a little more attractive.
> 
> ...



Thanks MB!
Yeah, "eh, wood". I don't get along with it either, but it will make a good chicken coop, or a nice warm fire. 'Bout the most I get out of wood is splinters. 
I'll never be a carpenter, that's for sure, anymore than I'll ever be a ballerina. 
Just better at working in thousandths than in eighths, I guess.


Nick, sounds like you're in the same boat with MB and me.
That hunka tree under my avatar engine is just to keep the flywheels from draggin'!


Another slow day in the shop, but still a dab done. Dragging a bit today, coming down 
with something. Probably caught it from Mike (twmaster). We hang out at the same forums..








This will be the gland for the cylinder head that carries the piston rod. A piece of 1/2" thick 
brass was milled down to the called for 3/8", and chucked in the four jaw to be turned down 
and drilled/reamed, as in the above picture. After that, it's removed from the chuck, and the 
waste piece hack sawed away.










Then it's three jawed to clean up the larger flat on the other end.










The piece needs to have a couple of holes for the screws that will hold it into the bore in 
the cylinder head.

I have a simple stop pin indexing disc mounted to the drive pulley of the lathe spindle. 
The piece has to have the holes on the center line of the flange. To get it lined up with one 
of the indexing holes in the disc, the stop pin is put into one of the holes to lock the headstock, 
then the chuck is loosened just enough to let me rotate the gland. I used a 1-2-3 block and 
small square to get the top edge of the flange on the gland parallel to the lathe bed. Then the 
chuck is re-tightened. 

This looks kind of awkward, with only one hand holding everything, but normally would be 
done with two hands. My other hand is holding the camera, of course.










Here, you can see the indexing disc and stop pin. I made this disc in the shop, but they are 
available for purchase made to fit this lathe.

The holes will be drilled with an auxiliary spindle mounted to the cross slide. The center line 
of the aux spindle is the same height as the C/L of the lathe spindle. It's also made so that 
when its square to the cross slide, it is parallel to the spindle.

The gland has a 1/8" reamed hole through its center, so I put a 1/8" dia piece of drill rod in 
the chuck to locate the aux spindle, then cranked the cross slide over to give the proper 
distance for the holes in the flange.  










After the holes are drilled in the gland, it was swapped out for the lower cylinder head, and 
the matching holes for the gland were drilled. The aux spindle was left in the same spot as 
for the gland to drill the two inner holes seen in the picture. 

After the two inner tap holes are drilled, the cross slide is cranked out to put the remaining 
holes in the outer bolt hole circle. When this is done, the upper cylinder head is put in place 
in the chuck and holes on the same pattern are drilled. Then the two cylinder heads are used 
to locate their mounting holes in the cyinder. And then, tap, tap, tap. Every other hole in the 
bolt circle of each head gets tapped, and the two smaller holes for the gland, and the eight 
mounting holes in the cylinder. Sixteen 2-56 holes, and a pair of 0-80's.










Here, things are being checked for fit. All these socket head screws in the heads and gland 
will be swapped out for hex screws just as soon as I make them. The empty holes seen 
here are for dummy cap screws. They show through in the space between the heads, but 
lagging goes in there, so they wont be visible. The dummies will show on the outside, to fill 
in the blanks between the real mounting screws. They're "pretend". Or, faux. 
Genuine faux screws.  

Thanks for checking in!

Dean


----------



## gbritnell (Dec 8, 2009)

Boy that thing is coming along great Dean. I don't think Rudy had that amount of refinement on this project when he started it. It looks so good in the bare metal state it would almost be a shame to paint it. Keep up the great work.
gbritnell


----------



## Twmaster (Dec 8, 2009)

> Another slow day in the shop, but still a dab done. Dragging a bit today, coming down
> with something. Probably caught it from Mike (twmaster). We hang out at the same forums..



Hey, HEY!!

The Doc said I wasn't contagious....

However that work you've been doing Dean is. Looking sharp. Man I just love the look of brass.


----------



## Toyman01 (Dec 8, 2009)

Beautiful work as usual. Thanks again and keep up the good work.


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 8, 2009)

gbritnell  said:
			
		

> Boy that thing is coming along great Dean. I don't think Rudy had that amount of refinement on this project when he started it. It looks so good in the bare metal state it would almost be a shame to paint it. Keep up the great work.
> gbritnell



Thank you, George.
I don't plan to paint the whole thing. Mainly the base and flywheel spokes/hubs. Most of the rest of the metal will be in it's natural state, although I need to hit it a lick with the file.

Toyman, thanks again for your kind remarks!

Mike, I'm pretty sure I got this crud through the keyboard. ...and you had it first, so..
Appreciate your comments, always!

Dean


----------



## arnoldb (Dec 9, 2009)

Dean, you're doing and showing a beautiful job :bow: - please keep it coming!

Kind regards, Arnold


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 9, 2009)

Thanks again, Arnold!



Still feeling a little punky today, so wasn't very enthusiastic in the shop. Just a made up 
a run of 2-56 cap screws for all the holes in the cylinder heads.








Here they are, along with a W&W for scale.

I put pictures up showing cap screws being made earlier in the thread, so won't repeat that.










They look more at home than the black SCHS that had previously been used to fit this up.










And the other end. 

That's it for today.

Thanks for looking.

Dean


----------



## Twmaster (Dec 9, 2009)

Oh. My...... :bow: :bow: :bow:

Say Dean, what is the reason for the 'lagging' around the cylinder?


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 9, 2009)

Hi Mike;

Lagging is insulation to keep the heat _in_ on an external combustion engine. If you've ever seen a real steam plant, you'll notice that all the pipes that are pressurized have what looks like rope wrapped around them. (In modern times, they usually have foam insulation.) The steam cylinder usually has a packing around it, like asbestos, held on by wooden slats that go around the cylinder. 
For a real engine, it keeps things from cooling off. For a model, might do the same thing, and it helps it look like the real thing.

Dean


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Dec 9, 2009)

Very nice work.

The last two posts (Mike's and your own) seem to say some lagging is on the cylinder. But I don't see it...or don't know what it looks like. Help!

W&W eh? That's okay. I'll worry when I see a M&W or W&M. Well no...I won't worry. I won't be surprised either. :big:


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 9, 2009)

Thanks Zee. 
You don't see lagging because there's none on it yet. I've been working on it, cutting some
staves out of model airplane wood.  Popsicle sticks are too big, and I can't find anything 
smaller, so they're being cut from sheet by hand. I'll show that in a day or two.

The "W" is for Williams, I think..

Dean


----------



## Twmaster (Dec 9, 2009)

Dean, if you have a Starbucks swipe the wood stirs they have. They are significantly smaller than a Popsicle stick. Might just do the job for you.

If you do not have a Starbucks nearby I'll gladly go and swipe you some sticks.


----------



## cobra428 (Dec 9, 2009)

Very Nice Dean,
I see you spent a lot of time screwing around with some hex stock (I know bad joke). It's coming along nicely

Tony


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Dec 9, 2009)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> The "W" is for Williams, I think..



Oops. Sorry for that Dean. I didn't catch that.

Would balsa work? Can get that at hobby shops and easy to cut.


----------



## thayer (Dec 9, 2009)

Most decent hobby shops should have a Midwest Products wood rack that includes small sizes of bass, walnut and mahogany strip wood in addition to the balsa. You should be able to find something suitable there.

FWIW, I wouldn't use balsa. It tends to be pretty "fuzzy." Harder woods aren't and will look much nicer with their tighter grain patterns. The wood lagging will be a prominent feature of the engine. Make sure you use quality stock here.

Thayer


----------



## Twmaster (Dec 9, 2009)

cobra428  said:
			
		

> Very Nice Dean,
> I see you spent a lot of time screwing around with some hex stock (I know bad joke). It's coming along nicely



Be careful... He might put a 'hex' on you! 

I'll get me coat....


----------



## cobra428 (Dec 9, 2009)

thayer  said:
			
		

> Most decent hobby shops should have a Midwest Products wood rack that includes small sizes of bass, walnut and mahogany strip wood in addition to the balsa. You should be able to find something suitable there.
> 
> FWIW, I wouldn't use balsa. It tends to be pretty "fuzzy." Harder woods aren't and will look much nicer with their tighter grain patterns. The wood lagging will be a prominent feature of the engine. Make sure you use quality stock here.
> 
> Thayer



I agree a nice walnut against the brass.....oh baby!

Tony


----------



## steamer (Dec 9, 2009)

Hey Dean,

Damn Sexy!....Well done! ;D


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 9, 2009)

Thanks for the suggestions and nice comments, guys. Thanks for the jokes too, you two individuals. 
(you know who your are..)

As far as Starbucks sticks go, I've never seen a Starbucks in my life. I may not 
live in the middle of nowhere, but I'm only a few hundred yards from it. 
Thanks for the offer, Mike. I'll take you up on it, even if they don't get used on 
this project. They'll come in handy for others.

No hobby shops here either. _Small_ town. 3500 souls in a spot in north-ish Idaho. 
We have a John Deere dealership though. That makes up for a lot, doesn't it?

I do have a piece of thin balsa, and that's what I've been working with for the lagging staves. 
I have a piece steamed and formed to match the radius of the cylinder heads, and had 
started cutting the staves from it when I pooped out today.

Thayer, I know what you mean about "fuzzy" on balsa. If it doesn't look right, I won't use it. 
Thanks for your suggestion. I have the piece I'm working with stained with a dark mahogany 
and it might actually look good. We'll see. 

Dean


----------



## Twmaster (Dec 9, 2009)

Dean, 

I'll put those sticks in the mail ASAIGC (As Soon As I Get Coffee)

Seriously though... Explain what the lagging does. Please.


----------



## cobra428 (Dec 9, 2009)

Dean,
you have access to a computer I can tell, next is a credit card. All kinds of goodies. brass, stainless, alum tube ,sheets I beams boxes....and wood! NO BALSA on that beauty of an engine.

http://www.towerhobbies.com/

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/WTI0091P?&P=SM&C=RCZ&V=MID

More stuff too, plastics, knock yourself out!

Tony


----------



## steamer (Dec 9, 2009)

Have you considered 
"Massa-anduba"


I used a bit for the cockpit sole of my boat. worked great and nice color....Harder than woodpecker lips! Machines nice though

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u27/mcandrew1894/Masaanduba.jpg

I also have some Spanich cedar which is very Mahogany colored.

Contact me PM.....I think maybe I can help you out.

Dave


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 9, 2009)

Okay, okay! No balsa. I bow to everyone's woody wisdom! :bow:



			
				Twmaster  said:
			
		

> Seriously though... Explain what the lagging does. Please.



Mike (seriously) I put up an explanation two posts down from my last picture post.
Appreciate the sticks!




			
				cobra428 said:
			
		

> Dean,
> you have access to a computer I can tell,



Actually Tony, I'm doing all this with a can and a string. I'm very handy.
Yes, I know about the online hobby places. Just lazy with my credit card. And thanks again 
for the nice comment.


Dave, that's pretty wood. Thanks for the offer. I'll get in touch.


Dean


----------



## Twmaster (Dec 9, 2009)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> Okay, okay! No balsa. I bow to everyone's woody wisdom! :bow:
> 
> Mike (seriously) I put up an explanation two posts down from my last picture post.
> Appreciate the sticks!



Hurmph. I missed it. It's all Zee's fault. Yea, Zee's fault....


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 10, 2009)

Again, a little more done, today.
One more thing to do on the cylinder, then I can get going with the eccentric.
There are two condensate drain valves that go into the side of the cylinder.








The print calls for the valve stems to be made of brass, but I think it would look better if 
the valves were made from two different colored metals. The end of the stem has been 
cut here, and the seat point cut using the compound slide.










Then the longer part of the stem is turned down to take 4-40 threads. 
The material is stainless hex rod. It could be turned from round just as easily. I used hex 
rod for a reason.
Once the threads are done, the piece is parted off to length.










The handle part of the valve stem is supposed to be 1/4" diameter. By using hex rod for 
this, instead of round stock, I can turn away most of the pointed corners on it, but leave a 
small flat. Then, when it comes time contour the "petals", the bits of the flats from the hex 
rod can be used to locate them.

Above, the stem/handle on the right is finished, and the one on the left is just getting 
started. One of the dished out areas has been filed in using a small round file. (It's a chainsaw 
file, actually.) Looking just to the left of that one filed spot, you can see one of the left over 
flats from the hex rod. There are six of those spots, of course, and they give you a good way 
of spacing the petals of the handle fairly nicely.

After the filing is done the piece is put back into the lathe, and the end is faced off to length. 
Rounding off the edges on the two faces of the handle, then drilling holes inside each petal part 
will give it an even more realistic appearance. Didn't go quite that far with these.










The body of the valve is a piece of 3/16" brass rod. It's threaded on one end to fit the holes 
in the back side of the cylinder, then parted off and flipped end for end to drill the tiny through 
hole, and tap the threads that will take the valve stem.










Working on the other end of the valve body, the tap hole has been drilled. It goes about 
half way through the piece. Then the smaller hole that will let water flow through it is drilled 
the rest of the way through.

In the setup above, a pin vise is being used to drill that smaller hole. The bit is only .040" 
diameter, and between that husky drill chuck and the 600 watt motor on the lathe, 
it wouldn't have much of a chance if it should bind in the hole. Would snap it like a toothpick. 
To prevent problems like that, you can use a pin vise to hold the drill bit, and let it float in 
the drill chuck. The jaws of the drill chuck are tightened by hand only enough to start to grip 
the pin vise, then backed off a smidge. When actually drilling the hole, the drill chuck isn't used 
to apply pressure. It is just there to act as a guide. The pin vise is held lightly between your 
fingers, and with the lathe chuck spinning, the bit is fed into the work piece. If it should grab or 
bind from cuttings, the pin vise will spin between your fingers instead of breaking off the drill bit.









When the lathe work is done on the two valve bodies, a hole is drilled to meet up with the 
end of the threads on the inside. This hole is where the water will come out when first 
starting up the cold engine if it's run on steam.

A tiny pipe was made that fits into these holes in the side of each valve body. No pictures 
of that.  It's just a piece of .093" brass rod drilled through its length to make a tube.










Once those holes are drilled in the side of the valves, the little pipe is soldered in. Then a 
tap is run down the threads inside the valves to clean up any solder that may have come 
through, and the valve stems are screwed in.











The completed valves are screwed into the cylinder, and that's the days progress.
I think the stainless handles are set off nicely against all the brass stuff. They work well, too. 

Putting an aquarium pump to the threaded end of the valve, and turning the handle in and 
out, it turned on and off, just like the kitchen faucet.

I did do some other work on the engine today, but it amounted to fitting up. Something else 
I had missed earlier. With everything assembled thus far, it seemed tight when rotating the 
flywheels. Not the cross head. I had checked that. Then I thought maybe I had cut the piston 
rod gland off center, but removing the gland didn't remedy the problem. What I found was the 
steam chest valve plate was about .001" long on one end. When the bottom cylinder head was snugged down against the cylinder, that valve plate was holding it up, and the reamed hole that 
the piston rod runs in was cocked up just that tiny amount. After dressing it down and 
reassembling things, it's nice and smooth.

Eccentric work soon.

Thanks for looking in!

Dean


----------



## joe d (Dec 10, 2009)

Dean

Looking good! I really like those little valves... filed away for future reference :bow:

Joe


----------



## cobra428 (Dec 10, 2009)

Dean,
She's lookin real good :bow:

Tony


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Dec 11, 2009)

Always fascinating Dean. Very enjoyable.


----------



## 4156df (Dec 11, 2009)

Dean,
Great looking valves and something I have yet to do for my tractor.  I'm wondering how you got the threads to run so close to the shoulder particularly on the brass part. Are they single point threaded or did you use a die? If you used a die is there something special about them? Whew! Can you tell I am impressed?
Regards,
Dennis


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 11, 2009)

Joe, Tony, Zee, As always, thanks for your nice remarks!

Dennis;
They were done with a die. Nothing special about it. If you have a die that is properly made, it will have two distinct sides to it. One side has a slight taper to the threads to make it easy to start, and often says "Start From This Side". The other side has abrupt threads that come out right to the edge. 

After cutting as many thread possible in the normal fashion, reverse the die and thread it on back wards. That will cut threads almost up to the corner.

I said something about having a die that is properly made. Some of the stuff coming from off shore is tapered on both ends, and won't do a cut right into the corner.  All my American dies have two distinct sides. Some of my Chinese dies don't.

Dean


----------



## JimN (Dec 11, 2009)

You make it all look so easy, it is looking nice.

JimN


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 11, 2009)

Thank you, Jim!


Dennis, I forgot a detail about the threaded pieces you asked about. 
If you can't get threads into the corner where two diameters meet by using a die, you can do two other things that will help. Either free bore the hole that the threads go into a little, or cut a reduced diameter directly behind the threads on the piece that needs to sit flush. 

Often, the second method is the easier, since it will already be in the lathe to thread it. You have to be careful about the wall thickness on your piece, though.

HTH

Dean


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 12, 2009)

Hello all;

Started on the eccentric, today. Only got the strap done, but it took me some time to 
set up and get going on it, so, one thing done for the afternoon is okay for me. 








It starts out as a small piece of oddly shaped brass. This piece has one straight edge on it, 
so that one was used as a datum to locate the rest of the marks on the piece. The whole 
outside of the thing could be cut by coordinates on the mill and RT, but I need to know where 
some lines fall, so I can drill some waste holes for mounting it. Besides, sometimes lines help 
keep me from getting lost on a piece like this.










The waste holes mentioned above are drilled in the piece. One, in the center for locating 
the piece on the RT, and the four others to mount the piece on a piece of, eh, wood, so I 
can keep it well off the surface of the RT.










After the RT is set up on the milling machine, the RT is set to all zeros and the work piece 
is dialed in on its one straight edge. This is for a reference for later on, so I can find my way 
back "home" after the round parts are cut.










Then, before cutting starts, the RT and work piece are centered using a pin in the spindle, 
and the X and Y dials to move the RT.










Once it's all set, the X is cranked over equal to the radius of the piece, plus the end mill offset, 
and the round parts are cut out.










I did work to the line on this piece where the larger radius meets the straight bits on the 
eccentric strap. It can be done by RT coordinate, which takes some figuring, (for me, at 
least). To the line is plenty accurate for what will be the OD (non running) surface.










Once all the round parts that can be cut are done, I go back to my "home setting", which 
puts everything back where I started. Then the straight line locations can be dialed in from 
the center coordinate on the mill dials.

Here, the two straight bits that form the mount for the eccentric rod have been cut, and the 
small flat for the oil cup is being cut.









And that's the mill work done. Next, to the lathe.










How lucky am I? The piece fits in the three jaw with none of the bumpy parts getting in 
the way of the soft jaws.










The piece is bored out to size. After that, the two holes needed for the rod and oil cup 
are drilled.










A little clean up with some paper to knock off the machine marks. The piece was draw filed 
with a fine swiss pattern file, then fine paper wrapped around the file, and it is papered. 

The arrow in the picture shows the direction to go when papering. Not long ways, as if you 
were doing normal filing. If you file or paper a thin piece like in the normal manner, you will 
end up with soft, rounded over edges.










Another day, another part.

Thanks for checking in.

Dean


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Dec 12, 2009)

Just hold on there Dean.
This newbie got confused...and I'm hoping I'm not the only one.

Papered? What does that mean? Sandpaper instead of file?

I have no problem with wood...(is that blasphemy?)...seems cheaper than using up metal.

When you milled around the edge...did you plunge cut and then take a finishing cut? Or did you plunge and rotate? I haven't been able to make a clean cut like that. (Not that anyone should expect I should.) ;D

I continue to be amazed that your M&M's last long enough for a pic. I just had a pack...or think I did...they went pretty quick. ;D

Lucky? Riiiiight.

Great work. Great post.


----------



## 4156df (Dec 12, 2009)

Dean,
Beautiful part, very clever technique! I'm watching and learning.
Dennis


----------



## gbritnell (Dec 12, 2009)

Hi Dean, innovative engineering there. Usually I do the bore first and then clamp it down and do the outside. You learn something new here every day. 
gbritnell


----------



## Powder keg (Dec 12, 2009)

Looking good!!! Thanks for taking the time to share)


----------



## steamer (Dec 12, 2009)

Wood backing plates, wood screws and proper draw filing and "papering" ...(Yup Zee that is what it's called ;D)..techniques to avoid rounded edges....sounds like a clockmaker to me?

Great Job...and nicely done!

Dave


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 13, 2009)

Zee, Dennis, George, Keg, and Dave, thanks very much. I'm fairly taken aback by yours, 
and all the other kind remarks here.

Zee; What Steamer Dave said. Papering=sanding. For this kind of thing, a small piece of 
fine w/d paper is rolled tightly around a file or small flat stick. I usually do it in two steps, 
after filing. First with something slightly coarse, like 320, then with finer grit, like 600. If 
you have some deeper filing marks to polish out, you can start with 220, then 320, and keep 
working your way up, (finer) until you get the finish you like. Use the finest paper grit that 
will remove the file marks that you can to start, then progress to finer grits.


Dennis; I'm watching you too!


George; It just seemed like it would work well from a work holding point of view. Bigger, 
or longer screws would have been a comfort. When I went to take the piece off, they 
were nearly loose! 


Dave; I have made one clock. It actually runs, and has been doing so for about a year. 
It's still in need of a chapter ring and hands. Someday.
Re: Papering. I'm a fan of W.R. Smith and Ward Goodrich. What can I say? 
Clock repair is kind of an off shoot of my machining activities. 
Wheels and pinions. I'm mesmerized.






Thanks again, all.

Dean


----------



## Powder keg (Dec 13, 2009)

I wondered how some of you guys got nice crisp corners. I've been doing it wrong. Thanks again.


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 15, 2009)

Hello all;

A couple of little bits done today, to finish up the eccentric strap assembly. 

The clevis yoke is 1/8" thick CRS, milled to size, drilled for the rod in one end, and reamed 
for the clevis pin in the other. The rod itself is a piece of drill rod, each end turned down a 
bit to fit the holes in the strap and clevis eye. These two pieces are made the same way 
as the crank rod, and there are already pictures of that earlier in this thread, so I'll just show 
the completed piece here.









The end of the rod in the eccentric strap was a tight fit, so it was put in with Locktite. 
On the end that goes into the eye, I grabbed the wrong sized bit by mistake, (one number 
larger than it should have been), and it was too loose for Locktite, so it was soldered in. 
These things happen.

It's not much, but there it is. More tomorrow.

Thanks for looking.

Dean


----------



## Twmaster (Dec 15, 2009)

Dean,

Your reply earlier about papering... I did no tget your response. Is that just plain paper wrapped around the file or sandpaper of some sort? Why exactly the 'paper'?

Thank you.


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 15, 2009)

Hi Mike;

It's 1200 wet or dry sandpaper wrapped around the file. After filing, the paper is put around the file and then used in the same motions as the file would be. It's for finishing edges without rounding off the corners. 

Is that what you needed to know, or am I making it worse?


Dean


----------



## Twmaster (Dec 15, 2009)

Perfect. Again, thank you.


----------



## drRobutik (Dec 15, 2009)

Wonderfull machining abilities Dean,
lots of learning from you.
cheers


----------



## arnoldb (Dec 15, 2009)

Dean, some exquisite little parts & neat machining tips :bow: - Thank you for showing 

Regards, Arnold


----------



## NickG (Dec 15, 2009)

Lovely work and we are all picking up hints and tips here. :bow:

It's not a race but think you'll have a runner before me at this rate! 

Nick


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 15, 2009)

Mike, drRobutik, Arnold, & Nick, thanks again for the kind remarks!


This next piece will be the eccentric.









A short piece of CRS is done up in the three jaw. First, the end that will take the eccentric 
strap is turned to diameter and lenght.










It's made to a nice, close running fit and checked with its mating piece.










Then it's flipped end for end, and faced to within about .010" of finished length.

At this point, the piece is removed from the chuck and the location of the bore for the 
crankshaft is marked out and center punched.








Time for the four jaw now, and the piece is dialed in with a wiggler.

This setup for the DI looks kind of a mess. I made the holder for use on the headstock of 
another lathe and just didn't take the time to switch the rods and clamping nuts around to
 make it easy on myself. Lazy, or whatever.










The bore for the crankshaft is drilled and reamed.










And then the boss for the set screw is turned.










So far, so good. The set screw hole is yet to be done, next chance I get to work on it, 
(whenever that is). Jury duty tomorrow, so might not get anything done.

Still a few other things to do before it is ready to run in public. Lagging, a pulley for the crank 
shaft, base and spokes need some kind of paint, then something for it to set on. Wood stuff, I
suppose. It'll be done soon enough. Maybe..

Thanks again for having a look.

Dean


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Dec 15, 2009)

Looks great Dean.

When you say 'close fit' of the strap to the eccentric...can you describe it in a little more detail? I thought mine was a 'close fit'...now it's so loose it wobbles.

Did it take some effort to put on? To take off?
Do you expect it to get looser when it's run in?
Did you do anything else to it prior to fitting?

Thanks. I appreciate the help.


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 15, 2009)

Hi Zee;

"Close fit" leaves to much to the imagination, I admit. Also, I should have said "close running fit". 
For this particular diameter, a close running fit is having the eccentric strap bore about half a thou larger than the eccentric part it runs on. The bore in the strap is .910" and the diameter of the eccentric is .9095". (That's a slight deviation from the print, for any who are checking up on me.)
There are books that tell this kind of stuff about fits, and I don't know if I'm doing it how those books say. Just based on things I've done in the past.

It goes right on, but must be very well lined up to do so. If the strap is cocked just the slightest amount, it will get stuck going on. Same for taking it off.

Nothing was done to the pieces after machining, but I worked for a fine finish on the lathe for both of them. If you look at the first picture in this last post, you can see what looks like dust on the tool bit. It was a very fine feed, slow carriage speed, and as fast as the lathe would go, plus, that tool is very sharp.  In the same picture, you can see the surface directly behind the running surface on this piece. See the fine lines? That was just a clean up pass to get rid of the factory finish on the piece. Compare it to the running surface, which doesn't show any lines, just shine, and a little of that metal dust from the finish pass. 

The pieces run free, but you can't feel any slop in then if you move one inside the other. That will change a little as the engine runs in, and I expect to see gray oil running out of all the bearings for a while during that process. I mean, yes, it will get a little looser. Not much, unless I run it out of oil!

Truly, I wouldn't worry about your eccentric wobbling a little. As long as it isn't enough to change the valve travel so much that it changes the way the engine runs, it should be fine. I have one engine here that I made about 10 years ago. It's run for hours and hours, and everything is getting loose on it. It actually runs better than when I first built it. It's become "happy with itself".

Hope this is what you wanted to know. If not, ask again. Just like with an 8 ball.

Dean


----------



## mklotz (Dec 15, 2009)

Zee,

If you're interested in being a bit more precise about different types of fits, you might want to look at the appropriately-named FITS program on my site.

You don't really need the program since all it does is an idiotically simple calculation, the details of which you can glean from the data file reproduced below.


Data for FITS program (Shaft/Hole fit computation)

Entries are:  fit name,constant,allowance
constant is measured in thousandths of an inch
allowance is measured in thousandths of an inch per inch of shaft diameter
Example: For a push fit on a nominal 1" shaft, machine the hole to exactly
1.0000", and machine the shaft to -0.35*(1.0)-0.15 = -0.5 thou less than the
nominal size (0.9995").

STARTOFDATA

Shrink,0.5,1.5
Force,0.5,0.75
Drive,0.3,0.45
Push,-0.15,-0.35
Slide,-0.3,-0.45
Precision Running,-0.5,-0.65
Close Running,-0.6,-0.8
Normal Running,-1.0,-1.5
Easy Running,-1.5,-2.25
Small Clearance,-2.0,-3.0
Large Clearance,-3.0,-5.0

ENDOFDATA


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Dec 15, 2009)

Thanks very much Dean. That was very helpful.
I like the 'happy with itself'...goes for all of us ;D

Thanks Marv. I'm going to add that to my 'reference book' I started a few weeks ago.


----------



## NickG (Dec 16, 2009)

Marv,

what do I need to put into the program to select the type of fit?

Thanks,

Nick


----------



## mklotz (Dec 16, 2009)

The program gives you a numbered menu of the available types of fits. You input the number corresponding to the desired fit. It will all be obvious when you run the program.


----------



## shred (Dec 16, 2009)

mklotz  said:
			
		

> The program gives you a numbered menu of the available types of fits. You input the number corresponding to the desired fit. It will all be obvious when you run the program.


Since I like tables in the shop (I have them hanging all over the place), I threw Marv's raw data into Excel. Really the last chart is the only one needed, but all 3 fit on one page. (I suspect 'delta' is technically the wrong term, but it makes sense to me)

Cleverer would be a graph or similar infinitely-variable chart, but this will cover most of the fits I might want to do. Calculating exceptions isn't that big a chore anyway.




View attachment fits.xls


----------



## NickG (Dec 17, 2009)

Just figured out why I can't get it to work ... when I load it up it says "Failed to open Data File FITS.dat" the file is there but won't open it for some reason. ???

Nick


----------



## mklotz (Dec 17, 2009)

When one of my programs requires a data file (many of them do), it expects to find it in the default directory - the one from which the program is being run. Similarly, if a program produces an output file (many of them do), it will create that file in the default directory.


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 17, 2009)

Hi all;
Got some more done today. It's bits and pieces time. The engine parts are done, but 
it needs some plumbing, and all the finishing things, like paint, a lubricator, etc.

This first bit is for friend Zee. Not to make any kind of point to any one, but only to share 
that everyone makes mistakes, even if we are actually paying attention and minding our biz!








This piece is the sub base, and I thought it was finished long ago as it was one of the first 
pieces made. Today, while fitting it up just for one last check before painting it, I came across 
these two holes marked in blue. They're in the wrong place, and would end up under the main 
base instead of out in the open, where they will be used to mount the engine to a piece of a tree.











The holes need to be filled so the proper mounting holes can be drilled. The correct position 
for the holes puts them right through the edge of the bad holes, so when they are filled, the 
plug has to be good 'n tight so it won't spin when the new holes are drilled. 

I turned up the end of a decent sized piece of aluminum, with the end that will be the plug 
about .002" over the size of the bad holes, and beveled the end just a touch with a file. This 
will be a pretty tight press for such a small hole, and that's the reason for making the plug on 
the end of a larger piece.  It would be a heck of a time getting it in if I cut the plug to the 
proper length and tried smacking it in with a hammer. 











Now, the larger part of the round stock can be used as a driver for the plug. I have a small 
press, and used it to push the plug in. The larger diameter of the driving end gives plenty of 
material to hold on to while getting the plug started in the hole. The extra length helps in lining 
it up for a straight press.

After the plug end of the piece is pressed in, the bigger piece is cut off near the base plate.












File off the stub from the plug, and the dirty little secret is safe. Except for the part where 
I blab it over the internet...

So, that piece got painted today, and I masked off the rims of the flywheels and painted the 
spokes and hubs too.











Time for some plumbing work. 
I got these elbows from PM Research. They come in a casting tree, as can be seen in the 
picture, above. These are 3/16" size, but they have other sizes. You can also get them 
finished, already bored and threaded. Being a bit of a cheap skate, (it's the "more time than 
money" syndrome), these are a good deal at about $3.50 for the tree.

I cut them off with a jewelers saw, but there is enough space between the els to use a 
hack saw too.









They are put in the four jaw and the saw cuts cleaned up. The els are uniform enough to 
use the same jaw settings for all of them once the first one is centered up. The only jaw that 
has to be changed is the one that holds against the saw cut. Some have a little flash that
has to be knocked off before they go in the chuck.

Once a saw cut end is faced off, the el can be drilled and tapped on that end, then reset in the 
chuck for the other end.









Not having any miniature pipe taps, I use a 10-32 tap to thread these. They will need a 
little sealant or teflon tape when the pipes are screwed in.










The pipes and other straight fittings are made from 3/16 C360 brass rod. This works fine 
for lengths of pipe that are not any longer than twice as long as your drill bit. For longer 
pieces of pipe, PM Research has that too. I have a problem with it, and it's one 
of the few products they sell that I don't like. They make their model pipe from what I'm 
pretty sure is C260, which is one of the worst kinds of brass to turn or thread on a lathe. 
It would be fine for soldering, but is crummy for threading.











Here are some of the fittings needed. There will be more, but they don't each need a picture.










So, some painting, some fixing, and in the shot above, some plumbing, done. The lubricator 
will go on the end of that piece of pipe, and I should be able to get started on that tomorrow.

Thought I might get this engine done by Christmas, but, not so sure about that now. 
Just call me pokey.

Thanks for checking in!

Dean


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Dec 17, 2009)

That's really good stuff there pokey. ;D

Why the second turning on the plug you made?
How did you cut the bigger piece off? Jeweler saw again?
The one pic shows a plug being inserted and the other hole already plugged and filed. The next pic must be the other side. Is that right? I can't see any evidence of the plug. Very nice!

Thanks for the detail on the pipes and fittings. Very helpful.

And gosh...I know you make mistakes too. ;D


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 17, 2009)

zeeprogrammer  said:
			
		

> That's really good stuff there pokey. ;D
> 
> Why the second turning on the plug you made?



Just coincidental to roughing out the piece, Zee.



> How did you cut the bigger piece off? Jeweler saw again?



Yep



> The one pic shows a plug being inserted and the other hole already plugged and filed. The next pic must be the other side. Is that right? I can't see any evidence of the plug. Very nice!



Yes, right again. And thank you!



> Thanks for the detail on the pipes and fittings. Very helpful.
> 
> And gosh...I know you make mistakes too. ;D



And you don't know the half of it!

Dean


----------



## cobra428 (Dec 18, 2009)

Dean,
That's some fancy maneuverings :bow:

Tony


----------



## Twmaster (Dec 18, 2009)

Nice job hiding those misdrilled holes. Also, here I was about to buy a tap/die for 3/16 model pipe. I have taps/dies for 10-32...

Again, thanks for the tips. Hopefully we'll see that run my Christmas!


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 18, 2009)

Hello again;

Well, I got the whole lubricator done in one day. That's really moving, for me.
It's a simple type, but I think it looks okay, and it will "lubricate".









It starts with this piece of brass tube. This one is 3/8" diameter. You can get this stuff at 
hobby stores that sell the K&S line. That would be most shops that carry model boats, RR, 
or flying model planes.

The lubricator isn't part of the print's for this engine, but I want one on it, so this is a 
"what-ever-looks-good-to-me" thing.








For the bottom end, a piece of brass round is faced and turned for a short bit to let it fit in 
the tube. Then it's drilled and tapped through for 10-32. It's then flipped in the chuck, which 
is what is shown in the picture above. I want a round bottom end on the lubricator, so I cut a 
number of diameters to approximate the radius on the piece, and then finished it off with a file 
while turning in the lathe.
There will be a shot of this finished piece later.









This piece will be the top of the lubricator, where the fill plug will go. I included this shot to 
show the void in the piece of stock. It ran diagonally down the length of the piece for about 
half an inch, and I kept facing the piece until I found the end of it. This is C260 brass, which 
I don't like even a little. I've seen this type of void in other pieces of this type. Never in C360. 
Don't know why that is.









Once the piece had been turned down to fit inside the tube, it was parted off. I left a short 
oversized piece on one end, so the piece wouldn't push clear inside the tube. After it is 
soldered into the tube, that end is faced down until the tool reaches the solder joint between 
the tube and this plug.










Here are the three pieces that will form the body of the lubricator. The piece on the left is 
the bottom and will provide the drain. The piece in the middle is the top, and after soldering 
it into the tube, it's faced off, then drilled and tapped for the filler hole.

I forgot to take a picture of this after it had been soldered, but there are some shots of it 
in pictures later on, doing other things.










This piece will be the filler cap. This threaded end goes into the top of the lubricator body. 
The other end of the piece will be turned down to form a kind of spigot, so a cross bar can 
be put through it to tighten it.

In the shot above, I'm taking out the last thread or so nearest the end of the piece that will 
tighten against the lubricator. Using dies to cut threads always leaves a little at the very end 
that is not quite fully threaded. Turning the die over and using the back side of it to go right 
up next to the mating surface will thread it the rest of the way, but there is always just a little 
thick spot in the threads there that will make the piece thread in too tight. So, I cut them out.










Here, just checking for fit with the lubricator body.










Once everything fits up nice, a file was used to finish the thing off. It looks fairly 
smooth. It's four separate pieces of brass.










Now an oval is cut into the end near the top using the side of an end mill. The end mill 
is 3/16", same as the piece of pipe that goes into this hole.










A piece of pipe also gets a hole at the location that it will meet with the lubricator body.










The lubricator body and the steam pipe are mated like so, and soldered. The machinists 
clamp on the right is obviously holding the two pieces together, but I thought I'd mention 
the second machinists clamp in the picture. The end pieces were soldered in earlier, and 
that second clamp is to keep them from coming undone when the piece is heated for the 
present solder job.









The drain plug is made from a piece of stainless hex rod, cut down and threaded on one end.










With everything cleaned up, it looks like this.









And a shot from the back side.









There's the progress shot for today. 

That's it 'til tomorrow or Monday. I think a pulley for the crankshaft will be next. 
A few of the nice folks here are sending me some wood for the lagging. A couple of things 
to do after that, and it will be ready.

As always, thanks for having a look.

Dean


----------



## Powder keg (Dec 18, 2009)

That is looking awesome!!! As soon as I finish a couple things I'm going to build a steamer.


----------



## Maryak (Dec 18, 2009)

Dean,

Beautiful work. :bow: :bow:

Best Regards
Bob


----------



## joe d (Dec 18, 2009)

Dean

Looking dang good there! I really like the plumbing. I've bought some of those fittings, but haven't used any of them yet...

Looking forward to more,

Joe


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Dec 18, 2009)

Looks great Dean.
And, as usual, a few gems of tips in there too.
Thanks.


----------



## 4156df (Dec 18, 2009)

Dean,
This must be lubricator day...I just finished mine and am working on the post. Yours looks terrific! Very machinist like.
Regards,
Dennis


----------



## Twmaster (Dec 18, 2009)

That is simply magnificent. I hope someday I'm half as skilled as you are. 

 :bow: :bow: :bow:

I too got to play in the shop this evening. The more I play with the borrowed Taig the more I think I'll be getting one once I move.

Also finally got my Atlas running....

Looks like a few of us had a good day! 

Thm: Thm:


----------



## cobra428 (Dec 18, 2009)

Dean,
Absolutely Awesome, She's coming along very nicely

Tony


----------



## phlegmatic (Dec 19, 2009)

Fascinating, totally fascinating, how on earth do u keep yourself from eating the m&m!? Or do u get new ones every day?


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 19, 2009)

Wes, Bob, Joe, Zee, Dennis, Mike, Tony, phlegmatic, thank you all for your kind words and encouragements.



			
				phlegmatic  said:
			
		

> Fascinating, totally fascinating, how on earth do u keep yourself from eating the m&m!? Or do u get new ones every day?



If you knew what was on that M&M.. Well, lets put it this way; There would be no temptation to eat it.
It's the "shop" M&M.

Thanks again, everyone!

Dean


----------



## arnoldb (Dec 19, 2009)

Great going Dean :bow: - lovely job!

Regards, Arnold

You can't eat it; it's not an M&M its a W&W


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 19, 2009)

Arnold, thank you, again!

Some more done on the misc. stuff.

This post will describe the belt pulley, or sheave. This is another piece that isn't included in 
the original prints, but it seems like the engine needs some way to be belted to another piece 
besides by using only the flywheels. Using one of the flywheels will be great for running 
something that has to go fast, like a generator, but if I want to hook this up to that little oil 
well in my back yard, it needs a pulley. ; )








A piece of CRS is chucked up, drilled/reamed through and a parting tool used to cut a groove 
in the face of the work piece. This is usually referred to as "trepanning", but I'll just call it grooving. 
Trepanning always makes me think of drilling a hole in someone's noggin. I'm grooving, baby.

I used the parting tool because I didn't have a grooving tool of the proper shape ground up. 
My grinder is outside, under a cover, and it's a flat miserable day out. I didn't want to go out in 
sideways rain and sleet to grind a tool, so I used what I already had. I didn't use a tool that was
entirely proper, though I know how to grind one. I'm sorry.

Lucky for me, the new Atlas will gear down to about 55 rpm, and it made this a pretty straight 
forward cut. Using a tool like this begs for chatter if it's run too fast.I cranked the tool in until the 
clearance on the bottom of the tool hit the side of the cut, then went to the next step.










When the first tool bottomed out, I put a sharp pointed cutter in the tool post, slewed the 
compound to what looked good to me, and cut the bevel inside the rim of the piece.

When this end was done, the piece was reversed end for end, faced off to length, and that 
end given the same treatment as the first end. 










The piece is now put on an arbor to clean up the OD. The arbor is just a piece of drill rod, 
the same diameter as the crankshaft on the engine. A tiny dab of blue Locktite is used to 
hold the work piece fast to the arbor. 

If you want to hold a piece in this manner, the two pieces need to be a close fit, but not hard 
to push together. If the piece is too loose on the arbor, the Locktite bond will not hold, or may 
not even set up. For this piece, the Locktite was allowed to setup for only about five minutes 
before turning commenced. 











I put a very light crown on the pulley after truing it up. 

This shot shows half the crown done. The compound slide was set to cut a one deg taper, 
the center of the length of the piece found, and the tool run up with the cross slide to just 
touch the pulley. The dial setting on the cross is noted, then cranked back a few thou and 
the lathe started up. Then the cross is returned to the noted setting and the compound 
cranked toward the headstock to cut the one deg angle on one half of the pulley.

This first cut for the crown doesn't look so good, because it's not. I had changed to a dead 
center in the tailstock from the live center I started with. The live one had just a little wobble. 
When I cranked the dead center into the center hole in the arbor, I had set it a little too loose. 
Anyway, I re-cut the piece after snugging up the dead center a touch, and got a better finish.

The second half of the crown was cut in the same way, but the compound was set to one deg 
on the other side of zero.










To finish up a bit, a sanding stick was used. I buy these things by the dozen from a clockmakers' 
supply, (Timesavers). They're made for polishing clock pivots, come in a bunch of different grits, 
and run about $0.90 apiece. Pretty handy for the price. When the paper on one wears out, it can 
sometimes be peeled off and replaced with wet or dry paper. Sometimes you just have to chuck 
them out 'cause the old paper won't come off.

The sticks come in numbers that don't match up with what we normally know as sand paper grit. 
The coarsest I use is #3 which is about like 120 grit paper. The finest is 3-0 which is about like 2400 
grit. The numbers go from coarsest to finest, 3, 2, 1, 0, 2-0, 3-0, just in case anyone wants to know.

To get the pulley off the arbor, it was heated with a small propane torch and pulled off, (wearing 
gloves!). Cleaned the left over Locktite from the bore, and it's ready to go. The heat required to 
break the Locktite bond is not enough to change the color of the metal, so, a few hundred degrees, 
I would guess.










So, there's the finished thingy. It could be drilled and tapped for a set screw, but there's little 
room for it, so it will be held on with some type of easily removable adhesive.
A few tool marks can be seen in the bottom of the groove from using the flat tool.
Just thought that should be pointed out.










There it is in place, and one more little bit down and done.

Thanks for looking.

Dean


----------



## Powder keg (Dec 19, 2009)

I'd eat that M&M. My fingers are dirtier than that Rof} Rof} Rof}

Nice Pulley! Thanks for the tip on the locktite. How do you get it apart?


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 20, 2009)

Powder keg  said:
			
		

> Nice Pulley! Thanks for the tip on the locktite. How do you get it apart?



You heat it, Wes. It's in the paragraphs under the picture with the sanding stick.

Thanks for the comments!

Dean


----------



## Twmaster (Dec 20, 2009)

That's another tip I'll file away in the old noggin for future use...

I also noticed something... It seems my 618 is missing the disk that sits under the rocker on the tool post....

Good thing I made a QC post fit my Atlas today....

Dude, you make this stuff look easy!


----------



## Powder keg (Dec 20, 2009)

Note to self. Self. Duh. Read all the words. Don't just look at the pictures)


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Dec 20, 2009)

Timely post Dean. Late. But timely. ;D

That's the third time in two days I've run across a reference to 'trepanning'. I think that's what I needed to do to make my flywheel to print. Very happy to get more information on the how and why.

Also liked the bit about putting a crown on the pulley.


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 26, 2009)

Wow. Miss a week, and it's time for "demotion to page 2".
; )

It was kind of busy around here for a few days, so I missed getting to work on the engine
 for about a week. Hope everyone had a nice Christmas! Santa brought me a new Shop Vac, 
(and a cold). Win some, loose some.

The new cold has kept me in the house, but I really get bored, so went into the shop to work 
on the cylinder lagging. 

Mike (Twmaster) sent me a bunch of thin wooden coffee sticks just the right size, and Tony
(Cobra428) sent a couple of sheets of nice modeling wood. Very kind of both of you two fellows, 
and I appreciate it a lot!

I tried both the hardwood sticks and the oak sheet, and after messing around for about four 
hours, discovered a fatal flaw in my cunning plan..








First, I cut a number of the sticks to size and tried arranging them around the cylinder. 
They are the right size, but something in the back of my fevered little brain was trying to 
speak to me.

Next, I cut out a piece of the sheet, like in the shot above.










I used the trusty tea kettle to steam the piece into shape, which worked quite well, though 
it took me a few tries to get a piece done without breaking it. While trying it for a fit on the 
cylinder, I realized I was taking the wrong road.

There is no convenient way to attach either the sticks that had been made into staves, nor 
the steamed solid piece, to the cylinder. There have to be a couple of brass bands around the 
wood pieces, to actually hold them on. They could be mounted to the steam chest on the
top side, but on the bottom, there is nothing. Making up a test piece to check if I could wrap
a band all the way around the cylinder causes them to pinch on the wood, and it just doesn't
work out. 

That's the way it goes. I had considered using wood for lagging from near the beginning of the 
project, though the prints call for metal sheeting. I'm going to end up doing it Rudy's way, after all.










Time to get back to something I am a little more familiar with, (I'm terrible with wood, as 
I've mentioned, and have now presented proof!). I grabbed a piece of brass .020" sheet 
and marked it out.

The sheet is thin enough to rough to size with heavy shears, which is what was done. The 
prints give a dimension for the lagging sheet, but don't tell how to form it. Just says, "roll it". 










Then the piece is put between a couple of small wooden blocks and a file is used to finish the 
size to the mark-out lines. Working carefully with a file in this manner gets you nice straight 
sides, and a square work piece.










Once the piece is brought to size, the little bits are cut out with the jewelers saw, then the saw 
cuts are finished with a file.

The piece has to be rolled to fit the cylinder head diameters. I don't have a slip roll, and it would 
take one of those tiny toy sized ones to do this job, anyway. I just rolled it round and round 
(carefully) over a piece of metal rod. You have to be careful to start this with the edges of the 
work piece square to a mark made on length of the metal rod, or the piece will roll into a spiral. 
A small plastic hammer to lightly tap kinks helps the process. If you do use a hammer, the piece 
can't be hit very hard, or it will stretch where it's hit, causing it to buckle. 

Anyway, after a day of failed carpentry and head that feels like an overinflated balloon, it was enough.
I rolled the piece up to fit fairly well, and will continue next shop session.










It still needs a little fitting, but I'll leave it for Monday.










Another progress shot.

Looking to finish this up in the coming week. Probably about 10-15 hours of work left. 
Some of those are wood work, though.. Eh.

Thanks for looking in,

Dean


----------



## Twmaster (Dec 26, 2009)

Sorry the sticks did not work out for ya. Although from what I see with that sheet I'd wager it will still be amazing.


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Dec 27, 2009)

It looks great Dean.
It's just so neat to see it coming together.


----------



## tel (Dec 27, 2009)

Looking real good Dean, gonna be a real delight when it's done.

With ref to the wood lagging however - *there's always a way*. Looking at your pics I can see two or three methods that would work nicely, one of which leaps to the eye.

Don't want to pinch your space, but here's one I did a few years back.


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 27, 2009)

Mike and Zee, thanks. Always good to hear your comments!
And Mike, thank you again for the trouble you went to getting me the sticks. I'll use them on a better thought out plan on an engine or two down the line.

Tel, thanks to you, too. 
I tried the method shown in your picture before I decided to put on the brass jacket. No go, in this case.
The steam chest boss is right up against the lower cylinder head, and there is no room for even a piece of tissue paper in there, much less a brass strap. 
You are right, though, there is always a way! In this case, the way was to use a shiny brass jacket. Something that Dave (Steamer) had suggested a few weeks back via p.m.  I think that will turn out to be a good idea. 

It'll all look nice when it's done. I almost promise!

Thanks again, all.

Dean


----------



## 4156df (Dec 27, 2009)

> It'll all look nice when it's done. I almost promise!



Geeze, Dean. I'd say it already does that!

Dennis


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Dec 27, 2009)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> I almost promise!



 Rof}

I'm thinking we're related. Somehow. But I don't want to know.


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 27, 2009)

Thank you, Dennis. Very nice of you to say!

Zee, if you have blood lines that trace around the place, like to Kentucky, Arkansas, Kalifornya, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Sweden, England, Germany, or to Adam, then we're practically brothers! 
A blood test will prove it. I'm sure we'll both test out at A-swarf-positive.

Dean


----------



## arnoldb (Dec 28, 2009)

Dean, you already kept your promise  - Looks nice already! Now it will only get better ;D

Regards, Arnold


----------



## gbritnell (Dec 28, 2009)

Dean, the work you're doing on the engine is first rate. Everything is clean and neat, the finish is excellent. I tried lagging a small cylinder with wood one time and it got too fiddly. It's much easier doing it on a boiler. I like the way you went with yours.
gbritnell


----------



## kvom (Dec 28, 2009)

> it got too fiddly



If it's too fiddly for George it's too fiddly for almost anyone.  ;D

Loving this build!


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 28, 2009)

kvom  said:
			
		

> If it's too fiddly for George it's too fiddly for almost anyone. ;D
> 
> Loving this build!



Kvom.. priceless!

Arnold, thank you, once again!

George, I appreciate your encouragement. Thank you for looking in on the build.

Dean


----------



## NickG (Dec 28, 2009)

Dean,

I like wood lagging but your brass lagging looks great. Anyway, wouldn't the wooden bits normally be underneath metal sheet anyway?

Nick


----------



## joe d (Dec 28, 2009)

Dean

I like wood lagging as well, have managed it twice, but I rather like brass anything, so brass lagging looks damfine to me too!

This whole build has been a pleasure to watch, you do really fine work.

Cheers, Joe


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 28, 2009)

Nick, thanks again. I've seen old "real" boilers and a couple of old engines that had wood on the outside. Dave (Steamer) sent me a couple of pictures of (full size) brass lagged machines, which really did look nice. I don't know if there is wood under the brass lagging, or some type of regular insulation, like asbestos, and like that.

Joe, I'm with you on brass "anything". Thanks for your kind comments!


Today, just a few shots of the finish work.  Although it's not real machine work, it needs 
to be done, and someone may get something out of it.








First, the engine is disassembled to it's basic construction units so I can get to a few things. 
The base needs a lot of finish work. For this piece, I chose what was probably the roughest 
piece of aluminum flat that ever came out of a finish mill. It's what I had on hand. It may not 
be visible in the picture, but it has grooves all down the long dimension, and the piece needs to 
be filed flat. Also, a few rough spots on other pieces that need a little touch up.

Once that was done, the base was masked on the top and the rest of it painted the same 
color as the sub-base.










Some gaskets need to be made for the heads, and for each piece of the steam chest assembly. 
For the gaskets, brown paper sacks work well. If you need thicker gaskets, use large grocery 
bags. For thinner gaskets, like I want, a small sack is better. I usually use the type of sack that 
is flat, like what stationary comes in. They have a shiny-ish appearance, but couldn't find any last 
time I was in town. That worked out well, though. The sack in the picture has a regular finish, 
(not shiny), and it soaked up oil very well, which is what I want.

If you use this method for gaskets, best to avoid the white kind of sack that comes from greeting 
card shops. They are very smooth, and some seem to repel oil to some extent. They may have a 
little wax in them, or something similar. 
Another note; I don't know if this kind of gasket will work well for things like cylinder heads on IC 
engines, although I've used them for crankcase seals on that type of engine. 










After marking out the general dimensions on the paper, one of the heads is coated with oil. 
Once the oil soaks into the paper for a minute, it becomes transparent, and the locations for 
the holes can be plainly seen.
I just poke the hole centers with a darning needle to mark them.










Then use one of these things to punch the holes out, using the pin holes to locate the punch. 
The round bit that the punch cuts usually stays in the hole, and must be plucked out with a pin 
or the edge of a razor blade. Hanging chad..










And there's a finished gasket. It's square, because that's the shape of the cylinder.











Next, a little packing for the glands. I used teflon tape for this, but have used small diameter 
soft cotton string, too. For using teflon tape, peel off a few inches, and roll it between your 
fingers to make like a rope. Then wrap it around the piston or valve shaft, and use the gland 
to push it down into the recess where it will reside. It can't be pushed in too hard, or it will 
start to squeeze on the shaft that runs in the packing. It needs oil, too, whether using teflon 
tape or string.











There it is pushed gently into the hole.










Once it has been pushed into the hole, it holds it's shape pretty well.


That's it for today. Just have to finish re-assembling, and then, make the display base. The 
base will probably take me days. It's made of wood. Eh...

Thanks again for looking in!

Dean


----------



## arnoldb (Dec 29, 2009)

Great going Dean.

It certainly looks impressive all taken to bits :bow:

Regards, Arnold


----------



## NickG (Dec 29, 2009)

Yes going really well Dean, looks like a heck of alot of parts in the stripped down pic! But for my own sanity, please explain that the green thing is not an M&M as my mind is playing all sorts of tricks on me! ???

Nick


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Dec 29, 2009)

Fantastic post. Great pic of all the parts. Very thankful for all the learnings.

Be careful with that M&M and keep it clean...it should last you at least a day. Two or three if you wait till after supper.

I've got Arkansas and all states in a bee-line to the Carolinas, Wales, and Germany. So our families may have crossed paths at some point. ;D

I hope I'm not A-swarf-negative.


----------



## JimN (Dec 29, 2009)

Thanks for the idea on using teflon tape packing. Never would have thought about that. Better yet have couple of rolls of it in my tool box.

Great build.

JimN


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 29, 2009)

Thanks for the encouraging comments and kind remarks, everyone. 

Arnold, it's a fair number of parts. Not like some of the other builds here, though. It's amazing how many pieces one person can make, like for a multi-cylinder engine. Lots of fasteners on this one, all made in the shop, except for a few slot head screws and three hex set screws. Some of the assemblies are not taken apart in the picture. I just took it down enough to get to the parts I needed to work on, (for finish work, gaskets, etc.).

Nick, that M&M is a bit larger than the regular size. (I'll bet you figured that out already!) I put it in partly as a little gag, and partly for blood-brother Zee. It's actually a candy box, and came with a bag of real M&M's inside.

And speaking of you, Zee; There's no way you can be A-swarf-negative. It's all positive in your blood, friend. That's obvious by the morebetterness of each of your subsequent builds. 

Jim, glad you found something you can use! I can't take credit for it, though. Someone must have shown me sometime in the past, 'cause I wouldn't have thought of it on my own. 

I don't have any pictures today. Did a few final bits on the engine, and started the wooden base. Me and wood... Like oil and water. Working at it, though.

Dean


----------



## gbritnell (Dec 30, 2009)

Hi Dean, I'm sure the base will come out good. I'm not a wood worker by any stretch of the imagination but I treat it like it's metal and I get by. I find that anyone who does nice work applies it to whatever material they work with.
George


----------



## cobra428 (Dec 30, 2009)

Dean,

"Me and wood... Like oil and water. Working at it, though."

I saw that!! stickpoke Rof} Rof}

Tony


----------



## NickG (Dec 30, 2009)

Haha! Can't wait to see the finished thing, it's going to be pretty spectacular.

Nick


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 30, 2009)

Thanks again, fellows, for the support, and occasional ribbing.
: )

A few shots today, of what was actually done yesterday. I had a little 1 1/2" X 1/2" poplar 
that looked decent, and was the kind that had been finished with hard square edges. I don't 
know what that finish is called, but you know how 2 X 4's have kind of rounded corners when 
you buy them at the lumber yard? Well, it's not like that. 









So, got out the ol' wood working tools.
This represents the sum total of my wood shop. I cut four pieces of the wood to an appropriate 
length, then glued them together butcher block style to make a bigger piece of tree. Then put it 
in the milling machine, (which is made for real metal!) and milled everything square, flat, etc. It 
was hard to do, because the dials on my milling machine are not calibrated in sixteenths of an inch..










The horror...

The horror.










There it is. Still a piece of wood. 
It got some stain, but no pics of that. Would be like watching paint dry.
Now the milling machine has to be taken apart and cleansed, blessed, and oiled.

I expect to have a video by New Year, (USA Pacific time!), for all the nice folks who have been 
following this for so long.

Thanks again for checking in.

Dean


----------



## Twmaster (Dec 30, 2009)

The HORROR!!!


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Dec 30, 2009)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> Thanks again, fellows, for the support, and occasional ribbing.



Who's ribbing you? Somebody ribbing you? There's no call to be ribbing you. ;D



			
				Deanofid  said:
			
		

> There it is. Still a piece of wood.



Uh....isn't it supposed to be? What am I missing? Am I missing something? I NEED TO LEARN!!! ;D

Looking forward to the video.

This is a great thread. Quality work, educational, fun...
And I'm not ribbing. ;D ;D


----------



## cobra428 (Dec 30, 2009)

Zee,
I was ribbing Dean. I sent him some thin mahogany and walnut to make his lagging out of. So it was an inside joke.
Dean, Ya done good on the base!!

Tony


----------



## ksouers (Dec 30, 2009)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> Now the milling machine has to be taken apart and cleansed, blessed, and oiled.



Uh, shouldn't you have to sacrifice a chicken or something, too?

Seriously, fantastic build, Dean. Thank you.
(I'm finally starting to catch up on the build logs again...)


----------



## NickG (Dec 31, 2009)

Dean,

I have to say the wooden base looks ... well, wooden! 

No seriously, you've done a great job on that, you didn't have to show us those gory pics of it being mashed into shape on the milling machine though did you !

Looking good.

Nick


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 31, 2009)

Sorry folks. I had to show what happens when you play with wood. It's everywhere in 
the milling machine, and I really do need to tear it down. 
It's like when your parents told you "Don't take the marijuana", but in this case it's, 
"Don't do wood!".  "This is your brain on maple..."

: )


One more thing! The wooden base looked okay with the engine mounted, but didn't look
 like it was very substantial. So, not wanting to sully the milling machine again with "that stuff", 
I went to a store that sells what seems to me like usless stuff, and found this:







I guess my mother or sisters would think it was pretty, but to me, it said, "I need paint", so 
I painted it. I used a color that looks similar to the color on a lot of builds here, but not because 
of anything other than I already had that color. I have a whole lathe painted in this green color, 
and had some left over. It does look good on engines. 

We are having a little blizzard going on today, and my first try at painting it didn't go so well, 
with the snow flakes flying around and landing on it. So, after it dried, I sanded the bumps left 
in it from the snow flakes, and tried again. This time I did it in the bathroom. Turned on the 
exhaust fan, opened the shower curtain, and sprayed it in the shower. I kind of like a green 
shower stall...

(Needless to say, there is no one in the house to complain. If I had been, I suppose I would 
soon be single again, after someone saw the new shower color.)



Okay! It's done. No video until I get back from supper.




































Hold tight. Video soon. Hour or two. I only promised to have it by New Years, so I'm ahead of 

schedule, the way I'm thinking.

Thanks again for looking!

Dean


----------



## cobra428 (Dec 31, 2009)

Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean,
Absolutely Magnificent.
But do you know how much better it would have looked with a walnut lagging! (inside joke folks) Rof} Rof} Rof} :hDe:

You have done a marvelous job. And sorry for the ribbing. I will have to give a seminar on how to do lagging. I have to do my PM-1. I just have to find a way to cut some brass sheetmetal straps (notcher, oh yeah, if I can find one less then a $1000).

The bride's going to miss the orniment. 

Tony


----------



## 4156df (Dec 31, 2009)

Dean,
Beautiful job. Thanks for taking the time to post the build.
Dennis


----------



## Deanofid (Dec 31, 2009)

Here's the video, all, and well before midnight, (here). 
Sorry for the color cast. I had suggested to someone else to try setting the white balance on
their camera to get rid of weird colors on back grounds and such, and here I am with strange 
colors.  What a hypocrite! 

There were so many nice folks that took time out of their day to make comments, suggestions, 
ask questions, and generally being just flat-out nice, that looking over all the posts to this build 
thread, I'm kind of overwhelmed by it all.

Most sincerely, I thank you all very kindly!



[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xarUbGBE2mA[/ame]

The engine is running on about 5psi in the vid, but the regulator on my storage tank is going 
south, and it's a little erratic. You can see it increasing and decreasing in rpm in the flick, as 
the regulator tries (unsuccessfully) to keep a steady pressure. I have a new one coming.

I'll have a couple more vids for this engine with it actually running something. Probably will get 
them up tomorrow morning, and they will be put in the "Photos and Videos" section. Hope some 
of you will get a kick out of those. 

Again, thank you, all!
Happy Near Year.

Dean


----------



## joe d (Dec 31, 2009)

Dean

That's a beauty! Too bad about the wood base, but as a long-time wood-worker I've got to tell you that you should try to avoid working with green wood, it'll warp & cup and all sorts of things.... :big: :big:

Seriously, really nice job, I've enjoyed following along, thanks!

Joe


----------



## ksouers (Dec 31, 2009)

Hey Dean. Congratulations on such a nice runner :bow:

She's definitely a beauty!


----------



## Metal Butcher (Jan 1, 2010)

Beautiful work Dean! Congratulations on your successful build! :bow: :bow: :bow:

That's was a very complex project, and you put a lot of hard work and time into it. I visited your build thread frequently during its construction and was always amazed by your abilities and machining techniques.

I also like the genuine scale "steam engine" look along with the curved spoke flywheels. A truly "classic" and timeless style.

Did you know that the stunning green color you picked is a favorite of mine. ;D

-MB


----------



## thayer (Jan 1, 2010)

Congratulations Dean, that is glorious! I didn't think I would have one of these on my list so soon, but that is great! I love how it slows down to almost nothing.

Thayer


----------



## Maryak (Jan 1, 2010)

Dean,

Great job and great sound. :bow: :bow:

Best Regards
Bob


----------



## Twmaster (Jan 1, 2010)

Absolutely magnificent. I'd bow to the west but my back hurts like hell.


----------



## Deanofid (Jan 1, 2010)

joe d  said:
			
		

> Dean
> 
> That's a beauty! Too bad about the wood base, but as a long-time wood-worker I've got to tell you that you should try to avoid working with green wood,
> Joe



Heck, Joe, when it comes to working with wood, I'm the one that green.

Kevin, thank you!

MB, thank you for the kind remarks and support. Yea, that green paint is more up your alley. The stuff I used was leftover from a lathe painting job some time back, and had a little left in one of the cans. Called Ace Sage Green, from the hardware store.

Thayer, thank you, too!.. It's a good one to put on the to-do list. Rudy's plans are very good.

Bob, thanks a bunch!

Mike thank you. You take care of that bad back, now!

I have one other video of it running that I made a couple of weeks ago when I was getting it tuned up, getting the valve timing and eccentric throw in the right place on the crankshaft. Just a short clip from when it was still not all put together:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b973DN0aa1o[/ame]

Two more coming tomorrow that I think a few will enjoy.

Dean


----------



## NickG (Jan 1, 2010)

Dean,

WOW! It looks fantastic :bow: and it runs so smoothly, brilliant project, thanks for sharing, it was very interesting and people will have learned a lot.

Cheers,

Nick


----------



## ozzie46 (Jan 1, 2010)

Yeeeaaaahhhh Dean. Looks great and runs great.

 Ron


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Jan 1, 2010)

Awesome Dean. Just wonderful.
And an awesome thread. So many learnings, tips, and techniques...and great fun too.
I can't wait for the next build.
Thank you for a wonderful trip.


Ribbing....ohhhhhhh....


----------



## bearcar1 (Jan 1, 2010)

What a beauty! A terrific finish to the decade/year. Can't wait to see what's next. BRAVO!

BC1
Jim


----------



## Deanofid (Jan 1, 2010)

Nick, Ron, Zee, and Jim, thanks again. 

I'm like anyone else, and appreciate the response from you and so many other nice folks.
You all are top drawer!

There are a couple of more videos of the engine running other things in the "Photos and Videos" section.

As for what comes next, well, the shop needs a good clean, and some tooling needs making before I start on another engine. Hopefully it won't be too long before the next one gets started!

Dean


----------



## GailInNM (Jan 1, 2010)

Dean,
Congratulations on a very successful build and excellent runner.
I will be looking forward to your next project.
Gail in NM


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Jan 1, 2010)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> Hopefully it won't be too long before the next one gets started!



Hurry up. If it's more than a day or two...I'm going to lose interest. :big: Not that that matters. :big:


----------



## Deanofid (Jan 1, 2010)

Thanks Gail! Hope you get the Lobo going strong soon.




> Hurry up. If it's more than a day or two...I'm going to lose interest.



Oh ho..! It's been more than that since your last build. You've been lolly-gaggin' for a week or more, Mr. Programmer. And don't give us any of that, "but I'm building a DRO" rubbish, either. Those little locomotives don't build themselves, you know.

Wow... I'm becoming my mom. 

Dean


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Jan 1, 2010)

Gasp!

Rats DeanIve spent an hour working on a comebackthis is what I have so far

I was hoping the M&M fairy would come by...but she's apparently working overtime elsewhere.

Yeah its weakbut the Mom thing kind of confused me.
 :big:

Sheesh...took away my excuse...called me 'Mr'...
Low.


----------



## vlmarshall (Jan 2, 2010)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> Oh ho..! It's been more than that since your last build. You've been lolly-gaggin' for a week or more, Mr. Programmer. And don't give us any of that, "but I'm building a DRO" rubbish, either. Those little locomotives don't build themselves, you know.
> Wow... I'm becoming my mom.


 :big: :bow:
Haha get him! I love this forum. ;D


----------



## arnoldb (Jan 2, 2010)

Dean, VERY WELL DONE! :bow: :bow: :bow:

Lovely engine! - Thank you for a most educational build!

Kind regards, Arnold


----------



## Twmaster (Jan 2, 2010)

zeeprogrammer  said:
			
		

> I was hoping the M&M fairy would come by...but she's apparently working overtime elsewhere.



I heard she was stuck in the snow in somebody's yard in Idaho...


----------



## Deanofid (Jan 2, 2010)

zeeprogrammer  said:
			
		

> Gasp!
> Rats DeanIve spent an hour working on a comebackthis is what I have so far
> I was hoping the M&M fairy would come by...but she's apparently working overtime elsewhere.
> Yeah its weakbut the Mom thing kind of confused me.
> ...




Zee, it's almost as much fun putting you in a pickle as it is watching you get out of a jam.




			
				Vernon  said:
			
		

> :big: :bow:
> Haha get him! I love this forum. ;D




Oh yes. Brotherly love, and all that!





			
				arnoldb  said:
			
		

> Dean, VERY WELL DONE! :bow: :bow: :bow:
> Lovely engine! - Thank you for a most educational build!
> Kind regards, Arnold




Thanks Arnold.  Really appreciate that!





			
				Twmaster  said:
			
		

> I heard she was stuck in the snow in somebody's yard in Idaho...




Yep. Have the M&M fairy here, trapped under a bucket for safe keeping. And it's not a she. It's a little dude, with a hairy chest and a goatee... Still has wings and wears a tutu, though.

Dean


----------



## Twmaster (Jan 2, 2010)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> Yep. Have the M&M fairy here, trapped under a bucket for safe keeping. And it's not a she. It's a little dude, with a hairy chest and a goatee... Still has wings and wears a tutu, though.



You've just blinded my mind's eye.

MOMMY! Make the bad man stop!!

 ;D : :big:


----------



## kvom (Jan 2, 2010)

Lovely engine, and well-documented. I'm looking forward to your next effort.  :bow:


----------



## JimM (Jan 3, 2010)

Congratulations Dean, that's a beautiful looking engine - I even kind of like the wooden base :hDe:

I've learnt loads too - so big thanks for that as well

Jim


----------



## vlmarshall (Jan 3, 2010)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> Yep. Have the M&M fairy here, trapped under a bucket for safe keeping. And it's not a she. It's a little dude, with a hairy chest and a goatee... Still has wings and wears a tutu, though.


Ah, you've trapped the wrong one. M&Ms come in at least two varieties...


----------



## Twmaster (Jan 3, 2010)

One with NUTS, one without....


----------



## hobby (Jan 3, 2010)

Beautiful looking and Running, engine,
a real showpiece.

You have a great way of explaining the details with your pictures.

As the saying goes, "a picture. is worth a thousand words",
but your documentation, is worth a thousand pictures.

If it makes any sense, the documentation, with the pictures was like reading an educational manual.

Got a lot of good tips from this thread.

Very well done...


----------



## Deanofid (Jan 3, 2010)

Hobby, Jim and Kvom, thanks a lot the the kind comments!

And, Mike and Vernon, thanks to you two jokers, too!

Dean


----------



## Wagner1975 (Jan 6, 2010)

Wow, great looking engine Dean! Thm: You must be a very proud man!

I can only hope to one day make something half as beautiful! 

Cheers
Wagner


----------



## ariz (Jan 7, 2010)

deanofid for some reasons I missed the completion of the engine...
many compliments for this building, it's a great looking & running engine :bow:

and, as others have evidenced, this thread is very instructional
thank you


----------



## Deanofid (Jan 7, 2010)

Wagner and Ariz, thanks much for the kind comments! Glad you like it.

Dean


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Feb 26, 2010)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> As for what comes next, well, the shop needs a good clean, and some tooling needs making before I start on another engine. Hopefully it won't be too long before the next one gets started!



 stickpoke
Been nearly two months now. Was your shop that messy? ;D
Sounds like rubbish to me. :big:
 stickpoke
So what's on your list of possibles?


----------



## Deanofid (Feb 26, 2010)

zeeprogrammer  said:
			
		

> stickpoke
> Been nearly two months now. Was your shop that messy? ;D
> Sounds like rubbish to me. :big:
> stickpoke
> So what's on your list of possibles?



Hey! Git that stick outta my back. I've been doing stuuffff. Gears, springs, spindle adapter, dividing head rebuild. All put up here as tech articles. Plus my regular camera repair job so I get to eat, you know! 

I'm working on the Jerry Howell burner right now, Zee, but John already has a thread going for those, so I'll wait until he's done before I put anything up about that.

I have a few different engines in mind, and was almost settled on one when you and Arnold got me thinking about a small loco. Now I'm in flux, again. 

Basically, it's all your fault.

Dean


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Feb 26, 2010)

Rubbish. 

Okay okay...the tech articles were awesome and immensely worthwhile.
But I haven't heard any other good reasons. You need to play a family card for that.

 ;D

P.S. I do my poking from the front.


----------



## bearcar1 (Feb 26, 2010)

"Say, I hope that's your umbrella poking me in the back there Andy" Rof} Rof} Rof} Rof} Rof}

BC1
Jim


----------



## Deanofid (Feb 26, 2010)

zeeprogrammer  said:
			
		

> But I haven't heard any other good reasons. You need to play a family card for that.



Okay. I had to take care of my mom's dog for three weeks while she was out of town on vacation.

It's a big dog.

Dean


----------



## gbritnell (Feb 26, 2010)

Dean, 
That is one excellent looking engine and it runs so smoothly. The finish and the different colors of the engine and wood are striking. I don't think there's anything as nice looking as a slow running steam engine. Great job!!!!
George


----------



## Deanofid (Feb 26, 2010)

Thank you very much, George!

Dean


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Feb 26, 2010)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> I had to take care of my mom's dog for three weeks while she was out of town on vacation.



Nice. Two cards in one sentence...Mom and a pet. Those are good cards.
That buys you a little time.
A little.


----------



## vlmarshall (Feb 26, 2010)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> zeeprogrammer  said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Yeah, Zeep's bugging me about my locomotives, too. Just ignore 'im.


----------



## arnoldb (Mar 1, 2010)

> Basically, it's all your fault.


 :big: There's only one cure Dean ! :big:
I've got my dad doing the same stick-poke thing to me, if that's any consolation :big:

Kind regards, Arnold


----------



## hotrod45 (Jun 14, 2016)

This thread would be fantastic except that all of the pictures are missing for around the first 29 pages. Is this just on my computer or are they actually not there? Is so is there anyway to get the complete thread?


----------



## Cogsy (Jun 14, 2016)

It's not your computer - the pics are gone and there's no way to bring them back I believe.


----------



## AlbertdeWitte (Jun 15, 2016)

Hi Dean

Beautiful runner!! Congrats


----------



## Blogwitch (Jun 16, 2016)

Al,

You will also find a lot of my earlier posts have pictures missing, all due to a faux pas by Photobucket a few years ago, where they accidentally deleted 2,500 of my pictures. Luckily I had copies of them all.

They could be resurrected to the posts as all my pictures have now been re-uploaded to P/B, but unfortunately with a different URL for each one, so I would need actual access to the posts to enter the new URLs, but the posts seem to be permanently locked. 

A failure on this sites' software.

John


----------

