# Building Elmer's #29 Mine Engine



## Metal Butcher (Mar 1, 2010)

#1 Well, after sinfully wasting two days admiring my own work, Its time for me to start another build. Its amazing how fast time can pass while watching an engine run.
I've wanted to add Elmer's #29 Mine Engine to my shelf of completed projects even longer than the #41 and #33. I allways considered it on the difficult side when compared to all of Elmer's other engines.

At the start of November 1st I set a goal to build ten engines by April 1st. And It looks like I should meet my goal with the completion of this build.

Below is a picture of a few extra parts I made while working on my previos builds. The cylinder is almost finished, the eccentric and crank disc is finished, and there are enough pieces to choose from to solder up an eccentric strap of proper length. All of the other extra parts are specific to my previos builds. There is a good amount of small fiddly parts to be made, but overall this build shouldn't be too difficult. I will try to add a reversing mechanism similar to what Blogwitch and Daves Wilmhurst used on their versions of the #29 Mine Engine. It appears to be a simple mechanism the shouldn't be too difficult to engineer. I wonder why I haven't seen a mechanism like this up until now, or on a horizontal mill style engine.







#2 






-MB


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## Philjoe5 (Mar 1, 2010)

Hey MB, I'm looking at your start date and the pile of parts you've already got and I'm feeling . Namely because I started my Mine engine in early January and I haven't got a much bigger pile of parts ;D

I'll be watching your build with much interest.

Cheers,
Phil


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## 1hand (Mar 1, 2010)

Now I see how the making "practice" parts is a big help. :big: Great thinking. Thm:

Matt


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 1, 2010)

1hand  said:
			
		

> Now I see how the making "practice" parts is a big help. :big: Great thinking. Thm:
> 
> Matt



A lot of the extra parts 'were' either for back up and/or practice. But plan 'B' was to build the #29 if everything went well, and it did.

I would have built the #29 any way, but going over the same territory with certain parts three times seemed a bit silly, and a good thing to avoid. Plus, with a few parts semi finished I can concentrate on goofing off a bit. 

Maybe a bit more than usual! :big:

-MB


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## cfellows (Mar 1, 2010)

Looking forward to it MB. The mine engine is one of Elmer's best designs (one of many) in my opinion. I'm sure your build will be a magnificent example (No pressure there, huh?).

Chuck


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## BigBore (Mar 1, 2010)

ALL RIGHT! I'm multi-tasking. Now I'm copy/pasting and making PDF's of two builds of basically the same engine. This is going to be great. This engine is really impressive and I'm sure I'll learn a lot. Looking forward to these.

Ed


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 1, 2010)

Philjoe5  said:
			
		

> Hey MB, I'm looking at your start date and the pile of parts you've already got and I'm feeling . Namely because I started my Mine engine in early January and I haven't got a much bigger pile of parts ;D
> 
> I'll be watching your build with much interest.
> 
> ...



The start date is not totally accurate since the few extra parts I'll be using and show were made last month. I saw your progress and I think your coming along just fine.

Not to sound like I'm bragging, but I built 29 engines in the same time frame last year. They were simple builds with a most of them being duplicates. At one point I was power tapping 4-40s, and doing other silly things that I don't do any more. Speed without accuracy is point less. After all this is a hobby, not a contest to see how many taps or drills we can break!

Thanks for showing interest in my builds. 

-MB


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## Troutsqueezer (Mar 1, 2010)

MB, I would like to see a picture of your engine display. Must be quite a conglomeration. I imagine you'll have to put the camera in wide screen mode to get them all in one shot, eh?

-Trout


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 1, 2010)

BigBore  said:
			
		

> ALL RIGHT! I'm multi-tasking. Now I'm copy/pasting and making PDF's of two builds of basically the same engine. This is going to be great. This engine is really impressive and I'm sure I'll learn a lot. Looking forward to these.
> 
> Ed



Thanks Ed. I can't wait to see you start making a mess of your own shop! :big:

I was looking over the plans and this is a fine looking engine design, and probably one of Elmer's finest. I'm all pumped up and ready to start making a mess of the place.

I think I'll start adding some easy to follow dimensions and machine moves to make any follow up builds a little easier for the next guy.

-MB


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 1, 2010)

Troutsqueezer  said:
			
		

> MB, I would like to see a picture of your engine display. Must be quite a conglomeration. I imagine you'll have to put the camera in wide screen mode to get them all in one shot, eh?
> 
> -Trout



Hi Trout. I'm definatly going to shoot a picture of the entire collection, I promise! Probably around April 1st.
Its not at all that big. Most of last years build were duplicates that found new homes.
And the few I built prior to joining the forum are... well.. not that great.
I'll keep my promise, but remind me if I forget. :

-MB


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 1, 2010)

cfellows  said:
			
		

> Looking forward to it MB. The mine engine is one of Elmer's best designs (one of many) in my opinion. I'm sure your build will be a magnificent example (No pressure there, huh?).
> 
> Chuck



Thanks Chuck.

No pressure at all.

The audience can only complain.

No chance of being hit by thrown vegetables or fruit on this stage! :big:

-MB


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 4, 2010)

#3 I'll start today's post by showing the the milling set up used to square up and size the plates and blocks that will become the main structure of my build. I generally use aluminum due to its low cost and ease of machining. I carefully picked 6061 over 2024 for the pieces, to make the drilling and tapping a bit easier. The 2024 that I have is also difficult to file smooth without running into the pinning problem that can cause scratches that are difficult to remove.






#4 Below are all of the structural pieces machined to accurate dimensions, and checked during the milling steps, and afterwards to be sure their square. 






#5 The original plan (page 125) show the floor to be the same width as the sub base. However, the general drawing (page 144) shows a 'floor' ledge all the way around. I wanted the floor to have an equal protruding ledge on all three sides, and also the same amount in front of the bearing block. So I drew up my own dimensions for a new 'floor' plan. Below is the drawing with the new dimensions I used, and it also includes the mill table moves should any one care to go this route.






#6 Below is the 'table' being drilled for the six 2-56 screws that mount it to the 'cylinder'. the four corner holes were drilled #32 for 4-40 screws. In the drawings I changed all of the 5-40 to 4-40 screws to simplify the build. I do not have any 5-40 screws, and I could only find flat head 4-40 x 1'' long screws to go up through the base. 
I'll get back to the 'table' later on in this post.






#7 I spent a little extra time to draw up the machine moves for drilling the six bolt hole pattern in the 'table'. It helped to eliminate the usual chaos and confusion I go through working off of scattered about papers with math calculations. I followed it and the cylinder bolted on perfectly. So I guess is safe to use the info to save your self some time if your building along, or planing to build one in the future.






#8 This group shot shows the progress made so far.






#9 Below is the 'base' being slotted. The taper (draft) on all the sides of the 'base' and 'sub-base' will come last. I'm milling the 9/16" wide by .250" deep clearance slot for the 'crank'. I centered the spindle at .9687 from the bearing block end and milled it out with several light cuts using a 9/16" end mill.






#10 Milling two steps is the first operation needed to create the profile on the bearing cap.
I set the end mill at .125" down from the top of the 'bearing block, and eye balled the cut up to the scribed line. With one side done, I rotated the piece 180 and with one slow pass duplicated the cut on the other side.






#11 The first step in profiling the larger out board 'bearing' block was to reduce the width of the upper part to .750" by milling off .250" from both sides.
Once I reached the scribed line the hand wheel was zeroed out. The piece was flipped over- and- up against the vise stop to duplicate the cut on the opposite side when the hand wheel reached the zero mark.





#12 The bearing cap profile was done the same way as the smaller 'bearing' cap. Lower the cutter .125" from the top and bring the cutter in-and-up (Y-table movement) to the scribed line, rotate and repeat with out a need to move the cutters position by traversing the X-table movement..






#13 The last bearing cap I profiled, I did the whole thing with a file. Nooo, not this time. I did a little trimming that will reduce the filling time by about seventy five percent. 
My fingers are still sore, but my finger prints are slowly coming back! :big:






#14 Skip this picture and go to the one below. I goofed, this one was supposed to be deleted. :






#15 This ones better! I determined the angle part of the bearing' block to be 20 degrees. I attached an angle plate to the fixed jaw of my vise with double sided tape (double stick). To set up the piece I added a 1/4' tool bit under the reduced area. Its important to get this right by shimming with cellophane tape if necessary. After the first side is cut away there isn't much to support the piece for an accurate set up when the piece is flipped over to cut the opposite side. 






#16 Here is a picture of how-not-to-do this decorative hole. I know better and should have done this while the 'bearing' block was still a full rectangle. To prevent a collapse of the 'bearing' cap hole I added the 'filing button' to give it support, and luckily it was originally machined up to be a fit tight in the bushing hole. I was lucky that it worked without a problem. 






#17 In the picture below I machined out the slots for the connecting rods. After plunging through with a 3/16" center cutting end mill I traversed the table along the X-axis till the end mill reached the scribed line. I zeroed out the hand wheel and traversed in the opposite direction to reach the other end and scribed line, and wrote down the number on the hand wheel. After returning to the center of the slot I raised the quill and flipped over the piece. The second slot was duplicated by using the scribed lines as a guide to reach the previously noted hand wheel positions.






#18 The horizontal lines are the center line of the end mill, and the vertical line figures are for scribing the end of cut lines.






Let me know if you would like any additional details or clarification.

-MB


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## Twmaster (Mar 4, 2010)

Rick, I just love following your builds. You take such nice photos and give pretty nice descriptions of the process at hand. Thank you.


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 6, 2010)

#19 I milled the taper (draft) on the 'base' and 'sub-base' using a five degree tapered three flute end mill. The height of the cutter was setup with a clearance of .005" above the vises jaw using a feeler gauge. Then I made test cuts on a scrap piece as the cutter was brought inward. It took several cuts and adjustments using an eye-ball method to get a small step on the lower part of it in the vise. This "step" was filled off to see if the taper would extend all the way down to the bottom of the work piece. I needed to move the cutter in one more .001", and with a bit more file work the taper was satisfactory. Now I could cut all four sides on both pieces with one cut and one return pass (climb cut), with out moving the cutter. The return pass smooths up the original cut and returns the cutter to the starting position to cut the next side. This is a very easy method that gives good results.

In the picture below you can see the "step" near the bottom of the side closest to you.






#20 I got anxious to see the progress and loosely stacked the parts together. 






#21 I used my usual simplified method to make the 'columns'. A stop rod was mounted in the tail stock chuck and brought up to the 1/4" column stock that was set up sticking out of the head stock chuck about a 1/4". The hand wheel on the tail stock was zeroed out, and the carriage mounted cut off tool was adjusted using a rule to get it in position. 

After backing off the 'stop rod' I cut the first column. It was .005 oversize in length. Not a problem, I simply moved the carriage .005 towards the tail stock, re-set the hand wheel to zero, brought the stock forward towards the stop rod, clamped it down with the three jaw, backed off the stop rod. And cut the next column. Using this method I was able to cut three identical length columns. Rather than cutting a fourth column, I trimmed the first one down in length to match the other three.

I finished up by drilling and tapping both ends on the four columns with 4-40 thread's. Now I can use any choice of hardware I wish to mount the 'table' that supports the 'cylinder'.






#22 On the bottom of the columns threaded rods were installed with a 1/4" left protruding. These will thread into the 4-40 threaded "through holes" in the 'base' to meet the screws (half way) that come up from underneath and through the 'floor' and 'sub-base'.






#23 Last time I filed "bearing cap profiles" my fingers took a toll. This time I used a damaged tool makers vise to hold the work pieces, and added an inexpensive clamp to reduce the chances of over filing onto the flat portion of the caps.

I bought this vise specifically for filing, and forgot about it, and its purpose up until now.






#24 With both sides of both 'bearing' blocks filed to shape all that's needed now is to blend file marks with some sand paper.






#25 I assembled the parts for a test fit, and every thing fits perfectly. On this project I'm following Troutsqueezer's approach and building from the ground up! 
On my previos builds I bounced around like "A tennis ball in a heated match". :big:






-MB


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 8, 2010)

#26 I managed a full day down in the shop yesterday and made a few very time consuming parts. Neither one of the parts were remade or duplicated. Its hard to believe that I only made the two parts. :

I didn't have any 3/16" square stock so I used 1/4" steel square to make the cross head. I turned the two diameters and threaded one end, and then reversed the piece and did the same on the opposite end. No, I'm not showing off my well maintained and manicured fingers! The reason I include my finger(s) in certain pictures is to give my finicky camera a focus point.






#27 The 'cross head' mounting point was centrally cross drilled with a # 41 drill as shown in the plan. And then I milled down all four side equally to reduce the square area down to the specified 3/16". I could have milled the blank first, but decided that it would be a bit easier this way. It eliminated the need to protect the final surface from the chuck jaws with brass shims.






#28 After a few swipes with a file to remove the marks left over from the milling operation the part was finished.






#29 For the 'valve crossbar' I used the same 1/4" square stock. I followed the same steps to produce the two diameters on one side and reversed the piece in the chuck to duplicate them on the opposite end.

The diameters on this part are much smaller then on the 'cross head'. The 1/4" square section came in handy to secure the part while cross drilling the 1/16" ends with a #70 drill for the "cotter wires." The tiny #70 drill bit looks silly in my 1/2" chuck. I just remembered that I have a small "pin chuck" I could have used! Oh well, next time.






#30 Without any further need for the oversize 1/4" square section, it was milled down to the 3/16" x 3/32" specified in the plan.

It took a lot of will power to keep myself from modifying these tiny parts to something a little larger and more manageable. One of my original parameters for this build was to stick closely to the original plans, and avoid changes as much as possible. 






#31 I focused on making these two parts as close to perfect as I could. With them finished up I feel it was time well spent. I can now move forward and on to the next few parts that will also require a good amount of time and patience.

I have to admit that this engine has a lot more fussy/tiny parts then I have ever encountered on a previous build. It took me two years to get enough experience and courage to tackle this project. Now that I'm on my way, and there's no turning back.






-Rick


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## Philjoe5 (Mar 8, 2010)

Nice work MB. You're making good progress. For some reason not all of the pictures are downloading presently. 



> Its hard to believe that I only made the two parts.



I know what you mean. I spent several hours today just milling the steel blanks for my bearing blocks and I was not removing a lot of material. Not much to show for it.

Keep up the good work and photos

Cheers,
Phil


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 8, 2010)

Philjoe5  said:
			
		

> Nice work MB. You're making good progress. For some reason not all of the pictures are downloading presently.



I just checked, and the pictures are uploading OK on this side of the pond. Down loading? ???

Probably just a temporary glitch. I can't access the forum two to three times a week, and sometimes for over an hour on a bad day. Never hear any mention of any one else having this problem.

Thanks for the compliment Phil.

Rick


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## ksouers (Mar 8, 2010)

You're a glutton for punishment with those tiny parts, MB!

I'm enjoying this, though. I'm right there in the mud with ya!


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## Maryak (Mar 9, 2010)

Philjoe5  said:
			
		

> Nice work MB. You're making good progress. For some reason not all of the pictures are downloading presently.



Phil,

This happens to me from time to time when I use multiple tabs and grab a heap of bandwidth. Try reloading the page. This usually works for me and I have a wireless modem which can be a real PITA when everybody is home in the evening here. 

Best Regards
Bob


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## NickG (Mar 9, 2010)

Yep, nice work MB glad I've found this thread, I really like the Mine Engine.

Nick


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## Philjoe5 (Mar 9, 2010)

MB - I'm sure the problem is on my end. I think it's something like what Bob is experiencing though I have dial-up. 

Thanks for that tip too Bob, but I've had no luck trying to reload the page.

I had this problem a year ago, then it suddenly went away. Can you say "sudden unintended acceleration"? And geez I don't even have a floormat under my computer :big:

Cheers,
Phil


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 10, 2010)

#32 I managed a few of those pesky little parts yesterday. To start making the 'rocker arms' I drilled and reamed the needed holes on brass stock milled to the proper dimensions. Below I'm milling the radius's on the two 'rocker arms'. I machined them on opposite ends of a longer piece of stock to make the milling t safer using a hand held rotating technique.







#33 After the outer radius was milled the cutter was shifted to the inside and lowered down to the same height as the previously milled out area that is half the thickness of the total height of these parts. Now I was able to do the inside radius. Sorry, I deleted the wrong picture again. I defiantly need a new computer, I can barely see what I'm posting and deleting!






#34 With the radius's finished, the excess material between the two 'rocker arms' was cut out using the band saw. To create the taper I held the pieces together with dowel pins and filed the taper on both pieces by hand.






#35 After one side was finished, I flipped the parts over and did the same filing on the opposite side. I forgot to mention that I tapped the ends for the 2-56 set screws after drilling the 3/32" and the 1/16" holes in both ends. 2-56 set screws?, Elmer must have run out of the small ones! :big:






#36 The radius's on the small ends were roughed out using a 42" belt sander, and finished up with hand filing. Since the pieces are just over 3/8" long it would have been very dangerous (down right stupid!) to attempt the radius's with an end mill. I could have made a fixture to make it safe to use a end mill, but this was much quicker and easier. 






#37 The two 'links' were strait forward mill, drill, ream, and then radiused by rotating them against a cutter using a 1/16" pivot pin. The 'rockershaft' piece was created using the same steps and methods used on the 'rocker arms' and out lined previously.






-Rick


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## zeeprogrammer (Mar 10, 2010)

MB...any chance you could make the pics a little larger? So I can see what it is you're making? :big:

Enjoying your thread as usual. ;D


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 10, 2010)

zeeprogrammer  said:
			
		

> MB...any chance you could make the pics a little larger? So I can see what it is you're making? :big:
> 
> Enjoying your thread as usual. ;D



Thanks Zee! Those silly parts are really small. I hope I can make it through this build without loozing my mind. Loozing my mind... Loozing my mimd... :big: :big: :big:


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## Deanofid (Mar 10, 2010)

Aw heck, Rick. You know you like the small bits. You must.. You're good at it!

Making fine progress.

Dean


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 10, 2010)

Deanofid  said:
			
		

> Aw heck, Rick. You know you like the small bits. You must.. You're good at it!
> 
> Making fine progress.
> 
> Dean



Hi Dean. Its all about fear!

I was afraid, very afraid of having to make them twice!

I focused my self into a different dimension of sight and sound.

When I snapped back to the real and current dimension the parts were finished.

It was a very strange experience! :big:

-MB


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## ksouers (Mar 10, 2010)

Metal Butcher  said:
			
		

> ... without loozing my mind. Loozing my mind... Loozing my mimd... :big: :big: :big:



No problem, MB! I was always told you had to have something before you can lose it


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## Philjoe5 (Mar 10, 2010)

I'm enjoying the progress reports MB. Now, the pictures are downloading OK. Could have something to do with that giant iceberg that got knocked loose :
Your parts are looking good. Course, I have to put on my headband magnifier to see 'em, but that's OK. 
Cheers,
Phil


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## 1hand (Mar 10, 2010)

Great job on the small parts. You definitely have to be on your game when working in them tolerances.


Well done, and informative as always. Thm:

Matt


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 10, 2010)

Hi, Kevin, Phil, and Matt. Thanks for stopping by to see my progress.

The overall size of this model is about right for my needs. The seemingly small parts that Elmer includes in the drawings are probably meant to be proper scaling. Its this very reason that I decided to stick with the original dimensions on the small tedious parts. They could easily be modified to simplify the construction. However, to do this would seriously alter the character of this beautiful design.

-MB


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 12, 2010)

#38 In today's post I'll show how I made the 'crosshead guide' assembly. I started by cutting two rectangles from a flat 1/16" brass plate. I drilled the 1/16" hole through both plates. Then I milled out the 3/16" 'crosshead' slot, and milled the stepped profile seen in the photo below.






#39 I made a two piece filing button to guide my filing while I produce the 7/32" radius shown in the drawing.






#40 The small radius on top was milled by rotating the work piece against a small end mill.






#41 After the radius's were finished a little bit of sand papering was used to finish up the pieces






#42 In the lathe I machined up the face of a 1" piece of brass and machined the outer diameter down to 15/16". This will be the lower part of the 'crosshead guide' assembly. I drilled and reamed a 1/4" hole in the center before removing the collet and work piece from the lathe.






#43 The next machining steps require the use of a 'hex' collet block. Since it will be used in a vertical position, I checked it for squareness in that position. The squareness check showed that the bottom face of the collet was perpendicular to the sides of the block. If needed I would have chucked the block and collet in the lathe for a light truing cut on the bottom of the collet. 






#44 Two slots that position the upright parts of the 'guide' will be milled into the disc. Their center lines will be located with calibrated table moves, and their length will be achieved by milling between scribed stop lines. The only accurate way I could think of doing this scribed layout of the stop lines was to use my surface plate and height gauge. This was the very first time I used my height gauge for this type of layout. Its a nice accurate tool, and I liked working with it, once I figured out how to use it.






#45 To center the spindle on the center line of the work piece I used the conical end of my edge finder. I have developed a good feel for this method by using the tip of my finger nail to 'feel' for a step that indicates an improper line up between the two surfaces on the edge finder.






#46 I milled out the two 1/16" slots with a four flute center cutting end mill. I started the first cut in the middle by lowering the quill .020" and traversing slowly to one end and then to the other. The following passes were from end to end with the quill lowered .025" at each stop till a depth of .120" was reached. To keep my view unobstructed, and the cutter free of chips, I used 2 lbs of air pressure delivered by aquarium air line tubing. The key to success is low air pressure for safety, and very, very, slow speed of cutter advance. I usually pull up a chair and try to relax with hand cranking this size of end mill. 






#47 With the quill already zeroed out on the work piece, and a work stop in place the next logical stop was drilling out the six 'bolt clearance holes for the screws that will bolt the 'crosshead guide' to the top of the 'cylinder'.

I used a center drill to spot all six locations by indexing the collet block, and then I switched to a #43 drill to finish up by drilling all six 'bolt clearance holes'.






#48 The work piece and collet were returned to the lathe to drill out the center hole to the specified size, and to part off the disc.






#49 I machined up a 'space block' type of fixture with a drilled 1/16" through hole. This enabled me to accurately line up and space the parts for soldering.






#50 I used a very small amount of flux to control its flow distance, and the flow distance of the following molten solder. This minimized and controlled the visible size of the solder joint. I worked exactly as planed, and the result can be seen in the picture below.






#51 To finish up the 'crosshead guide' assembly I added a 1/8" round brass spacer that was drilled all the way through for the specified 1/16' line up pin. It seemed to me that the pin alone could be easily bent.

That concludes today's progress report. 






-MB


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## Deanofid (Mar 12, 2010)

It looks really nice, Rick. Clean soldering job, too.

Dean


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## mklotz (Mar 12, 2010)

Very nicely done, MB.

I don't trust the center cutting feature on such tiny endmills. Whenever I have to make a blind slot like that, I drill a slightly undersized hole at each end of the slot. That way the mill isn't cutting much when I downfeed. Also the holes act as visible markers to prevent me from overshooting at the end of the slot due to inattention.

Your final product looks really great.


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## Philjoe5 (Mar 12, 2010)

Nice work MB. Keep the progress reports coming and thanks for taking the time to post the photos of your work.

Cheers,
Phil


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## cfellows (Mar 12, 2010)

Beautiful work, MB. You gotta be proud of the way this is coming together.

Chuck


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## ozzie46 (Mar 13, 2010)

" Metal Butcher" !!! Harruuummmpppphhh!  

  Thats just false advertising. 


  Nice job MB.   :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow:


  Ron


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## gbritnell (Mar 13, 2010)

Hi Rick,
Great work on the crosshead. I see you radiusing the ends of parts by hand and I know you have good luck with it but one of these days we'll have to have a quick tutorial on using the rotary table. I have to agree with Marv, it's not that they won't plunge cut but there's not enough room for chip clearance and when they clog, click, there goes the endmill.
George


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## kvom (Mar 13, 2010)

Nice build going on there! ;D

And thanks to Marv and George for the slotting drill tip. I recently milled some 1/8" wide slots in aluminum using a 1/16" endmill while blowing compressed air to clear the chips. Predrilling the ends will be a good practice that I'll follow.


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 13, 2010)

Thank you!, Dean, mklotz, Philjoe5, cfellows, ozzie46, gbritnell, and kvom.

Your compliments and interest in my current project are appreciated. You make the effort needed to post my progress reports worth while!

Marv and George, thank you for the tip and explanation. It all makes perfectly good sense to me, and I understand the out lined benefit of pre-drilling at the ends of milled slots.

I forgot to mention an idea that I had and tried when milling the 3/16" slot in the 1/16' flat brass plates. I milled it out with a 1/8" end mill first, and finished up with the required 3/16" end mill. I felt that the final cut would come out smoother if it had less material to remove, and that the smaller load could effectively minimize 'cutter deflection'. It proved to be a good idea, and that two cuts produce a better finish than one.

-Rick


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## Blogwitch (Mar 13, 2010)

Very nice work indeed.

For anyone building more than one of Elmer's engines, it might pay you to make up a drilling jig. 
Elmer tended to use standard sizes for a lot of his cylinders, and with one of these, you could drop it on and have all the holes drilled in minutes.












Bogs


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## ozzie46 (Mar 13, 2010)

Bogstandard  said:
			
		

> Very nice work indeed.
> 
> For anyone building more than one of Elmer's engines, it might pay you to make up a drilling jig.
> Elmer tended to use standard sizes for a lot of his cylinders, and with one of these, you could drop it on and have all the holes drilled in minutes.
> ...








 Now that is really nice to know as I have a lot of his plans.

 Thanks John.

 Ron


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## NickG (Mar 13, 2010)

MB, yep as everbody has said, fantastic work - keep it coming.

Thanks

Nick


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 16, 2010)

#52 Today I have a few more pictures, and a few more parts to show.
To make the 'valve rod' I machined down a 1/8" brass rod to the first diameter of .086". The second diameter was 1/16" by 5/16" long. I used .005" cuts to keep the rod from flexing and climbing up on the cutter. This is the usual problem with machining small diameters on long rods.







#53 Both ends of the 'valve rod' were threaded 2-56. One end will bolt to the 'valve crossbar', and the other to the valve 'nut'.






#54 I made a quick and easy drilling jig to cross drill the three 1/16" pivot pins on the 'rocker shaft' and two 'rocker arms'. The fixture simplified drilling all three #70 holes in identical locations.






#55 I installed the pivot pins with Loctite rather than soldering them in place. The holes they went in to were reamed, and the 1/16" rod material was a light press fit (wringing fit) that could cause a poor solder joint, but is perfectly suited for an anaerobic retaining compound. 






#56 The piston and rod were strait forward and need little or no explanation. Since the piston and 1/8" rod were threaded 5-40, I made the nuts by re-threading a pair of brass 4-40 nuts on hand. This is a nice alternative to using larger standard 5-40 nuts.






#57 Here's a picture of scrap material being machined down to size. I know (yawn) this picture is not all that interesting, but its the only 'live action' shot in this post, so enjoy!






#58 All of that exciting milling produced the three sizes of steel material that will be used along with two diameters of drill rod for building the 'connecting rod' assembly. (Rod's not shown in this picture).






#59 It took a bit of thought to figure out how to make the two small end pivot blocks with the required degree of accuracy. The best option was to make them on the ends of a 2" piece, and cut them off after the two 3/32" rods were attached. After I cross drilled both ends for the 3/32" pivot holes, I drilled and reamed the ends 1/16" for the rods.This detail is missing in the original drawing and gives the impression that ends (for the long rods) are drilled 3/32". This is impossible since the ends are also 3/32" thick! To make this assembly possible the 3/32" rods needed to be machined down to a 1/16" diameter by .080" long. This machining was done with the utmost care to assure a tight fit into the reamed holes in the pivot's ends.






#60 The picture below shows how I managed to make this assembly work. I Loctited in one end, and set it aside for curing.






#61 After one end cured I cut it off from the parent material and Loctited in the second rod. After the second rod set up it was also was cut off. With the pivot ends attached to the rods, finishing them up with a radius was simple milling. I used the standby method of using the existing holes to pivot the ends on a pin against a small four flute end mill. 






#62 Machining the "triple tree" (motorcycle term) part of the 'connecting rod' assembly was very easy. I used scribed lines to mark the "stop points" on the pre-drilled material for the lathe bit. Last year I couldn't imagine machining this part. It was this years addition of a four jaw independent chuck, and another season of machining practice, that made making this part not only possible, but also very easy.






#63 The final picture below shows the completed 'Connecting Rod' assembly. Rather than applying a Parkerized finish, a Tool Black finish, a blued finish, or painted finish, I decided to leave it "in the white' and applied a 'poly type' automotive surface sealant to protect the raw steel.

Bling, Bling!
http://www.blingdetailking.com/content/view/7/30/






-MB


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## Philjoe5 (Mar 16, 2010)

I'm enjoying your build reports MB. 

I know what you mean by looking back 1 year and seeing how far you've been able to progress.  :bow:

Your shaft diameters and screw sizes are 2 - 4 standard sizes smaller than the ones in my current build. Impressive is all I can say.  :bow: :bow:

Cheers,
Phil


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## zeeprogrammer (Mar 16, 2010)

Excellent work MB and a great post.

Say...you wouldn't happen to have anymore more of those giant pennies would you?


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 16, 2010)

Thanks for the "impressive" compliment Phil. The engines overall size is nice. But, the tiny linkage parts are really tough on me. That's one of the reasons I put this build off for as long as I could. Regarless of size, the style engine is a worthy project.
I'm looking forward to getting mine done, and also seeing yours all finished up. 

Thanks Zee, You worked with small Elmer size parts, and I bet you had the same fun I'm having. ;D

Zee, Here's the penny you asked for. :big:
http://cgi.ebay.com/1909-S-VDB-Linc...mQQptZCoins_US_Individual?hash=item2ea6e658eb

-MB


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 20, 2010)

#64 Over the last few days I experimented with different color combination's to finish up my project. I tied all black, all red, green and black (shown), and finally settled on red and black as the final color.

The "gag" penny is three inches in diameter. I found it on E-Bay pursuant to a comment that Zee made as to the small size parts in my build. I couldn't resist the temptation and bought it as a photo prop. ;D






#65






#66 On the right side of the picture below you can see 2 long 2-56 cap screws sticking out that will be replaced with 2-56 x 1/16" set screws. George B was kind enough to give me the two I needed, but during the final assembly today I discovered I didn't have the extra small hex wrench needed to install them






#67






#68






After making the needed timing and valve travel adjustment. I fired it up with a few pounds of air and ran it in for a ten minute break-in period. After wards I lowered the pressure till it would barely turn over to make the final timing adjustment.

This was my tenth, and last engine build planed for the season. I hope every one enjoyed seeing my build posts. I'll be lurking about on the forum for as long as I can. But I won't be starting anymore engine builds. I started getting back into my motorcycle hobby this week, and that will dominate my thoughts and time. 

-MB


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## tel (Mar 20, 2010)

> I hope every one enjoyed seeing my build posts.



Well I. for one, have enjoyed 'em immensely - hie ye back!


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## zeeprogrammer (Mar 20, 2010)

Wonderful build MB.
Lots of great threads from you.
Nice penny gag. :big: Kind of scary if you don't know what it is.

I hope a video is forthcoming?


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## Philjoe5 (Mar 20, 2010)

Nice work MB. A great looking engine. I really like the final finish and color scheme. Thanks for taking the time to post your progress. I enjoyed following along and I appeciate the extra effort you took to give us all a ride. Karma to you - enjoy the motorcycling. :bow:

I hope my Mine runs as well. 

Cheers,
Phil


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 21, 2010)

tel  said:
			
		

> Well I. for one, have enjoyed 'em immensely - hie ye back!



Thanks tel. Glad you enjoyed my threads. For the time being I'll be checking in until I leave for Canada in the summer. My full time attention to shop projects will begin in Oct/Sept.

-MB


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## gbritnell (Mar 21, 2010)

Hi Rick, 
This one came out extremely nice, but then again I didn't have any doubt. I like the colors on this one, not any more than the others, I just think it's a nice change. I have a small wrench. When you're out running around on the bike one day, stop buy and you can get it. I sorted out the problems with the V-twin since you were over the other day.
George


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 21, 2010)

zeeprogrammer  said:
			
		

> Wonderful build MB.
> Lots of great threads from you.
> Nice penny gag. :big: Kind of scary if you don't know what it is.
> 
> I hope a video is forthcoming?



Thanks Zee! I mentioned the three inch size of the "gag" penny up front, rather that tricking members into thinking I built a super small version of the #29 Mine Engine. I can't imagine building any smaller than I did. It would be comparable to micro surgery, at least for me. 

I'm not happy with the standard long shot pictures that were posted. I will update with close up 'macro shots' hopefully later today. My 'picture guy' may not have time for the updated pics, and the video today. I'll run the idea by, when I get a hold of him today.


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 21, 2010)

Philjoe5  said:
			
		

> Nice work MB. A great looking engine. I really like the final finish and color scheme. Thanks for taking the time to post your progress. I enjoyed following along and I appeciate the extra effort you took to give us all a ride. Karma to you - enjoy the motorcycling. :bow:
> 
> I hope my Mine runs as well.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the compliments Phil! I'm glad you enjoyed my build threads. I've been watching your thread, and have no doubts that your engine will be a fine running example.

-MB


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 21, 2010)

gbritnell  said:
			
		

> Hi Rick,
> This one came out extremely nice, but then again I didn't have any doubt. I like the colors on this one, not any more than the others, I just think it's a nice change. I have a small wrench. When you're out running around on the bike one day, stop buy and you can get it. I sorted out the problems with the V-twin since you were over the other day.
> George



Thanks George! Your confidence in my abilities is inspiring. I felt a color change was long over do, although the 'sage mist green' will allays be my favorite color. It was a little mind boggling when my .050" wrench wouldn't fit the two 2-56 set screws you gave me! 1/16" seems to be the standard for most sets that I have. When I added the .050" size I thought it was the smallest, and that I had all the sizes covered!

Your engine ran great when I was over! The minor fuel issue was no big deal, and easy enough to correct. Your engine sounded fantastic, but boy its loud for its size! I was also very impressed with the smooth and slow idle that's elusive on small IC engines!

I'll stop by some time when the weather is a little better. I'm usually passing by, and within a few minutes of your place. Maybe I can talk you into getting on one of your bikes and going for a ride! 8)

-MB


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## Tin Falcon (Mar 21, 2010)

I like the engine and love the penny think I will has Mrs Tin order me one of those I build models and she collects wheat pennys for me so perfect. 
Tin


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## Jeff02 (Mar 21, 2010)

One more beautiful engine to your collection, Great color choice! Thm: Thm: Thm:


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 21, 2010)

Tin Falcon  said:
			
		

> I like the engine and love the penny think I will has Mrs Tin order me one of those I build models and she collects wheat pennys for me so perfect.
> Tin



Thanks for the compliment Tin! The "gag" penny is really neat and well made. The price seems reasonable too.
 I used to collect 'wheats' when they were circulating, but the pocket change source is all dried up now. I always looked for, and wished to find a genuine 1909 S V.D.B. ;D

-MB


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 21, 2010)

Jeff02  said:
			
		

> One more beautiful engine to your collection, Great color choice! Thm: Thm: Thm:



Thanks for the compliment Jeff! Building engines is just like collecting them...Its allways a work in progress.

-MB


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## arnoldb (Mar 21, 2010)

:bow: Very well done MB ;D - I love it! ;D 

Regards, Arnold


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## ariz (Mar 21, 2010)

I didn't image that you were so near to the end of the build MB, when I visited the thread some days ago

very very nice job, compliments!!! :bow:

now we are waiting for some macros and a video too ;D


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 21, 2010)

arnoldb  said:
			
		

> :bow: Very well done MB ;D - I love it! ;D
> 
> Regards, Arnold



Thanks for the compliment Arnold! The #29 is a real nice 'representative' model that would add interest to any collection of engines. I highly recommend it for build consideration.

-MB


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 21, 2010)

ariz  said:
			
		

> I didn't image that you were so near to the end of the build MB, when I visited the thread some days ago
> 
> very very nice job, compliments!!! :bow:
> 
> now we are waiting for some macros and a video too ;D



Thank you ariz! I made some of the similar and identical parts for it during my build of the #41 and the #33. There was no reason to re-post the making of those parts since their construction was already covered. This made this build seem to go at a quicker pace. Actually, I took my time since its completion was way ahead of my April 1st schedule.

The video will probably be uploaded tomorrow.
The close-up macro pictures are linked below.
http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=8768.msg94129;topicseen#new

-MB


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## black85vette (Mar 21, 2010)

Great looking engine. Some very nice work!  Thm:


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 21, 2010)

black85vette  said:
			
		

> Great looking engine. Some very nice work! Thm:



Thanks BV, I appreciate the compliment!

-MB


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## BigBore (Mar 22, 2010)

Thanks MB! This my favorite and I'm sure that it will inspire many to build this engine.

The PDF file of the entire build with the macro photos and the You Tube link is now in the "Download and upload" section.

Ed


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## NickG (Mar 23, 2010)

I love it in the maroon!


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 23, 2010)

BigBore  said:
			
		

> Thanks MB! This my favorite and I'm sure that it will inspire many to build this engine.
> 
> The PDF file of the entire build with the macro photos and the You Tube link is now in the "Download and upload" section.
> Ed



Thanks Ed! Its one of my favorite engine styles too. I think that every one should add one to their collection. Thanks for uploading the PDF file. It will serve as a quick reference for anyone attempting to build one in the future that can use the help.



			
				NickG  said:
			
		

> I love it in the maroon!



Thanks Nick. It a departure from my usual color scheme, and I like it too.

-MB


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