# A Small Vertical Steam Engine



## ProdEng (Jun 23, 2012)

After many hours of modeling I have finaly started on my next project. The design is not set in stone but it should look a bit like the following. I am trying out inline pictures for the first time so hope it works!












http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7424843170/

The design consists of bits and pieces from many sources and a lot of changes made on the fly. Every change added more machining, this one will take a while to build.

Jan

OK, so the link doesn't work, all suggestions welcome.


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## steamer (Jun 23, 2012)

Hi Jan

Sorry I can't see the picture.....maybe a missing character in the flicker link?

I'd try attaching the link again....

Dave


Getting there!  nice looking engine!


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## ProdEng (Jun 23, 2012)

Dave,

I have tried every which way and given up, resorting to just uploading the pics. It would be nice to link the pictures as some members have expressed a preference for this method allowing meaningful comments between the images. Does any body else use Flickr and if so how do they do it ???


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## steamer (Jun 23, 2012)

I got the link to work....

The placement of the  I think is off I think....where's Arnold! ;D

Dave


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## ProdEng (Jun 23, 2012)

The idea behind this particular design is to develop some skill in making engines that look closer to the prototype and that can be made with the smallest of machines. The engine stands about 6" tall with a 3 1/2" flywheel. Small machines lack rigidity and power so every effort will be made to use free machining materials as a result of which aluminium will be used for most of the major parts. Despite the fact that me and paint don't get along, this one will be painted.

Machining has started with the feet of the main "casting", and if they are anything to go by, this is going to be a long build. Just a bit of filing to do on these so will start posting pics tomorrow.

What did you do to make the link work?

Jan


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## dsquire (Jun 23, 2012)

ProdEng  said:
			
		

> Dave,
> 
> I have tried every which way and given up, resorting to just uploading the pics. It would be nice to link the pictures as some members have expressed a preference for this method allowing meaningful comments between the images. Does any body else use Flickr and if so how do they do it ???



I have fixed up the links for you. It was the (IMG) (/IMG) tags that was causing it as Steamer mentioned. Note that the IMG tags must have the Square brackets not the round ones.

Cheers 

Don


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## Tin Falcon (Jun 23, 2012)

Nice looking engine . i too tried briefly to fix the links. thanks don .
tin


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## arnoldb (Jun 23, 2012)

Good start Jan; I'm looking forward to your build 

Don't worry too much about the paint; if you can, get a hold of "How (Not) to Paint a Locomotive by Christopher Vine" - I can really recommend the book.

"...where's Arnold!" - I was in the shop Dave ;D - don't have a computer in there yet... Thanks Don & Tin Thm:

Kind regards, Arnold


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## ProdEng (Jun 23, 2012)

Thanks for all the help with the pictures, I was keen to get that working before I start posting the build. Don, I will try the square bracket just as soon as I have done a bit of filing on the foot.

I always have money for books Arnold so will place an order. I have an airbrush and a small spray booth from the bit of plastic modelling I have done so it's just a question of improving technique.

More pictures soon 

Jan


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## ProdEng (Jun 23, 2012)

Just finished filing up one of the feet , not completed yet still needs the bush glued in and the seam filled before a final sand. 

The machining sequence starts with a 16mm square block into which a 12mm hole is bored. The block is parted to 7mm long lenghts ater which the section is cut into two parts. The faces are milled and a spotface machined for the bush. I turned up an arbor to hold the bush to put the radius on.

Jan


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## ProdEng (Jun 25, 2012)

Still trying to sort out the inline photos, trying Photo Buket 

This pic, if it appears, is of my parting holder with upside down blade cutting off the bush.






Jan

Sorted ;D


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## clivel (Jun 25, 2012)

Hi Jan,
Very nice drawings  which software package did you use?
It looks to be a really promising design and I look forward to following along with the build.
Clive


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## dsquire (Jun 25, 2012)

Jan

Congratulations, It looks like you have got it figured out now. It can be very frustrating till you get it working. It only takes 1 character to be wrong to mess up the works. I'll be watching your progress from the sidelines.

Cheers 

Don


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## ProdEng (Jun 26, 2012)

Clive,

I use Inventor for most of my drawing, modifications are simple to make and it produces working drawings with ease. As for the design, I can't claim too much credit, I have just assembled bits and pieces from other peoples work, most notably Stan Bray and Elmer. The engine should be fun to make with lots of detail work to complete.

Don,

Thanks ;D It is frustrating but worth the effort when it finally works. The PC is a marvelous tool that I have had the "pleasure" of using since 1986 and could not imagine life without it. However nothing drives me crazy quicker than a misbehaving application :big:


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## arnoldb (Jun 26, 2012)

Nice start to the project Jan; I'll definitely be along for the ride 

 Thm: Good to see you've got the Photobucket thing sorted.

Kind regards, Arnold


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## ProdEng (Jun 27, 2012)

Thanks for looking in Arnold.

The next part to make is what I have called the Main Body though I do think it has a proper name. In order to make it look like a casting it has curves and radii and will most likely have more before it is finished.






Generating a working drawing from the model takes a few minutes and produces the following.






The seemingly complex shape can be broken down into two categories of feature, those that are functional and those that are cosmetic. The functional ones are the top and bottom faces along with the bearing face for the cross head. The functional need to be machined first and then the rest is just sculpture ;D Hopefully machining will commence on Friday.

Jan


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## metalmad (Jun 27, 2012)

Will be watching this one ;D
Pete


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## ProdEng (Jun 27, 2012)

Thanks Pete, when the workshop is less than 10C I need all the encouragement I can get! Does warm up a bit by lunch time though 

Jan


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## gbritnell (Jun 27, 2012)

Hi Jan,
This part would be called the column or standard. 
gbritnell


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## vcutajar (Jun 27, 2012)

Jan I will be joining you on your journey.

Vince


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## ProdEng (Jun 29, 2012)

Thanks George, I will settle for standard.

Welcome aboard Vince 

Had a good day in the workshop so have some pictures to share. A piece was cut from 25mm aluminium plate and squared up to the external dimensions using a flycutter. The part was milled to length and then shaping started. First operation was to mill the guide slot for the cross head. The cutter is 1/4" solid carbide designed for plastic but does a great job on aluminium. The cutter is made by Onsrud.







Next a slot was milled to clear the cross head boss.






To ease the strain of milling on my little machine the excess waste was removed using a bandsaw. For aluminium of this thickness I use a 3 TPI wood blade.






The rest of the material was milled away in steps followed by a few angled cuts.






The cross head has a retaining washer that needs a 12mm diameter clearance milled, too big for the Sherline. The lathe was switched to mill mode, 45 minutes of setup for 3 minutes machining!






So that was the day gone but the part well begun. The final shot is a mock up with the parts to date. More tomorrow with a little luck.






Jan


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## Don1966 (Jun 29, 2012)

Nice job so far Jan karma from me for the use of the bandsaw.

Don


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## ProdEng (Jun 29, 2012)

Thanks Don. Aluminium works a lot like wood or plastic and in some cases these tools work better than the metalwork equivalents. I try to use aluminium for every part where it is strong enough because of its ease of working, especially if a lot of hand work is needed.

Jan


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## steamer (Jun 29, 2012)

Looking good Jan!

Dave


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## Tin Falcon (Jun 29, 2012)

well my shop is more like 35c needs a bit of cooling
Tin


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## ProdEng (Jun 30, 2012)

I have to admit I much prefer the cold to heat. Last summer we had two weeks of 37c + and nothing was done but what had to be.

Today's machining is much like yesterdays but on the other side.






A clearance was milled for the crankshaft.






That was it for machining apart from a couple of holes to drill and tap when I can make my mind up where to put them. So it was time to start the interesting work of sculpting and blending. Convex surfaces are pretty easy to smooth and blend requiring only a file and some patience. Blending the concave radii is much more of a challenge. The lines left from the step milling provide a depth guide but also make the file want to drop into them. To get around that I made up a steel scraper of the right radius and scraped a lot of the material away. The scraper acts a bit like a shaper with a form tool which allows you to remove material from exactly where you want. It's a game of patience but good fun. Only got the back done and a lot more to do.






That's it for today MotoGP on tonight so no more filing until tomorrow.

Jan


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## steamer (Jun 30, 2012)

Niccccce! 
Looking good from here


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## vcutajar (Jun 30, 2012)

Jan

Can you please show the scraping tool that was used?

Vince


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## ProdEng (Jun 30, 2012)

Thanks Dave, should get a bit more done tomorrow.

Vince I will post some pics tomorrow and a bit better explanation of how it and I work.

Jan


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## Don1966 (Jun 30, 2012)

Wouldn't you find a rotary file great right now. I do love to shape metal, convex shapes are work, but a thing of beauty after you have shaped it. Looking good Jan.

Don


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## bearcar1 (Jun 30, 2012)

Take *that*, all you CNC guys. ;D I truly enjoy being witness to how complex shapes are arrived at using manual techniques and some rather ingenious methodology. Nicely done Jan, I'll be waiting with baited breath for the next thread installment. 

BC1
Jim


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## krv3000 (Jun 30, 2012)

hi Jan I'm looking forward to this billed good job dun so far


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## ProdEng (Jul 1, 2012)

Thanks for looking in, your interest is encouraging, I suspected people might think I was plain crazy :big:

Describing the technique I use is a bit difficult and is still evolving but I will do my best. First a shot of the tools.






The only item that might be unfamiliar is the piece of steel with rounded edges; that's the scraper. It is made from a segment cut from a wood handsaw and the steel is hard but still able to be filed. It is a wood workers tool but, as I mentioned before, I find a lot of wood techniques work on aluminium. The needle file has one rounded face and the bar end is used to curve the abrasive paper around. The diamond lap is used for sharpening the scraper.

So the problem we are trying to solve is to blend two flat faces into a curve that has been step machined. The area immediately next to the the curve edges is the most critical, attacking it with a file will most likely lead to a depression at the transition. The scraper is held by the finger tips and pushed along the edge of metal you want to remove. If the scraper is sharp and presented at the correct angle it will take a shaving, if not it will skate or produce dust. The correct angle is a bit of trial and error but tipping the top forward is good and sometimes twisting a bit helps. You can feel when it works. After a bit of scraping the surface is difficult to read as regards flatness so a bit of filing or abrasive consolidates the surface. Lots of marker pen is used to be able to see where the work is going on. This is detailed work and I like to sit down as it takes a while and also to use a jewellers loupe because you have to be able to see it if you want to work it. I hope that makes some sense but if not I will try some different words/pictures 

Finally progress to date, the front has been a bit more difficult to work and the milling might be off a bit so it might not clean up! It is interesting to compare the shot of the machined part to the latest pic.






Jan


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## ProdEng (Jul 1, 2012)

Fearing that my explanation of scraper use was as clear as mud I have taken a picture of the tool in use. Hope it helps.






Jan


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## vcutajar (Jul 1, 2012)

Thanks Jan for the show and tell. For somebody like me who has never used a scraper it was informative.

Vince


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## steamer (Jul 1, 2012)

Cool!
I've used one on wood, so why not metal........

Dave


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## Tin Falcon (Jul 2, 2012)

The curves on my Seymour engine were all done buy hand while CNC is nice you can make smooth complex shapes without one. The file, scaper and abrasive paper are still useful tools. 





tin


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## ProdEng (Jul 2, 2012)

It was quite possible for me to feed the model of the standard to VisualMill and then on to the CNC router, but that's work not my hobby. I value working by hand and the pleasant way it makes time pass. I guess I make engines to have something to machine and not machine to make an engine; I don't need the engine. It's all completely down to personal choice and I celebrate all of the choices ;D

Tin, the acrylic makes for an interesting looking engine, I should give it a go myself, maybe when I get tired of filing and scraping :big:


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## ProdEng (Jul 7, 2012)

Herman Haeders book Handbook on the Steam Engine contains lots of useful pictures for the model maker. There are a few illustrations of the type of engine I am attempting and the first thing that I noticed is that the base of my version is too wide pushing the flywheel a long way from the main bearing. As a result the base has been narrowed on the Inventor model but the standard mounting feet limit how much it can be narrowed. Not wanting to discard the feet I decided to recess the feet into the standard by 1mm, this had the added benefit of making the feet look less "stuck on". The pockets was just a simple milling job with the standard held in the vice.

The only other machining job on the standard was to pop two M2 holes in the top to fix the cylinder support. I am happy with M2 fasteners but have acquired M1.6 to keep pushing the boundaries, one of my objectives for this project. The picture shows the setup for putting in the M2 holes and the pockets for the feet can be seen. With the Sherline there is not much space between the drill chuck and the table and you soon need to get creative to make a part fit even when it is only 90mm tall!






The standard now needs filing and the feet stuck on before it gets a coat of paint. The next machining job will be the main bearings.

Jan


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## ProdEng (Jul 8, 2012)

The bearing blocks are made in one piece but with separate bushes; making a split block would recquire M1 fasteners and I am not so brave yet. Started out by milling some 6mm aluminium plate to overall size and then boring 8mm dia. for the bush.






Next job was to drill a couple of 2mm holes to form the radius in the corners. Most of the waste was removed with the bandsaw and then milling started. The milling is not dimensionally critical as the whole thing will be filed and sanded later anyway. What is important is to remember to stay away from the corner radius and to leave on the material for the bead at the top. Nearly forgot about the radius and put a line in it but at least I didn't remove it completely.






Not all that much to show for a weekend but it is going forwards at least ;D


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## ProdEng (Jul 13, 2012)

After quite a few hours of filing and sanding, the shaping of the standard is complete. The feet are now bonded so the part is finished until the engine is running, when the final detailing will take place. The edges where rounded using a variety of techniques and a few things where learned. A file is slow and steady producing a good finish and no surprises. A Dremel with a sanding drum is very quick but leaves very deep scratches which are no fun to remove. Next time I will try the Dremel with a carbide burr and maybe a finer sanding drum.







The idea behind this approach was to create something that looked a bit like a casting, did it work? The picture is a Photoshop composite, making two of them would tax even my patience ;D


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## vcutajar (Jul 13, 2012)

Looking good Jan.

I learned the lesson of the Dremel and the sanding drum a while back. If you manage to find fine grit sanding drums please tell me from where you found them. I think they are very hard to come by.

Vince


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## Don1966 (Jul 13, 2012)

Hi Jan, I know you put a lot of time into making those Standard. Filing, scraping and sanding take a lot of time. Your finish shows it. Very good work and presistence. I just purchased a Foredom with an angle grinder attachment. I haven't tried it yet, but a lot of the disc that come with it is for finishing. I have the metal workers kit also. Yesterday I ordered a chisel attachment with a set of chisel. I want to give them a try also. I will let you know how this works out. Could be a time saver. Great work so far and you still have my interest.

Don


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## rhitee93 (Jul 13, 2012)

Jan,

I think you went beyond the casting look straight into "How the heck did he do that?" Your effort is truly inspiring. k points for that


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## ProdEng (Jul 13, 2012)

Vince,

Dremel supply 60 and 120 grit drums, I have both but have to admit the 60 grit was installed and I didn't even think about it before applying the tool to the job! I will try the 120 grit on an offcut and see how that goes. My local hardware store, Bunnings, carries most of the Dremel range.

Don,

I was looking at the Foredom range yesterday in the local jewelry tool supply house and wondered how that would work out. The equipment is expensive so I would be glad to hear your opinion. Hand work is important to me but I like to save it for when it is necessary rather than just making hard work of something. Good hand tools are also expensive but a Swiss file is a joy to use compared to a cheap file; you have to try it to believe it.

Brian,

Thanks for your kind words, I am sure that knowing somebody is watching makes me push much harder than working in isolation would allow ;D

Jan


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## vcutajar (Jul 14, 2012)

Jan

That's the problem. Even 120 grit is too rough for finishing. I used to use a worn out sanding drum and attach a strip of 400 grit sand paper with Blue Tack. It gave acceptable finishes but was a bit fiddly to set up. Eventually I gave up.

Vince


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## gbritnell (Jul 14, 2012)

Once again, excellent finishing on your parts. Although it time consuming I really enjoy the hand work as much as the machining.
gbritnell


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## ProdEng (Jul 15, 2012)

Thanks George, hand work is pleasant change of pace and quiet too 

Last week I started on the bearing blocks but ran into the problem of not having decent parallels. To remedy that problem I ordered some AR Warner items from LMS. These have a useful size range and good accuracy but at a price. Occasionally it is great just to buy something not made in China so even at three times the price it put a smile on my face.

So the con rod was next on my list to make, the order of build being a bit random. I chose to make the con rod from aluminium whereas normally steel would be used. On such a small engine the strength will not be an issue and both machining and hand finishing are made much easier. The finished item will be painted so the appearance of the metal is not a problem.

Started off by milling a block to the external dimension of the rod. The only important features of the rod are that the end face is parallel to the crosshead pin bore, everything else is clearance or cosmetic. This requirement was met in the first operation.






The block was left overlength so that it could be gripped in the 4 jaw chuck. The work piece was centered in the usual way.






The rod was turned down to 6mm though it will have a taper when it is finished. I left it parallel so I could use a split collet to grip on. The fillet in the end was turned with a form tool ground from some strange 4.3mm diameter HSS and then I had to make a holder for it.






Final operation for the day was to mill the slot for the crosshead.






Should be able to get back to it on Wednesday as I have a few days leave. To add to the fun my rotary table and a bunch of other tooling should arrive mid week, after which there will be no excuses left ;D

Jan


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## Tin Falcon (Jul 15, 2012)

> Despite the fact that me and paint don't get along, this one will be painted.




Using a spray on etching primer will help a lot. IIRC use it before you regular primer. 
Tin


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## steamer (Jul 15, 2012)

Nice set up and execution Jan!  It's coming right along!

Dave


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## Don1966 (Jul 15, 2012)

Nice job Jan and I do like you set up also. I usually bead blast brass or aluminium before painting and prime it also. Never tried etching primer before.

Don


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## ProdEng (Jul 16, 2012)

Thanks for the encouraging comments guys, most important thing is I am enjoying myself 

Bead blasting is an attractive process and I looked at a small unit on Friday. The only problem was that they wanted $880!!!!! for it so I declined. The principles are simple so it should be possible to make most of it at little cost. Etch primer is a good idea, never used that before so will need to investigate. The painting is some way off yet, many hills to climb first.

Jan


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## ProdEng (Jul 19, 2012)

It's been very cold in the mornings and I can't work with frozen fingers so my start time in the workshop has been a bit late.  

When I turned the conrod I left the rod parallel so that I could use a split collet, this turned out to be unecessary but I still had to turn the taper.  The big end has a centre hole so I made a drive dog up for the small end.  Needed to make up the pin that will connect the rod to the crosshead so that I could put it all together.  The bit of paper takes up the small clearance between the drive dog and rod.






The big end of the rod is narrower than the small end but I left them the same width initialy to ease work holding.  Milling the first side to width was easy on my beatiful new AR Warner parallels that had arrived one hour before






For the second side I needed a shim .9mm (.036") thick to pack up the rod and was right out of stock!  For non critical jobs like this I use copy paper which is consistently .1mm (.004") thick.






That just left the best part, the filing and blending.











Work now continues with the main bearings and the base.

Jan


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## vcutajar (Jul 20, 2012)

Looking good Jan.  Still following your build.

Vince


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## ProdEng (Jul 21, 2012)

Hi Vince, thanks for looking in

With the con rod finished work resumed on the main bearings.  This is a simple milling task so only one picture, rounding the caps.  The method has been seen here many times before, a rod through the bore resting on the vice face and then just moving the part around and taking a cut.  The angle for the cut into the corners can be calculated or just eye balled.






As the bearing is not split the bush has to be and both halves are identical.  The radius on the bush was added last with the work held in a collet chuck.  There is only 2.5mm of bush in the collet and it is tightened by hand only to avoid crushing.  A form tool was groung from 1/8" HSS, easy stuff.






I also made the nut pads for the bearings and will take some pictures when the bearings are filed and sanded.

Work has started on the base and all the bits together are starting to look like an engine.  More tomorrow with a bit of luck

Jan


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## rhitee93 (Jul 21, 2012)

It is really taking shape Jan.  I enjoy all of your setup photos.


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## Don1966 (Jul 21, 2012)

Jan, love the way your project is coming together. Looks like the cold weather is not slowing you down to much. 
I said I would let you know about my side grinder for my Foredom. With the different attachments it is a dream to work with. Having the foot pedal to control the speed, you can control the sanding and grinding very Easily. Also the chucks are quick change. I have the H 30 and H 50 chucks. I would highly recommend it.

Don


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## ProdEng (Jul 22, 2012)

Glad you are enjoying the pics Brian, the photography is now part of my process and not much trouble.

Don, the Foredom is on the dream list, we will see how it goes.

Got a bit more done today, with the base receiving most attention.  The pockets in the base where drilled first to get rid of most of the waste and then milled with carbide cutters of two different diameters to provide the required corner radius.






And that was about it for this weekend!  Next will be the nut pads for the base and then a crankshaft maybe.  One last picture just to show all the bits made so far together.






Jan


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## vcutajar (Jul 22, 2012)

It is slowly but surely taking shape.

Vince


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## laddy (Jul 22, 2012)

Are you following a plan?  Is the plan available so we can follow along with plan and pic of construction?  Fascinating to see how one person approaches the work and how another person would have thought to do it.  Marvelous pictures  Thanks  Fred


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## ProdEng (Jul 22, 2012)

Long way to go yet Vince but some significant parts completed.

Fred, if you go to the first page of the build there is a 3D model of the engine, which is done in Inventor, but I also have a full set of drawings to work from.

Jan


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## ProdEng (Jul 28, 2012)

Next job on the list is the crankshaft.  I bought some silver solder for the assembly but might end up gluing and pinning it instead  The crank cheek ends are radiused to 12mm but the leaded steel I had was 22.2mm dia so I just changed the drawing.  The bar end was faced in the lathe before milling two flats and drilling the holes.







The cheeks where then sawn off with a slitting saw.  It's the first time I have "parted" with the saw and am impressed with how easily it went.  Due to my poor technique the sawn faces where a bit rough so they got a quick flycut.






While I was in the mood for milling I started on the main bearing.  The nearest size piece of brass I have is well oversize so the first operation was to mill the end square, the sides parallel and the top face just cleaned up.  Those four faces are as accurately square as the machine will allow.






The bearing was then seperated from the bar and slit in two with the slitting saw.  I would like to solder the two bearing halves together for machining but have no source of heat yet so it will have to wait.  Back to the crank tomorrow.

Jan


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## Don1966 (Jul 28, 2012)

Looking good Jan, I always get the jitters ever time I silver solder, even thought the work comes out OK. Do you ever get over this fear? Your crank approach is interesting.

Don


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## luky_luke (Jul 29, 2012)

Hello,

Really beautiful work, CNC users would go faster for sure, but would not a more beautiful finish their parts, you're a passionate work well done, as many here!
I am your Trhead until the end.
Any plans for micro-biller with the glass ball, it will help hang out the primer before the final coat, it's just an idea, because I have these problems due of not having done this, perhaps be you another idea.
Again congratulations 

cordially
J-M​


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## ProdEng (Jul 30, 2012)

Just one more picture from the weekends work, the cranshaft bits put together.  The parts are still in need of a good polish.






Don, the idea behind using the round stock was twofold, I had a piece and I wanted to avoid rounding the ends of the cheeks them being quite short.  It's a few years since I did any silver soldering but, with the crank, it's mainly not wanting to oxidise my bearing surfaces and then having to polish them up again.  With such a small engine the glue and pins are unlikely to fail I hope

luck_luke, thanks for your comments, I do indeed love my machining and the subject itself.  I call my time in the workshop "perfect peace" where the rest of the world fades away.  The paint system still needs some research but bead blast, etch prime and then paint seems to be the favoured method.


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## kuhncw (Jul 30, 2012)

Very nice work Jan.  Thanks for posting your setup photos as well as photos of your parts.  I always learn a lot from setup photos.

Your crank should work very well in your steam engine.  I have a built-up crank in a 1/4 scale Galloway hit and miss engine which is much more severe duty than your engine will be.  The crank is held together with Loctite 609 and tapered pins. 

Regards,

Chuck


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## Don1966 (Jul 30, 2012)

Hi Jan looking forward to see how your crank shaft goes. 

Don


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## WhisperFan (Jul 31, 2012)

Great looking so far.  I can't wait to see the finished product.


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## ProdEng (Jul 31, 2012)

Chuck, thanks for your comment and confirmation that a pinned crank works out OK.  I guess if pins work on an IC motor a tiny steam engine will be no problem.

Don, the crank should get done this weekend and hopefuly a bit more also.

As for completion WhisperFan, that is some way off in the distance but the next engine is in the planning so I need to move on


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## luky_luke (Jul 31, 2012)

ProdEng said:


> Just one more picture from the weekends work, the cranshaft bits put together.  The parts are still in need of a good polish.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


_________________

Hello Jan,

You'll make it work steam, I do not think you have given yourself as much harm to get it working compressed air, coupled to a varies Propeller pitch, you might find way to slow that it does not stall, and with a regulator such as the website, put the steam, and through propeller starting forwards or backward and for phasing out the propeller in "flag", what do you think ? 

Cordially
J-M​


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## Runner (Aug 1, 2012)

Hi Jan,

I don't think you will have any trouble with the use of Loctite and pins for the manufacture of the crankshaft if you make the tolerances just enough to allow the Loctite to penetrate, which from the photograph you obviously have. The pins I would Loctite in as well, the reason being when I made a similar crankshaft although the pins were as I thought a tight fit, one came out of the journal due to the centrifugal forces when spinning it in it's bearings at high speed. I noticed it before it did any damage.

Brian


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## luky_luke (Aug 1, 2012)

Hello Jan,

I thought about this on the crankshaft, and on each side of the axis of connecting rod in your place I should have done a small shoulder on the axis to eliminate the friction on each side pieces on the crankshaft,This is just an idea, but I think it is not bad.

cordially
J-M​


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## ProdEng (Aug 1, 2012)

Thanks for the comments, it's good to get a little debate going!

luky_luke, my engine will run on compressed air as I have no boiler.  I did look at making one but the materials required proved to be very expensive, so if I make one it will be much later.  My engine is based on an industrial engine that was used for driving electrical generators so no propellors required  Thrust faces are a good idea and I have included mine on the bearings, where it is easier to machine.  My plan is to have a small gap on the crankshaft and allow the con rod to float a bit more so it aligns with the crosshead easily.

Brian, I will take your advice and glue the pins in.  Having a pin work loose could cause a lot of damage to a mostly aluminium engine.

Jan


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## ProdEng (Aug 4, 2012)

After polishing the crank cheeks I glued the parts together with Loctite and put the assembly asside to set.  I forgot to mention previously that the crankpin has a step either end to ease alignment on assembly. Decided to use 1.5mm diameter pins so drilled appropriate holes half way through the cheek and pin.






The pins where turned from 2mm welding wire and then glued into place.






After letting the Loctite set it will be a matter of cutting the unwanted bit of crank and cleaning up the pins.  The main bearings are next up for attention, I would like to get the crank rotating on its bearing mounted on the base.

I started on the big end bearing but forgot to take pics:wall:  Anyway it wasn't a great sucess so I get to do some of it again anyway.  I soldered the two halves of the bearing together but did a poor job using low melting point solder which was too weak.  As a result when I reamed the bore the bearing split.  Will now have to solder it together again!


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## vcutajar (Aug 4, 2012)

Jan

That will be a fine looking crankshaft when you will finish it.  Well done.

Vince


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## Don1966 (Aug 4, 2012)

Jan i never made a crank bt pinning interesting approach. Looking good so far, you may consider a heavy grade soft solder like 60- 40 or 50-50 to get more strength.

Don


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## Runner (Aug 5, 2012)

Jan, by the time you read this reply I am sure you have resoldered the bearing halves and completed the task of reaming, ready to move to the next task. However, I would like to give my experience with the use of soft solder. I use it many times during a model build, I find the bonding strength very good. The solder I use is a 60/40 multicore solder that comes in wire reels, the same type used for soldering components to printed circuit boards. The advantage of this type that it already has the flux incorporated in the solder and with small items such as the bearing halves use a soldering iron to tin both halves, prior to clamping them together and reflowing the solder with external heat such as a propane torch or hot oven. I use this solder to bond small items to mandrels that needs to be machined. When the item is too large to tin using my soldering iron, I use additional flux such as Bakers fluid with a propane torch but avoid placing the flame on the surfaces to be tinned by the use indirect heating. Sorry if I am teaching..... 

Brian


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## ProdEng (Aug 5, 2012)

Thanks for the comments folks, the crankshaft is now finished.  I milled the excess off the pins and hacksawed the unwanted piece of shaft from the crank, followed by a lot of filing.

I did end up using 60/40 multicore to resolder the main and used some rosin flux I have in a pot.  I didn't take any more pics of the bearing machining as it was not very pretty but the bearing works.  I am not entirely happy with it and I may remake it later.

Brian, I am more than happy for people to add suggestions on how to do things, there is a lot of knowledge out there and saying something three times is better than not saying it at all  I never though of using an iron to do the tinning, I just used a small butane torch and spread the solder with a flux soaked rag.

Just one picture, the crank, bearing and rod loosely placed together.  The screws are just to hold it together and they will be replaced with studs and nuts.


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## ProdEng (Aug 12, 2012)

Didn't get a huge amount done on the engine this weekend, mostly filing and sanding the main bearing housings.  They are now done and all of the parts glued together and the crank even rotates in the bearings!!!!






The eccentric also got made along the way.

I need to make lots of nuts and studs, which I guess is an ever present task with engines.  To make this a bit more efficient I have been making up tooling for the common sizes.  Tooling is time consuming to make but will repay many times over in the future.

While looking at the sizes of the fasteners I started thinking about what scale this engine might be relative to a real engine, very back to front I know  It turns out that the scale is about 1/8 so the original had a bore of 4 inches, quite a small engine.  For this engine size the fasteners are scale also and are in the range M1.6 to M3.


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## rhitee93 (Aug 12, 2012)

Jan, that is looking good.  Those bearing housings are fantastic! Keep up the good work.


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## Don1966 (Aug 12, 2012)

Jan you have done great work on your crank and bearings. Looking good and I am interested to seeing how unique the engine will look when complete.

Don


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## Runner (Aug 12, 2012)

Jan, interested in the crank journals. They appear black in the last photograph is that anodise or some similar form of treatment?
Brian


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## ProdEng (Aug 13, 2012)

Thanks for the comments, nice to have some company

Brian, the black on the crank is just a trick with the light, the crank is all polished steel.  With a single lamp you can move it around so that some parts of the crank reflect no light to the camera and so appear black.  My idea here was to get a bit more contrast to better define the shape of the parts.


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## ProdEng (Aug 18, 2012)

My plans for tool making have been delayed by lack of material.  It was my intention to finish the bottom end of the engine first and work up but I started on the cylinder anyway!

A piece was cut from a 25mm plate and squared up using a flycutter.  Holes where drilled for the bolt on bits followed by work on the ports.  It's all pretty straightforward stuff, just drilling and some light milling.  The inlet ports where drilled before milling to give the 1/16" cutter an easy time.







With the ports done it was off to the lathe to bore the bore!  The picture shows the setup for centring the block, the runout was just a little vibration on the needle.






With the bore done the passages for the inlet where drilled followed by rounding the cylider end.  






Final pic shows work to date; the holes need tapping, the rounding needs filing and I need to finaly decide where to put the inlet and exhaust.






Tomorrow is a new day and I don't know what I will make yet


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## vcutajar (Aug 18, 2012)

Jan

You can do my carb.

Vince


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## ProdEng (Aug 18, 2012)

Now Vince that would be an honour!!!!  I love making small parts and parts with small features.  The Sherline mill excels at this sort of work and does exactly as it is told.  Buying best quality drill bits and end mills also makes a huge difference.


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## Don1966 (Aug 18, 2012)

Hi Jan, glad to see you back at again. The cylinder looks great.

Don


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## SilverSanJuan (Aug 18, 2012)

Beautiful cylinder Jan.  You do some very fine work on the small details.

Todd


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## ProdEng (Aug 19, 2012)

I was waiting for some leaded steel to start on the nuts but it's not coming so I got on with the job with steel on hand.  Steam engines tend to use a lot of nuts so it seemed wise to develop some kind of method to get the job done a little quicker; this is my effort.

Start off by turning a piece of bar, part 6mm to fit a collet and the rest the diameter across the corners of the nut.  In this case 5mm for M2.5 nuts.  Each of these blanks will produce 5 nuts.  The blank is mounted in a collet block and the hex milled.  The overhang of the part is a bit much but it works fine with gentle cuts.






The blank is returned to the lathe and the flats polished first.  It is a devil of a job trying to polish an individual nut  The hole is drilled, the washer face turned and the nut parted off.  Repeat a further four times.






Tapping is carried out using the mill vice.  The nuts are packed up using a parallel and a guide used for tapping.











If this seems like a lot of work it is!  Having a method speeds the work and with practice I hope it will be less of a pain.  No finished nut pic yet, they all need deburring and I have had enough for now


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## gus (Aug 19, 2012)

Runner said:


> Hi Jan,
> 
> I don't think you will have any trouble with the use of Loctite and pins for the manufacture of the crankshaft if you make the tolerances just enough to allow the Loctite to penetrate, which from the photograph you obviously have. The pins I would Loctite in as well, the reason being when I made a similar crankshaft although the pins were as I thought a tight fit, one came out of the journal due to the centrifugal forces when spinning it in it's bearings at high speed. I noticed it before it did any damage.
> 
> Brian



My I add on.
Do ensure the Hi Strength Loctite is not made in China. It cost US$20 for a 50ml bottle in Singapore and !0 Rmb(US$1.5) for a made in China bottle.

I have use Loctite to hold crankpins with good results.


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## ProdEng (Aug 28, 2012)

A little more progress with the engine, lots of things part done and a few finished  The cylinder base is a straightforward piece of milling and drilling followed by the usual filing/sanding.  The geometry is marked out first but machining is carried out using coordinates from one corner.






The hole for the stay bar needs to go in at six degrees so the base is twisted in the vise and the hole bored with a slot drill.






The bush in the centre of the base aligns the cylinder to the rod and provides a home for the gland.






The gland was next up and gave me a chance to use my rotary table for the first time.  The angle is set so that the sides can be milled.






Next step is to drill the mounting holes and centre drill for the piston rod.  The hole for the piston rod is best drilled on the lathe when the boss is turned down to ensure concentricity.






The boss was turned and the gland parted off.  I then remembered I had intended to cut off the gland with a slitting saw, what a memory?  Parting with an interupted cut is not a relaxing passtime.






All that was left was some filing and sanding to blend the profiles.  I made some buttons up to do the ends, 4mm diameter with M1.6 screw.  The nut is only there because I have just made the first of many and it needed a home.






That's all for now, I have the week off this week so hope to make more progress.  Need to make lots of nuts so not too exciting but quite relaxing.


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## SilverSanJuan (Aug 28, 2012)

Nice progress Jan.  How did you set the six degree angle on the stay bar?  Was that done with angle blocks?

Todd


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## Don1966 (Aug 28, 2012)

Looking good Jan, keep the photos coming, I love the details you give.

Don


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## vcutajar (Aug 28, 2012)

Glad to see you back at it Jan.

Vince


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## kquiggle (Aug 28, 2012)

Speaking as a hope-to-have-a-mill-some-day newbie, I would like to thank you for taking the time to post your pictures and explanations. It has been very educational to me to see how you approach a task. sequence of cuts, set ups, and so on. 

Looks like the engine is coming along wel; I look forward to seeing the finished product. Thanks again.


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## ProdEng (Aug 28, 2012)

Todd, the angle was set using a cheap digital protractor that I bought on ebay.  The protractor works better than I expected and is a useful tool.

Don, the pictures have become part of my machining method and help with planning and remebering how things where done.  I recently went through the whole set of pictures and was surprised how much was forgotten in such a short space of time.  For items that will be made repeatedly I now write a set of process instructions, no sense in reinventing the wheel each time

Each weekend sees a bit of progress Vince, but nothing during the week.  I work four 9 1/2 hour days along with 2 hours traveling so am pretty dead in the evenings.  Still I do get a three day weekend!!!


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## SilverSanJuan (Aug 29, 2012)

ProdEng said:


> Todd, the angle was set using a cheap digital protractor that I bought on ebay.  The protractor works better than I expected and is a useful tool.



Thanks for the info.  I have one of those too.  I'll have to start practicing with it. 

Todd


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## gus (Aug 29, 2012)

SilverSanJuan said:


> Thanks for the info.  I have one of those too.  I'll have to start practicing with it.
> 
> Todd




Gus would like to buy one too but before do so ,I have level up the milling machine. 
Please advise source.


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## ProdEng (Aug 29, 2012)

Hi Gus,

I bought my digital protractor on ebay for around $30.  You don't even need to level your machine, it has a feature to zero at any angle and then move relative to that point.


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## gus (Aug 30, 2012)

ProdEng said:


> Hi Gus,
> 
> I bought my digital protractor on ebay for around $30.  You don't even need to level your machine, it has a feature to zero at any angle and then move relative to that point.



Thanks ,Jan

After years of erecting Ingersoll-Rand heavy compressors in the field ,I am still stuck with levelling from ground up.
You cannot teach old dog new tricks but Old Gus has to learn new stuffs.

In the 50s,if you owned a micrometer,every machineshop in area gets to know of it.Mikes were very expensive and most use Old fashion calipers which I still have.My uncles swear by their insides and outsides.

In the 80s Digital Vernier Calipers cost " an arm and a leg". Today it is must have. Oh!!! Stay away from the cheapies but Japanese or Taiwanese.

Will go into LMS site to look for Digital Protractor.


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## ProdEng (Aug 31, 2012)

Making nuts was driving me, well, nuts so I quit and started on the eccentric strap.  The bearing is machined with the two halves soldered together as usual.  The join is central to make it easy to find the centre for drilling and reaming the reference hole.  I decided to mount the part to a plate to avoid stressing the soldered joint (my last one fell apart:wall and to make it easier to mount in the four jaw chuck later.  First pic is of the setup ready to go.







The strap is quite small and needed small corner radii and hence a 2mm diameter cutter.  This makes for slow work and the constant fear of the cutter breaking.  The depth of cut was .005" so at least the feed was quick.






Last shot shows the progress so far, the milling nearly done then off to the lathe to size the bore.  The little piece of brass shim is a very short homemade ruler so I could measure how deep the cut had gone without winding the cut off at all.






More tomorrow with a bit of luck


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## gus (Aug 31, 2012)

Thanks for showing machining of eccentric strap using Rotary Table. My next strap will machined likewise. Take care with last cut.

Looks like my DIY Rotary Table will be very useful. e.g. Used it today to markout the 40 degrees offset intake on the IC engine shaft.

Good Luck


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## ProdEng (Aug 31, 2012)

Gus, the strap is not cut all the way through, there is a liitle over 0.5mm left to hold it all together.  I intend to mount the aluminium plate with the strap to the 4 jaw on the lathe.  All will be revealed


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## rhitee93 (Aug 31, 2012)

Looking good Jan.  It is the simple things like the make-shift depth gauge that make me go, "Why didn't I think of that?"

I'm looking forward to seeing this engine all complete


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## ProdEng (Sep 1, 2012)

Got a bit left to do yet Brian but we keep chipping away at it

Carried on with the eccentric strap today, first shot is the milling complete.






It was off to the lathe then to bore the 12mm for the eccentric.  I was much happier tightening the 4 jaw onto the ali plate rather than the brass, much less potential for destruction!






With the bore done some of the waste was sawn off with a jewelers saw ready to drill for the fasteners.  The rest of the waste was left on as it provided a reference surface to set the work on.






The holes where drilled and the rest of the wast sawn off.  The remains will be mounted on an expanding mandrel so the the strap can be turned to width.  But that is a job for tomorrow.






The machining is less than perfect, the curves and straight lines don't blend too well.  At least there is material to remove rather than an undercut to get rid of.  The excess will be taken care of by a couple of strokes of a file.


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## ProdEng (Sep 2, 2012)

After nine straight days in the workshop I feel about as relaxed as I ever get, retirement looks very attractive right now

Picked up where I left off yesterday, making the mandrel to turn the eccentric strap and finish turning the strap to width.  Tooling is not as time consuming to make as it looks and most often produces a better job.  The strap is still soldered together and the screws where added for a bit of extra security, didn't want the mandrel to split the joint.






The rod for the strap is going to get redesigned so that is finished for now.

With a couple of hours left to play the stay rod was calling.  The rod is 108mm long but 4mm diameter with a shoulder at either end.  Little spindles like this tend to be a bit whippy but there is no way to use a steady.  To stiffen the setup one end of the rod is gripped in the collet chuck while the other end runs in a bush held in the drill chuck.  With a sharp tool and light cuts this worked out well enough.






Just for fun I put all the completed parts together to see how things where coming along.






Back to work tomorrow, that will slow things down


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## rhitee93 (Sep 2, 2012)

You made great use of your time off Jan!  The engine is really taking shape


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## gus (Sep 2, 2012)

Hi Jan,

Your engine looks great. Please advise source of plans.Would like to build one .


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## Don1966 (Sep 2, 2012)

That was some real nice bit of work Jan. Your engine is looking great and love your detail photos. That is going to be a beautiful looking engine.

Don


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## ProdEng (Sep 3, 2012)

Thanks for dropping by everybody and glad my work is of interest.  For my part, I am enjoying myself a lot.  Now if I could only get more time off work...

Gus the plans are being drawn up as I go.  The design is a mix of various designs with a fair bit of added detail.  It gets more complicated every time I look at the drawings and at that rate will never be finished  The idea behind building this particular engine was to learn how to make engines look a bit more realistic, I prefer the appearance of a scale model but it adds a huge amount of work.  Work on drawing for the next model has started but I wonder if I will have the courage to attempt making it.


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## ProdEng (Sep 8, 2012)

Several bits of material arrived during the week so I had a choice of what to make.  The cross head got the vote, I was given a bar end of 2" brass to do the job with.  Here is the model view of the part so that the process makes a little more sense.






The sequence of operations was planned in advance given that the part has an awkward geometry.  First operation was to turn the sliding face and drill and tap for the retaining screw.






Next  op. was to mill pockets for where the con rod will eventualy go.  Material was left at the bottom so that the part could be clamped easily in further operations.






And now the part with both pockets done.






The hole for the piston rod was drilled in the mill to guarantee placement accuracy and squareness, then off to the lathe to turn the boss.  Note the nut used to protect the boss on the sliding face.






And that is the part so far, still needs the excess milled away and the hole for the con rod pin.  No doubt it will get a bit of filing and sanding later.  Hopefuly finish up tomorrow


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## vcutajar (Sep 8, 2012)

I always enjoy seeing each installment of your progress.  As other people have mentioned your photos (unlike mine) are top notch.  Keep it up.

Vince


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## ProdEng (Sep 9, 2012)

Thanks Vince, I do enjoy my photography.  I use a DSLR with a macro lens all mounted on a tripod.  The pictures are edited in PhotoShop and that makes a big difference.  All in all it is time consuming but, if a few people like the pics, worth the effort.

I finished the crosshead today after having the day off yesterday.  The majority of the waste was sawn away and then the remainder cleaned up in the mill.  Still lots of filing and fitting to do but that will come later.






I have to pause again now to make some tooling.  This time I want to finish making a set of die holders so that my stud making process actually works


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## rhitee93 (Sep 9, 2012)

Very impressive Jan.  I got a pretty good stud making procedure going on my PMR1.  The best part was an idea I gleaned from here.  Use an emergency collet tapped to your stud threads to hold onto the finished end when you tap the second.  I found that the collet worked much better than the threaded holder I made first.


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## Don1966 (Sep 9, 2012)

That is some very impressive bit of machining Jan, love following your progress. I am getting anxious to see it run now. Thanks again for your excellent photos.

Don


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## SilverSanJuan (Sep 10, 2012)

I too must add my thanks for you efforts on the photography.  Your pictures really help to see and understand your parts and processes.  Beautiful work on the machining as well. 

Todd


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## ProdEng (Sep 16, 2012)

Brian the collet idea is a good one.  For my setup I would need to make my own, probably a tapped slottted cylinder to go into my ER32 collet chuck.  So far I have cheated a bit, the short studs are threaded for the whole length while the long ones can be gripped in the ER32

I too look forward to the engine running Don but suspect that is a way off yet!

Glad you are enjoying the pics Todd, I will keep it up.

Of all the machining processes, the making of nuts and studs has caused me the most trouble.  The notion that these common parts should somehow be easy to make has got in the way of taking them seriously enough.  No doubt the small scale contributes to the difficulty, M3 and above are straightforward but the smaller sizes are very unforgiving.  My previous effort at threading studs used a standard die holder kept square by the tailstock, not a great method.  I decided to make a set of die holders to a design by George Thomas, the design is from his book The Model Engineers Workshop Manual.  If I had to keep only one of my books it would be this one.  The methods explained seem overly complicated at first glance but they just plain work!  Here is a pic of the holder assembly so the description makes sense.






Please excuse the screws sticking out everywhere, I forgot to order the grub screws:wall:  The section that holds the die is seperate so that each die has its own holder.  The huge benefit of that is that you only adjust the die to cut size once rather that repeatedly as with a standard holder.  It's a fair amount of work to make all the bits but well worth it.  Threading is now quite easy and quick.  So far I only have two holders to cover the two most common sizes but I will make more.

Not much to show for a weekends work but hopefully get a bit more done next week.


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## ProdEng (Sep 29, 2012)

The die holders took a while to complete but well worth the effort.  Now we can return to the engine


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## SilverSanJuan (Sep 29, 2012)

Nicely done Jan.  Which part of the die holder rotates?  Does the larger cylinder rotate on the pin in the chuck?

Todd


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## ProdEng (Sep 29, 2012)

Thanks Todd, the large body does indded rotate on the 3/8" diameter pin.  The spigot on the front of the large cylider has a flat on it to take the grub screw from the die holder.  The short die holders are quicker to make and save material realtive to making the holder in one piece.  Each time I make a piece of tooling I feel more comfortable in my shop


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## robcas631 (Sep 30, 2012)

Beautiful engine!


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## ProdEng (Sep 30, 2012)

Thanks for the encouragement Rob

With tooling complete the next engine part was the cylinder cover.  The tool used for the recess is 1/8" HSS held in a home made holder.  The small toolbit is inexpensive and quick to grind.







Off to the mill to drill the holes, the work is centered precisely and coordinates used to place the holes.






With the holes drilled it was back to the lathe to part to width.






No picture of the finished item, I forgot to take one!


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## gus (Sep 30, 2012)

ProdEng said:


> Thanks Todd, the large body does indded rotate on the 3/8" diameter pin.  The spigot on the front of the large cylider has a flat on it to take the grub screw from the die holder.  The short die holders are quicker to make and save material realtive to making the holder in one piece.  Each time I make a piece of tooling I feel more comfortable in my shop



Agree with you. Die holders mounted on to tail stock cuts out so much hard work using the die wrench. Have got any tooling to tap on the lathe??

made lotsa tools myself too.There are occasions when I wreck a piece when a simple tool would have done the job best than monkeying around.


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## ProdEng (Oct 7, 2012)

Only managed a few hours in the workshop this weekend due to life getting in the way   Next part to make was the valve chest.  Most of this is pretty standard machining, a repeat of steps performed on other parts.  The Sherline mill is good for drilling holes up to 1/4" after which you need to mill or bore.  Having recently received a boring head I decided to bore the hole in the valve chest to remove material that would otherwise be milled.




With the hole enlarged close to the marked lines the rest was milled out following the lines by eye.




The hole for the valve rod was drilled along with the counterbore for the gland.  The hole for the rod is 2mm diameter at the top and 1.5mm at the bottom.  By drilling the surface of the bottom part with the 2mm drill I ended up with a nice countersink for the 1.5mm portion.




I have started the fitting process of the assembly and needless to say it needs a "bit" of adjustment.  At least it's provided the opportunity for another mock up shot.




That's it for this week, a lot of detail work remains but most of the major parts are now done.


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## vcutajar (Oct 7, 2012)

Wow Jan, that is really taking shape now.

Vince


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## bret4 (Oct 7, 2012)

Great looking engine. I'd love to make one like that. Can't wait to see it run.


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## ProdEng (Oct 19, 2012)

Decided to make the valve rod in one piece but this turned out to be a poor choice.  While gripping the 2mm shaft in order to mill the head, the force of the cut caused the part to spin ruining the head.  After a few choice words I made a separate head to be soldered on.  The soldering turned out to be very easy and the fillet of solder improves the appearance 






The valve and valve nut should be up next


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## ProdEng (Nov 3, 2012)

With most of the parts made I have now turned my attention to doing a bit of sculpting and finishing.  The base still needed to be shaped and boss added to mount the stay bar.  A draft angle of 2 degrees was milled on the base using the angle table.  After milling the edges where rounded with a file and sanded to blend.




I only had a vague idea of how the boss was to be made and fitted.  Started off by milling a pocket in the front of the base to take the boss.  The base is held down with two clamps and there is a parallel between the base and angle table to resist rotation.




Leaving the base on the mill, I started to turn the boss.  A test fit showed that the parts where in alignment.




Before gluing the boss was shaped to provide access for the fixing nut.  The boss will be fared in using JB Weld followed by a bit of filing and sanding.




A mountain of filing and fitting now awaits my attention but at least assembly can follow just behind


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