# Building Elmer's #46 rotary



## arnoldb (Jun 13, 2010)

When nearing the finish of my rotary table build, I started thinking on which engine project to take on next. I just couldn't make a choice between the three candidates I had lined up... Last week my sister slept over for a couple of nights, and I showed her the three, and she "chose" Elmer's Comber.

I haven't been able to find much information about building this little engine - there's a couple of videos on the Internet, and what appears to be an unfinished team build (TB2) here on HMEM, so I'll bore everyone by doing a bit of a build log.

This engine's construction seems relatively simple, but running through the processes in my head to make the parts, its evident that high accuracy will have to be maintained to get a good runner. The most demanding part to make will be the cam. I've also had to re-work some dimensions to fit available material and tools I have - mostly to convert things to metric. One material change I had to make is to use 2mm brass plate for the cam instead of the 1/8" (~3.2mm) called for - I think this will be OK. 

I started out on the base today. I don't have a set of parallels yet, and my vise is too deep for milling the slot in the base with the 2mm cutter. This slot has to be as accurate as possible to keep the cam square, so I used my DTI to check all the levels (both X and Y) while clamping the base block down in the top of the vise. As I was tightening up the vise, I had to re-check the levels all the time, and with taps with a hammer to keep things level (of course, after removing the DTI from the workpiece each time when I did this!):





The DTI is clamped in a collet in the mill's collet chuck.

A drawn-out session of milling followed - 1mm depth of cut to get the 6.35mm depth into the slot; this is actually over the depth my 2mm slot mill can cut, and the last .35mm caused it to slightly open up a small "V" at the top. A 2mm thick slitting saw would have been much easier and quicker. While the block was in place, I drilled the mounting holes for the bearing blocks as well, using the mill's hand wheel calibrations. Instead of #5-40, I'll use 3mm screws.
Then I roughly bandsawed the excess "blocks" off, and finished off the cut-outs with a 14mm end mill to size.

Not much to show for today's work - the base as I finished shop for today; it still need mounting holes drilled to mount it to a display base, as well as drilling and tapping mounting holes for the cam:





Regards, Arnold


----------



## Troutsqueezer (Jun 13, 2010)

Arnold, that's a very interesting engine and it will be fun to watch your progress. It has an exotic feel to it and will look very nice sitting up there on your shelf. 

-Trout


----------



## Deanofid (Jun 13, 2010)

I've never seen one but for the pics in the prints, Arnold. I think you're safe in having one that
won't show up everywhere. At least, not yet! Once you get going, others will probably want
to try it too. 
This looks like another fun "Arnold build"!

Yay!

Dean


----------



## kcmillin (Jun 13, 2010)

This is quite an intriguing engine, Arnold. 

I will definitely be watching this one. 

Kel


----------



## arnoldb (Jun 16, 2010)

Trout, Dean & Kel, - Thanks guys.

I'm having a bit of a slow start on this one though; first of all is a line-dance "take one step forward and two steps back"...
The base as made is scrap, as I mis-calculated the position of one set of bearing holes... I found that out yesterday evening after trying to do some work; in fact, I finished all the other holes and tapping and the base and started on the cam. At one point, I put the cam plate in the base and something just did not "look" right; that's when I discovered the booboo :-[. Oh well, I'll just re-make the base, and having some further thoughts, it might be better to finish the bearing blocks as well, and line-bore them mounted on the base before making the cut-outs and milling the slot in the base.

We are having a very sudden and very cold spell (you guys in the colder climes stop laughing; -4C is darn cold for us!), and trying to mark out accurately is no fun when one's shaking all over the show (no heating in my shop) - so evening work is out for now  
I might be out of town this weekend as well; our winter hunting season has opened here, and I got a call today that I might be in line for half an oryx if I'm prepared to visit a friend this weekend. My freezer's a bit bare, and that is meat for at least six months, so if it comes off, I'll be butchering meat instead of metal this weekend :big:

So don't hold your thumbs; I'll most likely have to dig this thread out of page 4 by the time I get back to it ;D

Regards, Arnold


----------



## Blogwitch (Jun 16, 2010)

Arnold,

If you start in the team build area, anything that says TB2 is related to the engine you are building.

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?board=24.0

John


----------



## bearcar1 (Jun 16, 2010)

Hi Arnold, Oryx huh? I hear that it tastes a lot like chicken :big: Seriously, that sounds like a great deal to me. one does not live upon metal shavings and water alone. Having never had the opportunity to try a bite, I suppose the closest thing to that we have here in the states to compare it to would be venison of some sort, which I have had and enjoy tremendously. Does it cook up 'greasy' or pretty lean? 

Too bad about your base plate, however, from having seen your work, I'm certain the end result will be such that no one will be the wiser. Thm:

BC1
Jim


----------



## GailInNM (Jun 16, 2010)

Arnold,
This is a fun engine.
If you are looking for additional information on this engine, search for "Coomber engine" on the internet. Notice the extra "o" in the name. When Elmer published his design he spelled the name of the original engine incorrectly and it carried through in to the Elmer's engines book.
Gail in NM


----------



## Maryak (Jun 16, 2010)

Arnold,

For sure one does not live by Oryx, metal shavings or..................................


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU-CPkKw5lY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU-CPkKw5lY[/ame]

Best Regards
Bob


----------



## bearcar1 (Jun 16, 2010)

:big: :big: I dunno Bob, I think there is something wrong with that boy.

BC1
Jim


----------



## SAM in LA (Jun 16, 2010)

Arnold,

The #46 engine sure looks interesting.

I'll be watching your build closely.

Get your freezer filled so you will have plenty of well nourished shop time.

Happy hunting.

SAM


----------



## vascon2196 (Jun 16, 2010)

I've said it before...I love building Elmer's engines. This one is definately on my list but after Elmer's geared engine I needed a break. I'll have just as much fun watching you "have fun" building it.

Looks great so far!

Chris


----------



## Deanofid (Jun 16, 2010)

Too bad about the mix up, Arnold. All of us who make chips know, "That's the way it goes!". 

Hope you have a good hunting trip. It's all elk, deer and moose here. Tasty critters.
Show us what you get!

Dean


----------



## arnoldb (Jun 17, 2010)

Thank you John. Yes, I saw the TB2 log and went through it and the related posts. I might have missed some; some more re-reading is required  Pity though that the TB appears not to have finished... I hope I'm wrong about that because there appears to have been a lot of effort put in.

Thanks Gail; yes it appears to be a fun engine as you should well be able to attest ;D While researching I found the "Elmer" oddity of having the Coomber incorrectly spelled. Turns out Mr Coomber (if it's the same one) was not only associated with the round cam; there are some nice Coomber based table engines out there as well.

Jim, Bob, Sam, Chris & Dean, thanks guys  
The little set-back on the base is no big deal - I get to make it better the next time round - and with different methods as well :big:

 :big: Bob - I think I have to agree with Jim though; there seems to be something wrong with that lad; it appears he can't multi-task :big: 

Now *COMPLETELY*




As to hunting, well, I won't be doing that this time round; my friend's neighboring farm is a game ranch, and they have a group of trophy hunters in from the USA currently. The hunters want the oryx heads to stuff and hang on walls, and the bloke who owns the farm sells off the rest of the carcases for home consumption. While I love shooting (I'd happily shoot at targets on a range all day), I'm not a keen hunter. Only if I need food I'll hunt, but I really dislike pulling the trigger on a live animal - it's one of those things that have to be done though.
Oryx meat taste less "gamey" than other species of buck here; in actual fact most people cannot distinguish it from beef, but it is very lean and treated properly very nice and tender.
As to the critter in question; these are magnificent animals with a really mean demeanor when hurt, and tough to get down; they have killed many people in the past. I have shot only a smallish one about two years ago - I don't want to make the photo show up here as its a bit gory and might be offensive to some. We took the photo as an after-thought and only had a cellphone camera available. If you want to have a look, you can see here. I must say though; it supplied me with a lot of food. The only mementos I have of it now is two photos, the .303 spent cartridge casing, and a "knobel" (German dice-game) cup made from dried skin - don't ask about the "parts" that came from!

Regards, Arnold


----------



## arnoldb (Jun 22, 2010)

;D With a freezer bountifully replenished, and warmer weather since the weekend, I had a chance to get into the shop yesterday evening and today.

Yesterday, I marked out a new base (intentionally leaving a lot of excess stock on it) as well as the bearing blocks, and milled the bearing blocks down to size. I also drilled the bearing block mounting holes for threading, but stopped there:




Funny how just truing up and marking out blocks of aluminium can take two hours to do...

This afternoon after work, I tapped the bearing blocks mountings to M3. A little drill vise is handy to hold onto smaller parts while tapping free-hand like this; I still need to build or improvise a tapping stand:





Then I drilled the mounting holes in the base plate using the same setup as for the stuffed-up base plate and counter bored those for some 3mm screws I had, and mounted the bearing blocks in position:





As mentioned in a previous post, I felt it would be better to machine the bearings in-position on the base. I could do it on the lathe with the vertical slide mounted, or I could try doing it on the mill... I opted for the mill, and ended up with a way-out weird setup. The one bearing needed to be drilled to 5.9mm and reamed to 6mm, and the other needed to be reamed to 12mm (closest I have to 1/2"). I don't have machine reamers, but my hand-reamers would work, though these need a lot more travel to ream to size. Also, the bearing block with the 6mm hole is quite thin, and would easily bend away. I ended up mounting the lot as shown in the mill (Professional machinists divert your eyes and laugh quietly):




The base was set square vertically to the mill vise with the wood block supporting the bottom bearing block. Odds 'n ends (a bit of scrap ali and a coin) making a light fit between the lower and upper thinner bearing block would support the upper block while drilling.

Next, I drilled a 5mm hole through both blocks with light pressure, and then drilled (5.9mm) and reamed the top block to it's 6mm size. Then I simply unscrewed the top bearing block, and without having to adjust the mill head's height, with VERY light pressure drilled the bottom bearing out to 11.5mm. I didn't comment on the thread from Student123 about trying to ream to 0.5mm over drill size, but I had to do it here, as I keep forgetting to buy an 11.8mm drill for my 12mm reamer. Well, it worked. I just had to take things very carefully and slowly; ream a bit - about 1mm down-feed - and lots of lube (I use methylated spirits for aluminium), raise and clean the reamer flutes with a brush (they clog up quite quickly!) after about every 1mm of infeed, and repeat. It took me a while; the mill was running at it's lowest speed to "simulate" conditions for a hand-reamer like I was using here. Things turned out well though ;D

End of work today; a half-made base, and two bearing blocks that need cosmetic finishing. I scribed two little X's on the base and the bottoms of the bearing blocks where these won't be seen; this is to help alignment when doing final assembly:





Regards, Arnold


----------



## ksouers (Jun 22, 2010)

Congratulations on getting the freezer restocked! At least you know you won't starve any time soon.

Some advice for when you get around to making the cylinder block...
Drilling the angled ports can be somewhat challenging as there isn't much room for error, as I found out. I drilled a little too close to the cylinder and it caused the wall to break out somewhat. You can see in the picture that the ports are longer than they should be.

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=2390.msg31813#msg31813

I'd suggest following Gail's advice and drill straight down and add a relief at the top.

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=2390.msg32954#msg32954

I did it both ways and the straight down method worked much better.


----------



## Deanofid (Jun 22, 2010)

Hi Arnold;
Your parts came out well, and the part about "pro machinists divert your eyes" is nothing to worry 
about! If you've seen the setups I have in job shops you'd know you're doing just fine. Needs must,
and the customer doesn't know how the job was done. He just knows the job fits!

Your game shot looks like most. We all eat! Actually, what you have there is a lot less messy than
how things look when animals eat other animals. What a mess that is when I come across a carcass
that was taken down by wolves or a cougar! Especially wolves. 

Dean


----------



## arnoldb (Jun 23, 2010)

Thanks for checking in and the heads-up on machining the cylinder Kevin - that is MUCH appreciated! I see you also silver soldered the shafts in; Ill go that route as well.

Thanks Dean. Somehow I'm not really too bothered by the pros though . As long as a setup is safe and it works to make the parts, anything goes in my shop ;D
Yes, we all eat; problem is there are many people who think meat comes from packets in a supermarket... Have you ever seen a video clip of African Wild Dogs hunting ? - that can be really gory, but its nature's way.

No photo today; I'll add it to my next post. This afternoon I just rounded over the tops of the bearing blocks like I did for the grasshopper engine. I was pondering some ways of using the rotary table to do it, but all the ways I could think of would have taken longer to make jigs and set up than just milling some facets and finishing with a file. 

Regards, Arnold


----------



## arnoldb (Jun 26, 2010)

Well, a little bit of progress ;D

The one bearing block after some clean-up on some 320 grit emery and oil on Thursday evening:





This morning I continued with work on the base. Instead of milling the slot for mounting the cam, I cut it with a slitting saw. The excess stock I left on the base helped a lot, as it was easy to get enough clearance all-round using this simple setup:




I may have cheated a bit... I used my 1mm thick slitting saw and made two passes to get the 2mm wide slot I needed. This may not be a correct operation for a slitting saw. On the second pass, I used a much slower rate of feed, to try and keep the saw from flexing up into the previous slit while cutting.

While I had the slitting saw set up, I just used it to cut out the sections from the base that needed cutting out; made for a much nicer operation than hacksawing and milling these to size. Much easier to clean up as well, as the slitting saw leaves a really good finish on the cuts. As a near-final operation, I slit the base away from the excess stock - an action photo for a change:




I didn't slit all the way through; I stopped with a small bit still holding the base on to the stock and simply broke it off by hand rather than running completely through and have the base fly off into the workshop (or me!). The nub that was left when broken off I just filed off before cleaning up the base on emery paper.

Next up, the cam...  I'm no math wizz, but I do like to know how and why things work. Before I even began this build I studied Elmer's plan and tried to figure out a formula for calculating the cam profile. Elmer's cam design is based on angles of rotation and offsets based on the piston stroke related to those angles. Not a simple concept to explain in words, but the cam profile would come out to a "circle" that is slightly "less curvy" at the top and bottom; i.e. an ellipse. I worked out a formula based on the cosine of rotation... After I did my brain-busting, a pointer revealed that Gail (GailInNM) has already done the thinking - (Thanks Gail!) based on the sine of rotation. With reference to Gail's spreadsheet, my own calculations were right, except that they were 90 degrees rotated.  Gail's cam profile file can be found here on HMEM  

I have a "new" RT that I'm itching to use "in anger". I've already cut a bit of brass plate to make the cam from. There are some mounting difficulties to mount the plate to my RT, but I think I have those figured out... One thing that would be difficult, is to dial in the offsets needed to machine the cam on the mill's wheels. So I spent some time to add a crude DRO to my mill :big: - A while ago I splurged on some more CCC (Cheap & Cheerful Chinese) digital calipers, and I temporarily mounted the 200mm one I bought to the mill X-axis. A bit crude, but it should work ;D:





After a bit of clean-up and assembly, today's results; the base and bearing blocks done... Not quite... I just noticed I still need to make the inlet & exhaust port holes on the thick bearing block! :-[ :-[ :-[ :





Regards, Arnold


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Jun 26, 2010)

Hm...your DRO is making me think about going the same way. It's not like I need a readout at some angle from the action. I'm typically just turning one axis at a time anyway. I'll think on this some more.

Yeah...you're liking that mill aren't you?


----------



## Deanofid (Jun 26, 2010)

Wow, those bearing blocks look nice, Arnold.
Re: you way of using the slitting saw, it sounds proper to me, 'cause that's the way I do it when 
I need a slot deeper than tiny end mills will make. Works fine!

Dean


----------



## bearcar1 (Jun 26, 2010)

Extremely clean work Arnold. I'm contemplating using your method of rounding over for the bearing caps on my build, or at least the general idea as such. It's always a pleasure to see your work develop.

Regards

BC1
Jim


----------



## ksouers (Jun 26, 2010)

Nice work on the bearing blocks, Arnold. I can't believe you did that by hand.


----------



## Troutsqueezer (Jun 26, 2010)

Those bearing blocks look very stately Arnold. This is shaping up to be a masterpiece. 

I can't believe how much I like using my cheap DRO's now. It is so worth the effort and money. Zee, it's not too late to jump on the bandwagon! ;D

-T


----------



## mklotz (Jun 26, 2010)

Rather than making two or more passes with a slitting saw, I buy them in aliquot sizes and stack them to make the kerf width I need. Works nicely and the saw doesn't try to "hunt" into an already made slot.


----------



## arnoldb (Jun 27, 2010)

Thanks Carl. Yeah - I love the mill ;D; still some issues to sort out on it though; I think the spindle bearings are still not pre-loaded enough. And a 3-axis DRO... I can't possibly afford that for the foreseeable future, but I have a hare-brained idea that does not involve digital calipers... 

Dean, thanks! - I'm happy to know that others do it as well ;D.

Thank you Jim. Rounding them over on the RT would work as well, but then I don't get the sharpish bottom edges without lots of setup and changing positions... I've been contemplating making a dedicated profile cutter for the "Elmer" bearing blocks; but I'm just plain too lazy :big:

Thanks Kevin. All the rounding over by hand; my little files are my friends ;D And after filing, a bit of effort with emery as well. Fortunately Tel gave me the hint about using oil on the sand paper; that works a treat if you're not scared of getting your fingers VERY dirty 

Trout, thanks; I don't know about a masterpiece though... Wait till you see today's trials and tribulations :-[

Thanks Marv. I have the same idea about the slitting saws; All the ones I have (that is BOTH of them ) was bought with stacking them in mind, and my arbor made to accommodate that. I did not take the tooth count into consideration though :-[. On materials that does not clog up the teeth, stacking them works very well, but with the teeth not matching, aluminium clogs the tooth spaces up very quickly; no matter what I try to use as lubrication.

Well, today I made the cam ;D... TWICE  At least My RT did it's part properly ;D

To mount the workpiece, I had to have backing for it (NO WAYS am I going to mill into the RT!). A block of brown stuff left over from when I re-did my kitchen a while ago came in handy, and I clamped the brass plate to it, and then drilled some holes on the drill press. Some small holes for putting screws in to hold the center down as that would be completely separated from the outside piece, as well as four mounting holes to bolt the lot to the RT and retain the outside ring in the process:





I've read some scathingly bad reviews of these cross-slide vises - and they are not great, but mine is invaluable on the drill press!
Can anybody spot the error yet?

The only way I could mount and clamp this lot on the RT was to have it offset at 45 degrees so I could line up the bigger (7mm to leave room for adjusting on 6mm bolts) holes I drilled with the T-slots on the table. I think my RT is too small... With the offset, the entire set of calculations was worthless, so I had a couple of choices - 1. Add the offset to the calculations in the spreadsheet and re-print the page. 2. Physically turn the RT base to 45 degrees on the mill table to eliminate the offset. 3 - and what I did; save a tree by not printing another page, and put temporary degree markings on the RT table with a marker pen - no need to offset the RT base. The RT was already clamped, and I had centered it properly to the mill spindle; Y was locked down, and my "DRO" was reset to zero as well. So I set the workpiece on center as accurately as possible using a 1mm center drill as reference - I really need to find (or make) a wiggler set for these operations!. With the workpiece properly (or so I thought) centered, I cranked X out to check on the square line for "rotational" alignment; pretty close, so I rotated the RT the necessary amount to get it spot on, and set the adjustable collar to zero on the RT. Good to go:




What?, you didn't spot the mistake yet ? - Neither did I!

I decided to use a new 6mm multi-flute end mill to cut the cam. 6mm, as that is what the engine's rollers will be (instead of 1/4"). Multi-flute, as I have discovered that these make MUCH nicer cuts than 2-flute. If you look at the bearing blocks in an earlier post, you'll see the difference in finish between the rectangular cut-outs on the thin and thick bearing blocks. The thin one was done with a 2-flute slot mill, and I had to do a lot of filing to clean it up. The thick one was done with the multi-flute (4mm in that case) as my 2-flute 4mm was too short to do the job. Surprise! - It did a much nicer job. My multi-flutes are not center cutting, so I needed a starter hole, which I just drilled with a 6mm drill, but at a 0.5 mm closer "radius" setting than the milling cutter would take - to give the milling cutter it's center clearance. Then I started cutting; 2 degree turn on the RT, and the reading from the table dialed in on X, and feed Z. Repeat. Repeat another 43 times. 1/4 way there and I took a smoke break:




Something seemed odd, but I just could not place my finger on it though... - I was in "feed the angle, turn the X, feed Z mode. Lots of readings to keep track of; "nothing will distract me..." (well, except a smoke break :big

Once I finished the the entire 360 degree circle; that is 180 Z cuts with X adjusted on each, JOY ;D - I'm done ;D ;D. Not a single mis-feed or booboo ;D:




Stand back and admire a bit ;D..... oh: oh: :wall: :fan: - Yup; it hit me... When I set up the workpiece, I used the cam outer ring center instead of the bearing axis center to align the workpiece :-[ RATS, DRAT, DARN, WTFWYT... My brass plate is valuable (not only because of price; it's VERY hard to find. 

I had a couple of ideas on making a rescue, but none would suffice, so I started again, and finished the job properly (I hope!):









I trimmed most of the excess off the cam ring (some bandsawing), and filed it down roughly to size based on the lines I scribed for the outside profile. The cusps left from milling on the inside of the cam was also filed down lightly till they were all just about gone; some more work needed with emery to clean those up. Then I stopped for the day; I wanted the cam finished today, but, alas, that was not to be.
Shot of the roughly finished cam:





And an assembly shot:




You can see where the cam meets the base that some more filing is needed! At least, its starting to look like something... Some more work needed...

Regards, Arnold


----------



## Deanofid (Jun 27, 2010)

That part came out nice, (in the end), Arnold. It's about enough to drive a guy crazy making a mistake on a piece of brass! It's not hard to get here, but quite expensive compared to other metals.

You got it done!

Dean


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Jun 27, 2010)

Ah bummer Arnold. If I'd still been smoking...I would have taken a pack of cigs to start again. Very glad it came out well.


----------



## arnoldb (Jun 29, 2010)

Dean, thanks. Yup; horribly expensive; I can get from South Africa, but by the time I've had to add import duties and transport costs its a right bummer. Thinner sheet I can get locally; I finally found a local engraver that will sell me odd bits without insisting that I have things engraved on it...

Thanks Carl. I guess I'll have to give up the smokes soon though. We have some draconian anti-smoking laws coming into effect here in Namibia soon... Don't know what I'm going to do to take little thinking breaks though :shrug: . Gum's out; I hate the stuff. I guess I'll have to plant celery and chew on the sticks :big:

Yesterday evening was spent on chores & pumping iron (not at the gym - the clothes iron works just as well)

Tonight I cut a block of brass off some 1" square stock I have, faced one cut end square to the sides, and found the center of it and used a center cutting 6mm slot drill to counter bore about 4mm deep on the center. Then I turned some 7mm brass rod down to have a slightly loose bearing fit in the 6mm bearing block (Elmer mentions making this bearing fit slightly "looser" than the other one that that acts as the valve) , and silver soldered (brazed) the two together:




At least its getting easier all the time to do the silver soldering, and the joints are starting to look nicer as well with less clean-up.

That's the start of the cylinder block. Before I soldered the shaft to the block, I ran through the machining that would be needed to finish the cylinder block, and the shaft would not be in the way and would be very useful to indicate for squareness when boring the cylinder. I know my 6mm collet mounted in the lathe collet chuck runs within 0.005mm true, so I'm going to use that to grip the shaft and center-drill the other end for tailstock support to finish the other bearing/valve face on the block. I think it will work...

Regards, Arnold


----------



## Deanofid (Jun 29, 2010)

Arnold, it sounds like you have a good plan for machining your cylinder. Like you, thinking the whole thing
through helps me get things done without too many goofs. (Not *too* many, at least!)

You iron your clothes? Impressing the ladies, or the boss?  ;D

Dean


----------



## vascon2196 (Jul 1, 2010)

Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!


----------



## arnoldb (Jul 1, 2010)

Thanks Dean. Thinking the processes through is a bit like playing chess... Opponent's the metal-monster ;D. Don't just take a piece now because you can; it might be a trap! and No, not trying to impress the ladies or the boss; have to set a good example for my young assistant and keep my mom happy ;D Wel,, maybe impress the ladies as well :big:. Boss is easily impressed by just making a "sh1t hot" (as he calls it) Powerpoint presentation on his behalf :

Thanks Chris!

Some progress on the cylinder today. Just chucked the workpiece up on the shaft in the collet chuck, and carefully center-drilled it with a small center drill, so that I could bring up the tailstock for support. Then I carefully checked that I would have enough clearance and angles to turn down the bearing/valve combination. Ended up I had to move the toolbit a bit further out from the toolholder to get the clearances, but nothing major:





Then I turned it down - first to the size of the step for the entire length, and then further down to size on the bearing surface. When I was about 0.01mm away from final size, I cheated a bit and used a small triangular needle file to file in the two oil grooves (quicker than setting up a threading bit for the job; just be careful to hit the mark square-on and not let slip ). There is a third lighter groove - that would be the final length of the bearing surface. For now I left it over length, as the last operation on the piece would be to face it down to that mark; after some holes were drilled and plugged up. As a last operation in the lathe for now, I then extended the piece further out of the collet chuck, and still with tailstock support and a right-hand tool just cleaned up the other face and excess silver solder. Part as done for tonight:




Next its on to the milling machine for it.

And an assembly shot:




It runs nicely in the bearings with no lateral play at all. There is slight galling when pressed against the thick bearing block; I think that is caused by the sharp corner on the bearing block, so I'll give that a minute chamfer with a piece of sand paper rolled into a cone.

Regards, Arnold


----------



## SBWHART (Jul 2, 2010)

Coming on great Arnold 

Stew


----------



## 4156df (Jul 2, 2010)

Arnold,
It's really looking good. Thanks for posting.
Dennis


----------



## arnoldb (Jul 3, 2010)

Stew, Dennis; Thanks for checking in!

Today I pretty much finished the cylinder block.

First off, it had to be milled down to size. I used a DTI on the main shaft to check that things were square while setting up in the vise:




This process was repeated for milling all the sides to size, as well as for setting up to drill the mounting bolt holes for the cylinder heads.

To drill the ports, I used a method mid-way between Elmer's original one and the one suggested by Kevin & Gail. I decided on 1.4mm for drilling the passages, so I offset the start of the passages by 0.7mm from the edge of the bore instead of starting with the center on the bore diameter like Elmer's plans show. Then I calculated a reduced angle for drilling that would stay inside the block but would move the bottom ends of the holes further from the cylinder bore than using Gail's straight-down method. I wanted a little extra clearance, as cross-drilling brass have bitten me in the past; when the holes intersect things are inclined to grab and bite, and a straight-down hole would be close to the cylinder wall, leaving a greater chance of break-through.
Of course, one could drill the axial holes to depth first before drilling the cross-holes, but I went the other way around.
The angle I calculated at 10 degrees, so I used a protractor to set the cylinder block in the vise for drilling the passages:





While changing gears on the mill for selecting a lower speed for drilling and reaming the cylinder bore, the selection handle broke oh: :wall: :




The selection handles on the mill are both pretty crappy and I have not been too happy with them. Now I have a GOOD reason to make some decent ones ;D ; I finished the rest of todays work by selecting speeds with a vise-grip pliers on the selector shaft.

The cylinder bore was done by drilling a 4mm hole through, followed by a 9.8mm drill, and then the 10mm reamer.

To drill the axial port holes, I just set the lot up by gripping the thin shaft in the collet chuck and mounting on center on the rotary table. I didn't bother to match any specific reading on the RT, and just used the DTI on the sides of the block to rotate it till it was square. Then offset in X on the mill by dialing the 4mm needed on the hand wheel, drilled the hole, rotated the RT 180 degrees and drilled the other hole. I used a piece of wire stuck in the port holes to feel when the drill broke through into the port passages "a la Troutsqueezer" - thanks for that tip Dennis! :





While I had things set up on the RT, cutting the slots in the bearing/valve was a no-brainer as well:





Then I turned some taper pins from some 2mm bronze brazing rod - using the flex away from the collet to my advantage. No need to set the top slide to turn the taper or anything; it comes out taper of its own accord:





The two taper pins - a bit crude, but will do their job well ;D :





The taper pins were smeared with some high-strength retainer, and tapped in very firmly in the open holes on the valve. I'll trim the excess off at a later stage. Pretty much the finished cylinder block :




Oh yes, I forgot to mention that I opened the port holes about 1mm deep into the cylinder bore with a 1.5mm slot mill.

It was getting a bit late, but I felt like doing a bit more, so I made a start on the cylinder heads. I don't have solid brass stock close to the size needed, and while I could hack these out of some bigger stock, I'm a bit stingy. I could have used aluminium for the cylinder heads, but that just would not look right IMHO, so I settled on fabricating the heads from some 4mm brass plate I have, drilled to take some bits of 7mm round stock:




The round stock is over-long, to allow for some grip while machining.

I then silver soldered the lot together, and gripped each head on the shank in the 3-jaw and trimmed the bases down flush, and then turned on the 10mm register. Then I center-drilled and drilled through for the connecting rod. Elmer used a 2.3mm rod; I have a choice of 2 or 3.16mm, so I settled on using the 2mm, so the holes wire drilled 2mm, but with a very slow infeed and return to try and make them as smooth as possible. I don't have a 2mm reamer yet, and didn't feel inclined to turn a d-bit for this job.

To turn down and face the other side of the cylinder heads, I just clamped a piece of 2mm rod in the chuck, and with a piece of paper to provide friction against the chuck jaws and the revolving center in the tailstock pressed up hard against the workpiece, it was a doddle to do, as there was no real accuracy needed; just some clean-up:





At this point I stopped for today; there were ominous rumblings coming from both my tummy area and the dogs... Anyway I felt like a *beer* as well. So today's results:





Regards, Arnold


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Jul 3, 2010)

Nice bit of work today Arnold.

Sorry about the selection handle...but it sounds like you were looking for an excuse to make some mods.


----------



## SAM in LA (Jul 3, 2010)

Arnold,

You make it sound so easy. :bow:

Thanks for your detailed descriptions.

I learn so much from posts like yours.

Keep up the good work.

SAM


----------



## bearcar1 (Jul 3, 2010)

It is always such a pleasure to see your work in progress Arnold, you make it appear effortless although and we all know the struggle it can be at times. Looking forward to seeing this one running, but am truly enjoying the ride. Thm:


BC1
Jim


----------



## Deanofid (Jul 3, 2010)

Coming along great, Arnold!  Thm: 

Dean


----------



## arnoldb (Jul 4, 2010)

Thanks Carl. Yes, those standard selector handles that came with the mill is pretty crappy; they fit very poorly and is (were) "spongy" to operate. New replacements was on my tuit list; I guess the priority just got boosted ;D 

Sam, thank you! As to making it sound easy, maybe, but don't be fooled . Some of the things that may appear easy to me was very challenging when I did it the first time. Then, it became easier each time I did it. Then I become confident I CAN do it. And THEN I got reality checks on these "now-simple" operations and stuffed up famously ;D. After that, it's back to basics and a good bit of thought on how these now-so-simple operations are not "easy", but take a good bit of thought and attention - even if its quickly done.

Thanks Jim - the ride has gotten a bit bumpy though :-[ - Keep your seatbelt fastened!

Dean, thanks.  :big: I think my fan also came off, so some remedial work will be needed...


Today I spent on making some of the smaller, but needed bits for the engine.

I started off with the forks (suitably adjusted in size for my thinner cam) marked out on a bit of brass stock:




In the photo, you can also see I added some 2mm threaded studs to the cylinder block - Yep, it will be studs 'n nuts once again.

First, I drilled all the holes needed and then I used a slitting saw to cut the forks; the piece of stock was just mounted vertically in the vise The first fork inside done:





Then I slit the top fork off the workpiece, to the point where it lifted up of its own accord and was held on by just a sliver of metal:




I just broke it off by hand, and proceeded the same way for the second fork.

After a bit of cleanup, I had two forks:





Two wheels soon followed - simple job; grab a bit of 6mm silver steel in the collet chuck, center drill and drill through at 2mm, then part off the discs - minimal clean-up with a file and some emery:





A couple of custom-made 3mm bolts from some 5mm hex stock:




I LOVE those tailstock die holders!

The piston followed in rapid succession - turned it down to just over-size, and instead of using a threading tool to cut the oil grooves, I did them by eye with a triangular needle file, then a last facing cut to 0.01mm over size, parted it off half-way, and touched both edges with a needle file to clean those up. Then used some 800 grit "emery" and oil to get it to size (that last 0.01mm goes quickly!), then finished the part-off:





I then drilled and tapped the thick bearing block M3 to accept the steam/exhaust fittings - I forgot to do this when I made it initially :-[. Then I turned a fitting for connecting a steam (Air in my case :big pipe for now:




It's a bit "ugly", so I might re-do it later!

I stopped there for today; I wish weekends were longer! I need to make 8+ (+for the shop monster!) M2 brass nuts, shorten the studs, make a flywheel, some proper pins for the silver steel wheels, and do a bit of bling.
A quick assembly shot:





Elmer mentions in his build plans that a bit of fiddling and filing will be required... VERY true in my case; the assembly revealed that there are a couple of items that need addressing. I'm short of about 1.5mm  of space on the thick bearing side; the cylinder and forks compared with the cam needs that much! I think I know how to fix that though . And my 10mm thick flywheel will have to be a bit thinner as well... 3/8" is only 9.53mm :big:

I hope the bling fairy is on standby for next weekend... I'll have a guest for most of this week (my sister's visiting ;D), so I can only get back to the build by next weekend. 

Regards, Arnold


----------



## Deanofid (Jul 4, 2010)

Looks neat with the parts put together, Arnold. Should be very interesting when you have
it completed. 
Hope you don't go overboard with the so-called 'bling'. Sometimes it looks sooo... Mr. T!  ;D

We have some similar shop habits. Like where you slice off the forks with the slitting saw, leaving
just a whisker holding it. Keeps parts where you can find them!

Dean


----------



## SAM in LA (Jul 4, 2010)

Arnold,

You sure are moving at a fast pace.

I really like the looks of the #46 engine and am looking forward to seeing it run.

Keep up the good work.

SAM


----------



## ksouers (Jul 4, 2010)

Looking really nice Arnold.

I like the way you made the heads. Well done.


----------



## bearcar1 (Jul 4, 2010)

Shoot Arnold, give your sister a nice soft cloth and some polish and you both can visit and get the parts all bling-ie at the same time :big: That way it will only take 1/2 the time and you''ll still have next weekend to do final adjustments. :big:

Looks terrific so far and I do so like the studs and nuts route. (the 'proper' way as they say)


BC1
Jim


----------



## arnoldb (Jul 6, 2010)

Thanks Dean. No - I don't think the bling will get to Mr T stage :big: - there will be a bit of shiny things, but also some paint, and possibly a "surprise" finish on some bits; I'm still thinking if I want to risk doing that though...

Sam, Thanks! - I'm also looking forward to see it run ;D

Kevin, thanks. I was staring at the drawings, and the thought just popped into my head to make the heads like that. Fortunately on this engine there's no need for pack nuts, so it worked ;D

Thanks Jim. My sister postponed her visit on no 99 - so I guess I'm alone to do the polishing  ;D.  :big: The old studs 'n nuts... Seems like I'm forced into it anyway with what I have available to me. I'm getting so used to making little brass nuts, I'm considering building a micro threading "combination" lathe that I can take to work and spend my lunchtimes productively Rof}

Well, I'm happy to report that some of the interference problems are gone; I took an hour this afternoon and filed the mounting holes for the thick bearing block on the base away by 0.5mm towards the outer edge of the base. Nobody will see that when the engine is assembled. Except, now EVERYBODY knows I did it :-[.

I also lightly chucked and carefully centered the cylinder block in the 4-jaw on the thin shaft side - protected by a couple of layers of paper wrapped around the shaft to prevent chuck marks. Then I VERY carefully turned more of the shoulder on the valve side down with the rear parting tool to the valve size.

These two operations gave me the necessary clearance needed to remove all of the interference on that side of the cylinder block and _just_ makes the cylinder "float" in the cam. Sorry, no photos today.

I'm still getting a bit of axial interference in the heads as well, but I'll first make the 2mm nuts so I can bolt them down properly before further checks in that area.

Another thing I saw that was causing interference was the height of the spigots on the heads; on the "bottom" of the revolution, the head spigot and the fork back would touch - I solved that by removing another 0.2mm from each of the heads, and that's now clear as well.

Regards, Arnold


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Jul 6, 2010)

arnoldb  said:
			
		

> Except, now EVERYBODY knows I did it :-[.



Yeah but WE'LL forget. ;D


----------



## Troutsqueezer (Jul 6, 2010)

Having to expand or elongate a hole here and there is standard procedure for handmade craftsmanship I would think, Mr. Arnold. It's what makes it so special. 

I appreciate all the effort you've put into this thread, I know how much extra work that takes. It sure helps all us Greenies out here. 

Video coming before long, huh?

-Trout


----------



## kvom (Jul 7, 2010)

I had missed this thread up until today. I was a junior member of the TB2 group and have received most of the parts that were produced. They are all sitting in a parts drawer waiting for me to finish and make the few that are missing.

The cam ring was machined beautifully by Gail on his CNC mill. I had thought that the form needed to be somewhat "oval", and that a circle wouldn't work. I can't tell from your pics whether your ring is made that way.

I'm looking forward to seeing your run. Hopefully I'll get around to finishing mine before too many years go by.


----------



## 4156df (Jul 7, 2010)

Hi Arnold,
Didn't see your Jul 4 post till today. Wow. It's really looking good. Can't wait to see it running. Also, very nice write-up. Thanks for posting it.
Dennis


----------



## arnoldb (Jul 7, 2010)

Thanks Carl ;D - Problem is I don't think I'll forget :big: - But then again, I don't think anybody on HMEM builds machines that are completely perfect ;D I just don't think it can be done (though gbritnell and some others get pretty darn close!)

Trout, thanks ;D - but I don't know about the "Mr. Arnold" bit... I'm just plain "arnold" - i don't even deserve the "a" in caps, though my English teacher would have a coronary if she saw this grammar :big:. Oh and I'm also just a Greeny - I have a fully paid up membership in mis-made parts and bad swarf! It is hard work sometimes (as well as humiliating ) to post a full build thread, but it becomes really worthwhile, as one gets a lot of helpful information in return like I have, as well as just maybe inspiring or helping someone else in their own efforts in the process.

Thanks kvom - It's a real pity that TB2 seems to have fizzled out without a good result. Yes, the cam is oval (elliptic) - and without CNC I used MMC (Manual Machine Control) to cut it earlier on in the build Its not really visible, but it is indeed elliptic.

Thanks very much Dennis ;D - its a pleasure!

Tonight's little bit - I made a couple of 2mm nuts from 3.2mm brazing rod like I've done on past builds (file, drill, thread and part off). Made 9 nuts in case the shop monster wanted one:






Then mounted those on the cylinder on the studs, and used a cut-off disc in the Dremel to trim the studs down. Not the ideal use of the Dremel cut-off discs on brazing rod, but it does the job with light cuts at a slightly reduced spindle speed. A bit of a polish where I wanted it - not too much, but things do shine, and this lot is done:





I also splurged a bit on some brown stuff today; I bought a bit (2m x 200mm x 25mm - that was the smallest I could find) of Rhodesian Teak. A bit of that will make for a (I hope!) nice wooden base.

Regards, Arnold


----------



## SAM in LA (Jul 7, 2010)

Arnold,

I almost didn't see the cylinder assembly in your last photo. It was well camouflaged with the polish job. It just blended into the background. Well done. I have thought about building #46, but the eccentric has me intimidated.

Regards,

SAM


----------



## GailInNM (Jul 7, 2010)

Sure is looking good, Arnold.
I have been following along with anticipation.
Gail in NM


----------



## GailInNM (Jul 7, 2010)

Not a problem, but referring to the cam profile as elliptical might lead someone astray. The Cam profile is not an ellipse or elliptical. I have forgotten what the curve is called, but it looks some what like an egg standing upright on the big end. Just not as pronounced. 
Gail in NM


----------



## Deanofid (Jul 7, 2010)

Good going, Arnold. 
When I first saw that last pic, I thought, "Why did he put pencil marks all over it?".
 ;D 'Snot pencil marks, silly man! It's in the prints!
All is clear.

Dean


----------



## arnoldb (Jul 8, 2010)

Thanks Sam. If you have a rotary table, the eccentric's not difficult - it just takes some time and concentration to do. : Believe me, that polish job is far from perfect, but I'll term it "adequate" for this build 

Gail thank you. You had me somewhat concerned for a moment - but after a re-look at the plans and the data, you are right; the cam is somewhat egg-shaped - very little as you mentioned; and it is difficult to see on the model itself! I just hope it does not go pear shaped for me :big:

Thanks Dean. Now why would I use a pencil there scratch.gif - the silver soldering's done and pencils are NBG in a machine shop except for preventing silver solder to go where it mustn't :big:. HMMM scratch.gif - maybe good for giving graphite-based lubrication as well - draw-on lubrication so to speak... ;D  I'm just being facetious :big:

Tonight I finished the flywheel. Pretty much like I did the grasshopper's one from a square bit of 8mm plate turned down using Bogs's methods. I was in two minds as to making it spoked vs leaving it as per plans. As it's not very prominent in the designed location, I decided to leave it "simple", so nothing major for today's update:




I did add a bit of paint in the recesses on the flywheel; I'll first see what things look like when assembled before I show that.
I also did a bit of experimenting with finishes as well - more on that later, as some more experimentation is required 

Regards, Arnold


----------



## Deanofid (Jul 8, 2010)

arnoldb  said:
			
		

> Thanks Dean. Now why would I use a pencil there scratch.gif - the silver soldering's done and pencils are NBG in a machine shop...:big:.
> 
> Regards, Arnold



Oh yes they are! Gives you something to nervously chew on when doing those tricky rotary table contortions!

(I know you were kidding. They're good for cleaning out yer ears, too.)

Thanks for the update.  ;D

Dean


----------



## arnoldb (Jul 10, 2010)

Thanks Dean ;D - I forgot about chewing on pencil ends :big: - Last time I did that was in 1990 in draughting class in school - no CAD back then and a selection of pencils of different hardness for drawing different line types. This was just about the only class in school for which I did homework - I loved drawing the parts! Didn't like the paint that came off then ends though!

Today I started off with a bit of brown stuff. I'm not particularly fond of woodwork, but can do a "sort of OK" job of it when needed. Just used a jigsaw to hack a squarish bit off the piece of wood I bought earlier this week, drew a circle on it and trimmed off most of the excess outside of the circle with the jigsaw, and stuck it up on the lathe by pressing the revolving tail center into the center of the circle and squeezing it down on the face of the 4-jaw chuck pretty hard. Then with a very sharp HSS toolbit, just turned it down:





After some more turning, and then a bit of sanding followed by some floor/furniture wax, the wood base was good to go, so I marked the mounting hole locations using the engine base itself as a jig:




After drilling pilot holes for some brass wood screws, I sanded the wood base down again, and then coated it thickly with more of the wax and set it in the sun so the wax could melt a bit and seep into the wood.

Earlier on this week I did some experimentation on the "stuffed" base I made right at the start. I've never done engine turning, and was toying with the idea of doing some on the base. I tried a couple of different methods; from wood dowels coated with grinding paste to sticking some emery on the tip of some 6mm rod; nothing worked particularly well though. I finally hit on cutting a bit of Scotch-Brite off a pad, and using a small drum sander from my Dremel's kit with a worn-out sanding drum as retainer - with a "pocket" left on the bottom to shove the bit of Scotch-Brite in. This worked OK, so while the wood base was languishing in the sun, I did the engine turning on the drill press. The cross-vice was a boon here, as it was easy to get each "touch" in a symmetric pattern. So this is what it came out like; not perfect, but I'm happy with it for now:





After that followed a bit of clean-up of all the parts and a finicky assembly. It's easier to first mount the cylinder in the cam, then slip on the thick bearing/valve block, and then drop the lot on the base and first bolt down the cam and then the bearing block. I'd already soldered the one fork to the connecting rod as per Elmer's instructions at this point. Then slip on the flywheel, and the last bearing block and screw & bolt those down. As a final operation, shift the last fork out and solder that to the con rod. I turned the engine, and had quite a bit of binding...
I traced some binding down to a "tight" spot on the cam; I just used a small half-round file to file down those bits, followed by some 320 grit emery. Thes left a tight spot when the connecting rod was nearly vertical - caused by a tiny excess bit of solder on the forks, so I patiently filed that down as well with some needle files.

Then I gave everything a liberal dose of oil all over the running surfaces, and put it on the compressor for a bit of a run-in. Initially the engine was very stiff and required up to 40psi to start and keep on running. After about 20 minutes with a couple of stops for more oil, it got down to running at about 15 psi. Then I stripped the lot, cleaned all the dirty run-in oil off, and re-assembled with clean oil.

The result:

















And the video - : poorly made once again... :
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBxAIfydmIQ[/ame]

This was a challenging, but fun, little engine to build; I certainly made more goof-ups on it than any of my other builds. That is completely negated by seeing the little bugger run though; it is extremely interesting to watch ;D ;D ;D

Many Many thanks to everyone who has followed along on this build and provided technical and moral input - It's a pleasure and privilege to share with you guys!

Kind regards, Arnold

Time for a *beer* ;D


----------



## ksouers (Jul 10, 2010)

Congratulations, Arnold!  :bow:

Another excellent running engine for your collection.

Well done.

It's amazing how slow it does run for such an awkward seeming arrangement of mechanisms.


----------



## Blogwitch (Jul 10, 2010)

Again Arnold, another great write up, build and vid. :bow: :bow: :bow:

I think with a little more running in, just to knock the bugs out of it, it will soon be running like a swiss watch.



Bogs


----------



## Deanofid (Jul 10, 2010)

You've done a great job Arnold. Again!
What an interesting engine. Well done!

Dean


----------



## zeeprogrammer (Jul 10, 2010)

That's going to be great for conversations.
Nicely done. A great thread too with many tips and helpful hints.
For whatever reason it reminds me of a gnome or wankel engine.
That is a really neat engine.


----------



## swarfmaker (Jul 10, 2010)

Well done!! Mom said to tell you it sounds like her embroidery machine, and it looks very good
Dad


----------



## RobWilson (Jul 10, 2010)

:rant: :rant: :rant: :rant: so that another engine under your belt : Arnold ;D ;D ;D

Stunning mate  th_confused0052 :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: Looooooooooooks great on that base ,, top job Thm:


Regards Rob 

Edit : Even Julie is impressed ;D


----------



## mklotz (Jul 10, 2010)

Well done, Arnold. Well done, indeed.

It's such a goofy design, I'm amazed that it works at all. It's a testament to your workmanship. Given its goofiness, I would expect it to be very sensitive to any design "departures".


----------



## tel (Jul 10, 2010)

> I had missed this thread up until today.



So had I, now I've had to pull down the plans and add it to the TUDU list.


----------



## kcmillin (Jul 10, 2010)

Great Job Arnold!!!

Well Done Thm:

I like the way it sounds. This is a very neat engine. Incredible design.

Looks like it could do a little damage if a stray finger got in there. 

Kel


----------



## bearcar1 (Jul 10, 2010)

That is a fantastic piece of work Arnold, well done indeed. Thanks for taking us along on the 'journey to nowhere' (you know it never ends don't you :big Truly a work of art. What is did you say the wood for the base was? Is it an 'exotic' or a fairly commonly used species? It has the appearance of Pear almost, except a closer grain. 

 Thm: Thm: Thm:
BC1
Jim


----------



## kvom (Jul 10, 2010)

Good job. I definitely need to finish mine.


----------



## SAM in LA (Jul 10, 2010)

Arnold,

Great build.

Your engine looks great and sounds good too.

Congatulations for a job well done.

SAM


----------



## GailInNM (Jul 10, 2010)

Congratulations on a great build and thread, Arnold.
Gail in NM


----------



## larry1 (Jul 11, 2010)

Arnold, Congratulations on another great build. Thank you for sharing all with us. Larry1


----------



## arnoldb (Jul 11, 2010)

Kevin, Thanks! - yes, I'm surprised that it goes down that slow !

Thank you Bogs. I'll run it in some more, but somehow I doubt this one will end up running on breath power like my other little engines...

Dean, many thanks!

Thanks Carl - now you've given me an idea... I might just try a "true" steam-powered Wankel at some stage; that would be a major challenge!

Dad, Thank you ;D - :big: now that you mention it, it does sound a bit like Mom's embroidery machine!

 Rof} Rob, thanks mate ;D - it beats making tool shelves : - Now, don't tell anybody what I have in mind next! - And thanks to J as well 

Thanks Marv  - It is a bit goofy, and it does not really produce a lot of power... I actually departed a bit from the original plans with the thickness of the cam ring and sizes of the axles, so there is a bit of leeway; one just have to think about the changes. I think the cam profile is one area where a departure from design would be a no-no though. 

Tel, go right ahead and add it to the TUDU  - It's fun and challenging to build!

Thanks Kel. Fortunately there's not a lot of place for a finger in there - and it stops dead without hurting  - and then you spend an hour to straighten the bent connecting rod :big:

Jim, thank you  - the wood is Rhodesian Teak; an indigenous species to "Central Southern Africa" for a lack of better description. Pretty tough and hard; it really plays havoc with a new sharp jigsaw blade!

Thanks kvom - Do finish yours!

Sam, Thank you!

Thank you Gail - and also for your technical assistance 

Thanks Larry1!

Regards, Arnold

Cleaned shop and made new mill selector handles today ;D ;D ;D :


----------



## SBWHART (Jul 11, 2010)

Great build and write up Arnold.

I enjoyed following the thread.

Stew


----------



## TuxMan (Jul 11, 2010)

I very much enjoyed your build log Arnold. And the engine turned out fantastic. 

This is also on my list of future projects.

Eric


----------



## vascon2196 (Jul 11, 2010)

Kick A** engine!

Everyone who has been putting off building that one is twitching in their seats right now...

Great job!

Chris


----------



## arnoldb (Jul 12, 2010)

Stew, thank you ;D

Thanks Eric  - better watch that list; it grows exponentially, especially if you throw in some toolmaking as well ;D

Thanks very much Chris ;D - I'm tempted to try and modify the goofed parts to make another one; but that will be at a later date; this coming weekend is fully booked, and then I have some tools to make after that...

Regards, Arnold


----------



## joe d (Jul 12, 2010)

Arnold

I'm not sure how I let this get so far along without jumping in to at least say "Hi", but now I save all that trouble and get say well done project, that man! I quite like that engine, I've got the start of one sitting on the bench that I will get back to one of these days....

Cheers, Joe


----------



## arnoldb (Jul 13, 2010)

Thanks very much Joe ;D - it seems there are a couple of unfinished ones around!

Kind regards, Arnold


----------

