# First Farm Boy Parts



## jgedde (Jan 23, 2013)

I purchased the plans for the J.E. Howell Farm Boy Hit and Miss engine.  The plans are first rate and Mr Howell's design is supurb.

I'm a bit of a Newbie having completed only one other engine: a PM Research #7 Twin Cylinder Steam Engine from their unmachined casting kit.

I'm likely in slightly over my head with the Farm Boy, but it'll be a first rate learning experience for sure.

I started the build with the two flywheels and their split collets.  Rather than use cast iron for the flywheels, I used 303 stainless and moved the balance feature inboard the appropriate amount to correct for the added density of the 303.

Here are pics of the finished flywheels and split collets:











The Machining Process:





















I figured I goof beyond recovery machining the spokes, but that didn't happen.  I did however drill the three hub screw holes on the wrong bolt circle by 30 thousandsths.  Here's the fixed goof...   I just threaded and Loctited in some SS screws, then machined them back to the existing surface both on the face of the hub and the tapered ID.





John


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## TorontoBuilder (Jan 23, 2013)

Nice Job. Great looking flywheels


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## idahoan (Jan 23, 2013)

Nice job!

I have pulled up a chair and look forward to more great posts on your build.

Thanks for sharing your work,
Dave


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## JLeatherman (Jan 24, 2013)

I'm thinking I want to build one of these as my next engine (and my first IC).  Looks good so far.  Subscribed.


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## canadianhorsepower (Jan 24, 2013)

:bow:awsome work interesting project to watch


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## gus (Jan 24, 2013)

Hi John,
Great flywheels. The taper hubs with keyway will securely hold flywheel to crankshaft.
Worked on 48"-----60" flywheels and taperhubs on Ingersoll-Rand Heavy Duty Reciprocating Air Compressors 30-------500 hp.
The taper hubs must be uniformly tightened to prevent distortion.I guess you have provided for removal with built-in jack screws.


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## Brian Rupnow (Jan 24, 2013)

Very nice!!! I'll be watching.---Brian


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## vcutajar (Jan 24, 2013)

Nice flywheel John.  What's the diameter of the flywheels?

Vince


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## Herbiev (Jan 24, 2013)

Great work


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## JLeatherman (Jan 28, 2013)

Quick question, did you hand-file the edges of the spokes or did you machine that roundover?  They look very nice, but I would think to machine that roundover you'd need a radius bit with a small-diameter equal to the endmill diameter.


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## jgedde (Jan 28, 2013)

JLeatherman said:


> Quick question, did you hand-file the edges of the spokes or did you machine that roundover?  They look very nice, but I would think to machine that roundover you'd need a radius bit with a small-diameter equal to the endmill diameter.


 
Leatherman,

The roundover was machined with a 1/16 radius round over cutter.  As it turns out the round over cutter I chose had close to the right OD for the smaller ID circles on the OD of the spoke cutouts.  

For the large radius nearest to the hub, I approached from both edges until I heard the cutter start to "bear."  Then, I "blended" it by approaching it dead on, then repeated it offset both to the left and right more or less freehand.

I think my description of the process is as clear as mud, but I'm at a loss for words to describe how I did it. 

All: I was hoping to have more parts completed by now, but a cold, followed by pneumonia, followed by another cold, followed by an intestinal virus has knocked me for a loop...  I've been under the weather sinice before the holidays and have only had the energy to make the flywheels in the past month....

I did complete a 3D model of the engine in Alibre and plugged it into Keyshot and came up with this:


John


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## Walsheng (Jan 28, 2013)

Nice model and very nice rendering.  Hope you feel better soon.

John


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## idahoan (Jan 28, 2013)

Wow nice rendering; I had Keyshot but deleted it as I was short on disc space; now that I have a new PC I should download it again and and give it a try.

Dave


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## jgedde (Feb 10, 2013)

Here are the finished flywheels with the drive pulley added:

John


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## jgedde (Feb 10, 2013)

Here is the cylinder head:  The valve stems looked all chewed up in the photo, but they were just dirty where they picked up dark oil from the valve guides.  All is clean and bright now...

John


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## jgedde (Feb 10, 2013)

Here is the camshaft gear:

John


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## RonGinger (Feb 10, 2013)

Nice looking parts. Be sure to bring them to the NEMES show, everyone likes to see woks in progress, not just finished models. Many of the visitors will have no idea of what the inside parts look like.


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## borna (Feb 10, 2013)

jgedde said:


> I'm a bit of a Newbie having completed only one other engine: a PM Research #7 Twin Cylinder Steam Engine from their unmachined casting kit.John


 
This is an excellent job, Maybe a newbie in engine building but for sure not a newbie in machining which is what it counts.


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## Gerry Sweetland (Feb 11, 2013)

Just found this, very nice indeed.
I bought these plans as well but have not started on them yet.
I will be watching your progress as well.
Gerry


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## jgedde (Feb 18, 2013)

Thanks for all the good words so far!  Since my last post I've:

1) Made the cylinder liner, piston, wrist pin and wrist pin bushing.
2) Completed the cylinder head.  Many springs were wound before I got two I was happy with.
3) Machined the front and rear frame halves.

John


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## metalmad (Feb 18, 2013)

Hi Jgedde
Looking good Mate
I'll be watching this one 
Pete


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## Brian Rupnow (Feb 18, 2013)

Coming together very nicely!! Its great to see two or three hit and miss engines going together at the same time on this forum. ---Brian


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## Billyboy (Feb 20, 2013)

I built a Farm Boy a couple years ago. You made a very good move by using SS for the flywheels. Cast iron is very dirty to work with and your flywheels look great. I am very happy with my finished engine. It runs great, easy to start and will run forever.


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## gabby (Feb 21, 2013)

Yup I think I just might tag along on this one too.
The flywheels look great.


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## Rivergypsy (Feb 22, 2013)

Very nice work - the base especially looks very tidy 

I'll be following...


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## jgedde (Feb 23, 2013)

Thanks for all the good words!  I just finished the crankshaft.

It was a challenge to make.  Even though I made it from 1144 StressProof, I had a lot of problems with warping.  During turning of the main shafts, I removed it from the center and found it running out...  A lot!  Like 30+ thou!

On one side, I was able to correct the center and get it turned down to the proper diameter.  On the other side, I needed to weld up the center hole and redrill it.

Now that it's all said and done, I have a crank with the proper OD journals with only 0.0004 of TIR end to end.  Good enough for me!

John


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## jgedde (Feb 23, 2013)

And here's the connecting rod with wrist pin bushing installed...

John


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## gabby (Feb 23, 2013)

Very nice work there jgedde, but I cant help asking, is the crank journal to wide for the big end or is it simply an optical, it just don't look quite right 
Cheers 
Graham


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## jgedde (Feb 23, 2013)

gabby said:


> Very nice work there jgedde, but I cant help asking, is the crank journal to wide for the big end or is it simply an optical, it just don't look quite right
> Cheers
> Graham


 
Thanks for the kind words Graham.   

To answer your question: It's a combination of optical illusion and the fact that the big end _is_ indeed narrower than the journal.  There's a flanged, _split_ bearing that has yet to be machined that "takes up the slack".  In other words, the big end bearing has radial and thrust surfaces with the thrust surfaces on both sides of the rod. 

Like this:

John


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## gus (Feb 24, 2013)

Hi John,
You are my inspiration. Your crankshaft is very well made.
Our neighbour builds Power Break Presses for a living. As a young grad,I watched him
machining crankshafts for power press and he made it look so easy. Till today I have cold feet when I think of building steam engines that require single throw crankshafts.All my crankshafts are useless.
Right now just completed another Deep Sea Rod Holder which has passes sea/fishing trial and about to go into building another version for 2014 Deep Sea Fishing Trip with rod lift/swing to retrieve fish.
After this ,Will go into crankshaft machining.


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## jgedde (Feb 24, 2013)

Thanks Gus!   What I have learned about crankshaft making is this:

Choice of material is very important.  Residual stresses in the metal are your worst enemy.  Hot rolled is best.  That said, even with the stressproff 1144 I used, the crank still warped during machining; although it wasn't too late to recover when I noticed. 

In retrospect, it would have been much better for me to mill or bandsaw away as mush material as possible before drilling the centers and turning the shafts and journals.

I made the main bearings today and line bored the engine block.  The crankshaft fit with no binding and turns freely.  Whew!

John


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## Brian Rupnow (Feb 25, 2013)

Machining crankshaft from solid give you a true appreciation for the term "Pucker factor". A very nice job on a difficult part.----Brian


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## gus (Feb 25, 2013)

jgedde said:


> Thanks Gus!   What I have learned about crankshaft making is this:
> 
> Choice of material is very important.  Residual stresses in the metal are your worst enemy.  Hot rolled is best.  That said, even with the stressproff 1144 I used, the crank still warped during machining; although it wasn't too late to recover when I noticed.
> 
> ...



Hi John,

Thanks for the tip.  Use hot roll M.S.Bar. Will building a horizontal double acting,slide valve steam engine using same crankshaft. As a 12 year old kid,I used a cross cut chisel to chisel out crankpin. How I did it was a sheer puzzle??? Wised I kept it but that was 1957.

The 3rd generation Deep Sea Rod Holder with lift/tilt function is making headway.


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## jgedde (Mar 2, 2013)

Here's the water hopper.  I didn't take any pictures of the water hopper machining itself, but here are some shots of the water hopper funnel being turned.

The circular boss sticking out is a separate piece shunk fit into the hopper after the water tank was bored out...

John


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## jgedde (Mar 2, 2013)

Here is the completed water hopper:

John


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## jgedde (Mar 2, 2013)

And a momentus moment: a dry fit up of the frame parts, the cylinder sleeve, piston and connecting rod, water hopper and crankshaft...

John


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## jgedde (Mar 2, 2013)

Next up was to make the split bearing for the big end of the rod.  Didn't take any pictures of the actual machining but it went something like this:

Slit a piece of bearing bronze lengthwise down the middle.  Then, glue them back together with CA glue.  Next was turning them round to the specified OD, turning the groove, drilling and reaming to fit the crankshaft, drilling an oiling hole, and machining clearance slots for the cap screws.

Here they are:  the ID will be "cleaned up" after they are installed in the connecting rod.

John


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## jgedde (Mar 2, 2013)

And finally (enough work for today), fitting the bearings to the connecting rod, and the whole schmiel to the crankshaft.

Here is a closeup of the split bearings, the connecting rod installed, and a "Houston, we have a problem"...

Looks like I didn't cut the radius in the back of the frame deep enough.  Oh well.  A job for tomorrow I guess.  At least I don't have to put metal back on!

John


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## Brian Rupnow (Mar 3, 2013)

Looking very good.---Brian


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