# Another Beam Engine



## TuxMan (Sep 12, 2010)

Well after some time off for a short vacation, time spent adding a DRO to my mill and a few side projects I got started on my next (second) engine. For this project I have selected Gerry's Beam Engine. I selected this partly because a number of parts are on a smaller scale than on my first engine and I expect this will force me to improve my skills. I do not expect to follow the plans exactly. I will be making some changes to suite my tastes and tooling.

I will not document every little detail of the build but will post on parts that I think are more interesting or that I find difficult. Please jump in and offer suggestions on better or just different ways of doing things. I want to learn!!!

Without further introduction lets start the project.

I decided to start with the fly wheel partly because I had the material on hand and did not need to wait for my metal order.

I started by cutting an octagon form some 1/2 inch mystery steel plate. I drilled a hole in the center that was a close fit for a 1/4 inch bolt plus another 1/4 inch hole in the area that will be removed for the spokes. With a 1/4-20 bolt in the jaws of my chuck with the head of the bolt against the inside of the jaws and a socket head cap screw and nut in the second hole to function as a drive dog I mounted the plate as shown below.







I found that light cuts with a carbide insert tool worked better than the HSS tool shown above. 






After turning the outside to the required 3 inch diameter is switched to the 4-jaw and faced the part and turned the recess that will be the spokes. I am not real happy with the surface finish.






Next over to the mill with the 4-jaw mounted on the rotary table. I started drilling holes near the corners of the openings between the spokes. I used the rotary table to drill the holes near the rim then went to the holes near the hub. I miss positioned the first hole near the hub. The pointer in the next photo is where the hole should have been ... Time to remake the part.






I repeated my steps (no new photos) and this time I used the DRO bolt circle function to drill the holes. The second hole near the hob was "drilled" with center cutting end mill since it overlapped the first hole. The marking on the part is to help me avoid cutting in the wrong place.






Next I used a 3/16 end mill to rough cut the openings between the spokes. I put a 2 degree taper per side on the spokes for looks.






I then went back with a 1/4 end mill to finish the openings to size. The combination of the DRO and the rotary table helped a lot in getting everything uniform and to plan.






I started the cleanup. Still need to add set screws.






Next up the side frames.

Till next time
Eric


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## cfellows (Sep 12, 2010)

That's a great job on the flywheel. Those things are not easy to make, but yours turned out real nice.

Chuck


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## Troutsqueezer (Sep 12, 2010)

Not easy to make for sure, especially when it's steel. What kind of end mill are you using for steel? I only have the cheapos I get from LMS and they don't seem to hold up to steel very well. 

-Trout


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## TuxMan (Sep 12, 2010)

Chuck -- Thanks for the kind words

Trout -- most of the milling was done with cheap import HSS end mills. I finished the openings between the spokes using an ATRAX solid carbide TiN coated end mill running at about 1600 RPM

Eric


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## TuxMan (Sep 23, 2010)

Well I have managed to get some more done on my beam engine.

I have been working on the side frames. I started by using a fly cutter to reduce the thickness of a piece of .250 x 5 Ali to about .200 thick (no pictures- sorry). I Then cut the piece into two parts for the two side frames. These got bolted and clamped to a tooling plate on my rotary table. I used a piece of hardboard between the parts and the tooling plate






I then drilled holes for the 2-56 screws and pressed in 3/32 spring pins.This will keep the two parts registered for milling and cleanup. Next I milled three sides to have reference edges for locating other features.






Using coordinates from a CAD layout of the side frame I drilled a 3/32 hole at the center of each inside radius in the parts. These points will guide the milling operations. Point 2 is circled to remind me that there is a broken drill bit at that location. I had to mill very close to the drill keeping in the waste area and then use a dremel tool and picks to free the drill.






I started by milling the large .375 radius at point 7.






From there it was a number of hours of playing connect the dots. I took it slowly with a lot of checking to make sure I did not cut where I did not want to. I would cut about .025 on the waste side of the line with several passes to go through the full thickness. I would then make a conventional milling pass to within .010 of the line followed by a clime milling pass to the line. I focused on not making a mistake and did not take any in process photos. I had to move the clamps as the parts were freed from the waste. The results of all the connect the dots ....






And here are the side frames as they came off of the mill






Next, cleanup of the side frames and then it is time to decide what to do next.

Till next time
Eric


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## kustomkb (Sep 23, 2010)

Great work on your engine.

Some serious patience, skill and concentration you have displayed, resulting in some beautiful parts.

Well done!


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## Blogwitch (Sep 24, 2010)

Real nice work there Eric.

I fully understand how long things like this can take, and how easily it is to be distracted enough to make a mistake. I have made a few flywheels that needed a redesign half way thru, all because of a lapse of concentration.
I usually warn the household that unless it is to do with life or death, DO NOT DISTURB.

Keep up the good work and showing us what you are up to.

Bogs


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## Troutsqueezer (Sep 24, 2010)

Very nice Eric. I can appreciate the patience and attention to the process making these frames took. It was worth the effort. Thm:


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## krv3000 (Sep 24, 2010)

hi very nice ;D ;D ;D


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## TuxMan (Nov 7, 2010)

I am back

I never said this would be a fast build but I did not expect it to be more than a month between posts!!!

I have gotten some time in in the shop but have not documented the progress so here goes.

I made a couple of special tools out of drill rod. First a small punch with a small pip on the tip to drive the roll pins out of the frame. I did not want to risk having the punch gouge the side of the hole and I did not have a punch of the proper diameter. Also a pair of filing buttons for rounding tapped 2-56. All were hardened and the punch was tempered.






After quite some time with file and sandpaper I had most of the tool marks out.






To drill and tap the holes on the edge of the frame I used 1-2-3 blocks to get more support above the mill vise.






The next part I attacked was the beam. I started by squaring up a block and drilling the 4 holes. The part went on the rotary table with the jig plate to mill the angles. With 2 pins I was able to easily mill the 4 angles without moving the rotary table.






I then milled the pockets with an 1/16" ball end mill. To round the corners I put one on the end holes over an 1/8" pin and rotated the part by hand. I was concerned that it would be difficult to control the rotation but I had no problems.






Here is the beam as it came off of the mill






More to follow

Eric


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## TuxMan (Nov 7, 2010)

And some more progress....

I next made a few simple turning parts (no photos). I could not resist doing a trial assembly with to parts made to date.






I worked next on the connecting rod Most of the in process photos were out of focus. I got one good photo of tapping the end of the rod. I had to improvise since the v-block I got second hand did not have a clamp.






Here is the finished rod. The 6" scale in the picture belonged to my father. He got it when he worked at the South Bend Lathe Works after WWII.






The last part for now is the valve slider. This is one of the smallest parts I have made. I am happy with how it came out.











That is all for now. Thanks for looking

Eric


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## TuxMan (Nov 14, 2010)

Well I got some time in the shop this week so I worked on the steam chest.

Started by squaring up a block of brass. I made the two smaller dimensions to size and left the third dimension long by about .125" I center drilled both ends to aid in alignment in the 4-jaw chuck. I first turned the packing gland end and drilled the deep .093 hole for the spindle. I wanted to keep this drill as straight as possible so I drilled .030 t0 .040 and then cleaned the chips. After the .093 hole was drilled I drilled and tapped 10-32 for the packing gland. I then flipped the part and turned the other end and faced to length. Here is the part form the lathe.






Next over to the mill. I opened the pocked with a 1/4" end mill then finished the pocket to size with an 1/8" end mill. 






I do not have a smaller end mill with a long enough length of cut to finish the corners so I had to filed to make the required clearance.
I then drilled and tapped the side port. Here is the finished part.






Next was a simple part, the packing gland. I made this from 1/4" hex brass rod. I left the hex slightly longer than the print. If I need to shorten it in the future I will drill and tap the end of a rod to hold the part for facing.






The last part for this week was the valve spindle. This part was turned from 3/16" rod using a live center. Even with the live center I took very light cuts since I was concerned with part flex. To turn off the center I made temporary rest to restrain the part. Here is the parting cut to bring the spindle to length.






Even with the temporary rest the part bent slightly. I was able to straighten it with finger pressure. I was able to get to less than .001" TIR. I hope this is good enough! I then used the mill with the 3/16" rod in the vice with about .300" for the square section extending from the side of the jaw. In one setup I milled the top and two sides of the .125" square section and drilled and tapped the 2-26 hole. The rod was rotated 180 degrees and the final side milled. The part was separated from the stock with an 1/8" end mill.






I finished with a trial assembly of the steam chest parts.






That is all for now. I do not think I will get much done this week due to other commitments.

Thanks for looking

Eric


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## doc1955 (Nov 14, 2010)

Looking pretty nice!
Keep up the good work!


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## Philjoe5 (Nov 14, 2010)

Really nice work Eric. I can appreciate the work (physical and mental) that went into making those great looking parts. :bow: Thanks for posting your progress.

Cheers,
Phil


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## TuxMan (Nov 14, 2010)

Doc, Phil

Thanks for your kind words. I will post my progress when I get some more done.

Eric


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## NickG (Nov 15, 2010)

Really nice work on teh Beam engine Eric, yet another project that's on my list! The list isn't that long actually but it'll still take me years get through it! 

Nick


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## m_kilde (Nov 15, 2010)

Hello Eric

Very nice work - keep the photos comming - I love it


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## coopertje (Nov 15, 2010)

Hi Eric,

Great work you are doing there, I admire your patience and accuracy  :bow:

I will be following along.

Regards Jeroen


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## TuxMan (Nov 15, 2010)

Nick, Mogens, Jeroen

Thank you for your comments and interest. I will continue to post updates as the work proceeds.

Eric


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## TuxMan (Nov 21, 2010)

I got some shop time this week and managed to make one good part. I started the lower head by squaring and milling the block to size. I then drilled and c-bored for the 4 2-56 cap screws. I used a home made tool I made from instructions on Dean's web site. Thanks Dean. In the picture I have one screw inserted to check the c-bore depth.






I next drilled and tapped the 4 2-56 holes on the sides. I also center drilled the top to aid in alignment on the lathe. I mounted the part in the 4-jaw chuck using parallels to get it spaced form the chuck body. I used small pieces of aluminum flashing to keep from marring the part. There was limited engagement in the chuck jaws so I took light cuts. For the 3/8" counter bore I used a center cutting end mill in the tail stock chuck. 






A little clean up left a good part






Today I started the cylinder. I got the piece squared and milled to size and milled the valve ports rather than the drilling in the prints. Next I started to drill and tap the 2-56 holes to mount the steam chest. It was then that I realized that I was working on the wrong side of the part  Another mental slip. I will have to start this part over (but not today).

Here is shiny piece that I may be able to use for another part in the future.






I have been putting off working on the crank shaft because I can not decide how I want to make it. Should I make a one piece crank as I did on my first engine or should I go with the built up design in the plans? I have not done any silver soldering so I would need to get the solder and flux and do some test parts. If I go with the built up fabrication, how much clearance should I allow between the drill rods and the crank webs for the solder? Would it be OK to go with a sliding fit and put counter sinks on the webs for the solder? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for looking

Eric


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## don-tucker (Nov 22, 2010)

Hi,this is looking good Tux,I built my crankshaft up,locktiteing the shafts to the webs and setting them in a pair of matching v-blocks till set then pinning,came out ok,I didn't fancy silversoldering as i try to keep away from heating things up if possible.
Don


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## TuxMan (Nov 23, 2010)

Don

Thanks for your input. I have decided to use your method for the crankshaft. The decision is based both on your input and on the description of the crankshafts on MB's Farm Style Engines thread. Besides it is a good excuse to get a pair of matched v-blocks.

Eric


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## TuxMan (Mar 16, 2011)

I can not believe how long it has been since I have updated this build log.

I have had limited time to work on this build and have used it to machine not to document this build. I have taken some photos along the way. I will not work to catch up. I will not present the progress is strict chronological order but will group related parts.

Where we left off is had just scrapped the cylinder due to placing holes on the wrong face of the part. The next attempt got all of the holes in the right places. Unfortunately the center bore was not clean and slightly tapered. I attempted to re bore the part but without any nluck. I ended up scrapping cylinder 2







After buying some more brass I tried a third time. This one came out much better. I got all of the holes in the proper places and I drilled undersized and reamed the center bore to 1/2"






To be continued ....

Eric


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## TuxMan (Mar 16, 2011)

Next the parallel links. I started by drilling holes in a strip of brass. I drilled 5 sets of holes in case I had to scrap a part.






I separated the parts with a jewelers saw and then stacked the parts to use a boring head to make the side concave.






A small fixture was made to round the ends.










I must have has something slightly off in my setup as can be seen the this photo.






I recovered as best I could with a file. The results are not perfect but very functional.

More to follow ....

Eric


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## TuxMan (Mar 16, 2011)

And another installment in my catchup

This time the grounding links. Again I started by drilling 5 sets of holes in a strip of stainless. I used a hack saw to separate this parts. The parts were aligned using a pair of drills and the edges squared up and strips milled to width.














I purposely left the strips long so that I would have more to clamp to for the next operation which was to cut a flat recess on each side. I must not have taken any photos of that operation. The ends were shortened and rounded (partly on the mill and partly by hand. In the process I had one fall out. Here is the final results.






Still more to follow ...

Eric


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## TuxMan (Mar 16, 2011)

Next the grounding link mounting blocks. Here I started by drilling and tapping the 2-25 holes. Next I milled close to the top profile and at the ends. I used filing buttons to help guide the milling.






I used the mill to separate the blocks from the parent stock. Here are the blocks as they came off the mill.






After some cleanup with file and sandpaper and drilling the mounting holes here is the final result.






To be continued

Eric


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## TuxMan (Mar 16, 2011)

Next the eccentric and eccentric strap. 

The eccentric was a simple turning / offset turning part. I deviated from the plans by using steel for the eccentric and brass for the strap. Since this photo was taken I have replaced the 4-40 set screws (grub screws) with shorter screws.






For the eccentric strap I started with two identical pieces of brass. I milled steps on the sides and drilled and tapped to holed the parts together. I drilled and bored the center hole. I then ground a special tool so that I could turn the step on each side of the strap without removing the part form the 4-jaw chuck. The tool can be seen in this photo.






I used the mill to get close to the finished radius as shown here. After getting everything setup I moved the part in the x direction a few mills and lowered the quill to the proper depth and made a cut in the y direction. This was repeated and repeated and repeated... Without the radius function on the DRO I would have had to find another way.






The other half of the strap was done in the same way. Files and sandpaper were used to smooth the steps left by the mill to yield this.






The same basic method was used to make the bearing blocks shown here except the support hole was just drilled and reamed.






That is all for today. I am getting close to caught up

Eric


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## TuxMan (Mar 17, 2011)

Just two more posts and I will up to date.

The next part up is the crankshaft. I decided to go with a built up crank using drill rod and turned throws. I started with these parts











I milled a scrap of aluminum to 0.372" thick to use as a spacer. A piece of drill rod was clamped in the v-blocks and the blocks attached to a small piece of granite using CA adhesive (aka crazy glue). I assembled the parts using Loctite 609 retaining compound and the spacer block wrapped in plastic as shown here. The plastic was to make sure the spacer did not become bonded to the crankshaft assembly.






After a full 24 hours for the retaining compound to set, I removed the assembly from the v-blocks. Next I drilled through the throws and drill rod and pressed in 3/32 roll pins. 






To be continued

Eric


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## TuxMan (Mar 17, 2011)

Just a few more parts and I will be up to date.

For the piston rod I stated with square stock. After centering the stock in the 4-jaw I turned the round parts and threaded the end.

Next over to the mill. I clamped the stock with the turned part extending out the side of the vise. After finding the center of the shaft I milled two sides of the square end. Rotate 90 degrees and repeat plus drill and ream the hole.






The mill was used to separate the part from the stock. Hand filing and a little sandpaper and the part was finished.






I have also completed several other small parts, some of them are shown here.






I am currently in the process of assembling the engine and find that there are a few parts missing from the drawing package. I have figured out what I need to make to complete the assembly. I hope to have it assembled this weekend or early next week.

Thanks for checking in

Eric


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## TuxMan (Mar 19, 2011)

I have finished the last few small parts and assembled the engine. In the assembly process I realized that I needed to trim the head height of some of the screws for clearance. Also there were a couple of places where the fit between parts was a little tight. Once those were resolved I chucked the end of the crankshaft in a drill and ran the engine from the drill for a few minutes to get everything running smoothly.

After jury rigging an air connection I tried to run the engine. At first it would move a fraction of a revolution and stop. I adjusted the eccentric and valve linkage and tightened the fly wheel screws and it started to run well. Here is a photo of the assembled engine






I need to get my wife to make a wooden base for the engine (she is the woodworker in the family). I also need to disassemble the frame so that I can make provisions for mounting to the base. While it is disassembled there are a couple of places where I want to do a little more clean up. In a few days I will post some more photos plus a video of the engine running

Thanks for following along.

Eric


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## Brian Rupnow (Mar 19, 2011)

Eric--that is a very pretty and very professional looking engine.---Brian


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## TuxMan (Mar 27, 2011)

Brian, Thanks for your comments.

I am calling his project finished. The completed engine photos can be found here http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=14024.0

Thanks for following along

Eric


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## hobby (Mar 28, 2011)

That is a very nice engine build,
going through your build thread, makes it more appreciative of seeing the final results, a lot of work and ingenuity went into the build, and it shows greatly, your build thread is very inspirational, with good techniques.

Keep up the great work.


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## TuxMan (Mar 28, 2011)

hobby

Thanks for the comments. It is always nice to know that others get something form what I present here.

Now on to the next project

Eric


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