# Snow Engine



## dnalot (Apr 11, 2016)

Hi

After 4 steam engine projects I think I now have the skills to tackle an internal combustion engine. After looking at my options I have decided on building the Snow Engine, a model designed by Doug Kelley. I have purchased a set of plans in the form of a booklet titled Build The Snow by Doug Kelly, used for $12. 

The engine is a tandem, double-acting four stroke engine. Bore is 1.058 Stroke is 1.88 The tandem cylinders power a single journal crankshaft with one connecting rod. The crankshaft is fitted with a 9 flywheel. 

Starting with the cylinders. The cylinder assembly is made of two parts, a cylinder sleeve and a water-jacket, both are made of easy turning steel and silver soldered together. 

I turned both parts to the rough dimensions and then silver soldered the parts together. Once the parts cooled I chucked the part in the lathe and bored the cylinder to the final size. Then the parts were placed on a custom made mandrel and chucked in the lathe where the ends were squared and the water jacket was cut to its final form. 

Next I used the mill to cut the flat on the top and bottom of the cylinders. The top flat has two holes for the cooling water to exit the engine, the bottom flat has two threaded holes for mounting the engine to its stand. The other two holes near the bottom are for the cooling water to enter the engine.

Before setting the parts aside I honed the cylinders making them ready for fitting the rings.

Mark T


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## dnalot (Apr 18, 2016)

Hi

So I have been busy reducing a 16 log of 2.5 diameter 6061 T6 aluminum into 11 parts for the engine. To keep all these parts in line they are each fitted to the next with a close fit and special care given to keep all mating surfaces parallel. In addition to these parts the four 1.25 thick plates that complete the water-jacket for the heads were cut from plate and turned to diameter.

The next step is to do the drilling and tapping required to assemble these parts together. 

Mark T


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## dnalot (Apr 24, 2016)

Hi

It was a bit nerve wracking but I managed to drill and tap all the holes without snapping a tap off. To aid alignment of so many parts I made the holes for the screws the same diameter as the screw. Surprisingly everything came together smoothly. I used an X-3 milling machine fitted with DROs for drilling the holes and tapping. I recently updated the mill with zero backlash lead screws so returning to the same exact spot was almost effortless. Almost all of the aluminum parts require further machining so everything is now coming apart. I will provide photos of all the completed parts before reassembly. This week I also made the shaft bushings and some fixtures I will use to ream the bushings for the piston shafts.  

Mark T


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## Herbiev (Apr 24, 2016)

Looking great so far.


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## dnalot (Apr 28, 2016)

Hi

I have now cut the relief holes in the sides of the cross slide support and the cylinder coupler. And have cut the excess material away from the safety guard. I have deviated from the original by giving the safety guard a rounded end that looks more like the original. After that I completed the combustion chambers by drilling and taping for the spark plugs and  drilling and taping for the valve assemblies. A few hours of sanding and buffing and the aluminum parts were ready for anodizing. I did a hard anodize so the parts have a slight green tinge but will be very scratch resistant. 

The next step is to press in the bushings and ream them for the shafts. 

Mark T


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## kvom (Apr 28, 2016)

The machining and parts look excellent.  I have heard that the Snow can be difficult to get running;  it's quite a nice challenge for an IC engine.


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## dnalot (Apr 29, 2016)

Hi



> I have heard that the Snow can be difficult to get running



I have heard that, but there are videos of several Snows running well so I have confidence in the design. 

Besides, I have a reputation of being able to start anything. It's all in how you grasp the ignition key.

Mark T


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## dnalot (May 2, 2016)

Hi

So I have a new phone that I have been using to take photos with. Unfortunately, the removable sim card decided to take a crap and I lost all the photos of the past week. Now I would need a thousand words to describe what and how I did things.

I pressed in the bushings in each head and the cross slide.  They were made about .003 tight so they would need to be reamed to size after being pressed in. I assembled the head on one end of the cylinder, inserted the reamer into the other end and then installed that head over the shank of the reamer. Once assembled I used a tapered guide that fit between the reamers shank and the bushing in that head.  Using a hand drill, I reamed the bushing to the exact size of the piston shaft. After that I reversed the process to ream the head on the other end of the cylinder. That was repeated on the other head. After cleaning I assembled the parts onto a long section of drill rod of the same diameter as the shaft. After tightening all the screws, the shaft could turn but very stiffly. Through the holes the vales will be mounted in I oiled the shaft with some 600 lapping compound added to the oil. Using a drill, I turned the shaft at about 100 RPM and oscillated it in and out a bit. After about a minute the shaft started to turn with a uniform resistance. At that point I disassembled all the parts and cleaned everything.  Again using the drill rod as an assembly gig I reassembled all the parts and tightened the screws. The rod turned freely and was smooth when stroked back and forth as it will in use. I then removed the shaft and replaced it with the two-piece SS shaft joined with a coupler. I then lapped the cross slide to the bushing using the piston shaft as a guide. I had been worried the cylinders would not line up property but as luck will have it everything is looking good. The designer had cautioned that cylinder alignment is critical to this model working. 

 So here it is the only photo I have, the cylinders with the shafts and cross slide in place.


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## dnalot (May 5, 2016)

Hi

 I need a lot of gaskets with very tight tolerances and a lot of very small holes for this project.   So I bought a $100 plotter with a knife. Unfortunately, the software does not have an import feature so you have to use its primitive drawing tools. The results are well worth the expense and effort. The machine made quick work of cutting out 12 gaskets that fit perfectly. Im going to get a lot of use out of my new toy.

Mark T


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## ICEpeter (May 5, 2016)

Mark,
What is your gasket material and what is the gasket material thickness? Thanks.

Peter J.


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## dnalot (May 5, 2016)

Hi



> What is your gasket material and what is the gasket material thickness? Thanks.



It is a treated paper resistant to water and oil, .015" thick

McMaster Carr part number 9556K84

Mark T


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## dnalot (May 8, 2016)

Hi

The plan called for steel piston shafts, but I had some SS rod salvaged from an old printer that was highly polished so I used that. I also used SS for the cross slide. The pistons were turned from aluminum stock to .003 over size.  After the pistons were mounted to the shaft they were turned to the correct diameter. The rings were made from cast iron and placed on a mandrel to expand them. I heated the base of the mandrel red hot and as the heat worked its way up the mandrel the rings dropped off one by one with the desired gap. I then fit the rings to the pistons by honing their sides until they fit in the pistons ring grove. I turned a short tube with tapered walls on the inside to use as a ring compressor. With all the parts made I started assembling the parts checking to make sure there was no binding as I went along. With the rings, lip seals and bushings all dragging a little the rods can be pushed back and forth with my fingers but a little stiffly. I figure that is as it should be so I went ahead and painted the cylinders with a high heat paint that is a grey/brown color.   

Mark T


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## dnalot (May 26, 2016)

Hi

Took a little vacation, worked on some other projects and now Im back to work on the Snow Engine. Time to tackle the crankshaft. The plan called for an assembled crank silver soldered together so thats what I did. The shaft is drill rod .5 inches. The cheeks are leaded steel .375 thick. Crystal-Bond works great for gluing parts together for machining. Its basically just a high strength hot glue. The way I like to do this type of crank is to ream the holes to the exact size as the shaft. And then ream again .001 over size but not quite all the way through. This keeps the shaft(s) centered in the hole and they tend to stay located while Silver soldering (brazing). I use a small round file to take away most of the tight part of the hole leaving three points bearing on the shaft. Before assembling the parts, I sandblast the area to be soldered. Getting the flux in the hole between the shaft and wall of the hole is important if you want a solid joint. With the parts assembled and the spacers in place I set the crank on end (not clamped). The open end of the joint is facing up; I then bring the temperature up evenly until the solder melts. A little more heat and the solder starts to flow, I add a little more solder to the puddle and using the heat I work the puddle around the shaft. I then move the flame to the bottom of the joint until a little solder works out through the gaps I filed in the tight part of the hole. With this side done I rotate the part while still hot 180 degrees and repeat the steps on that side.  Let the parts cool to room temperature and then clean. Before sawing out the section of shaft between the cheeks I tuned the cheeks to final diameter and cleaned and polished the shaft. A 10 minuet swim in the chemical bath and everything turned black. 

Mark T


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## dnalot (May 27, 2016)

Hi

The pylon for the shaft bearings and the housing for the bearings are made of aluminum. I made one change to the original plan here. The water pump was to be a separate unit mounted near the water tank. It looked messy to me so I have designed a pump to be mounted to the pylon just below the crankshaft. The pump I will build later but the bearing holder and the holes for mounting the pump are in place. The aluminum parts were anodized before the bushings were pressed in. 

Mark T


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## Herbiev (May 27, 2016)

How did you do the anodising. It looks great


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## dnalot (May 28, 2016)

Hi



> How did you do the anodising. It looks great



I do my home anodizing in a 5-gallon bucket.  There are 4 steps to the process. (so you need 4 buckets) Only the anodizing bucket needs to be large, to provide room for multiple parts without touching. The other buckets can be smaller. 
1- degrease in a very hot slightly caustic digresser. 2- de-smut; buy from Caswellplating.com 3- immerse in dilute solution of sulfuric acid with a mild current running between the part and an anode (sacrificial aluminum sheet) + to the part. Sulfuric acid can be bought at the hardware stores plumbing department. It is sold as a drain cleaner, it will normally be in a plastic bottle wrapped in a plastic bag so its easy to spot on the shelf, dilute 10-1. 4-seal the anodized part; again buy from Caswellplating.com. The total process takes less than an hour. I have been using the same setup for several years with only the occasional topping off of the solutions with distilled water. Once you get set up there is very little expense. 
The only real expense is the power supply. A simple battery charger will work but a controllable power supply is better. Im using a converted power supply from an old computer. For best results calculate the area in inches to be anodized and multiply by .05 to find the amps required using a 12-volt supply. 10 to 20 minutes does the job. 
If the part is polished, you tend to get a bright shiny part. On the snow engine I have buffed and then rubbed the parts down with a scotch-bright pad to give a softer finish. 
Aluminum wire can be used for suspending the parts in the buckets, but you can only use the wire once. It will become anodized and will no longer be able to make electrical contact between the wire and the part. Titanium wire can be used over and over and it can carry a greater current load. Using steel or copper will be catastrophic. 
Do it in a well ventilated area or you will end up with a buildup of nasty smelling explosive gas.  

Mark T


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## Herbiev (May 28, 2016)

Thanks Mark. Some great info there.


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## idahoan (May 29, 2016)

Hi Mark, Great work on the Snow! I recently purchased a Silhouette Cameo machine for the same reason, gasket cutting, decals and stencils. The software that came with it Silhouette Studio V3 will easily import DXF files; this is one of the reasons that I purchased this machine. Are you using a different software package? Thanks for the tip on the gasket material; the stuff I have been using is difficult to get to cut all the way through.

Dave


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## dnalot (May 29, 2016)

Hi



> The software that came with it Silhouette Studio V3 will easily import DXF files



Thanks for the heads up. 

To begin with I could not get the program to import the DXF file. As it turns out my drafting program needed to be updated and once that was done the problem went away. 

I have the portrait model. It took a little experimenting to get the thing to cut through the material. The cool thing is if you don't take the sheet out between tries, it will retrace the same cuts with perfection. I finaly found that you have to set the blade depth on the cutter head AND adjust cutter depth in the software. Soon I will find out if it can cut a gasket with holes for number 0 screws. So far the smallest I have tried has been for number 2 screws.


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## idahoan (May 29, 2016)

Hi Mark,

Glad to hear you got it sorted; the material I have been using is Interface Solutions TN-9004. It is very nice material; .017 thick and very flexible. It just doesn't want to cut that last little bit to break through. I had ran out and recently picked up some more so I can have another go at it.

Attached is a decal I made for my buddies Bremen walking beam hot air engine. The small letters are difficult to keep in place on the sheet while removing the parent stock but with some care it is doable. I used the Silhouette software to create the logo.

Dave


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## dnalot (May 31, 2016)

Hi



> Attached is a decal I made for my buddies Bremen walking beam hot air engine. The small letters are difficult to keep in place on the sheet while removing the parent stock but with some care it is doable. I used the Silhouette software to create the logo.



The vinyl letters you cut look great. I was wondering if doing that would be to tedious. Im going to have to order some material and play with it a little.



And back to the Snow   

The connecting rod is made up of a steel shaft with a cast iron bit soldered to each end. For the small end I simply soldered a chunk of scrap a little larger than needed. The large end I turned to rough shape and secure a piece that would become the cap with two screws. I then soldered that piece to the steel shaft. After the part cooled it was chucked up in the lathe to be turned to final form. The next step was to drill and ream the holes. Followed by milling the flats on each end. I used a bit of shafting to align the part square to the mill when I rolled the part over to mill the second side. After fitting the new con rod to the crankshaft I dropped it into the blackening bucket for a few minutes.  

I now need to make the aluminum plank that the engines cylinders and crankshaft pylon mount to. The plan calls for a simple smooth plank but I plan to make it with holloed out areas that form a drip pan with a grating over it. And while Im doing that I will be making the pattern for the flywheel. I want to cast a two piece eight spoke wheel that looks like the real deal.


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## dnalot (Jun 11, 2016)

Hi 

The base plate is completed and I have mounted the cylinders and the crankshaft assembly to it. I made a change from the original plan here. I milled the top of the plate to provide drip pans for the cylinders and covered the pan with a fine mesh screen. For the crankshaft assembly I milled a gutter around its base to collect the oil that escapes from the bearings.  

My work pace has slowed down a bit as its spring time here and I have lots of outside projects to attend to. Still whenever it rains I get to work in my shop. 

Mark T


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## 10K Pete (Jun 11, 2016)

Wow, that's beautiful!! The rod detail and the 'floor'!! Can't wait to see the whole thing running!!

Pete


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## dnalot (Jun 13, 2016)

Hi

The plan called for a store bought cast iron 6 spoke flywheel. I have a small foundry so my Snow will have a bronze 8 spoke flywheel that looks a little more like the original. I made the pattern on Sunday and cast the part Monday Morning. The odd color is due to the sand I use. It is wetted with oil rather than water. 

Mark T


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## dnalot (Jul 12, 2016)

So, Im back at it. Took a little time off to do my spring chores around the place. 

After turning the wheel to rough size I cut it in half so I could drill the holes in the hub and cut the recess for the iron butterflies. Once that was done I joined the two halves together, turned it again to make it round and mounted the brass tire. After truing the tire on the lathe I used the mill to cut the 90 square looking holes around the rim. I made the wheel from bronze and brass but I wanted a silver look to the rim so I nickel plated the wheel before doing the paint work. Next I used some filler to fill in some of the rough areas on the spokes and primed over the filler with a textured primer to give the part a cast look again. The top coat of paint is color matched to the engine assembly. And the happy news is that the wheel turns true. 

Mark T


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## idahoan (Jul 12, 2016)

Amazing work on the flywheel Mark; very nice!

Dave


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## dnalot (Jan 6, 2017)

Sometimes life has a way of getting in the way of the things you would rather be doing. Lucky for me nature dumped a foot of snow on me and I'm stuck inside  for the winter.  So after a number of months off I am restarting the Snow Engine project. 

Doug Kelley's original engine used an electric water pump submerged in the water tank.  Later he modified the design to replace the electric pump with a belt driven pump that sat between the engine and the water tank.  I have mounted mine below the crankshaft. The pump detail is largely the same but mounted to the crankshaft base. Impeller was cut from a single piece of brass stock and the stainless steel shaft is a press fit. The housing was made from brass and nickel plated. Drive belts are simple o-rings. The larger pulley will mount to the flywheel.  The small pulley was sandblasted to give it better a grip on the o-rings.
That was fun. Good to be back at it. I'm now working on the Valves and will be posting again soon.


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## Brian Rupnow (Jan 6, 2017)

Very nice work. I can tell by the fit and finish on your parts that this isn't your first rodeo.---Brian


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## dnalot (Jan 7, 2017)

> I can tell by the fit and finish on your parts that this isn't your first rodeo



Thanks Brian, Coming from you that means a lot.

Mark


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## dnalot (Jan 8, 2017)

Hi

The plan called for the valves to be turned one piece from stainless steel. I opted to use polished S.S. Rod .125: in Dia.  With the valve head (S.S.) silver brazed on. From there it was a simple job of facing the valve head and cutting the valve face. I set my compound to 45 degrees for facing the valves and I will leave it set there until I turn the valve seat face on the valve cages. I worked close to the collet to avoid any bending of the valve stem. The valve face turned out looking almost polished. A quick look under a 45 power microscope showed it looking like a fresh plowed field.

The valve cages were turned from 12L14 steel. The main body's were turned to form as a group. Then one by one the cages were drilled and reamed for the valve stem and the inlet and exhaust passage. Followed by facing the valve seat. 

At this point the cages are all the same. From here on they will be a little different for intake and exhaust. The exhaust having a larger passageway and flange. The cages were drilled for the flanged couplings and the couplings were turned on the lathe. The two parts were then soft silver soldered together. 

Then it was the nerve wracking job of drilling all the holes and tapping some of them. The small screws in the flanges are 0-80 x .125 I thought sure I would break the tap doing 32 holes.  As it turned out it was a piece of cake. 
I lapped the valves to the cages and then cleaned and assembled them. For now they are temporally screwed into place.

Mark T


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## Ghosty (Jan 8, 2017)

Mark,
Love the oversized pencil, Beautiful work, will keep watching

Cheers
Andrew


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## dnalot (Jan 23, 2017)

You know that pop sound you can make by placing your finger in your mouth and then popping your cheek with it? Well hold that thought. Until now I had not connected the con rod to the shaft that runs through the cylinders. To do that I had to remove the intake valve cages and valve assembly so I could see the pistons. And then do some trial and error until I had the pistons traveling an equal distance in both directions. Once that was done I drilled the hole for the roll pin that would connect the shaft to the con-rod. I then dropped the valve cage assemblys back into place but did not screw them down.  One of the heads had a spark-plug and the others did not. With a finger I rotated the flywheel one rotation at about 60 RPM and POP, the valve cage assembly in the cylinder with the spark-plug jumped up out of its hole about 8 inches and lucky for me I was able to catch it in my free hand. So we have compression. I moved the spark-plug to the other cylinders and popped each of their valve cages as well. 


The next step is to make the cam shaft and the support brackets. The brackets required the mounting screw heads to be recessed and I needed to make a special cutter for the job.  The cutter has three flutes and was made from drill rod.  I figured with so many parts stacked together to form the inline cylinder assembly that the odds of being able to make the camshaft brackets using a jig would be pointless as each one would need to be tweaked to make up for accumulated errors. So after making the roughly formed brackets I mounted them to the engine and carefully marked out where to drill the holes for the camshaft to run through. As it turned out they were all identical so I went ahead and drilled the brackets in a jig. I drilled the holes for a slip fit to the shaft and then slid the shaft through the holes to see how much binding there would be. There was very little so I returned the parts to the jig and reamed them to the size of the bushings.  The bushings I made to be a easy slip fit to the brackets. Once made I assembled the shaft with bushings to the mounted brackets. One by one I rotated the bushings in the brackets until they found their best fit.  And then one by one I glued them into place with green lock-tight.

The four cams were machined and then filed and polished  as a group. And then they were parted on the lathe.  The cams are made of drill rod. 

My next step is to make the brackets that will hold the rocker arms. 

Mark T


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## dnalot (Feb 7, 2017)

Not to many photos this time.  When I moved the photos from my phone to my PC most of the photos were all garbled up.  Lesson learned, use copy command not move. 

Well the rocker arm brackets were not much trouble to make but the long rocker arms proved to be a little work.  I changed the location of the fulcrum on the rocker arm to allow the valve to open a bit more.  And I used a smaller diameter pin for both the rocker arm and the wheel.  Another change was to make the rocker arms from brass and steel rather than aluminum. The change of materials and the change in pin size allowed for a little  less clumsy looking rocker arm. The only reason to use both brass and steel  was the fact that that's what I had on hand. I live a mile and a half from the public road. Its winter here and UPS won't start delivering here again until the snow melts off and the gravel road drys out.  I'm down to substituting metals and making screws. 

The arm parts were silver soldered together. With the rocker arms made and fitted I polished them up and sent them to the nickel plating bucket.  And the brackets were anodized. 

It is now time to permanently secure the valve cages to the heads and then assemble the rocker arm assemblies.  At this point I adjusted the valves to have .007 clearance as per the plan. A test turn of the cam shaft shows the exhaust valve closing just as the intake valve begins to open.  I will need to make a wheel with degree markings before I can time the cam to the engine.  the valves do not interfere with the pistons so there is no need to worry about anything getting damaged  if the engine is rolled over. I roughly timed the cam to the engine and turned it over a few times. Everything was smooth and I could feel the compression in three cylinders but number 3 was flat. A little troubleshooting indicates that the exhaust valve is leaking so I will need to fix that before moving on. At this point all the moving parts have been made and assembled.  

Still to be made; the plumbing, water and fuel tanks, ignition system and the wood base. So next up is the wood base as everything else needs the base to complete.  My UPS driver gave me some black moldy boards a while back that he swears has some beautiful Hickory hiding inside.


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## ShopShoe (Feb 8, 2017)

dnalot,

That's shaping up very well. I think I can almost see and hear it running. There is always a lot of interesting movement when a sideshaft engine is running.

I like your attention fit and finish. It will be beautiful.

--ShopShoe


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## dnalot (Feb 13, 2017)

First off I would like to thank Shop Shoe for his comments.. It has inspired me to trudge on.  

Turns out there was some nice looking spalded  hickory inside those moldy boards. The wood was warped and twisted  so I did my best to glue the boards together so that  they would counter act each others deficiencies. Helped a little but not much. Next I cut and fit the parts together picture frame style. Once the glue dried I used my CNC router to face the bottom into a flat plane. Turned the part over and faced the top side. From there on it was a simple task of profiling the outside and pocketing for the flywheel and the aluminum plate the engine was built on. The flywheel pocket is a little extra long on one side. This is where I will place the on off switch for the ignition system that is hidden under the base.  The final step was v Carving the lettering. 

A little sanding with some 320 paper and the the base looked polished. Never worked with hickory before, I like it. Machines like aluminum. Gave the base one coat of wipe on poly and I could see the lettering was going to be hard to read with the spalded wood background. After the poly dried I used a brush to wet the lettering with poly and then wiped the surface dry. Using a dry brush I dusted the lettering with some graphite lock lubricant powder.  And then with a little thinner I wiped the surface clean. And then I sprayed a little poly on the lettering to lock in the powder. From there I just applied several coats of the wipe on ploy on all of the surfaces.  

I made my board a little wider than the plan called for because the plan had the fuel tank hanging half off the board. And I wanted to have my flywheel sitting in a well.  It may not show in the photos but the base has curved sides. The only thing I'm not happy about is the mess this wood project made of my shop.  

I have a little of this Hickory left over So I think I will make a picture frame to hold the booklet I am building this engine from. 

Next I will be making the plumbing. The snow has melted away so UPS should be delivering my brass tube in the next few days. While I wait I need to make a tube bender. 

Mark T


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## stevehuckss396 (Feb 13, 2017)

She looks nice. Great job on the display base.


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## dnalot (Feb 27, 2017)

Hi

I'm all tubed out but the tubes are done. Nothing difficult just tedious. I took special care to insure there was no internal blockages from tubes protruding into the  manifolds. Solder was 4 percent silver (no lead) , strong and it plates well.  As per the plan the manifolds were nickel plated. 

I made a number of changes from the plan here.  The plan called for the exhaust to run just of the ground with all cylinders joining into the same collector. The manifold terminated in a vertical stack at the far end of the motor. The designer noted that the system  sprayed oil up into the air and suggested a fix using an elbow to redirect the exhaust to the side.  I thought I would exhaust into a chamber with an absorbing felt lining  the sides. To make the exhaust manifolds equal I split the  single system into two. The other changes were slight re-arrangement of the other manifolds to work with the changes made to the exhaust.  And I added a drain plug for draining the coolant from the engine. The plug doubles as a mounting screw for supporting the water supply manifold.

Started on the fuel tank, still needs a stand. The tank was made from thin walled steel tube with steel end caps soft silver soldered into place, as were the filler neck and out-tube. The filler neck is threaded for a 1/2-28 cap. No leaks so  when I get the material I will make the stand. Next up is the water coolant tank. I'm thinking I will make it of wood with a galvanized steel liner. 

Charged up the batteries for the ignition system, getting close to starting this thing. 

Mark T


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## Brian Rupnow (Feb 27, 2017)

Dang, that certainly is a nice gas tank.----Brian


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## dnalot (Feb 28, 2017)

Thanks for the comment Brian


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## jimsshop1 (Feb 28, 2017)

Fantastic work for sure!!!:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: Are those plans for sale anywhere?

Thanks,

Jim


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## dnalot (Feb 28, 2017)

Hi



> Are those plans for sale anywhere



I found the booklet online used. It was printed in 2010 by Village Press. The title 

Build The Snow
A tandem, double-acting engine
By Doug Kelly​
Dougs engines can be seen at the craftsman museum - online

http://craftsmanshipmuseum.com/Kelley.htm


Here is a copy on amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=build+the+snow&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Abuild+the+snow


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## dnalot (Mar 1, 2017)

Hi

The fuel tank is completed now. I deviated from the plan here and used a post and pedestal stand for the tank. The tank and the posts were sandblasted and then nickel plated. The pedestal, fuel cap and the bands were polished and nickle plated. The pedestals will be screwed to the base and the tank assembly just slips onto them. 

Mark T


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## dnalot (Mar 7, 2017)

Hi

The water tank I made from some salvaged brass. Rather ugly looking but then I expected that and it really didn't mater as I wanted to cover it with wood. I had some fine grained cedar that was dry as a bone so that's what I used. The finish has no UV protection so it should turn silver with age.  I also built a lid for the tank so it can be kept covered when not in use. 

Built the drip oil fittings and now have them mounted. They are dummies. The bushings were made from oil-embedded material that will only need an occasional drop of oil.  

And I got started on the ignition system. Mounted the components to the bottom of the engine . Next I need to make the wheel that holds the magnets inside the distributor. The ignition system uses the hall effect. If anyone can tell me if the polarity of the magnets maters please let me know. Would save me some time figuring it out. 

I plan on using Coleman fuel. I have a half gallon on the shelf. Sticker on it says I bought it in 1984. Hate to be wasteful but it would probably be wise to purchase some new fuel.  4 of new snow last night so its going to have to wait.


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## Cogsy (Mar 8, 2017)

dnalot said:


> If anyone can tell me if the polarity of the magnets maters please let me know. Would save me some time figuring it out.


 
Polarity definitely matters. If you mount your magnet the wrong way you can turn the sensor over though.

Engine is looking great. I'm very much looking forward to seeing the video of it running.


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## dnalot (Mar 8, 2017)

Thanks Cogsy

One of the four magnets that came with the kit has a red dot on one pole. I will assume that is the south pole and the one to orientate to the sensor. If I get it wrong I will need to change the magnets as the sensor is already glued to the distributor base. 

Mark T


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## Charles Lamont (Mar 8, 2017)

Does your household have a compass? (North pole of compass needle points at south pole of magnet)


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## dnalot (Mar 8, 2017)

Hi



> Does your household have a compass? (North pole of compass needle points at south pole of magnet)



No, but that thought came to mind. And then I thought I have a magnet so I can make one. Result tells me that the red dot does indicate the south pole.

Thanks

Mark T


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## tornitore45 (Mar 10, 2017)

Before mounting the magnet I run it next the sensor manually and look for the park or the LED I have on the General Purpose Ignition Box that shows the state of the switch, just to be sure since I can never remember whether the Earth North pole is North or attracts the compass North pole.


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## Niels Abildgaard (Mar 10, 2017)

Some pictures of a gas engine in Luxenburg

https://blobsvc.wort.lu/picture/c6f...rtv3/0f5183c831c69734d58d53a7e1c94bb3ea648f7d

http://www.industrie.lu/arbeddifferdangeGasmaschinen.html

With a little luck I can count 32 poles on half the generator gap .
32 polepairs give 50 hz when generator runs 93.75 rpm.


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## dnalot (Mar 10, 2017)

> Before mounting the magnet I run it next the sensor manually and look for the park or the LED I have on the General Purpose Ignition Box that shows the state of the switch, just to be sure since I can never remember whether the Earth North pole is North or attracts the compass North pole.



I did just as you describe to prove the polarity before pressing them into place.


The magnets floating in water aligned with the earth's poles very quickly. Just fun to figure things out. 

I now have the engines ignition system in place and I am getting spark at all plugs. Will have to wait till Monday to drive the 90 mile round trip to buy some fuel. My shop looks like a bomb wint off so I have plenty to do until then. 

Mark T


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## dnalot (Mar 10, 2017)

> Some pictures of a gas engine in Luxenburg



Wow! looks like there were 6 of those engines back in the day. Thanks for sharing Niels.

Mark T


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## tornitore45 (Mar 11, 2017)

Holy moly 90 miles for fuel!


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## dnalot (Mar 11, 2017)

> Holy moly 90 miles for fuel!



On the bright side its only 15 miles round trip to the local tavern. And I never need to lock my doors when I'm not home.  

Mark T


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## dnalot (Mar 16, 2017)

Hi

Well its been a few days of two steps forward and one step back. The Strata distributor is not working out. It is way to brittle. First I broke the rotor but luckily I had a spare. Then I broke the body when I very gently tightened the tiny set screw to lock it in place. So to move things forward I made a new body from aluminum. I expect I will snap off the tiny ears that secure the cap next so I will be making a new one out of Noryl Ppo plastic. The S/S Machine SDI ignition is working great, the spark is able to jump .3125 inches with ease. After setting everything up I put some fuel in the tank and attempted to start the motor. Got some smoke coming out of the stacks and some popping noise but the engine would not run on its own. I see I have leakage where the valve cages mount to the heads. To fix that I will need to tear down the engine and try a different approach to sealing. I am tired now and all played out so I  need to put this project aside for a bit and start again in a week or two.

Mark T


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## dnalot (Mar 16, 2017)

Hi

Befor I take it apart I thought I should take some photos of the engine completed.

Mark T


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## Rustkolector (Mar 16, 2017)

Mark,
You have done a beautiful job on your Snow so far. The starting disappointment is a bummer, but it happens more often than not in this hobby especially on an engine as complicated as the Snow. A slight break from your Snow project is a good idea. Does your flywheel have any compression bounce back when it stops. If it has any appreciable bounce back, it should run, everything else being ok. Set you plug gap to .019-.020". The oil in the fuel fouls plugs quickly especially if you use too much, or the wrong kind of oil in the fuel. Use 50:1 camp fuel to MMO initially, then go to 60:1 ratio after a few hours running. Don't use any 2 cycle oil. Set ignition timing at 2-3 degrees BTDC. Make sure distributor rotor is timed well with the spark wire posts. Listen for ignition shorts inside the distributor.  

The valve cages should seal well as designed with just smooth machined surfaces. No special sealing should be needed. However, before you take your engine down, check to see if you have any shoulder radius interference on  the underside valve cage shoulder. You might need to chamfer the combustion chamber valve cage bore hole where they mate up. 

The Snow is a big displacement engine, but it works and starts best with a tiny RC carb. Preferably one with a throat bore of .120-.140", or even less if you can find one. You might also want to close the carb needle valve and try a small squirt of fuel thru each spark plug hole to see how it responds. Are you cranking by hand, or using a drill motor? It sometimes makes a big difference with a new engine. 

I'll be watching for the video....

Regards,
Jeff


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## dnalot (Mar 16, 2017)

Hi

Thanks for the info Rustkolector. It will be very helpful. I was using a drill motor to turn the crank. There is a one way bearing in the coupler. I have the right fuel, wrong oil. And yes there is some kickback to the flywheel.

Mark T


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## dnalot (Apr 5, 2017)

Hi

 Well I fixed the valve cage leaks and the engine now almost runs on its own. I made a compression tester from a tire gauge and found cylinders 1 & 2 read less than 15 PSI and cylinders 3 & 4 read 35 PSI (at 60 RPM). So its time to tear the engine down completely and re-ring the pistons and install new shaft seals. I plan to replace the cast iron rings with o-rings this time.  Each of the two pistons have two rings now but I will probably just use one ring per piston this time around. The other fix needed is to slow down the water pump. It is flowing water faster than the gravity return system can handle. 

Still a lot of meat on the bone for this project. 

Mark T


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## Rustkolector (Apr 5, 2017)

Mark,
O-rings work on the Snow, however, you will need a very smooth polished cylinder to get any life out of them. I would encourage you to stick with the cast iron rings. They get better with use, but O-rings don't. An O-ring replacement is a big job on the Snow. 3 and 4 cylinders are excellent and I would leave them alone. Fix 1 and 2. The latter piston and rod can be removed easily without complete tear down unless you really think the seals need replacing. Check the front piston for ring side clearance and the ring cylinder face wear pattern. They might not be sealing on their full circumference. 

The coolant overflow is annoying because it is so speed dependent. It can be easily managed by changing from a gravity drain to a forced drain system. Easily done by adding short pieces of clear Tygon flexible tubing to the coolant discharge elbows making sure the tubing is long enough that it seats firmly and squarely inside the drain funnel. 

Keep going.

Jeff


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## rustyknife (Apr 28, 2017)

I am in awe. Your engine is a work of art. I cannot wait to see the video of it running!


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## dnalot (Apr 28, 2017)

Hi

And good looking is all it may ever be. Dis-assembled the engine and inspected everything. Everything looked good except the rings, I could see where they were not mating to the cylinder wall. Measured the cylinders and found them to be round with no taper. Made new rings of cast iron and honed them in a dummy cylinder until they fit tight to the wall of the cylinder. Used a ball type cylinder hone to break the glaze and installed new shaft seals.  Reassembled and tried to start the engine again.  It would run roughly for a minuet or so and then slowly konk out. All four cylinders are developing 35 psi at about 60 RPM. So now I am thinking about trying different spark plugs and carb. On the bright side I got around the cooling water problem by elevating one end of the engine .25 allowing the cooling water to run down hill to the tank. The water gets hot quickly and there is no oil contamination so I know the head gaskets are holding. 
For now I'm going to clean it up and put it on the shelf.  Spring is here and soon the rain will stop and I have a lot of work to do outside.


Mark T


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## Ghosty (Apr 28, 2017)

Mark,
The engine is a work of art, give it some time and it will come around, These engines can be a bit stubborn.

Cheers
ANdrew


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## Rustkolector (Mar 11, 2019)

Mark,
It has been a long while since you have posted any updates on your Snow build. I sure hope you haven't forgotten about it. 

Jeff


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## dnalot (Mar 11, 2019)

Rustkolector said:


> Mark,
> It has been a long while since you have posted any updates on your Snow build. I sure hope you haven't forgotten about it.
> 
> Jeff



Thanks for asking Jeff

It sits proudly on the model shelf with a sign " Sorta Runs " Arthritis in my hands makes working with size 0 screws very difficult for me now so I have not tackled installing a new intake manifold system. My plan was to split the manifold into two with two carbs. I have not posted here lately as I have been working on a 1874 .22LR Gatling gun. After that I will be building another engine and will be spending more time here.

Mark


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## kvom (Mar 12, 2019)

Gatling gun models can be posted here as well.  Let's see it!


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## dnalot (Mar 13, 2019)

kvom said:


> Gatling gun models can be posted here as well.  Let's see it!



Ok, hope this doesn't ruffle any feathers.

I guess “technically” a gun is a machine, and a machine gun even more so.

The action is closely based on the RG-E plans. The designer is a very nice and very helpful. The only changes I made to the action was beefing up the drive gears. Beyond that I made numerous changes to make the gun more closely resemble the 1874 model Gatling Gun. And I have it mounted on a Navel mount rather than the more well known Carriage or Tripod mounts. The Magazine is limited to 20 rounds to avoid large capacity regulations. If you had the magazines and a feeder you could burn through 300 rounds a minute. 

It is a work in progress so some of the hardware is temporary. I have the action working smoothly and have fired it in single shot mode. I am now working on the magazine and its mounting door. I will then be able to fire 10 rounds rapid fire. After that I need to make and install extractors into the 10 bolts. Once they are all working the gun will be fully functional. 

I took photos along the way if there is something you want to see let me know. 

Note the American A.T.F. does not consider this to be a machine gun because you are manually cycling the rounds, cocking and releasing the hammer. If you replace the crank handle with an electric drill motor you get to go to jail.


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## Dubi (Mar 14, 2019)

The only word I can think of to describe this beautiful weapon is "Outstanding"
and I am jealous.


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## fej53 (Mar 14, 2019)

dnalot said:


> Ok, hope this doesn't ruffle any feathers.
> 
> I guess “technically” a gun is a machine, and a machine gun even more so.
> 
> ...


Did you do the barrels yourself or did you buy them already drilled and rifled?


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## dnalot (Mar 15, 2019)

fej53 said:


> Did you do the barrels yourself or did you buy them already drilled and rifled?



Hi
The barrels were made from d.o.m. steel and drilled out to 7mm to accept rifled sleeves. 

Mark


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## GrahamJTaylor49 (Mar 17, 2019)

Dnalot, 
Where can I get a set of drawings for the Gatling Gun ?
I made my own Long Range pistols for competition shooting and ended up with 7x Bisley Grand Master medals and 2x world records for my troubles. My wonderful government then took our hand guns away saying that we weren't safe to have hand guns. I still have 480 trophies in the cupboard and my good lady has made me get rid of all of the second and third place trophies. The biggest size cartridge I have played with in a hand gun was the .30 Wolf wildcat. A 230 grain hollow point boat tail with a necked down 460 Weatherby cartridge. 122 grains of  Hercules Realoader 22. Good fun but it hurt the ears if you stood alongside the gun rather than behind it. If you could let me know where I could get a set of drawings I would be very grateful.

Regards,
Graham T.
 .


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## dnalot (Mar 17, 2019)

GrahamJTaylor49 said:


> Dnalot,
> Where can I get a set of drawings for the Gatling Gun ?
> 
> Regards,
> ...



https://www.gatlingguns.net/

Mark


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