# Casting Engine Components For a Twin



## Artie (Dec 13, 2009)

As requested, this thread will take me from the design stage through to finished castings for a live steam twin cyclinder engine.

It will be after chrissy before I post up progress (gotta get through chrissy alive first!). I hope I can meet expectations.... The engine is Mr Westburys twin as recently modelled on here but mounted fully horizontal and mounted to a boiler and destined to be fitted to a model of a steamer called the Pevensey which still operates here in Australia of of Port Echuca.

I have to dash out right now but I will post pics of the ole boat and the plan set.

Cheers

Artie


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## Artie (Dec 19, 2009)

I bit of tidying up before I begin. Casting brass takes a little more heat than casting aluminium (correct spelling ;D) and as this old beast was a coke fired foundry I thought it better have a new lease on life as a propane fired model for this project.

Several reasons, better heat control (and more available) cleaner, quieter, more convenient and much more socially acceptable.... and I was out of coke and my local retailer isnt going to stock it anymore...bummer... a 22 years tradition stops...just like that.... :-

So I made up a burner for the propane (a design by a guy called Reil, look up reil burner if you want to go into it further) and fiddled a bit with it.... wow.... strangely it wasnt so impressive during testing on the bench but when installed in the foundry my god didnt it roar....

To test it I cast up a couple of ingots... more stock... only have about 50kgs of 6061 already..... :

It *is* hotter than the coke, BUT it takes a little longer to get up to heat... I have a couple of thoughts on that and its more focussed on the foundry design than the burner... more on that later...

With the coke you had to open up and top it off with fuel as it burnt down, so you would light it up, stack it... burn it down and pack it again then add the crucible.... this had to happen at least once per pour...no more... much more convenient and here is the time thing... this intial burn time heated up the foundry...with the gas it can be loaded from cold so it 'seems' to take longer.

Anyway it works ...but... the poor old thing was borrowed by a mate recently and it came back cracked.. not his fault, simply because of the moving about and its old and fairly brittle material. Well with the extra heat available it also melted a little... its time for a new one but not until its done this project....

todays pics..






under way......





Cool down and melted walls at base are evident.... lump in centre is the pedestal that the crucible sits on, as this was a test I got it much hotter than required for this pour...add waste, watch it until its melts than add the material that you want to melt... it collapsed in seconds...it was very hot....





results, ex fire extinguishers.....

So why does the propane take longer?

Note, I didnt time the coke burn time so there is no point timing the propane burn time... but around 12 to 15 minutes from cold to melt

Firstly its simply that you are less busy (adding fuel etc) so it seems to take longer.... it does but it seems worse than it probably is...

The burner is directed at the centre of the pedestal base, it would be much better angled around it to promote a swirling flame front. This feature made the AIR (thats all that was fed into it..) seperate and ensured that alll the coke got its share, times have now changed...

The body cavity of the foundry had to have sufficient size to cater for the fuel AND the crucible... this fuel space is now wasted but must still be heated... the new one will be about 300mm shorter and therefore much more efficient...

Ok...its now ready..whats next..??

Making the plugs for the cylinder and the base plate, that starts tomorrow..... Ill add as I have stuff done...

Artie...


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## Artie (Dec 19, 2009)

Just a little info on the model this engine is intended for. When I originally bought the planset I was intent on electric brushless power...BUT.... having discovered HMEM.. I now feel it would be sacrilege to do anything BUT steam power... however to fit the required engine and boiler etc, it has to be scaled up by 50% on the plans as they are here. Currently the plans are 5' and she will be scaled up to 7' 6". Mr Westbury thinks his engine design would suit a 6' model so Im in the ballpark.

The plans..are simply huge... hard to snap a pic of as its dark here and you really dont need all the details anyway just an idea of what im working with. Thats a large tablespoon sitting on them.. (2 Sheets)


















Then the girl herself... she operates out of Port Echuca (inland river port) and is a resturant ( a good one too!) and Ive ridden her a few times..hence the decision to build her...


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## tel (Dec 19, 2009)

Scale plans for the Pevensey? Where did you manage to jag them?

Like you, I've been aboard here a time or two and it's a model I'd dearly love to build.


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## Artie (Dec 19, 2009)

tel  said:
			
		

> Scale plans for the Pevensey? Where did you manage to jag them?
> 
> Like you, I've been aboard here a time or two and it's a model I'd dearly love to build.



email n file sent... not Camberwell, Vic. Ringwood, Vic... Im a goose...


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## tel (Dec 19, 2009)

Got 'er matey, thanks again.


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## zeeprogrammer (Dec 19, 2009)

Neat. A boat! I'm going to be very interested. Two of my top goals is to make a garden railway locomotive and a steam powered boat.


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## Powder keg (Dec 19, 2009)

Looking good there. My propane furnace takes 15-20 min to melt a pot of aluminum, So I think you're in the ballpark. Now brass and Bronze take about twice as long. And yes they do roar when you get them turned up. My neighbor lady always comes over to watch when she hears my furnace)


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## Artie (Dec 20, 2009)

Ive had a big weekend... but I suppose when the temp is around the 28 deg C mark you can do things... Rof}

Anyway I started in the cylinder plug. This will result in a cylinder (x 2) that has a 40mm stroke x 20mm bore with an outside dims of 40mm diameter and 55mm length. This might sound large but two of these have to power a 2300mm hull (7 and a half feet).

Anyway, Ive seen the banner..pics it is!






2 pieces of scrap timber are sanded flat and laminated (screwed) together. This is drilled and dowels fitted (for alignment when making teh sand mold). I HATE the wood lathe..so we did a labour swap, John (in the pics) did the turning while I mounted his pool cover roller. My bit didnt take long so Im back on the camera just as he started milling.





taking shape






























The steam chest mount, which will double as the cylinder mount is yet to be fabricated and glued to one side of the mold and will cover up that dowel hole you can see. The other dowels will have no impact on the outcome. 

A sand core will fit in the mold where those 15mm end rods are and will mean when the casting comes out of the sand it will have a 15mm hole right through it in centre. Makes for a lot less work later.

Ill doubt any more will get done until after chrissy, so you all take care.

Artie


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## Artie (Dec 22, 2009)

A little more. The steam chest mounts fitted and the cylinder mounts fitted and filled. Yet to be sanded or sealed...


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## potman (Dec 23, 2009)

Thanks Artie, for the pics and descriptions.
I've read about how this is done but it's better seeing it as a Work-in-Progress.

earl...


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## Artie (Dec 23, 2009)

Gady Earl, I agree mate, thats probably why I enjoy this forum so much. Ive learnt incredibly from all you guys.

Giving something back is certainly my privilege, I hope some of you find something of interest from my ramblins. Having said that, if anyone can help me improve my stuff, please jump in. The day I stop learning is the day they lower the casket... :-

Incidentally, I made the comment when I intro'd myself that I was reasonably experienced with the mill n the lathe.. Id like to retract those two statements and start again... having seen 'real' tradesmen at work here on HMEM tells me Im an absolute beginner, and I will accordingly behave like one... looking forward to help from you all... 'umbly of course....

This item is for a final drive bearing mount for an offroad race car Ive made up and shows the flow coat Ill add to the cylinder plug tomorrow, but probably wont post until sometime in Jan. Its sitting next to a 4 BA die nut for reference... the flow coat is a West 2 part epoxy. It fills any imperfections and allows easy(er) release from the green sand.

Cheers guys, Artie


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## Artie (Dec 23, 2009)

Plug, sanded sealed and ready for final sand (when its hard enough) and flow coat. I really enjoy this stuff!.. I know this looks like a lot of stuffing around but once done its repeatable over and over. In fact once this is 'proven' Id happily supply this casting to anyone who wanted one for the cost of brass and postage. As I intend to do other engines once this is finished other castings will be available, same deal.
I iontend to cast this in aluminium first and play with milling the casting before I cast in brass, work it all out on sacrificial items first.

Artie


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## Powder keg (Dec 23, 2009)

I like the idea of putting epoxy on the outside. That would really smooth things out! I'll have to give that a try;o)

Thanks,


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## 4156df (Dec 23, 2009)

Artie,

Really happy you're running with this thread. Lots to learn. I could never quite understand how a sand core got into the mold. The light bulb finally went on with the photo of your pattern with tabs and your comments.

As to the West System Epoxy...do you just brush a single coat on and let it dry?

Dennis


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## Artie (Dec 23, 2009)

G'day Dennis, yes I do and if more is required Ill sand and add another coat. Takes about 24 hours before you can sand this stuff but it flows really well and levels nicely. Glad you are enjoying.

Artie


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## Artie (Dec 29, 2009)

Dolt! Yeah me... Well its about 37 Deg C here (100F) and im casting brass! Damn that was hot! and ive still got my heavies on... Off now (that was a typing pause btw), now sitting here in my boxers and T (not a good mental image??).

Back from a short break and a couple of things done.

Firstly the flow coat has been added and is now set on the plug.






The mold for the core is done and is simply a piece of steel tube split and clamped. The high percentage clay/sand mix is rammed into this and its then oven baked to set and dry it (thats why I use steel, others use pvc, air dry and then bake after removing from mold, fiddley!). Demo later.











Scrap brass has been cast into 2 small ingots. Enough for this operation, brass has a lot of dross and is a bloody hot melt, this didnt get hot enough but ok for an ingot pour, gas pressure was dropping as im nearing the end of the bottle so I rushed a little. Top ingot is 6061 Aluminium, absolutely nothing to do with this at all... artistic license... or some stuff like that..






I got 4 melts (3 ali - 1 brass) from a 'not so full' bottle of gas so Im happy with this. Cost about $25 aus for a full bottle of gas and comparatively coke would have been a bit more. Overall im very happy with the conversion as its proven itself to be efficient, cost effective to run and less than $15 aus to do.


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## Artie (Jan 5, 2010)

Time for a freshen up. New casting sand and bentonite clay, rework the cope and drags because they are quite large, just putting a new plate across to reduce the area of sand required for these small items, so there are two sets in the trailer and the timbers sized up to allow the mods.






Made the cores for the bores in the cylinders, 2 for aluminium, 2 for brass and a spare. About to go into the oven. Tried a new method today, instead of tamping them into the core mold with a rod by hand, I used a rod and hammer to really get them compressed. This resulted in a much harder core when wet and allowed me to make several and remove them from the mold wet so I can mass produce then rather than 1 at a time. These are about to go into the oven (actually in now, 200 Deg C for an hour or so), drys and hardens them.






Working on the cope n drag boxes this afternoon, more pics later.

Cheers

Artie


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## tmuir (Jan 6, 2010)

Do you use cat litter as your source of bentonite clay?
Aparently you can get it from live stock feed places, or be like me and talk to people who do directional drilling and get them to give you half a bag as bentonite is used to make the slurry to assist with the drilling.

What sand do you use?
I've been following this thread with interest.


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## Artie (Jan 6, 2010)

Hi tmuir, yes it is kitty litter. but... be careful if this is the track you go down. Not all kitty litters are bentonite. Some are a synthetic stuff. Also some have charcoal infused as a smell absorber. this isnt ideal but can be used. tedious part is turning it into powder...... 

My old blender died so this lot was ground by hand ala... milling wheat with rocks... grind grind.... must make a mill roller one day... ( I say that every time i have to do this...).

More pics tonight as Im boxing up the cylinder plug as we speak (type)... out of parting powder so a mad rush up the street.... (talcum powder is suitable)..

later... artie


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## tel (Jan 6, 2010)

Hey Artie, ya want some _real_ bentonite to play with? Next time I'm in Oberon I'll pick up a bag for you. Won't be for a while tho'.


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## Artie (Jan 6, 2010)

Yes please, let me know when its on hand and it will give me an excuse to drop in and open a bottle of red. ;D


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## Artie (Jan 6, 2010)

Well I intended to cast 2 aluminium cylinders today. These are to prove the casting technique and help in working out the machining details for use on the brass cylinders. Lucky I did!

Cocked up one and put it back in the crucible so only one to show tonight. (I put the vent hole too close to the edge of the cope and the molten metal ran out the side of the mold... bugga... )

Firstly a series of pics with a few comments. Any questions... ask away....

Tamping the green sand around the plug...







Then turn it all over...






add the other half of the plug and shower with talcum powder.... add the drag (top half of the box) and tamp more sand around it again...






This is teh one I cocked up. See how close to the edge the holes are? The metal decided to go out rather than in.. or some of it did... :-[






Holes here are better positioned. That was a stupid mistake made by me trying to do a few things in my head at once.
















Have I mentioned how impressed I am with this thing on gas? No? Well I am! This is no where near full throttle... ;D Yeah it is just showing off for the pic... not much flame shows when at normal throttle.... that side hole was for a crucible handle in the old days... should be plugged but never got round to it. Yep, it loses efficiency because of it...


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## Artie (Jan 6, 2010)

tmuir  said:
			
		

> Do you use cat litter as your source of bentonite clay?
> Aparently you can get it from live stock feed places, or be like me and talk to people who do directional drilling and get them to give you half a bag as bentonite is used to make the slurry to assist with the drilling.
> 
> What sand do you use?
> I've been following this thread with interest.



Sorry mate I missed this question when I read through before. the sand is simply fine graded sand, as supplied by our local gardening supplier. Its called white sand here and is very fine with a small clay content.. The 2 boxes you see in the trailer cost $9 aus.

Artie


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## tmuir (Jan 6, 2010)

Thanks for that.

I'm filing away all this for when I finally build myself a furnace.


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## Artie (Jan 7, 2010)

Just a few notes today, I cast up another cylinder this morning with a revised green sand mix and sprue location. I was after less sink back and a better surface finish.

The altered sprue location worked and no sinkback was evident at all. Good news cause bronze (due to its much higher melting point) tends to contract badly if all isnt well. You can see the first casting on the right has some sinkback on this surface but teh other casting has none at all.






I used I higher clay content sand, BUT, I mixed it too wet and as a result the steam vent holes couldnt deal with the moisture removal.

As it turns out, no danger, just an anxious moment and learning just how fast you can safely put down a crucible and leave the area.... :

To recap, these cylinders are to be used to determine the green sand composition (done), optimum sprue location (done) and machining sequence or steps (done).

I partially machined up one cylinder this afternoon and managed to get it out to 30mm bore (it is designed to be 20mm) so there is plenty of scope in these casting parameters. This pics shows the 30mm bore, way too big but it can be done... maybe later... poor internal surface finish, slightly too fast speed, no coolant results in bad finish. Didnt take the time simply cause this was an experiment.











Next step is brass.

Thats gonna be fun... ;D

Later, Artie


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## Artie (Jan 7, 2010)

and before someone asks, no these arent wasted, they and the spues go back in the pot... wasted was the mold breakout where the molten metal went all over the ground.. the large aluminium stuff on the tray behind the (very impressive) flames is her, this is infused with gravel and crap and is around a half inch thick... this my friends ... is a waste... and Im not happy with.. well, me actually....

And as you can see by the water bowl, puppy likes to watch this stuff. When metal is hot though, she gets her marching orders and sulks out in the back yard....

Did I mention its in the mid 30's here?... ok... just a thought.... seriously, I do feel for you guys dealing with mucho ice.... I have NO IDEA how difficult it must be..... good luck.... it'll be over soon....


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## vlmarshall (Jan 9, 2010)

What an amazing thread... how do I miss this stuff?? The last I'd seen of it was a big sheet of plans with a spoon on it, and now it's two pages of Awesome. ???  :bow:

One day I'll start casting aluminium.


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## Artie (Jan 20, 2010)

After work today was brass day, 1 cylinder cast up.

To recap things a little, I have been casting this in aluminium to prove the technique and iron out the bugs. Simple stuff like placement of the sprues and risers can effect the casting (think sinkback) and getting these right can only be done with a prqactice run or two.

Surprisingly these little cylinders are quite complex castings (more so than I at first thought) so they took a bit of work to iron out. The end result is pretty damn good and Im very happy.

Im not sure if Ive mentioned this before but I have absolutley NO experience in casting brass (apart from ingotting) so this is crunch time.

This stuff came out of the sand looking like crap.... oops..... but never fear all is well with a little clean up... it actually looks like it was recovered from the titanic initially...











Partially machined and cleaned....






and the progression from concept to actual part...











Thast pretty much it guys, there are a few more components to cast but its more of the same. I hope you've enjoyed it. I certainly have but had hoped to get some more feedback from the experienced casters out there. Im sure there are things I could have done better but all has worked out just fine.

Cheers

Artie

P.s. Ive used T6061 Aluminium in this log. This is a ***** to cast so if this is ok... brass must surely be so. Once cast it machines beautifully.... might make a set from this as well.... here we go.... :


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## 4156df (Jan 20, 2010)

Artie,
Thanks for taking the time to post this. Have never cast, but plan to. This thread is in my reference file. I'm hoping you'll keep us posted on how the brass goes.
Dennis


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## joe d (Jan 20, 2010)

Artie

As a total ignoramus regarding casting, I'd like to say "Thanks" for your start to finish treatise... you've answered some questions I didn't even know I had. You've reinforced my conviction that I've got to get into this one day.

Cheers, Joe


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## kvom (Jan 20, 2010)

Are you building the side paddlewheel engine from ME articles of 1965? I am thinking of possibly making this one in the future, although I would try to machine the cylinders from stock rather than a casting.


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## shred (Jan 20, 2010)

Artie  said:
			
		

> P.s. Ive used T6061 Aluminium in this log. This is a ***** to cast so if this is ok... brass must surely be so. Once cast it machines beautifully.... might make a set from this as well.... here we go.... :


What's the trick to 6061? I ask because I have a pretty good stash of 6061 nubs I've been considering melting down.


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## Artie (Jan 21, 2010)

Hi Dennis, brass went well, cast the 2nd cylinder tonight and about to throw them both into the lathe and then the mill.

Joe, my pleasure. Hope you enjoyed it.

Kvom it is based upon that plans set but will have the cylinders mounted on the top thirds of the boiler with slightly larger cylinder bores. I hope to see your build thread, good luck.

Shred, mate nothing really except its hard to get a smooth surface finish with it unless you use really fine sand with a reasonably high clay content (15 to 20%) and even graphite. however if (like me) you intend to machine all surfaces, no problem at all and no trick.

anyway Im into the shop for some brass mania.

Cheers

Artie


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## Artie (Jan 21, 2010)

Grrr.... defect in the bore of the newest casting... was there there when I pulled it out of the sand but I thought it would clean up when I bored it.... it didnt....... got it to 30mm and it was still just evident... 25mm is the goal bore so no good. No dramas as its only a gas and time cost.






The other casting is perfect at 25mm though so ill do the other one again tomorrow.... 






A little info, the bore is the most critical thing, once its bored (and checked) to almost size (yet to be honed) a mandrel is used in the bore for all other machining steps. So once the bore is done it can be mounted in the mandrel and everything happens fairly quickly from that point on.

The mandrel is mounted in the lathe and the ends are faced and then the madrel is mounted in the four jaw on the Rt and all other steps occur on the mill with the RT on its back or on its side.

I set out all procedures using the aluminium casting before I even cast the brass units.

Artie


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## tel (Jan 21, 2010)

Bugger!  T'were me I'd be bungin' a bronze sleeve in there.


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## Artie (Jan 21, 2010)

Thought about it... long and hard Tel. scratch.gif Then I did this.... *beer*

Made up 6 new cores tonight. My shed is on a tiered block, house is on top, shed is on the third and lowest tier. I made it up to the house to bake them and dropped the bloody things coming in the door.... :wall: *club* :redface2:


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## tel (Jan 21, 2010)

Double bugger!   Mollasses cores?


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## Artie (Jan 21, 2010)

nah, clay, easy to make, just planned to get an early start to re do the casting.. might have to get a very early start.... its all good.... cheers mate.


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## tel (Jan 21, 2010)

One thing I have learned, with my meager experience, is to vent the cores, that goes a long way toward eliminating blow holes in the inner surfaces. If you are using pure clay, or a heavy concentration, the core might not be able to breathe enough to take away the gasses.


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## Artie (Jan 21, 2010)

Sorry mate I should have been more specific, heavily clayed sand cores. They are about 20% clay (approx) and I bake them so they arent quite so fragile as the lot I lost last night.


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## tel (Jan 21, 2010)

OK, but you wanna try cutting the clay back a bit, adding a little plain flour and some molasses water (10% molasses in water) they come out very robust and smell like Anzac bikkies while yer cookin' 'em


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## Artie (Jan 22, 2010)

Thanks mate Illl give that a go tonight, a dusting of flour or an appreciable amount?


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## tel (Jan 22, 2010)

a reasonable amount, bity like you'd use the bentonite.

Still waiting for Victoria to get back to me re the bentonite BTW


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## Artie (Jan 23, 2010)

Well I didnt notice any anzac bisuit smell but the cores do seem quite hard. Thanks for the recipe mate. Im casting tonight so Ill see if they are any better than the plain clay pretty soon.

Machining steps, or to be more precise the system Im using. A simple split mandrel ....


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## Artie (Jan 23, 2010)

The mandrel is threaded past the width of the cylinder and when the bolt head touches, the threads ride up each other and the jaws spread, grabbing the cylinder along its entire length. A sleeve of thin card is used to stop any marking of the cylinder.











The casting is placed in the 3 jaw and one face and the bore is cut. 






then its mounted on the mandrel and all other operations are carried out while its mounted, both in the lathe and on the rotary table in the mill. I have a 4 jaw chuck mounted on the RT, I havent taken that off in ages, most likley it will live on it.

Tel, no hurry for the clay so please dont stress, ive got enough for this sand batch, let me know when and Ill get in touch, thanks mate.

Anyway I think that about finalises this thread... thanks for being part of the ride. Ive (so far) thorougly enjoyed myself. Thinking about casting some cylinder end caps with HMEM embossed in them.... goofy.... but fun...

Cheers Artie


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## vlmarshall (Jan 23, 2010)

Excellent thread, thank you for sharing it with us spectator-types. ;D :bow:


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## Artie (Jan 23, 2010)

Thanks Vernon, its not hard to do something you enjoy and this forum has introduced me to a facet of casting that I hadnt considered, so I say thank you to you all for the inspiration.

Incidentally, I ended up making 6 castings, 3 ali and 3 brass, have quite a collection..... the weight difference from ali to brass is amazing, pick up an ali cylinder after a brass one and you almost 'throw' it through the ceiling!

Cheers

Artie


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## Artie (Feb 25, 2010)

Gee its hard to find meaningful time to do these things (hobbys et al), I had to take time off work today to get a few hours in the shop....

I learnt a valuable lesson recently. When working with 'sexy' brass cylinders... never ever leave two of then alone for more than a week or so.. here they are....






I go away for a week and when I return....






Worse than Guinea Pigs.....

Ive really been inspired by Tels project of the month winner and thought while Im at it I may as well make 2 sets of cylinders.. for those who have not seen it.. 






I guess this is my next project. But going by the lack of progress on this current one... dont hold your breath!


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## Artie (Feb 25, 2010)

While I was at it I had a go at contouring the cylinder sides using a technique discussed in a recent post by Rake (I think it was). Firstly I mounted then on the mandrel you see below in my RT and hogged it to near round by doing a few passes roughly and ended up with a 6 facetted 'round'. However in my (never ending) quest to simplify things, I junked the calculations (sorry Marv) and simply using the RT, rotated the cylinders in sample 1, 1 degree per pass and in sample 2, 2 degrees per pass over a 90 degree span. The difference is quite amazing.






The extra effort in sample 1 was well worth it. i had to make 90 passes with the cutter at 1 degree per pass and naturally 45 passes on sample 2. Half the work but way less than half the quality. It will still sand and polish ok..but.... id rather it was excellent off the tool than just ok.

Polishing! Ha! Spent a great deal of time blinging up that first cylinder...






 one month later back to normal, heaps of tarnish... cyl on the left was polished to a mirror finish (as you can see above) ... now, the tool polish is shinier.... oh well...just have to let nature take its course....






Cheers all Artie


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## ozzie46 (Feb 26, 2010)

Great job Artie.
 I too am planning on profiling some cyls and this info is just what I was needing. 

 Thanks loads.

 Ron


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## Artie (Mar 4, 2010)

Next bits to cast are:

- Crank Pedestals
- Cross head beds
- Cylinder end plates

Im doing the crank pedestals first and the plug is pictured below. 3mm MDF with timber build ups and dowelled to align. I guess Im doing this part next because its aluminium and I need a rest from casting brass and wanted to do something simple for a change.

Not surprisingly, casting brass strains the gear so much more than casting aluminium. That extra 300 or so degrees celcius hotter has burnt out 2 of my older crucibles and making my new one look decidedly 'used'. Yes I use steel crucibles as some of my casts are large and up until recently all aluminium and the crucibles last for years (until now!!). And before anyone chimes in with the contaminates from steel crucibles in aluminium stuff, yes I know about it but have never noticed any adverse issues because of it.

I dont enjoy working with brass anywhere near as much as aluminium although I like the look of it when machining away the casting surface and turning it into something pretty (or even functional). The cyclinder end plates and cross head beds are all brass so Ill do them next. They are going to be simple units so that wont take long either.


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## Artie (Mar 5, 2010)

And straight out of the sand.... almost smoking.....






After sprues and risers have been trimmed off....






3 more to go....


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## Artie (Mar 6, 2010)

A bit more cleaning up to do obviously but when done, 4 of these will support the cranshaft behind the boiler.


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## d.bick (Mar 6, 2010)

Great stuff Artie
     Stainless steel pots last a fair bit longer if you can get hold of the metal.
 The welding rods and the stainless are a lot more exspensive than mild steel, so if you dont mind making the steel ones carry on with them.
 I will add to the casting thread when I can sort out the photobucket photos
      Keep up the good work Dave Bick


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## Artie (Mar 7, 2010)

Hi Dave, yeah it was a bit of a pain at the time as the crucibles both sprung leaks and dumped a little metal. Im not overly concerned for the future as I dont see myself casting too many brass items in future, mostly ali... the original crucibles were many many years old.

Thanks for taking a look around, yes please dig up those pics!

I got into it this afternoon, all my flasks (casting boxes) are quite large so I only have the one modified to do small items. As such I can only do one pour at a time.

I simply cast one, left the crucible in the foundry on low heat (still molten) while I reset the flask (packed the sand around the plug). Took around 2 hours to do the next 3 pedestals..... oh alright, the next 5 pedestals.... had 2 cock ups.... straight back into the pot... no pics.... bad little pedestals!!! I got sink back at the outlet riser had to change the position of it... its raining here and ambient temp and humididty can play havoc with casting. The first 2 with the original position were fine in a hot dry day.


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## zeeprogrammer (Mar 7, 2010)

I've been enjoying this thread.
I'm always impressed by people who do their own casting.
For me it's another level of self-sufficiency.


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## d.bick (Mar 7, 2010)

I have followed this thread and can hopefully share some of my casting moments. I am by no means an expert and like many of you have learnt off others and from books but still have a lot more to learn.
Similar to Arties casting this aluminium bearing support was cast using a solid pattern if you look at Arties earlier post, he used a split pattern, which allows you to mould the one halve in the sand then turn the box over and place the other halve of the pattern on dowels that line things up. The flask (moulding box) can then be rammed up with sand. 
 This pattern of mine is placed on the board that has a cut out which allows it to sit on the split line. This board is sometimes called an odd side, follow board or ramming board  this allows you to have a radius on the edge of the pattern.
You place the pattern on the cut out board and put one halve of the moulding box over it. It is then rammed with sand, the board and box is turned over and the board removed this leaves the sand at the right level (split line) for the other halve of the moulding box to be place on. The other side of the core print is loose and is located by a pin which goes into the pattern .It is now ready to be rammed (filled) with sand.
    Dave Bick


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## Artie (Mar 7, 2010)

Hi Zee, casting has helped me a few times over the years, but I could have done without it, using bar stock and loads of cutting. But the fact is I enjoy it. Also, no matter what size bar stock I need.. I have it available (at least in about an hour it is) and at the sizes required.

Cheers mate.


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## Artie (Mar 7, 2010)

Dave, many ways to skin that cat! I like that and I havent seen it before, thanks mate its one to keep in the back of the head.

For me, the ability to 'see' things in the raw material is an art form. To be able to look at a block of aluminium and say... "theres a crankcase in there and this is how I can get it out"....... Most of us have it to some degree and others are loaded with it. A certain home designed V twin comes to mind. George does amazing work and Im certain he has that ability in spades.

Designing a plug fits into this category and when I get one right and I pick the piece of aluminium out of the sand looking exactly like I wanted it to is a real buzz.... then I usually go to the mill and wreck it.... ah well.... :


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## rake60 (Mar 7, 2010)

Great thread Artie! :bow:

My only hands on experience with metal casting was in 1973.
In 8th grade metal shop each of us made aluminum castings to make
mountain pie irons. We made our own sand molds, but the shop teacher 
did the actual pouring. At the ripe old age of 13 we were sure he was being
overprotective. ???

I'm looking forward to seeing more of your casting pictures and videos!

Rick


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## Artie (Mar 8, 2010)

Thanks Rick, its a really simple (black?) art, anyone here could do it given the opportunity. I think I had best start a build thread on the engine soon.

Cheers

Rob


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## Maryak (Mar 8, 2010)

Artie,

Have to agree, this is a great thread. My casting experience, (if you can call it that), is confined to pouring whitemetal to make segmented seals for US Metallic Packing on piston and valve rods of 1':12" steam engines; and a few big ends on some vintage conrods. The conrods being cast steel were much more of a challenge than the bronze backed packing segments in terms of adhesion before machining.

It's pretty disconcerting when you offer up the boring bar and the whole of the whitemetal starts to spin in the housing. 

Conrod - 1, Bob - 0.

Best Regards
Bob


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## Artie (Mar 13, 2010)

Gday Bob, sorry to be so slow replying, have been away for work. I have another office 600kms away from my home and I work out of there 1 week per month, I think I need a miniature workshop set up I can fit into the boot.... Anyway back at home base, lawns are a foot high, had to make a new gate as puppy has decided she can jump the old one etc etc etc..... on it goes....

I had a small play with white metal many many years ago, in fact still have a few scrapers somewhere... thats an artform! Todays engine rebuilders really do have it easy in comparison  But you mention machining... did you not use the bearing blue and scrapers?

Hope you are both settled into the new home, I think Its time you had that container moved a little closer... My shop is 3ks away and I find that to be a pain. I have a shared arrangement, 2 of us own the equipment and we share the running costs and consumables. Works well.

Hope to get the other brass parts cast today and perhaps the pedestals all roughed into shape. Also have to repair a broken housing on the horizontal mill, halfway through that one.

Updates later, cheers all.


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## Maryak (Mar 13, 2010)

Artie  said:
			
		

> I had a small play with white metal many many years ago, in fact still have a few scrapers somewhere... thats an artform! Todays engine rebuilders really do have it easy in comparison  But you mention machining... did you not use the bearing blue and scrapers?



On vintage automotive conrods and US Metallic Packing segments - no.

The process was, IIRC.

1. Bolt the two halves together.

2. Preheat the assembly and centre plug jig, till they spit back at you.

3. Pour the whitemetal.

5. File off the oversplash on each side of the big end then clock the big end boss true in the lathe using a 4 jaw/faceplate.

6. Bore to size, (journal size + 0.002" per 1" journal dia).

7. Using a V shaped tool in the boring bar mounted at 90 deg, nick through the whitemetal at the 2 half joins of top to bottom.

8. Undo the bolts and clean up the nicks when broken apart.

For US Metallic Packing segments I made a machining jig which held the 2 bronze backed segments true for machining. On the solid whitemetal 3 segment packings, they were machined as a solid ring then split at 120 deg. The size of the splits determining the clearance to grip the rod.







Scrapers and blue were always used on plain bronze bearings and on bearings with wear shims fitted.

Best Regards
Bob


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## Artie (Mar 13, 2010)

A couple of bits to show. It was mentioned earlier about this aspect of casting, here's an example, I need some flat brass bar for the cross head beds, I could build it up from seperate pieces or I could buy a piece of brass bar 19mm x 45mm x 110mm. I need two pieces, I have no idea what that would cost and Im pretty certain no one near here would carry it and if they got it in it wouldnt be cheap. The round pieces are 65mm by (approx) 25mm. The pieces you see here cost about $3 in gas and about an enjoyable hour of messing about.


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## Artie (Mar 13, 2010)

Oh...and if I cock up the machining process...... ill just cast up some more.. ;D (thats on the cards!)


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## Maryak (Mar 13, 2010)

Artie  said:
			
		

> Oh...and if I cock up the machining process...... ill just cast up some more.. ;D (thats on the cards!)



Correct - Been There, Done That - slow learner ;D

Best Regards
Bob


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## Artie (Mar 15, 2010)

Firstly I wish to apologise for the fuzzy pics, the camera in my fone has stopped focussing and has an incredibly shallow depth of field. Its insured for such crap and the new one should be here tomorrow. In the mean time...crap pics!

Got a short shop session in tonight, got one cross head bed almost done and one roughly sized. Amazing how much time simple operations can soak up. Having a brain fade and trying to use a blunt fly cutter didnt help, soon as I sharpened it I whizzed along, someone smack me on the back of the head please...











And if anyone is interested, a native Australian, her name is Isis and shes a Centralian Python, luckily shes just had a feed of rodent or I may have been in danger (she lives in the kitchen... and always looks hungry). Isis belongs to my daughter who has just moved back home.... what can I say?


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## Artie (Mar 27, 2010)

Howdy guys, cameras back on line (finally) and I have a little progress to report. I did say alittle progress. Seems that work keeps getting in the way of late...

The last pics showed the crosshead beds in rough form, these are now almost finished with the studs to be drilled and fitted and the oiler cups to be made. Also have the bosses to make and silver solder to the slide plates for the piston rod and conrod little end.

Studs and nuts (4BA) where ordered last week but still havent arrived as yet. Ill put these aside til they do and move onto the cylinder end plates











You may remember these being these not so long ago...






You ever have one of those days? Went to the shelf to grab the strips to retain the slider. These are 10mm by 3mm strapping. Cant find it...anywhere. I dont think I used it for anything. Ok zip down to the hardware store where I bought it as the shops are still open.... nada... out of stock. Only one thing for it....












Damn... did that take some time.... 

Also got the pedestals roughed up, all critical sizes are done, now just got to 'pretty' them up :doh:






Thaz it fer now.... until the nex instalment.. Cheers Artie


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## Artie (Mar 28, 2010)

Went to a swap meet this morning (Sunday) and as we were leaving I ran onto this guy..... anyone identify him?






Yes that IS a giant tennis racket in the background... can anyone tell us why this small town has this feature? Prolly more appropriate for Aussies but if you google the towns name and tennis you will be in the know.....


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## Maryak (Mar 28, 2010)

Dad - Alias Tel

Look at the photo and you find gong

All you need to do is add Yvonne Goola = Goolagong.

Best Regards
Bob


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## Artie (Mar 28, 2010)

we have a winner!!!

 :bow: :bow: :bow:


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## Artie (Mar 31, 2010)

Lots of holes drilled and tapped (no breakages!!)






another piece down.... dozens to go..... ;D


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## Artie (Apr 1, 2010)

It needed oilers! So it got em....












Got another job, this is a little adapter set for a hoist, for higher cars like 4 wheel drives. A short set and a longer set....


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## Artie (Apr 16, 2010)

Theres probably not much casting left to do and I should probably start a new thread but.... Ill keep going in here unless someone has an objection ......

Basically I am feeling my way forward as I go, Im hugely impressed with the pace of some of the builds carried out on this forum (particularly my ol' mate Tel), and as I said on Kvoms thread im envious!

However, my pace is my pace and its the best I can do.....

So, tonights offerings.... part of my problem is my own need to 'prove' a part before I start production. Youve seen this with a set of ali cylinders cast up, that was worthwhile (imo) and tonight is no different. The mounts for the conrod/piston rods. Prototype and finished items (almost)


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## Artie (Apr 17, 2010)

Today had a good go at making more progress... conrods was the main focus and Im surprised that I got as far as I did. Im waiting for a 3mm ball nose end mill which should arrive mid week and this will allow me to finish the rods off.

Pics, as per usual. Any questions.... please fire away..... the offcuts I mention in another thread are put to good use...











2 pieces 110 mm are freed from the length..... marked out and the cutting begins..































The rods arent finished, they have to be milled down to 6 mm in width etc but only a small amount of work required, really happy with them. My first set of conrods.. sort of a virgin... or was....  :big:


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## tel (Apr 17, 2010)

Coming along nicely Artie


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## zeeprogrammer (Apr 17, 2010)

Looking great Artie.
I always like that kind of conrod.



			
				Artie  said:
			
		

> ... or was....



... or never was... ;D


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## Artie (Apr 17, 2010)

Hiya Tel, yep I finally feel like I made some real progress today, thoroughly enjoyed the few hours I got in.

Me too Zee, it feels like a 'real' conrod. Its possible to do it this way due to the scale. Compared to some others this is a large engine which is due to live in a large model.

Incidentally, in the boat all this will be largely unseen so its designed as a modular unit. 6 nyloc nuts, the 2 drive shafts and the engine module will lift out so it can live on (working) display. epoxied into the fibreglass hull will be the 6 bolts, the superstructure will lift off and out it comes after undoing 2 copper unions (propane and water).

Shortly Ill be detailing the shaft unions that allow the disconnection of the drive shafts and the casting and making of the flywheels which will allow it to run as a display unit.

NO WAY AM I GONNA HIDE THIS AWAY AFTER SO MUCH WORK......... :big:

A question for you all. Due to the sizes allowed under the miniature boiler codes (long and thin) I have to build a dummy boiler to cover the real thing. To this dummy will mount the cylinders and cross heads. I want scale like detail and therefore fire doors etc and lots of rivets ala the real thing.

Has anyone devised a way of simulating rivets without actually drilling and riveting? From my RC days this was easy, a hypodermic syringe and dollops of white glue. I think the heat from the boiler inside the cover would be a porblem for this method..ideas?

Cheers guys

Rob


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## tel (Apr 17, 2010)

With thin enough sheet I've had modest success with a round nosed punch given a whack from t'other side. Use a block of lead as an anvil.


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## Artie (Apr 19, 2010)

Hiya Tel, I think you are on the money there, combined with another idea from Modmodder.. Make the rivets in thin strips of brass which can then be soldered in place simulating the overlapped rivetted panels. Ill give it a go and get back with the results.

Just about finished the rods. Milled 2.5 mm off each side of the rod beams to bring them down to 6mm (from 11mm), the cheeks of the big ends are still 11mm. I used a jig made from a lump of aluminium left over from a casting experiment. Drilled and tapped it for the rod length, bolted a rod down and did the milling on one side, removed it did the other rod the same and then milled a 2.5mm deep pocket where the big end sits to allow the rod beam to sit flat on the plate and then did the other sides of both rods.







And the almost finished product
, the gudgeon pins ar a press fit into the slide mount and free within th erod, like normal car stuff. I am doing this because you can see how much clearance is avalable when th esider moves up to teh oiler cups. I wont actually press anything, heating and freezing and loctite will allow hand assembally.






And while I love working with the mill and lathe, I also love handworking my bits. So I do a lot of filing and sanding in the final shaping stage. Dont think for a minute that the rod beams came off the tool that smooth!

Now working on the reversing linkage... seems like Kvom has answered a few questions I had by posting his pics...thanks mate! Im pretty much following Edgar T.'s plans to the letter here... its an area I dont have much (any?) experience in... so Ill play on something else at another time....

Cheers Rob


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## Artie (Apr 25, 2010)

Logically, now that the conrods almost finished its time to start the crankshaft. Im starting with the cheeks and this is bigger than you would think. Two storys here one is the crank, the other is recommissioning an old friend. More in a moment.

Firstly some 60mm stock was dragged out. No idea what steel it is... just steel. Machines and cuts ok. Trimmed the oxy end off.






Have I mentioned that I love the old power hacksaw?

Trued up in the lathe and centre drilled, sized up and the drilled for full depth of 60mm using incrimental drill sizes 4 through to 12mm.






Marked up and drilled the big end journal and the radius of the cheeks as well.








By now the new table is covered in crap... as it should be...






Now the second story, the horizontal mill was put into storage about 15 years ago. The apprentice was using the pallet jack and ran it into the x axis feed handle completely smashing it off the machine. This was put aside for awhile until I got round to it. Eventually the broken parts were lost and then the machine was put into storage and pretty much considered to be scrap metal.

About a year ago I dragged an old box out from under a bench...bugger me the missing broken bits. Cept for the part which bolted to the table itself. I made a plate up, machined the gearbox to suit and had teh entire machine rewired... tonight was its first start up (the electrician finished as i was finishing drilling the holes)... away we went.... a momentus day for the old girl...






Slices into the steel like butter...











Rotate the shaft and cut the slight angles...











Cut across the shaft to free the slices and we have.....











Final sizing in the mill tomorrow and then slice the plates off in the power hacksaw...did I mention that I love this old machine?

This has saved an absolute heap of time and agro removing this metal with the mill. The mill is a big unit but still doesnt like cutting large chunks of steel.

More tomorrow..public holiday here...

Cheers

Rob


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## Artie (Apr 26, 2010)

Ive been blessed the last few days with fairly good time in the shop. As a result Ive actually got something done.... its nice to have something to show you guys. The crank cheeks are just about finished.... heres the rest of the journey...

Back into the mill after lunch and tidied up the horizontal mill cuts. Just blended them into teh previously drilled holes really... then inot teh old power hacksaw and cut off teh four segments....






Made a mandrel with a spgot the internal size of the cheeks, tapped a retaining bolt and away we go, 






firstly in to the mill to do the reliefs...


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## Artie (Apr 26, 2010)

thought I had pressed the preview button but posted instead.. all good...carrying on...






Then changed to the big end hole to do the round off...






Its starting to look like its coming together....











Im in my regular work away from home period shortly so not much will happen for a couple of weeks.

Cheers Rob


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## Artie (Apr 26, 2010)

Just a quick pic to help with scale, perhaps a little larger than you would normally see around these parts....






Cheers

Rob


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## tmuir (Apr 26, 2010)

Artie  said:
			
		

> perhaps a little larger than you would normally see around these parts...
> 
> Cheers
> Rob



I would even go so far to say monstrous.
Its coming along nicely


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## Artie (Apr 28, 2010)

Hi Tmuir... monstrous is good I hope..?? :- I think it is in this case... it all fits its intended purpose.. ;D

Im at somewhat of a crossroads right now... I need the boiler to be in place to go on. While im doing this there area few other bits I can do but most is reliant upon this.

Decision decisions... I have materials for both a steel and a copper boiler... so far I have swayed back and forth about 2475 times... each has its advantages and disadvantages....

Right now Im thinking copper...

Mainly because I can silver solder it myself, whereas a steel unit requires a certified boiler maker to weld it. The drawn (seamless) steel tubing I have is a little too large for the engine aesthetically and the codes requirements for the construction of a copper boiler are a whole lot less onerous as this size tubing falls into the subminiature category where as the steel size is in the miniature category.

The drawbacks of the copper are that it is a fairly small capacity and will require topping up for any extended periods of running unless I build the pump Edgar W, lists in his plans. I am making provision for this by building the eccentic onto the crank. It wont be accessible afterwards and I dont really want to do a split eccentic.

The capacity of teh steel boiler is what is making me keep coming back to it (therefore the simplicity....ie no pump or water reservoir in the hull).

However..copper it is... I think.....

A couple of pics of the mock up I have been fiddling with to determine the 'looks' of the unit..... ignore the timber blocks...

Copper...(verdis and all!)... the copper boiler is a little small in looks and this will allow me to put a cover over it with teh scale details added and this will also act as an insulator retaining the heat to a degree and increasing it efficiency..











Steel...











Copper copper copper...

Cheers Rob


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## Artie (Apr 28, 2010)

Just FYI, subminiature regs require the boiler to be 75mm dia or less, 1000cc capacity or less and an operating pressure of up to 75psi. The premise is that these 'little' boilers wont have the capacity to be used in trains which can tow passengers or an engineer..therefore they wont be in extremely close proximity to persons when they explode... (thats my extrapolation.. ;D).

Therefore they are a lot simpler to build...


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## tmuir (Apr 29, 2010)

Artie  said:
			
		

> Hi Tmuir... monstrous is good I hope..?? :-\ I think it is in this case... it all fits its intended purpose.. ;D



Yes Monstrous is good. ;D
I've been enjoying following your build and didn't realise just how big it was until you held that last part in your hand.
I personally would prefer a copper boiler for no other reason than rust isn't an issue.


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## Artie (May 24, 2010)

A little update, not too much, decided to try out Bogs (thanks John) d bit reamer design. Its my first ever attempt at such a tool so it was a learning curve and fun. The fact that it was a success is also a bonus.











I took the shot with the reflection on purpose... that was a test piece and the finish was extraordinary. Worked a charm. reamed the brass conrods out and then did the crank cheeks. I used a product over here called bright steel, simply a slightly better quality mild steel rod. Sized it up and used a hardening compound called Hardite. This is a tin we got from the fellow who owned the workshop before I and my partner bought it. It was ancient then and that was back in 1985.

Anyway, the resultant case hardening was ok for the brass but not quite good enough for the steel. It did the job but I had to resharpen the tool after each hole. I call this a success and the holes are damned accurate....

Also decided to add a little more detail to the conrods and milled the centres out by 2 mm leaving a centre thickness of 2mm (overall was 6mm)





















Now just got to do a little sanding and filing to remove the tool marks. I used the ball nosed cutter for the entire process but I realy should have profiled the sides then changed to an end mill to remove the centre material. It left a lot of small marks which now need removing (see pics).
I like the 'real engine' effect though and its certainly only bling detail... but i enjoyed myself.....

The exercise in reamer manufacture was an experiment, because these are sitting on the wall behind the mill, it was a case of.."because I can..."....






Until next installment...

Rob


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## Artie (Jul 17, 2010)

I cant believe it was May when I last posted in here! Work has stalled for a time on the engine but I do have reasons (excuses??). Working away from home takes half of the preceding week to get ready to go, 1 week in the coastal office and the another half week tidying up when I retrurn so basically 2 weeks of every 4 are lost due to primary focus on WORK (another nasty 4 letter word...).

The QCTP tool holders took longer than I had thought and so did the repairs and learning curve for the Shaper. Ive also cast up a heap of brass into ingots for the next stage so its not too far away, while i was doing that my hi presure gas regulator died so I had to order a new one etc etc etc.

Some may ask why I work 600kms from home (particualrly when there no flights available to my other office and I have to drive). Several reasons, I sign the company cheques (thats a pretty big motivator), the coastal office really does carry the company so it gets a lot of attention, I'm buying a block of land about 2kms away from the office (so the commute will be reversed in a couple of years) and...... and ......... this is the view from the bar next door to the office at about 5.30pm.....











And.... this is in the depths of our winter..... ahhh....


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## tel (Jul 17, 2010)

I think I know that jetty, might 'ave even fallen off it once.


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## Artie (Aug 21, 2010)

Hey all, Im alive, no..... I know..... you didnt miss me....story of my life  :noidea:

Havent had a lot of engine time for a variety of reasons. What time I have had has been making tooling and learning to operate the shaper, (love the shaper... ). ;D

Today I waved goodbye to lawns, painting, fence repair, car washing, travel and headed down to the shed...... its MY time......

What I have had is time to think about the parts which are next on the list.... eccentric sheaves and rods for the valve gear. 

Ive decided not to use Edgar T Westburys design on this one for a couple of reasons, the main issue was the complexity. I think this thing could be made better, simpler.... remember im using the design as inspiration for my own engine.... Im not producing the engine verbatim....

Ive decided to make the valve gear rods in one piece instead of three piece as per the plans. Im splitting the eccentric sheave to allow this, as per the pics that follow.... the eccentics.... (4 of)...






These are one piece by the plans so Ive used a removeable side plate held in place by three screws. This allows the rod to be a one piece unit with no removeable big end cap and as this is only 4mm wide... that would make it unecessarily fiddly...(IMO)






Im a great believer in simplicity and I dont like complex items for complexity's sake.... not saying thats Edgar's reasoning... I just think I have found another way that suits me.






So, by making this item with a removeable side plate...






I can make this item in one piece and less complex....
















Hopefully tomorrow is the one piece valve rods (4 of), if I can get those done Ill be more than happy....

Its nice to be back... had a ball in the shop today... By the way...its amazing how much time lil parts can take to make.......  

I should mention that I can do this because Ive turned the engine inside out... that is, the eccentric sheaves and valve rods are are outside the con rods, unlike the original design which has these hidden away in the centre of the engine. 

In this way the one piece valve rods can be threaded onto the crankshaft and then onto the sheaves where as in the plans they MUST be the 3 piece design to allow assemby.

In my opinion, these reciprocating moving items are part of the mystique which makes these engines almost hypnotic.... why hide this detail away inside the frames?

Cheers Rob T Thm:


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## bearcar1 (Aug 21, 2010)

Aw C'mon now Artie, of course we all missed you.......   (like a stubbed toe :hDe ;D
I agree with you that some of the designs that are available and in print by some of the better known builders are just a bit over the top in terms of complexity. Sure they have eye catching qualities and charm etc, but when it comes down to actually making the tiny bits and bobs, one almost has to be a jeweler to fabricate them to spec. I like your approach to simplifying pieces in order to alleviate some, if not all, of the aforementioned stumbling blocks (is that how that digit got injured?) in order to achieve the same mechanical results. Welcome back!

BC1
Jim


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## zeeprogrammer (Aug 21, 2010)

You were gone? :big:


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## SAM in LA (Aug 21, 2010)

Artie,

Good job thinking outside the box.

I am enjoying your build and look forward to your future installments.

SAM


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## Artie (Aug 21, 2010)

HI Guys, yes Ive missed you all to, stubbed toes and all.... :big: :big:

Ahhh Jim Jim Jim..... of course I know you didnt mean that...oh? You did? Well I guess you sometimes have to be cruel to be kind... ;D

Carl, Carl? Carl who?.. I wasnt actually gone but was only dropping in to catch up infrequently, loving your loco by the way, glad you had no issues with the hydro after so much heartache with the boiler, soon you will be heavily into track building... I can just see it now..... "NO Carl you CANNOT run track through the bedroom.."

Sam, I think you can take the outside the box thing a bit to far at times, but I have always been a minimilist and given the opportunity, this just made sense.

Ill try and make progress a little more regular.

Rob


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## Artie (Aug 29, 2010)

Hi all, the eccentrics are finished and pictured here mounted on a piece of the rod to be used for the crank. Some finishing required to remove fine burs and smooth/polish it all out. A 4mm grub screw locks them to the shaft. I had to make a new tap holder for the tapping tool as this size tap had a larger shaft than the first 4BA tap (see here http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=8854.0).

I didnt take pics but the first eccentric took 45 mins (make tool etc) and the rest took only 10 mins each to finish.

This required setting the eccentric to its required orientation, mill a small flat at 4mm, then drill to 3.2mm and the tap in the holder to 4mm by 0.75mm pitch.






I am making the crank in two parts with a joiner in the centre. This was decided when I wasnt sure whether to use the water pump which Edgar T describes as possibly necessary for his design. This requires an eccentric sheave much the same as those for the valve gear mounted at the centre of the crank. If my crank is one piece it must be added now. If two piece I can add it later if necessary.

Therefore I need a joiner. I am also making the shaft that mounts the paddle wheels as as seperate units and these will run on bearing blocks mounted in the hull. These joiners will allow shock reduction (not necessary) but more importantly are flexible and will allow misalignment if I happen to build some in unwittingly.

You can see how these will look once done. These will be mounted to a one piece shaft as seen here, some release agent will be used to coat the shaft and then RTV silicone injected into the gaps and smoothed out. Once set this will supply a flexible one piece joiner.
















I had the RT mounted on the mill and the 4 jaw on it. A shaft is centred in this and the aluminium blanks are tapped with grub screws and mounted on this shaft. A 3mm end mill used to machine most of the material away to leave 4 'blades' which fit into corresponding blades on the mating piece.

I was going to be moving onto the rods which mount on the sheaves (eccentrics) but decided to stray... hence the joiners today.

Until next time... cheers all....

Robt T


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## bearcar1 (Aug 29, 2010)

No, Artie, really............. Like a stubbed toe. :big: :big: 


I really do like how you did that shock coupling. I have one of the small Stuart centrifugal water pumps almost finished and have been wondering how I would go about connecting it to a drive source. Now that I see what you are doing, the rubber hose idea doesn't appeal at all. Thanks for the idea. 


BC1
Jim


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## Artie (Aug 31, 2010)

The finished item. 







I degreased the entire set with brake cleaning fluid and then waxed the assy shaft so the silicone wont adhere. Then I placed the halves together and cinched them up lightly. Once happy I squeezed silicone into teh gaps until they were full. I wet my finger and smoothed it all out and am waiting for it to set.






Crank webs make great holding jigs.






Of course once all is done and machines cleaned up.......






Thats all for tonight....

Cheers all

Rob t


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## kustomkb (Aug 31, 2010)

Very nice work you are doing Rob.

That coupler is going to turn out great. Good idea!


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## Artie (Sep 1, 2010)

Hi Kevin, thanks, I got the idea from the back wheel of my Ducati when I was fitting a new tyre.... cush drive....mmmmm..... Its worked out well and Im pretty happy with it. Here it is with teh excess silicon rubbed away....






Tonight I had a play with the crankshaft... remember this will have one of these couplings in the centre as well so this is assembled way too wide and Ill cut it down to suit when Im ready to do so....

Progress.....











This is lightly pressed together, not enough to ensure it wont move though, so ...... do I drill tap and fit grub screws (leaning that way, makes it dismantleable for whatever reason)? Or do I silver solder? If I solder Im going to have to relieve the fit so the solder can penetrate....

After your thoughts gentlemen..... and any ladys who are about as well.... :big:


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## Lakc (Sep 1, 2010)

That coupler looks great!

You left out a couple other options for the crank. You can knurl, loctite and press home, or drill, ream, taper pin them together. I would love to try the taper pin method someday, but the reamers are dog gone expensive.


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## Artie (Sep 2, 2010)

A brief pic...to prove that the wax worked as a release agent.... as I had hoped.... relieved..... these seem strong and quite flexible.. Ive pulled bent twisted them.... Ive have started to think that they may well work... never in doubt.....


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## Artie (Sep 11, 2010)

Gday all, turning attention to the eccentric straps, as Ive made the sheaves dismantlable I am able to make the straps in one piece rather than as per Edgars plans... his idea...











And how I did/am doing mine....

I used some of the flat plate that I was given a few months ago.... its 11mm, with a rough cut side and 45mm (I got 2 x 2metre lengths....still on the first length 8)).

I first bolted all 4 togather and drilled the pilot holes and them and then seperated them to bore the sheave bearing surface at 25mm.
















Then I marked out the boss which will mount to the reversing linkage and milled around it..






and trimmed the rest down to the required 4mm (or just over).











I then fitted the bull nose cutter to radius the back of the linkage boss..











One done.. three to go.....






And by the magic of photography.... three more done....






Ive left the straps attached to the parent metal for now and thats where I am up to. As you can see two still have a chunk of metal left, decided to leave that until I part them off from the rest after I have profiled the outside 


The eccentric sheaves have just on 0.1mm end clearance (4 thou) and 0.2mm side play (8 thou), the result is a really nice fit with no apparent free play and almost no drag, this will wear a little so it is what I was aiming for. I didnt put the oil hole as per the plans but am intending to drill an oil hole with a countersunk entrance that I can stick the oil can into and 'pump' oil though the joint.

Well thats it, am of for one of my work tours of duty for 10 days, am in contact just dont have access to my shop... mmm.... X2 in the car boot and a small lathe..... set up in the motel room.... might not go down well.....


Cheers R


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## Artie (Sep 11, 2010)

forgot to show you what it should end up like..


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## Artie (Oct 2, 2010)

Howdy folks, this has been a pretty slow time. Had much happening and as a result not much time in the shop....but.... a bit for tonight.... 

This is what Ive got... as you can see from the above C o C I came close to the concept......






And this is how it came about......


























Am I ever gonna find a jig I can use more than once??? Made a mandrel (another one!!!) to support the big end and rounded off, trimmed the sides and well, its pretty much self explanatory... no rocket science, just tedious repetitious work... fun at the same time.... hand finished with the files and emery paper..... dont forget your files! They are your friends..... 

I had a cock up in the machining sequence and ended up NOT drilling the end holes nearest the big ends on three of the links.... dont ask... brain fade or just tired.. I tried to do some work the other night and felt fine... but after 10 mins of serious concentration I gave up... just weary.... damn close to 50 these days.... 

And a thought on the DRO's next.....


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## Artie (Oct 2, 2010)

DRO's......

Ive only recently installed them on my mill.......

Wow..... how the hell did I ever survive without them?

Firstly, I thought long and hard about the units available, my personal thanks to Rick (85Blackvette) for his insight and the links he supplied. 

I concluded 2 things.....

Firstly I did not want a single unit for this purpose, Im no electronic whizzz (or any whizz for that matter) and if one part of the unit failed, then all were junk....

Secondly individual units were approx half the price of a 3 axis DRO, so I wasnt about to pay that money and (see point above).

So I have them installed and I absolutely love the precision they allow (with such little effort!).

I installed the quill DRO first and imediatley fell in love with it (seriously!), I had the x and y ordered from Hafco and they took absolutely ages to arrive, but when they did, they almost bolted straight up, very little manufacturing required.











The down side is that the readouts are no where as large as the unitised DRO's, ok, I can live with that....






But Im in no way displeased with them.... obsolute rippers!


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## Artie (Oct 17, 2010)

A little more... its been sooo long since Ive had shop time.... and today was all hand fitting.... files and sandpaper.... last week I managed to machine the clevis grooves.... that was nice and easy with the DRO's

Dro's, Ive bought another set for the lathe... seperate thread coming up...

Anyway a couple of pics for tonight....

Having cut the clevis grooves I went about hand finishing the parts, not finished as the clevis end hasnt been radiused to size or length yet, just roughly ground on the belt linisher... 
















I get a real buzz from hand cranking the mill and lathe and then using files and sandpaper to finish the item.... a little old school I guess.... no apologys offered for that though  *beer*

Having said that.... I would LOVE to play with a CNC as well... Ideal world? BOTH hand and CNC.....

I Look like having a couple of weeks where I can get into this a bit so, hopefully, some action on this front....

Cheers

Rob 

P.s.... NOW I have something that moves with that lovely eccentric motion...niiiiice...... thats why its assembled the way it is...hold the rofd and turn the shaft....'stuff' happens.....


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## Lakc (Oct 17, 2010)

Looking good there.


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## Artie (Oct 18, 2010)

Thanks Jeff, its nice to finally have some parts that actually assemble and 'move' together. I spend a lot of time holding that unit and twisting the shaft to watch the oscillations.

Please remember, this is my first engine..... Im a proud dad..... :big:

Hows the Boxer coming along mate?


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## Lakc (Oct 19, 2010)

Its amazing how hypnotic certain motion can be after it comes off your own mill and lathe. ;D Boxer thread is updated.


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## Artie (Oct 20, 2010)

Its Jeffs comment on the hypnotic effect that inspired me to make my first video.... you poor buggers.....

Tonight I placed a suitable sized pin in the 4 jaw on the RT and profiled the end of the clevises. No pics as I need both hands to make this a safe procedure. The result is I have finished the linkages and the con rods. I also polished them in an effort to remove all tool and sanding marks.











I wont polish them again but will let tarnish dull them, the grooves on the side of the rods will get a paint insert in British Railway Green, as will parts of the boiler, but thats for another day...

Sorry about the fuzziness of the pics, its my phone cam..... click on the following pic to watch....





Cheers

R


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## arnoldb (Oct 20, 2010)

That's really looking good Rob !



> you poor buggers.....


Darn right; I can never view the videos behind those tantalizing pictures from photobucket  - not enough bandwidth to my sunny corner of the globe....

Regards, Arnold


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## Artie (Oct 21, 2010)

Arnold... you poor thing... nay mind it was just some 'motion porn'... sort of....

Tonight! I have one half of a crankshaft...... but first some sunny bling.... for no other reason than it looks pretty in the sunshine.....






Now for more serious stuff... the crank. It has been machined up for some time, just now the linkages are finished the time seemed right.... it was an exercise in jigging or more accurately just clamping, and silver soldering..... 











Looking rather 'busy' now.. FINALLY!






The shafts were left very long to allow easy alignment and then cut and filed afterwards. Originally I was going to press fit the thing together, after I changed my mind and decided to braise it I had to relieve the clearances a little to allow solder penetration.






Thats it for now, I have more shop time this weekend and hope to produce the plug for casting the entire engine room floor.. this will have raised bosses to mount everything to... its a simple thing so I might even get it cast up... we will see....

Cheers all..

Rob


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## Lakc (Oct 21, 2010)

Thats progress, looking good.


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## tel (Oct 21, 2010)

It _is _ looking good Artie, and I even got to watch your vid after a bit of shuffling between IE and Firefox


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## Artie (Oct 21, 2010)

Thanks mate, means a lot from you. For you lot.. Tel has held these conrods in his hot lil hands.. during a visit this year.... ;D The visit was on the wat back from picking up my shaper.. incidentally the old owner rang me last week... "would I want a full size anvil with all the tooling for $100?"

Ahm...let me think... SURE!

The toolong is the stand that fits into the square hole and it various anvil faces... so Im told..will show pics when I pick it up....


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## Artie (Oct 22, 2010)

I had high hopes for tonight.... but the best laid plans. etc etc etc....

I also have a site manager who is on my case quite regularly... Gentlemen...

Meet Vespa....






Im surface grinding plate right now... she doesnt like the noise......






So I had to stop..she told me so......






I was doing this...






And seriously... I think the pitch wasnt comfortbale cause she was really quite pissed off... until I turned it off...

It a flywheel grinder which I use to surface grind steel and cast iron...

Tonight was supposed to be finish the second crank half....but I left the crank cheeks at home.....

So I started making the reversing links... but I needed 5mm plate and only had 6mm in stock...soooo out came the grinder and the magnetic chuck....... damn useful thing...

Cheap too... she only cost just under $10,000 au, of course during the week she actually DOES grind flywheels for a living.... under sufferance of course, til the weekend arrives and I use her for useful stuff.....

So Im making the plates which the Stevenson linkage rods attach. More pics of the design later it all fits here...











And thats it... the shop is about 3kms from home so I cant just drop out and do stuff... it has to be planned to some degree.... it also ajoins to a mates business workshop, we have an arrangement... tonight his wife grabbed me and told me I was joining them for dinner... so not much actually happened as a result...

Vespa enjoyed the pork chop bones though..... anyway, shes tired and has clocked off, so I have to go......






Much more to come over the next few days....

Cheers all

Rob


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## Artie (Oct 22, 2010)

For those who are interested, Vespa is an Aussie Terrier/Silky Terrier cross..... and has a very high opinion of herself.... SHE rules the barnyard around here.......


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## Artie (Oct 28, 2010)

Sooooo, what happened to the 'roll' I was on....?? 

I was going to achieve BIG things last weekend....

Well, reality happened actually....

I was all set up to knock out a couple of these...






Simple enough huh? Looked like it to me ... had the plate all sized up re: thickness..... 

If you take the time to think about it, this ISNT a simple part, radiuses/pivots etc... I followed Mr Westbury's example (to a degree) and found that rigidity wouldnt allow a smooth cut...

A Jig was needed! (as bloody always....) making the jig took 2 hours, making the first part took 15 mins.... damn this hobby IS an exercise in patience....
















In this pic you can see the original 'aborted' attempt....











And then using the rotary table to make the raduius... worked a treat....











Machines turned off... time for a beer.....






BUT.... even with the DRO's, I made a miscalculation and ended up with the curved 'face' only 1.5mm thick when the plans call for 3mm. Will it carry the load? Well, I think it will with the plate being 5mm wide...

So do I remake the part? Or do I make another one the same for the pair that are needed?

Im thinking that it IS strong enough and intend to make another the same... thoughts are welcome at this point... (any point for that matter...).











And finally, I dont see why this needs the ends of the slot to be squared off, Ill make the slider with radiused ends to suit and it will do the same job...

Anyway, time tocall it a night... 

Cheers all.

Rob


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## Blogwitch (Oct 28, 2010)

> A Jig was needed! (as bloody always....) making the jig took 2 hours, making the first part took 15 mins.... damn this hobby IS an exercise in patience....



That is the thing with this game Rob, it is all the little jigs and fixtures that take the time, and of course, if you haven't got the patience to do such things, bodging ensues and usually quality suffers. As you have found out, it sometimes takes many many hours to make a holding fixture, and a couple of mintes to do the job. But that is all part of the 'enjoyment'.

You can usually tell an engine if the person building it has no patience, the engine usually looks cobbled together, with lots of mistakes and unnecessary changes to what it should really look like, with the excuse they were making it look unique. 


This build is really coming along nicely now, and with reference to your question. The part you have made takes very little load, so if I was you, stick with what you have.


John


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## Lakc (Oct 28, 2010)

Looking good! Curved parts are always scary.




			
				Bogstandard  said:
			
		

> You can usually tell an engine if the person building it has no patience, the engine usually looks cobbled together, with lots of mistakes and unnecessary changes to what it should really look like, with the excuse they were making it look unique.


Guilty, with the exception of I make no excuses. One of the attractive things about this hobby is the chance to grow personally in that respect. So we fail, learn, and try to do better next time.


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## cfellows (Oct 28, 2010)

Some of the lowliest, simple looking pieces are the hardest to fabricate. Usually involves curves.

Chuck


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## Artie (Oct 28, 2010)

Thanks John, thats my intention, if it does cause issues at a later date I can re do it (after ..I do have a jig for the part now... :)

Lakc, yeah can be...I must say that I wasnt at all intimidated by the thing...just underestimated the clamping forces required... Edgar used a lathe with a flat plate to give the required radius, I tried something similar on the mil and was told to "go away lil boy..." by the chattering cutter... poor finish.

As has been mentioned, it all in the fixtures and jogs... I guess the majority of my milling time is actually INSIDE my head... just thinking about how Im going to do this or that......

Incidentally Ive built up quite stock of jigs etc made to do a particular job... rarely do I get to use one twice without some mods... :-X 

Chuck, spot on... this 'looked' simple so I approached it that way.... after I realised that this wasnt the case I stopped and thought about it for a couple of days.

Probably wont be much happening for a couple of weeks, about to go of on my working road trip again...

Cheers all

Rob T


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## Artie (Nov 4, 2010)

A small step forward tonight...made the second reversing linkage plate and started the final fit out of them both...pics tell the story.... not finished, using filing buttons to ensure accuracy....

Second unit finished and then plate reversed in jig/fixture. to allow access for filing...















This is a heap of stuff a workshop gave me. Aluminium 25mm x 19mm 135mm and some 25x 35x 135. Thye didnt want it as the components they fitted were no longer sold..did I want them?.... yeah maybe.....






Some grinding done.. filing to follow...











Notice anything about the fastener??






Out with the Mig and spot welded together...






Marked out, clamped up and the drilling begins....











And thats it for tonight, very tired and have leanrt to stop afore I wreck anything.... might get some done this weekend.... like a base plate casting..maybe....

Cheers all

Rob T


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## Lakc (Nov 4, 2010)

Looks like its coming along nicely.


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## tel (Nov 5, 2010)

Hmmm ..... blue hands, one of the Sou-Western Druids?

Coming along nicely mate.


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## Artie (Nov 7, 2010)

Us Sou-Western Druids have always held you mountain Druids in high esteem........ Gday Tel, thanks bloke, feeling like its starting to become something... yes Lakc, its alive... or at least I think so....

This post is a combination of a few days works so its a little bit all over the shop... so bear with me....

Firstly I finished the second crank half.... I have to admit right here that I wasnt happy with the first half. The alignment wasnt what I wanted and its because of this that I took time off from it to mull it over in my noggin... how could I ensure alignment even while being heated for silver brazing? Well, heres how.....

I measured the big end and main shaft gap and drilled a plate with the correct size holes using this gap.. then I split this apart so I had to half holes with identical spacing....






These plates I had already drilled with a clamping hole (see top of plate in prev pic) and when seperated, I tapped this with a 6 x 1mm thread and then added clamping plates....






Now you only have to worry about twist but as I had left both shafts way long, this was easy to eye ball. I also reamed the holes in the crank cheeks a tad looser to allow a little 'moverment'.

This worked brilliantly and today I sweated the No.1 crank half apart, reamed the cheeks and used this method to re-assemble it.... no error... a nice straight crank.... no pics cause its more of the same.....ok, just one then...






Then I deviated right away... I needed a pair of parralels for the reaming of the crank cheeks so I made a couple of pairs... the hard way..... :

I took some off cuts from the 5mm flat strap that made the reversing linkage plates and threw em into the shaper and made some flat edges....












turned em over and using a micrometer, trimmed em until I had two pairs of exactly parrallel plates... then I put them into the surface grinder and made em pretty. Ill take some pics tomorrow as they look like the real deal.... but they are mild steel. I can see an advantage of this... drill bits wont chip if they touch them... and I can make more very easily...






So that was yesterday... (sweating of crank No.1 was today..) today I decided to make the plug for casting of the base plate that will house the entire engien and allow it to be bolted into the hull.

Nothing dramatic here, n fact quite the opposite... pretty plain plug, 9mm flat plate with soem 3mm detail glued to it....






I have only given this a base coat so far or ai would have a cast plate by now.... ran out of time... again..... Ill dry this, sand it soem and give it its final coat.... then.... casting......






Enough, its 10.30pm and Im tired..... later all...

Cheers

Rob T


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## Lakc (Nov 8, 2010)

That's some serious tooling and jig making. Good to see the progress, and getting around to the baseplate means more casting in the future.


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## Artie (Nov 8, 2010)

Im pretty keen to get the casting done before my rounds of the offices next week. Hate being away from the equipment when Im on a roll....

A mock up of the configuration... scissors are for scale...







Cheers all

Rob T


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## Artie (Nov 21, 2010)

Got the casting done today..... turned out to be much more difficult than I imagined... due to its large surface area, In fact this is the biggest casting I have ever done in a closed mold.

The flask was my big one and relatively thin and the plate took up almost the entire surface area.

The thing had to be rammed on a base plate and this used to turn the cope over added the drag and then rammed it all up. Again using the base plate (flat board under the flask) to put the flask on its side and seperated the cope and drag and did all prep work with them on their sides.... damned awkward...

As a result I got a fair few inclusions (or bulging aluminium where cavities formed... given the difficulty and the fact that this part will be painted... Ive decided to accept what I have...

Its no Rob Wilson job.... but then neither am I..  th_wav  if you havent alrady, have a look at his thread A Bit of Casting, hes doing amazing things! http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=3841.0

Anyway here it is.....











Yes....its damned hot here right now.... I always seem to cast on hot days.... : so yes, that is a beer, and it wont be the last!!

Cheers Rob T


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## tel (Nov 21, 2010)

Not XXXX Artie? I'm shattered!


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## Artie (Nov 21, 2010)

tel  said:
			
		

> Not trashX Artie? I'm shattered!



Oh Tel.... XXXX? Never... apparently we cant spell 4x on here cause the nanny it turns it into trashx. The beer Tel's referring to is spelt with 4 x's and it really does taste like trashX...

a story!... this is a Queensland beer and I have a mate (Greg) who drinks it. recently while driving from Townsville to Ingham (way up north) I came across a four X pub beside the road.. its real hot up there in January so I stopped and thought Id try this terrible brew in its home state... theorising that they kept the 'good stuff' fo them selves and sent the crap down south.....I took one sip and rang Greg... "mate this crap is still crap!"....

 :big:


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## tel (Nov 21, 2010)

Well that's a relief! The only thing worse that 4X is Southwark!


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## Nickle (Nov 21, 2010)

Good job on a tough casting. I have found those large flat ones to be difficult to get right. You need to have the metal hot to get it to run that far and then it shrinks a bit unevenly. Warmish here in Mildura today, I reckon you earned your beer. Have you put all the bits on for a mock up yet?

Cheers,

Nick


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## Artie (Nov 21, 2010)

It was tough Nick, the main problem was I couldnt lift the cope off without it collapsing so as I said I had to do it with both sitting on their sides and really, it was tough to reassemble without dislodging some sand..

Im not happy with the result but it was the third ramming that I got cast.... I am JUST happy enough to use it..as its going to be painted.

Shrink was a problem and I knew it would be so I used 'generous' risers.....






..... and the riser that received the metal shrank loads.... anyway, this is 'the one' if it wasnt destined to be painted I might have considered re doing it...


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## Artie (Nov 21, 2010)

a mock up? Partial... with the plug, havent trimmed off the risers yet.... during the week Ill get one done....


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## Lakc (Nov 21, 2010)

Looks like the risers really did their job. I suspect this pour was done a little hotter then normal. Did you use or do anything else to keep the aluminum more fluid?


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## Artie (Nov 21, 2010)

As you have guessed, got it hot and poured quickly, no other tricks... 8)


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## d.bick (Nov 21, 2010)

Artie 
May I say what s fine job you are making of your engine. Being a home foundry man I know the fun that can be had from producing your own patterns and castings.


 I hope you dont me mind adding my bit to your thread.
The problem of a dropout (where the sand drops out of the moulding box) usually when you are closing the flask (moulding box) for the last time, ready for the pour. Is always there when using green sand moulding. Many of the commercial foundries use air set (a resin-bonded sand that goes off like mortar). And they can handle the flask a bit more roughly.
 I use a moulding box with two rods through the top box, which help hold the sand.
 Feeding large flat thin castings can be a problem. I was told by a foundry man to try a fish tail feed. Which I have found dose seem to work, by spreading the amount of molten metal entering the sand cavity.
  Keep up the good work
          Dave Bick U.k.


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## tel (Nov 22, 2010)

You can also try 2 or 3% of portland cement in your sand for those tricky ones (moisten it with that Southwark beer - it must be good for something)


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## Artie (Nov 24, 2010)

Hi Dave, mate please jump into this thread whenever you feel you wish.. and take it into any directions you wish.... ;D
 The input is ALWAYS welcome.

I used timber stays in the drag and a casting board under the cope... I think I eluded to the fact that there is the correct way and then the way I used .. :big: Ive never cast a unit this size in a closed mold before (open mold yes..) and doubt that I ever will again... but, it did work after a lot of mucking around....

Howdy Tel, I guess the cement would make the sand a 1 use event, would be worth it though.. and for the record...I used YOUR clay in this one... thanks again mate.... and THAT beer would definatley not be good for this... it aint good fer nuffin.... :-

Today I used the flycutter to flatten and pretty the working surfaces... firstly the back of the plate....






And the mounting surface....






I added a little putty to a couple of spots.. those areas Ive already discussed as not pleasing me greatly....






and roughly how it will sit... boiler will be up so its top is just under the crank centre line.






No real inclusions to speak of, a good solid cast... machining them up is alweays the test.. they all look good until you cut open the voids etc..

Cheers all...

Rob T


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## tel (Nov 24, 2010)

_Really_ starting to look the part now


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## Nickle (Nov 24, 2010)

Looking good Artie. This is going to be an impressive paddle steamer when you are done. 
I've been promising the kids we could go on a paddle steamer one day... 
I wonder if the PS Melbourne is running while the river is up? I think the Ruby is taking passengers now too. 

I'll have to investigate.

Cheers,

Nickle


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## Artie (Jan 31, 2011)

Can it really have been so long since I posted on this project???

Just a small update, the engine is still happening, Im just taking a break for a while, its been fairly intense for a long time and I needed to concentrate on other 'stuff' for a bit and also christmas got in the way..  

Work has been hectic and the office on the coast now requires me for 2 weeks out of every month, so I only have a small window of opportunity from now on. Other projects have gotten in the way as well such as I needed to freshen up the Duke, it was last restored over 10 years ago and the paint was getting a bit tired and I came across a TT style tank for her... a coupel of pics if you are interested....

Here... http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=4318.msg45589;boardseen#new

Cheers all

Rob


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## tel (Jan 31, 2011)

> Can it really have been so long since I posted on this project???



Yes it can - I was beginnin' to think you were in gaol!


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## Artie (Jan 31, 2011)

....... just got out ........ 8)


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## Lakc (Jan 31, 2011)

I am looking forward to seeing this done


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## Artie (Jan 31, 2011)

Ahhhh Jeff, dont hold your breath.... particualrly now that new demands are placed on my availability... BUT..I do have a lead on a filing machine...... looks good..... ;D


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## Lakc (Feb 1, 2011)

No worries, your in good shape. ;D


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