# Stuart 10H build



## coopertje (Dec 14, 2011)

Hi guys!

It has been a while since I have been here, sorry for that. I started flying RC helicopters and it took most of my time lately. More complicated than expected and also I am not 18 anymore. Its all about programming the remote control operation in your brain. As soon as you have the helicopter in the air and you need to think about the stick movement you are too late, it should be a second nature.

I started to miss my machining and also the weather is too cold to fly. I thought about to pick up my Stanley steamer car but I never have build a steam engine in my live. To start a 2 cylinder feels a bit risky to me, so I purchased a Stuart 10H kit. This is proven design, affordable and will have all the aspects I want to learn about a steam engine. This will be not a quick story, the goal is not to set a new machining record, but to learn, share and have fun in the shop! I will put more photos than text, normally a photo explains more then 1000 words. Everybody please feel free to ask and comment (positively as well as critically!)

Here we go. Started with the base, quite simple, just face mill the top and bottom sides. 

















Last operation on this part is to drill the 2 holes (3mm). I used the center holes available in the casting, they were quite in the middle.






Next casting to attack is the sole plate. I put it straight in the vise (leveled it visually) to face the bottom.
















Now the bottom is flat I can use this side a reference for all the other operations on this part. Time to drill some holes (2.5 mm)






With the shown hole I noticed a very hard part in the casting. I was able to get a 2mm hole, the 2.5mm drill would not go through, casting skin is too hard! I ended up drilling it increments of 0.1mm and that worked. Hope this is the only hard spot in the casting......

To copy the holes into the machined base I clamped the soleplate to the based and center drilled with 2.5mm drill.






Used the center drill marks in the base to drill through with 2.1mm drill, tapped all the 4 holes 7BA and mounted the tread bars.






Luckily the soleplate fitted well on the base....






Next will be the bearings.

Thanks for watching and have fun in the shop!

Jeroen


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## lazylathe (Dec 14, 2011)

Looks like this is going to be a good build!!! ;D
I like lots of pictures, as you say they explain a lot more than words sometimes.

Also flying heli's is a hard job!
I tried for a while and had moderate success...
Too many crashes and too much time and money spent on repairs!

Looking forward to your nest instalment! 

Andrew


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## Herbiev (Dec 14, 2011)

Hi Jeroen. That looks to be a solid bit of casting. Looking forward to your progress


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## nsfr1206 (Dec 14, 2011)

I used to try to fly them too but when a crash costs $90 it becomes an expensive hobby.


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## gbritnell (Dec 14, 2011)

With your experience building the lathe from castings this engine shouldn't pose much of a problem. The only part that most people have some trouble with is the crankshaft but it's a straight forward crank turning job. It looks like you're off to a good start. 
gbritnell


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## don-tucker (Dec 15, 2011)

Jeroen,what is it about rc helicopters,I bought one a year ago,tried and tried ,spent a fortune on bits ,recked the vertical blinds,nearly ended in divorce and still couldn't fly it so on ebay it went,but thats not the end of the story,a guy kindly  gave me one the other day,and so I thought i won't be beaten and spent an age setting it up,but still no flying so my son has it now,lets see how smart he is ;D
Best of luck with the H10,more down to earth.
Don


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## coopertje (Dec 15, 2011)

Thank you for your comments Andrew, Herbiev, nsfr1206, George and Don. I immediately feel at home again!

George, the set does not look too complicated, think the lathe was a bigger challenge then this little engine. But I should be careful to not take it too light, I am sure there will be many things to discover and learn. And that's what I like best in the end, face a problem, think and discuss and find the solution. Then you really have a feeling of victory when the engine finally is running. I am not sure about the crank yet, for my Lister 4-stroke engine I used a silver soldered one, I am really thinking of making one from bar stock and turn between the centers. I always wanted to do that. Maybe I get lazy and make some kind of hybrid solution, take a piece of silver steel and silver solder a rectangle block on it. This would still give me the same trouble as making a complete one from bar material and the advantage that the outsides of the crank are already finished and have the correct dimensions. Lets see what time will bring.

Well, indeed, what is it with those RC helicopters. For sure they have a big attraction too me, and as I see to many others. It looks really easy if you see other people flying them, but in fact for most its not. The issue is that an RC helicopter is unstable from nature, where an airplane is stable. So with an RC helicopter you are continuously correcting the helicopter, in fact you should almost be able to predict what movement it will make due to the wind, etc and be ready to compensate the movement before it even made the movement! So besides have the control stick movement programmed in your brain in the same way that you automatically breath, you should have a 6th sense and be able to respond very quickly. If your response is quick enough but wrong direction you crash. If you do not pay attention for a few seconds you crash. If you are too slow with your response you crash. If you have a good day you don't crash ;D . I still fly tail in, if you start to move the tail in different directions you are lost again and need to practice hover in every direction until you can do it without thinking. I use to practice on a flight simulator with a USB RC controller. That really works well, and the big advantage is that after a crash within 3 seconds your heli is repaired and ready for you to make another failure. In the 3 months that I am doing it I did not have a crash yet, just some almost crashes. But I am sure they will come, if you do not crash you are too careful and will not learn new things. The same with machining, if you never have broken a tool you have never been on and over the limit....
Another problem with starting to fly the heli is that you need to start when you are maximum 8 years old to become really good. I became 40 this year so I guess I am a little late. A well as long as I am having fun I will keep trying, if it will not work in the end there is always eBay ;D

Regards Jeroen


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## swilliams (Dec 15, 2011)

Great to see you getting back into things Jeroen

Steve


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## Harold Lee (Dec 15, 2011)

Jeroen, 

Great start on your engine. My first "built from castings" was a Stuart 10V. I started it in 1979 and completed it in 2007. My kit came with a stamped crankshaft but I understand that at some point after that they quit putting the crankshaft forging in the kit. I love the looks of the 10H and have that one on my bucket list.

Looking forward to following your post.

Harold


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## coopertje (Dec 16, 2011)

Hi Steve, nice too see that you are still "hanging around" here! Do you have any project on hand at the moment? 

Harold, good work takes time (altough I hope to finish the 10H a little bit quicker  ). Nowdays the plans state a crank by either glued with locktide or with silver solder. So I like the old style kit more, turning one between the centers would give me a much greater satisfaction then putting one togher with glue (eventhough that works perfect!). I am pretty sure that I will try to make on the "old style" way, if I am not able to get it off I can always make the silver soldered version. 
Just out curiosity, could you post some pictures of your 10V?

Have a good weekend Jeroen


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## Dave G (Dec 16, 2011)

Hi Jeroen, Looks like you're off to a good start. I'll be watching as you progress and I'm sure I will enjoy. Dave


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## gbritnell (Dec 16, 2011)

Hi Jeroen,
I don't know what Stuart includes in the casting kit these day. Like was stated they used to include a forged steel crank. If they don't then if would probably be easier to create a fabricated crank. 
 Making a one piece crank seems intimidating to a lot of people. If one goes step by step with the machining process it's not really all that hard. The only thing is a 2 piece fixture is needed to offset the crank to turn the crankpin. 
gbritnell


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## coopertje (Dec 16, 2011)

Thank you Dave, you are doing a very nice job on your engine! 

George, below whats in the box these days:






There is nothing wrong with this construction, and its a lot faster then making one out of one piece material, but I will give the last method a shot. As mentioned before I always wanted to try this operation, this seems the perfect moment and opportunity to give it a try. I guess with a slow feed and a sharp tool (with a small radius on both sides?) it should not be a big problem. 

I managed to get the bearings machined and finished. 

Started with a cleanup up cut in the mill






Marked the center point 






And moved it to my new (at least for me its new ;D) Harrison trainer lathe. I removed all the original electronics and made a new cabinet myself. On the front panel you see from left to right, the DRO, operator panel and a 12" TFT Touch screen for Mach3. I can operate all machine functions manually as well as CNC. Its a nice machine, and even though its from 1992 its brand new! Never has been used, came from a technical school. The paint inside (behind the chuck) is not even scratched!











Found the center by using a wiggler? (thank you guys for showing this method on this forum, it works great!) and filler plates between the jaws and the work piece











Center drill, 4mm drill, 6.8mm drill and reamed to 7mm






Then took the part back to the mill to make the side lengths to dimension






Back to the lathe again (pfff I am glad my shop is small, my lathe and mill are just less then 1 meter away from each other) and turned the outer diameters 






And we have 2 bearings finished (ok almost finished, each of them need to have the 2 holes drilled to mount them one the soleplate)






In the next days I will machine the sole plate and in the meantime I can prepare myself mentally to make my first crankshaft by turning between the centers.

Enjoy the weekend, regards Jeroen


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## ChooChooMike (Dec 16, 2011)

Nice job so far !! I have either the 10V or 10H to build. Don't know what's in my closet anymore 

Mike


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## Harold Lee (Dec 16, 2011)

coopertje  said:
			
		

> Harold, good work takes time (altough I hope to finish the 10H a little bit quicker  ). Nowdays the plans state a crank by either glued with locktide or with silver solder. So I like the old style kit more, turning one between the centers would give me a much greater satisfaction then putting one togher with glue (eventhough that works perfect!). I am pretty sure that I will try to make on the "old style" way, if I am not able to get it off I can always make the silver soldered version.
> Just out curiosity, could you post some pictures of your 10V?
> 
> Have a good weekend Jeroen



Jeroen,

I am really enjoying your build... Keep the pictures coming please. As you requested here are some pictures I posted a few years back on this forum... I also added a few pictures and a couple of movies of it running.

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=1862.0

Hope you have a good weekend too.

Harold


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## swilliams (Dec 17, 2011)

Hi Jeroen

I'm following in Harold's footsteps and building a Topsy Turvy engine. Just managed to get the cylinder sleeve in after heating the main body up in the kitchen oven. The body is nicely blue now.

I'm enjoying following your build.

Cheers
Steve


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## don-tucker (Dec 17, 2011)

I have made a few crankshafts by the locktite and pinning method and am pleased with the results,it may not please the pureists but it is certainly good enough for me.
,much cleaner and easier than silver soldering.
Don


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## coopertje (Dec 18, 2011)

Thank you Mike, you must have a big closed with a lot of to do projects in it! Consider yourself lucky...

Harold, your 10V is beautiful :bow: :bow: Very nice finished and runs perfect. Love the sound of it. Thank you for taking the time and effort to post the material, its appreciated. If my 10H becomes half a beautiful as yours I will be happy.

Good to see that you are busy in the shop Steve, it will be a beauty as we are used from you. I did a little (and very quick) search, but could not find a build log, do have one over here?

Don, I totally agree with you. Its a very good, quick and clean method. I made a 6-cilinder line crank using this method:
















For the Lister engine I have build I used silver solder method, also interesting:











So for the stuart 10H I would like to try the method of turning between the centers, just out of curiosity and to have tried it.

Went flying yesterday, was cold but fun. Unfortunately no progress on the 10H, think this week in the evening I can make some more progress.

Regards Jeroen


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## geoff (Dec 18, 2011)

Hi Jeroen
 I have built the 10H recently and found it very interesting and still quite a challenge, i did glue & pin the crankshaft and prefured that to soldering. if i can make a sugestion for the cylinder covers i would make 6 bolts not 5 and for the end that clamps to the body i added two extra screws to keep the cover in place before it is bolted to the body as everything has to be keeped aligned and you have to assemble this many times while you are working. I foolowed plans in Model Engineering last year and Harold Hall showed making a template for the cylinder & cover bolt holes and this was very helpfull. 
http://www.homews.co.uk/page42.html
Hope this helps
Geoff


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## geoff (Dec 18, 2011)

Here`s another pic


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## coopertje (Dec 18, 2011)

Hi Geoff. Wow that's a real beauty you have build there! Thank you for posting the pictures, I like it! It will be hard to beat your and Harold's engines but I will do my best ;D
I do not understand the purpose of having 6 bolds instead of the mentioned 5. I will read the build log in the link you mentioned, maybe it will be clear after reading. For now, I see in the plans that the covers on both sides have a small flange that should keep things align properly.

Have fun the in the shop, best regards Jeroen


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## geoff (Dec 18, 2011)

Ian

I just think 6 bolts look better and are easy to align to an edge.

Geoff


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## swilliams (Dec 18, 2011)

Jeroen

The six cylinder crank looks great. I don't have a build log for my engine but there are a few photo's towards the end of Harold's Topsy-Turvy thread. Harold has some great photo's of turning his crank between centres early on in his thread, could be worth checking out. I think the cut from solid topsy turvy crank would carry directly across to your Stuart build. 

You probably already know all this stuff, but just in case.

The Topsy-Turvy crank is made from a piece of flat plate and a pair of saw cuts are run along what will form the long rods either side of the crank webs. This is to minimise any distortion. I did mine with a 6mm roughing endmill as I couldn't be bothered sawing by hand.

Also it's important to use what they call "hot rolled steel" in the US. We call it "black steel" in Aus. "Cold rolled" or "bright steel" will probably distort too much. Finally grind the middle out of the tool for turning the crank pin, so it only cuts on the corners. Then take light cuts with it. 

I'm sure your crank will come out great, cutting from the solid is lots of fun and the way to go.

Cheers
Steve


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## coopertje (Dec 19, 2011)

Hi Steve, checked your and Harold's work, looks very nice, compliments :bow:
Also thank you for the time of writing your advice down here, its appreciated! I do not have flat stock available, I will make the crank out of 30mm "automaton staal", I do not know the English term for it, it might be free cutting steel. It has an addition of lead inside so it cuts very easily and gives a nice finish. Its not very hard, but I will not run the engine so much so that would not have to be a problem. That's the good part of constructing a crank, you can use silver steel. 
I really feel I can get this one piece crank thing done, just be careful about distortion as you mentioned. I think for this first attempt I will do all in the lathe, I have, correction, will make time for it, do not want to have a failure because I cut away too much material in the mill. Probably the next one I will prepare on the mill and finish in the lathe.

I did a little in the shop, will post some progress soon.

Regards Jeroen


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## swilliams (Dec 19, 2011)

Thanks Jeroen

So are you going to CNC turn the crank? You'll need to take lots of light cuts

The leaded steal sounds like 10L14. If it is bright drawn and you have access to something suitable, you could consider annealing it first, just to minimize any distortion.

Cheers
Steve


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## Harold Lee (Dec 20, 2011)

Jeroen - I agree with steve regarding the material you are referring to. Over here in the US we have what we refer to as 12L14 and 11L17. We also refer to them as "Ledloy".
They are used for screw machine work because they are free machining and give a good finish. My flywheels are always made from this because their are easier to machine. The only problem is they are cold rolled and there are stresses inherent in the material that can cause warpage on larger parts. For this reason I always use hot rolled steel which we refer to as A36. The site I am giving you has material sheets on almost all of the metals that we commonly use here in the US including brass and the different grades of aluminum. I find myself referring to it a lot when selecting materials.

Here are some links to the steels I am referring to:

https://www.speedymetals.com/information/material34.html
https://www.speedymetals.com/information/material38.html
https://www.speedymetals.com/information/material28.html

I am enjoying your build. Keep up the GREAT work!!!

Harold


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## coopertje (Dec 20, 2011)

Thanks Geoff, clear for me! I think I will keep the original 5 holes, in a way I prefer "original". Never the less thank you for your input, its appreciated!


Steve, I will do this manually on the lathe, I use CNC for 3 reasons:

1) Complex shapes
2) I need multiple pieces
3) I just want to use (play with) CNC

For this single crank its much quicker to it by hand then to make the G-code, test, modify, test again, etc. Further I am not a big fan of using a parting tool in CNC, I always find it scary to feed it straight into the material.
CNC is not a wonderbox, in most cases (at least in mine) it needs tuning especially when high accuracy is required (+/- 0.01mm). 

The only thing I have available is a propane torch. I will try to use the material as is, lets see what will happen. Thanks for the tip anyway! 


Thanks for the additional information about the materials Harlod, its very useful to me and I am sure that it will be useful to others as well. 
I have never bothered about material properties too much, I guess in future I should. Normally I use what I have on hand at that moment.
The good thing about the lack of knowledge is that you are not bothered by that knowledge! As mentioned I will use the material as is and see what will happen. 
The material is already in my shop for some years, maybe its already relaxed (assuming that being in the shop has the same effect on the material as it has on me :big: ).


The more I think about, the more I am looking forward to give the crank a try. 

Regards Jeroen


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## swilliams (Dec 20, 2011)

Well nothing like a good old experiment to separate what is fact and what isn't. I'm looking forward to finding out what happens


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## coopertje (Dec 20, 2011)

Thats what it will be Steve!

Here's the progress on the 10H. I wanted to have the 16mm hole drilled in the sole plate and wondered how to make sure that it would be as good as possible perpendicular to the crank. I decided to first run a 10mm radius mill trough the bearing holders and use that as reference to set-up the sole plate for drilling.

Started with finding the middle of the bearing holder with my new toy. During the build of the lathe my TNC121 broke down and I found another Heidenhain on internet for an reasonable price. It misses the axis feed function (+/- 10V analog output) but it has some great other features. It came with an original probe and 2 glass scales. 












I took a hard metal ball nose mill of 10mm and run it trough the middle of the bearing holders






Now I have a reference for setting the sole plate on my angle plate to drill the 16mm. I used a 10mm bar and 2 parallels to adjust the sole plate such that the boring will be perpendicular to the crank and when in position clamped it firmly 











I drilled the hole using end mills, they will not be distorted by the cutouts in the side of the sole plate. Started with a 15mm roughing mill and after a 16mm finger mill.
















Unclamped the sole plate and........ ........failure.....






I checked my mill since I was afraid that the hole was not straight drilled. All my axis X, Y and Z are within 0.01mm over a length of 150mm, so that can not be any issue. The only conclusion I can draw is that I messed up a dimension when setting the center, still do not know how it happened, but it happened! Ok, the center is 1mm off on the backside, from the top side it looks quite ok. 






Luckily I have a 17mm end mill, that should be useful to correct the drilling to the proper position. I took a long (known to be straight bar) and chucked it up in the mill. I used this to find the exact middle between the 2 bearing holders and when found I was indeed 1mm off in relation to the original boring I made. At least I considered myself lucky that all dimensions came together. Next time I will use this method before make the first drilling :-[






Run the 17mm end mill trough and with sweat in my hands released the clamps to look at the result. Not too bad, at least I am happy again!






Thats all, thanks for watching and have fun!

Regards Jeroen


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## ShedBoy (Dec 20, 2011)

Nice save, just don't forget to make other bits to suit. I hate the idea of buying a casting then turning it to scrap, scares me a bit. 

Brock


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## coopertje (Dec 20, 2011)

Hi Brock, thanks for the reminder! I already changed the dimensions of the related parts straight after drilling 17mm instead of the desire 16. I am not afraid to ruin a casting, if it cannot be rescued you can always buy a replacement part. I consider it learning money and the painful truth is, the more it hurts in your wallet the better it will stick in your brain 

Regards Jeroen


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## Harold Lee (Dec 20, 2011)

Nice save on your part. Sometimes it isn't the money as much as a person's pride. I have messed up parts and then spent probably more time than to just remake it figuring out a workaround.

You could have just shown us the finished part and we would have never been the wiser. Kudos and a karma to you for sharing your mistakes. 

Harold


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## coopertje (Dec 21, 2011)

I know exactly what you mean Harold! Normally I screw up when I am in a hurry and spend more then double time in correction of the error. I hoped when I got older this would become less, unfortunately I am still waiting..... ;D
Hope by posting my mistakes that besides me other people take their advantage from them! IMHO I believe that's why we are here, to learn, to share and have fun ofcource!
Thanks for your replay and karma!

Regards Jeroen


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## Ned Ludd (Dec 21, 2011)

Hi Guys,
The clever chaps learn from their mistakes, the really intelligent ones learn from other chap's mistakes. That way it's also cheaper! 
Ned


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## coopertje (Dec 26, 2011)

Thats so true Ned!

Hop you all had a good Christmas and that Santa was very generous to you with new tools and toys.

I have been struggling with the sole plate, one side of the casting is really hard! Its not just a thin layer and I tried to heat it up cherry red and let it cool down again. Did not change any thing :-\

Below my progress on the 10H

Tried to mill the top of the bearing holders to the correct height. One side went very well, the other on did not cut at all. As you can see it breaks the material instead of cutting it. I do not have a carbide tool, costs me 2 end mills..nice material to practice with my tool grinder..






Next I made the inner radius to 11.1mm with a carbide radius mill






Below my setup to drill the bearing mounting studs






Again I struggled with the hard spots, try to heat and cool down again but it keeps being too hard for the tooling I have available. At a point I had enough and took the decision as you see below






Took a piece of 10x10 mild steel, and prepared it for silver soldering






Then I start shaping the mild steel











Drilled the holes (and tapped 7BA) for the bearing mounting studs and tapped M2.5 for the oilers






Did some more shaping to the mild steel:











Next was to get the correct angle of the casting copied into the mild steel part
















Cleaned up the inner side and and the slot on the side of the sole plate











I am glad I took the decision to remove the hard part, its too expensive in tools when you do not have the correct ones available. After painting this operation will not be visible anymore











Remaining are the clean up of the cylinder mounting and drill the 5 mounting holes. Then I will start on my crank.

Have fun in the shop, regards Jeroen


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## gbritnell (Dec 26, 2011)

You did a nice repair on the casting Jeroen. It seems from some of the other postings that the Stuart castings are having the same problems. I guess personally for the money you pay I would have sent it back to them for a replacement. I have had problems in the past with the valve covers but never on a large casting like the base.
gbritnell


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## smfr (Dec 26, 2011)

Yeah, I've been having some problems with hard spots in some recent Stuart castings too.

Very bold of you to just mill off part of the casting! I think I would have waffled about doing this for far longer! I might also have considered milling off both bearing supports, and just making the bearing supports larger (in the style of the Stuart Beam) and perhaps from bronze. It would change the look, but it could work.

I'm following the build with interest!


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## Jeff L (Dec 26, 2011)

I have heard about hard spots in the new Stuart castings also ,I never had a problem with the old castings so before the old company went out of business I bought two casting sets of every engine in the catalog , my father thought I was nuts for doing so .
 Great job on the repair.


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## coopertje (Dec 26, 2011)

George, sending the casting back seriously crossed my mind. But then I start to think about all the hassle, waiting for who knows how many weeks to get the replacement part....I would not like to have my project down for that time and the solution was relatively simple.

Smfr, its not so bold after all, just struggle and demolish the tools you have in stock, then these kind of decisions come quite naturally to me : Thanks for putting the topic on hard spots, I really got some good tips from there. The fault I have made is that after having it heated to red it cooled down too fast. Next time I will put it in the fireplace (I assume (and hope) it does not get soo hot that the casting will be damaged) and my wife also will be happy since I put the fireplace in the living room instead of spending time in the shop ;D You are lucky that you just need to get a hole in the valve body, if it needed to be treaded afterwards a carbide drill would just solve half the problem. For the sole plate I do not take the risk of heating it again and loose my silver soldered work, keep my fingers crossed for the remaining machining of this part. Keep on the good work on your beam restoration, you are doing an excellent job there with a very precise finishing of your parts!

Jeff, I probably would agree with your father before, but after this week I would say an expensive but pretty smart move!! It seems that the Stuart people are in a hurry these days and do not let the parts cool down properly or they put a lot of junk in their foundry. Hope to see some of them build by you very soon over here!

Regards Jeroen


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## bronson (Dec 26, 2011)

I have been watching this build with great interest. I got the castings for a no9 given to me a few years ago and i am just waiting for my skills to get better before i attempt a project like this. Yours is looking great and good repair job on the one casting.


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## rleete (Dec 26, 2011)

Great repair! I especially like how you took the time to replicate the casting draft on the new piece.


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## coopertje (Dec 28, 2011)

Thank you Bronson and rleete. To Bronson, just start on the engine! Your skills will improve along the way and in 99% of the cases of a mistake it can be corrected. I can strongly recommend to start a build over here, you will get all the help you need when you are in need for it. Hope to see your progress here soon!

Made some more progress, not so much but better then nothing.

Made an adapter to hold the sole plate in the lathe







Here it is mounted in the lathe, I am surprised how tight the sole plate is clamped with such a simple adaptor.






Again I hit some hard spots in the castings. The shiny surfaces are the hard parts. Broke a tool on this again :-\
















To setup the soleplate straight in the vice I use an electronic angle measurement device that I use to adjust the angle of the rotor blades on the RC heli. Its very simple and quick, zero the device on the top of the vice and gently hit the casting until its zero degrees.






Found the middle of the 17mm bore






and used a really nice feature of the digital readout system, it can calculate a hole pattern. You enter the number of holes, X Y middle point, radius and starting angle






graphical overview of the programmed data






and to position the axis a graphical indication of the target positions






Piece of cake to drill the holes











Finally I can start on the crank! Cutted a piece of round 30mm, faced the ends and milled a flat that will be used as reference to drill the 3 center holes on the side
















I had a bad surprise when setting up the lathe to work between the centers. According to the documentation it should have a MK5 taper in the main spindle. When trying to fit, it did not fit! An MK4 is too small, so its something in-between..and something I do not have.  So another challenge arrived unexpected. 






Started to set up the top slide to the correct angle in the spindle nose, which is more or less 2 degrees (does anyone have a clue what kind of taper I will be making?)
















Cut of piece of round 40mm and clean up one side and start to turn the taper











I tested a lot to not have the taper too small, with a cam lock the chuck is removed quickly and I let the piece chucked up to not loose centricity.






And to my surprise it worked  Its a very nice fit all around, put it in by hand and I cannot remove it without hitting it from the back 











Got lazy during turning and missed my auto feed So I use my cordless drill to move the top slide back and forward, it worked very well, did not get tired and the finishing on the part also improved by having a constant feed rate.






Time to make the center tip











And we have a lathe ready for turning between the centers! Since the fit was so good, and the machine is set-up I made another 3 for future use






Hope I have time tomorrow to start turning the crank and that I did not tire you will all these pictures. I will keep you posted about probably how to NOT turn a crank :big:

Have fun, regards Jeroen


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## smfr (Dec 28, 2011)

Interesting setups and tool-making diversions!

What's the device you're using to find the center of the bore (the one with KT 130 on it)?


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## coopertje (Dec 29, 2011)

Hi Simon,

Its a digital edge finder, it came with the DRO. Its a very nice system, you can choose in the DRO what kind of object you want to measure and then you move the finder agains the workpiece. At the moment the finder detects the workpiece it catches the correct coordinate, so no issue with overshoot. I was lucky to find this thing used on internet, new they are just to expensive for a hobbyist like me.

Hope its clear, if not let me know. Regards Jeroen


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## coopertje (Dec 29, 2011)

Made a start with the crank today and things went not really as planned.

Made the center spots and started turning the crank pin











Crank pin finished






Time to clean up the inner sides. I ground a tool with 8mm width and made 2 cutting sides, one on the left and one on the right. Combine this with a tailstock center too much tightened and you get the result below






Ok, take a deep breath and to reset the mind I made a tool holder for a 6x6mm tool bit that I will use for the next one to clean the inner sides.
















Ok, take 2. Made a piece of flat out of 30mm round stock. This will stress the material less during turning (because less material to be cut. Further cut away the not needed material in the mill.
















Started with the middle center point to shape the crank sides






Took the part back to the mill and used a saw to make a cut on both sides. After turning the crank pin I just need to saw a little piece and will not stress the crank pin too much.






Crank pin finished and side cleaned up and the part is still in one piece!






Sawed away the material not needed anymore






When I was almost trough I got very warm and sweaty  :'(  oh no. I sawed away the wrong side, look at the little cross on the bottom  






Ok, time to call it a day. Lets see what I will do tomorrow.. I think I will make it a hybrid solution, or have a third attempt.or both....

Regards Jeroen


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## lazyman (Dec 29, 2011)

Hi Jeroen

I feel for you in making the crankshafts, it took me 3 attempts and I was making them from castings, my brother used to work for st back in the 80's so he got me some extras, its not a mistake its a learning experience.
Once you've finished it I'm sure you will proud of it.

Rich


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## smfr (Dec 29, 2011)

Uh oh! Someone else on these forums did exactly the same thing recently, where they cut off the wrong part of a crankshaft :'(

The recommendation was to scribble on the scrap side with a marker to make it obvious which part to remove.


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## hobby (Dec 29, 2011)

Really enjoying this build thread, lots of instructional photos, and great explanations, I especially like how you were able to do a work around on that hard spot in the casting base, that was a great technique you did to make a new part on the workpiece.

Keep up the great work, and the photo documentations as well.


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## DOC123 (Dec 30, 2011)

Very good work. I'm also in the middle of making one of these engines and the techniques are great to compare.


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## rleete (Dec 30, 2011)

smfr  said:
			
		

> Uh oh! Someone else on these forums did exactly the same thing recently, where they cut off the wrong part of a crankshaft



I believe it was Brian. Just goes to show that even the most experienced of machinsits sometimes makes a mistake.

I have yet to attempt a one piece, as I'm still screwing up on the multiple piece ones.


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## coopertje (Dec 30, 2011)

You are right Rich, I do not see it as mistakes (ok, cutting off the wrong side was stupid), but as a learning experience. Lesson learned Simon, from now on I will put as many as possible marks on the piece of metal needs to be removed. To Terry and RleeteI I can say that I feel that it is not so difficult, its a matter of patience and keeping focussed on your work. 
Thanks Hobby, hows your little vice doing in the shop?

Today I made the hybride solution, did not like to trow away the part.

Cut off the outer ends






and drilled and reamed to 7mm






While the lock tide is drying I made an arbor to hold the crank eccentric to clean up the inner side after removing the round 7 between the webs.






drilled and reamed to 7mm, 4.75mm out of center point






Then milled a 10mm wide slot to support the crank during turning






Locktide dried for about 30 minutes, time to bring the webs to dimension






Added 2 pins of 2.5mm silver steel, just to be sure
















Cut away the inner part of 7mm stock with a hand saw (at least I removed the correct pin this time) and cleaned up the inner sides of the web using the arbor made earlier






And of course tested it in the frame.






Do not like the pins visible (due to fact that they are from different materials) and also I discovered that the crankpin should be 7 mm instead of the 5mm I have made (took the wrong dimension, just looked at the side view of the crank on the drawing. There it is mentioned 5mm, did not see however that the middle of the crankpin should be 7). So reasons enough to start attempt number 3! I will prepare 2 blanks, one of free cutting steel (shiny one) and one out of C45 construction steel (the darker one).






Have a very good, healthy and successful 2012, and that you may have plenty of shop time!!

Regards Jeroen


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## krv3000 (Dec 30, 2011)

HI nice way to do the crank


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## coopertje (Jan 8, 2012)

KRV3000, maybe a nice way, but for sure not the intended way!

Made 2 pieces of flat out of the round material and marked CLEARLY what part should be removed and start turing





















At the time I needed to reverse the crank, the 7mm was too small for the clamp. I made an intermediate from a piece of scrap aluminum.











Below the result of the parts, take number 3 worked!











I cannot notice any difference between the 2 materials, they both seem to be straight.

Have fun, regards Jeroen


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## smfr (Jan 8, 2012)

Nice job! I like the "scientific" approach of making the crank from two different materials.

How did you make the flat blanks from the round bar? With a slitting saw?


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## swilliams (Jan 8, 2012)

Very nice Jeroen

So you have 3 cranks now? I reckon the first one would look pretty good with the webs painted black, then you wouldn't see the pins.


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## coopertje (Jan 9, 2012)

Thanks Simon. I have used the mill to make the round pieces flat, see reply #44. Then you consider yourself lucky with a big and stable mill, takes cuts of 5mm with 2 fingers in its nose.... which is good because patience is not my strongest point... :

Thats a great idea Steve! Never thought of that option. The build up crank however is useless because I made the crankpin 5mm in diameter instead of the required 7.... :-\ So I have just 2 left out of 4 attempts....

Regards Jeroen


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## KM6VV (Apr 8, 2017)

Sorry this post is SO late, but I want to build the engine, and would love to download some of the pictures.  I'l like to see pictures of the sole plate and the full engine.  But for some reason, I can download what appear to be .JPG files, but I can't open them on my system as .JPGs.  

Thanks for any help, and again, sorry for the late posting.

Alan


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## Cogsy (Apr 8, 2017)

I saved one as a jpg to my system and I can view it just fine. Not sure what your issue can be. Sorry.


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## KM6VV (Apr 9, 2017)

I successfully downloaded a couple, viewing image, and then viewing image again.  Others still don't work, but I got the two main ones I wanted.



Cogsy said:


> I saved one as a jpg to my system and I can view it just fine. Not sure what your issue can be. Sorry.


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## krv3000 (Apr 17, 2017)

hi sos for the delay but had to re scan the plans


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## KM6VV (Apr 18, 2017)

Thanks, no rush.  
I'm playing with my own design for a soleplate.  I can mill it out of aluminum bar stock.  
I've been searching for pix, and I found quite a few that show the details of the soleplate.
Alan


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## mechman48 (Apr 18, 2017)

Hi Jeroen; Have built this kit myself & I found the standard had a chilled skin around the cylinder flange so keep an eye out for it. I had some probs with the crankshaft initially but nothing that couldn't' be overcome, the other bit that you will have to take care is where the bearing blocks fit I used a ball end cutter to keep the radius as true as possible. Machining the feet of the standard takes some setting up but with a bit of ingenuity can be done simply, I made a aluminium faceplate to machine the cylinder flange then found it was better to set the standard up in the mill, using the cylinder flange as a ref. & machine the feet that way thus keeping the feet parallel to the cyl. Flange. Another problem I found was that the cylinder bore was some way out of concentricity in the casting...  bad casting in the kit, so had to eyeball set up as near as dammit to run evenly. 

Some pics of the machining... there are more in my album in MEW forum...  http://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=123558  'Mechman48'.
Plus a video of completed engine running.

George.


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## KM6VV (May 10, 2017)

I'm looking for details on machining the main bearings.  Especially locating the casting for machining in the 4-jaw chuck.  Same for locating the steam chest.


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## fcheslop (May 10, 2017)

This may help
http://www.homews.co.uk/page42.html
It also includes the 10H


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## KM6VV (May 11, 2017)

Thanks.  I've recently read through homews, but I don't recall a piece on the bearings.  I'll look again.
I did just figure out a mounting for my Starrett "Last Word" on the Sherline lathe.  I was able to do a reasonable job on the two bosses of the steam chest.  Should work out for the main bearings as well.
The parts for the 10H and 10V are very close.

Edit:  That helps!  Use a 3-jaw chuck with packing instead of a 4-jaw check for the bearings.


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