# Gerry's Beam Engine - Metric



## Ken I (Nov 23, 2010)

Started on the cylinder parts this weeked.

Still needs a lot of hand finishing.







Nothing consigned to scrap yet - couple of near misses.

Ken


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## briankenyn (Nov 23, 2010)

Beautifully done, Ken. Given a week or so, I might equal a part of your output, together with a fair amount of casualities.


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## don-tucker (Nov 23, 2010)

Looking Good Ken,they are nice engines to build and run
Don


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## TuxMan (Nov 23, 2010)

Ken

Very nice start on your engine.

i am building the same basic engine but in imperial dimensions.

Good luck, I will be watching

Eric


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## Ken I (Nov 23, 2010)

Pat J  said:
			
		

> Is that an offset cut on the center part of the cylinder?



Pat,
   Yes the centre portion is eccentric - I thought it looked ugly extended to the ends and I needed to offset the steam chest from Gerry's original drawings to line up with a revised quadrant arm. I didn't like that cantilevered pin on the valve stem in the original - looks like a weak point that will frequently fatigue and break.

The cylinder is phosphor bronze - the other bits are brass and the valve cast iron.

Ken


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## Ken I (Nov 26, 2010)

Progress on the cam and big end.

This was a lot harder to make than the cylinder and I have shown the manufacturing stages for info or comment if you perhaps have any other ways you have of doing this.






Note the el-cheapo chinese lathe and mill - but what the ... it works.

The faceplate on top of the lathe doubles as a chuck mount for my rotary table which you will note is a discarded worm gearbox - again it works.

The fire extinguisher (just visible on the end of bench) - for when you have a fire - Note WHEN ! not IF - If you have a workshop, then sooner or later you will have a fire.






The finished bits


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## arnoldb (Nov 26, 2010)

Your build's coming along really nicely Ken - some great looking parts so far Thm:

Regards, Arnold


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## Ken I (Dec 12, 2010)

Further progress...

Completed the conrod and the beam.







Milled the beam on a plate with tapped holes to hold it down at the required angles.

Note the aluminium soft jaws on the vice - the "V" in the middle is for holding round stock vertically - also came in handy on the conrod as the wider small end could "hide" in the gap.





Finished bits - the hammered black paint in the "bling" pockets looks good and hides a number of evils.

Also completed all the pillow blocks - now for the crankshaft.


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## Stemo (Dec 20, 2010)

Hi ken, I just recently started this project during my apprenticeship. I am currently about to go ahead and produce the crankshaft also, I was wondering your opinion on making the crankshaft out of a single piece of steel, I have created it by turning it all down from a solid piece and offsetting half an inch in a 4-Jaw to create the offset crank. Do you think this would work the same as the one in the drawings would?

Great work by the way, im really enjoying this and seeing someone else doing it is a great guide and motivation.


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## Stemo (Dec 21, 2010)

Also was wondering if you could take a picture of the individual pieces you have made to help me get an idea of what I am making, as ihave only been doing this for 6 weeks I am having to be inventive as I cannot properly understand some of the smaller parts on the drawings as they are extremely cramped.


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## Ken I (Dec 21, 2010)

Are you using the metric drawings I posted ?

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=11254.0

If so you can zoom in to any of the individual drawings and print them independently - if you simply print the whole page it will be unreadable.

If you are using the original imperial drawings - they are not the same - mine has been metricated (not just metricised by multiplying by 25.4) so its now 12mm bore x 25mm stroke - also the valve link and frame are different - so use for info only.


I have posted photos above of the bits I have made so far except for some smaller parts I will include in my next post.

As regards making the crank from a single piece of steel - nice - but a lot of work. 
If I was to do it that way I would start by putting in centres at both ends for the main axis - followed by turning of the "long" end to a rough diameter - then the eccentric portion to finished size - followed by the "short" end - final finish between centres for the main axis. It might also be an idea to "block up" the shaft on a milling machine rather than subjecting yourself to oodles of eccentric interupted cutting.

 - Just a suggestion.

I haven't made the crank yet - probably this weekend - I intend to insert a big end shaft longer than the crank main axis shaft with centres in both - once silver soldered I can hold the big end axis / centre for finish machining the area between the crank webs.

(My small 4 jaw won't go to 12.5mm offcentre.)

Hope this helps - maybe someone else out there has comments on making a one piece crank ?

Ken


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## smgraph (Dec 21, 2010)

Ken, 
 Does it matter if the cylinder is made out of phosphor bronze or can it be brass?


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## Ken I (Dec 21, 2010)

Smgraph,
       I originally specified brass but later changed my mind to P/Bronze - quite frankly cast iron or high silicone aluminium would work as well as long as you use a suitable piston material that won't gall the cylinder walls.

The choice was aesthetic in that I wanted a "brassy" looking cylinder but then decided to use P/Bronze because it will be harder wearing than brass - if you are going to put in all the hours machining it, the extra material cost is negligable.

There is no side loading on the piston with the ground link design in any case so the ring material is probably the deciding factor - use Acetal or Delrin for compressed air and CI for steam.

Regards,
      Ken


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## Ken I (Dec 30, 2010)

Making the crank

I turned up the web flanges about 0.25mm oversize all round for later clean up machining.

I also pitch drilled (reamed) some 6mm dia reference holes to form the corner rad and act a reference for relocation later (top left in photo) plus M6 tapped holes in the opposite flange so I could bolt everything together using turned sacrifical spacers for the correct gap between the webs.

I make the big end axle about 20mm longer than the main axle at the "short" end for subsequent machining of the eccentric portion (outsde the range of my 4 jaw) and bolted it together for silver soldering.




Bottom left - the silver soldered assembly - man it looks ugly.

Bottom right machining the area between the webs using the "long" axle in the 4 jaw.

Below - top left - machining the main axle concentric diameters and faces.




Bottom left above - using the reference holes to orientate the crank for milling the webs (as well as the angles - not shown). Note the 10mm square toolsteel and feeler gauge to fill the gap between the webs so that it can be firmly clamped in the vice without bending the big end pin.

On the right - my ballancing set up :-

A pair of stanley knife blades are near frictionless and the conrod is supported at the big end by a thin thread - obviously this method is only as good as the friction at the big end will permit so it is loose (not fully tightened) and lubricated.

Mount the whole affair on a zeroed scale - if the big end is heavy you can attatch a thin line and pull up - if its light push down. 
The value on the scale gives some idea of the mass of material needed to be removed from the parralell portion of the webs (if heavy) or from the offset (if light).

By working up and down you can also see the hysteresis in value induced by the big end friction and you can average the result. 

This setup moves to an imballance of about 2.5g mostly due to big end friction - by performing the up down trick I divine I need to remove about 2g from the parallel portions.

Good enough for now - it was designed to be in ballance and it is - (more or less) - but then no plan survives contact with reality. I'll see how it runs before removing any more material.






The finished crank.

Ken


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## arnoldb (Dec 30, 2010)

Looks great Ken Thm:

A question if you don't mind... When balancing, don't you need to add the piston as well to compensate for its weight ?

Regards, Arnold


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## Ken I (Dec 30, 2010)

As regards ballancing - the piston is not revolving only going up and down (roughly) equal and opposite forces - the same applies to the small end - hence the reason for supporting the small end - we are trying to ascertain only the portion of the mass which works against the rotation for the crank.

If you consider the piston to be moving in (approximately) simple harmonic motion - then its max. accelleration (and hence out of ballance) occurs at TDC & BDC and at mid stroke it is zero (about to change from accelleration to decelleration) if you attempted to counter this with an imballance on the crank it might null out some of the up & down forces at TDC & BDC at the expense of introducing a lateral out of ballance - which will be worse for most of the stroke than the error you are trying to correct - so it doesn't work. 

The best solution for the piston imballance is to have two (or pairs) working in opposition to each other.

To be sure there are a number of other dynamic forces at work and the up down motion is not simple harmonic and can only be ballanced by a countershaft. THe more cylinders the more they tend to cancell each other out. Modern 4 cylinder engines and some odd configurations (5 cylinders and V4's & 6's) often use a rotating counterweight shaft (countershaft) to overcome these forces.

Also my setup is a static ballance and not a dynamic ballance which is beyond anything you can come up with at home. However given the symetry of the parts a static ballance should be fine.

It seems to work.

Incidentally I ballance 60000 rpm slotcar motor rewinds on blades - works pretty well - again not dynamic but if its not statically ballanced it is definately not dynamically ballanced.

Ken


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## arnoldb (Dec 30, 2010)

Thanks Ken - a lot of brain-food for digestion 
Regards, Arnold


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## Ken I (Dec 30, 2010)

Thanks Pat - I would like to see that.

This is what I did (by guessing and checking) ....

The photo below shows the ballancing vectors I did when I redesigned the engine.
It was meant to be slightly "conrod heavy" at the design web parallel of 16mm - leaving plenty of room for adjustment later. (At 15mm it is way overballanced).






Due to some small errors my web ended up at 15.8 and as luck would have it very close to perfect ballance.

The proof of the pudding however...... I'll let you know when it runs.

Attatched drawing is of the reference holes.

Ken


View attachment DUMP1.dwg


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## smgraph (Dec 30, 2010)

Ken, 

It's looking great! Keep up the good work!!!!  I did notice in one of your last post you said it was a 12mm bore but I have it as a 12.5mm bore? I just want to make sure you haven't changed your design. I am getting ready to start on my own cylinder and I don't want to goof it up. Thanks for your help!!! Steve



"If you are using the original imperial drawings - they are not the same - mine has been metricated (not just metricised by multiplying by 25.4) so its now 12mm bore x 25mm stroke - also the valve link and frame are different - so use for info only."


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## Ken I (Dec 31, 2010)

Smgraph - sorry just a typo - it is 12.5mm

Ken


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## Ken I (Jan 2, 2011)

In respone to Stemo's request for a photo of any smaller parts I have made thus far...







The radii on the bearing caps was cut using TC router bits normally used for woodwork.






I made the small bolts by using cheesehead screws - silver soldering the slot and then grinding on the hexagon using this little fixture below.
I





Ken


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## Ken I (Jan 5, 2011)

I made the main chassis plates by printing 1=1 to my 1200 dpi printer - which I think is more accurate than I can mark out - besides I don't have a height gauge & surface table - so its way better than I can manage with a setsquare etc.

Printed onto A4 lable (self adhesive) paper.
I cut off a thin strip of the backing (release) paper along one edge - this make positioning much easier than with the whole sticky surface active - once correctly positioned - stick down the thin edge - bend over double to feed out the remainder of the backing - if you screw up (I did) start again - prints are cheap.





Since the material had been dressed to size (by my supplier, who took the sizes way too litterally) I was forced to accurately apply to an edge - I would much rather have machined the edge referenced to the holes.

Centrepunch, drill and ream all the holes - reaming for reasons of using pins to align it on my mill - note also addition of numerous holes which align with my "T" slot pitches for the various angles - starting to look like Swiss cheese.




Algin & mill.





Job done - still requires edge on drilled & tapped holes plus hand finish and black anodising.

Ken


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## arnoldb (Jan 5, 2011)

Thats coming along nicely Ken.

What sort of colouring dye do you use for anodizing? - It would be nice to know what's available "locally"

Regards, Arnold


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## Ken I (Jan 5, 2011)

Thanks Arnold, you are pretty much restricted to black, bronze & clear - the more colourfull greens, reds, purples etc. are typically only available if the anodiser is doing a large customer batch - generally means a long wait. Ask your local anodiser ?

Made the flywheel - decided to use the "industrial" looking model Clampex double taper coupling to mount it.






Changed the drawing to R2.5 in all corners - what on earth was I thinking using different rads.

Just trial fitting at this stage.

It's starting to come together.

Ken 

View attachment Clampex.dwg


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## Ken I (Jan 15, 2011)

Trial assembly

Everthing fits together as planned - anyone who is working from my metric plans can breathe a sigh of relief - I was terrified I would find some obvious blunder in my redesign and have to apologise profusely.




There is a tight spot in the cycle - I think the problem is in the conrod big end.
No gland packing, gaskets or sealant yet - will probaly do a trial run this week.




Then I've got to strip everything - do all the finishing and have the frame anodised and construct a base - I have a piece of black granite that might do the job.

I'll have a beer now.

Ken


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## arnoldb (Jan 15, 2011)

Good going Ken 



> I'll have a beer now.
> Keb


 :big: I hope you can blame that one on a good cross-border import !

Cheers, Arnold


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## Ken I (Jan 15, 2011)

Spot on Arnold

Windhoek draught - you can't get it for love nor money at the moment - only back in the shops February - I'm told.

Fortunately I laid on a large supply before Chrismas - should tide me over.


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## zeeprogrammer (Jan 15, 2011)

That's looking really good.
I look forward to the finishing and running.



			
				Ken I  said:
			
		

> Fortunately I laid on a large supply before Chrismas - should tide me over.



No...it shouldn't. It may...but it shouldn't. ;D


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## Ken I (Jan 19, 2011)

It runs ! - My first runner.

No gasket - no sealant and no gland packing - I expected it to leak like a sieve - only small leakage and the down stroke of the cylinder is not as strong due to the absent gland packing - I'll do all of that on the rebuild.

Just put air on it and it ran just fine - even seem to have my timing set up right.

At 20psi it ticks over at 200rpm at 40 psi its up to 1200rpm as which point it starts to "walk" around the bench (not mounted on a base yet).

Does anyone have any idea what the max. revs are - before it pulls itself apart - I'd hate to find out the hard way.

I made a short vid but cannot get it to load onto Photobucket - tried *.mov, *.mpg & *.avi - anyone got any idea what I'm doing wrong ?

Ken


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## arnoldb (Jan 19, 2011)

Good going Ken ;D
(And excellent choice of beer as well; I suspect you're not getting as much, as we are drinking it all at the moment :big

I also tried photobucket a long time ago and could not get a video up to it; it looks like there are connectivity issues to photobucket from Southern Africa.
Try making a Youtube account - that works from our corner of the world.

Oh, and as to running a beam engine - as far as I'm concerned the slower it will go, the better - they were slow-running engines ;D

Kind regards, Arnold


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## Ken I (Jan 19, 2011)

Thanks Arnold, I want the engine to run as slowly as possible - what's the point of a blur.

But I would also like to know what the "outer limits" are without actually going there.

I'll try Youtube - but its a pretty crutty video in any case - once all the "bling" is completed I'll try for something a bit better.

Regards,
       Ken


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## ajcgkm (Jan 20, 2011)

I am glad you metricated this image almost all of my tools are metric, I have only owned a lathe for 2 months and built my first engine after converting imperial to metric. It was a pain and time consuming still got the base to make and stand but thats it in my pic. My missis is holding it and it's air powered. I am going to tackle the beam engine it looks really awesome. The thing is do you have an assembley plan. At the moment I am modeling the engine into a 3d package so I will have a virtual reality engine. I do things this way so I can see if anything needs attention. I have your dxf drawings and am in the process of turning each 2d section into 3d but am a bit confussed as to where each part goes. Except the obvious so if you could post assembly instructions that would be great. Also you say you got her running any chance of you posting a vid I would love to see her running and I bet a few others on here would lie that too.

Thanks for your time AJ :bow:


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## imagineering (Jan 20, 2011)

ajcgkm  said:
			
		

> At the moment I am modeling the engine into a 3d package so I will have a virtual reality engine. I do things this way so I can see if anything needs attention. I have your dxf drawings and am in the process of turning each 2d section into 3d but am a bit confussed as to where each part goes.
> 
> Thanks for your time AJ :bow:




Hi AJ,

I also have started this Beam Engine, inspired by the Model itself and the Metric Plans.
I've changed a few things to suit myself - I'm building the Frames from Timber with Brass Plates.
What 3D CAD program are you using? I'm currently modeling the Beam Engine in Autodesk Inventor & we may be able to swap parts if compatible.

Murray.


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## Ken I (Jan 20, 2011)

AJ - no I don't have an assembly drawing (other than the 3 2d views).

I'm not sure what you get from the *.dxf file but my original *.dwg has each part in a different layer - so by a process of switching the layers on and off you can see where the various bits go - tedious to be sure.

(I have yet to succesfully load a *.dxf file into my caveman version Autocad 10)

If I find the time I'll add a part list / lables etc as well as some build notes which will help I hope.

Having said that even with the design firmly in my head I had to lift a few scrap views from the drawing - the ground link assembly is a bit of a sod. 

I have attatched the latest version which includes some scrap views of the links plus a few other odds and ends for my own workings.
I have also restored the outline to their respective layers so you can turn off layer "detail1" to lose the dimensioning.

Here's the rather crutty vid... I'll try to post something better later.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4QY9idaeKo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4QY9idaeKo[/ame]

Ken 

View attachment Beameng.dwg


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## ajcgkm (Jan 21, 2011)

> Hi AJ,
> 
> I also have started this Beam Engine, inspired by the Model itself and the Metric Plans.
> I've changed a few things to suit myself - I'm building the Frames from Timber with Brass Plates.
> ...



Im using an old version of 3d studio max it's very esay to use and very powerful I did try autocad but cant get on with it. With 3d studio max I can produce exact copies of each part from the 2d drawings. The frames are made also the beam pivot and crank pivot clamps. I am working on the steam boiler at the moment. What file format does autodesk inventor use. I do have the program but have not installed it yet.


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## ajcgkm (Jan 21, 2011)

> If I find the time I'll add a part list / lables etc as well as some build notes which will help I hope.
> 
> Having said that even with the design firmly in my head I had to lift a few scrap views from the drawing - the ground link assembly is a bit of a sod.
> 
> ...



Thanks for getting back Ken I managed to source oldboatmans modified plans and with yours and the images that you and Don have supplied I am working it out slowly. I did try putting my autocad on but its a real old version and windows 7 did not like it so managed to get a dxf dwg viewer but can't turn layers on or off. I may put autocad inventor on but 3d max is what I have been using for about 10 years and modeling in 3d is so much easier in this program. All the best with your future modeling.


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## Ken I (Jan 21, 2011)

Attatched Autocad 2000 version - maybe better.

Regards,
      Ken 

View attachment Beameng1.dwg


View attachment Beameng1.dxf


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## ajcgkm (Jan 21, 2011)

Cheers Ken,

as soon as you mentioned layers I had a butchers at program and found out how to turn the layers on and off, your new colour coded drawing is much easier to assemble now.

Thanks for that Andrew


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## Ken I (Jan 22, 2011)

Murry & A.J. - If you do a 3D model - please post it on the site.

A.J. welcome to the site - nice little engine - hell - I had my home lathe for 10 years before I got my A in G and built something (not work related). Well done.

Gerry Dykstra's (aka oldboatguy) original imperial plans are not quite the same as my metricated version - I changed the link mechanism to the steamchest / valve as I didn't like the look of the cantilevered pin. Also my conrod is not the same (Gerry's original plans were missing this item) so I kinda reinvented it.

Ken


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## DaveH (Jan 22, 2011)

Ken
That's really great - "better than the cricket" ;D

I would like to ask if you don't mind, where did you get those M2, M2.5 Hex Hd screws/bolts from?

Dave


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## arnoldb (Jan 22, 2011)

Your engine runs a treat ;D - and thanks for the plans Ken Thm:



> I would like to ask if you don't mind, where did you get those M2, M2.5 Hex Hd screws/bolts from?


Me too! ;D - I'm getting a little tired of making them!

And Welcome to HMEM Dave - we won't mention cricket; it seems to be a Northern Hemisphere thing at the moment... Beers out in SA and AUS to drown sorrows...

Kind regards, Arnold


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## Ken I (Jan 22, 2011)

Dave H, those little M2 & M2.5 hex bolts were made from off the shelf stainless cheseheads - I silver soldered the slot closed - faced them off and ground the hex on my bench grinder - refer to earlier in the thread.

Regards,
      Ken


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## DaveH (Jan 23, 2011)

Ken I, Well they do look good.
Dave


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## Ken I (Mar 28, 2011)

At the request of Smgraph an explaination of the valvegear.

The valve (sometimes called a "D" valve because it looks like a "D" in cross section) is moved up and down within the steamchest on the valve pin. To this end it should be a good fit between the valve and the pin in the direction of motion (we don't want a lot of lash) but a loose fit between the pin and the valve face on the cylinder.

Here it can float - it doesn't matter as the pressure within the steamchest keeps it firmly against the valve face of the cylinder.

Conversely you don't want any interference here or it will bind.

In the mid position all ports are covered, in the up position pressure can pass from the steamchest into the lower half of the cylinder and the exhaust from the opposite end via the underside cavity in the valve to the exhaust.

Obviously the stroke is fixed by the eccentric cam via the bellcrank etc. but it must be adjusted so that the full motion is equally spaced about the central (exhaust) port.

The valve is at the mid position when the piston is at the top or the bottom and at the fully open positions when the piston is midstroke - so the valvegear cycles about 90° out of synch with the piston.

I have attached a *.jpg and a *.dwg showing this in cross section - hope this helps.

Regards,
      Keb 

View attachment Dump.dwg


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## smgraph (Mar 28, 2011)

Thanks Ken, That really helps. Steve


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## Ken I (Nov 2, 2011)

This will be my last post on this engine and I have listed it under Finished Projects.

I have added a slip reversing gear which is in the updated plans and can be retrofitted to this (and most likely any similar engine).
I have posted the 2D ACAD drawing & *.dxf files in the uploads section.
The drawing has the various parts in different layers / colours - so by switching the layers on and off you can see where it goes relative to the rest.
There are detailed drawings of all the parts.

There are also a number of "doodles" wrt to manufacturing the chassis and the beam without a rotary table.

Here's the link :-
http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?action=tpmod;dl=item364]
I made a base for it, fitted the gland packings (thanks Tel) and added the slip reversing gear - cleaned it up and here it is.









Here the 180° slip reversing mechanism - you just rotate the flywheel in the direction you want it to rotate - this offsets the timing 180° and away you go.








Here's a video of it running :-

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dp5DApIwCk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dp5DApIwCk[/ame]
While demonstrating the slip reverse, I hold the eccentric to stop it from rotating - this in order to speed things up rather than stopping, rotating the flywheel a couple of revs just to set it up etc. etc.

And finally a big thank you to Gerry Dykstra for posting the original plans for free use in the public domain - Gerry you got me started in this hobby and for that I shall always remain grateful.

Ken


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## arnoldb (Nov 2, 2011)

Good going Ken :bow: ;D

I really like the addition of the slip eccentric Thm:

Kind regards, Arnold


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## lazylathe (Nov 2, 2011)

Nice one Ken!!!! ;D
Looks like a great runner!

Love the idea of the slip clutch.
Will have to study the drawings to figure out how it works!

Andrew


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## Gerry Sweetland (Nov 14, 2011)

:bow:
That is really cool, I love the sound it makes at slow rpm.
I can only hope that some day I can build at this level.
Another guy named Gerry


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## Alec Ryals (Apr 21, 2016)

Hello, Beautiful Work, Just curious how you reverse the unit?
Thanks
Alec


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## Ken I (Apr 24, 2016)

If you look at the photo above you can see the valve timing eccentric has a 180° annulus groove - driven via a pin in a hub attached to the crankshaft with a grub screw (other that the pin the eccentric can be rotated ±180°)
By holding the timing eccentric still and rotating the crank 180° in the direction you want it to run shifts the valve timing 180° and the motor then runs the other way.
The annulus must be correctly positioned (relative to the eccentric - refer to drawings) so that the pin drags it at the right position in the right direction. (imagine if the annulus was 180° out then the pin would rotate to the "wrong" end and end up stopping halfway - it just would not work.)

Regards,


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