# Its First-Steam-Engine time!!



## Anko (Jul 17, 2011)

Hello to all!

I realise that I was spending much time thinking in all the stuff in the "I must make" list (rotary table, dividing head, tool & cutter grinder, measuring tools etc etc..) and I was getting a little stress, and no making chips at all! so I send all to hell, get some plans on the internet and give it a try!

The engine I selected no need a rotary table or indexing cuts (except for the flywell) and I really like the looking, its a vertical single cylinder engine.


I take my time to study the plans, and found some errors in measures and stuff but nothing critical and I make some adjustment to correct them.

get all my money and buy the brass (laton really, but anyways ultra-expensive!)

Finally align my lathe and mini-mill the best I could and go!







The plans call for a solid block of 10 mm thick brass for the columns that sustain the cylinder, but too expensive, I decided to make my own columns using a Assembly of sheet brass and then soldering with emmm pewter?? ??? (the stuff to solder circuits) because I don't have silver solder jaja

to be able to solder the column assembly in place I make a jig to put all the pieces together:





















The two parts will be arc-welded, and I make a very emmm messy setup with 1-2-3 block to try to weld the two pieces square






but don't work very well.......but I will still use it because the error in squareness is tolerable :

here is the finished jig:







Now I will start with the brass!





(it will never go where you want to.......)


here is the jig and the 2mm brass sheet in place, now I will made the principal piece


























and a little (a lot really) sand paper and got the first column Assembly ready for soldering ;D looking good!






that's all for now, I'm becoming a real model-engine-machinist!! yeah!! 8)

Saludos


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## steamer (Jul 17, 2011)

Looking great Anko!

Keep it coming, and when in doubt...DO SOMETHING!

The best way for me to get started is just to start cleaning the shop....I usually get side tracked into one project of another...

Dave


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## mgbrv8 (Jul 17, 2011)

That looks really good Anko. I hope to see more.

David


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## Anko (Jul 18, 2011)

thanks for the comments! I'm getting real fun time with this!

I just solder the assembly, I'm waiting for it to cool

some pictures: 

Here I'm preparing the solder wire (its not silver solder, just circuit solder)
















now that is all in place is time to heat things up! 8)






Then a little retouch....






And the job is done!






but is still too hot to touch, now I'm getting prepared to make a sand paper journey! 

Saludos!


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## maverick (Jul 18, 2011)

Anko,
Your solder job looks great, very nice fixture. I use a chisel made of brass to clean up
this type of solder joint. It's hard enough to cut the solder but it doesn't 
cut or scratch the brass. Can't wait to see more of this build.

Regards,
Mike


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## Anko (Jul 18, 2011)

Maverick that just the tip I need!, Im still sanding, trying to clean the solder remanent of the joints, I will try the brass chisel now! :bow: thanks a lot!


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## bearcar1 (Jul 18, 2011)

Anko, I am enjoying what you have shown us so far. This will be one build to watch. Thanks for the photos of your progress.

BC1
Jim


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## Anko (Jul 18, 2011)

Thanks jim! that's pretty motivating

the brass chisel works great!, I just finish the first column!, now I will start with the second, the process will be the same, so I will skip the pohos of the second column build






Saludos!


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## mgbrv8 (Jul 18, 2011)

Anko, Thats looks great

Dave


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## Anko (Jul 19, 2011)

The second column is ready!, because of the experiences gained with the first, this one took me a lot less time and effort to make

here are some pictures of the pair, now Im resting a little before I go to the lathe to start the cylinder parts ;D











Looking good 8)

Saludos!


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## 1Kenny (Jul 19, 2011)

Great looking columns, Anko. Keep the pictures coming.

Kenny


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## steamer (Jul 19, 2011)

Looks great from here Anko!

Dave


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## Anko (Jul 20, 2011)

;D


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## mgbrv8 (Jul 20, 2011)

Looking good Anko

David


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## Groomengineering (Jul 20, 2011)

Very nice work Anko!

Cheers

Jeff


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## steamer (Jul 20, 2011)

smooooooooth! ;D :bow:

Dave


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## Anko (Jul 21, 2011)

Thanks people for the input!

Now I switched to the lathe, this is the first time I turn a piece of that size of brass (Laton), it took me a while to get the trick on this material, playing with the speed and shape of the cutter I found that the key to a good finish is a rounded and sharp edge on HSS, and 1000 rpm

I made the emm pre-cylinder part??? ??? because I have a great tendency to make a mess with a cut-off operation (always the tool jam and get destroyed and make all the lathe compound to jump  8)) I decided to turn the piece backwards, that way I will get a nice and square contact finish in the upper part that assemblies with the cylinder, and the bottom will be milled to size later.

pics ;D

This is the first try on the brass, a very sharp and pointed cutter... will no make good finish






Second intent: Round shape cutter, success!






At this time this is the most precise piece I ever made 






Now I will start with the bore, is 18mm in diameter and 60 mm in deep, I chose a carbide tiped boring bar to give a try...











but the one that enter in the drilled hole it was too short to cut the 60mm, and the next in size did not enter because of is head was bigger that the bore in that point 

A time ago I made a boring bar of 1/2" that uses a round 8 mm Hss toolbit, but the toolbit was to large and did not enter to the hole, I took off and made one of silver steel (drill rod), then I hardened and try, its was a complete failure!, I resharpen the bit in all the forms I could think but they didnt work

I losse all the day in this process, and because of the diferent tool I use the bore was not straight, and it was imposible to measure! I start to stress, because I dont got a second shot on this piece (lack of material and $$)... I try the micrometer with a pin, telescopig gauge and caliper, al give me diferent values.. :-[






Then I took my last chance with a indexable boring bar that I dont like, I buy it used in the same time I bought my lathe, I never find the inserts for that bar exept for some used inserts in a big box of used carbide inserts, and all the previus cuts I made with that tool is a suffering of extreme squeal and vibration, and incredible poor finish (that why I made the other boring bar) 

I change the tool and WOW!! it saved the day! after two cuts the bore was straigth again and I was able to measure, and it was 17.34 mm !! it wass a relief, the last cut was made with 3 passes at 1000 rpm and I got a very smooth finish, the final diameter was 18.05 mm 8)


was a very stressing experience.... I'm thinking of get a good set of reliable boring bars to avoid this kind of madness again 

Now a little deburring..











get to the mini-mill... I have to mill four slots in 90° one respect to the other, because I dont have any indexingtooling I trust my screwless vise to do the job






Now I have to mill the bottom to get the piece in dimention, I clamp the piece with two V-bloks to reduce the marks of the clamping force












And this is the engine so far 8)






Saludos!


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## steamer (Jul 21, 2011)

Outstanding Anko!

A good round tip with ZERO top rake works very well as a tool for brass.

Polish the cutting edges with a slip stone and you will cut a mirror surface.

Dave


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## ShedBoy (Jul 21, 2011)

Great work Anko on your crosshead guide. This going to be a sharp looking engine and an excellent build log. Thanks for sharing and keep it coming.
Brock


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## m_kilde (Jul 22, 2011)

Hi Anko

Just wanted to let you know that I find you posting very interresting and I'm looking forward for more.

Thank you very much for sharing


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## Anko (Jul 28, 2011)

hello again!

I been a little lazy the past days, lets say like a little break..

After finishing the main structure (the columns, base and the piece that I still dont know how is called ???) I decided to machine all the cylinder parts before weld the main frame, the reason is to be able to make some sort of guide to be able to align square and-in position, the cylinder with respect to the base..

before that I will machine all the main pieces, now I start with the cylinder:

the material is the same that before, but I realize that I will need some special turning tool to be able to machine the smaller diameter, with this tool I will no need the use of a rigth and left hand turning tools..

(the pictures will tell better)












and finish! a new tool is welcome to my life! 8) (but because is a newcomer will no earn its own dedicated QCTP holder yet...and until I can sharpen my end-mills, I think it will be a long waiting for this new fellow, meanwhile it will have to borrow some tool-holder of another more veteran turning tool)






the bigger diameter is machined, now I will machine the smaller one!

And now let's see if it work (I would like to grind the tip of the HSS bit a lot more, and reduce to the half of the width, but my bench grinder wheel is way off-center, and with one hand I have to grab the machine and with the other grind the bit, so it was a little dificult  : (almost all my HSS grinder operations are made in a sand belt) but to remove that much, it can be done without a grinder wheel)






if I would be machining steel, I will just turn off the lathe and go to sleep.. but is brass!! so lets give an oportunity  :big:






It worked fine!, but the final finish were mmh.. like a cast finish, like pores, but very slightly, some sand paper and the surface get shinny and regular, so no problem at all! 8)

Remember the boring bar that saved my day? 8)






the inner diameter should be 17.00mm, and again with a lot of patience I measure with my telescopic gauge, a micrometer + pin and a caliper, the final cut was made at 2000 RPM and with several pases, the final diameter was arround 17.02 and 17.04 mm as far I can measure, and a very smooth finish, I still can see the tool marks, but I cant feel it with my fingers, so Im satisfied ;D

Now I get back to the emmm that piece  ??? I made before, again I trust my screwless vise, and with a little trigonometry I drill the four holes, with no rotary table!, first I center the piece with the spindle using a test dial indicator, arround +/-0.01mm of tolerance, then lock the Y axis, with a edge-finder I get the X axis zeroed at the left extreme of the piece, and then I drill the first two holes (the one of the left, because they have the same X coordinate), and the other two in the same way..

And probably you guessed right, I got a DRO in the Y axis, without him this would be a painfull operation...






and now returning to the cylinder, I use a fly cutter to clean the band saw face, the turned face will be the bottom one thats assembly with the main frame, the milled face will be the top one






and finally I could resist to make a little preview of the engine, the "flywheel" is a old pulley rescued from the scrapyard, when I look at this pulley in the yard I said "mm this one will made a very nice flywheel", then I bought it..

It look good, but the flywheel is the last think I will make, so for this time its only a provisionary wheel ;D
















thanks for all the good comments!

I will keep the build process comming!

Saludos!


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## steamer (Jul 28, 2011)

great set up and completion of great parts!

I like it!

Dave


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## bearcar1 (Jul 29, 2011)

Your doing a splendid job on that engine. I eally admire the high standard caliber of work you have shown us. Thank you for sharing with us, BRAVO!!

BC1
Jim


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## danstir (Jul 29, 2011)

I really enjoy the creative way you solve your machining problems!


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## compspecial (Jul 29, 2011)

This is excellent workmanship Anko. Bravo!


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## peatoluser (Jul 29, 2011)

Only just stumbled onto this build thread. superb workmanship! 
I admire the way you went about fabricating the columns. The soldering jig was well thought out.
like danstir I find the way you solve your machining problems very informative.
will be following this post with interest
yours
peter


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## Florian (Jul 29, 2011)

Hey Anko

First of all; your Steam engine looks great! I know that design and i am not shure but i think i also have plans for it...

And now some things about and experiences i made with boring bars: It is really not simple to make your own boring bars! It took me quite a few time to get them right! 
Here on this page(translated by google from german into english), you can see a way to make a boring bar from a solid HSS bar: 
http://translate.google.de/translat...tallmodellbau.de/Herstellung_Ausdrehstahl.php

I have made a bar just that way and i must say it works quite fine. 
What i have found is; that it is very important that the tool is razor-sharp! If it is not, then it will not make a good surface, especially when turning brass. 

If you are having troubles with your indexed-boring bar, it might be because you do not use the right one inserts ? 
The ones you should use are the ones usually used to machine aluminum and they are ground and also razor sharp. 

Especially with indexed boring bars, you have to watch out that the cutting edge only touches the material and not the lower edge of the insert aswell (or even only the lower edge...)
And this is for the front and for the side of the boring bar! 

Another influence is the edge radius of the insert. The bigger it is, the more vibrations will occur! (in situations with low rigidity) 


OH, and i have read that you use a belt sander for grinding your tools? (Or is that just for the shape?)
Anyway, if your grinding wheel on your bench grinder is off center, it will never make your tools razor-sharp! 
You should therefore get a dressing tool to dress your grinding wheel(s). 
But you will have to take the right tool! 
This one  is only for rough dressing and for large grinding wheels (around 500 mm dia). 
For small wheels you should use somehting like a TETRABOR-dresser or something like this one
They are not even expensive, somehting around 12 $

I guess if your wheel is off center now, there is a chattering sound when you are sharpening somehting? 
If it is dressed correctly, there will only be a hissing noise. 


Cheers Florian


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## metalmad (Jul 29, 2011)

Thats looking Great 
will be watching this post for sure
Pete


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## steamer (Jul 29, 2011)

A damn site better fit, finish and design than my first engine!

 :bow:

Dave


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## Anko (Jul 31, 2011)

whoa! thanks for the very nice comments!, it's very encouraging!

Florian: Thats is a very interesting article, the boring operation for my is one of the most painfull ones (cut-off comes second ;D) because the dificult to measure and the limited sizes and rigidity of the tools, and ofcouse the finish.. I will definitely try!

and about the bench grinder, mine is a cheap one, with large wheels in a 16mm spindle, and the dressing tools I can get here are too overpriced, I have try for a while to get a small import of grizzly tools, with those cheap diamont dressers, but still Im stopped with shipping coutes and stuff...

after this engine I´m planning to made a small overhaul to my bench grinder to improve it and transform intro a funcional tool grinder..

Thanks for sharing!

Dave: I too impressed! I did not think that would result in this way  but in the almost year that I´m registred in the forum I have learned a lot reading all the building post! (although I did not post that much, because it takes me a good time writing in English) 

but obviously not everything can go as well as far ... Now I will show why :big:



For this build I always check the alingnation after some heavy mill operation (in mini-mill concept), its a good practice, in this case I read an 0.005 mm in the 3" fixed jaw, a little touch and I set the vise parallel the X axis, as far as I can see in the dial






Now I have to machine the steam ducts in the cylinder, I have seen that the common drill the ducts angled, but in this engine the ducts are straight through the cylinder wall, then are revealed through a milled face.

the cylinder shape is full-cylindrical ( :big, so I have to think a way to drill the two ducts in the same line (in the opposite faces of the cylinder), so I make a reference cut in the middle of the cilinder, and with a special parallel I will be able to clamp the cylinder in the vise using the reference cut, then I can flip the piece and put in the same way, and drill in line the two ducts that way

(ofcourse this metod requieres a lot of edge finder operation)

again pics will tell better :






















now that the 2 ducts are drilled, it's time to mill the outside face to reveal the ducts, with the test dial I setup the cylinder using the reference cut






I clamp the cylinder in the vise using parallels to allow the micrometer in, and be able to measure the correct heigth of the cut






the result ;D











Now it's time for the valve part of the cylinder:






again with the micrommeter 






and ;D











And finally I finish with the shape of the piece, I put a lot of effort to make it very accurate for the engine to run smooth 






Now comes the not so funny part........ 

the channels of the valve are 2mm width, the smaller end mill I have are 3/16" (4.76 mm), and all the 1/8" end mill I have owned are broken :.. so I got a dremel engraving mill, 1.6 mm diameter to make the channels






I really not have experience in micro milling, besides broken three 1/8" end mills ;D, so I make the cuts with the mill maximun speed, doing in pases of 0.25mm deep, and worked fine, but in some point.....











ARRGGHHH!!! #$%"#%

but the 2mm channels were milled successful, the mill broke in the 3mm exhaust channel, so I piked another 3mm round dremel tool and finish the cut..but afther that I realized that I not corrected the change in diamener (1.6 to 3 mm) in the X axis.. so the exhaust channel was 1.7mm oversized...#$$& 

I took my time to think.. I realized that it may still work with a little modification of the other parts, or maybe without it... but I dont want to take the risk (because this valve piece are welded to the cylinder) so it will go direct to the scrap box and I will make the piece again.. 

Still I got to deal with the 2mm cuts.. now Im thinking to get some round dremet tool (2.0 mm) like this:






or simple drill 2mm holes in line instead of mill channels? ???

anyway..

All mistakes are welcome as learning experiences, so the angry moments pass quickly 8)


thanks for the support! I will keep coming!

Saludos!


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## bearcar1 (Jul 31, 2011)

Ankp, I'm sorry for your troubles but glad to hear that you are not giving up. I certainly have enjoyed seeing how you have overcome your obstacles and truly am anxious to see the finished engine. I sure I'm not alone either, Some fine work, Thm: keep it up.


BC1
Jim


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## Florian (Aug 7, 2011)

Hey Anko

Well, i wonder why you are using those dremel "millers" instead of real millers? 
At least here in Switzerland, those dremel tools are not cheap at all... in Fact, a 2mm Mill even costs less than such a dremel engraving cutter! 

Cheers Florian


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## steamer (Aug 7, 2011)

Hi Anko,

Into everyday a little rain must fall.  You will get there my friend...just keep going, your doing great!

It's looking Awesome buddy!

Saludos!

Dave


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## Anko (Aug 11, 2011)

Thans for the support Dave and jim!

Florian: well, here in Chile the smaller real end mill I am able to find is a HSS 3mm 4 flutes, and the problem is that I need to cut a 2mm channel, the dremel bit I broke costs a little more than 1/3 of the price of the 3mm end mill, so there is a few little options to go on..

I still not resolve the 2mm problem, maybe that round dremel bit will work better because is more robust than the engrabing bit.. or better stop sufering and drill lots of 2mm holes in line ???

sorry but I have no pics today , Im been a little busy fighting for a educational reform in my country : and starting a new rock band 

but the pics will come!

Saludos!


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## arnoldb (Aug 12, 2011)

Nice work Anko Thm:

The row of holes would most likely be your best bet - or drill the holes and then use the dremel bit to open them up to a slot with multiple fine cuts. The engraving bit does not like to remove a lot of metal in one go.

Regards, Arnold


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## JorgensenSteam (Aug 12, 2011)

Anko-

I have had trouble milling ports with small bits (0.125" dia), and experience a lot of breakage, especially if the port gets very deep.

I tried pre-drilling holes first, and that works better, but does not leave as clean a port.

My thoughts are to build a dremel milling machine just to mill ports, since the dremel will stall out on torque before it breaks the bit.

Pat J


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## mzetati (Aug 12, 2011)

BigOnSteam  said:
			
		

> Anko-
> 
> I tried pre-drilling holes first, and that works better, but does not leave as clean a port.
> 
> ...




Pat,

I recently drilled a row of undersized holes, as close to each other as I could get them, and then plunged the mill into one of them to full depth to clean all the area in a single passage.
1/8 wide port, 3mm end mill, 9mm deep port: worked perfectly (for my standards).
The high rpm of a dremel milling machine would help, but MY small cutters break because of the feed, not the speed (though they are related).

A couple of years ago I purchased a good supply of cutters in the small sizes (1-4mm) from CTCTools http://www.ctctools.biz/servlet/the-230/2-FLUTE-HSS-AL/Detail, in HK: 
in my opinion, Dormer cutters are better, but they do not last longer (in my hands).

Marcello


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## Florian (Aug 12, 2011)

Anko  said:
			
		

> I still not resolve the 2mm problem, maybe that round dremel bit will work better because is more robust than the engrabing bit.. or better stop sufering and drill lots of 2mm holes in line ???



Well, you could as already mentioned make some holes in a line and then use the dremel cutter to convert it into a slot. 

Another Possibility would be to fix a Dremel (or other Brand) tool to your milling head and then make those slots with the full rpm the dremel provides.
Just like it has been done on this one.

Those cutters are designed to be guided by hand and therefore have a very low cutting force induced. Also they only take very few material with every teeth. And they rather scrap than cut the material. (because of their geometry with almost 0° rake angle) 
In the end it means that they should be used with high rpm so enough material can be taken away when using it on the mill.

Cheers Florian


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## Anko (Jul 13, 2012)

Hi to all again!

I really apologise for the people that was looking forward this built, truth is that between the university and work I was having very little spare time to share in a lot of activities, so I put my little steam engine build on standby, until now

Im close to have vacations, I still have to do a couple of exams to close my academic semester, but hell with that!

I still don't solve the 2 mm steam ports issue, in the meanwhile I will make all the other parts of the main column, like this one:

The part that unites the bottom emm "guide" part and the cilinder, is a little plain 35 mm diameter piece with a hole to pass the main shaft, the dificult part was to make all the way concentric, because both faces of the piece enters the bore of the cilinder and the bottom other part, pics will tell better:






The right one is the first try, the left is the current piece:
the first try: all was going on well, the hole for the main shaft is a 5 mm centre hole, I think "if this hole is not a tight fit, the cilinder will lose compresion trought the gap between the shaft and the hole", so I wanted to use a reamer in the hole of the exactly diameter of the shaft, so I pick a 5 mm silver steel rod to make the shaft and the reamer.

I make the reamer with a popular design that I have seen in this forum and around the net, just pick the silver steel rod, grind a plain face at 30° and then harden it.

I do that, then for reaming first I drill a 4.8 mm hole, and then use the reamer, the result was a oversize hole, too bad  , at first I believed that maybe my speed was too fast, or the feed, the reamer was well done.
I picked some scrap brass and make some test (should have done this first!) and no matter what combination of speeds and feed I put, all holes came out oversized, then I grind the tip of the reamer in a effort to make it work right, but it was not good at all... ???

Then I decieded to make my own ugly looking reamer, I pick the silver steel rod again, put some cutting lips with a dremel by hand, then harden it and give a try.

The result was a much more close sized hole, I'm not sure how close, but close enough I hope, this is a pick of the reamers:






Lucky for me, this piece has a threaded end to put a bushing for the main shaft, so I cut this face first, then I made a special threaded piece that fit this thread, and this way I can "chuck" the piece concentric to cut the other face, and I saved the tedious job of chuck the piece and centered it with a dial indicator.











Then, in my eagerness to make a perfect fit with all that respect he cylinder, I put some polishing grease in the union of these two pieces and joint then, one still chucked in the lathe, then I turn on the lathe at low speed and put some force, the two faces grind themselves and make a good joint:
















Progress:






This was all for today...
I hope to make more progress soon, again I apologize for the people looking forward this built, its good to be back!

Saludos!


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## ronkh (Jul 13, 2012)

Anko,

Good to see you back on it Thm:
For sure, do not worry about time spent away from it. The main thing is to enjoy the time you do have on it!

Kind regards,

Ron.


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## crab (Jul 13, 2012)

ronkh  said:
			
		

> Anko,
> 
> Good to see you back on it Thm:
> For sure, do not worry about time spent away from it. The main thing is to enjoy the time you do have on it!
> ...



Could not have said it better.It's great to see you back on it and I will still be watching.


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## Anko (Jul 27, 2012)

Thanks guys

I made some new progress!, now I'm in full vacations and I have enjoyed full days of machining.

The plans of this engine does not specify the screws that holds the cylinder to the crosshead guide part, and there is almost no room to fit a regular M3x05 screw!

I made some calculatios and I ended up needing a M2x0.4 screw with a head diameter of 3 mm, and ofcourse, I wasnt able to find it in the regular screw store..

Not more solution that make it for myself.

At the time this four screws are the smallest things that I have done in the lathe/mill.

They where made out of 3 mm silver steel bar.







































Then I made the cylinder top, like the bottom cylinder cover, it has a leaded diameter that fist in the cylinder bore.

The challenge of this piece is that is very flat, and need to be turned from both sides.
For this I made the conection face first, then I made a slot with a parting tool deep enought to fit a dial indicator, then hacksaw the piece out of the stock and put it in the lathe to cut the other face, I use the reversible jaws to chuck te piece because they have more tolerance to grap flat pieces that the normal set of jaws.

Then using a dial indicator in the slot i have cut before I was able to get the face parallel to the previos machined one.

This was a very dificult and tedious method of do this, Im pretty sure that there is a better way to turn flat pieces in the lathe...












Here I presented the bolts


















Finally I ended up with a 2 mm end mill to make the steam channels, with deep cut of 1 mm at a time, and max RPM from the mini mill I succesfully made the steam ports!, the channels ended up a little oversized, arround 2.1 mm, and the middle port ended up staying about 0.1 mm to the left, but overall Im very happy with the result. 












The old one against the new.














That's for now, more to come!

Saludos


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## Anko (Jul 28, 2012)

More pics coming out 

This time with the second try of the steam ports piece I decided to make it more aesthetic, the original desing is a brick welded to the cylinder, in my attempt I made the steam port piece with a shape that once asembled with the cylinder will apear to be just one piece, pics will tell better:




































































Looking good, now this needs a little sandpaper session.

Still more to come!

Saludos


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## rhitee93 (Jul 28, 2012)

Nice job on the cylinder assembly


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## Anko (Jul 29, 2012)

Thanks for your comment rhitee93

Here is th cylinder sanded, still is a rougth sanding, Im planning to polish all the pieces before the final assembly.
he cylinder welding went vey well, some pics:























That´s for now, more to come!

Saludos


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## RCGUY (Jul 29, 2012)

Excellent work.

Ed


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## Diversion900 (Jul 30, 2012)

Just a thought Anko,
Are you planning to use steam on this engine ?
The soft solder joins may not survive a steam run for very long......


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## Anko (Jul 30, 2012)

Yep, this first engine is not meant to run on steam, just compressed air, and not too much either, tin is just what I have in hand 

thanks for the comments!


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## MarioM (Jul 30, 2012)

Anko,

Very nice work, you do not look like a beginner.  Tu motor está quedando muy bien.........te sigo.....

Saludos,

Mario


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## rhitee93 (Jul 31, 2012)

It is looking great Anko


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## SilverSanJuan (Jul 31, 2012)

Anko, great build so far.  Thanks for sharing it with us.  I'm especially impressed with your creative approach to problems.  The columns are a real work of art.  I'm learning a lot following along.

Todd


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## Anko (Jul 31, 2012)

Thanks for the comments! I'm glad that you like my little build post 

I got some more progress:

Today: the shaft bearings:








To make some small radial cut I use a round dremmel bit, It work perfect!
















































After finishing the shaft bearing I notice that there wasn't enought space for the screws heads, and I don´t like the look, so I made a new set of shaft bearing, repeating the same process, this time I add some extra room to acomodate the screws hex head and a nice radius.









To make the raduis, I make a little "help piece" of steel, because brass is softher that steel, this piece will guide the file and help me to get the correct diameter of the radius:









Here is the new one agains the frist one: much better!














The engine at the moment:





















My uncle is a mechanic, and he has been following this build for the beginning, the other day he ask me of what material I was going to make the piston, I respond aluminium, then he told me that brass and aluminiun dont get along very well, instead I should use cast iron, or mild steel.

I do some research in the matter.. and ended up reconsidering my material choise for the piston, as aluminiun with brass  dont have a good mechanical mixture...

I wanted to make the piston of a material softher that brass to aboid cylinder wear (Im planing to run this engine powered by a small electric motor, and get it running all day in my desk (and some times with compressed air (when I get a compressor )), thats because Im worring with this stuff)

Today he came and brought two materials to me for the piston:








The one on the left is Technyl a90, the other in the right is called here "durocoton" (the same material that uses in the circuit boards), I don´t know the english name.

My uncle told me that both materials have exelent mechanical properties, the techyla90 is self-lubricant, cut nicely and got a lot resistance to wear.

In the other hand I really like the durocoton stuff, the color and texture, like vintage stuff, cuts real nice, is very tough, and can be polished, also has more heat resistance and flexibility that the technyl.

I like the durotocon, but I want to know your opinions about this two news materials to me. What do you think? 


More to come!

Saludos


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## Runner (Aug 1, 2012)

Hi Anko great work so far, I'm following this with interest. I was particularly interested in the fabrication of the cylinder, it's something I am shall consider when making my next steam engine.

I cannot offer any engineering advice on use of durocoton and techyl A90, durocoton is a stratified material formed by layers of special cotton fabric impregnated with resin and as you state used, inter alia, for the manufacture of printed circuit boards. Your first hand experience in using it will have far greater relevance than any opinion I may have. I can only ask that you consider what sealing mechanism you intend to use between the piston and the cylinder, if any, and what mechanical interface you intend to have between the piston and piston rod. If it is threaded does durocoton produce a good thread. If so go for it and we will all broaden our knowledge on the use of non traditional materials.

Brian


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## rhitee93 (Aug 1, 2012)

I am not familiar with the Durotocon name, but if it is indeed one of the substrates that circuit boards are made of, you will want to be cautious.

If the material has the fibers in it that you would find in a circuit board, then it is likely to be rather abrasive to your cylinder wall.  If it is just the resin without the fibers, then you may be OK.


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## ironman (Aug 1, 2012)

Anko, I am really enjoying this build.  I have always thought about building one like you are doing.  This is great.

Will be watching from start to finish.

Ray


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## Anko (Aug 2, 2012)

Thanks for your comments guys!

Runner: the piston does not use any type of sealing rings, yet it had some grooves, maybe to put some wax or packing don´t know, I was thinking to make the piston of a very close tolerance with the cylinder diameter to make the sealing.







rhitee93: the durocoton, as you said, is a cotton fiber pressed in some type of resin, as you can see in the photo:






I would imagine that some fiber can erode the cylinder walls made out of brass, cand you tellme more about this issue?

ironman: thanks, thats is very encouraging, more progress will be here soon!

Thanks for following this post.

Saludos


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## rhitee93 (Aug 2, 2012)

Anko,

That fiber is probably fiberglass, and would be very abrasive to your cylinder walls.  I'd stay away from it for your application.


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## Anko (Aug 2, 2012)

Thanks rhitee93, so finberglass stuff is a bad idea, now make sense to me,  but what abour cotton fiber?, I do a little reserach about the this material fiber, were my uncle get this material, in their web says is made of cotton fiber with resin, not fiberglass, I do some circuitery and I know that I can get two types of boars to drawn the circuits, one is brown looking, almost identical to this durocoton here, and the other is the fiberglass board, more like a pale light green color, and more easy to drill an to work generally, taking this intro acount, I can say that this one is made of cotton fiber instead of fiberglass

Should I stay away anyway? is still a fiber I guess 

Saludos


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## rhitee93 (Aug 2, 2012)

It my be OK if you are sure it is cotton, but I would be cautious.  You could always rub some against a piece of aluminum and see what happens.

The green circuit boards you see are generally made form a material called called FR4, and are fiberglass.  However there are a number of different board materials out there.  What you have looks like what I used to call "Phenolic" which I looked up on wikipedia.  According to that source it can come with cotton or paper fibers as well as fiberglass so I suspect you are correct about the fiber.


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## gus (Aug 2, 2012)

Please advise print vendor for above engine.Just cannot resist building this engine.The dimensions are balanced.Did built one two years ago from odds/ends and ended with a clunky engine thought it did run well specially at very low speed. Planning to put throttle valve.


Gus Teng,aged sixty-niner and happily retired.
Calling from faraway Singapore.


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## Runner (Aug 3, 2012)

I suppose I will have to be patient and wait and see, but is the flywheel going to be outboard of the brass base plate as you have shown in your previous mock setup? If so, the two bearings you have incorporated appear to serve only as local support for the crank and flywheel and not support either side of the flywheel. There was a recent discussion on a thread on HMEM that proposed that a flywheel not supported on both sides by bearings caused excessive bearing wear on the bearing that was supporting it on one side only. Your flywheel appears to be beefy so maybe you like to consider this point.


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## Anko (Aug 3, 2012)

Thanks for the advice runner, the bearing goes with bushings that i'm planning to do with phosphor bronze, the crank will be made of hardened silver steel rod.

As far as I know, phosphor bronze is tough, and will retain very well lubrication as absorbs oil because is porous.

I think that should be enough, what do you think?, aslo can try with the Technyla90, seems to be like a superb for bushings.
Although it seems a little late to change the desing, maybe a carefully selection of materials can compensate this desing problem, is curios, because all well sized real stationary horizontal steam engines uses the flywheel suported on both sides, but the medium size vertical engines shows a one side suported flywheel.

Can you please attach that post link or the name to search it?


Gus: I'm glad that you like my little engine, the plans can be found in the web for free, but they need a little work, also they are in german.

Here is the link where you can download it: http://www.john-tom.com/html/SteamPlans3.html is the one called "single cylinder vertical steam engine"

I have made several modifications in my built, following the general dimensions, as you will see: the column design as the cylinder steam-ports design and so on...

I will bring you more progress soon!

Saludos


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## django (Aug 3, 2012)

Hi Anko 
The material you are thinking of making your piston from is tufnol (carp brand?) http://www.tufnol.com/tufnol/default.asp?id=21 I personally would go for a cast iron piston and if you were only going to run it on compressed air possibly asingle O ring. I think the workmanship that you have shown in this thread is exemplary and this engine deserves a better flywheel tha you have shown,Maybe some thing more like the one on here http://www.rdgtools.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2erdgtools%2eco%2euk%2facatalog%2fsearch%2ehtml&WD=stuart&PN=GENERAL_WORKSHOP_TOOLS_%2ehtml%23a1585#a1585 Keep up the good work.


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## Runner (Aug 3, 2012)

Thanks for the link to the plans, I have downloaded it also. On the subject of the single flywheel bearing issue the plans don't appear to give dimensions for the flywheel, although it can be determind from the drawing. It is presented as a solid type wheras yours has spokes, so yours may be a lighter and weight has an influence on bearing wear. 

The previous discussions on single bearing for the flywheel was raised by blogwitch on thread http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/f31/stuart-no-4-build-16908/index15.html. Unfortunately the ensuing discussions got deleted during the transistion of ownership and software changes. I don't want to set hares running (alarm you unnecessarily) by raising the point. 

I think that blogwitch raised the point from a perspective of having models that were run often and for long periods at model engineering shows. If you intend to run your model for long periods, then it may be an issue, otherwise keep to your plan.


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## gus (Aug 4, 2012)

Hi Anko,
I got this engine print  from the net. Will built another engine using your soldier jig.
Did follow print to build engine. Use twisted Teflon Sealing Tape to make piston ring seal.Runs well and does
wear out cylinder. Cylinder was aluminium with brass tube liner loctited. I deviated from print.


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## gus (Aug 4, 2012)

Anko said:


> Thanks for the advice runner, the bearing goes with bushings that i'm planning to do with phosphor bronze, the crank will be made of hardened silver steel rod.
> 
> As far as I know, phosphor bronze is tough, and will retain very well lubrication as absorbs oil because is porous.
> 
> ...



Hi There,

I did build this German Steam Engine. The support columns was a wee bit clunky.After viewing your handiwork,I plan to build another. Will take time to build.You are right.The print has some fatal errors.Plan to make a fancy wheel with spokes.

Gus.


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## Anko (Aug 8, 2012)

Thanks Gus, I finally make some test on the materials, scratching a brass sheet, the durotocon without be able to scratch the brass, the feel was like some very fine sandpaper, and also made like a clean polish on the surface, the technyl feel was a lot more fluid and dont even made a mark on the brass, so I tink I will give a shot with the technyl for the piston.

I look the post about the bearing issue, and I was following that build for a while but I didn't notice that 

I´m still thinking about the best combination of bushing v/s crank metals...

Continuing with the engine:

I don't know if this was unnecessary work, but I made another solder jig to unite the columns with the crosshead guide part, I was feeling that although this pieces put together it was a very close fit, and has very little play, I needed something that ensure me that the piece will be the most posible way scuare and perpendicular to the base, at the correct heigth and position, then I came with the jig:







The idea is that the jig is firmly bolted to the base, and put in place with some chanels that fit very close to the sape of the base, then a pillar with some pressing nut, with they faces making a 60° angle, this fits the countersink of both sides of the bore in the piece and it will hold it tight. inside also the diameter fist the bore diamenter.

like this:






(It's my first time turning between centers, and it was difficult, I got some heavy chatter in the tailstock extreme, but geting close to the other side it went ok)







(No matter the shape of the tool or the sharp of the tool, I only was able to machine it good at the lowest speed and with tiny cuts and the most low feed I can do, using a very sharp Hss bit, like the parting tool shape... any ideas?? )




























then I put some reinforcements in the columns, their mission is to keep the column assembly in the time that I'm soldering, and also help with the strenght in general.








the pins are M3x0.5, just put a hole and tap it M3, then screw the pin with loctite













Then its ready to solder!


















Now back to the sanding!

Thanks for viewing this! more to come!

Saludos


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## rhitee93 (Aug 8, 2012)

The engine is still looking very nice.  I have learned a few things from your soldering methods!


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## Maryak (Aug 9, 2012)

Anko said:


> (It's my first time turning between centers, and it was difficult, I got some heavy chatter in the tailstock extreme, but geting close to the other side it went ok)
> 
> (No matter the shape of the tool or the sharp of the tool, I only was able to machine it good at the lowest speed and with tiny cuts and the most low feed I can do, using a very sharp Hss bit, like the parting tool shape... any ideas?? )
> 
> Saludos



Anko,

Looking at your set up:

The live centre held in the chuck is pretty small in length so the chuck has not much to grip on, especially as it looks like the piece used formerly had a thread on it, which reduces the grip by the chuck even more.............So, this could be slowly sliding into the chuck as pressure is applied by the cutting tool.

The other possibility is everything is not fully locked down at the tailstock end.

I have a gut feel the 1st possibility is the more likely.

Hope this helps

Best Regards
Bob


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## SilverSanJuan (Aug 9, 2012)

Very nice jig.  You really approach each step with a lot of thought about what could go wrong.  Then you make an elegant solution.  Good show!

Todd


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## gus (Aug 9, 2012)

When you get it running,please post a video. Engine has long stroke and will run at very low speed that is you could see it run stroke by stroke.A throttle valve required .Needle valve will do.

Looks like I will build another engine using your column style.Right now I am about to decide building the " Firefly 0.46 Glow Plug Engine" from drawings taken from UK Model Engineer Magazine. I have cold feet.

Are you a retired "Tool & Die Maker".Only such people are so detailed and competent and can build and complete jobs to superp finishing.

I have friends in Johannesburg,S. Africa who are ex-Tool& Die maker. Some almost quit their apprenticeship 6--12 months into the job. Their Maestro were either German or Dutch. They demand perfection in everything. Filing,hack-sawing and chiselling must as per his instructions.


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## Anko (Aug 10, 2012)

Thank gus! dont worry about the video, I will post it for sure (if it run )

Sometimes I like to imagine that I'm a veteran tool & die maker, with all my old, but very well care, brown & sharpe and mitutoyo tools, all with their old yellow paper certificades of authenticity and their vintage wood box...

as I have develop a serius weakness for precision tools... and a long one for vinage stuff

but Im not a retired tool & die maker, in fact, Im a beginner in metalworking, I have my machines for a couple of years now, but I have made just some few things because of a lack on time.
I´m a electrical engineer student, and the time I dont spend in class or studing, I work for tooling me up.

The reason, I think, for this engine to be going so well, is the fact that I started to watch this forum much before I get a metalworking machine, and for severals time at day, all the days... I checked all the building threads and interesting posts, for all the time I've been registred, I have been learning a lot from the shadows (because I dont post too much), and I have learned from the real Tood & die makers and veteran machinist that they were here until recently (if you know what I mean)...

Well, back to the engine, Im planning to put a valve in the exhaust, but that will be some of the last parts, so for now Im not worry to much.

I have finished the emm (I really have some problem with the diferent parts of the engine names) piece of the steam ports valve:
































































The pieces are put together with a press-fit and loctite













Thinking again that brass with brass don't get along, what material should I use for the little valve piece that moves between the steam ports? I'm not sure about the material wear in this part of the engine, any sugestions?



For the flywheel, I got my little pulley a sand treatment, to remove paint and dust.







django: I have some big plans for the flywheel, dont worry! you´ll see ;D


And a preview of the engine assembly:





















Looking good! 

Saludos


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## Brian Rupnow (Aug 10, 2012)

Anko---Very nice, well documented build. I just read all the posts, and you are doing a fine job.---Brian


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## dsquire (Aug 10, 2012)

Anko

That engine is progressing very nicely. You may be just starting on you journey down the road to becoming a Master Machinist and craftsman but judging by you work you have made a very good start. As you have stated, a person can learn a lot watching someone else if they want to learn. I am glad to see you sharing your project with the HMEM members.





Cheers 

Don


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## gus (Aug 11, 2012)

No worry about the brass and brass sliding contacts.
My German Steam Engine have following brass and brass
Steam chest and slide shoe
Cross head and sliding column
Eccentric and strap

The engine is not build for continuous long life operation. After the novelty wears out,engine will go on display and 
maybe run once a while.

Material for my engine came from scrap pile.
Cylinder and outerheads aluminium
Cylinder liner -------brass tube loctited in.
Engine base aliminium
Piston rings--------rolled/braided TFE tape(came from Stan Bray)
Piston rod packing-----( same)
Vave rod packing-------coiled soft soldier wire

No leakage.
I am no good at building show piece. Your engine beat mine hands down.Time allowing,I may build new engine as show piece.
It is true the drawings did have some dimension errors.


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## vcutajar (Aug 11, 2012)

Anko

Keep up the good work.

Vince


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## ironman (Aug 11, 2012)

Anko, great job.  Won't be long now before it runs.  Keep up the good work.

Ray


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## Anko (Aug 11, 2012)

Thanks guys

Hey Gus your engine looks great, the "show piece" stuff is no more that a good polish and some mirror like finish, put some sandpaper to your columns and you will see!

And hey, dont get me wrong, I do not own any brown&sharpe or mitutoyo tools, it just my far away dream...

Today I became a manual CNC-man in order to make the tap of the steam chest:



































Then I give a try to make a little stainless steel plate that goes inside the chest tap, but hell, SS is a hard one to work!, although I know that SS is not a very good machineable alloy, I never came to think that it will be so hard to hand-work it, I just waste 30 minutes of my life....

I think I will find me a pantographer to get the job done.


Then I made some small pieces of the steam chest:


































The plans said that this little pieces should have a hex head, and I  made one and I didn't like, I prefer how they see rounded, so his one  will be goiing directly to the scrap box.











Thanks for watching!

Saludos


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## gus (Aug 12, 2012)

Just how did you cut the beautiful pattern??? You got to be a vet Tool & Die Maker !!!!


Your superb workmanship is a good example for Gus.


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## robcas631 (Aug 12, 2012)

Outstanding work!


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## SilverSanJuan (Aug 17, 2012)

Nicely done.  How did you thread those fittings right up to the inside corner?  Did you use a die or your lathe?

Todd


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## Anko (Aug 23, 2012)

Thanks people for the good input!

I have returned to class in the university so again I don't have so much time to spend in the engine. 

Todd: I use a die in the lathe, the trick to get the threads to the end is to flip the die, in the back face the cutting edge have no countersink and will cut the full teeth from the begining.

For the valve shaft I use a 3 mm silver steel rod, in one extreme needed to be turned to 2mm diameter, to I use a little brushing to prevent flexing.
















Because I still dont deciede about the sliding valve material, I just go with Technyl a90, the plastic is very esay to machine so I spend like 20 min on doing it, if it not work I will make another:


















I made the eccentric wheel, out of 1020 steel









And I made a redesign of the eccentric ring (is like I totally redesign this engine), from a single ring bolted to a shaft to some more real-like looking part.



























































Flip








































Then I made a terrible mistake, it was sopused that the upper end of the ring was flat to bolt the conection rod, but I round everything!, then with no mood of making the piece again, I came with a simple solution:



















And here is:


















 This engine is close to his end! only left: valve connecting rod, piston, crank piece and flywheel.
and of course a good polish and some minor paint.
(and a much better valve stainles plate)


Saludos!


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## Maryak (Aug 23, 2012)

Very Nice Work Anko






Best Regards
Bob


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## SilverSanJuan (Aug 23, 2012)

That was very clever Anko.  A lot of different methods used to make that one part.  Whew!

Todd


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## Anko (Aug 25, 2012)

Thanks Todd 	 and Bob for the good input!

I finished the valve asembly, here some photos of the process:




























































And here is the engine at the moment, because of manipulation there is finger prints and oil in the finish, but still looking good!

The action of the valve is smooth and have a nice sound!









Saludos


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## Anko (Aug 29, 2012)

Hello again!

Now its time to mak the crank piece, out of 1020 steel:



















then I set a flycutter to cut the radius of the piece borders, first I measure the heigth of the shank of the flycutter in the V block, then:

(heigth of the shank) - ((shank diameter)/2) + raduis of the total diameter to cut = total heigth of the cutting tip

then, I adjust the cutting tip of the flycutter and by hand I feel how it touched the heigth gauge tip, thats how I set the flycutter to cut the diameter by feel.

































More to come!

Saludos


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## rhitee93 (Aug 29, 2012)

Very nicely done.  K-point for not only adding the detail to the crank, but for doing it in a way that everyone should be able to accomplish with basic tooling.


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## gus (Aug 30, 2012)

After view a few postings and seeing the usefulness of flycutter,must DIY one for my Sakai Mill.

For now make do with 12mm end mill to skim big surfaces.Surface finish with end mill despite light cuts could not be good and I have to manual sanding.Just completed crankcase for .46 aeromodel engine which will take another 4---6 weeks to complete.

Gus from faraway Singapore.


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## robcas631 (Sep 5, 2012)

Excellent work!


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## skyline1 (Sep 5, 2012)

You say you are not a toolmaker but with workmanship and clever solutions like this you should be. You have a great talent for it. If Electrical Engineering doesn't work out you could consider becoming one.

This engine is looking really good.

A couple of posts ago you were talking about bearing bushes. Bronze is a good material for this but on hard steel shafts you could also use cast iron.

I use cast iron bearing bushes often and they run really smooth on silver steel shafts. They are particularly good for high speeds ( I use them on steam turbines at 30,000 R.P.M.)

They are partially self lubricating due to the free graphite in the iron, If you machine cast iron you will soon know about this your hands will be black in no time !

Here are a couple of pics of one of mine. To give you an idea the crankpin on this is about 3mm Dia. (1/8" actually). you can machine cast iron bar very thin and they are no more difficult than bronze once you get the "feel" of machining it.

If you have problems getting it I might be able to send you a little piece if the postage to Chile isn't too high.





Regards Mark


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## peatrich (Sep 5, 2012)

"I take my time to study the plans, and found some errors in measures and stuff but nothing critical and I make some adjustment to correct them."

Hi Anko, It would be nice to know where you saw the problems with the plan - I am about to start building this as my first engine

kind regards
Peter


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## gus (Sep 5, 2012)

Hi Mark,
Thanks for the tip.Cast Iron Bearing(bush). As Bronze is getting to be very expensive,I was looking for alternative.
Aluminium is not a good solution. My neighbour's father makes Power Press and cast iron is used for the bearings.They last and last. I did asked the old man -------"Why not Bronze?" He walked and laugh------"Good Idea". Some client came in with a used press and it had bronze bushes and all badly worned and he asked for CI bush.This confirmed CI good for bushes.

However Bronze can be custom formulated for for heavy load. Neighbours again. Non-ferrous foundry neighbour kept a
hand written notebook handed down by his grandfather/father and in it,listed are chemical composition for a range of bronze for different application. You just can't walk in and ask for any bronze bush w/o informing him of the application.

Very sad.This trade died off in the early 70s.
I have seen bronze propeller that looked more like Stainless Steel.All about Bronze.  

My next Mini Slide Valve Engine will have CI bush.


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## Anko (Sep 5, 2012)

thanks for the tip Mark! here is a question: any type of cast iron will work? as far as I know, there are several alloys of cast iron, what I mean is, there is a special type of cast iron better for this aplication, or just any cast iron saved from the scrap yard will work?

Peter: if you look the plans carrefully, you will find that the engine front side assembly lacks the connection piece between the cylinder and the cross slide base piece, and the blots that unite this pieces are not specified, in position or size, and there is not space to put a bolt eighter!, I have to make a M2x0.4 bolt with a head diameter of 3mm in order to fit, in the cylinder tap is not critical because there is enough space, but you will find that the bottom conection of the cylinder need correction.

Also the plans do not specify the materials, as I find, there is some bad combinations of metals for mechanical aplicatios (brass with brass or aluminium etc..) and well, its something to consider.

The rest its ok, you can make modifications on the design as I did to aboid the "block on block" look putting some curves and radius in some pieces.

If you got any questions feel free to askme!



I made the some sort of experiment with the piston, I made the body out of 1020 steel and put 2 rings made of technyla90, the idea was to make a piston that will not wear the cylinder walls, but why I dont make the entire piston of one piece of technyl? well I just wanted to do a piston with rings, that's the reason 










Saludos!


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## skyline1 (Sep 6, 2012)

Hi Gus

I agree there are a vast number of different types of bronze picking the right one is a science in itself. Having done so you then get the problem of trying to actually get some which as you say can be difficult and expensive (especially in small quantities like we are likely to use).

Some bronzes are also quite hard to machine and they have a habit of "Grabbing" drills and reamers. I had to do some naval bronze a little while ago and that didn't just look more like Stainless it was almost like machining it.

A peculiar effect sets in with bronze bearings at high speeds as I found out with my first steam turbine. The bronze bearing doesn't wear too badly but it eats the shaft away in no time even hardened steel ones (silver steel in my case).

During discussions with other model engineers about this I had a chance conversation with someone who worked for McLaren. he said they were using cast iron big end shells in full size racing engines because bronze/white metal ones couldn't handle the speeds.

I can heartily recommend C.I. for bearings even though it's not the traditional approach and as you said the life of them is really good. The little engine in the pictures has had many hundreds of hours of running and there is little wear in the big end. Oscillators (Wobblers) are prone to big end wear and "barrelling" the piston due to the side thrust on the conrod.

So if C.I. bearings can cope in Oscillators, full size petrol racing engines and turbines at 30,000 R.P.M.+ they should have a long and trouble free life in a slide valve. 

Cast Iron bar is easily available now for just this sort of thing, Or a trip to the local scrapyard will usually furnish a suitable piece.

Regards Mark


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## peatrich (Sep 6, 2012)

Thank you Anko. 
There is a build thread of this model on a German forum. The builder silver soldered the side assembly to the cylinder and finished it by wrapping thin gauge metal around the two pieces that is bolted to the side assembly, to cover the join. You are right about the small bolts, there isn't much room.


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## skyline1 (Sep 6, 2012)

Hi Anko

The type of Iron you need is Grey cast iron, sometimes called Flake Graphite iron, There is another type of Cast Iron called S.G (Spheroidal Graphitic) or malleable iron. There is an easy way to tell the difference without needing any special equipment. (it's the way old foundrymen used to do it before modern metallurgy labs)

Simply break a small piece off and examine the break, grey iron will be, well, grey, and it will have a grainy surface a bit like a broken sugar cube. It should also break quite easily as grey iron is poor in tension and quite brittle. If you rub your finger over the break a silvery black deposit should come off. This is free graphite in the iron and is what helps lubricate the bearing.

S.G. iron will have a more silvery white break  and smoother more like steel. It will also be more difficult to break. If you rub it much less of the graphite will rub out. It takes very little practice to spot grey iron by this method.

Pieces of Cast iron guttering are usually grey iron and are an ideal material for this but avoid plumbing fittings and taps etc. as they tend to be S.G.

A couple of tips on machining it if you have never done so

Machine it at slow speed and dry it needs no cutting oil as the graphite will lubricate the cut.

the tool angles used for steel will usually be O.K. That's what I use. But tools with little or no top rake are recommended for Cast Iron if you fancy grinding one.

Cast Iron (especially in thin sections) tends to get a hard skin during the casting process due to chilling and sand penetration. so the first cut needs to be quite deep to get under it at a low feedrate.

If you've got it right the surface finish will be quite good though not usually bright and polished and the chips will be almost a fine dust. This is not particularly abrasive but should be cleaned off the machine often as it gets everywhere including your hands.

If you do get stuck finding some I can send you a small piece for the cost of the postage, assuming it isn't too high to Chile (shouldn't be)

P.M. me with the size you need and I'll see what I can do. I used to have a little backyard foundry so I've got quite a few odd bits of C.I. bar about (old pouring sprues).

Regards Mark


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## gus (Sep 6, 2012)

Hi Mark,
As a Polytechnic student,I mixed with the neighbourhood tradesmen.A cuppa (cup of tea) would loosen them to reveal their trade secrets.It is true they actually prescribe the chemical composition of bearing bronze to tailor fit.These guys are dead and gone.

1986 When I was Shanghai,visiting the Shanghai Heavy Compressor Plant,I bought the foundry supervisor dinner,he practically gave me all the tips I need to cast Aluminium Traps.Tip----Small piece--730 degrees C & big pieces 730 C Plus the degassing and refining chemicals.Too bad he is not knowledgeable on CI book moulds.

This compressor plant have all kinds of tradesmen. Ferrous and non-ferrous foundrues.Huge 100 foot lathes,humongous planers/mills and jig borers.

For the .46 Glow Plug Aeromodel Engine,I am using Phosphorus Bronze as in print.This material is recomended by American Machinist Handbook.Turning,drilling and boring same was a breeze using normal drills. Engine now WIP. Now adding on cylinder.Will post next week.


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## skyline1 (Sep 7, 2012)

Hi Gus

It's quite true, The persuasive powers of "Enginemans best friend" are amazing. Great things have been achieved with a chat and a "cuppa".

I think I would have been like a kid in a sweetshop in Shanghai.

Phosphor Bronze is fairly easy to machine as bronzes go done a bit myself in the past. not too easy to deep drill tho' , but deep drilling is a tricky operation on any material.

Aluminium bronze and some of the the more exotic alloys are quite different animals though they will fight you all the way.

look forward to seeing how your glowplug goes. 

Regards Mark


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## peatrich (Sep 7, 2012)

This is the German build thread with some good pics. This is the first time I have posted a link and hope that it works and that it is appropriate to post a link to another forum? The site is in German but I found some useful tips by using Google translate and copying and pasting from the forum. 

http://www.modell-dampf-forum.info/forum/showthread.php?t=6768


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## gus (Sep 7, 2012)

skyline1 said:


> Hi Gus
> 
> It's quite true, The persuasive powers of "Enginemans best friend" are amazing. Great things have been achieved with a chat and a "cuppa".
> 
> ...



Hi Mark,

Just made a near fatal blunder.Spent the last two hours kicking myself.Should have followed the prints. While drilling crankcase top to take the cylinder,I discovered error. Just came up with a rework/salvage scheme.
Foto attached.


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## skyline1 (Sep 8, 2012)

Hi Gus

There is a saying that "the man who never made a mistake never actually made anything" but an error either by you or in the drawing does make for some "colourful" language. especially if the component has taken a long time and you mess it up right at the end ( usually do its the "Law of Universal Cussedness"). 

I made one myself yesterday. I am building a small spot welder at the moment and I was drilling the front panel for the control box, minor lapse of concentration, and I enlarged the wrong hole.

After much strong language and two cups of "Char" to calm me down. It was start again time but it's only a bit of sheet steel and I've got plenty of material to make another one.

It's when you write off an expensive casting that might be difficult to replace it gets really annoying.

Hope your rework idea works out. altering stuff as we go along or doing something a different way is one of the pleasures of model engineering. As Anko's clever solutions to his engine problems are proving.

Regards Mark


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## gus (Sep 9, 2012)

skyline1 said:


> Hi Gus
> 
> There is a saying that "the man who never made a mistake never actually made anything" but an error either by you or in the drawing does make for some "colourful" language. especially if the component has taken a long time and you mess it up right at the end ( usually do its the "Law of Universal Cussedness").
> 
> ...



Hi Mark,
Fotos on repair attached. Used a die threaded brass stub to plug in and tap drill and tap.Very happy with the repair.Tried hard not to buy casting kits.When you blow up a piece,it is very expensive to replace and as such I build engines from prints that use bar stock.Built the German Vertical Steam engine from bar stocks.
Now about to proceed finish up the last five details which will take the entire day.8am Singapore time now.Will be another 4 weeks to complete engine.No date line.No bosses breathing down my neck.Ha Ha. Sat'd and Sun'd catch was bad.Too much rain water.


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## gus (Sep 9, 2012)

Hi Mark,

Please post Spot welder. My very first experience using spot welder was bad during my apprentice days.

Bought a multi electrode Spot Welder from Taiwan 20 years ago.It came with PLC and lots of controls never dreamed off.Never gave me any problem from day one.
Used same to make wire net beltguards using spun straightened steel wires. Beltguard cost reduction was 80%.
Waste was minimal.Bird cage wire cost a bomb and waste about 20%.


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## Anko (Sep 10, 2012)

Thanks for the comments!

Gus you engine is looking good!, here is some progress on mine:

I just got a rotary table, and no tooling or work holding to use it, so it was very dificult to clamp the workpiece in order to use it, but at the end I was able to do it using my lathe dog and some bolts.
























And made the connection arm and the shaft guide:









Only the connection shaft and the flywheel are left 

Saludos


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## sssfox (Sep 10, 2012)

That looks like the same rotary table that I have.  
That is a neat way to hold the shaft on it.  I don't think I would've ever thought of that.  I've spent all of my time mounting a 4-jaw chuck to it.


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## skyline1 (Sep 10, 2012)

Hi Anko

It's really coming along now as you said only the crankshaft and the flywheel to dat's allo

Gus I will post some photos and details on my spot welder when it's done I'm testing and tweaking at the moment but it welds o.k. only thin stuff but that's all it was designed for


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## gus (Sep 11, 2012)

Hi Anko.
Here is the latest at 6pm today but engine is still an empty shell.Glow plug installed.Silencer is bought out.


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## Anko (Sep 11, 2012)

Thanks for the comments!

Gus you sure work fast! at that rate you will get your engine running in no time, great work!

sssfox: I found the 4 jaw chuck for the RT too expensive!, that why I only get the rotary table without nothing else, Im planning to do some mods and work holding hardware.

Today I made the crack shaft and assembly the engine, but because I put some very tight tolerances to piston/crosshead sections, turning the engine needs a lot of torque, so I lube the sliding parts and put the engine to run in the mini-mill for a while hopping that all the mechanical pieces settle down.

here is a little video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nmGd6mLe0U&feature=youtu.be


And afther a little runing the feel and force requiered to turn the engine is improved, also now runs more smoothly, but still need more "settle" or tuning.

Now only the the flywheel left (and maybe some valve)

and ofcourse, an air compressor also are left. :wall: 

Saludos


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## sssfox (Sep 11, 2012)

Anko said:


> Thanks for the comments!
> 
> sssfox: I found the 4 jaw chuck for the RT too expensive!, that why I only get the rotary table without nothing else, Im planning to do some mods and work holding hardware.
> 
> Saludos



Anko,

You are doing fine without the 4-jaw chuck.
If I would've thought of that, I probably would not have purchased the one I have.

The next time I need to mount a shaft, that's what I'm going to do.

Steve Fox


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## gus (Sep 12, 2012)

Hi Anko,
The Gland Nut looks great.When can we see your engine spin???

My DIY Rotary Table.
Had to DIY the "tee Nuts" out of brass from scrap bin.


Glow Plug Engine,
Progress today slow.Worked on the minor details and small items.The carb body took half morning and the others too
2 hours.Nothing much to show.The piston n con rod will take up some time.Wll be next week. Now looking for 3/16 reamers.


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## Anko (Dec 13, 2012)

Hi

I have been very bussy with the university, but now I have  some spare time to start machining again, Im very close now to finish  the engine! after almost one year and half...

I just made the flywheel, to make it, I pick some cast iron pipe or tube from the  scrap yard, the plan is to put the pulley with a press fit inside the  tube:






Then when the bore was close to 0.02 mm, I took the pulley, previously  machined, to the refrigerator for cooling, for about 15 min. The OD went  down about 0.04 mm allowing to enter nicely in the tube:






























It's almost done!

Saludos


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## Propforward (Dec 13, 2012)

Very nicely done! I loved the sequence of pictures showing how you made the flywheel - very well done!


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## SilverSanJuan (Dec 14, 2012)

Beautiful work Anko.  Glad to see you back at this project.


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## gus (Dec 14, 2012)

Hi Anko
Please advise supplier of this beautiful flywheel casting??


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## Anko (Feb 18, 2013)

Hi to all, its been a while since I post somethig

Gus: how are your doing? you finish your glow plug engine?
the casting that I use on the fluywheel was originally an old pulley salvajed from the scrapyard, I strongly believe that it was part of a very old sewing machine, but I cant be sure.

I got some progress in my engine today:

I decided to make some sort of needle valve for my engine, and got some kind of hard time designing it, but at last I come to this:






The needle is made from a 5mm diamerter silver steel sock, and it was very dificul to machine it, because of the thin diameter. I make some sort of support with a little piece of brass with a hole of the diameter of the piece and held it in the tailstock.
















Then, like before, I use a "cmc man" metod to cut the raduis of the valve body (because I don't have (yet) a radius-cutter attachment), and with all the patience of the world finally came a good result:





















Then, I put some polishing paste in the "needle" contact point, and run the lathe, the idea was to make the two pieces to seat together and make a good seal.








and at the end of the day I got:







Thanks for watching! I hope that will come more!  

Saludos


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## Rivergypsy (Feb 19, 2013)

Very nice work indeed - I like it 

Keep up the posts and the good work!


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## Anko (Feb 19, 2013)

Thanks dclark!

got more progress, still need to sand the piece, but thats the rougth shape, and the valve seems to work fine with mouth pressure 

here:






more will come!

Saludos


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## Anko (Feb 21, 2013)

Well, here I am with some more progress:


Now, come the time to make the valve handwheel, first I was planning to use my rtary table to index the valve shape, previously machined in the lathe, but since I dont have any tooling for te RT yet, I figure that it will not be posible in mortal means to do that.

Then, I came with another aproach, something that I havent seen before for valve handwheels making.... at least for me


Pictures will tell better:


First, I designed the valve to be with some style, and to follow the engine flywheel pattern too..



















Then I put it on the lathe and bend it, I use the carriage and dials to archieve a simetrical angle on  all three legs:


















After that I make the support piece of the handwheel and put a 1mm hole through the valve shaft and the piece, for putting a pin.








Then I machine the handwheel outter radius on the lathe, like a tube, with rounded faces. Finally I pick up all the other pieces and I make the assembly, using a sacrificial bolt to maintaining everything in place,and then the magic, I solder all the pieces together.













Then a little sand paper work as usual.... (a lot really, like usual too jaja).... and:


































Very nice indeed, and a little peek on the engine here:








Its almost done!, a few pieces left... they will come soon...  


Saludos


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## aarggh (Feb 21, 2013)

Wow! Fantastic job on the handwheel Anko (and everythings else), amazing result.

cheers, Ian


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## Rivergypsy (Feb 21, 2013)

Now thats a really good idea - logged for future reference!


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## cncjunior (Feb 21, 2013)

That hand wheel or rather finger wheel is gorgeous.  You are certainly adapt at soldering complex fabrications.  Your engine is a wonder to look at.  Just 2 days ago I went through all of the pages in sequence on your build.  If you hadn't of said that you weren't a tool and die guy I would have thought you were.  I can relate to your experience of watching and reading topics here on this site.  When I was in my teens I used to watch my Grandfather machine and fabricate in his basement after his so called retirement from machining.  He was actually busier machining after retirement than during his regular work.  I learned so much from just watching.  I didn't ask questions as I didn't want him to get distracted and make a mistake.  Made that error once.

I am enjoying your posts and your engine.  Great work.

Daniel


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## elvis071 (Feb 21, 2013)

I am in same situation like you, but I not yet decide which project to take !

Good job !


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## Anko (Apr 10, 2013)

Finally afther so many time... I finish my little engine today!

Here are some pictures of the final tasks:







Here Im trying to make a seccond attemp for the front sheet, again from stainles steel, remember the first one? well this one didn't go well too...











After the "etching"... well, It was worse that the first, so I give up with the idea of a engraved stainless steel front sheet..

then some painting:






Here is the Steam/Air inlet tube, that goes direct to the nedlee valve and then to the steam chest:







And afther a all day-long polish, here is the result:






















I rec a little video with some pics and some music, sorry for not posting some better quality pics and video. All I got now is my phone cam, but when I have a decent camera I will upload good pics.


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBdh-Ujk-l0[/ame]


Thanks to all for watching and supporting my build, It has been a long time for a project that supposed to last only 3 months... It has been very fun!


Saludos


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## cncjunior (Apr 10, 2013)

Well done.  A good runner of an engine.  As all of us that have watched this build we are certainly impressed with the high quality of workmanship.  You must feel proud to have finished such a beautiful engine.  I know that I will be using this post as a reference and inspiration for my work.  When you choose to do another engine I will definitely watch that one.

Daniel


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## SilverSanJuan (Apr 10, 2013)

Beautiful, Anko.  Just beautiful!


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## GaryK (Apr 10, 2013)

Fantastic Job! 

I hope the next one I make will look half as good!

Gary


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## gus (Apr 10, 2013)

Anko said:


> Finally afther so many time... I finish my little engine today!
> 
> Here are some pictures of the final tasks:
> 
> ...



Hi Anko,
You have taken the German Engine and put in enhancement. and very high standard of workmanship and finishing.You have raised the bar a wee bitty high for us.
Looks like I may buy brass bar stock and build another engine.Will take sweet time to do it.The existing engine was built with aluminium off cuts from scrap bin. After completion and though it ran well,I did have some regrets of not taking time to build a show piece.

Salute from Gus Teng.


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## AussieJimG (Apr 10, 2013)

That is truly a work of art Anko. Thank you for showing us how it should be done.

Jim


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