# My take on PM Research #1 engine



## Nikhil Bhale (Aug 19, 2021)

I ordered these castings from US about 3 years ago. One of my friends brought it here to India. Saved some on the shipping cost.

I followed the two series on YouTube on building of this engine as best as I can.

All the dimensions were changed from imperial to metric. All the fasteners were also changed to metric. 
All the decimal errors of converting imperial to metric added up during assembly. More about this later.

I have yet to test the engine on compressed air. But it turns freely by hand. When I used a drill to turn the engine nothing came loose and everything turns okay.

I have currently painted the engine with clear acrylic paint. 
Now the engine is sitting on a block of teak. But I will fabricate a plywood base for it.

Here are some pictures of the engine.


----------



## Nikhil Bhale (Aug 19, 2021)

Here are some more machining photos.
Machining base.
























Regards
Nikhil


----------



## Nikhil Bhale (Aug 19, 2021)

Here are some pictures of machining cylinder.
A steel rod fixed in the drill chuck is insurance during facing operation.











This is my angle block for machining steam passages in cylinder. 






Regards
Nikhil


----------



## Nikhil Bhale (Aug 19, 2021)

Machining crankshaft
The drawings ask for 3/8" crank pin and crankshaft. I don't have imperial drills or reamers to bore out the main bearings and connecting rod to 3/8". So the dimensions were changed to 10mm.










The drawings also mentions about crankpin turning jig. I didn't have any suitable material to make that. So I made a jig out of aluminium flat bar. Crankpin was centred in four jaw chuck and turning operations carried out. I used a brazed carbide parting tool to turn crankpin.





Regards
Nikhil


----------



## Nikhil Bhale (Aug 19, 2021)

Machining flywheel
My Sieg lathe has a belt and pulley arrangment for changing speed. Lowest speed is 125 RPM. Flywheel was turned on this RPM.
Some mistakes were made. Flywheel was centred by indicating on outside rim. So now when the engine runs outside rim is running true but the inner cast surf wobbles. 





A M4 set screw is used to hold flywheel on crankshaft.





Regards
Nikhil


----------



## Nikhil Bhale (Aug 19, 2021)

Duplicate post deleted.

Regards
Nikhil


----------



## Nikhil Bhale (Aug 20, 2021)

Some more machining on base.
Cylinder seating area has to be spot faced. Same was done by a 40mm facemill. 





Main bearing were bored using a 10mm dia and 200mm long endmill. 





Regards
Nikhil


----------



## olympic (Aug 20, 2021)

Looking great!


----------



## stanstocker (Aug 20, 2021)

Excellent!  Don't be bothered by the flywheel wobble too much.  I doubt there are many here who haven't wished they used a difference surface of a casting when setting up more than once...

Cheers,
Stan


----------



## Nikhil Bhale (Aug 20, 2021)

Machining some miscellaneous parts.

Machining piston. The smallest grooving/ parting off tool I have is 2mm wide. So piston ring grooves dimensions are different from that given in drawing. I will not be able to use the teflon piston rings provided with the kit. The counter bore for piston rod nut was made with endmill. 





The eccentric was turned on a 4 jaw chuck.





The gland were mounted on a piece of aluminium bar and turned.





The crosshead was machined as per drawing. But during threading for the piston rod my tap bottomed out. Luckily it did not break but the threads were stripped. 
Also during assembly I observed that piston rod was binding at bottom of stroke. Piston rod dia was reduced from 5mm to 4.8mm. Now there is no binding. Also the crosshead was drilled and tapped M3 at two places. Grub screws are used to hold piston rod in place.





Regards
Nikhil


----------



## ALCO-jim (Aug 20, 2021)

Nikhil Bhale said:


> I ordered these castings from US about 3 years ago. One of my friends brought it here to India. Saved some on the shipping cost.
> 
> I followed the two series on YouTube on building of this engine as best as I can.
> 
> ...


Wow.  Nice work !


----------



## packrat (Aug 20, 2021)

I have also seen that YouTube series, good photos and a wonderful job on the engine.


----------



## Baltic (Aug 21, 2021)

GooD work!! , I am building the same at the moment, only done the fly wheel and base so far,


----------



## Nikhil Bhale (Aug 21, 2021)

olympic said:


> Looking great!


Thanks


----------



## Nikhil Bhale (Aug 21, 2021)

stanstocker said:


> Excellent!  Don't be bothered by the flywheel wobble too much.  I doubt there are many here who haven't wished they used a difference surface of a casting when setting up more than once...
> 
> Cheers,
> Stan



Yes. There is always a next time. I think this is the moto of my life. This and my impatience is the real hindrance to my model making hobby.

Regards
Nikhil


----------



## Nikhil Bhale (Aug 21, 2021)

Baltic said:


> GooD work!! , I am building the same at the moment, only done the fly wheel and base so far,


Best of luck for your project. I will recommend watching the two YouTube series before proceeding if you are novice like me.

Regards
Nikhil


----------



## Nikhil Bhale (Aug 22, 2021)

packrat said:


> I have also seen that YouTube series, good photos and a wonderful job on the engine.


Yes they both are good series.

Regards
Nikhil


----------



## Eccentric (Aug 22, 2021)

Looking good Nikhil.  This was my first engine build and I think it is a great kit, I learned so much.  I also followed Quinn and Joe's videos, would certainly have messed up a few of the castings without their help.


----------



## Baltic (Aug 26, 2021)

Nikhil Bhale said:


> Best of luck for your project. I will recommend watching the two YouTube series before proceeding if you are novice like me.
> 
> Regards
> Nikhil


Hi Nikhil, 
Just a quick question in relation to the steam valve chest/cylinder, the Valves port, the drawing calls for 3/32 slots, smallest I have is 1/8th, what size did you use Nikhil??  3/32 is not a common size in Aus, 

Thanks Gary,


----------



## Nikhil Bhale (Aug 27, 2021)

Baltic said:


> Hi Nikhil,
> Just a quick question in relation to the steam valve chest/cylinder, the Valves port, the drawing calls for 3/32 slots, smallest I have is 1/8th, what size did you use Nikhil??  3/32 is not a common size in Aus,
> 
> Thanks Gary,


Hi Gary,

 I don't have any imperial tools I used metric tool for all operations.
I milled out the slots 2.5mm and 4mm with respective end mills.
The centreline distance was maintained as per the drawings.

Regards
Nikhil


----------



## Nikhil Bhale (Aug 27, 2021)

Finally the moment of truth has arrived. Will the engine run or it will be a dud?

And it runs. But not without considerable effort from my side.

Here is the link 


I tried to run it but noticed air leaking out of exhaust port continuously.
The slide valve was lapped into the steam chest. Using 180, 220, 400, 800 grit and finally using a metal polish.
Even after this the engine refused to run. 
Valve timings were checked and changed repeatedly but there was no success. All the leaks were chased and rectified.
I was using a tyre inflater as a compressor to run the engine. The pressure was going above 5 bars but the engine refused to start.
Then I noticed that the piston end clearance is only about 0.2 mm at both ends. There was no space for air to come inside the cylinder.
So I had to modify the end covers to allow the air to enter the cylinder. For this I filled out some portion of the boss near the steam passages.
And after some more valve timings adjustment Success.







Regards
Nikhil


----------



## Lloyd-ss (Aug 27, 2021)

Nikhil,
Very nice job, and I can tell there are lots and lots of hours in that beautiful project.  You talk so casually about that block of teak and replacing it with plywood (am I correct on that?). Here in the US, teak from India is ranked up with American Walnut, and replacing it with plywood would almost be a sin. I am only joking, but only a little bit. And maybe some paint colors that say "look at me!" Again, only kind of joking.

Working with castings is both a blessing and a curse and I can see that you spent a lot of time getting the set-ups right for the first cuts. Given that you had only one chance to get it right, I would call your job ..... perfect! Impressive.
Thanks for sharing your project with us.
Lloyd


----------



## Nikhil Bhale (Aug 27, 2021)

Lloyd-ss said:


> Nikhil,
> Very nice job, and I can tell there are lots and lots of hours in that beautiful project.  You talk so casually about that block of teak and replacing it with plywood (am I correct on that?). Here in the US, teak from India is ranked up with American Walnut, and replacing it with plywood would almost be a sin. I am only joking, but only a little bit. And maybe some paint colors that say "look at me!" Again, only kind of joking.
> 
> Working with castings is both a blessing and a curse and I can see that you spent a lot of time getting the set-ups right for the first cuts. Given that you had only one chance to get it right, I would call your job ..... perfect! Impressive.
> ...


Hi Lloyd,

Thanks for the encouraging words. I am a novice and still learning.

As for the teak it is Burma teak. It is imported from Burma or Myanmar. I wish to get it carved out into one of our Gods or Goddess. So I will be replacing it with a plywood box.

Regards
Nikhil


----------



## Lloyd-ss (Aug 27, 2021)

Nikhil Bhale said:


> Hi Lloyd,
> 
> Thanks for the encouraging words. I am a novice and still learning.
> 
> ...


That will be a very fitting use for the teak!


----------



## jgalak (Feb 12, 2022)

Newbie question, asked out of general curiousity: 

I've seen the Blondiehacks hacks video of building this engine, and now the build logs here.  In all of them, to machine the base surfaces where the main bearings attach, the bed has been secured in the mill at an angle, usually requiring a complicated fixture.

If one were using a mill with a head that could tilt side-by-side, like a Bridgeport, would it make more sense to secure the base flat on the table and tilt the head?  I'm assuming the angle-fixturing techniques are being used because these mills don't have the ability to tilt the spindle, or is there a reason to not tilt it that I'm unaware of?


----------



## Eccentric (Feb 12, 2022)

Quinn did a great job on her PM research steam engine, but check out Joe Pie's video series building the same engine.  His fixturing of the base is very elegant, straight forward and not at all complicated.


----------



## ChazzC (Feb 13, 2022)

Eccentric said:


> Quinn did a great job on her PM research steam engine, but check out Joe Pie's video series building the same engine.  His fixturing of the base is very elegant, straight forward and not at all complicated.



Joe also has the luxury of larger equipment, so many of his methods aren't directly transferable to smaller bench top machines, but they still inspire us. He also somehow manages to single-point 2-56 threads! I have also not seen him resort to tilting the head on his Mill. Quinn's builds help me both understand some of the limitations of my equipment, while seeing some work-arounds. Both Joe's & Quinn's videos usually get filed in my "Work Holding" folder on YouTube. 

Given the significantly better rigidity of a fixed column on the LMS Mini Mills, and seeing what Quinn & Joe achieve with their setups, I think that you can get more rigidity & stability by tilting the part rather than the head.


----------



## packrat (Feb 13, 2022)

Yes, Quinn does a good job of doing setups on the small lathe and small mill..


----------



## Baltic (Feb 13, 2022)

jgalak said:


> Newbie question, asked out of general curiousity:
> 
> I've seen the Blondiehacks hacks video of building this engine, and now the build logs here.  In all of them, to machine the base surfaces where the main bearings attach, the bed has been secured in the mill at an angle, usually requiring a complicated fixture.
> 
> If one were using a mill with a head that could tilt side-by-side, like a Bridgeport, would it make more sense to secure the base flat on the table and tilt the head?  I'm assuming the angle-fixturing techniques are being used because these mills don't have the ability to tilt the spindle, or is there a reason to not tilt it that I'm unaware of?



Jgalak, Where the bearing cap sits, there is a small recess of about .03" that helps locate the bearing cap, (and Quinn forgot to machine that recess if I remember correctly?) If you use the "tilt the head method", you asked, the recess would be difficult to execute,


----------

