# Arnold's take on Elmer's Grasshopper



## arnoldb (Mar 6, 2010)

I'm going back to the work on Monday, and having had little Tiny do a good stint on holding down papers and being a general conversation piece there, it's time for something new. Fred should do as a good stand-in for a while, but what then ?

Well, having built a couple of rocking engines and wobblers, it's time for something different and to try out my new mill; There is nothing like project work to get to know one's machines.

I had a difficult time choosing between Elmer's Grashopper (#37) and Beam (#24), but with the Grasshopper the slightly larger one (and based on a good friend's suggestion - thanks Mate ), it is next up.

First, I spent a good couple of hours calculating and jotting down metric dimensions & threads on the plans, and also checking what material I had available and compensating/improvising as needed, then it was off to the shop.

Building started with the base; I sawed a suitable section off of some 12mm Aluminium plate I bought while in SA, and milled the edges to size. I thought I had taken a photo of the stock when I started, but didn't :-[.

Almost immediately, I was made aware of a painful issue with my mill; there is not enough space between the Z locking lever and the shield safety switch mounting, and my fingers took a couple of painful knocks getting wedged in there while I was concentrating on setting depths and so on, and not looking while operating the lever.:





So I spent a couple of minutes removing the mounting, and bypassing the safety switch in the mill's wiring cabinet. I'm fully aware of the safety implications just in case anybody is wondering. Sometimes H&S gets so obnoxious that it is a safety risk on it's own. I'll use the holes left on the mill to mount a light in a sane fashion; that will compensate a bit 

Having milled the base down to size, I did the layout. Permanent marker run across approximate locations and then lightly layed out the dimensions, and punched for the holes. The numbers are the metric drill sizes I need for the surrounding holes:





Milled the mounting slot for the leg. Decided to test out the machine's dials, so found the edge, zeroed the dial and cranked in 3mm from the end. Hmmm, not enough you idiot; you need to add the cutter's size as well... Fortunately a 9mm cutter, so three more full turns and spot on. I'll need an edge finder soon; for now, I used some paper with a known thickness like Tel mentioned in one of his posts - works a treat. Fortunately, I remembered to deduct the cutter's width for the other side of the slot; hit things spot on and literally split the mark-out lines:





The mill's chuck cannot take drills smaller than 3mm, so off to the drill press for the next steps; I took a chance on drilling the the 2mm holes for the leg pivot pin like this; fortunately the drill didn't wander and the bottom hole was spot on. There was only about 6mm of the drill gripped in the chuck to get the needed depth, and end of the spiral is well below the top hole:





Then some tapping followed - all 2.5mm holes were tapped out to M3, and the 3mm holes were countersunk at the bottom of the base. So that completes the base machining-wise:





Hopefully I can get some more parts done tomorrow; this build may take a while to finish.

Regards, Arnold


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## ariz (Mar 6, 2010)

Arnold, some thoughts of any importance 

you're already at work on a new engine: what a constancy, I would be as you are in this, but after every build I need some time to restore energy ;D

the safety shield is the first part that goes away in every new mill, I think: it's impossible to use the mill with that shield attached

finally, compliments for the choice on the next engine
but I doubt that it take you too much time to complete it :big:


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## 4156df (Mar 6, 2010)

Arnold,
Glad to see you're back at it. I'm looking forward to following along.
Dennis


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## SBWHART (Mar 6, 2010)

A grasshopper is on my list as well Arnold not to sure when I'll get around to it though, so I'll be watching with interest.
It will give your new mill a good test.
A good start

Have fun

Stew


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## Deanofid (Mar 6, 2010)

Hey, it's exciting to get to see you using your new mill, Arnold. 
I always like your build threads. Have fun. We'll be in the cheering section.

Dean


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## arnoldb (Mar 7, 2010)

Ariz, thank you  - I've had a good break though; nearly a month without much machining !. It might take me a while to complete though; My shop time will be fairly limited in the upcoming months; mostly to weekends.

Thanks Dennis ;D I hope the build process will be worthwhile 

Stew, thanks ;D. "A good start" - Double thank you; starting is the hardest choice to make!

Thank you very much Dean ;D ; I hope this thread will be up to expectations... :-[ 

Today's bit of work - the column.

I needed a piece of 8mm aluminium plate - marked out on some parent stock and ready for the bandsaw:





After a couple of minutes with the saw in vertical mode, done. At one point I deviated quite a bit from the line...:





Then off to the mill to get cleaned up and brought to width with a 9mm cutter:




The plate is clamped with more overhang to the right, as I set up the vise close to the left end of the table for now. A bit of a mistake, as the calibrated dial for the table is on the right hand edge, and operations would be easier closer to that side. I'll move the vise soon; it took me quite a while to get aligned... Experience should make that easier and quicker to do though.

Squaring up the one end of the plate - and a good example of a bad example... :-[ I don't have a suitable spanner for the flats on the chuck, so that wrench was used on the flats to tighten up the collet chuck... The collet closer nut fortunately does have a suitable C-spanner. I'll buy or make a spanner ASAP, or make a spindle lock for the mill; which should eliminate the need for the spanner:





Then the plate was marked out, and I drilled all the holes needed, and switched to a 6mm slot mill to do all the slotting and cut-outs. The eight 6mm holes for the cut-out sections were offset by 0.1mm on both X and Y axis into the "scrap" parts of the cut-outs, so that I could finish the cut-outs off to final size with the end mill only. I've had some bad looking parts in the past because of left-over "hole" indentations in the corners; the offsets worked a treat  The first cut in the first slot was the trickiest; then I just set the mill's Y dial to 0 after feeding in to the needed depth, and took the reading off the dial after feeding out to depth; then things were easy; Feed half a turn on Z (1.125mm), feed in on Y to 0, Feed another half turn on Z, feed out to the reading. Repeat a couple of times, and the slots were done  Part way into removing the cut-outs:





Having finished the cut-outs, the column was done. Well, NO... I forgot to mark out and make the decorative top :-[. Worst of all, the center point for the curve from Elmer's plans was now missing; it is in one of the cut-out blocks in the recycle bin... Fortunately, this is cosmetic only, and no real accuracy is needed, as long as it looks pleasing to the eye. So I scribed some lines on both sides of the column parallel to the top, and used a piece of round stock close to the same width of the column to mark the rounding; finger-feeling for placement in the center of the column, and even with the top. Just scribed a good line on both sides using this method:




Then it was back the mill to mill away some of the excess - purely by eye and x-y control, and then I just clamped the column in the big vice and filed to the lines.

Finished column:





Mounted on the base:





And a shot from the back; slightly out of focus though. Reason for this photo, is to show that I counterbored the screw mounting holes on the column. Elmer's original plans does not have this, but I felt having the screw heads on the column sitting in flush rather than standing out would be more pleasing to the eye... :





Regards, Arnold


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## arnoldb (Mar 13, 2010)

I had a quiet week in the shop. On Tuesday evening, I had a chance to do something, but spent the time on quick short-term fix-ups on the cheapy milling vise. Some shims on the bottom of the moveable jaw guides to prevent it lifting up 2mm when tightened, and some filing & grease on the screw to make it smoother. More work still needs to be done to the vise... - one for the Tuit list.

Friday evening, I took the off-cut of aluminium that was left from the column, squared it up, and laid out the column fork on it. The plans call for 6mm (1/4") plate for the column fork, and this was 8mm thick - so a slight change to the plans:





Next it was off to the drill press to drill the tap-holes (2.5mm for 3mm threading) and for the fork pins (2mm):





Off to the mill; Cleaned out the inside of the block as per plans:





I milled out the inside part above first while it was easy to clamp the piece. Then I milled two steps on the column-side of the block to get it down to 6mm for the slot in the column; this was needed because I used the 8mm instead of 6mm plate. Next up it was the cut-outs on the sides. For these I clamped the block on it's sides rather than flat as above (little left to clamp on!), and just milled the flat parts away 3mm deep and 3mm short from what it should be. Then I used a 6mm ball nose mill (Thanks Rob!) to put in the curve. This actually worked better than I expected.




oh: Just had a thought... I could just have rotated the block 90 degrees while flat and milled the sides :-[ - Oh well, its done 

With the column fork nearly done, I needed a way to slit it according to the plans... I can only do slitting in the lathe currently, and did not look forward to setting it up for that, so I chalked up a Tuit and stopped for Friday evening:






This morning (Saturday), with a late start in the shop, I worked on a round tuit rather than work on the engine itself.

First up was some thinking and a bit of C-o-C (Copyright Bogs )....

Then some precision turning and boring (well, as precise as I can be) in a bit of HRS lying around (No Zee, *not* Bambi!) with much thought dedicated to under-cuts and flat faces:





Some more parts were turned, bored and threaded from silver steel and CRS, a spanner flat was milled, and I ended up with this motley crew, lying on the C-O-C:





Well, I am not always good at following plans - even if it is my own, and here-and-there I deviated; even changed some measurements on the fly, but the end result is basically what I wanted:





A slitting saw arbour that I can use in both the lathe and the mill. All of the slitting saws (both of them!) I have are the same size, and with the arbour and the mounting bushes, I can use either (or both ganged) at the same time, as well as get more of the same size but different widths up to 4mm. I took great pains to make the shaft as accurately as possible; the turned down section is exactly 12mm and concentricity is at less than 0.005mm using my best DI, so that I can also use it in future for things like gear cutters/hobs or whatever needs mounting. It took me 5 hours to make that lot, mostly because I spent a lot of time trying to work as accurately as I can, and for now, things look good. I hope it is a worthwhile investment in the future as well...

Well, back to the engine. I put the above lot to immediate use in the mill. Another tuit... I need a vise depth stop  - for now I just used one of my much abused toolmaker's clamps to do the job:




Slitting went like a dream; instead of the "grrching grrching grrching" I've had from slitting saws up to now, it just went "grrrrrrrrrrrrrr....." 

The column fork after some clean-up:





And the build thus far:





Regards, Arnold


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## RobWilson (Mar 13, 2010)

Hi Arnold 


 :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: Looking great Thm: There will be no stopping you now with your new mill 

Regards Rob


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## Maryak (Mar 13, 2010)

Arnold,

Nice going with the new mill. :bow:

Sometimes a quick and dirty fix for jaw lifting on the vise is to put a piece of round bar between the work and the moving jaw. This gives a rolling action to the jaw lift and the workpiece tends to stay where you want/put it.

Best Regards
Bob


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## zeeprogrammer (Mar 13, 2010)

You sir are a motivator of tool making.
I almost wish I didn't have a slitting saw arbor already.
However, just yesterday and even today I was thinking again about those threading die holders you made...still on my list!


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 13, 2010)

Grass hopper? I missed the start of your build Arnold. Your project is coming along real nice, real nice! :bow:

I see that there won't be much left for me when I get back in the fall. Too many tough acts to follow this year! 
Ya all give me a break now, ya hear! :big:

Nice project Arnold, I'll be watching with keen interest.

-MB


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## arnoldb (Mar 14, 2010)

Rob, Thanks Mate ;D

Thank you Bob  - I'll definitely try your suggestion on the round bar - thank you!

Carl, thank you ;D. I've never regretted making those die holders; they see constant use, though they still need finishing; my knurling wheels eventually arrived.

Thanks MB 


> Ya all give me a break now, ya hear! :big:


 :big: C'mon toss us some bones as well; you've been so prolific there was barely anything left to choose from :big: 

Not much progress to report for today... Started on the leg, but it still needs the cut-outs done and surface finishing. That deep 2mm hole through the bottom was the most difficult part; both in terms of chip clearance when the hole got deep, and the "how far did it wander" question that was going through my mind. Came out OK though; less than 0.05mm out of position on the other side. Leg so far:





And on the base:





Regards, Arnold


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 14, 2010)

Arnold. You have a good sense of humor! :bow:

Hey, What do ya mean? When I got here all that was left for me to pick from was Elmer's plans! Nobody, I mean nobody, wanted them! I guess the poor quality photo copied pictures made the projects look unappealing. But,once I built a few, their beauty became apparent. 

Now that "Building Elmer's Engines" has become "fashionable" I'm being crowded out by Highly skilled and talented members. You guys are all popping out of the wood work to grab the remaining projects. Sadly, I paved the way, only to be trampled by the charging crowd! Pity me! :big:

I didn't build them all though. The Butcher always leaves a little meat on the bone! ;D

Nice mill work Arnold!

-MB


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## Deanofid (Mar 14, 2010)

It's coming along great, Arnold. You sure are making good use of the new milling machine. I get the impression that you're likin' it!

The slitting saw arbor came off very nice, too. Good job.

Dean


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## Brian Rupnow (Mar 14, 2010)

Arnold---You are doing some mighty fine work there. Looks like it will become a very interesting engine. And thanks for stopping by my thread to see my Webster build coming together.--For me, it seems kind of nice to be working totally from someone elses plans for a change.


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## tel (Mar 15, 2010)

Nice start Arnold - keep 'er comin' mate!


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## arnoldb (Mar 15, 2010)

:big: - Thanks MB. What charging crowd ???  - You've set the example; now expect to be imitated ;D I actually want to build more of Elmer's engines; not having the mill up to now meant it would have been a lot more work time consuming to build many of his projects; I love my little Tiny and Fancy; even though I've had to bastardize them a bit to be metric. Same goes for the grasshopper... - so I'm working at a disadvantage :big:

Dean, thank you ;D. I'm not just likin' it - I'm LOVING it! - I'm just glad my hair is thinning; makes it easier to get the chips out ;D

Brian, thank you  - you've published some great plans; there are definitely some Tuits for me 

Thank you Tel ;D - I will!

Well, my Monday at work was not too blue, so a couple of hours in the shop went down well...
Marked out the leg for the cut-outs:





Then puzzled over how to clamp it in the mill to do the work - Maybe I should have made the cut-outs first and then the outside.
I settled on some brown stuff clamped in the vise as there was no real precision needed, and then toolmakers' clamps to clamp the leg with the sides against the vise jaw to get the inside cuts parallel to the outside:





Then set to work with a 6mm slot mill:





And done with the cut-outs:





Some filing to get rid of rough edges and a scrub-down with scotch-brite later - pretty much done; once again I deviated from the plans in the cosmetic department; I made the cut-outs in the leg more consistent with those in the column:





And an assembly photo:





Regards, Arnold


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## CrewCab (Mar 15, 2010)

As ever, great work Arnold, always a pleasure to follow your builds ........... 8)

Take care 

CC


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## zeeprogrammer (Mar 15, 2010)

Scale! Something for scale! ;D
Just don't make the same mistake I did...you end up dressing them up (or down).

Nice looking stuff Arnold. Having the mill is great isn't it!


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## arnoldb (Mar 16, 2010)

Thank you CC ;D - I really appreciate your input 

Carl, thanks ;D - Hmmm... I was working on a leg... It was given a dressing down... Now it's bare... - hang on; wrong leg and dressing down was with tools and abrasives. Now why does _bare_ metal seem wrong right now ??? ;D. 





> Scale! Something for scale! ;D


 Your wish is my command  - I'll try to remember! Only problem is, I can't find those W+W's for sale here in Windhoek!

Some more done; the beam - marked out:





Off to the drill press once again to drill the holes:




A side-note for anyone thinking of getting, or who have one of these cheap cross-vises: While I find it a real plus to use on the drill press, it is pretty inaccurate; from the two end-holes in the beam fed along the Y axis by ~115mm, it is out by nearly 0.75mm on the X axis - indicating that the fixed jaw is pretty far off from parallel with the Y axis, so you need to check each hole position carefully.

To the mill to get rid of excess material; I just put the beam in the vise by eye and checked shallow cuts against the scribed lines. Some fine adjusting was done by tapping the piece up or down on bits extending to get to the line; not very scientific, and most likely not good engineering practice, but it worked.... :





Next up was rounding over the ends. I could have spent a lot of time setting up to mill the rounds; It just seemed simpler to turn up (well, not even turn up - just drill holes in some correctly sized round bar) some filing buttons and do the job with a file. Buttons made with a bit of brazing rod as pin:





Rough filing the curve in the big vise:




When the curves were very near to size,I just removed the lot from the vise, and allowing the filing buttons to run freely on the impromptu shaft, used a smaller fine file to file down to size by keeping everything in my hands.

The result:





And the assembly; Carl asked for a scale, so I added a scale :




The build weighs in at just below one pound one ounce. I don't understand that though...; I was born in metric (my little tag says I weighed 3.75kg when I was born back in '72). Hang on; calculator... ~2.2 lb in one kg, so that lot weighs about 500g. A nice steak weighs that ;D - I can relate to that!
oh: I got it wrong!; what's the caliper doing in there ??? And that scale is older than I am - can't be accurate any more ;D

Regards, Arnold


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## kustomkb (Mar 16, 2010)

Looking good Arnold!


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## bearcar1 (Mar 16, 2010)

Nicely done Arnold, very nicely done. Thm:

BC1
Jim


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## vascon2196 (Mar 16, 2010)

I like the trick you used to file the ends of the beam round! That is really cool!

I'm going to try that next time instead of fumbling with my rotary table.

Great engine by the way...I enjoy building Elmer's models. Can't wait to see the final result!

Chris


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## zeeprogrammer (Mar 16, 2010)

Oh har de har har Arnold. Sounds like we have some things in common with respect to humor.


Looking good Arnold.


How about Minstrels? Do they sell them there? They're better than M&Ms (gasp...yes I said that...and meant it too ;D ).


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## rake60 (Mar 16, 2010)

I'm loving this thread Arnold.
It's been a long time since I made my build of the Grasshopper.
Your techniques would have made it a whole lot easier on me.

Rick


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## Deanofid (Mar 16, 2010)

Arnold, mark me down as another guy enjoying this thread. It's great, and you're doing a fine job of things. Filing buttons: They're the cats meow! Make a few pairs in different common sizes using drill rod and harden them. You'll have 'em forever.

Thanks for showing the engine on the scale. Now we know it's about 12 pounds in length...

(Zee; You traitor, you. Shame! You... you... mean guy.)

Dean


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## joe d (Mar 16, 2010)

Arnold

Another great start! I suspect that I'll enjoy following this one as much as the last one. 

I'm afraid that I'll have to chastise you for teasing poor little Zee like that ( Thm: Thm: Thm: that was a really good one! Wish I'd thought of it)

Cheers, Joe


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## ariz (Mar 17, 2010)

sure, you're doing a great job here Arnold and everybody will enjoy the thread

your skills are improved so much that it seems that everything was easy for you now

it will be a very nice Grasshopper :bow:


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## arnoldb (Mar 17, 2010)

Kevin, Jim Thank you for checking in and you kind comments ;D

Chris, thank you ;D, and I'm glad you like the method. No credit to me though; the filing buttons are actually an old and established method to do round-overs (I'm certain Dean will vouch for that!) - and very effective on one-off jobs. I can nearly promise you it's quicker to do than setting up a rotary table, and not much more effort either.

 :big: - thanks Carl - sometimes I need a staunch critic to remind me of things I forget. Might as well have some fun while trying to get up to standard - even if it is somewhat at the expense of said critic . No W&W's, M&M's or Minstrels here though... Would a Smartie do ? - I could steel one from Shrek the parrot's supply; he's only allowed one a week, so a small box lasts a long time - as long as he doesn't see me me stealing it....

Rick, thank you ;D, and I'm glad you're enjoying it. Did you do the wire-through-the-pins thing like Elmer suggests ? - I'm still a bit daunted by having to drill those tiny cross-holes in thin pins; I will have to make up a drilling jig for that...

Thank you Dean ;D - I've used the buttons before; just never posted photos showing them in use though. Oh yes, they are the cat's meow, the mutt's nuts - and even better than sliced bread ;D. Poor Zee . I don't know those "Minstrels"; do they make tan ones ? - then I could -just maybe- sympathize :big:

Thanks Joe ;D - What? - teasing a man who wears his tutu with pride ? - no ways I was teasing; I was obliged to do it !!!

Ariz, thank you very much ;D - and looking back to less than a year ago, yes, my skills appear to have improved slightly. But it's not easy yet; it still takes a lot of effort to do things; that's where the fun lies though 

Not much shop time tonight; I was interrupted by a phone call from a friend who was helping his son with some science homework and having problems with Ohm's law - A new experience though; one of the more difficult things I had to do in my life :; try and get a basic electronics circuit described to you over the phone to make a drawing on your own side....

Back to work:
Some brass plate laid out for 2 strips to make the links from:






Just bandsawed the strips out. I wanted to stick the strips together like I did for the plate work on the Fred build, but I forgot that I was out of superglue... So, next best, I cleaned one face of each plate thoroughly with scotch-brite. Then on to a fire brick with a piece of thin electronics solder:





Other piece on top, with a bit of weight added to the top. Then used the butane torch to heat everything using a gentle heat; the weight pushed the two plates together when the solder melted:





After joining the bits of plate, I marked out and drilled the holes in the end in the drill press, then pushed pins into each hole and off to the mill to get the sides down to size. The pins locate on the top of the vise jaws to keep things parallel (Thanks to John Bogs for that tip!):





Made up another filing button; this time I actually had to turn down a bit of steel for it, but quick job nonetheless:





Both ends filed to shape - 5 minutes of work:





Then back to the fire brick and heated the assembly till the solder melted, pushed the bits apart with a bit of wire, and used some paper towel to wipe off as much of the excess solder as possible while it was still molten:





Cleaning off the rest of the solder was a bit of work; first a file, then some 320 grit sand paper, and finally scotchbrite again, but the plates cleaned up nicely:





And an assembly shot; beam supported by a small square:





Regards, Arnold

And one on Zee for being a VERY good sport :bow: ;D


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## zeeprogrammer (Mar 17, 2010)

Don't mean to hijack your thread Arnold...but I'm gonna...

Minstrels are like a super-sized black M&M but are made with the 'European' style/taste of chocolate. Americans tend towards a more bitter taste...Europeans tend towards rich and creamy. I get my Minstrels in the UK...after much pleading and begging of anyone who goes over for a visit. Having spent my 'wonder years' in Europe...my chocolate taste is rich and creamy.

Oh and Dean...the same company makes both. ;D (However, there are some Nestle products that are to die for.)

Back to you Arnold...that's going to be a great looking engine. I'm very much enjoying your thread.


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## gbritnell (Mar 17, 2010)

Very nice work Arnold. It's coming along great. I use the same technique for hand radiusing corners as you, make up a guide bushing and file.
George


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## SAM in LA (Mar 17, 2010)

zeeprogrammer  said:
			
		

> Don't mean to hijack your thread Arnold...but I'm gonna...
> 
> Minstrels are like a super-sized black M&M but are made with the 'European' style/taste of chocolate. Americans tend towards a more bitter taste...Europeans tend towards rich and creamy. I get my Minstrels in the UK...after much pleading and begging of anyone who goes over for a visit. Having spent my 'wonder years' in Europe...my chocolate taste is rich and creamy.
> 
> Oh and Dean...the same company makes both. ;D (However, there are some Nestle products that are to die for.)



Zee,
You can order Minstrels online;

http://www.britsuperstore.com/acatalog/Minstrels_Chocolates.html

SAM


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## rake60 (Mar 19, 2010)

I did drill for the wires.
No drill jig, just a light "kiss" with a small center drill on the high spot 
of the 3/32" pins. The #60 drill bit is .040" and the pins are almost
.094". There is lots of room there. 






I also made a couple of those pins more than once.  


Rick


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## Troutsqueezer (Mar 19, 2010)

Sometimes as I'm scanning through thread topics I realize there's one or two that I haven't clicked on yet. Once I finally do it's like: "Hey, this is a really good build thread, why didn't I click on this before?" 

This is one of those threads. Nice job Arnold. 

"Grasshopper, does not the pebble when it falls into the water, make waves?" Sorry....you had to be a Kung Fu fan....

-Trout


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## arnoldb (Mar 20, 2010)

;D - Thanks Carl - you're welcome to hijack a bit  - I'm more into the bitter (high cacao) chocolates; a bit of 80% after dinner is heaven - especially combined with a small glass if Kirsch!

George, thank you !  - I'm in awe of the exceptional work you do; getting positive feedback on my efforts from yourself is very much appreciated indeed.

Thank you for the feedback and example Rick ;D (Great example by the way :bow I made my bushing holes a tiny bit smaller to suit available material for the pins, but I bought a bunch of small drills today to use. I also expect to re-make a couple, and break some drills in the process :big:

Trout, thanks  - I'm not a big Kung Fu fan myself, but I can catch the drift... I am just building an engine to the best of my abilities, and learning in the process  I have no intention of making waves; a ripple on the surface would do 

Now for an update... A bit late but here it comes:

Thursday evening I started on the bearing blocks. Some 8mm aluminium plate marked out to bandsaw the material for the bearing blocks out of:





Two blocks done to start with:





I want the two bearing blocks as near identical as possible, so I clamped them together with a toolmaker's clamp:





Off to the mill, and fly-cut both sides:




As there was quite a bit of excess material to remove, and I have not yet trammed my mill - which is out quite a bit, I took the opportunity to "visually" tram it in a bit better. Initially, the flycutter only cut on one side of the workpiece while passing over the blocks, so I stopped the mill after each pass, and rotated the head just a fraction so that the bottom of the spindle moved toward the side where the flycutter was cutting. Eventually, it ended up cutting most of the material facing the direction of feed, and leaving tiny scratches on the other side. Tramming near-enough for now.

Next, I squared up the bottom:




I didn't bother to clean up the top, as that will be machined to cosmetic lines; I just needed the bottom squared for marking out.

Finished off Thursday evening by doing the layout for the blocks. Not much done, but then again, I was interrupted for a period to explain Ohm's Law to a friend, so he could explain to his son for school... :






Friday evening.....

Off to the drill press, and drilled the mounting holes on the bottom of the blocks 2.5mm to thread M3. Before I started drilling, I set the drill press depth stop so the holes only goes 8mm deep:





Then I clamped both blocks together again; just using "finger feeling" to align the bottoms and the sides. This may seem crude, but the human finger is very sensitive to "height differences" between two objects, so as long as all the aligned sides feel smooth, they are pretty close in my book. Next up, center drill for the bearing (in my case the bearing bush; I decided to go with brass bushes for bearings):





Then a "Whoops - a - daisy" moment - I haven't tested how accurately my mill will move up and down on Z. The head was too low to fit the drill in:





I could test the mill's Z dovetail... Or I could just fit the 10mm collet to the nut, and insert the drill - outside of the machine:





And then fit it on the spindle - loads of side clearance available to angle it in and lock:




And a  to all the experienced machinists out there who are now howling in laughter at this idiot doing the obvious... It wasn't initially that obvious, and I am sure I'm not the first to encounter this minor problem. Just maybe it helps somebody other than myself look less of an idiot!

Back to work... Drilling for the bearing bush with lots of swarf flying around. Actually more than I usually allow; taking action photos could be dangerous!:





Done drilling the hole. As I wanted to press-fit bushes into the hole, I removed the drill slowly - at about the same rate of feeding it in initially - to leave a smoother finish without the need to use a reamer: 





Next up, profiling the blocks. After I put the blocks in initially on an "impromptu parallel" and clamped it in the mill vise, I removed the toolmaker's clamp, and re-clamped it so that it was lying flat with the mill vise jaws. First, I just milled to the line; I just eyeballed it on the approach, but took note of the X readings on the mill dials for the Z steps:





With one side done, I once again used another toolmaker's clamp as a vise-stop:





I then flipped the bearing blocks vertically - after I de-burred them with a file while out of the vise. The clamp retaining the blocks was used to just set them horizontal in the jaws of the mill vise, and the end up against the other clamp meant I could use my prior X-readings to machine this side as well. Keeping track of Z readings would be useless though, as the "horizontal" clamp was not on center.





I then milled the rest off according to the X-settings I noted down earlier, and with Z feed to the scribed lines; this was more difficult than expected, as all the lines were now at the back of the mill! Next up, some light milling to contour the "decorative" tops of the bearing blocks to save on filing - "light milling", because I didn't have a lot of the workpiece clamped:





Next up, the sides of the blocks; once again, light milling, by eye to the scribed lines:





End of work for Friday evening - lots of finishing still needed:





Saturday's work follows...

Regards, Arnold


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## zeeprogrammer (Mar 20, 2010)

Another great post Arnold.
I really appreciate the pics and detail. It helps me realize that what I'm doing isn't unusual or unexpected.


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## Shopguy (Mar 20, 2010)

Looking good Arnold. Your work is really nice. The photo's of your progress are most informative.
Regards
Ernie J


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## 4156df (Mar 20, 2010)

Arnold,
Very informative post. Thanks. The engine is looking good.
Dennis


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## Deanofid (Mar 20, 2010)

Another good one, Arnold!
Keep at it. It's coming along well.

Dean


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## arnoldb (Mar 21, 2010)

Carl, Ernie, Dennis & Dean, thank you for following along ;D

I actually had every good intention to post yesterday's work yesterday evening as well, but was bushed, so I rather went to bed.
So I'll post yesterday's work while waking up and having my morning coffee 

Saturday's work started by tapping the mounting holes on the bearing blocks.I'm not intimidated by those huge M3 threads anymore, so no tapping guides or anything; just clamp the blocks in the big vise with a leather strip to prevent jaw marks, a squirt of methylated spirits & hand tap the holes - carefully running through the progressive taps in the set and cleaning the tap carefully after doing each hole:





Then I turned some bushes from brass and drilled the center holes 5.9mm to ream to 6mm later. No finesse with measuring equipment to get the OD to the right size for a press fit in the bearing blocks; just turned until a test with a bearing block showed the bush _just_ want to enter but won't:





Then I pressed the bushes into the blocks with the mill vise, and mounted the bearing blocks on the base. I didn't bother to use any method of alignment while doing this, but surprise-surprise; after I turned the base around (mounting screws are from the bottom) and put the 5.9mm drill in to check alignment, it slipped right in:





Next up, off to the big vise; again with leather to clamp the base on it's side, and hand reamed the bushes to their final 6mm ID:





The shaft for the crankshaft was next out of some 6mm silver steel; fortunately my collet chuck on the lathe is spot-on with it's 6mm collet, so no need to use the 4-jaw to set up and center things for the bit that needed turning down for the web; just chuck the steel and turn it. Some HRS for the crank web - light facing on the front to true it up, then found center with a light touch from a small center drill and then marked out for the crank pin (crank screw on this engine):





Then I finished drilling the center for tailstock support, and turned a section down to 25mm for the web OD. I also marked the web thickness with the parting tool. Then out of the lathe & off to the drill press to drill the 2.5mm hole for the crank screw. I really need to get a chuck that can take small drills for the mill... On to the mill, and used a square to make sure the piece was nice and vertical (like I did in the drill press as well!). I used a center drill clamped in the chuck to get the center of the piece (if the center drill can enter the hole part way and touch on all sides things are centered well enough for this job...) Then zeroed the dials on both X and Y - keeping backlash and feed directions in mind. Then it was just feeding in the required amounts to get the "radius" holes for the webs:





Nearly done ;D :





Then off to the bandsaw to cut off the web from the stock. I didn't even consider parting this lot off in the lathe; this HRS is horrible stuff to machine, and trying to part it off is a battle I usually end up losing. The blade I currently have in the saw insists on not cutting square, so I left a good amount of stock on the web to clean up. The plans call for a press fit, but as I had a lot of machining left on the piece, it was time to break out the torch and silver solder:





Job done - and into the pickle next:





While the crank was getting a pickle, I started on the eccentric. A bit of 16mm silver steel with the center found. The V-square I have is not all that accurate, so I always scribe 4 lines; 2 approximately 90 degrees apart, and then 2 each 180 degrees apart from the first ones. That leaves a tiny little square in the center of the piece; the center punch goes in the middle of that square:





Off to the lathe, and the piece centered on the eccentric offset mark in the 4-jaw:





Eccentric turned with a good finish:





Then the piece was centered on the main center again in the 4 jaw, but sticking out a bit further to finish the rest and drill & ream the center hole, and parted off to length. Then off to the drill press to drill & thread for an M3 grub screw; it was nice to tap steel for a change; much better feel than aluminium. I also finished machining the crank; turned down the excess material at the end, cleaned it up to get rid of the discolouration from the soldering, and filed the rounding on the crank pin part.
Apologies for a lack of photos during the previous lot; camera batteries went flat, and when I tried the backup set, they were flat as well :-[.

With recharged camera batteries, at least I could get a shot of the day's work trial-assembled:





And everything together ; Whoops; forgot scale  - but at least it's slowly starting to look like something:





Now, off to the shop ;D

Regards, Arnold


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## Blogwitch (Mar 21, 2010)

Very nice work Arnold, it is coming along very well indeed, and very nice write up as well.

I get real homesick watching all you lads doing things like this, it is so long since I have managed to build an engine.

Yet again, just watching as your projects come along is almost as good as the real thing.

Bogs


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## zeeprogrammer (Mar 21, 2010)

arnoldb  said:
			
		

> it's slowly starting to look like something



It sure is...and something nice too.

You went through the soldering step with some confidence there. I've yet to do any but my time is coming. ;D


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## mocaquita (Mar 21, 2010)

Been enjoying your build of Elmer's grasshopper! Looks like your coming along very well. Really great pictures and information.

Dave


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## firebird (Mar 21, 2010)

Hi Arnold

Looking really good now. Just one question if I may, what do you pickle steel parts in??

Cheers

Rich


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## arnoldb (Mar 21, 2010)

Bogs, thank you very much ;D - And my best wishes that your personal circumstances change for the better soon; it would be great to see you turning out another engine. And thank you very much for all the valuable assistance you give to everyone in need :bow: - it does not go unnoticed!

Thanks Carl  - There's nothing like a boiler build to boost confidence in silver soldering stickpoke :big:; it gets easier all the time!

Dave, Thanks  - I try, but I keep forgetting some essential things to show though...

Thank you Rich ;D I don't do pickling before hand like with brass & copper; just an hour or so in some citric acid after soldering together to get rid of the flux and most of the thick oxide layer from the heat... It may not be the best method though. One HAVE to wash the parts immediately when it comes out, otherwise it will rust like mad in a matter of minutes. Also, the metal comes out dull grey, but that's easily cleaned off with some scotch brite. Another funny that I noticed with this particular lot - (I used the same pickle that I did when I built Fred's boiler) - was that there was a copper layer forming on the steel... Maybe it's time I made up some new pickle :big:. 

Well, some more bits done today; all in brass 

I got some stock together to make up the con rod:






Next, drilled the 4.5mm hole for the crank screw; fortunately, my 4.5mm drill is a bit blunt already, so it does not grab while drilling the brass. Just a light and slow feed, and it drills a very acceptable round hole with smooth sides. Then the hole for the con rod shaft followed; workpiece aligned parallel to the drill bit (none of my squares would fit, so I used that bodge) then clamped. Drill press depth stop set to stop at the appropriate depth, and drilled the 3.2mm hole:





The hole ended up ever so slightly under size, so the rod would not fit easily; I ended up with an unexpected tight press fit. I would have silver soldered this joint, and, in retrospect I should have for looks, but I just used electronics solder to join the pieces. Here the parts before soldering; the solder just need to fill and join in the chamfer:





Next, I fit the con rod assembly in reverse into the lathe collet chuck, so that I could turn down and thread the fork end:




(Have I ever mentioned how pleased I am that I made that collet chuck for the lathe and how useful it is ? ;D)

Turned down to 3mm and threaded up:





The fork laid out on a block of brass - and in the background the ring of gray solder visible on the con rod.... :





Turning down the round part of the fork in the 4-jaw. The "excess" bit of material pictured on the left of the stock was left there on purpose:
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




The reason for the excess bit mentioned above. The fork is a bit fiddly to clamp - so to mill out the center bit, and have a sort-of good grip, I left that as clamping space:





Fork nearly done:




 After this photo was taken, I clamped it horizontally and milled away the excess.

Next, I turned some 8mm hex rod down to make the crank screw. 6mm would have been much better, so I might end up re-making or sizing down the crank screw.
The finished con rod and (for now) crank screw:





I also made the spacers that are needed for the beam links:





At this point I nearly stopped for the day... Some inner devil told me I could do another bit though, so I did.
The valve crank arm is in the same page of the plans as the connecting rod, so I started on that; a strip of 2mm thick brass plate sawed from stock, and just filed to width (takes the same time to set up the mill as it does to do manually, and I need the exercise :big - it needed two 2mm holes drilled for for the shaft and pin:





I then drilled 1mm holes through near the end of some 2mm brazing rod bits (I expected failure here, but it went surprisingly well;  - I 'll post photos on how I did it in a later update), and used electrical solder to solder them on the valve crank arm. After some cleanup, it looks like this:





An assembly shot:





Regards, Arnold


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## tel (Mar 21, 2010)

> One HAVE to wash the parts immediately when it comes out, otherwise it will rust like mad in a matter of minutes. Also, the metal comes out dull grey, but that's easily cleaned off with some scotch brite. Another funny that I noticed with this particular lot - (I used the same pickle that I did when I built Fred's boiler) - was that there was a copper layer forming on the steel..



Phosphoric acid is a better proposition for steel, and in fact, I use it for all my pickling. It seems to set up some sort of protective barrier on the steel BUT it will still deposit that copper on the surface if it's been used for that previously.


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## Metal Butcher (Mar 21, 2010)

Excellent job Arnold! Your moving right along, and at a very good pace! 

The similarities between many of Elmer's plans start to become evident in the style of certain parts, and can be seen as I watch your build progress.

Elmer's use of similar or identical parts in more than one plan is a style in-itself.

Great looking engine and build. I must have missed this model when I looked over the collection and printed up my choices last year.

-MB


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## Deanofid (Mar 21, 2010)

The assembly shot shows a lot of progress, Arnold. 
You're really good at this stuff!

Dean


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## vascon2196 (Mar 21, 2010)

Your really knocking this stuff out...the engine is looking great!!!


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## arnoldb (Mar 25, 2010)

Thank you Tel ;D - I think I have some phosphoric acid stashed away; I will dig it out and give that a go on steel parts - and not dunk steel parts in pickle that's been used for copper of brass in future...

MB, thanks ;D - Now you have at least one new project for next season  I've browsed through Elmer's plans a lot, and did notice the similarities. It was only when I really went through this one's build instructions and I noticed that he referred to the "addendum" for some tasks like making the cylinder that all became clear. The "addendum" contains a LOT of handy information!

 ;D Thank you Dean; don't really know if I'm any good, but I'm trying.

Thanks Chris ;D - though this week was a bit slow... I hoped to be a bit further along.

Monday was a public holiday here in Namibia, so I looked forward to a full day in the shop... Alas, that didn't happen, as I spent the whole day helping a friend sort out his computer. So machining-wise, the day was lost, but at least I'll end up with a sheep in the freezer in return.

Tuesday evening, I started on the eccentric strap. Some 16mm brass bar turned down and bored to a smooth and close running fit on the eccentric:




That's as far as I got for Tuesday though, as I was interrupted by visitors.

Wednesday, I parted the ring off, and silver soldered a strip of plate to it to form the rest of the strap. I didn't take photos of the process though; was in a bit of a rush. In a nutshell, I filed an approximate rounding in the end of the plate to be joined to the turned ring, then placed the ring flat on a fire brick. Then I supported the plate lying on two washers to get the correct height, and with lots of flux between the ring and plate heated the lot from the ring's inside direction to prevent burning the flux away. A light dab of the silver solder rod, and the joint was a good 'un. Some clean-up later, and this is the result:





With some time left in the shop, I looked around for a simple part to make. The fork looked like a good idea, so I started on that.
A straight forward mark-out job in a bit of brass bar, then drilled the 2mm mounting hole in it in the drill press, on to the mill, and milled away the cut-outs to leave the "tang" (for lack of a better term). I bought a 1.5mm slot mill a couple of months ago, but never used it; here I had a prime candidate, so I used it to mill the slot in the "tang". Very carefully; that slot mill is small! :





Then I sawed the excess stock off the piece, milled it to final dimensions and started clean-up. While doing the clean up, I noticed something... and placed it on the plans next to it's drawing:




oh: - the mounting hole is on the wrong axis :wall: That stopped shop for yesterday, and introduced the first booboo of the build.

Today after work, I re-made the fork; a couple of minutes milling and sawing, then a bit of rubbing over emery and the new one was done. Second time around is a LOT quicker then the first...:





And finally, the new bits added to the assembly:





At least the weekend is getting closer ;D
Regards, Arnold


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## Maryak (Mar 25, 2010)

Nice work Arnold. :bow:

Commiserations on the hiccup but at least it was on a small part, my stuff ups usually occur on something big. :-X

Best Regards
Bob


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## tel (Mar 25, 2010)

> but at least I'll end up with a sheep in the freezer in return.



Won't the poor bugger get awfully cold in there?


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## BigBore (Mar 25, 2010)

Are ya sayin' you like your sheep warm, Tel?  Rof}

Sorry, some times I just have to amuse myself.....

Arnold, great documentation of the build! I'm learning a bunch. Thanks

Ed


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## tel (Mar 25, 2010)

'zakly Ed, over here we bung 'em in the oven for a couple of hours before serving!


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## Deanofid (Mar 25, 2010)

Sorry to get my giggles at your expense, Arnold, but I laughed out loud when I saw the "forked" part on the print. You're a gem. Glad you got it straightened away.




			
				tel  said:
			
		

> over here we bung 'em in the oven



Man, it _really is_ a completely different language...


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## zeeprogrammer (Mar 25, 2010)

arnoldb  said:
			
		

> and introduced the first booboo of the build.



Hold on there Arnold...no pessimism please. Might be okay to say 'introduced A booboo' but let's not imply there'll be more. ;D (That's what I do.)

Looking great!


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## arnoldb (Mar 27, 2010)

Thank you Bob ;D - Those stuff-ups seem to come at random though  - I think I was lucky this time ;D

Tel, no worries mate; that sheep will have some bits of oryx and ostrich for company; it should feel right at home especially seeing it was quite hot here of late :big: Poor bugger just don't know what's coming up; I'm going to make it meow like a cat on the meat saw 

Thanks Ed ;D - It's a pleasure !

 :big: - Thank you Dean; I didn't notice that specific connotation until you spoke up ;D - Yup; it's "forked" :big: Glad you're enjoying this 

Thank you Zee ;D - I'll hold back on the pessimism; just remember I'm an optimist with limited experience ;D

Back to the build...

Well, not quite. I've been frustrated with the mill's drill chuck capabilities, so I took a bit of time out to sort that out for now.
A bit of 8mm silver steel turned down to 7.1mm and single point threaded with a 60 degree 40 tpi thread:





Milled some flats to take a spanner on the shaft, drilled it 4.3mm to a depth of about 40mm and ended up in an adapter to take a Dremel chuck. I can chuck that in the mill's collet chuck (or lathe or drill press ;D) to handle small drills:




I promptly broke a 1mm drill with it in the mill when testing; ran that little drill about 15mm down into a scrap of aluminium... Silly me; no "feel" on this, and I didn't stop for some chip clearance, so a lesson learnt for the next bits...

Time for the cylinder. I started off with a block of 25.4mm (1") aluminium square bar. I was surprised when I measured it and found it was in fact 1" bar and not the normal 25mm we get here in Southern Africa. I just faced the one bandsawed end in the 4-jaw chuck to get it square (quick job as it did not need to be centered perfectly), took it out, measured and marked the precise length, and faced the other sawed end to the proper length.
A wipe-over with some permanent marker ink, and a long time to measure out, mark and punch some hole centers later:





I first drilled the exhaust port thread hole from the side, then flipped the block to work on the face. Drilling some 1mm holes for the exhaust passages in the block with the spindle I made:





Then I milled the slots for the steam ports with a 1.5mm slot mill. Next a tricky bit - setting the block to the angle for drilling the steam passages. I settled on using the reference angle Elmer specifies in the drawings set up on a protractor, and used the protractor on the "top" of each side of the block to set it in the vise:




Then, using the 1.5mm end mill, I drilled it about 3mm into the block to provide a starting path for the 1.6mm drill that I used to drill to meet up with the slots milled on the face. Worked a treat 

In all my previous builds I've shied away from doing rounding over on cylinders... So It was high time. I don't have a rotary table yet (that's my next build!). I thought about ways of mounting the Myford's dividing head to do the job with adequate rigidity on the mill - but that would have involved turning up a split arbor to hold the cylinder block and spacers to mount the DH on the mill (checkmark another tuit), so I ended up doing it with facets milled off the sides. First, I milled the block down like Elmer describes. Then a close-fitting rod through the bore on top of the vise jaws, and mill away a bit at a time with the Y-readings to stop at memorized. After each pass, stop, turn the workpiece a bit & redo ;D :





To get rid of the facets, I just chucked the piece up in the lathe (the 4-jaw was still mounted, so just very roughly centered in it), and with a small file I filed away the excess. Start with the piece with one side face up, and with the left hand rotating the chuck and a file in the right hand stroking forward while rotating the chuck, it took very little time at all to get rid of the facets:





After filing, I used some progressive strips of sandpaper to get rid of the filing marks. The end result of today's work:




I still need to tap the valve box mounting holes, the exhaust port and drill & tap the holes for the cylinder heads.

Regards, Arnold


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## zeeprogrammer (Mar 27, 2010)

Ah...thank you Arnold.
I have one of those protractors and have yet to use it.
You've now given me some ideas of how to use it.

There sure seems to be a marked difference, not just in your approach, but in your attitude in this build. Must be new found experience. ;D


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## SBWHART (Mar 28, 2010)

Nice work Arnold you seam to be getting to grips with your new Mill

Have fun

Stew


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## arnoldb (Mar 28, 2010)

Thank you Carl ;D. I have used the protractor for other things as well; mostly on plate and welding work to get angles. These protractors are not too well known for being entirely accurate though; the better ones cost a fair bit of money. There's definitely a sine bar in my future... Have to save up though! No new-found experience; just additional tools ;D; leaves me with more ways to get a job done, and leaves a bit of time to at least try and improve things like finishes and accuracy ;D.

Thanks Stew ;D - yes, I think I'm getting to grips with the mill; some niggles to overcome, but overall I am very happy with it.

Today's bit:

First up the bottom cylinder head; I only had some 6mm aluminium plate to make it from, so that needed quite a bit of turning down to get to the 3.2mm base size. Just chucking it up on the 4 Jaw didn't seem a good proposition; too fiddly. Being aluminium, I couldn't solder it to anything for support, so I ended up using some brown stuff. A block of wood about the same size as the base (bigger would do as well) just squared up in the 4-jaw:





Then I clamped the aluminium plate to the wood block on the square face with a toolmaker's clamp, and drilled tap-size for M3 through the mounting marks right through the plate and wood. I then removed the clamp and opened the 4 holes in the wood to 3mm to pass M3 screws. The holes in the plate was then tapped M3. I ended up with some bolts through the would that I could mount the pate on:





Mounted and centered in the 4-jaw chuck:





And turned down:




I left the whole lot in the chuck; just unscrewed the chuck off the spindle and set aside.

The top cylinder head followed from a bit of 25mm aluminium rod in the 3-jaw chuck. I just turned down, drilled and threaded the front bit according to the plans; the only change is I used M5 for thread. Not wanting to remove the piece because of the extra effort that would then be involved to get the cylinder boss machined concentric, I did that with a parting tool from the back. The extra material parted away is so that I could get the caliper in there to measure the boss as I was turning it down:




Once again, I left everything in the chuck; just unscrewed the chuck off the lathe and set aside.

I needed a mandrel to mount the cylinder on in a chuck, so I turned that out of some scrap HRS bar lying around in the collet chuck. When it was very close to final size to fit the bore of the cylinder, I drilled it 5mm to a good depth (~ 50mm) and used the first and second M6 taps to tap part-way down this hole. A test with an M6 bolt showed that it took about 3 turns in before tightening up because of the tapers left by the taps. Then I unscrewed the whole lot; chuck and all; from the lathe, and with the band saw just cut two longitudinal "slots" (see last picture in this post). Then back on the lathe with the lot, and with a fine file and then emery took off the last bit until the cylinder fit over. I wanted a smooth finish, so as not to scratch the cylinder bore. Once again, the chuck came off the lathe with the mandrel still mounted in it. I ended up with this lot - all my lathe chucks in use:





I did the above "chuck-dance" out of pure laziness; without a rotary table yet for the mill, I'll use my dividing head in the lathe to drill all the bolt holes. This means removing the tool post and rear tool post from the cross-slide, and setting up the cross-slide extension and vertical slide to hold the dividing head. So it's easier to do everything in one go with all the work bits already centered. Here I'm drilling the 1.6mm holes for threading M2 into the cylinder; first a run-round with a center drill to mark the spots, then another run-round with the drill to drill the holes:




Everything went well until I came to the top cylinder head. It's thin, so I can just drill the 2mm holes through it with the 2mm center drill, right ? - Well, I picked up a 3.2mm center drill instead of the 2mm one, and proceeded to drill the hole oh:. Fork. Waaay too big a hole; it will just not do for this build. BooBoo #2 added.  ;D Oh Well, at least it wasn't in the cylinder block!

Net result for today's work, minus the forked top cylinder head (I don't count the time spent going to the mall to get the latest MEW, new batteries for the digital vernier and dodging "Sunday Driver Perambulator Operators" in the process as "work", so today "work" was a bit short):





And a look at what things are coming together like; The cylinder block still needs all tapping done, and I'll make some brass bolts to replace the cap screws; that should look a lot better. The split mandrel I made is at the bottom of the photo:





Regards, Arnold


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## Deanofid (Mar 28, 2010)

Well, you're going along nicely, Arnold, even if you had to use the brown stuff, and make the 3.2mm goof. 
"Chuck dance". I like that.
Every time you show the progress picture, it looks like... progress! Nice rounding job on the cylinder.



			
				arnoldb  said:
			
		

> "Sunday Driver Perambulator Operators"



Oh, the Batty Buggy Brigade!

Dean


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## vascon2196 (Mar 28, 2010)

Once again...great idea with the wooden block. I would have never thought to do that.

I hope to remember that in the future.

Chris


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## arnoldb (Mar 29, 2010)

Thank you Dean ;D - :big: I like "Batty Buggy Brigade"!

Chris, thank you. I'm happy that there is some useful tidbits for others to use - that makes it all worthwhile sharing the build.

Not much progress tonight; I went to the shop, sat down on a chair and tapped all the holes in the cylinder with a crude tapping handle and guide block left from my previous build.





I find that sitting down while tapping small holes makes things easier to keep stable. Fortunately no mishaps; - ran through all the holes with each tap in the set, cleaning the tap thoroughly after each hole.

Regards, Arnold


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## 4156df (Mar 29, 2010)

Lookin good, Arnold.



> guide block left from my previous build.



That's the neat thing about this. The more engines you build, the more tools and fixtures you have.

Dennis


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## ksouers (Mar 29, 2010)

It's the little things accumulated over time that make it easier.

They say necessity is the mother of invention. I think it was laziness ;D


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## arnoldb (Apr 2, 2010)

Thank you Dennis ;D - Yes, the little "tool building" on the side helps a lot! - but I'm actually a bit embarrassed at the crudity of that particular tapping guide and "handle" - It gets the job done, but I think its time to make some better looking ones  

Kevin, Thank you ;D I think you might be right about laziness; I'm inherently lazy so I tend to try and find easy ways... Sometimes those easy ways just needs a bit of work up-front. Sort of like writing little scripts that sends me an email if something is wrong - instead of having to check through tons of logs every day that just shows everything is right - and the wrong thing gets overlooked because of "data overload" 

Had a bit of a slow week in the shop thus far...
Yesterday afternoon after work, I got a couple of bits of brass plate together and just started layout on the valve chest. Further work was stopped by some out-of-town, but very welcome visitors pitching unexpectedly:





After a bit of a late start today (caused by mentioned visitors and perhaps too much of fine bottled Scottish produce), I cut off and milled the aluminium block for the valve chest to size, then milled out the inside. My sharp 6mm slot mill was too big for this job, and the sharp 2mm slot mill maybe a bit too small. I settled on using the only in-between size I have; a 4mm slot mill... It was a bit blunt though, so made a bit of a mess:





Some filing cleared up the mess though:





The part was then mounted and centered in the 4-jaw chuck and drilled and tapped and turned for the packing nut as per plans. When I drilled the 2mm hole that will accept the valve rod, I drilled it through, and stopped the lathe without retracting it. Then I fed the tailstock in to touch the other opposite internal side of the valve chest, and "squeezed" a bit by feeding the , retracted slightly, turned the chuck manually a bit and did the same - a couple of times. Then powered on the lathe again and with tailstock feed just "touched" the marks left to form a center hole mark for the smaller 1.5mm drill that then followed to drill into the opposite valve rod end guide.

I also sawed and milled the brass plates for the valve plate and steam chest cover to size. Once done, I kept the bit of plate with the best surface finish aside for making the valve plate. The other plate (valve chest cover) was then marked out and drilled for the mounting holes. I then physically *tested* that it matched the cylinder mounting holes by screwing in some 2mm screws through it into the cylinder block, and then clamped the cover plate, steam chest and valve plate together with a toolmaker's clamp, with the cover plate at the top. Then using the cover plate as a drilling template, I drilled the mounting holes in the steam chest and valve plate:





Next, I marked out the valve plate. Instead of using my automatic center punch, I just used the point of my scriber to "push down hard" at "X Marks the spot" for the drilling locations:




The holes that need to be drilled are small - 1mm, and I've found that my automatic center punch is not always accurate; it seems to "wander" a bit.

That lot then went off to the drill press to drill the 1mm holes, and then I flat-lapped the plate on some 800 grid emery paper on the glass plate that makes my surface plate:




The last couple of passes on the emery paper was cross-ways from the way the valve would travel on the plate, so that it can "wear" in without losing air/steam. If you are wondering why I used the drill press instead of the milling machine to drill the holes... The drill press has quite a bit of backlash between the point where the drill bit contacts the workpiece and where you actually start feeding the drill. This "in-between" backlash bit is easy to feel on the feeding handles, and I used it to my advantage here - just touched the drill down on the mark, then started the machine and drill bit does not wander too much.

Next up, I needed some M2 threaded brass rod. I don't have that!. I fell back on 2mm "bronze brazing rod" - this stuff is tough, but makes for good threaded rod, so for the first time EVER I trusted my hands to the lathe under power.  I used the tail stock die holder  to start the thread manually, then with the lathe in back-gear and lowest speed, started making some threaded rod:





I ended up with this:





Why did I need so much threaded rod? - because I decided on "studs 'n nuts" - though the "nuts" still need making! 





And an overview...





Regards, Arnold


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## BigBore (Apr 2, 2010)

Gotta say, "That's looking very sharp!"

Ed


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## Deanofid (Apr 2, 2010)

A good day's work, Arnold. Things are looking very good!
Studs and nuts; Yay. They really add a lot to the appearance of an engine.

Nice work!

Dean


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## zeeprogrammer (Apr 2, 2010)

Glad to see the post...I was starting to get 'Arnold Withdrawal'. The engine is looking great. But I'm thinking you're enjoying the mill a little too much. Can I help with that?


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## arnoldb (Apr 3, 2010)

Thank you Ed ;D - but there is always room for improvement 

Dean, thank you ;D - with a limited selection of little screws / bolts in my inventory, I'm actually "cheating" by using the studs 'n nuts; it is easier to make up and use :big:

Thanks Carl ;D - :big: - I am enjoying the mill - it helps me build booboos faster than I have in the past :big:. Shush - you be quiet and let your knee heal; then you can get cracking on your boiler build; you won't have time left to help me then :big:. "Arnold Withdrawal" - now THAT's a new one to me; usually people are only to happy for me to keep quiet or disappear. Thank you!

Today started in a most frustrating fashion in the shop. I needed some 3mm hex rod to make the nuts from, but I could not get any setup in the mill to work to make reasonable lengths. Wasted a couple of hours and a lot of brass on that. I nearly gave up, but a good "kick-my-own-butt" shot worked; I made nuts when building Fred, and had passable results...

So I ended up making the nuts the same way as then; chucked up a bit of 3.2mm brazing rod in the lathe with about 25mm sticking out, used the collet chuck nut's clamping grooves as indexing marks, and just filed flats on the rod to make up the hex. Then drill & tap, and part off little nuts, catching them in a spray-can top to prevent it going into the swarf:




20 minutes of work, and I had enough nuts and a couple spare. Lesson learned; for some things nothing beats a carefully applied file!

As I made the nuts, I threaded them on a bit of rod; to keep them from falling into the dark abyss below the mark-out table where the metal-eating monster lives. The rod also came in handy to deburr and finish of each nut; screw it to the tip, and file down the burrs; the rod makes a great handle.





One thing that did go right was a narrow parting tool. My normal parting tool is 2.5mm wide, and can waste a lot of material when parting small things. Before I even started doodling around with making nuts, I took an old blunt "bi-metal" metal cutting jigsaw blade and ground the tip into parting tool form on the bench grinder. I also made a quick and dirty holder for it to fit on a QCTP holder - I didn't know if it would work, so didn't spend too much time on the holder; just an edge milled off a block of HRS, slightly "V"'d with a triangle file at the bottom and a bit of plate to clamp down from the top. I didn't even bother to make an edge to the top plate; the saw teeth would dig in and hold... I hoped... :





To minimize burrs left on the parted bits, I ground the parting point at an angle instead of square:




After grinding the tip to shape, I carefully stoned the tip on the oilstone to get it really nice and sharp. This impromptu parting tool works a treat, so I'll definitely make a better holder for it to keep with my other toolbits!

After making the nuts, it was time to do something more "solid", so I laid out the piston rod fork:





Off to the mill, and some drilling, milling and slitting:




Not the cleanest of slitting jobs, but nothing a quick bit of filing could take care of.
And the part turned out to be a booboo... After cleaning off the "excess" left after slitting it off, I wanted to drill the 2.5mm hole for threading to screw it on the piston rod. Went to the drill set, and the 2.5mm drill's not there.... It was in the pin chuck. That I used to drill the "2mm" "Close" hole for linking the fork to the beam. Bummer. So I re-made the fork, with the correct sized holes drilled where needed. 

Making the piston rod was a breeze; just some turning down on a bit of 3.2mm bronze brazing rod on each end to get it to 3mm to thread M3 as per plans. Well, not *quite* as per Elmer's plans; I have to make everything metric so some improvisation needed ;D And in case anybody's curious as to why I use the brazing rod so much; it's readily available here in Namibia and fairly cheap. Brass rod in this size is completely unobtainable here, so I use what I can. There is an advantage to the brazing rod though; it seems to be a lot tougher than brass, so good for things like screws and so on.

Well, I had the fork (the new one; not the "forked" fork), and the rod, so next it was the piston. A simple turning job from some brass. First faced, center drilled, drilled 2.5mm for M3 thread to sufficient depth, threaded, and then drilled 3.2 mm 3mm deep. I measured the bore on the cylinder at just over 12.2mm, so I turned some 1/2" brass rod (OK, 12.7mm brass rod!) down to 12.3mm. Put in some grooves for the oil grooves with a threading tool , and with a file a good chamfer on the outer edge, and then carefully turned down the outside further. I used the cylinder as reference; checking after each pass (the last ones were 1 thou passes - SHARP toolbit needed) till it went into the cylinder tightly. NOT so tight as to freeze up though! Some 800 grit emery wrapped around a rule did the final sizing; leaving the fit a "light push fit" with the cylinder:





Then I started parting off the piston from the stock. About half-way down I stopped. From my limited experience of doing pistons this way, I know that parting raises the metal on the side a bit, so I did a check with the cylinder. Yep! it did it again. With a file, I put a chamfer on the side where I was parting off, but when checking with the cylinder it was till a bit tight, so the rule with the emery took off the last bit of resistance. Then I finished off the parting cut.

For today's work, I ended up with this lot - not much, but at least some progress:





And an assembly shot:





Regards, Arnold


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## RobWilson (Apr 3, 2010)

Very nice work Arnold :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow:

Another engine nearly complete :


Regards Rob ;D


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## zeeprogrammer (Apr 3, 2010)

Ah! The tip about parting and spreading of metal! Thanks Arnold!!!

I'm just in the process of making the pistons for my loco.
Messed up the first go...measured a difference of .02 to get near required diameter but forgot to take half of that. ;D Stopped working because it was clear my mind wasn't on it.

Your post is a help.

Very much enjoying your thread.


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## arnoldb (Apr 4, 2010)

Rob, Thanks Mate ;D - it's getting there!. Now how about an engine project from you now ??? stickpoke ;D

Thank you Zee ;D ; the "half" amount of infeed has caught me many times as well :big: - Seems to be getting less, but like you say, if your mind's not on it, it will happen. I've started using days like that for sanding bits down; worst that can happen is you give yourself a manicure, instead of getting a finger in a chuck!

Today's work was a lot of itty bitty parts. I decided to make the valve rod from 2 parts instead of turning it down from one lump; too much of a waste for my piggybank to do that.

I started with the head part of the valve rod from some 6mm brass rod turned down to size, then slit the groove and milled the sides down for the flats. A quick run-trough with a 1.5mm drill followed:




After that, I parted the head off in the lathe, then grabbed it in a collet and drilled a 2mm hole 3mm deep into it for soldering the rest of the rod to.

The rest of the rod was easy; just turned down one end of a bit of 2mm brazing rod to 1.5mm with just enough sticking out of a collet to do this. Then moved it out further from the collet, and threaded M2 with the tailstock die holder. Removed the rod from the collet, and after calculating how long it needed to be with the additional 3mm bit that had to be soldered in the head, cut it, cleaned the cut end and with a little speck of electronics solder dropped into the hole in the head, heated the lot gently and pressed the rod into the head. Some solder appeared and formed a fillet around the top, so a pretty good joint. A bit of clean up, and the valve rod done:





I've been dreading making the valve. But it had to be done, so I marked it out on a bit of stock that I had already milled down to the right thickness:





Clamped it in the mill, and carefully worked out the readings on the dials to get the right size. Then plunged in with a 2mm end mill. The pocket must be 0.8mm deep, slightly over the "normal" depth for such a small mill, but this one is good quality and new, so sharp. I decided to do the whole depth in one pass instead of 2 shallower cuts. Worked a treat ;D:




I'll have to get shop air to the mill for jobs like this; I nearly went faint blowing away swarf to see what was happening.

Flipped the block around, and milled a 2mm slot through it for the valve rod, and a 1.5mm cross-slot for the nut.
Then I sawed the nut from the parent stock in the big vise with a junior hacksaw, leaving about 1.2mm excess that I then cleaned up in the mill.
I don't know why I was apprehensive about making the valve; I think it came out OK:





Next I turned up the fork pins:





Then I got busy on some sundries. I turned up the pack nuts from brass hex rod. Then made a new crank screw with a smaller head; the original just looked out of proportion. The bits of brazing rod that were keeping things assembled up to now was shortened to length, and then I cross-drilled them like Rick mentioned earlier in the build; touch with a 1mm center drill, and then drill through with a 1mm drill - the center drill is a bit too short to make the hole through. And yes, I re-made the one pin twice :-[.

The valve nut was made from some brass plate; I just marked out a strip, drilled & tapped the hole, then once again with the junior hacksaw cut it from the plate. A quick bit of filing, and it was done. I also made a thin washer from brass to put on the main shaft between the web and the bearing, as there was a tiny amount of binding there, and a little spacer to add to the valve crank.

I then tore down everything, hoping that the "Bling Fairy" would come on a visit tonight:





Not much left to do now; some nice brass bolts for mounting the cylinder to the base, 2 more pins need cross-drilling, a steam connector, and of course the flywheel - that will be the most work.

Regards, Arnold


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## Deanofid (Apr 4, 2010)

You really moved along on this build, Arnold. You're almost done already!
Nice new bits you got done today. Every time I see you making something like the valve,
I get all happy for you with your new mill. A mill is just so great for... milling! ; )

Dean


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## 4156df (Apr 4, 2010)

Arnold,
Looking good. I really like the look of your pins...everything else, too.
Dennis


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## mocaquita (Apr 4, 2010)

Hi,
Your coming along very nicely on your project! Love your innovative thinking process and a great thread. You desire some "Karma"! By the way, you might want to try using a vaccum to remove chips when milling. I do that sometimes myself on little jobs. Rather listen to a vacuum than a compressor. A vaccum in blow mode. Don't want to suck in hot chips!

Dave


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## bearcar1 (Apr 4, 2010)

Oh, yes. Oh, YES! That is looking great Arnold. I do like the use of studs and nuts rather than the usual bolts etc. Using brazing rod, I do it all the time as my father gave me several pieces of it when he was still working. It can be a bugger some times though, that or he gave me some sort of alloy material. I can't wait to see this one ticking away. It won't be long. 

Cheers


BC1
Jim


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## ariz (Apr 5, 2010)

Arnold I missed your last progresses... this Elmer's Grasshopper is going to be a very beautiful engine, I didn't know it was so nice and with those beams and levers it would be a pleasure to see while running

and you are doing it with a high degree of accurateness :bow:


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## arnoldb (Apr 5, 2010)

Thank you Dean ;D - I love the mill; it's making a lot of things quicker and easier. But I'm also glad I went without it for so long - I learned a lot by NOT having it, and that is just as valuable ;D

Thanks Dennis ;D - I might be tempted to make cotter pins like you showed :bow:, but those holes are small!

Dave, thank you very much, and welcome to HMEM ;D. I did consider the shop vac', it's standing right next to the mill. But this one kicks up one heck of a noise; I can't hear myself think when it's running; it's a LOT louder than my compressor ;D I'll be laying air in the shop in future anyway; I could use a decent cooling system for both the lathe and the mill, and spray-mist seems the way to go ;D

Thanks very much Jim ;D - Yes, those rods are different alloys. Machining can be tough on it, but I seem to have gotten used to it :big:

Ariz, thank you ;D I don't know about my accuracy though; some issues might still arise from my quick conversions to metric; I hope I caught all those, otherwise I'll be re-making some more parts... And I hope this engine will be interesting to watch; that is one of the reasons I chose it for building.

I really hoped to have this engine running by tonight, but unfortunately, time ran out with incomplete parts...

First thing this morning, I started turning the new cylinder mount bolts from some 5mm hex rod:





Batch finished:





Next, the steam connector:





The last retaining pins were also made up and cross-drilled. Once again, one of them twice. I also forgot the pin in the valve rod head and made and fit that.

At this point I went through the entire set of plans; I'd checked of most bits as they were done, and nothing except the flywheel was outstanding. The extra bits that were not on the plans that I made like the steam connector and cylinder mounting bolts were all there. One of the items I added to the list was packing for between the different layers of the cylinder to valve/steam chest and steam chest cover assembly. I don't really know if that's needed though. So "only" the flywheel to go.

I don't have round aluminium stock of a suitable size, so the flywheel have to be made from about 1/6th of a sheet of 12mm aluminium plate I have:





Bansdsawed off the block, and marked out for the flywheel:





For mounting in the 4-jaw chuck, a bearing outer ring is an ideal parallel:





Back on the lathe, and centering ; I REALLY need to make a pump center! :





I tied down the "parallel" with some binding wire; only really needed from keeping it flying around while drilling the center hole; after that, tailstock pressure on the workpiece will keep it down pat. If you use wire on the lathe like the, make sure all the ends are tucked away so that they wont be flying about - they are difficult to see when the chuck is revolving.





A final, but very important check. Looking all over for possible places where for example the chuck jaws could clip the lathe apron and so on; On this job, there were a lot more bits protruding from the chuck than normal for me (and that does not mean that I do most of the same checks "normally" - just some extra care on this job. Most likely culprit, the extended chuck jaws running into the apron:





First off, a center drill into the workpiece, then put in the revolving tailstock center and applied a good bit of pressure. Then some big interrupted cuts; well big for me anyway; 30 thou infeed at a time with a sharply honed HSS toolbit and the lathe on lowest non-back-geared speed. I could have cut down a lot more of the "corners" of the workpiece on the bandsaw, but my saw does not have a proper vertical operation plate, and with the blades I have available struggles to cut this thickish aluminium well. So whether in the saw or on the lathe, this is a slow job for me:





After that, I drilled and reamed the hub 6mm. With the excess parts now thinner, I bandsawed most of that off, and used Bogs's method to turn down the rest.

Next I needed to drill some holes in the workpiece. A check with a close-fitting 6mm drill bit and one of the 3-jaw chuck's outside jaws showed that things would work just dandy for a mandrel mounted in the chuck and pulling the workpiece flat onto the jaws, but allow enough space for drilling operations:





I made the mandrel by chucking some 6mm silver steel in the 3 jaw with the outside teeth mounted and the end of the rod slightly below the "depth of the jaw faces plus thickness of the workpiece". A quick drill & tap for M5 in the silver steel and a screw (preferably bolt, but I had none) and washer (crude offcut in my case) can be used to clamp the workpiece to the jaw tops. I know my 3-jaw's outside jaws are fairly concentric, so no need to actually turn the mandrel in-place, but that would be more accurate. With this lot assembled, I drilled all the holes for the corners of the spokes with the dividing head mounted on the vertical slide. Once again, I deviated from the plans a bit, and took approximations from the plans, but kept a careful eye on mirroring holes for the sides of the spokes. I just used the layout on the workpiece as an approximate reference:





Hopefully the last time I'll be abusing my dividing head as a rotary table; milling the the roundings:





Then with the same 6mm mandrel, mounted "just too low" in the milling machine vise, I could clamp down the workpiece. Some careful checking, and I found the spots where I could loosen the workpiece touch it to the side of the lowered milling cutter cranked into the outer hole and mill a straight line into the hole next to the hub:





I ended with a crude flywheel tonight; lots of cleanup still needed, but after some more it should be passable.





I wanted to have this engine running tonight, but had to give up at this point, as I was getting tired. "Tired" and "workshop" just does not mix!
Today's work very likely is not a prime example of "How to do it" - while typing up this post I thought of some alternate and possibly better ways to do things with the tools I have available, but that experimentation will have to wait for a future date. It will most likely be a slow shop week as well, and I have "work" work booked for next weekend. I wish this weekend was a day longer!

Regards, Arnold

Darn; the "Bling Fairy" didn't even visit :big:


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## Blogwitch (Apr 5, 2010)

Very nice work Arnold, especially on the flywheel.

There is nothing better than machining up a flywheel to keep yourself focused. One slight lapse and you are into doing a redesign. 

A few of mine used to get a reshape for one reason or another.


John


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## zeeprogrammer (Apr 5, 2010)

I started my reply nearly out of breath and wanting to ask you to slow down a bit so I could catch up.

But now having read your post...I'm anxious to see it running too. Go go Arnold!

I liked the bit about the binding wire. I always struggle thinking of new/different ways to do things.


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## Deanofid (Apr 5, 2010)

I thought the binding wire part was a good tip too, Arnold. Also, using the bearing race for a parallel. Everything seems so simple after someone else shows you!

"Soon" won't come soon enough for some of us. I think I'm in good company in saying many of us are excited to see this one running.

Good work... again!

Dean


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## joe d (Apr 5, 2010)

Arnold:

Wot 'e said... (all those above :big it's looking good, and lots of useful tips too. Who could ask for more?

cheers, Joe


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## arnoldb (Apr 6, 2010)

Thank you John ;D ; This is the first flywheel I'm making in terms of milling out spokes and so on from solid stock. I was surprised at how much thinking it required! I've seen at least one of your "re-shaped" flywheels as well, and it was both amazing and inspiring what you came up with to recover from an "oops"!

Hurry up and Wait Carl, you're in the army now  :big:. Thank you, but I cannot take credit for the tip on using the wire; I came across references to using it multiple times while doing researches and reading on home/model engineering. 

Thanks Dean ;D. Like I said above to Zee; the races for parallels is an old machining practice. I get mine for free; Make friends with your local auto workshops and auto electricians; they replace and then throw away a lot of them!. Just takes a punch and hammer to get two parallels and a handful of ball bearing balls from an old bearing. And in a squeeze, you can make toolbits from those races; it's hard steel ;D

Joe, Thanks ;D

I had a chance to get some more done after work today ;D

The flywheel still needed a hole drilled and threaded in it for a grub screw (I think set screw for those from the USA ???) to tighten it to the main shaft.
This added a whole new angle to things; the hole had to be at an angle... After a lot of thinking about spacers and protractors and such, I looked at at the clamping kit, and those step-blocks had about the right angle to them - across the steps. The flywheel would need protection from the edges on the steps of the step blocks; a strip of leather would take care of that. Long story short, here is what I did, with the arbour I made earlier set so I could tighten the flywheel against the step blocks:





This setup will not do for milling, but for drilling, it is fine.

Then center drilled the flywheel hub; the chuck barely misses the flywheel rim. :




A 2.5mm drill easily followed into the center hole; I could "feel" when it broke through before it hit the screw in the arbour. Then a VERY careful tapping operation followed; earlier on in the build I said I'm not afraid of those big M3 taps anymore; well, I'm not, but this is at an awkward angle. My taps were barely long enough to do the tapping without resorting to things like extensions and so on...

After 2 hours of filing and sanding - some sanding in the lathe and a lot of filing and sanding in the vise, I decided it will have to do:





Then I fed the swarf magnets - they were clunking around their food bowls, and got right back to the shop.

A lot of fiddling with small bits of wire and needle-nose pliers happened. VERY carefully; I didn't want scratches from the pliers running onto the build parts.

I ended up with this:


























The last photo above shows an inexcusable blemish; when I trial fit all the parts, the top cylinder head would only go on properly in one specific orientation - not because of the bolts, but the ridge on the cylinder head is a very close match to the bore, and I marked that orientation with a permanent marker. I forgot to wipe off the ink!. 

And even worse, even though it is not referenced in the plans, I suspect that there are lock-nuts needed where both the connecting rod joins it's fork, and the piston rod joins it's fork; especially for last named; the piston could easily rotate while running and screw the rod in or out on the fork, resulting in a jam-up.

Does it run ??? - ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D YES! - I gave it a quick test-run on 20psi of air and it runs!. No video yet though. I need to make up a small adapter fitting first; the steam connector is too small for my piping, and I had to keep the air hose jammed against the valve block face with both hands. And it was late; I could only run the compressor quickly for the test; my neighbours are asleep already. Hopefully I can make the video tomorrow afternoon after work.

Alas... The Bling Fairy didn't visit, so I had to do a bit of a manual cleanup; mostly on the brass parts. As a test, I applied one of these "new-fangled" high tech polymer car waxes to all the parts to see if it would help in retaining the finishes. I'll report back on the results of that in a couple of months.

Regards, Arnold ;D ;D ;D


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## ksouers (Apr 6, 2010)

Arnold,
She's a beauty! Very well done.

Waiting impatiently for the video ;D


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## mklotz (Apr 6, 2010)

Beautiful work, Arnold. I like it.

You can solve the chuck interference problem with a long center drill...

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=319-9656&PMPXNO=942422&PARTPG=INLMK32

Using a small center-cutting endmill to provide a flat touch down point for the drill will help.

A general purpose tap extender is a handy tool in numerous applications. You can see my take on one here...

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=464.msg2829#msg2829


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## zeeprogrammer (Apr 6, 2010)

Yeagh!!! You've seen it run and you haven't let us!
That's a great looking engine Arnold.

You know of course that a simple video of it running will not be sufficient. Please provide appropriate music, flags, confetti etc. ;D


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## Deanofid (Apr 6, 2010)

Looks GREAT, Arnold!
Yeah, that flywheel will just have to do... Sure looks like it should from here.

Looking forward to the video. Not to disagree with friend Zee, but you can leave the music out of it. A running engine makes its own music!
We want a happy dance, though.

Dean


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## BigBore (Apr 7, 2010)

_"Then I fed the* swarf magnets* - they were clunking around their food bowls"_

Those must be some ornery critters...magnets attracted to aluminum. Wouldn't want to corner one of them.

This build has been "most excellent" When the video goes up and a bit of follow-up is posted, then the PDF fairy will get this into the upload/download section. (provided the fairy doesn't get attracted by one of them magnetic beasts)

Truly a quality build from where I'm sitting. This is a keeper. :bow:

Ed


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## SBWHART (Apr 7, 2010)

Great work Arnold I enjoyed following your build.

Stew


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## tel (Apr 7, 2010)

Same here Arnold, a very tidy result - an engine to be proud of!


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## RobWilson (Apr 7, 2010)

:bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: great looking engine Arnold , very nice brushed finish on all the parts :bow: :bow:


Regards Rob


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## SAM in LA (Apr 7, 2010)

Arnold,

What a good looking engine. I like the finish you chose.

I have enjoyed following your build and am looking forward to seeing it run.

SAM


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## vascon2196 (Apr 7, 2010)

That engine looks flipping fantastic....and the methods used during the build were very informative. 
Great job with that engine!


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## arnoldb (Apr 7, 2010)

Kevin, Thank you! 

Thank you Marv, I have seen your tap extender; I was on the verge of having to make one, but put it on the tuit list.

Carl, thanks, and yes - I saw it run first  :big: ;D - Mesmerizing. I nearly didn't take the video tonight - too much fun to see it tick over! No fancy video though; I tried to keep it simple and to the point. No fussing around with the camera; some members get seasick, and I'm not good at video recording!

Thank you Dean. No music. But no happy dance either; but you should have seen me yesterday evening when it just started up and ran though!

Thanks Ed. I hope you don't have too many editing nightmares though! The dogs swarf magnets are quite good normally, just woolly critters keeping a watch on feeding time. But excellent at attracting swarf; especially longish aluminium spirals from drilling!

Stew, Tel thank you both very much.

Rob, thanks mate - not just for the compliments, but for your personal input as well :bow:

Thank you Sam.

Chris, thanks, and it is a bonus to know that the build was informative as well; that more than doubles the satisfaction of ending up with a running engine.

Well, I made the video; as I said I kept it simple. It does not run on breath power, but does run slowly at about 10 psi; my compressor's pressure gauge does not read well at low pressures. I think after some running in, it should be even better:
[youtube=425,350]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Zj3C_rPn3W4&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Zj3C_rPn3W4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/youtube]

This was a fun build, but, I'm tempted to say, in many respects more challenging than the Fred loco build. Besides ending up with another engine and some more useful home-made tools, I ended up with a long list of more little and big tooling projects to attend to.
And best of all, I learned some lessons and new skills in the process!

What's next ? - a very good clean up and service on all the machines, and then a rotary table, with some tooling and machine modifications thrown in. The next engine I have not decided on; there's a couple of candidates!

Once again a big THANK YOU to everyone who followed along; those who actively responded to the thread, as well as the members who quietly observed.

Kind regards, Arnold


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## GailInNM (Apr 7, 2010)

Arnold,
A beautiful build and great operation.  :bow: Thm: :bow:

I have enjoyed following your journey.

I built one many years ago and it is still one of my favorite engines. Great to demo for visitors as it will just tick over and there is enough monkey-motion to hold their interest. I am sure you will have as much fun with yours as I have had with mine. 

Gail in NM


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## mklotz (Apr 7, 2010)

I want to see Shrek riding on the main beam.  ;D


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## Troutsqueezer (Apr 7, 2010)

Arnold, I was one of the quiet observers and enjoyed the build very much. I'm deciding which engine to build for my third go at it. This is a top candidate now thanks to your thread. 

-Trout


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## kvom (Apr 7, 2010)

Very nice build, and quite rapid as well. Congrats!


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## BigBore (Apr 7, 2010)

Really nice engine, Arnold! Thm:

I've uploaded the PDF file to the _Downloads and uploads_ section. Here's the link: http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?action=tpmod;dl=item257

I've enjoyed this one, Arnold and I'm sure it will help a lot of other people make their own version. Thanks for posting and sharing the journey.

Ed


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## Deanofid (Apr 7, 2010)

Top Rate, Arnold!
It runs along very nicely, and makes a smart little chuffing sound.

Well done, mate!

Dean


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## Maryak (Apr 7, 2010)

Arnold,

That's just great. :bow: :bow: :bow:

It took you less time to make than it took me to make a conrod, (and I'm still not 100% finished).

Best Regards
Bob


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## ariz (Apr 7, 2010)

what had I said? you will finish this engine soon...

and the result is excellent: a very nice engine that runs as driven by the wind!
congrats :bow:

you and your shop have earned some time to recharge the battery (for me working on tools building or reorganizing the shop is really relaxing time)


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## zeeprogrammer (Apr 7, 2010)

Congratulations Arnold.
Wonderful work.
Wonderful engine.
Wonderful thread.
Great fun.
Thanks!
Looking forward to your next project. woohoo1


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## slick95 (Apr 7, 2010)

Great work Arnold :bow: :bow: :bow: 

Very nice build and great watching it run

Congrats...

Jeff


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## rake60 (Apr 7, 2010)

Nice one Arnold! :bow: :bow:

Rick


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## 4156df (Apr 8, 2010)

Arnold,
It was a pleasure watching this one come together. Great job.
Dennis


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## arnoldb (Apr 8, 2010)

Thank you Gail; I'll have to let it run in a bit more to get to breath power, or I'll have to get a small compressor to run it; it's going to my office soon to hold down some papers and amuse visitors.

Marv, you actually used a "smiley" ! Shrek doesn't like my engines... He stays away from them. But the moment you pick one up he starts bobbing his head and making pf pf pf pf - he likes to hear them running.

Trout, go for it; it's a fun engine to build, but does require a fair bit of accuracy. And if you want to go for an Elmer build and don't have Elmer's "Appendix" , I would strongly suggest getting it here from john-tom. It is easily overlooked.

Kvom, thank you

Thank you Ed - I had a look at the PDF - good work on the editing; thank you!

Dean, thanks; I'm glad you enjoyed the sound track!

Thank you Bob. At least my workshop's a bit more conveniently located than yours, so I can nip off to it quickly, so you have good reason for having slower progress ;D Nice additional work on the con rod by the way Thm: - It's starting to look like an engine.

Ariz, thank you. I find making tooling and engines equally enjoyable. Tidying the shop is a chore though...

Carl, thank you. Unfortunately I can't afford that bridge you have for sale though (or I'm just plain stingy careful how I invest my money) ;D

Thanks Jeff

Thank you Rick - also for that tip on the cross drilling on the pins!

Dennis, thanks!

A side-note: some gut feel told me to have a quick look at my profile here on HMEM; I've been on here for precisely one year today. How time flies when you're having fun!

Regards, Arnold


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## kustomkb (Apr 8, 2010)

Nice job Arnold!!


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## tel (Apr 8, 2010)

Happy Birthday Arnold!


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## Deanofid (Apr 8, 2010)

Well, it's a great way to mark your anniversary, Arnold!

Dean


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## ksouers (Apr 8, 2010)

Arnold,
My apologies for being late to the party. What a great little runner that is!
Lots of eye candy, lots of motions to capture the attention.

Congratulations on a great build!  Thm:


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## arnoldb (Apr 9, 2010)

Both Kevins and Tel thank you!

Thanks Dean - even better; I let the engine run on the compressor for about 20 minutes last night, and it now runs on breath power ;D

Kevin, absolutely no need to apologize 

Kind regards, Arnold


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## capjak (Apr 9, 2010)

Thanks, Arnold. You have set a high standard that I hope to achieve sometime.

Thanks again,

Jack


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## Bill Mc (Apr 15, 2010)

Hi Arnold - I just started looking at your project here and I can prove it. I was looking at your first photo and comments. I also removed the saftey guard and switch assembly from my Craftex (Busy Bee) CT129 mill/drill. The reason being the plastic guard prevented me from getting the quill down close to my work. It kept hitting the top of my fairly large milling vice before I got anywhere close to my work. I just make sure that I am wearing my goggles while performing ALL operations.  Just one of the guys-Billmc


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## arnoldb (Apr 15, 2010)

Thanks Jack ;D I didn't try to set a standard for anybody except myself to compare to though. I set myself some targets to strive for before every build, and I just try to reach or exceed those. I'm my own worst critic!

Bill, thanks. I don't profess blindly removing all safety features though; it's a question of just using good sense when machining. In fact, I'll be doing an enhancement to my mill soon, where I'll use the same circuitry that I disconnected to add some safety for both protecting myself and the mill. That I'll be posting in the "Machine Modifications" section.

And in case anybody wonders why I used the term "good sense" instead of "common sense" - that's a personal pet peeve of mine nowadays. Somehow, I feel that "common sense" is not necessarily "good sense" any more... I must be getting old :big:

Kind regards, Arnold


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## Maryak (Apr 16, 2010)

arnoldb  said:
			
		

> Somehow, I feel that "common sense" is not necessarily "good sense" any more... I must be getting old :big:



I don't think your getting old, common sense is only common to the person defining it, good sense is always good.  Well that's my take on it.

Best Regards
Bob


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## bearcar1 (Apr 16, 2010)

Oh my! Outstanding Arnold Thm: I've never actually seen one of these engines run. It seems to chug along quite happily, I like them that way, not going 110 with it's hair on fire. BRAVO!

BC1
Jim


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## milotrain (Feb 9, 2011)

Really pretty engine, great rhythm while running. Quite sublime.


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## arnoldb (Feb 10, 2011)

:-[ A belated thank you Bob and Jim - much appreaciated  - somehow missed answering your replies last year!

Thank you milotrain ; it was fun to build, and always get a lot of attention from visitors. Now, nearly a year later, it is the engine in my collection that runs the best on breath power of all of them.

Kind regards, Arnold


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