# Bouch's workshop - 1.5 x 3.5 horizontal steam engine



## bouch (Nov 1, 2014)

Hi folks,

Years ago, (a dozen at least) I was at the Dublin, NH, antique engine show, and there was a fellow selling castings for a large horizontal steam engine out of the back of his truck.  The engine was a 1.5" bore by 3.5" stroke, flywheel about 12" diameter, and a baseplate of almost 2 feet long.  He was dealing as the "Barker Machine and Foundry Co."  I bought a set of castings, and have never seen the guy again.  I've also only seen one example of a finished engine, built by a fellow NEMES member.

The set of castings included the base, flywheel, cylinder, front and rear cylinder heads, the crankshaft throw, and eccentric strap.

I started working on machining the castings.  The quality of the cast iron was quite good.  Not a lot of hard "skin" on them, no voids except for a VERY small one on the flywheel, and no hard spots in the castings themselves.

The one downside was the drawings were hand sketches.  I found that some of the dimensions were "to fit", and a few others were obviously wrong.  There were also elements of the design I didn't like, and wanted to re-work.  When other projects popped up, so I stopped working on the engine.

Fast forward to now...  Here's what it looked like when I stopped working on it:





Due to a compromised immune system, I haven't been allowed to work in my shop, and it'll probably be another 6 months before the doctors give me clearance to start working down there again.  So, to keep busy with various projects, I've decided to learn how to use Draftsight and make some "real" drawings for this engine.  That way I can confirm the dimensions, and also figure out exactly the changes I want to make (and started making without really drawing things out!)

My first attempt at a drawing was the front cylinder head.  I figured I would start with something "simple" but not overly simple.

Here's the original drawing provided by Barker:




And here's my first attempt at drawing using Draftsight:




And just for yahoos, here's a picture of what I've already done on the front cylinder head.  Turned to dimensions, but I need to drill the holes for the studs and also the clearance hole for the piston rod on the inside.




The next item to draw will be the rear cylinder head.

Occasionally, as I get things drawn out, I'll be posting more of my Draftsight drawings until I'm allowed back in the shop.  Then I'll start posting about progress on finishing the engine.  Hope people find this interesting


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## kvom (Nov 1, 2014)

Draftsight is quite easy to use for me, and I've been doing all my CAD with it since it first was released.  Your drawings look good, but I'd make a couple of changes.  I'd use diameter instead of radius for both the outer dimension and the boss.  Your engine looks about as massive as the Joy engine I'm working on currently.  What's the weight of the casting set?


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## RonGinger (Nov 1, 2014)

I remember that guy- I saw him a couple times at shows in Maine. He said he lived in Maine. I may have a card or something- I think he had a simple flyer or brochure. I will dig around.

Take it easy Mike, and good luck with the CAD. You might also look at freeCAD before you get to committed. It is a 3d solid modeler, and that is a much better way to draw now than simple 2D drafting. I bought Alibre, but recently made a 2 minute look at freeCAD and it looks good. Anyone tried it?


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## RichD (Nov 1, 2014)

I think working with, and learning to use a CAD system is extremely useful for anyone that wants to build something.

It's not always easy to learn how to draw on a computer, but if you can overcome the initial concepts of using x,y,z coordinates and object snap tools, your drawings and work will always be accurate.

We all have our inclinations for one program or another. The truth is, all of the programs out there can produce accurate drawings. My favorite has always been the older DOS version 11 AutoCAD, but the solid modeling capabilities of the newer programs is hard to ignore. I find the learning curve just keeps on increasing since we always have some kind of idea or challenge to overcome.

Good luck, and remember to take advantage of streamlining and customizing the software you use. For example; you can draw an object and save it for future use in other drawings. My default drawing template has a drawing of my milling machine table on a separate layer that I keep turned off so it doesn't show. There's lot's of good books out there with tips on customizing your software.

Regards,
Rich


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## akitene (Nov 2, 2014)

FreeCAD is indeed a very interesting 3D modeler although it's still crippled with a few bugs when rendering complex parts. It lacks a dynamical assembly module. Nevertheless it's perfectly free and very promissing.


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## bouch (Nov 2, 2014)

kvom said:


> Draftsight is quite easy to use for me, and I've been doing all my CAD with it since it first was released.  Your drawings look good, but I'd make a couple of changes.  I'd use diameter instead of radius for both the outer dimension and the boss.  Your engine looks about as massive as the Joy engine I'm working on currently.  What's the weight of the casting set?



I've been following that Joy engine build, and was surprised at how big it is.  Quite a substantial engine!

Using diameter is a good idea.  I'll probably change that.

Don't know how much it weighs.  Don't have a bathroom scale, and its too heavy for my postal scale.  Its definitely heavy!  I just weighted the cylinder casting, and that alone is 3.5 pounds...


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## bouch (Nov 2, 2014)

RonGinger said:


> I remember that guy- I saw him a couple times at shows in Maine. He said he lived in Maine. I may have a card or something- I think he had a simple flyer or brochure. I will dig around.
> 
> Take it easy Mike, and good luck with the CAD. You might also look at freeCAD before you get to committed. It is a 3d solid modeler, and that is a much better way to draw now than simple 2D drafting. I bought Alibre, but recently made a 2 minute look at freeCAD and it looks good. Anyone tried it?



Yeah, I remember he was from Maine.  Somewhere I have his business card as well...

Right now I think I'll figure out 2D before worrying about solid modelling in 3D...  That's what I learned to draw/read.  Maybe the next project I'll move to 3D.


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## bouch (Nov 5, 2014)

Next drawing done, the rear cylinder cover...




Next up, the cylinder, and also the piston rod gland and cylinder cover/gland studs.  The cylinder will probably take a few sessions, as I have to verify the dimensions of the ports and also take some modifications into account...


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## RonGinger (Nov 5, 2014)

> Right now I think I'll figure out 2D before worrying about solid  modelling in 3D...  That's what I learned to draw/read.  Maybe the next  project I'll move to 3D.



If you do 3d modeling drawings like you just did come free- just a couple clicks and they are done. There really is no benefit to learning 2d CAD first, just atart 3d modeling.


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## ShopShoe (Nov 6, 2014)

I agree with RonGinger. If you are working for yourself, not making drawings for others to use, you can do things like rotate your model onscreen to show relationships and add dimensions to the 3D view only where it is important, and all the other dimensions are not there to confuse you.

--ShopShoe


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## bouch (Nov 7, 2014)

Well, maybe I'll look at freeCAD over the weekend and see if I like it more than Draftsight.  Can't hurt to try it since its free.  I know I'm not in position to purchase either 2D or 3D software right now for various reasons...


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## johnmcc69 (Nov 7, 2014)

Hi Mike,

Nice start on the drawings. That's going to be a nice engine. I think you'll enjoy drawing it up as much as you will building it.

Keep up the good work!

John


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## kvom (Nov 7, 2014)

If you're a veteran you can get a copy of Solidworks for $20 shipping fee.


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## bouch (Jan 27, 2015)

Been a while since I posted anything on this thread...  I've done a little work on the drawings, but was slowed down by a 7 week hospitalization in Nov/Dec for a nasty case of "PCP pnuemonia".  Still dealing with after-effects from that, mostly muscle weakness due to being bedridden for that long, but sitting at "Draftsight" doesn't tax me too much...

Anyhow, I decided, for now, to stick with 2D drawing.  I checked out freeCad, and just got horribly confused.  Since every engine I've ever built was from 2D drawings, I figure I'll just stick with what I know and am used to for now.  Maybe some other time I'll learn 3D, but not for now.

Anyhow, I'm pretty much done with the cylinder drawing and also the steam chest.  Here they are:

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=74667&stc=1&d=1422376613

The ports are very different than the original design, mainly because the steam chest I've designed is shorter.  Originally, the steam chest was the full length of the cylinder, I've made it shorter, 3" long instead of about 4" long.  The original design called for ports that were all 1/4" wide, with a 1/4" space between them.

What I did was get the plans for the Stuart Turner #1 that I built, and copied the port dimensions from that.  I figure that if the ports are sufficient for a 2" x 2" engine, then they'll be good enough for a 1.5" x 3.5", especially considering the expansive qualities of steam.  Might not be as good when running on air, but I can deal with that by adding more pressure 

The one thing I still don't have on the cylinder drawing is the 4 holes to attach the cylinder to the base casting.  That I still have to work out, but that'll probably be determined "at assembly".  Also should probably put the hidden lines for the ports on the "end view" drawing, but that might get pretty cluttered, lord knows the top view is pretty busy with hidden lines...

And here's the steam chest:

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=74668&stc=1&d=1422376613

And the two glands, one for the piston rod and the other for the valve rod.

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=74669&stc=1&d=1422377268

I've also drawn the steam chest cover and all the studs for the cylinder ends, steam chest and the glands.  I'm not attaching those here as they're pretty simple parts, and kinda boring drawings.

Next step is the drawings for the slide valve, the adjustment nut, valve rod, piston and piston rod...


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## Herbiev (Jan 27, 2015)

Great to get the update. Looking great so far. May your health continue to improve. That pneumonia is a real cow especially when the doctors put you to sleep for a few weeks to strengthen the lungs. Looking forward to your workshop progress pics.


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## bouch (Mar 20, 2015)

Been a while since I posted any new drawings, so seems like now is as good of a time as any...

First was to finish up drawing the slide valve and valve gear.  Since this engine isn't intended to reverse, a simple eccentric valve gear will do.  As mentioned earlier, I copied the port dimensions from my Stuart Turner #1, so I did the same thing with the slide valve and eccentric.

Here's the drawing for the valve, I'm not going to post the eccentric drawing as its fairly basic...




The eccentric strap is a casting, so I took the time to draw the outline accurately.  Other than that, its a pretty simple drawing.  I drew it both as "one piece" and also showing the casting split into the two pieces.




I haven't drawn the eccentric rod yet.  The exact length still has to be determined, and that'll be dependent on where on the base the cylinder assembly and crankshaft bearings are located.  What I figure I'll have to do is get everything built and assembled, and then make a temporary rod.  Once its running, then measure the rod and make the real version.

Next was the piston and piston rod.  The original sketches show a piston simply threaded onto the piston rod.  I've built several engines like this, and I find that getting the piston concentric to the rod can be tricky if the threads are a little loose.  So, what I did to solve this problem here is have corresponding tapered sections on the two parts.  The tapered section should guarantee the piston is connectric to the rod, and the thread will only hold the piston in place (along with a locking nut).




That takes care of the parts in the cylinder assembly, so on to the crosshead assembly.  The original sketches show two simple plates for the crosshead guide, and a somewhat crude, square crosshead.  Back around when I bought the castings, I was at an engine show and there was an antique steam engine about the same size, and I took a bunch of photos of it, and kept them with the drawings.

Here's what the crosshead looked like on that engine.






The crosshead guides are pretty much what the original drawings called for, but the crosshead is much more "detailed", and there's adjustable "sliders" to take up any wear in the crosshead.  I've decided to make the crosshead similar.






Due to the width of the crosshead, I can't put in the round sections, but everything else is reminiscent of the antique engine.  (and I just noticed I never put in the radius between the main body and the round section the piston rod threads into.  That'll be a quick fix!)

Another aside, every so often when I save the drawings as a PDF (to make it easy to print), Draftsight doesn't export the entire drawing.  As you can see on the crosshead drawing, part of it is clipped off.  Anyone know why this happens, and what I can to to make sure the entire drawing gets exported?

Next step is to draw the base casting, and work on where the cylinder, crosshead guides, and crankshaft bearing is located.  Like the eccentric rod, I'll have to derive the connecting rod dimensions based on these locations. And like the eccentric rod, I'll probably make a temporary rod to ensure the derived dimension is correct before making the final part...


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## bouch (Apr 11, 2015)

More work on the drawings...

The next thing I needed to do was determine the location of the holes to mount the cylinder on the base, the crosshead guides, and the guide for the valve rod.  What I did was draw the base without any holes, and then copied a bunch of the other drawings and pasted them all together to make an "assembly" drawing.  This drawing is looking down at the engine from above.  I then used the dimension tools to measure where the holes were.  For the crosshead guide, I pasted the piston/piston rod/crosshead as an assembly at both top dead and bottom dead center, and then placed the crosshead guides so they were close to centered.

Here's the assembly drawing...




Note that not all the studs are pasted.  I figure placing one would be enough to verify the dimensions were correct.  Also note that the glands for the piston and valve rods aren't there.  I didn't think they were necessary for this drawing...

Making this assembly drawing also helped me discover an "incorrect" dimension.  The plans called for a steam chest 3/4" deep.  When everything was put together, the valve eccentric would be right up against the bearing block, basically acting as a thrust bearing on the crankshaft.  (don't know if this was the designers plan or a "happy accident").  However, with the design of the eccentric and strap, the strap would have been rubbing against the bearing block, and probably the engine base as well.  Since that surface of the base is an unmachined surface, I thought this was a bad idea.

So, I added another 1/4" to the thickness of the steam chest, moving the center line of the eccentric/valve rod out 1/8" from the bearing/base.  This was done on both the assembly and steam chest drawings.  Also had to re-work the drawing for the steam chest studs, but that was pretty trivial.  All told, it took a few hours to re-do that work, but better finding the issue now rather than when everything was machined and I would have to scrap parts and make new ones!

I then modified the drawing for the eccentric so it would continue to act as a thrust bearing, just with a lot less surface area against the bearing block.

(I hope all that makes sense to the reader...)
The final thing I did on the cylinder drawing was locate the holes for the cylinder drain cocks.  My father is picking up a pair from P. M. Research at Cabin Fever today, so I should have them Tuesday or Wednesday (not that I'm in a hurry for them, but picking them up does save about $10 shipping costs...)




And finally placed all the holes on the base drawing...




Not too much more I have to draw before I'm "done" with this phase of the project.  

The only things I need to draw are the spacers to hold the crosshead guides, those will be pretty easy, I just have to decide what I want them to look like.  I want them to be more than just round pieces, but I don't want them overly decorative as not much else on the engine is "fancy"...

I should probably make another assembly drawing, this one from the side, to verify the dimension from the top of the base to the centerline of the cylinder bore.  That dimension is derivable from the cylinder drawing, so I don't "need" it, but I might draw it out for "completeness" sake.

I will draw the connecting rod and valve rods, but they won't be to the final dimension, so those won't be "finished" until later.  The main task will be to draw out the split bearings I want to have on the connecting rod.  I think it'll look better with that type of design, and with the design of the crosshead I need at least that end to have a split bearing or it'll be a PITA to connect the rod to the crosshead...

I don't need to draw out the crankshaft, the bearing blocks, or the flywheel as those have already been made.  If I run out of projects to draw out, I might do it for completeness sake, but I have plenty of other things to work on.  Until next time...


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## bouch (May 1, 2015)

I did produce a "side view" assembly drawing, and I'm glad I did...  Here's what it looks like now...






When I first drew it, the valve rod support bracket was 1" closer to edge of the base, so it was next to the cylinder.  While there were not clearance issues (as is obvious by the top view), I didn't like the aesthetics of where it was.  I moved it 1" closer to the crosshead guides.  I like its current location much better.

Moving the holes in the base drawing was easy.  Here's the updated base drawing






Moving things around on the top view assembly drawing took a while, but it confirmed that the new location still looked OK from above.  I also had to modify the valve rod and eccentric rod drawings, adding 1" to the former and subtracting 1" from the latter.  Not a big deal, just took a little time.

As you can see above, I've decided on the design for the supports for the crosshead guides.  I tried a few different styles, and settled on a slight taper from the top to the bottom...






So, as of now, I'm done with the parts which needed drawing.  I'm only about 10 days from having the health restrictions lifted, so I should be able to start working in the shop again very soon.  My "immediate" projects are to finish the 7.25" gauge hand-pump cars I started building for my kids, the G.H. Thomas retracting tool holder for my 10" South Bend, and the Barker engine.  Which project I work on any given day will depend on my mood, but as I want the hand-pump cars working for the Waushakum annual meet at the end of August, that'll probably take priority...

Hopefully the next post will show actual metal being cut


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## bouch (Jan 20, 2016)

Been a while since I updated this thread, mostly because a) I had finished with the drawings, and b) I wasn't working in the shop.  Well, I've finally started working down in the basement again...

A few years ago, I made a New Years resolution to not start a new project until I finish one underway.  You've already seen the drawings I was working on during my recovery.  So, since I have good drawings and a 1/2 finished project, that's what I've started to work on.

As with the drawings, the first thing was the cylinder heads.  The front had been turned, but the mounting holes hadn't been drilled, nor the recess inside for clearance for the piston rod and the nut to secure the piston.

I mounted my "X-Y rotary table" on my drill press and indicated it in.  Then I found that the tee nuts I had were too "thick" for the slots in the table.  I put four in my shaper and took about 1/16" off the bottom and they fit fine.
Next was to mount the casting on the table, and move the X out by 1", the radius of the bolt hole circle centers.  Centerdrill, drill, advance table 45 degrees (5 turns of the handle, each turn is 9 degrees), repeat 8 times.

The table has 4 slots, so I was able to drill all the way through on 4 of them, the other 4 I had to stop a little short of "through" to prevent drilling into the rotary table surface.  Once done, I loosened the head, re-aligned those 4 holes so they were over a slot, and finished the drilling through.  Once all were done I did a quick countersink on both sides of all the holes.

Then I mounted it in my lathe to drill/bore the inside recess.  The largest drill the chuck would take is 10mm, but a 13/32 could just barely fit, so I used that to drill a hole 3/8 deep.  Then I opened it out to the 5/8 finished size using a boring bar.  I then used the boring bar to give a fairly generous chamfer.











With the rotary table set up, it was pretty obvious to work on the rear cylinder head as well.  Repeat the above steps for drilling the 8 mounting holes.

Then I moved the X back to 0, and then out to 7/16.  I drilled and tapped one hole for the piston rod gland studs, rotated the table 180 degrees and drilled and tapped the 2nd hole.






Once again, since the rotary table is set up, the next obvious thing is to drill the corresponding holes in the cylinder casting for the studs to mount the cylinder heads.  But, the cylinder hadn't been machined to the outside diameter at the ends...






Since the concentricity with the bore isn't very critical, I made a simple fixture to turn the cylinder ends.  I took a piece of 1-1/2 diameter steel about 4 inches long, mounted it in the 3 jaw chuck, and drilled/tapped a hole in one end 1/4-20.  I then put the cylinder on this, and used a few large washers and a long bolt, and tightened it up right against the chuck jaws.  Then I simply turned the end to dimension.  Since the cylinder is only held in place by a bolt, I didn't take very heavy cuts, about .020 removed per cut.  






When it was all done, it looked much better






Next step, as I already mentioned, is to drill/tap the holes for the cylinder head studs.  While I'm doing that, I'll have the shaper plodding away cutting the steel I have for the steam chest and steam chest cover to dimension.  I figure at the speed the shaper works, I'll be able to machine the cylinder, the studs, and probably get the piston rod gland done before the steam chest parts are to size...


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## bouch (Mar 7, 2016)

Little more progress on the engine...

While the shaper has been merrily working away cutting the blank for the steam chest to dimension, I drilled and tapped the holes in the cylinder for the studs to hold the heads on.  Then I made 16 10-32 threaded studs for the cylinder heads.

My estimate for how long the studs should be was a little off, once I had them made they should probably be about 1/16th shorter (for my "visual liking"

Here's a couple pics of drilling the holes (using the rotary table on my drill press) and the heads in place with the studs inserted...


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## bouch (Dec 11, 2017)

It seems like I only update my thread every year or so.  I guess that says a lot about how quickly I get work done...

I have done some more work on this big engine.  I've managed to build the steam chest, piston rod, piston, and a bunch of the studs needed to hold everything together.

The steam chest was cut from solid, using only a drill press and a shaper.  No milling machine.  (combination of my home shop's milling machine is out of commision for various reasons, so I need to drive up to my father's shop, an attempt to get those nice square corners no one will ever see, and also just to be able to say that I did it that way)





"4 corners, neat and square"  (bonus points if you get the reference!)

I've also built the steam chest cover, but that's pretty boring so no photo.  You can also see the valve rod gland has been made.

The piston and rod are built as designed,  The taper worked like a charm, everything is nice and concentric.  The slots are cut to fit some 1.5" cast iron rings I acquired.  Not sure if I'll install them, as I don't expect to need to do any real work with this engine.










If you look at the 3rd photo, you can see where the hole in the piston is a little larger than the rod.  That's because I cut the tapered section a little "overlength" to make sure that it engaged fully.  You can also see the piston rod gland has been made.

Finally, a bunch of studs.  These are for the cylinder heads and the steam chest.




Unfortunately, I'm out of material for more studs, and I have a bunch more to make (cylinder mounting studs, crosshead guide mounting studs, crankshaft bearing studs.  Anyone know where I could get some steel rod appropriately sized for 10-32 studs? (.190 dia)

No photos yet, but I've also started work on the porting of the cylinder.  I have the ports cut in the valve face, and the "steam line" from one port to one end drilled.  Still need to do the other side and the exhaust port.  I'm hoping to have the cylinder finished by the end of the year, and then I'll start working on the crosshead

And for a different project, I did download FreeCad and start working on 3D cad.  Here's the first part I printed (at shapeways).




Its the pedestal for a 3/4" gauge caboose truck.  Had a reasonably steep learning curve, but once I figured out the concepts, it went pretty well.  I still did a bunch of stuff "trial and error" (mostly error), but I got it done.  I've designed a few other pieces, need to get them printed and cast...


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## akitene (Dec 12, 2017)

Great thread, Bouch. This is going to be a great engine.

_"4 corners, neat and square" (bonus points if you get the reference!)_
-> Not sure to get the right reference, but it seems you're talking about "_Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel_."


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## bouch (Dec 12, 2017)

akitene said:


> Great thread, Bouch. This is going to be a great engine.
> 
> _"4 corners, neat and square" (bonus points if you get the reference!)_
> -> Not sure to get the right reference, but it seems you're talking about "_Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel_."



Yup.  You get the bonus points.  :thumbup:


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## Herbiev (Dec 12, 2017)

Looking great so far. Don't worry about the time factor. We have politicians down here that are ten times slower. :hDe:


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## bouch (Dec 21, 2017)

Made some progress on the cylinder.

I have the valve ports cut, but had to do some "correcting".  When I cut the edge of the port, the end mill I was using flexed, so I didn't get a straight cut.  I don't know how it did it, but it actually flexed so it cut "deeper" than I indended.  Somehow, the exhaust port wound up longer than indended, with "bowed" edges.

I got a shorter, stiffer endmill, and proceeded to fix the issue, making the edges nice and straight.  But now I had an exhaust port about .032 wider than expected.  So, I moved the inlet ports out .032, so I would leave the same lap between the two ports.

Now I have to a) adjust the dimensions of the valve face and b) adjust the throw of the eccentric to increase the valve travel.  Need to do a little calculating.

I've also drilled the steam passages from the cylinder edge to the ports.  I put the drill in the chuck such that the chuck would just about be hitting the cylinder when the drill broke thru, as a "safety" to keep from drilling too deep.







If you look closely at the picture, you can see the tip of the drill through the port.  You can also see how I made the ports themselves.  I started by drilling to depth, then I used an end mill to make the slots.  This puts a lot less side-pressure on a small endmill, so it's much less likely to break.  Once I got a reasonable depth, I stopped cutting all the way to the edge, stopped .032" short in each dimension, to prevent any other possible issues with the port edges.  They're not very pretty when you look down into them, but the edges are sharp and straight, they're functional, and no one will see this when the engine is on display.

As you can also see, the steam passages are parallel to the cylinder.  I had enough "meat" in the casting to do so, and I've built other cylinders with parallel steam passages.  Its an easier setup, and I don't see any significant downside.

To complete the steam passages, I drilled 3 .156" diameter holes, each with centers .158" apart.  Even with that, I got a little break-through (not a problem at all), and all 3 holes came out nice.  I then used an end mill to cut a .125" deep relief to make sure steam can get in the cylinder when the cylinder heads are on.  The cylinder heads have a .062" deep relief to center them on the cylinder.




Getting close to having the cylinder done.  Next up, the exhaust port and holes for drain cocks.


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## bouch (Dec 30, 2017)

The final steam passage for the cylinder is the exhaust.  However, the original (hand-drawn) drawings show the passage leaving the cylinder in a location which interferes with the base casting.  The designer says to just cut away part of the base where it interferes.

When I re-drew everything in Draftsight, this was confirmed.  So, I'm thinking I may move everything to hopefully eliminate this, or at least minimize it.  So, before doing anything on the cylinder, I decided to drill/tap the mounting holes in the base casting.

This is where things got interesting.  The casting is a) rough and b) longer than the travel on the table on my Bridgeport.  So, indicating in over the length just isn't going to happen.  What I did to square the base to the table was simply use a combination square on each end.  I figure that is close enough, as long as all the holes for the cylinder and crosshead are parallel to each other.

Here's setting up both ends with the combination square, top photo is the cylinder end, bottom is the crank end.







When I took the combination square and looked in the middle, I found that the base casting has a pretty decent bow in it. Looks about 1/16" to me.  Somehow, I didn't notice this when I drilled the mounting holes on the underside of the base to attach it to the aluminum display table I've made.




After some pondering, and discussion with my father, I decided that it doesn't really matter,  As long as I set it up and drill the holes for the cylinder and crosshead so they're in alignment with each other, it doesn't matter if the holes aren't perfectly centered on the base.  With a 1/16" bow, it'll be noticeable, but there's not much I can do about it.  I'm not about to try straightening a 2 foot long casting.

So, I've drilled the holes, and now to make the studs to hold everything down.  Then I can measure where the exhaust can be to have it clear the bed casting, go back to Draftsight and make sure I can drill the holes without breaking thru the cylinder wall, and adjust things as necessary...

My current goal is to have everything able to be bolted down on the base (and display stand) and the cylinder machining complete, and the crosshead guides done in time for the annual NEMES show.  This year, its on Feb 17 2018, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, at the Charles River Museum of Industry in Waltham, MA.  If you're in the area, stop on by and say hello!  The engine won't be running, but it'll look like an engine as opposed to the pile of parts I displayed last year!


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## bouch (Jan 7, 2018)

More progress on the cylinder today.  The last steam passage to drill is for the exhaust, and then the cylinder will be "complete enough" to assemble and test-run the engine (not that I'm even close to that)

The original, hand drawn, plans called for the exhaust passage to exit the bottom of the cylinder in such a position that a relief would need to be cut in the inside of the base to clear the exhaust pipe.  That is, as-designed, the base casting blocks the exhaust outlet.  Can't say I was happy with that.

I spent some time on Draftsight trying to figure out a location where it would clear the base, but I would be able to drill the exhaust passage at an angle to meet up with the exhaust port.  I couldn't find a location where the outlet would be square to the cylinder bottom and still be able to drill the passage.

Then I had a "light bulb" moment.  Why does the exhaust outlet need to be square to the bottom of the cylinder?  Its hidden, and its easy enough to put a bend in the pipe which will take the exhaust out under the display base the whole engine sits on.

I found that if I drilled a 5/16th hole, centered 13/16th from the valve face, at a 30 degree angle, it would a) hit the cavity for the exhaust port right about at the corner and b) not break through the cylinder wall and c) not interfere with the base.  By "at the corner", the hole intersects at where the side of the port meet the bottom.  (a photo will make what I mean obvious, its coming below)

The reason I'm using 5/16" diameter for the exhaust passage is because the exhaust passage needs to be at least the same volume as the inlet passages, or more steam can get into the cylinder than can get out, which will cause back-pressure and possibly lift the D valve off the valve chest.  The inlet passages are 3 holes 5/32" diameter, If my math is right, that's an area of .057 square inches.  The area of a 5/16" hole is .076 square inches (once again, assuming my math is right!).  The area of the exhaust passage is 133% of the inlet passage, so I should be good.

I set the cylinder up in the mill at 30 degrees.  First, I used an endmill to make a flat spot square to the hole I was about to drill, as its very hard to drill straight into an angled surface.  Then I made a pilot hole with a 1/8" drill.




You can see the flat spot in this photo.  (You can also see where I used a sharpie to mark the inner edge of the base casting while doing the design work).

Once this was done, I used a combination of larger endmills and larger drills to open the passage to the 5/16" diameter.  Once done, I used a Q drill and drilled 7/32" deep, and tapped for 3/8-24 5 threads deep.




When you look into the exhaust passage, you can see that the exhaust passage is pretty much where Draftsight said it should be, right at the corner.




Finally, I did some cleanup on the exterior of the cylinder.  If you look at some of the earlier photos, you'll see some "steps" on the outside surface on either side of the valve surface.  (E.G. - the photo on my previous post where I'm drilling the inlet passages)

As cast, the cylinder casting had two things I didn't like.  First, the steam chest was integral with the cylinder.  That is, the steam chest would need to be milled out 1" deep (there was no core for the steam chest), and then the ports added to the bottom of this cavity.  (LOT of work, wasted cast iron, and no good way to remove machining marks from the valve surface.  Second, the steam chest was the same length as the cylinder, which seemed unnecessarily long as well as didn't look particularly good.  It also meant that to mount the cylinder, the design called from a flat piece of steel to be slotted into the bottom of the base, and then long studs threaded into the bottom of the cylinder to hold the cylinder to the base.  That seemed like a bad way to mount a cylinder.

On the other side, there were "feet" for mounting holes, but they went all the way up to the center line of the cylinder bore.  Way too tall, didn't look very good.  (hopefully I explained that well, wish I had photos of the as-cast cylinder)

Way back when I first started work on this engine, I cut off the iron for the steam chest.  I also shortened the valve face to 3", to open up space for "feet" to bolt down the cylinder from the top and improve the looks (IMHO).  I milled these steps, while cutting away the "extra" iron.  On the other side, I shortened the "feet", and did a little terracing there as well.

I put a 40:1 dividing head on the mill and put a 1-1/2" slug in the chuck. I then slid the cylinder on this slug and used a 1/4" bolt and washers to tighten the cylinder up against the chuck jaws.  For the work I was doing, the friction of the cylinder end against the chuck jaws was sufficient to hold it in place, but I couldn't take particularly heavy cuts (.020 at a time)

The 40:1 head gave me enough control that I could rotate the cylinder slowly under the endmill and stop right where I needed to so it wouldn't cut into the part of the cylinder the inlet ports run through.  This was "machining by feel", no calculated dimensions to machine to.

When done, I found that a few "terracing" cuts were a little too deep, but I can fill this in with JB weld or something similar.  (or, this might just get hidden by lagging, not sure on that yet...)







After all this, there's only 1 machining step left to be done on the cylinder.  Drill holes for drain cocks.  I have a couple from P.M. Research, but they look too small for the size of the cylinder.  The ones on my Stuart #1 look the part much better, so I have to buy a couple from them.


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## bouch (Jan 12, 2018)

Now that the cylinder is all but done, I made the studs to bolt the cylinder to the base.  After making 16 short studs for the cylinder heads, making these 4 seemed trivial.  But, when I went to test-fit the cylinder, I found an issue.  One of the holes for the studs was located wrong.  When I removed that stud, the cylinder fit, with it in place, nope.  Did some re-measuring and found that I somehow missed the actual location by .062".

So, here's what I did to fix the issue.  I put the frame back on the mill and located the hole.  I then moved the table the .062 to the right location.  I used a 1/4 endmill to drill a pilot hole the same depth as the existing hole.  This overlapped most of the improperly located hole, so using and end mill eliminated the chance of it wandering into the existing hole.  (a drill might do that)  Then I opened it out with the tap drill for 5/16"-24, and threaded the hole.  I left the base mounted on the mill table.

Turning to the lathe, I took a peice of scrap durabar (about 3/4" square) and turned one end to 5/16 and threaded it 5/16-24.

I then screwed the plug into the hole, and snugged it up tight.  Using a hacksaw held horizontally, I cut off the plug a little proud of the base, and then used a mill to clean everything up.  Then I drilled and tapped a new hole 10-32 for the stud.




The end mill marks are decieving.  It looks REALLY obvious because of the layout dye, but its maybe .0005" difference there, I can't even feel it with my fingernail.

And now the cylinder drops right onto the base.




Looks like I need to make custom mounting nuts, as the storebought ones are almost too large to tighten.  (something I was afraid of)

In the photo, you can also see that I took a shot at removing the machining marks from the valve face.  I put some 320 grit sandpaper on my surface plate, and sanded the valve face using a figure 8 pattern.  Got most of the marks off, but it still needs a little more work to fully remove them.  Not sure if I would ever get them completely gone without using a surface grinder, so I might just declare done on that process...

Next step is a) finish the cylinder and b) make the crosshead guide.


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## bouch (Jan 17, 2018)

One thing missing on the original cylinder plans was a location for cylinder drain cocks.  A cylinder this size is certainly going to have quite a bit of condensation when steam hits it, so I think drain cocks are a requirement.

I bought the largest available from PM Research, and they just don't look right, they look horribly undersized for the cylinder.  I built a Stuart Turner #1, and I decided that I needed the same drain cocks as on that.  These are available from Stuart, and they're threaded 1/4"-32.

The "rims" on the cylinder ends don't have enough meat to them to have drain cocks this large on them and not have part of the drain cock overlapping the ends.  The Stuart engine has bosses cast into the cylinder exactly for this purpose.




Obviously, I would need to add some bosses to the Barker cylinder.  This is what I decided to do.  I decided to make some "plugs" which would screw into the cylinder to form these bosses

First, was to measure the bosses on the ST #1.  They're about 5/8" across.  Then I did some work on Draftsight to figure a location based on the actual cylinder dimensions, and what I would need to build.

I also measured the hole through the ST drain cock, this is 5/64" (.078 )  I decided I would drill through the cylinder wall with this size drill (no sense making a larger hole in the cylinder wall than necessary)

The bosses would screw into smaller holes in the cylinder side, and then "above the surface" would be 5/8" diameter.  I decided that the tapped holes in the cylinder would also be 1/4-32 for a few reasons.
1) The hole in the cylinder side would only about about .218" deep, and I wanted to maximize the number of threads in that short distance.
2) Figured I would be less prone to mess something up if I only had one tap drill/tap/die to work with, no accidentally drilling the wrong size hole in something.

I took some small cutoffs of durabar and turned them down.  Here are the two bosses




The 1/4-32 hole the drain cock screws into is fairly shallow as well, but if I made them any deeper it would break through.  I'll probably have to file a few threads off the ST parts to have them seat flat against the cylinder.

Now to the work on the cylinder.  I drilled the 5/64" hole first, locating it 21/64" in from the cylinder edge, that's 1/64" more than half the 5/8" diameter of the boss.  This way the boss wouldn't break through the cylinder end.

Then I took a 5/8" end mill and made a flat surface for the boss to sit against.  As you can see, there's a small section of the original cylinder end still there.




I then drilled and tapped the 1/4-32 hole, being careful not to break through the cylinder wall.




I then put a little loctite on the threads of the bosses and screwed them in tight up against the flat spot.  Since the made the bosses taller than neccessary by about a 1/16", I used an endmill to bring it close to the right height.

I then mounted it in the lathe and manually rotated the chuck only about 30* to round off the top of the boss down to the diameter of the cylinder end, and then filed it smooth.  Still needs some sanding/cleanup, will probably use a touch of JB Weld to try to hide the small but visible gap.




There was something I was afraid of because of the distance I located the drain cocks in from the cylinder end.   Looking inside the cylinder, and with a little math, I believe the 5/64" hole will be covered by the piston at dead center.  That is, the distance between the two drain cocks is less than the stroke + piston length.  So I needed to mill a relief in the cylinder wall so any water in the cylinder can still get out the drain cock.

I didn't have a 5/64" endmill, so I went up a little bit to a 1/8" endmill and cut a semi-circular slot from the cylinder to the drain cock hole.




One last picture, here's what the boss looks like with the drain cock in position.  To my eye, the proportions between the boss and the drain cock look right.  (note: I need to buy new drain cocks from Stuart, this one is "on loan" from the ST #1)




And now, machining work on the cylinder is complete.  On to other parts!


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## bouch (Jan 18, 2018)

In between major work on the cylinder, I've been building a few pieces for the crosshead guide, and now that the cylinder is done, so is the crosshead guide.

The guides themselves are 1/8" x 1" flat ground steel, and the supports are 1/2" pieces of brass turned with a slight taper.







A few posts ago, I mentioned that the base has a slight bend to it.  I didn't think this would be a problem as long as I drilled the holes to mount the cylinder and crosshead guides are all in line.  Well, it might be a slight problem, at least visually.







As you can see, the crosshead guide supports overhang the edge of the base slightly.  On the other side, not so much.




So, the question is do I ignore this, or do I do something to fix it.  The easiest thing is to make the supports smaller so they don't overhang.  But I worry that then they'll look out of proportion.

Right now, I'm strongly leaning towards leaving it alone.  Its only cosmetic, and you do have to look closely to see the overhang.  As long as everything works, I'm good with it.  If someone comments on it, I can explain why.  If they don't like it, well, its not their engine...

I also note that I need to add a couple threads to the mounting studs, and then shorten them a little.  That'll be relatively trivial work.

Next part, the crosshead itself, which I've already started some work on...


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## bouch (Jan 21, 2018)

With the crosshead guides done and the cylinder machining done, Its time to do the first "test assembly".

Back when I first started building the engine, I machined the flywheel, crankshaft, the bearing blocks for the crankshaft, and the outer bearing support block  (previously only seen in the initial posting).  All I needed to do was make the studs for the connecting rod bearing blocks, which was fairly trivial.

Now its loosely bolted together, only a few studs for each part.  The cylinder heads are on, the piston is in the cylinder, and I've bolted the steam chest to the cylinder.  My goal was to get to this point by the February 17th NEMES show in Waltham, MA, so I'm happy about reaching this point.  I left the steam chest cover off so people looking at the engine can see the valve porting.













For scale, the flywheel is 10 1/2" diameter, the entire aluminum display base is 25 1/2 x 13 1/2, and the B&M frieght car sitting in the background is an O scale model.

I've also started working on the crosshead, I'm now hoping to have this in reasonable shape by the show.  If you jump back to post #16, you can see the engine I'm patterning the crosshead after, and the initial 2D drawing.  Since then, I've made a few small modifications, but you'll get the basic idea.

First step was to turn down the round end which screws to the piston rod.  I used my shaper to remove a good chunk of the metal, I didn't want to deal with a huge interrupted cut on the lathe, trimmed about 1/2" off each side about 9/16 deep from the end.

Then I centered the piece in the 4-jaw, finding the center with my "Kozo style" center wobbler tool.  See https://littlemachineshop.com/Instructions/CenterWobble Instructions.pdf to see what I'm talking about (I call it Kozo style since the first time I saw one was in Kozo Hiraoka's articles in Live Steam, probably the Heisler)  After turning to dimension, drilling and tapping for the piston rod, here's what I had.




I then laid out the remaining holes and center punched all of them.  The 6 holes on the outside edges are for oil cups and takeup screws to adjust the crosshead on the crosshead guides.  The 10 in the center are for holes to make it easier to cut out where the connecting rod goes.  The full slot is marked out as well.  Not visible are two locations for set screws to lock the connecting rod pin in position, so it doesn't rotate in the crosshead.  Not marked out are the horizontal slots in the sides.  

The first hole I drilled was the horizontal one that the connecting rod pin goes in, you can see this in this photos




The next step will be to drill and clean out the center.  I'll use my shaper for this, not a mill.


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## bouch (Feb 6, 2018)

More work on the crosshead.  In my last post, I had turned and threaded the round section which the piston rod gets screwed into.  Now do cut some slots and drill/tap some more holes.

The first slot I cut was the one for the connecting rod.  I drilled a series of holes and used a saw to cut out the rough shape of this slot.  I then mounted the piece vertially in my shaper and cut away each side to dimension.  There's something about using the shaper that is somehow relaxing, don't know how to describe it, maybe its the slow pace at which metal is removed.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG7btpDqDPk&t=40s[/ame]

And a slightly closer view...




Once the sides were cleaned up, the bottom of the slot needs machining.  To do this, I used a "double sided" cutting tool which I ground when I made a crankshaft for another project.  A picture is worth 1000 words...




Its the one on the left.  Its not prettty, but each "corner" is a cutting edge.  The relief in the middle is to reduce the cutting surface to reduce chatter.  The trick is to set it up so both edges are in contact with the surface to be cut.  This is done with a piece of paper.




You adjust until there's an equal amount of pressure on both edges, If one edge grabs the paper more, then you have to shift it slightly towards that edge.  This is much more critical with a crank that this, but I still got it level.

Then find both sides of the slot and simply move the tool back and forth until you get the depth dimension correct.




I followed a similar approach to cut the slots in the sides, where the crosshead rides on the crosshead guide.

Finally, I drilled and tapped the holes for oil cups and adjustment screws.




And, of course, I had a "crash" with the final operation.  The crosshead is made from a piece of steel of unknown type.  It hasn't exactly been free machining, but its not as bad as stainless, so I've kept going.  And somehow, I broke a #43 drill on the last hole I was drilling for the adjustment screws.  It seems to have caught as it broke through, and that snapped the drill.




So, I have 7 of the 8 adjustment screws drilled and tapped, and one that has a broken drill embedded in it, in an all but inaccessible location.  I'll have to drill/tap a new hole.  It won't be symmetrical, but fortunately, this is on "the bottom", so it won't be visible.

I've also machined the connecting rod pin.  This was as simple as cleaning up a 1/4" diameter rod and cutting it to about 20 thou under 1" total length.

Next step is the "adjustment sliders" for the crosshead.  Hoping to get those done in time for the NEMES show on Feb 17th...


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## bouch (Mar 1, 2018)

Hi folks,

I was successful in "finishing" the crosshead for the NEMES show a few weeks ago, but haven't posted since before then.

Here's the crosshead, in most of its finished glory...




As you can see, I've built 4 brass "wear adjustment plates", I've put in the pin for the connecting rod (and you can see the set screws which lock it place sticking out the back, need to trim them) and I've installed the oil cups.  I still need to make the small 4-40 takeup screws to be able to tighten those adjustment plates).  Everything seems reasonably in line, the piston/rod/crosshead slides back and forth.

That leaves the only things left to be done on the engine are the connecting rod and the simple eccentric valve gear.  The length of the connecting rod (and eccentric rod) are "build to fit"

Looking at the engine, it seems that, as it currently sits, the connecting rod is quite short.  I estimate that is will only be about 6 1/2" long.  The stroke of the engine is 3 1/2", so the connecting rod is less than 2x the stroke (a number I've heard kicked around as a minimum design consideration.).
Taking the offset of the crank, and the projected length of the connecting rod into consideration, when the crank is at the top of its rotation the angle between the piston rod/crosshead and the connecting rod will be about 15.5 degrees.

Talking to a few people at the NEMES show, and looking some of the vintage engines on display, having the front cylinder head hang out over the edge of the base isn't that uncommon.  Here's one example:




One member pointed out that I could move the cylinder up almost exactly the distance between two of the crosshead guide supports, and that'll save me having to redrill every hole.

I've mocked this and he's right, and that'll give me a connecting rod length of about 8", which will reduce the max angle of the connecting rod to about 12 degrees.  3.5 degrees may not sound like much, but its about a 20% reduction.  But, 15 degrees doesn't seem too bad when you consider that this engine will never do any "real work". 
If you look up at post #31, you can see where the cylinder sits now.  Here's what it'll look like with the cylinder moved:  







You can see that I've moved the crosshead support up "1 hole", and the crosshead is still on the guide when moving the piston the full stroke.  So, I'm thinking of taking the engine apart and re-drilling the holes for the cylinder mounting studs, one of the crosshead mounting studs, and then filling any un-neccesary holes.  Fortunately, I haven't drilled the holes for the valve rod support.

I'm not sure I like the "look" of having the cylinder overhang there, but I'm thinking that the longer connecting rod trumps the aesthetics there (both in function and looks)

Anyone have any thoughts/comments/things I haven't considered?


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## bouch (Jun 27, 2018)

I've done a little work lately on the Barker engine.

In the last post, I mocked up moving the cylinder ahead by about 2" to give more length to the connecting rod.

I took everything apart, put the bed on the milling machine, and drilled some new holes.
- 2 for the new "forward" crosshead guide supports
- 4 new cylinder mounting sutds

This left a few holes in the base which are no longer necessary.  Rather than leaving them sitting out in the open, I decided to fill them.  For the first step, I took a piece of "scrap" cast iron and made in into a 3/8" square x 3.5" long blank, using the shaper.  (it started as a piece about 1/2" square, but it was hand-cut in a bandsaw so nothing was flat/square).  This I then put in a square collet.  I made short "flat head screws", threaded 10-32 (to fit the holes).  But, I didn't cut them off in the lathe, I made them 1 at a time and left the 3/8" square attached.

I countersunk the holes to be plugged, and one at a time I screwed in the plugs, using a 3/8" wrench to just tighten.  Then I used a hacksaw to cut off the plug, being careful to not mark up the top of the base.

Repeat 6 times to plug all the extraneous holes, and file the plugs down to the surface of the base. 






Four of the plugs for the cylinder mounting holes are circled in the above photo.  Of course, the two plugs in the most visible locations are also the two which are the most easily seen.  Oh well, hopefully when everything's together they won't be as obvious.

I also turned the base on the side and drilled/tapped 3 holes for the valve rod guide.  This will support the valve rod between the steam chest and the joint with the eccentric rod.  This completed all the machining needed on the base.

You can also see that I decided to paint the base.  A while back, my local hardware store had a sale on Rustoleum, selling cans of select colors for something like 50% off (I don't know why, the colors are still available)  I got a quart of "gloss navy".  Two coats of clean metal primer and 2 more coats of navy, and the base is this nice, deep blue.  Since the "dry time" for each coat was 24 hours, this took way longer than I expected 

So, the next step is to determine the length of the connecting rod.  To do this, I built one of these:






A few pictures showing how this work will be easier than trying to explain..

1) put it on the engine






flipping the crank between dead centers, adjust the distance between the two blocks so the crosshead is reasonably centered on the crosshead guide.











(you can really notice the plugged holes in this photo.  Hopefully they're not that obvious in "real life", but since I know where they are, I can't un-see them)

Now lock everything down so the blocks can't move.  After removing the adjustible connecting rod from the engine, I can put gauge pins in each block, and measure the lenght.  (note that my dial calipers aren't long enough, but my father has 12" vernier calipers that I can use to measure)

While getting everything set on the crosshead guide, I also can adjust the position of the piston/rod in relation to the crosshead so dead centers have about the same volume.  You can see the exposed threads on the piston rod, due to this adjustment, in the above photos.  I'll make a lock nut to both "fill the gap" and prevent he piston/rod assembly from rotating when the engine is running.











Time to start drawing up the connecting rod.  I want to make a "marine style" rod, even though I don't really need split bearings on either end.  I just think I'll look cool.  I have the book for the beam engine "Mary", and I'm going to use that as a template for the rod ends...

While drawing/designing, I'll probably have the shaper going making the valve rod guide.


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## bouch (Jul 5, 2018)

And the length of the connecting rod, between centers of the bearings, is 7.843".   Actual measurement was 7.851, but I shortened it to the nearest 32nd for two reasons
1) to have a "nice number" for the length
2) As you can see in the previous post, at front dead center, the crosshead is right at the end of the guides.  At rear dead center, its not quite at the ends.  Shortening the rod would help even out this minor asymmetry.

With a 3.5" stroke, that's over the "length of the connecting rod should be twice the stroke" rule of thumb by almost an inch.


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## GWH (Jul 6, 2018)

Are those casting sets till available? I s what is their contain information?


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## bouch (Jul 11, 2018)

GWH said:


> Are those casting sets till available? I s what is their contain information?



Unfortunately, no.  I bought them easily 15-20 years ago.  Pretty much no one had seen the seller until recently, when he attended (as a spectator) my club's model engineering show.  I talked to him about my engine, and he said that he enjoyed seeing how people built them with their own "interpretation" of the drawings.  But he gave no indication that he had any castings still kicking around, nor any plans to make more.

Kinda a shame.  The castings cut like butter, no voids or hard spots.  And its shaping up as an impressively sized project.  The only downsize was the drawings that came with the castings are pretty poor.  But at least that flaw got me to learn Draftsight so I could produce my own drawings.


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## GWH (Jul 11, 2018)

bouch said:


> Unfortunately, no.  I bought them easily 15-20 years ago.  Pretty much no one had seen the seller until recently, when he attended (as a spectator) my club's model engineering show.  I talked to him about my engine, and he said that he enjoyed seeing how people built them with their own "interpretation" of the drawings.  But he gave no indication that he had any castings still kicking around, nor any plans to make more.
> 
> Kinda a shame.  The castings cut like butter, no voids or hard spots.  And its shaping up as an impressively sized project.  The only downsize was the drawings that came with the castings are pretty poor.  But at least that flaw got me to learn Draftsight so I could produce my own drawings.



It looks like it would have been a


bouch said:


> Unfortunately, no.  I bought them easily 15-20 years ago.  Pretty much no one had seen the seller until recently, when he attended (as a spectator) my club's model engineering show.  I talked to him about my engine, and he said that he enjoyed seeing how people built them with their own "interpretation" of the drawings.  But he gave no indication that he had any castings still kicking around, nor any plans to make more.
> 
> Kinda a shame.  The castings cut like butter, no voids or hard spots.  And its shaping up as an impressively sized project.  The only downsize was the drawings that came with the castings are pretty poor.  But at least that flaw got me to learn Draftsight so I could produce my own drawings.


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## GWH (Jul 11, 2018)

It looks like it would have been a good project! 
Good luck with your building of it. 
Thank you for the response.


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## bouch (Jan 20, 2019)

Its been longer than I thought since I last updated this thread, but I have been slowly working on the engine.  The eccentric was the last thing I described, and now I’ve finished the rest of the valve gear.

The obvious next item after the eccentric was to finish the cast eccentric strap.  I had started machining this long ago, and now that I had the eccentric, I could make the strap to fit.  I mounted it in the 4 jaw, bored to fit the “minor diameter”.  I then modified a boring tool to cut the slot for the “major diameter”.  This can be a little oversized, as its hard to measure, and its purpose is to keep the strap from sliding off the eccentric.






After determining the length of the rod, that was a simple lathe project.  Threaded at one end, for the joint between the eccentric rod and the valve rod, and turned to .188” diameter by about 3/4” long for the interface with the strap.  A matching hole was reamed in the strap, centering it as best I could in the not-quite-exactly-round casting.  I attached the two pieces together with 5 minute epoxy.  Once that had dried, I drilled a hole for a taper pin thru the assembly, put a drop of super glue on a taper pin, and pushed it in, and trimmed it.











The afore mentioned joint between the eccentric rod and valve rod is a simple “box joint”






To keep things from flexing too much, I made a valve rod support which attaches to the base and supports the rod between the joint and the steam chest.  This turned out to be a deceptively complex pieces.  I started off by making a simple 1/2” diameter round piece of brass, 1/2” long, reamed 1/4” down the center for the valve rod.  I then took a piece of 3/8” thick brass, 3” tall by 1-1/2” wide, and milled a 1/2” diameter hollow on the top.  I silver soldered the round to top, centered.  After determining the height of the valve rod from the base, I then milled this to length, and down each side to make a tall, inverted T piece.

The base casting is wider at the bottom than it is at the top, so I determined how far from each edge the support needed to be, and soft-soldered two pieces the appropriate thickness to the support, and drilled the 3 mounting holes as needed to mount to the base.











Finally, the D valve.  Before making the eccentric, I had done some design work to determine the dimensions of the valve and the throw for the eccentric.  I used Charlie Dockstader’s program for slip eccentric to validate the dimensions I had calculated, and it looks like this will work.  Once the valve was done, and valve nut was made to fit.











This (hopefully) completes the valve gear.  The only major part still to be finished is the connecting rod.  I’ve started work on that, but I’ll describe it once its finished.  I’ve set a goal of having the engine running by the NEMES club show on Feb 16th this year.

http://neme-s.org/2019_NEMES_show-flyer.pdf

To be honest, I think I made the same goal for last year, clearly I missed that deadline, but this year I actually have a chance of meeting it.  It won’t be finished, as I’m sure It won’t be painted, and the display base won’t be where I want it to be.  But I’m hoping to see it run!


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## kvom (Jan 21, 2019)

Turned out well.  When I had to do a similar eccentric I made the strap first and turned the eccentric to match.   But my strap wasn't a casting so it was easier to do it that way.


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## bouch (Feb 3, 2019)

And the last major piece is now finished, the connecting rod.

I wanted to have a rod that was functionally simple, but looked like it had “marine style” bearing ends, with oil cups, gabs and keys.  Turned into more work than I expected, I should have just split the bearings. If these ever wear out, I'll probably do just that.  But, I do like how it looks.

First, I made the rod shaft out of a hunk of 1/2” square steel.  I mounted an over-length piece between centers and tapered the round portion.  I drilled/reamed two holes for the bearings.  Then I milled the ends to size.  When the end was milled to the proper height, the excess length (beyond the center point of the bearing holes) just fell off.  This left a nice "half-round indentation" on each end.  Then I milled to width.

The bearings are simple turnings, drilled and reamed to size.

The end caps were made from an over-length piece of stock.  I drilled two holes a good distance apart, the length of both caps, plus about 1/2" allowance.  I mounted an arbor in the lathe and manually rotated the piece 180 degrees to cut the ends round (that’s a lot of work…   )  Back to the milling machine, and removed all the material between the two holes.  Cut the piece in half, and mill each half to length







I then cheated, and assembled the ends using 5 minute epoxy.  More on why in a sec…






The reason I glued things together is to do two things.
1) drill/tap holes thru the end caps and also the bearings for the oil cups.  The oil cups are simple turnings.  Not much to say there.
2) mill a 1/16” wide by 3/16” long slot in each end for the gibs/keys.

Seemed much easier to do this with the pieces all together solidly.  Although milling a 1/16” slot thru a 1/2” thick piece of steel was an exercise in patience and light cuts.  First, I drilled three holes with a .055” drill.  I then took a “short” 1/16” end mill (cutting surface about 1/8” long) and milled out the slot until I couldn’t go any deeper, using .015” deep cuts and slow feed.  I then switched to a longer end mill (about 5/16” long)  and milled as deep as I could again.  I then flipped the piece and repeated the milling process from the “bottom” until the slot was cut thru.  Repeat on the other side.






Next up, gibs and keys out of 1/16” thick stock.  These took deceptively long to make.  I got the dimensions from the plans for the beam engine “Mary” (from Reeves), and adjusted them as needed for my size connecting rod.  5 degree taper.






And here’s a close up of one end.   (still need to clean some of the red dykem off the key there 






And the entire rod…






Now, just to make a few studs and do a little work on the display base, and I’ll be able to start assembly.  Unless things go seriously wrong, it should be assembled and running (but not finished) for the NEMES show in a few weeks.


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## bouch (Apr 8, 2019)

ITS ALIVE!!!



Now that its done, time to take it apart and get it finished


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## johnmcc69 (Apr 8, 2019)

Very nice! It's been very enjoyable watching your engine come together. Looking forward to seeing how you finish it out.

 Real nice work!

 John


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## Kenny Broomfield (Apr 13, 2019)

Wonderful read. I really enjoyed your write up and glad you kept going with this and not stopped this thread early on. 

What is the story with the Boston and Maine O scale car? Do you have a layout? I build HO trains but do Lionel at Christmas.


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## bouch (Apr 17, 2019)

Hi Kenny,

I also do a lot of model railroading.  I have 3.5" gauge live steam, N scale, and "2 rail O scale".  My son does HO.  I have both US and British prototype in the electric trains.

The "2 rail o scale" is closer to HO and N than Lionel in terms of the electronics.  There's only 2 rails, the center rail isn't there like on Lionel.  So it runs on DC/DCC.  The wheel flanges are much closer to scale, and the size of the cars are scale sized as well, not "selectively compressed" like Lionel.  It also needs much larger radius curves, 4 foot radius is tight.

I don't have a layout, but I'm a member of a club which has a 45'x20' modular layout we set up at train shows in our area.

Mike


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## Kenny Broomfield (Apr 18, 2019)

Oh nice. Besides trying to build live steam, eventual goal 7.5 inch. I do HO based on South East PA. Reading and Pennsylvania Railroad. This is a 12x32 layout. I f u had more folding money and room i would love to do Proto 48 O scale. I think that is so neat and full of detail. 

Kenny


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## RonGinger (Oct 9, 2019)

I am very sorry to report that Mike "Bouch" Boucher lost his fight with leukemia last week. This was a 6 year ordeal for Mike.

Mike was involved in the early days of the New England Model Engineering Society where he took care of all the paper work so we were legally organized. He continued to be very active, at least as far as his medical condition allowed. He was at the last show in February, but told me there he was headed to a new round of treatment the next day.

We will miss Mike at the club and his posts here.


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