# Howell  v-2 four stroke gas engine.



## gus

About to jump in to build this engine later this year. But before deciding to so,Gus has to get some assurance that he is not alone and there must be forum members who done so and succeeded and he can view their threads and ''Monkey see,Monkey do"".
Drawing bought on-lineand now being studied carefully as Gus is a 
"sure to goof" at reading dimensions and fits. Mini lathe and mini mill can just about do it. The Nemett-Lynx Engine did stretch my mini machine-tools and my beginners skill.

The Howell V-4 is but a dream to build with my existing machine-tools.


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## RonGinger

I have built several of Jerrys model and bought the plans for more. The drawings are all excellent and the write up is generally very good. If you read carefully you should be able to make any of his models.


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## Cogsy

I've never built one Gus, but I know you'll get it done. I'll be watching with interest.

Edit: It's a good looking engine. I just may use your build thread as a reference in the future when I build one.


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## mayhugh1

Gus,
Jerry Howell's V-twin was the very first IC engine I ever built. It fired right up and has been running ever since. You can see it here:

[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=McRGRD4lQY4[/ame]

The drawings are clear and easy to follow and from what I've seen of your other builds you should have no problem. I also built the V-4. It was my second IC engine. It is a considerably more difficult build, and the drawings must be religiously followed. There are a lot of close dimensions and close fitting parts. I like to make my own modifications to the builds I do, but every time I made a change to this one I got burned. The exhaust manifold castings are no longer available but I made my own. You can also see this engine running here:

[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tEWLgS1Q9eY[/ame]

Terry


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## gus

Hi Terry,

Thanks for the kind advice and encouragement. Am glad I went from building the Webster,Rupnow H&M and Nemett-Lynx Engines and the skills and experience acquired,will hopefully armed Gus to the teeth to jump in. Looks like a 12----18 months' project. Off and On will study all drawings to get a ''bottle full'' before plunging in. (''Bottle Full'' is Aussie and my Aussie Mates will enlighten.) My Aussie boss gave me an Instruction Book on a huge Ingersoll-Rand Chiller Dryer and asked me to come back with a ''bottle full'' to discuss before I take off to Indonesia to start up dryer.


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## Cogsy

Gus - almost right mate - the saying is to be a 'full bottle'. It means to be an expert about something, or to know all about it.

I was browsing Youtube to see if I could find videos of the V2 when I came across Terry Mayhugh's video, so I came back here to see if he had a build thread for you. Turns out he beat me to it .


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## Swifty

I have great confidence that you can do it Gus, you need to progress to another challenge so you can put to use those skills you learnt on the previous build.

Paul.


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## gus

Swifty said:


> I have great confidence that you can do it Gus, you need to progress to another challenge so you can put to use those skills you learnt on the previous build.
> 
> Paul.




Hi Paul,
With this engine,I plan to study drawings diligently/carefully,take notes,make high lights etc. The goofs with Nemett-Lynx Engine still haunts me and fortunately the goofs were forgiveable and easily rectified and  if not reworked or make new piece. What scarce me is the cluster or imperial  timing gears which I have to convert to metric. The KG Gear Master Catalogue sure comes in handy.Have to upgrade the DIY RT to have Indexing Dividing Plates to cut 32t and 21t. As I said will be a 9-------12 months project. May I quote--------" Biting Elephant job by mini size bits.


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## Swifty

Just be careful when converting the imperial gears to metric ones, you will have to have the same centre distance or do a lot of modification to the dimensions. 

Paul.


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## gus

Swifty said:


> Just be careful when converting the imperial gears to metric ones, you will have to have the same centre distance or do a lot of modification to the dimensions.
> 
> Paul.



Hi Paul.

You are correct.
Plan to try out on a trial plate with gears installed and hand spin. 
Select the nearest equivalent metric gears. The gear cutter may a problem but will cross the bridges when I come to them. At most go for a slightly bigger gear case/box. Jerry Howell has kind of made it into a nearly scary planetary gear train at first glance.I flunk this test question during my 3rd year in Poly. Hence Planetary Phobia. We now have 6 Polys in small Singapore to supply technicians and engineers for industries.I am so envious,they have up to date high tech machine tools and CAD and CadCam.
Ari and Tasha.
Both will be allowed access to their battery-operated pencil sharpeners once weekly by their mum,Monica. Bought them each a 36 piece Colour Pencil Set.
Thats plenty pencils to sharpen.Both landed their first trout at a kiddy fishing pond somewhere nearby Melbourne. Mum cooked it them and must their best fishy dinner.


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## gus

Hi Terry,
I got into mess and burnt when I jumped in with some mods and ended up with misfit parts on the Nemett-Lynx Engine.:wall::hDe:
Malcom gave us some very unforgiving dimensions that we must follow religiously or face capital punishment. Had to redo the outerhead and related parts. The outerhead was really a sub-assembly with many parts.This was a good lesson. Malcom's drawings can be hard to read and followed and followed we must.

I am dreaming on your radial engines. I have worked on Ingersoll-Rand 100 horsepwer Radial Compressors delivering 5000 psig for the oil rigs.Rig sanked and compressors came in bits and pieces in a crate. Took us a month to complete. 
Take Care , Maestro.


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## Swifty

gus said:


> Ari and Tasha.
> Both will be allowed access to their battery-operated pencil sharpeners once weekly by their mum,Monica. Bought them each a 36 piece Colour Pencil Set.
> Thats plenty pencils to sharpen.Both landed their first trout at a kiddy fishing pond somewhere nearby Melbourne. Mum cooked it them and must their best fishy dinner.



Rationing them is a great idea, otherwise the pencils will soon be gone. I've watched children at trout farms catching their first fish, I was just as excited as the children.

Paul.


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## gus

Swifty said:


> Rationing them is a great idea, otherwise the pencils will soon be gone. I've watched children at trout farms catching their first fish, I was just as excited as the children.
> 
> Paul.



Hi Paul,
Come this Christmas,Ari and Tasha will get Shimano Spinner and Rods from GrandPa Gus. Hooked fingers will be another story. Scrambled lines on the spool another story.Telescopic travel rods should be fine.


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## gus

Gus just jumped into the cold water and now not so cold with HMEM Forum Members' warm support.
Material came in amd all for S$120 About US$100. 
Will work on the crankcase next and take extreme care and caution as this a base for sub-assemblies. Been going over the crankcase prints umpteenth times and the work procedure rewritten a dozen time. The Nemett-Lynx Engine have taught me well. Patience and detail.No rush.No Gamble. If you don't the vital tool ,buy or DIY one, do not ever mess around with a bad tool. As usual, the mini Sakai Lathe and Sakai Mill again overstretched. Gus's machining skill and patience also overstretched.
Was a bit overdone with bar stocks.


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## Brian40

Good to see you underway with another project Gus I just love your tenacious approach to the job.
I will be watching  

Brian.


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## canadianhorsepower

will be following this for sure
good luck

Luc


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## Cogsy

I'll be following along too Gus, a very interesting engine that I'm sure you'll build well.


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## gus

Day One. 
Turned crankcase blank. As usual stretched the mini lathe to the very outer limit.  Swing over bed was just enough for square blank. Four jaw chuck also stretched likewise. Four jaw independent chucks are known for their good chucking power. For a while was quite worried with blank falling out and took precaution with light depth cuts.This was reason why blank facing took half day. Made a mistake of too much allowance on cut blank thickness.11 mm metal to face off took half day.Thickness of blank trimmed to 2.187'' is quite an achievement for Gus. Hopefully I will continue to make no mistakes on crankcase. Will take a week or longer to complete crankcase or maybe longer. Do it right the first time and every time with dedicated cutter.


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## Cogsy

Now it gets exciting Gus - chips are flying!


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## Davewild

Let's go, excellent Gus, I'm following.


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## gus

Hi Al,

I may have chewed off a big engine that I can cannot swallow and digest.  Rough dimension sketch on crankcase blank with a 150 mm steel rule to give an idea how big the engine is. Did manage to face front/back of blank. Will band saw the outline for milling. Trying very hard not to rush and make unforgiveable mistakes. Crankcase is the base to grow and build engine block by block. The power table feed on the mini mill will cut out the hand cranking. With so much metal to endmill off,power feed sure came J.I.T. Gus will sit back with Power Feed doing all the cranking.


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## gbritnell

Hi Gus,
Just be patient. I started out with a Craftsman/Atlas 6" lathe with a milling attachment. I was always over my head as far as size but it can be done. There's a great pool of knowledge on this forum so whenever you feel stressed just give us a shout. 
gbritnell


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## Swifty

Hi Gus, I have just purchased the Howell V4 engine plans as a PDF download, I just wish that the Aussie dollar and US dollar had not changed so much recently, would have been cheaper. I've printed it all out and I'm busy studying the drawings, I would like to use metric fasteners if I can, will see how it can work out.

Paul.


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## gus

Swifty said:


> Hi Gus, I have just purchased the Howell V4 engine plans as a PDF download, I just wish that the Aussie dollar and US dollar had not changed so much recently, would have been cheaper. I've printed it all out and I'm busy studying the drawings, I would like to use metric fasteners if I can, will see how it can work out.
> 
> Paul.



I have gone metric since 2004 with the very first mini oscillator steam engine.
It is nearly impossible to get Imperial Fasteners in Singapore.
The V-2 will have metric fasteners.

The V-2 Crankcase took Gus a while to accept its humongous size. The V-4 is double. Will watch like a hawk when you start machining the crankcase.

Plan to do the V-4 2016. The water pump,oil pump and radiator gives me the thrills.


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## gus

Day Two

Marking out. I have quite a few wee bitty tools. Digital Height Gage,Vee block,Protractor,Divider Starrett Scriber and a cheapy table.Use the UK Aerosol Engineers Blue.
The Makita Bandsaw was a valuable tool to have. Cut to rough profile in 15 mins. The manual hacksaw could kill Gus.


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## Brian Rupnow

Gus--You are once again impressing me. Best of luck with your build.---Brian


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## gus

Brian Rupnow said:


> Gus--You are once again impressing me. Best of luck with your build.---Brian




Thanks for the kind appraisal. I owe it to you very much. The Rupnow Engine took me into unfamiliar territories,which gave me good experience,acquire new skills,polished up old skills and gave me confidence to take on the Howell V-2.

I was about to give up on getting your engine to do the hit & miss. With your coaxing I overcame the burnt-out. Holidays in Japan did help.Fishing trips too.

Have ID my problems---------impatience and need to take longer tea breaks.
The V-2 crankcase scares me because of its size which stretched the Mini lathe and mill to its very extreme limits.

The HMEM is a good Forum with many helpful members ever ready to help.


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## gus

Day Three.
''Skimming of the pad face'' using existing vise with mini holding area is very risky. Could demolish the mill and job piece.:rant:
Looks like a DIY fixture is required.


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## kuhncw

You've picked a very nice engine to build, Gus.  The setup with the vise does look pretty risky.  I've had parts slip in the vise and when that happens things get very exciting very quickly.

Your thought of taking time to build a fixture of some type is a good idea.  A simple angle plate and c-clamps would be a big improvement.

Good luck.

Chuck


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## bazmak

Hi Gus,will follow this thread with great interest but its probably out of my reach.Last post could be remedied with a large angle plate.I made one up in a previous thread and use it a lot for this type of setup. Regards Barry


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## gus

While holidaying in HongKong2013,I bought a Vertek Angle Plate as backup. Sure hate to deface same with 3 M6 tapped holes to secure crankcase to mill the cylinder pad face. Job done to print details.

First cut was done with great care.No vibration. Next few cuts went deeper. Took great caution. Could lose the job piece and mini mill.

Next HK trip,will buy bigger angle plate but how big as I have a mini mill.:wall:


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## gus

kuhncw said:


> You've picked a very nice engine to build, Gus.  The setup with the vise does look pretty risky.  I've had parts slip in the vise and when that happens things get very exciting very quickly.
> 
> Your thought of taking time to build a fixture of some type is a good idea.  A simple angle plate and c-clamps would be a big improvement.
> 
> Good luck.
> 
> Chuck



Hi Chuck,

Gus is an incurable risk taker. But I backed off. What will go wrong,will go wrong.Having come so far to removed so much metal to make crankcase blank,I have no desire to cut another piece. Recalled buying an Angle Plate while in HongKong. While everybody was buying branded goods Gus bought a piece of Cast Iron.:hDe::rant:


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## gus

bazmak said:


> Hi Gus,will follow this thread with great interest but its probably out of my reach.Last post could be remedied with a large angle plate.I made one up in a previous thread and use it a lot for this type of setup. Regards Barry



Hi Barry,

Deep in my mind, I knew it would a bad gamble and I won't win. A win means job done. A defeat means  job ruined. So best use angle plate fixture.  Best be sure than sorry.


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## kuhncw

Gus, the new setup looks much safer.  To me, figuring out the fixturing is half the fun of this hobby.

Chuck


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## gus

Day Four.
The mini lathe will stall if I use a 20mm to drill thru. Had to call up my arsenal of twist drills and drill from 6 mm with increment of 2 mm to hit 20 mm and from there use Warner Boring Tool to hit finished bore diameter of 2.125". Gus been working very hard with tea/pee breaks in between. Started at 8am and by noon hole done. 
Encountered tool chatter. Reduce spindle speed by one step to minimise chatter mark.Was a compromise between tool chatter and bore finish. Missed print bore diameter by one thou.2.126'' I.D. Blank now looks like a crankcase.
Looks like the crankcase will take another week to get done with all the fine details.
Turning aluminum gets you a big PVC Bag of swarves. For safety purpose, best to clear swarf pan often.
Boring the internal recess cavity will be tough to look good. Found my 10 year old DIY Boring Bar.Gus taking his sweet time with small bites on this humongous crankcase. So far so good. No goofs.


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## Cogsy

Starting to take on some form now. Looking good.


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## Davewild

Gus, that is looking real cool.


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## mattty

Looking forward to watching this build. Does this engine require any castings or is it all stock.
Thanks Matt


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## gus

Hi Matt,

Absolutely no expensive castings .All bar stocks. The crankcase has about 80----90 % metal machined off. 
As I edge toward completion of crankcase,I get worried of the last cut syndrome. The last cut can make or break the crankcase. The other end of the crankcase will be recess cut today and I am working out a way to secure same.Failure will see same fly out .
Taking my sweet time nibbling away.


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## gus

Day Five and End Week One.

Crankcase internal counterbore 2.5'' x  1.5 '' long took 4 hours of hard work with many t/p breaks, HSS tool bit grinding and set-up plus several rounds of dry run to ensure no goofs and no throwaway crankcase. 

An old DIY 4-way tool post with a DIY humongous boring tool came handy.

Counterbore I.D. wee bit under size but hopefully not critical.  

Will take another week of hard work to complete. Too many minor details and some not forgiving at all.

I still have the other end to profile and I am not having ample space to secure to chuck. Another simple tool to
 make.


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## gus

Day Five, 6pm.

There is too liitle for the three jaw to to grip and secure job piece. Aluminum is too soft to get good grip. Make a plug to fit crankcase bore and apply tail stock centre to help secure. Deep cuts is ruled out.


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## Davewild

Great idea Gus, it's looking real nice, you and me suffer from the same impatience, take your time Gus it will get done, nice work.


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## gus

Davewild said:


> Great idea Gus, it's looking real nice, you and me suffer from the same impatience, take your time Gus it will get done, nice work.



Hi Dave,

Gus invested too much time on this crankcase and it would heartbreaking setback if I ruined same thru impatience and stupidity.

Was suppose to take a break and  came back at 5 pm after a long walk and went on to finish facing the other side. Took ample t/p breaks to ensure no goofs. 

Crankcase done less the small details. Will be done next week but again-------whats the hurry for??? Suppose to take our time to enjoy building engines and not to bulldoze thru. The timing gears,gear oil pump and gear casing will take at least a month to do. There are 12 module 0.8 gears to cut. Four rocker arms and 4 valves to make.


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## Brian40

Gus you are a hero with that open air workshop .
Don't forget to take some time to keep your lady happy. to much work makes Gus a dull boy.
Keeping a eye on you    Brian.


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## Swifty

Doing a great job there Gus. Just take it steady to avoid goof ups.

Paul.


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## gus

Brian40 said:


> Gus you are a hero with that open air workshop .
> Don't forget to take some time to keep your lady happy. to much work makes Gus a dull boy.
> Keeping a eye on you    Brian.




Taking Nellie away to Nagoya,Japan,  14-------19 Feb ,Chinese New Year holidays. Deal is Gus pay for air fare and hotel and she buy Gus Breakfast,Lunch and Dinner. Good Deal???


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## gbritnell

Hi Gus,
It's coming along great. I'm sure it's much easier sitting here watching then what you have to do. I would think once you get the crankcase done things should go easier as far as size. 
gbritnell


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## gus

Now setting up to align and profile mill crankcase side. My Digital Angle Level Meter went kaput and now gone back to mechanical stuffs.Bought this mechanical meter from TokyuHands last year. Sure came in handy. 
Fine tune same  to mill table before levelling crankcase side.
Still nail biting.Fear of ruining crankcase with one mis-cut. Taking my sweet time.


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## gus

Day Six.
Profile on both sides of crankcase done. No goofs.
Moving on the cutting the oil sump hole. Too much metal to remove on a mini mill. Took no chance and had the crankcase well secured.I have another 7 mm before break through. 
Looks like will be Day 7. Again. No Hurry.


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## Davewild

Looking good Gus, take your time bro.

Dave


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## gus

Day 7
9am  Break thru at last.  Am only half done.  Will try very hard not to rush. 

Looks like Day 7 will be entirely taken up milling the crankcase bottom access hole.


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## gus

Day 8.
Rough bore pad face hole with 1'' Starret Hole Saw on the cheapy MIC Bench Drill. The Angle Plate was used to secure job piece safely. Finish bore with fly-cutter/boring tool. Finish bore both holes spot on to print dimension. Counterbore done with same tool. DIY Boring Head too big and cumbersome for this small bore. Setting up and centering of boring tool took sometime. With the crankcase done,I can start growing and plant cylinders and Outerheads. Took the entire morning.


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## Swifty

Looking great Gus, it's always nice to get a main part out of the way, especially as you were pushing your machines to their limits. Looking forward to the rest of the build.

Paul.


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## digiex-chris

Glad I saw your build, your fixture is exactly what I need to deal with some lather bits on my engine. Was trying to figure out how to hold it because I've got a cheesy vise. The angle plate setup looks like it's just the thing. I'll have to follow along for the rest of it!


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## Davewild

Well done Gus, it's looking great


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## gus

Day Nine.
I seem to have a habit to buy tools ahead of time. The Makita Bandsaw sure saved Gus from hard labour manually hacksawing a 70 mm C.I. Bar. Took only 5 minutes to cut CI Bar. Made good progress. Looks like the Cylinder will take at least 2 days to get done. Cutting the fins was another nail biting job.


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## gus

digiex-chris said:


> Glad I saw your build, your fixture is exactly what I need to deal with some lather bits on my engine. Was trying to figure out how to hold it because I've got a cheesy vise. The angle plate setup looks like it's just the thing. I'll have to follow along for the rest of it!



Hi Chris,

Like you,I took a good hard look at the awfully small milling vise and knew ,its a gamble,I would sure lose. Was not convince the vise was the best option.
Have no experience using angle iron plates for mill. After setting up and test cuts, I have the confidence and assurance it would be best option. Crankcase done except for some minor details which are too early to do.

Now working on the C.I. Cylinder. Taking my sweet time and plenty of tea/pee breaks plus some light classical music like Brahms.

All success on your engine.


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## gus

Day Ten.
With a mini lathe the drilling power is not good when you hit 15 mm twist drill. Using my arsenal of drills from 3mm--------13 mm and only 14  15  16  17  18 19 20 mm to rough bore before using boring bare. For rough boring ,used the fixed steady to support job. Due excessive hangout,boring bar did chatter. The last few cuts had the steady removed and nailing biting boring went on to finish bore I.D. Did hit 0.995'' and confirmed with a Holtest Inside Mike. To get to .998" the last three repeat cuts nearly killed the job. Final bored I.D. 1.002''. 
Hole bored parallel and confirmed with Holtest Inside Mike at front and rear ends.

Cutting the bottom square flange was another brain bashing. The miiling vise would be another gamble. Went back to the Angle Plate. To prevent end snatch , used 8 mm endmill.

This first cylinder took Day Nine and Ten with Overtime to finish. Cylinder done but with one forgiveable goof-------cylinder bore 2 thou oversized. :hDe:

At last the crankcase did grow one cylinder. Remaining cylinder will be next fortnite.Cast Iron is not my preferred medium. Shirt stained very badly. Boss not happy. Bath Room has to be carefully flushed several times thoroughly to ensure no rust stains.:rant:

Next week taking darling boss to Nagoya,Japan to visit our Japanese daughter-in-law. Will be one week break.
Nagoya weather has warmed up for us. Forecast day temperatures 10--------14 C throughout our stay.


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## gus

Day Eleven & Twelve.
Machining the C.I. Cylinder is no fun,with the fine iron dust. Had to put on a mask to minimise inhaling the fine iron dust. After the two cylinders, I'ii have only two more C.I. pistons to cut. 
Getting ample practice cutting the deep fins. I have two extra fins. Cylinder No. 2 done w/o mishap.Will take time and pleasure to make the drilling jig to drill cylinder footing.


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## gus

Day Thirteen.
Took  5 hours to make drilling jig and drill/tap the holes on the cylinder foot pads and crankcase. All in 16 holes to jig-drill and eight M4 holes to tap. Gus deviated from Jerry Howell's requirement to use 6-32 fasteners.The Drilling jig took two hours to invent,mark,drill and mill. Plan to DIY my own DRO to locate hole locations. Making drilling jig is mind and energy sapping but Gus is comfortable with WW-2 MachineShop Technology. Will have to catch up with new technology.
Results was good with all holes spot on.
Crankcase now have two cylinders mounted and bolted on.Incidentally I have exactly 8 socket head M4 fasteners. 

The two Outerheads is next. And again drilling jigs is mandatory to all holes pin-point to mate with cylinder top and to receiver some sub-assemblies like valves, rocker arm supports and spark plug. Again plan to take my sweet time with no rush. Two drilling jigs required.


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## gbritnell

Hi Gus,
It's coming along great! Now that you have the biggest parts made it should be smooth sailing. 
gbritnell


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## digiex-chris

the drilling jig is a great idea! I was hoping I was accurately repeating enough with my DRO to match my front cover to my crank case on the one I'm building right now, but with a jig to do both, I wouldn't have to hope.

I've discovered with cast iron, you can reduce some of the dust by taking as heavy of a cut as your lathe will tolerate for the roughing passes. You still have to deal with the dust for the finishing passes, but at least the roughing passes seem to make big chips that fall straight down instead of flying all over the shop. The mask is a good idea regardless.


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## gus

gbritnell said:


> Hi Gus,
> It's coming along great! Now that you have the biggest parts made it should be smooth sailing.
> gbritnell



Hi Gbritnell,

Thanks for the support.


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## gus

digiex-chris said:


> the drilling jig is a great idea! I was hoping I was accurately repeating enough with my DRO to match my front cover to my crank case on the one I'm building right now, but with a jig to do both, I wouldn't have to hope.
> 
> I've discovered with cast iron, you can reduce some of the dust by taking as heavy of a cut as your lathe will tolerate for the roughing passes. You still have to deal with the dust for the finishing passes, but at least the roughing passes seem to make big chips that fall straight down instead of flying all over the shop. The mask is a good idea regardless.


  When the Star Fruit tree is in season,I could harvest the fruits but the mango tree is too faraway.


Hi Chris, 
Good idea but the mini lathe is 1/4 hp and it is doing its very best and any deeper and faster feed, will stall and belt slips. The mini lathe is again stretched to its very limits. Just wish I could buy a bigger lathe but my three open sided balcony garden machine has very limited space. Sigh. When I get tired/stressed,I would turn around and enjoy the greenery. The awning is but oversized but it keeps Gus dry and comfortable whenever it rains.


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## gus

Day Fourteen.
The OuterHead Blanks cut. The Makita BandSaw saved Gus from the very punishing hard labour of manual hacksawing 2 1/2'' x  2 1/2  x 1''  thick Aluminm Bar. With the DIY DRO I was able to mill to  exact width. The Starrett Digital Gage came in very handy to mark out and check dimension of the OuterHeads.
Both blanks took 3 hours to mill and another two hours to mark out the holes and drill and mount one O/H.
Both Heads have is a long way off to complete with so many details and parts as a sub-assembly.
Took a risk and deviated to using M4 fasteners for the cylinder mounting to crankcase and outerhead to cylinder.
The cooling fins will be done soon as the 1/8'' slitting saw comes in from Arceurotrade UK. Mini mill collet:wall: won't take 1/8'' EndMills.


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## digiex-chris

that's a very pleasant shop you have there!


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## Brian Rupnow

Gus--It is -25C outside with 16" of snow. I too envy you your "pleasant" workshop. I don't particularly mind the winters here, but by this time of year I am getting awfully tired of it, and we still have about 6 weeks to go before it really starts to let go.---Brian


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## gus

Dat 15.
Was a hot and humid day and work proceed as usual.Took my sweet time to drill/tap and mount second. Drill and reamed the valve holes and rocker arm support holes. Took great care with these holes any goofs will render Heads as scrap or oversized paper weight.
The inclined holes for spark plug and the counterboring will be tough on Gus and the machine tools. Counterborer will be DIY/custom made and heat treated. Some one gave me a 20 mm o.d. hi-tensile fastener. Hopefully it will respond to heat treatment. Backup will be case hardening to make it hard enough to cut aluminum and at last last thru counterboring 2 holes.

Tomorrow is fishing and no machining for two blessed days.


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## Davewild

Hi Gus

It's coming along great, keep taking it steady Gus and enjoy the fishing this weekend, will be in Singapore next week, will try again to hook up with you but probably will be to busy.

Dave


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## gus

Davewild said:


> Hi Gus
> 
> It's coming along great, keep taking it steady Gus and enjoy the fishing this weekend, will be in Singapore next week, will try again to hook up with you but probably will be to busy.
> 
> Dave



Hi Dave,

On some Saturdays and Sundays,you may see a white colour 28 ' Albin at anchor 300---500 meters away from Loyang Marine Base/pier. Thats Gus fishing..


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## digiex-chris

Hi Gus,

Great work, keep it up!

the counterbore doesn't need to be particularly hard to cut aluminum, two holes should be easy. A high tensile bolt should be perfect. If you can avoid annealing in order to cut it, it you probably wouldn't need to do anything to it. I wouldn't expect it to do anything when using it to counterbore steel or cast iron, but I've done similar things with un-hardened steel when cutting one or two holes in aluminum. Heck, if it dulls, sharpen it again.


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## Swifty

Hi Gus, it's coming along well. You could always make a split bush to hold smaller cutters, or make up an adaptor that will hold it.

Paul.


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## gus

Am glad ,I took a break from the machineshop. Here is foto of my best fishing session in ages. It was strike and at every bait dropped in. Hit three hot spots and it was non-stop bite. After five fish,we moved on to next spot to prevent overfishing. Five fishos each took home 4 fish.

Come Monday,Gus very much refreshed and game to hit the machineshop again.


----------



## Barnbikes

Is the spotted one a puffer fish?


----------



## gus

Barnbikes said:


> Is the spotted one a puffer fish?




Hi BarnBikes,

Its a local good eating Coral Cod Fish.  Here in Singapore we have very poisonous Puffer Fish. Puffer Fish aka Fugu are butchered by highly trained Specialist Japanese Chefs in Japan.Despite all precautions,  one or two partakers die each year.
Was in Nagoya and my Japanese daughter-in-law wanted to buy us FuGu dinner which is very expensive. I had to politely turn down offer.

I am crazy about Sushi and Sashimi and Japanese food but FuGu is a no no.


----------



## Brian40

Hi Gus I Wish I could fish I don't know why but if I drop a hook in the water the fish curl up and die of laughter, it's been that way all of my life. it's not that I don't try ??? I have two rods on the boat. one for dangling and one for trolling but never any luck.
You are surging ahead with that v twin while I am struggling to finish my engine just getting all the material and tools is a bind in Sicily. 
 Struggling on Brian.


----------



## gus

19  O.D. CounterBore done using HiTensile fastener bar. Bored to 2--3 mm depth and goes dull. Will wait for 
Case Hardening Compound to arrive. CB tooth seems a bit shallow. But trial cut on a softer aluminum bar was beyond 3 mm. Suspect I may have to anneal outerhead. Expert advice is humbly seeked.


----------



## digiex-chris

Don't forget to keep your rpm much lower than you would with high speed steel. If you provide a flute per tooth, even a straight slot, it may go deeper. It might have been just recutting its own chips because they couldn't get out of the way of the cutting edge. If you have 5-10 degrees relief there. Then I think that's all the tooth you need.


----------



## rcfreak177

gus said:


> Am glad ,I took a break from the machineshop. Here is foto of my best fishing session in ages. It was strike and at every bait dropped in. Hit three hot spots and it was non-stop bite. After five fish,we moved on to next spot to prevent overfishing. Five fishos each took home 4 fish.
> 
> Come Monday,Gus very much refreshed and game to hit the machineshop again.



Love you'r work Gus. 

Nothing beats a good feed of fish


----------



## gus

Brian40 said:


> Hi Gus I Wish I could fish I don't know why but if I drop a hook in the water the fish curl up and die of laughter, it's been that way all of my life. it's not that I don't try ??? I have two rods on the boat. one for dangling and one for trolling but never any luck.
> You are surging ahead with that v twin while I am struggling to finish my engine just getting all the material and tools is a bind in Sicily.
> Struggling on Brian.




Started fishing seriously and persistently and most days come back with nothing since 1980s. Got serious,Bought my first boat but fishing did not improve. Was a very steep learning curve. Best tidal days,ebb tide and rising and find the spots that will produce fish.Catches did improve but very erratic. Alex Chee came along and gave some and in fact lotsa spots. Whenever he was on board ,we get big fish. His spot on anchoring on the structure was good. Wasn't until yesterday when I finally realised the peculiarity of his spots------You must use sinker locate knock on the rocky structure to attract the fish. If there are good size fish,they will hit instantaneously. Can be line breakers or line spoolers.
One big problem coming,the fishy mates were jokingly taking me to task for not taking them to such productive spots prior to today. If Gus was ever consistently producing fish,he would have become a most sought after Fishy Captain/Guide. Alex's spots are very small---------size of coffee table. Very hard to locate and anchor spot on.When water is bad or feeding hour not on,they won't bite. Fresh Bait is a must. Ha ha ha.


----------



## gus

digiex-chris said:


> Don't forget to keep your rpm much lower than you would with high speed steel. If you provide a flute per tooth, even a straight slot, it may go deeper. It might have been just recutting its own chips because they couldn't get out of the way of the cutting edge. If you have 5-10 degrees relief there. Then I think that's all the tooth you need.




Hi Chris,

Got it. One Counterbore Spark Plug Hole done w/o case hardening but quite a few C/B resharpening with file. Redone relief angle to 15 degrees and c/b cuts beautifully. Mental Block removed. Second O/H will complete counterbore tomorrow 10 am.
Too bad I can't cancel order for CaseHardening Compound which will last me thru next life.

Thanks for the expert advice.


----------



## digiex-chris

you'll find another use for it. Plenty of times that I've wished I'd had some on hand.


----------



## gus

Hi Chris,
Armed with good advice from Mentor and an arsenal of lethal tools which included a DIY 3/4'' CounterBore, job was done within an hour.Gus suffers from OuterHead Phobia. Ruined two O/Hds with inclined spark plug socket holes. With second/last O/H drilled/counterbore/tapped for spark plug, can now proceed to finish O/H. I have given up with Digital Protractors which don't last and gone to Japanese Mechanical Protractor.


----------



## gus

Hi Paul,
I got away compromising with Jerry Howell's drawings. M4 Outerhead fasteners did not clash with spark plug c/bore. Jerry's hole centre distance are quite tight.
Have to take it easy today. I can't take too much ice-cream at night w/o getting sinus problem and a spinning head.


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## Swifty

Take it easy on the iceream Gus, you must be allergic to something in it. I think that the smaller plugs will look better in the heads.

Paul.


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## digiex-chris

Looks great gus! My appologies, my advice was assuming the O/H was aluminium. I misunderstood. Glad you got it done!

 In that second photo, is the block partially supported by the bolt head to the right of it? Looks like an idea I can borrow to keep the long end of something from slipping in the vise from cutting pressure.


----------



## gus

First deep fin appearing and the mini mill is protesting at being stretched to take 2'' O.D.x 1/8' Slitting Saw.
DRO and Power Feed  chipped to slowly cut fins. Had to remind myself to lower quill by 0.195'' after every fin cut.
Basis I don't get too smart or foolish or goofed,should complete finning of one O/Head today.


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## gus

Finning on oneO/Head nearly complete except two more fins. Need to raise on packers by at least 1/4----3/8 to cut same fins. Secured job holding in the milling vise is not quite possible. May have to go back using the angle plate. No rush. Just enjoy watching the one O/head taking near final shape.
Minor goof today. Got the slitting saw reversed but it still cut but very feeble. Goof happened because of arbour change.


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## gus

At last both finned O/Heads done and a discovery made. 50mm O.D. x 3.2 mm Slitting Saw is not best option on a 1/4 hp mini mill. The last two grooves which were beyond reach of saw arbor, were cut using endmill. Shallow depth and fast hand feed had one 12mm deep groove milled in 5 mins. Slitting Saw took 20 mins.
No goofs so far and fins on both O/Hds cut to satisfaction.
Sub-assemblies on O/Hd will begin to grow.


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## digiex-chris

Looks super good gus! I love it when they start taking shape!


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## gus

Day 20.

Both O/Heads completed and mounted on cylinders. Good lesson and experience gained from using 3mm endmills to mill 1/2'' deep grooves/fins. Run mill at highest rpm,shallow depth and hand crank at medium speed with periodic chip clearance to prevent cutter damage. Confirmed took 5 mins to mill groove.
No fishing today as water went bad with Red Plankton Tidal Current with floating fish farms having 80---90% of fish wiped out.
M4 Socket Head Fasteners for OuterHeads a wee bit tight. CounterBore Holes got away. Socket Heads trimmed to slightly to fit in. Bigger counterbore holes not advisable.
The O/Heads took 8 working days to complete. Time was spent making the 3/4'' counterbore,getting it to work and grooving/finning.Luckily no rejects or reworks.


Its housekeeping,clearing up all the swarfs and chips on the lathe and mill. I have another DIY counterbor to make for the crankcase top up hole. CaseHardening Compound arrived just in time.

No serious chip making next week as I have to pack fishing equipment for Burma Bank deep sea fishing March 14-----18th going for Tunas,GTs and large Groupers.

Serious metal bashing to begin March 30th.


----------



## Swifty

Gus, metric cap screws have larger proportion heads than imperial, so no problem turning the heads down a bit to fit.

Paul.


----------



## Brian Rupnow

Nice work Gus!! You're not the first man to turn down the heads of capscrews. It's never a great idea, but then again, like you, I subscribe to the philosophy "Whatever it takes to make it work!!!"---Brian


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## Charles Lamont

For making tool like you counterbores why not use silver steel (drill rod)?


----------



## gus

Swifty said:


> Gus, metric cap screws have larger proportion heads than imperial, so no problem turning the heads down a bit to fit.
> 
> Paul.



Hi Maestro Paul.

You are very sharp. Cap O.D. 6.84----6.91mm . Turned it down to 6.60. All 8 socket heads fit in nicely.
Made a counterbore for the Crankcase Oil Plug Hole. CaseHardened but this simple counterbore can only cut shallow depth cut,good enough to take ''O" ring.Did file test to confirm hardness.
Next attempt will do it the '' Taig'' design with flukes to do deeper counterbores using medium carbon steel.
Have not done casehardening since trade school 1961----63. But the instructors did not teach us to reheat to cherry red and quench to get hard surface.


----------



## gus

Charles Lamont said:


> For making tool like you counterbores why not use silver steel (drill rod)?




Hi Charles,

How sad. I have 3/8''   1/2''   Silver Steel and no 3/4'' So had to make do with casehardening hi tensile steel. Plan to buy some 3/4  and 1'' Silver Steel. Best to have them tagged Silver Steel. 
Making good DIY CounterBores for now to Gus is a black art. However with persistence will turn it around.


----------



## gus

A fishy mate called. Some fishos landed good catches yesterday. So I changed my mind and went fishing. Gus no the champ with only two but his fishy mate landed five. Here is shot of the Ugly Beast(Gus) holding the 2.8kg,6.2 pounder Beauty(Javelin Fish). Metal Bashing tomorrow.


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## gus

Day 21 
There is a long unending list of small parts to make.
*Crankcase Oil Filler Plug *
Took entire day to turn,thread-die and mill the hex head. The DIY RT with graduated table came in handy to mill the mini hex head.

*Crankcase Oil Filler Hole* 
Having come so far,I had no desire to ruin same and make new c/case. Had same firmly held in ToolMaker's Vise to drill.tap and counterbore. Made a casehardened 15 mm O.D. Counterbore.This engine requires quite a few DIY tooling,jigs and fixtures.Japanese Spiral Tap and Tapmatic Tapping Fluid with cut very clean and good looking threads.


----------



## gus

Day 22.
*Valve Guides*
Been working very hard. Turned 4 Brass Valve Guides. To prevent grabbing and messed up Guides,had to regrind drill rake.First piece took two hours but all four took 4 hours. 

*Tappet Valves*
Above were straight forward to turn though first piece took an hour but all in,four pieces took 2 hours to get done.
Come Day 23 .Will be fitting on valves and guides to O/heads. Tappet Valves and guides have to be hand lapped. Valves were not parted off from bar stock and was left with a short butt to provide hand/finger hold for lapping. This idea was invented by Brian Rupnow. Thanks!!! Brian.


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## Brian Rupnow

Gus--I have found that with valve guides it is better to not put the valve seat in them until they are pressed/loctited into place in the cylinder head. That is because the guides can deform if the pressing in requires much force, the guides will go out of round. I generally press/loctite the guides into place, then use my Geo Britnell tool to put the valve seat in by hand, then lap the valves into the seats  "in place'. I get more consistant results that way.---Brian


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## gus

Brian Rupnow said:


> Gus--I have found that with valve guides it is better to not put the valve seat in them until they are pressed/loctited into place in the cylinder head. That is because the guides can deform if the pressing in requires much force, the guides will go out of round. I generally press/loctite the guides into place, then use my Geo Britnell tool to put the valve seat in by hand, then lap the valves into the seats  "in place'. I get more consistant results that way.---Brian




Hi Brian,

Thanks for the timely alert advice. I did get deformed valve seats with earlier engines. Pressed in guides did get deformed with very tight fits.Spent too much time lapping and lapping and lapping. Taking my sweet time enjoying making the small and vital parts.The V-2 Carb will be very challenging.Will loctite in the guides tomorrow. Lapping will be done very much later.Sure hate to get lapped tappet valves mixed up and mismatched.
This was learnt from previous engines.:hDe: 
Gus now reformed machinist and engine builder. Best to study/scrutinise/comprehend every drawing and write up work procedures and also ensure I have the right tools for the right job and if not DIY them. The odd size counterbores were good examples. 
Trust warm weather coming your way. Meanwhile we are having a dry spell which means no rain and good fishing.


----------



## digiex-chris

another thanks! I was going to cut the seats with the valve guides on the lathe and then press them in but I guess I'll change my tactic and plan on making a seat cutter. Would it be safe to thin the seat on the lathe (cut the angle on the face, and angle in the throat, of a 3 angle seat), but don't cut the 45 degree angle seat that contacts the valve seat until it's installed? That would mean you'd only have to make 1 valve seat cutter instead of 3.


----------



## Brian Rupnow

digiex-chris said:


> another thanks! I was going to cut the seats with the valve guides on the lathe and then press them in but I guess I'll change my tactic and plan on making a seat cutter. Would it be safe to thin the seat on the lathe (cut the angle on the face, and angle in the throat, of a 3 angle seat), but don't cut the 45 degree angle seat that contacts the valve seat until it's installed? That would mean you'd only have to make 1 valve seat cutter instead of 3.


No one I know does a 3 angle grind on valve seats meant for a 1/4" or 3/8" diameter valve. There is only one angle involved, and that is the 45 degree angle cut with the George Britnel style valve cutting tool---and that is cut by hand, not under power.


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## digiex-chris

Brian Rupnow said:


> No one I know does a 3 angle grind on valve seats meant for a 1/4" or 3/8" diameter valve. There is only one angle involved, and that is the 45 degree angle cut with the George Britnel style valve cutting tool---and that is cut by hand, not under power.



I suppose if you keep that cut shallow enough you avoid making too wide of a seat. Thanks! I'll give that a shot.


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## gus

Brian Rupnow said:


> No one I know does a 3 angle grind on valve seats meant for a 1/4" or 3/8" diameter valve. There is only one angle involved, and that is the 45 degree angle cut with the George Britnel style valve cutting tool---and that is cut by hand, not under power.




Hi Brian,

SOS SOS.

Please e-mail George Britnell Valve Cutter.


----------



## gus

Day 23.
*Exhaust and Intake Ports via Brass Valve Guide.*
As I was about to plunge in with standard 6 mm drill bit into the Aluminium O/Head and thru to valve guide,I pulled back. The Brass Valve Guide would snatch/grab/pull drill bit and damage O/Head.Regrind twist drill with modified rake. All four ports safely done.

*Valve Stem Pin Hole*
I have four tappet valves which took 4 hours to make. Recalled I made a drilling jig for this purpose. All 4------2mm pin holes done w/o mishap. As a precaution, I use brand new quality drills. No cheapy M.I.C. drills.


----------



## Brian Rupnow

Gus--This is the George Britnell valve seat cutting tool, and it is amazing!! There are a few write ups about it on the website, but I can't find them just now. Material is 01 (oil hardening) or W1 (water hardening) steel. The largest diameter must be larger than the head of your valve and can generally be 1/2" or whatever metric size is considered a "stock" size close to 1/2". the smallest diameter is designed to be a "good sliding fit" through the valve guide. The next larger diameter should be about .020" to .030" less than the hole in the valve cage directly above the valve guide hole. The taper is 45 degrees. The diameter directly above the taper should be about .080" larger in diameter than the maximum diameter of the valve seat.  The four facets are cut in by plunge cutting to center with an end mill four places at 90 degrees, then filing a small relief angle running back from each cutting edge. (be sure NOT to hit the cutting edge with the file.)  First the valve cages are turned (seats not cut) and press fitted/loctited into the cylinder head. Then the smallest diameter on the tool gets a bit of light oil and is inserted into the hole in the valve cage, untill the 45 degree angle face is resting on the sharp edge of the hole in the valve cage. Now--with a light hand pressure turn the tool through a couple of full turns.  This cuts a perfect valve seat every time. The seat should only be .015" to .020" maximum, not more. The tool can be hardened by flame and quench, but if the valve seats you are cutting are brass, it doesn't really need to be hardened.


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## gus

Thanks Brian.

Will  DIY Valve Seat Cutting Tool soon as I get back from Burma Deep Sea Fishing. Currently using a countersink on the lathe to cut seat and results erratic. Did come across same cutters in engine rebuild shops many years ago and it looked more like mitre gears to a 10 year old Gus. Our DIY Valve Seat Cutter ---------money cannot buy.


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## gus

Day 24.

The outerheads have some parts growing and sprouting on the topside. Inlet/Exhaust valve assemblies and Rocker Arm Posts.Valve Springs came from an assorted box of springs and they are M.I.C. I have some spring wires and may DIY valve springs if the M.I.C. Springs don't stand up to short runs. Not to worried as they are subjected to direct exhaust heat.
The valves will be lapped at the latest stage to prevent WIP damage.One must not frust over the number of mini parts to make and its  best to enjoy making them as most are simple to make.


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## Piston_Broke

Looking good, Gus. I will post an update soon, very busy with work lately.


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## gus

*Day 25*
*Rocker Arm Post*
 The 4 clevises and M3 holes took the whole morning. Had a near disaster breaking a 2.8 mm drill which was not ground to drill brass. Fortunately the job piece was not damaged. Jerry Howell's drawings called for clevis end to be radius trimmed. Had to make do with chamfer.Clevises doesn't look to bad with chamfering.
Stopped work at 12 noon for lunch and pack for Saturday 14 March Burma Banks Fishing Trip.


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## gus

About decided to buy 48 D.P. Gear Cutters to cut the Imperial Timing/Oil Pump Gears. Best not to fool around deviating from Jerry Howell drawing and monkey around with metric gears. I have three cutters to buy from GlobalIndustrial.com.  Cutters #5    #7    #4. I feel safe and confident using the prescribed 48 DP Spur Gears
and the gear case dimensions to machine,assemble and build up gear case which houses the timing gears,cams,oil pump and ignition timing disc.This way I don't have to re-invent same. The gear case is an assembly with numerous sub-assembllies. My track record is so far so good with with scraps or reworks.


----------



## Cogsy

You're flying along Gus, wish I could make progress as fast as you! Meanwhile, I've had 3 attempts at making usable rocker arms for me Peewee. Rework and remake are just a normal part of the job for me.


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## Davewild

It's looking great Gus, keep up the good work, no progress for me stuck in Batam and it to hot, have a great time fishing.

Dave


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## Brian40

Gus you are eating it just love to see your work.
Re your comments on building my Highlander, I have redone the drawings  so it is possible to do it on a smaller lathe. without resorting to boring on the mill
 thanks 
 Brian.


----------



## gus

Davewild said:


> It's looking great Gus, keep up the good work, no progress for me stuck in Batam and it to hot, have a great time fishing.
> 
> Dave



Had a great 4 day fishing trip at Burma Banks,Burma. Jiggers Heaven with so many 3----5 kg Yellow Fin Tunas. Released a 200 kg HammerHead. Was awesome to see it brought up to surface. Too risky to cut leadeer/hooks and had to cut my expensive 80# Braided Lines. Also hooked a 12kg Doggie Tuna.Was a great fight.

Take care.


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## Dale66

Hello all, new member Dale checking your progress on the H V T
You can't imagine how helpful this info is for me !
Are you going to keep posting until the project is finished ?
This is why I joined this forum , now I feel more confident as I get ready to start work on mine.
Thanks again keep the info coming.
Dale


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## gus

Dale66 said:


> Hello all, new member Dale checking your progress on the H V T
> You can't imagine how helpful this info is for me !
> Are you going to keep posting until the project is finished ?
> This is why I joined this forum , now I feel more confident as I get ready to start work on mine.
> Thanks again keep the info coming.
> Dale




Hi Dale,
Will resume work and post tomorrow.Gus down with mild flu. At 73,best to recover completely before work.


----------



## gus

*Rocker Arms*
The rockers measured O.L. 1.1.540'' looks easy to make but it took Gus one week with 4 rejects as part of learning curve.The second batch inspite of all the careful marking out and scribing looked with non-identical quadruplets.Free hand profiling by eyeball left behind a mess to clear up.
*Bush Engineered Fixture.*
The three 1/8 holes served as datum to mill to 3/8'' mid-span width and from help in making a make swift profiling jig using the vise and 1/8 drill as pivot. Aligning was easily done by eye-ball.
 Radiusing the ends is another learning curve. Greedy Gus nearly ruined one R/Arm.


----------



## gus

*Day 26*
Now happy with the 4 Rocker Arms fitted and pinned.

Deviated from Jerry's prints and instead of using ''E'' clips,I went on to using split pins to secure pin.
1.5 mm holes were easily done with an existing drilling jig w/o which all pins would be impossible to drill.

May skip radius profiling the other end of R/A.


----------



## Swifty

Gus, when I rounded the tops of my rocker arm supports for the V4, I turned up some buttons to the correct OD to suit and used them as a guide when filing the rads. Made it very easy, and impossible to go too far.

Your head assemblies are coming on great.

Paul.


----------



## gus

*Day 26 pm*
Did a bit manual fitting,with dummy rocker arm bearings put in. Valves now easliy actuated with RA.Bearings from ArcEuro has yet to arrive for final fit up. Socket head fasteners are used temporary till split pins arrive.
The Clavises(clevi??) need to be reworked to eliminated the obstruction.Jerry Howell's dimensions/ctr distance etc are not to be messed with. Deviate too much and you get messed up. 
Starting work on the Carbs seems as planned for next week. Some custom tooling required to grind good jet needles. Holders and jigs required to hold mini grinder. Or perhaps DIY a mini Tool Post Grinder with Sewing Machine Motor. 
 Its week-end fishing again and weather is fine and water pristine .


----------



## Brian40

Hi Gus 
 I have been head down trying to finish the paper work for my engine so I have missed your progress,
you really are getting a shift on it all looks  A  OK  to me .
I have just put my boat in the water after antifouling so now I wait for the good weather that has been lacking so far.
Keep up the good work,  Brian


----------



## Swifty

Hi Gus, whilst browsing the Internet I came across this site, have you seen it yet. http://www.jerry-howell.com/forums/index.php?board=15.0 You may pick up some ideas.

Paul.


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## canadianhorsepower

Gus 
I don't know what plans you have but check this out
http://www.jerry-howell.com/V2-Revisions.html


----------



## gus

canadianhorsepower said:


> Gus
> I don't know what plans you have but check this out
> http://www.jerry-howell.com/V2-Revisions.html



Hi Luc,

Thanks for the alert. I bought the latest edition which has yet to give me any problems.


----------



## gus

*Day 27------30 *.
*The Humble Rocker Arm/Clevis Pivot Pins*

As usual I did not pay to much attention turning out pivot pins which I imagine would be easy meat to tackle. Of the first batch of ten,I had seven rejects(see small dish) which were too tight/sloppy/short/long etc. Had to come up with a rout sheet,step by step/beginning to end to turn pins.
Building a turret/capstan to turn 12 pins not viable. With the QCTP,steel rule,caliper and slide dials finally got 14 good pins done. DRO would have greatly helped too.


----------



## gus

*Day 30*

The Rocker Arm Tappet Bearings arrived today from ArcEuro UK.
The pivot pins were good fitting. Rocker Arms,Clevis and Bearings finally fitted on. Rocker Arms worked smoothly w/o obstructions.Mini Bearing were too small and Country of Origin not checked.Not surprising,its not M.I.C.aka Made in China.Could also be Made In Singapore by NMB aka Nippon Miniature Bearing,Singapore.


----------



## gus

*Day 31*
*Carb Body*

I barely scraped thru Technical Drawing in Singapore Polytechnic 50 years ago. Till today I have problem with first angle or whatever angle projection. With this handicap,it took me a long while to figure out the Carb Body.

Cut two blanks. 
Skimming off to length/width/height is fastest done with 4 jaw chuck.Would take a while longer on the mill.

Broke a Japanese SKC M2 Hand Tap but fortunately was clean break and easily removed.Was so used to machine tap and gone quite stupid with hand taps. One semi-finished Carb Body done with fuel passage to drill next week. 
Was simpler than I thought.The two entire Carb sub-assembly with take a week or so to complete. No hurry best to do it right the first time.Too many small delicate parts to make.

Its weekend fishing again.


----------



## gus

*Carb Body*

Demise of the very first V-2 Carb,it went to the scrap bin. The Spray Bar clashed with the Throttle Barrel.
So careful read centre distance measurment three time, measured and checked two time and yet I goofed.
After a good day fishing,my mind was relaxed and alert and error found. :hDe::rant:
Here's my Red Snapper on loan for foto shots.


----------



## mayhugh1

Gus,
Be extra careful with the carbs. They're pretty complicated, and you need to make the second one as a mirror image of the first. Jerry only gives you drawing detail on the first. - Terry


----------



## gus

mayhugh1 said:


> Gus,
> Be extra careful with the carbs. They're pretty complicated, and you need to make the second one as a mirror image of the first. Jerry only gives you drawing detail on the first. - Terry



Hi Terry.

Thanks. 

The drawing was tough to follow. Did a hand sketch isometric to get a good idea. Will take time to cut the first piece followed by the mirror image piece.
Thought I did a good job but discovered the 1/4 hole for spray bar collide with the the 5/16 throttle hole. I have a good reason to make the small tough pieces now and not rush after main engine completion.


----------



## Cogsy

gus said:


> I have a good reason to make the small tough pieces now and not rush after main engine completion.


 
Well put Gus. I think I'll follow your example and get the carb, spark plugs and maybe even the radiator done before I get too far into the main engine build of my Peewee. I often suffer from rushing the last bits and always seem to leave the most difficult or fiddly bits til the end.

Hopefully next Tuesday I'll be able to get back into my shop and start building again.


----------



## gus

*CARB BODY*

Good News.
While marking/scribing the second carb blank and confirm Spray Bar not clashing with Throttle Barrel,found first potential scrap Carb OK. No Clash. 
Must have been cross-eye when I checked on Saturday 11th.;D:hDe:
 Will go on to make Carb Flange. Another simple jpb piece to make it look good.


----------



## gus

[BDay 32-----35[/B]
*Carb Body*

At long last two good carb bodies and and I got it right left carb and right carb. Scrapped two carbs. These will make good fishing sinkers. Looking a the carbs now which are not too complicated but some I goofed reading the carb drawing and messed up two carbs. After the first carb, I got a better idea of how carb looked like and where/how did I goofed.


----------



## gbritnell

Hi Gus,
You're making great progress even with the fishing breaks in between. Here in the States we use what's know as third angle projection. Being that Jerry's drawings were done here that is the drawing format that they're in. In other parts of the world they use first angle projection. Here's how you read third angle projection. Lay your right hand flat on the table and call it the top view. Now rotate your hand so that your thumb stays on the table and your small finger rotates up (counterclockwise). This would be the right side view. For the front view rotate your wrist up leaving the tips of your fingers on the table. 
I know it can be confusing. A lot of English and German drawings that I worked with were first angle and I had to be careful until I go used to them. 
gbritnell


----------



## gus

gbritnell said:


> Hi Gus,
> You're making great progress even with the fishing breaks in between. Here in the States we use what's know as third angle projection. Being that Jerry's drawings were done here that is the drawing format that they're in. In other parts of the world they use first angle projection. Here's how you read third angle projection. Lay your right hand flat on the table and call it the top view. Now rotate your hand so that your thumb stays on the table and your small finger rotates up (counterclockwise). This would be the right side view. For the front view rotate your wrist up leaving the tips of your fingers on the table.
> I know it can be confusing. A lot of English and German drawings that I worked with were first angle and I had to be careful until I go used to them.
> gbritnell



Thanks for the tip. 
At last,I have the mirror image  Carb done. Will machine all the carb parts to complete the Two Carb Sub-Assemblies and air intake filters. Quite a big pile of parts required on the Outer-Heads. The Throttle Levers and Linkage Rod and clevis. The Breather Sub-Assembly. I really admire Jerry Howell's ingenuous skill in designing all his engines. His specified dimensions are not to be messed with. Gus is  still very much a beginner in engine building. 
Thanks for the support. Hopefully one of these days we get to meet at some model engine shows in US and talk shop.


----------



## gus

*Day 36 and 37*
*Carb Body*
The last carb bodies posted have unforgivable errors. Omitted the Idling fuel passage and there is no space left to drill same passage.
Made another two new piece and all turned out to be as per drawing.
1/4'' Reamer served as a mandrel to turn 3/8 O.D. male connection. Loctite hardened and locked on safely in just 15 mins.
To prevent goofing on left hand and right carb body,I did a complete marking/scribing carb.
Terry was right ,we have to be very careful with the machining of the carbs to avoid having to make 1/2 dozen before arriving at two good carbs.


----------



## gus

*Day 38*
*Spray Bars*

Not a very productive day in terms of work done and job pcs count. Took up entire morning to centre pop,drill and tap 4 M2 holes and two spray bars. One spray bar had a broken 0.030'' drill. Jerry Howell specified using 0.020''. Carb tuning will be a bit rough. Have yet to pick up the Black Art of drilling 0.20'' and below orifice holes.:hDe:
Broke one M2 ''SKC'' Japan hand tap.Total count of broken M2 Hand Tap --------3 pcs for this engine job. Found two expensive ''Linc'' Japan Spiral Point Machine Tap and finished all 4 M2 holes using 1.7 mm drill tap. 

Very unproductive day but I kind of enjoyed doing such intricate job pcs.
Been a tap and drill breaking day!!!:wall:

Time passed so fast and its weekend fiiiissshhhing again.


----------



## nx06563

Just picked up on this thread and haven't read it all but wanted to put my thoughts in.  
My last build was Jerry's V twin and I truly enjoyed it.  It pushed my skill levels to the limits but the prints were excellent.
I struggle with cutting gears since I haven't figured out how to accurately center my fixtures on the rotary table.  I cheated and bought pinion wire for the two main gear sizes.  I know its cheating but I wanted it to run, which it does very well.
Had a struggle getting the valve timing right but finally got it.

Your work looks great (better than mine) have fun.

Hogan


----------



## gus

nx06563 said:


> Just picked up on this thread and haven't read it all but wanted to put my thoughts in.
> My last build was Jerry's V twin and I truly enjoyed it.  It pushed my skill levels to the limits but the prints were excellent.
> I struggle with cutting gears since I haven't figured out how to accurately center my fixtures on the rotary table.  I cheated and bought pinion wire for the two main gear sizes.  I know its cheating but I wanted it to run, which it does very well.
> Had a struggle getting the valve timing right but finally got it.
> 
> Your work looks great (better than mine) have fun.
> 
> Hogan



Hi Hogan,

Please advise gear vendors website address.


----------



## gus

Long ago found this micro drill chuck on LMS but they cost a bomb.
Arceuro Trade gave me a best deal. With this device, I can hopefully drill the 0.020" Carb Jet Orifice. With the specified jet orifice, carb tuning will be fine whereas the 0.030 might be rough and narrow. However Will try out both orifice.


----------



## gus

*48 Pitch Gear Cutters.*

Found a UK based vendor--TracyTools who ship to Singapore and Oz. Hopefully by next week I will get good news on pricing,availability and delivery time. Substituting with Module 0.5 with be tough and the gear mesh center distance have to be worked out abd Gus is no gear application expert.


----------



## Swifty

Hi Gus, I looked at changing the V4 gears to module instead of DP, too many changes have to be made. I still have to order my 48DP cutters yet, I don't know why they are so much dearer than module.

Paul.


----------



## nx06563

Gus, I bought my pinion wire from SDP-SI.com which is "Stock Drive Products- Sterling Instrument".

I got a kick out of your comments on  the carburetor build.  When I finally got a good one I built another one just like the other one.  Duh-  now I had two of the  same side carbs.  Carbs and gears- not easy.

keep up the good work.

HOgan


----------



## gus

nx06563 said:


> Gus, I bought my pinion wire from SDP-SI.com which is "Stock Drive Products- Sterling Instrument".
> 
> I got a kick out of your comments on  the carburetor build.  When I finally got a good one I built another one just like the other one.  Duh-  now I had two of the  same side carbs.  Carbs and gears- not easy.
> 
> keep up the good work.
> 
> HOgan



Hi Hogan,

Thanks. Will buy one size each to use as direct indexing to cut gears.


----------



## gus

*Fuel Jet Needle*

Gus can't buy these needles. Using hand stitching needles ruled out as 2-56 thread won't take on.Going for the next size thread also ruled out due to space limit.
Just figure out a way to grind the needle sharp points( may not be the best or workable) but rather than reinventing,may be best to hear from the maestros who has succeeded making Carb Fuel Jet Needles. There are many ways to skin a cat.

Howell V-2 Engine demands too many skills and experience to do. Certainly not for the chicken-hearted beginners(include Gus).

I have 4 Fuel Jet Needles to make.;D


----------



## Cogsy

Good timing Gus, I built the needle for my Peewee carb today. I used a hand sewing needle (1.2mm dia, 0.047") and a 2-56 thread. I'll be posting the details in my Peewee thread later but I can tell you that it is fairly easy to squeeze the needle into the thread size. I peck drilled 0.25mm at a time for about 9mm and didn't have an issue. Seemed like I could have gone much deeper if I'd needed, but do you really need 0.450" of thread? That works out to at least 20 turns of adjustment on the needle and normally we only use a few, 5 at most in my experience. If you trim the thread length down you won't have to drill as deep.


----------



## mayhugh1

Gus,
I started with a ss SHCS in the lathe and turned the tip using the cross slide and a very sharp tool. I then pressed the head of the screw into a brass turned knurled disk. I don't think I quite made the whole .2" for the tip, but i got close. I heard the tip about the needle only after I did mine or I probably would have tried it. - Terry


----------



## gus

mayhugh1 said:


> Gus,
> I started with a ss SHCS in the lathe and turned the tip using the cross slide and a very sharp tool. I then pressed the head of the screw into a brass turned knurled disk. I don't think I quite made the whole .2" for the tip, but i got close. I heard the tip about the needle only after I did mine or I probably would have tried it. - Terry




Hi Terry,

Thanks for kind advice.
Took  calculated gamble. Set angle at 5 degrees and with a very sharp HSS tool ,did a rough cut on the needle point,followed with grinding at 30,000 rpm with wannabe Dremel Grinder bought from TokyuHands last year and ground the point.
The Japanese Sakai Mini Lathe was able to take thou by thou though cutter was slightly off center.Sure glad I spent a bit more to buy Japanese Quality Lathe.
I have two more needles to go. Singapore have a dry/hot/humid spell making it uncomfortable to work.   



Took five blanks to make two good Needles.
Took an hour to mentally design and make adapter to hold mini grinder.Some time later will go into end mill sharpening with same contraption but must provide for relief .


----------



## Swifty

Gus, your gears should be a simple 2:1 ratio, what number of teeth do they call for on the drawing? I will have a look at how a mod.5 cutter would work out.

Paul.


----------



## gus

Swifty said:


> Gus, your gears should be a simple 2:1 ratio, what number of teeth do they call for on the drawing? I will have a look at how a mod.5 cutter would work out.
> 
> Paul.



Hi Paul,

Timing Gear Train 32T          16T

Spacer  21T      

13T  Oil pump

Thanks for the kind help.

Hot and humid.  No wind.   Can only work between 8----10am.
This weekend good fishing.


----------



## Swifty

Hi Gus, I would have to see a drawing of the gear train, I have only found half a sheet on the internet that shows some mods where the gears go. From that half sheet, it doesn't look like you can change from 48DP.

Follow my V4 build, as I have decided to make a hob again, this time for 48DP. At least I will only have to make 1 cutter to cover all the gears.

Paul.


----------



## gus

Hi Paul,

See attached. Will go metric and backup will be Imperial.  Module 0.8 means  bigger gear case.
Module 0.5 is slightly smaller than the 48 pitch. Will take gamble. If i failed then at least the people who planned to build same engine are informed.

Gus may end up with half dozen gear case fishing sinkers.


----------



## Cogsy

Just from a quick look and trying to get my head around it, it looks like quite a problem to change the gear sizes.

The 16 tooth gear appears centred in the crankcase, but making all your gears smaller means the oil pump will need to move closer to the centre to maintain mesh. 

Then the 32 tooth gears and the mated first set of 21 tooth gears will all also move towards the centre. Then the final 21 tooth gears on the cams will move towards the centre, with the error accumulating through the gear train.

From what I can see, the cams will be deeper in the crankcase, needing longer cam followers, and also closer together as well. If you can't change the position of the cam followers then I imagine the valve timing is possibly going to be altered by having the cams offset to the centre of the followers. I guess you could allow for the cams getting closer as they move towards the centre, but the followers would need to be even longer and of course assuming you have the room to move them that much.

This is all theoretical and you're in a much better position to know the amount of changes you need to make, but I think I'd be doing the math and drawing it out on paper before you commit to cutting metal if I were you.


----------



## gus

Hi Al,
From Day One, i saw the problem and mentally plan to make it work with Module 0.8 or 0.5 Gears. Won't be easy. Will do a mock-up. The Gear meshing centtre distance will be another problem but the Model Engineer Magazine had an article to the gears together and pop centre.
If I succeed then it will helpful for others using Module 0.5 gears.Failure of which splash $$$ to buy 48 pitch Gear Cutters as backup.:rant:
Or go to SDP-SI to buy the gears buy I still have one problem the shaft pinion gear.
Gus caught between the frying pan and fire.:rant:  No worries.Mate!!!


----------



## mayhugh1

Gus,
There is also the option of making your own form tools to cut your own involute gears. Its really not difficult, the cost is practically zero, and you have the skill and equipment to do it. The process is to make a cutter out of a pair of hardened buttons which is used to make the form tool, and then the form tool is used to make the gear. The form tool is essentially the same high dollar cutter you've been looking at in the catalogs. Here are two links explaining the process if you aren't already familiar with it. I made my own very small diameter cutter to make a tricky integral crankshaft gear for my radials. I was able to skip the button tool step because I could create the form tool on my CNC lathe, but when done the form tool cut nearly perfect teeth in steel on two crankshafts and two practice parts before it was loaned out and destroyed. - Terry

http://www.metalwebnews.com/howto/gear/gear1.html

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/threads/41591-involute-shaft?highlight=involute+shaft


----------



## Swifty

Terry and Gus, that method of making cutters will give you nice back clearance on the shape, although the cutters will only suit a certain number of teeth, in the case of the V2, 3 cutters will be needed. Whereas, if you make a hob, it will cover all the range. That is the way I will go.

Paul.


----------



## gus

Swifty said:


> Terry and Gus, that method of making cutters will give you nice back clearance on the shape, although the cutters will only suit a certain number of teeth, in the case of the V2, 3 cutters will be needed. Whereas, if you make a hob, it will cover all the range. That is the way I will go.
> 
> Paul.



Hi Paul,

Big problem. I know nothing about hobbs,gear hobbing and hobbing machine.
Some months back I did have a dream/vision of building my own mini hobbing machine after surfing YouTube.(Ha ha Ha .Very ambitious).
Will be watching your every move to get educated on hobbing.  
No worries .Mate. !!!

Will be able to work longer with M.I.C. S$37 Stand Fan. Soon after assembling the fan, the very first season wind came. S$37 gone!!!:rant: 

Making routing notes/steps to turn/mill/fit throttle barrel.


----------



## Cogsy

gus said:


> I know nothing about hobbs,gear hobbing and hobbing machine.


 
This type of 'hob' isn't used on a hobbing machine but as a milling cutter. You make one cut and index your gear blank one tooth and cut again, then repeat for all the teeth (plus 3 from memory). Here's the link to a very good page explaining the process and how to build, and use, the straight hob - http://www.helicron.net/workshop/gearcutting/gear_cutter/.

The navigation bar on the right side of the page has links for calculating the cutter dimensions, explaining how it works, etc.

Have a read, it's interesting stuff.


----------



## Swifty

Gus, as Cogsy said, a hob is just a cutter with the correct rack shape on it. It is relieved to produce cutting edges. The hob is used about half way up the cutter so that you have the same amount of teeth above as well as below the blank, although you do have to have a tooth lined up on centre. As you feed the blank into the cutter, it is cutting on a few teeth at the same time, as you index the blank around and cut the other teeth, a near enough tooth form is produced.

Paul.


----------



## gus

Cogsy said:


> This type of 'hob' isn't used on a hobbing machine but as a milling cutter. You make one cut and index your gear blank one tooth and cut again, then repeat for all the teeth (plus 3 from memory). Here's the link to a very good page explaining the process and how to build, and use, the straight hob - http://www.helicron.net/workshop/gearcutting/gear_cutter/.
> 
> The navigation bar on the right side of the page has links for calculating the cutter dimensions, explaining how it works, etc.
> 
> Have a read, it's interesting stuff.



Hi Al,

Thanks. Wasn't as complicated as I thought. I am having some bright ideas.
Still stuck at the Carb Department. One throttle barrel done and one more to go. Hard to believe 4 hours to drill two orifice,drill/tap M3,turn and mill. One catch, we left hand and right hand carb and throttle same too left& right hand.;D    Snail pace.:wall:


----------



## gus

Swifty said:


> Gus, as Cogsy said, a hob is just a cutter with the correct rack shape on it. It is relieved to produce cutting edges. The hob is used about half way up the cutter so that you have the same amount of teeth above as well as below the blank, although you do have to have a tooth lined up on centre. As you feed the blank into the cutter, it is cutting on a few teeth at the same time, as you index the blank around and cut the other teeth, a near enough tooth form is produced.
> 
> Paul.



Thanks for the info.

Still stuck at the Carb Department and enjoying making parts to detail. Think I picked up the black magic art of drill 0.030'' orifice. Gentle teeny weeny slow shallow pecks and withdraw. First throttle barrel done with no micro drill breakage but did break a M2 Tap when my wife came and distracted me.
Was a cheapy OSG Hand Tap.
After the carb,the rest will be big parts. SW Monsoon trying to come in and thats good. Need the rain to flush out the remnant Red Algae Tide.
Fans are selling very well. 
Trust weather at Mount Martha area remains good. My sister is doing OK in Sydney but faraway from the bad storms.
Take Care.


----------



## gus

*DAY 36----38*

*CARB BARRELS*

Couldn't wait for the micro feed drill chuck to come in from ArcEuroTrade. Took extra precaution with the drill bit feed. Shall depth feed and withdraw to drill and clear chips. Snail pace but all 4 orifice holes drilled w/o drill breakage. These micro drill bits demand respect/care/caution.
Milling the full throttle/idle stop slot and the butterfly vane was done with the DIY Rotary Table and Centre Support. No hiccups.No scrap. But some hand finish required. The RT made last year was more of an asset than tool. W/o the RT ,the slot and butterfly would be tough to do.
Still have 5 more parts to make and complete Carbs.


----------



## crankshafter

Hi Gus.
Have a look.
http://www.helicron.net/workshop/gearcutting/
http://www.metallmodellbau.de/GEAR-CUTTING.php

Best Reg.
CS


----------



## gus

crankshafter said:


> Hi Gus.
> Have a look.
> http://www.helicron.net/workshop/gearcutting/
> http://www.metallmodellbau.de/GEAR-CUTTING.php
> 
> Best Reg.
> CS



Hi CS

Thanks for the kind help. 

This info is J.I.T. aka Just In Time. Sometime next month will begin cutting the 48 Pitch Time Gear Train. Paul Swift is now DIYing his 48 Pitch HOB.
Meanwhile Gus is still busy in the Carb Department with so many mini parts to make. Trying to enjoy making this mini parts.


----------



## gus

*Day 39*

*Throttle Barrel Split Hub.*

Simple part but took 3 hours to plan routing, marking out,mill profile,drill/ream 3/16 hole,drill and tap M2 clamp screw and clean up. Very unproductive. 3 hours to make only one mini split hub.

 Am sure Paul Swift will tell Gus ------------D.C.M. 

I am now one barrel hub nearer. The carb throttle lever and Jet needle is next.

Howell V-2 is not for beginners,impatient and the faint hearted. Too many mini parts. Skill and patience stretched beyond limit.:rant:


----------



## maintman

when will you be making the crankshaft and end plates?


----------



## gus

maintman said:


> when will you be making the crankshaft and end plates?




Hi Maintman.

Still at the Carb Department. Too many mini parts. Hopefully by end this week will complete and move on to another job piece. Most like the front bearing housing.crankshaft,con-rods etc. Taking my sweet time.


----------



## maintman

do you have a direct email address i want to sent you a picture.
thanks


----------



## gus

*Day 40.*

*Throttle Lever and Twin Carb Linkage.*

The two throttle levers took the whole morning to complete. The linkage and clevis took another two hours.
Drilling  the holes on the 33 thou thick brass levers is best done firmly clamped down and drill bit reground to drill thin brass. Job piece is to thin and too delicate to cut the 200 thou radius profile with RT.. Did the old fashion way using a drill bit as mandrel and skimming bit by bit rotating and clamping job. Some hand finishing required. Will move on to the intake filter housings. Most likely another full day job.


----------



## Cogsy

Looking good Gus. I'm glad I didn't have to make 2 carbs - that's a fiddly job.


----------



## gus

Cogsy said:


> Looking good Gus. I'm glad I didn't have to make 2 carbs - that's a fiddly job.


h


Hi Cogsy,

You are right. Just carb drives us mad and two carb --------left hand and right.
All in I scrapped 4 blanks and  needles but no throttle barrels and levers.
Discovered I could turn the needles to and finish off with file and emery paper.

Going on to bigger parts which will a wee bitty less taxing.

Even soft soldering the throttle split hub and lever required a jig for alignment.Was a very simple jig. Got both levers soldered as left hand and right hand.


----------



## gus

*Day 41*

*Filter Housing.*

Filter Cover was easy and stress free to turn. Mounting holes marked and drilled spot on. With Starrett Height to scribe and precision center popping on cross and manual spot drill. Mounting holes were dead center on outer head mounting holes. Installing the filter housings on to H/D was a reward. Now taking a pee/tea break before working on the 1/8'' vent hole on the filter housing. This hole can kill the housing. 1/8 drill bit must be ground to drill the brass housing. 
Both outerheads looks good with intake filter bolt-on.


----------



## gus

*DAY 41 1/2*

*Filter Element---------Foam.*
Found my darling wife's dish washing foam a good choice.Cutting this tidily and look good seems impossible.
No harm try the copper/brass shim cutter. Results turned out to be surprisingly good. Jerry Howell specified UreThane Foam. I have no idea on the foam found in my wife's kitchen.


----------



## Cogsy

Really looks the part Gus, maybe just try a bit for compatibilty with petrol before you install it - hate to see it melt all over the inside of your carbs!


----------



## digiex-chris

Speaking of stress free turning. I usually feel that way about a job. The complex milling job is the stress maker, and the lathe is the stress reliever. Do t know what it is about it.


----------



## digiex-chris

That foam looks a lot like what's in my Briggs and Stratton filters.


----------



## gus

digiex-chris said:


> That foam looks a lot like what's in my Briggs and Stratton filters.



Hi Cogsy & Chris.

Air Filter element--foam. Worked on Honda,Robin Petrol Engines and they use foam.Frankly speaking I have no idea of foam material. Some Ingersoll-Rand small aluminium compressors use same. 
Have a backup. Run engine w/o element,since Howell V-2 will be run a few times and after that will be kept as display on my PC Desk or as humongous paper weight. By now I have five such paper weights. 

We seem to have better control over lathe turning than over milling.
For today,will turn the breather and fuel cup.. 

Its May 1st ( May Day) No fishing .Will work. Week End fishing is on. The fishy mates are gearing up to fight the return match with the line breakers with some heavier lines,reels and rods. This is not fair??? Ha Ha  6-B Gray has ample stock of very fresh fishy catch. At least 3 fishy dinners weekly.Its true,I do get sick of fishy and will go out for a piece of ''PorterHouse'' or Tee Bone.Ha ha


----------



## gus

*Day 42.*
*Completion of Twin Carbs*


At last I see daylight. Carbs completed with ''O'' Rings installed. Would most likely run engine w/o the foam filter element.. Its weekend fishing again.


----------



## Cogsy

Nice job Gus, they look great (and they beat mine, easy).


----------



## Davewild

gus said:


> *Day 42.*
> *Completion of Twin Carbs*
> 
> 
> At last I see daylight. Carbs completed with ''O'' Rings installed. Would most likely run engine w/o the foam filter element.. Its weekend fishing again.



They look fantastic Gus, well done.


----------



## Twizseven

Gus,

Those carbs look fantastic.  You have done a great job with them.

Colin


----------



## Brian Rupnow

Gus--I am following your build with great admiration. I have burned out on machining things for now, but I am still thrilled to follow your progress.---Brian


----------



## gus

Brian Rupnow said:


> Gus--I am following your build with great admiration. I have burned out on machining things for now, but I am still thrilled to follow your progress.---Brian




Hi Brian.

Thanks.

Its true we do get burned out. Happened to me when I built your H&M Engine weeks after completing Webster. 
With the Howell V-2 Engine,I am going bit by bit and sort or enjoying it. The Twin Carbs nearly got me but the weekend fishing kind of erased the burnout.
Take care. Sunday fishing was bad because of the heavy rain. Saturday fishing  was good.


----------



## hussien95

very nice engine gus.
can't wait to see it work.


----------



## gus

*Day 43 44 *

*Crankcase Breather cum Fuel Cup Stand.*

Above has 12 mini parts to make. Fuel cup was neat and wee bitty tricky to make. The breather too with its mini check valve and check valve travel limiter. Not a very productive two days work.
Vent holes on the limiter was done on the (DIY) RT . 95 degrees apart vent holes done with RT.  RT serves as angle divider to drill multiple holes. The Howell V-2 requires an army of tools,jigs,fixtures and accessories to make.
Will move on to the two exhaust manifolds which are also mini.


----------



## gus

*Day 45*

*Burnt Out.*

I think I am heading into burn-out and best to do something else. Took three tee blanks to make one.
43 days of engine building and brain racking is about all I can take. Been taking machining problems to bed.
Tee piece done and soft soldered to Fuel Cup. Did mock tubing from breather vent to intake filters.

Will take two weeks break making boxes for Tachometer and Micro Drill chuck and the micro drills.


----------



## mayhugh1

Gus,
If I remember correctly (I may be confusing the V2 and V4) Jerry recommended a piece of x-ray film for the disk in the check valve. I happened to have a piece of this film, and so I used it as recommended. A year or so later, I noticed that the disk had severely warped, probably from the crankcase fuel vapors. So, I replaced the film disk with one made from brass .003" shimstock. It's been working with no issues ever since. - Terry


----------



## Swifty

It's a good idea to take a break Gus, you will come back with renewed enthusiasm. The engines not going anywhere, it will be waiting for you after a break.

Paul.


----------



## gus

mayhugh1 said:


> Gus,
> If I remember correctly (I may be confusing the V2 and V4) Jerry recommended a piece of x-ray film for the disk in the check valve. I happened to have a piece of this film, and so I used it as recommended. A year or so later, I noticed that the disk had severely warped, probably from the crankcase fuel vapors. So, I replaced the film disk with one made from brass .003" shimstock. It's been working with no issues ever since. - Terry




Thanks .Terry.

Will go to the arts & craft shops to buy some brass shims. Happen to have a set of Punch & Die Set from ArcEuroTrade. Will stamp check valve disc. 
Some time later may DIY a twin cylinder air compressor using brass shims as intake and discharge valves. Taking a two week (do nothing) break now as Gus is 72 and there are signs and indications I am about to head into burnt-out.Will escape into carpentry doing some boxes to hold counterbore set.


----------



## gus

Thanks Paul.


----------



## JingHeng

Good work.I Love engine&#9696;&#8255;&#9696;


----------



## gus

JingHeng said:


> Good work.I Love engine&#9696;&#8255;&#9696;




Please introduce yourself.

Where are you based??

Are you presently into engine buidling or planning to???

Are you in the machining trade??

As for I have 32 years in manufacturing and 7 years in Nanjinh,China.


----------



## JingHeng

gus said:


> Please introduce yourself.
> 
> 
> 
> Where are you based??
> 
> 
> 
> Are you presently into engine buidling or planning to???
> 
> 
> 
> Are you in the machining trade??
> 
> 
> 
> As for I have 32 years in manufacturing and 7 years in Nanjinh,China.




Hi gus
My name is Jian zhong.Jin is my brother, me and him build a steam engine and sold.
I come from Foshan, China, will the Chinese kung fu[emoji16]


----------



## JingHeng

JingHeng said:


> Hi gus
> My name is Jian zhong.Jin is my brother, me and him build a steam engine and sold.
> I come from Foshan, China, will the Chinese kung fu&#65306;&#65289;


----------



## gus

JingHeng said:


> Hi gus
> My name is Jian zhong.Jin is my brother, me and him build a steam engine and sold.
> I come from Foshan, China, will the Chinese kung fu[emoji16]




Foshan is a great place. I love the Foshan Food. Will drop by to see you and visit your machineshop.

The lingo will be Cantonese and PutongHua but I am Hakka Still can't get my Apple NBook to write Chinese. 

See you.


----------



## JingHeng

gus said:


> Foshan is a great place. I love the Foshan Food. Will drop by to see you and visit your machineshop.
> 
> 
> 
> The lingo will be Cantonese and PutongHua but I am Hakka Still can't get my Apple NBook to write Chinese.
> 
> 
> 
> See you.




Welcome to foshan (^_^)


----------



## gus

Did not run away from Howell V-2. This mini project is a wooden box to house the cheapy tachometer kit bought months ago and will be used to check/read rpm of V-2.
Started off badly but was saved and made good. 24 volt dc required. Took three hours to finished with Formica topping. Flush Mounting Hole was milled.Panel is push on/clip locked.

This mini carpentry job was very therapeutical for burnt out Gus.
Spent S$90 on a Router/Trimmer which has yet to learn to use. Tried out the milling machine at highest speed and it beats the Router hands down, I have best control on rout path.


----------



## Swifty

How close do you have to get with the sensor to get a reading?

Paul.


----------



## gus

Swifty said:


> How close do you have to get with the sensor to get a reading?
> 
> Paul.




Really have no idea but project was posted sometime ago by a member and he seems happy. Gus will be happy if the accuracy is plus and minus 5 %.

I need a mini 24v battery to plug in to test it.

If it works well,plan to make one more for Paul.Will hand carry over to Mount Martha. I bought two kits.Was quite cheap compared to ''Shimpo'' or the UK made Tachos.

About to go fishing in 5 mins. Hope the bad water gone and good fishing .

P.S. Saturday was bad. Spot changes on Sunday produced 8 fish but lost three line breakers.  10 lb lines won't stop them.


Update.

DIY Tachometer.
Done and tested today.


----------



## maintman

guss do you have the plans and part numbers to build the rpm


----------



## canadianhorsepower

maintman said:


> guss do you have the plans and part numbers to build the rpm


  here

http://www.ibuyla.com/product/16186187642/


----------



## gus

*DIY Tachometer.*

Counterchecked fine print on the circuit board. Its DC8-----24v. Plug to a 9v battery and Tacho lights up.
Bit more work to do. Have to shorten probe cable. Put on flush mount on/off switch.


----------



## gus

*Micro Drill Chuck*

Best to make box to hold above and the hard to see and find mini/micro drills. My mitre corner jointing is improving and routing too so as to sink-in flush mount top and bottom of box. The mitre joints for the Taccho Box had to be reworked. Further improvement made on mitre jig did away with the necessity to use disc sander.Looks like the sewing machine motor is about laid off.
Quite happy with the layout. Will put lid clasp and hinges. Gus is ham-fisted when it comes to fixing and aligning mini hinges.Will have to design and DIY a drilling jig.

I am still on the Howell-V-2 Project but doing some related work to counter burnt-out. Been sleeping well w/o having to thinking of next job piece to tackle. Fishing wise. Saturday was bad but Sunday fishing was good though we had three line breakers/snaggers.


----------



## canadianhorsepower

gus said:


> *Micro Drill Chuck*
> 
> mini/micro drills.  .



Gus 
were did you get your sensitive drill attachement from

cheers

Luc


----------



## gus

canadianhorsepower said:


> Gus
> were did you get your sensitive drill attachement from
> 
> cheers
> 
> Luc



Hi Luc,

From ArcEuroTrade.co.uk. 20 odd sterling pounds. LMS cost double. Been eyeing this micro chuck for a long time. Using conventional methods and skills 30 thou is about smallest I can get to. To get straight on to locate adaptor and chuck,please see following.
p/no.     Desriptn
040-015-00400 Micro drill adaptor  JTO 1/2'' shank     
040-010--00100  Key type chuck.

I saw it being used in YouTube but have not get to drill the 20 thou orifice.


----------



## Swifty

I will check out those micro drills as well, trying to drill very small holes using a Bridgeport size mill is looking for trouble.

Paul.


----------



## gus

Swifty said:


> I will check out those micro drills as well, trying to drill very small holes using a Bridgeport size mill is looking for trouble.
> 
> Paul.




Hi Paul,

Went into YouTube to check out how to drill 10-----20 thou orifice. All posters were using Sensitive Feed Chuck. Top drill press speed required.
ArcEuroTrade took a week to arrive  by post to arrive.

Wooden Case for same drill chuck.
Now figuring out how to do a perfect job to fit on hinges. Alternative would be go on to piano hinge.

Will use plain shoe polish to coat box to prevent grime from sticking on.

About to be fully rested and recovered from ''burnt-out'' . Howell V-2 resumes next Monday 18 May. Excited with the flat four but will read entire serial publication before deciding. Its a big job. Four pistons,four con-rods,four sets of valves etc etc may require us to think and work smart. 

Take Care.


----------



## gus

*Carpentry.*

*Hinges*

At long last,I have eliminated bad alignment,dancing hinges,creaking hinges, and unsightly gaps between lid and case. HMEM Engineers are so good with precision milling.turning, drilling adn tapping but I wonder how many of us treat door/lid hinges with due respect and attention.
Relying on eye ball and gimlet to help fasten hinges wood screws is bad news. Had to make a jig to drill all 8 holes for the hinges. Result was very good. Jig took 20 mins to mark out,centre pop and drill. 
Eve rsince I started off as a young kid fitting hinges,the job quality was never good.


----------



## gus

*Completion of DIY Tachometer.*

Done.completed and tested but yet to stick on magnet to a rotating disc w/o shooting Gus in the face. 
Polarity of magnet is mandatory. Reversed magnet to get reading.
Probe came with a 24'' long cable.Hand to cut to suit. Crimping on mini cable lugs was another lesson and skill to pick up. Messed up 10 pcs before getting three good crimps. Never,never & ever do it night. At my age i can't see too well at night.
The yellow crimping pliers works best over the high tech blue partner.
When DIY Tacho is tested for reliability and performance ,Gus will make one for Paul Swift as we did some horse trading. He posted over a 48 PD Hob for me to cut the timing gears.


----------



## Swifty

Hi Gus, in years gone by, I made press tools for contacts like that, they were a real pain in the neck. Eventually everything came from overseas.

Paul.


----------



## geo

Gus I made the exhaust manifolds 3 times in fact I've made a lot of parts more than once the fin space dimension in the drawing is only for that face the other faces are eighty thou not 85 .I dropped my pcv valve body dented the small diameter another bin job great job and info


----------



## gus

Hi Paul,
We sort of squared off. Did 9 to get 4 good Rocker Arms. Did 5 Carbs to get two good Carbs. Did 12 Clevis(es) to 8 . 8 Jet Needles to get 4 good needles. Good reason why I got burnt-out.
I am now enjoying myself making Instrument Cases for Micro Drill Chuck and Tachometer. Mitre Corner Joints improved. For the first I got Lacquer Coating done to 60% satisfaction. Doubt I will remove the slight blemish,bearing in mind it is for show and sooner or later gets scratch. 
At the end oof the day,we sort of enjoy looking at a job done well. When we meet, we must play by ear without too much shop talk at lunch.Mrs Swift may not enjoy our shop talk.Ha Ha . So much engines to talk about.
Take care. Its 34 today and very humid. Am taking it easy. We have 3---4 weeks of dry spell.


----------



## gus

Swifty said:


> Hi Gus, in years gone by, I made press tools for contacts like that, they were a real pain in the neck. Eventually everything came from overseas.
> 
> Paul.




I did have a very hard trying to crimp these cable end lugs. While doing the crimping, I could only imagine the toolmakers did have a tough time making the transfer die.This mini lugs are so minute. Cost me peanuts per piece. PRC China ToolMakers are pretty fast at making such tools.
With their cheap labour,they are killing us.


----------



## Swifty

My wife Barb (Barbara) soon gets bored with too much shop talk, plenty of other things to talk about over lunch, prepare for a long day when we meet.

Those complicated press tools are easier to make these days, wire cutters do all the complicated work, when I was making them we had to grind all the punches and dies ourselves, fitted together like a jig saw puzzle.

Paul.


----------



## gus

Swifty said:


> My wife Barb (Barbara) soon gets bored with too much shop talk, plenty of other things to talk about over lunch, prepare for a long day when we meet.
> 
> Those complicated press tools are easier to make these days, wire cutters do all the complicated work, when I was making them we had to grind all the punches and dies ourselves, fitted together like a jig saw puzzle.
> 
> Paul.




OK Shop talk in your machineshop. We have plenty of notes,histiory and gaffs to trade. Will play by ear chatting with Barbara. She will be the M.C.!!!!
Your Tachometer is done and tested. Please PM postal address. Will send over by Speed Mail. This time I did better at crimping those hard to see cable end lugs. All three pcs done w/o scraps.


----------



## gus

*Day  2/ 1 &  2*

*Exhaust Manifolds*

With battery fully charged after a three week break and a four day holiday trip to Penang,Malayia with my darling boss-----Nellie.
The first piece took 5 hours to mill with one broken 2mm end mill which you put too much force feeding.Was lucky to have a spare after much scrounging thru the Tool Cabinet Drawers,

Did better on the day 2 ,completing the manifold in three hours. The last 1 1/2 hour was milling the 2 mm slots and 1mm fins. You can't rush the milling. BandSaw and Starrett Height Gage came in handy to mark out the cooling fins. 2mm grooves and  1mm thick fins.W/o precise marking,the fins will look very odd looking. BandSaw helped to cut near to marked lines so as to minimise time skimming odd aluminum.

There is a slight goof.The exhaust vent port has fins.:hDe:

At long last,all the mini parts done and fitted on and I can now work downwards. The Crankshaft bearing cover is next. From here onwards,its all work done on the lathe.


----------



## gbritnell

Great looking work Gus! It's coming along nicely.
gbritnell


----------



## gus

*Day 2/ 3 & 4
*
*Crankshaft Bearing Housing*.
Two minor goofs happened yesterday but both forgivable with slight re-engineering.
The Makita BandSaw sure saved Gus plenty of energy.The 2 1/2 '' Aluminum Bar stock took 12 mins to bandsaw and if manual hacksawn ,would have teken 2 hours.
Boring holes to take the ball bearings was done with a Warner Boring Bar. Both done with bearings to light drive fit. However for insurance,would put in some high strength LockTite.
*Goofs*
Goof 1.
Was so engrossed with getting the spigot to 2.124'' O. D.,I had the front and rear bearing mixed up. Outer end bearing is same as crankshaft end. Will have to buy another 1621Z Bearing.
Boring the other end,required housing to be zeroed. This is the first time after 54 years since 1961 in Trade School.Was surprised I got it to perfect zero with MIC Dial and Magnetic Stand.
Goof 2. 
Mounting flange OD. is slightly small then as drawn. Shouldn't be a problem with compromise but will require more fasteners.

Getting hot and humid. Will resume work tomorrow doing the mounting holes. Not a good idea when the heat is distracting me. Done to much and will be sad to ruin housing with broken tap.


----------



## Cogsy

Coming along nicely Gus. That housing makes it look nearly finished!


----------



## Davewild

Hi Gus, 
That is really starting to look cool, it's a very nice engine, I'm in a small room at the back of my house with no aircon and a large door open to allow real light in, it's been 37degC every day here for quite a while now and unbelievably hot, I have major problems with stuff rusting because of the humidity, do you have this problem and how to you combat it?

Dave


----------



## gus

Have same problem with rust but not too bad. Having three open sides help. When it hits 33C I quit. If weather f/cast is bad,I start work at 8am with ceiling fan and stand fan blasting. By 10 latest 11am I stop work.
The SW Monsoon is about to set in with lower temperature.


----------



## gus

*Day   2/5*

*Crankshaft Housing.*

Had a spare surplus aluminum bar which looks big enough to make housing. Turned out a wee bitty smaller. Had to compensate for the mounting flange (compromised) O.D. Flange now have 12 mounting holes instead of 6. Housing calls for multi machine tool to make--------lathe,mill,drill and tap.
With 12 M2.5 holes to tap, I was worried about tap breaking. Took my time with plenty of tea/pee breaks to keep mind fresh. The RT came in very handy to divide and drill 12   2.1 mm tapping holes with copius amount of Tapmatic Fliud to prevent grab/seize/breakage. All 12 holes drilled and tapped spot on.
The Gear Case looks very uncompromising with too many details but the crankshaft seems easier. Will make the crankshaft while studying the Gear Case. Too be honest Gear case has to many details.One wrong move will scrap same.:wall:


----------



## Swifty

Coming along great Gus, I'm moving a bit slow on the V4 build at the moment, hopefully I'll get a fair bit done this weekend.

Paul.


----------



## gus

Hi Paul,

Gus going at snail pace. Jerry Howell put in so many details,profiles,bells&whistles etc but it sure make the V-2 look like aircraft engine. Just one glance at the gear case drawing sent me running away. Too many details.Just one bad error in machining,gear case scrapped. Even a minor machining error can be frightening.Was a wise decision to go Imperial on the timing gears. Giving myself the whole of next week to make the crankshaft. With no rush, Gus will do a better job. The gear case will be a 3-----4 week job.:rant:


----------



## gus

*CrankShaft*
Four hours of hard work to reduce 2'' O.D. to 0.580'' OD.The mini lathe will slip/stall with deeper cuts. Had to grit my teeth with the snail pace.:rant:
Will take my sweet time to trim to 0.500'' OD slide fit into ball bearings.
Job far from over. The crankdisc is another turning,milling,drilling/reaming job.In fact the crank disc is unforgiving.Patience required. One wrong last cut will scrap crankshaft.


----------



## gus

*Day 2/6 & 7*
*Crankshaft*
Finished up the stepped shaft portion.Turning down from 2'' O.D. to 0.500'' sure sapped my patience.Took 2 1/2 hours.
Managed to get a good,non-sloppy slide fit into both bearings. The crank disc will be done tomorrow. Same must be centre to get good fit and alignment of the the other crank disc. Failure to do so means cutting a new crankshaft all over again.Material is Japanese Grade Cold Rolled Steel. Specs unkown. Been using this material for three engines.Will take my sweet time to finish up crankshaft which is comprised of 4 parts and all must fit well.


----------



## M130

Hello Gus. My name is Morten and i'm from Norway. I just want to tell you that I enjoy your builds very much I'm impressed of what you can do on your small machines with a bit of clever thinking.
Morten


----------



## gus

Hi Morten,

I kind of resigned to my fate----------no good size machine tools and forced to work with mini lathe and min mills. When I get bored and stressed,I remind myself this is it. Live with the current mini machine tools and improvise and make the best out of it. Reducing the crankshaft from 2'' OD to 1/2 '' was time consuming.
Crankshaft will take at least 3 more days to complete with related parts.Have no regret buying the Sakai Japanese Lathe which is a watch maker's lathe which cost me a bomb. After ten years its still good.


----------



## Brian Rupnow

Gus, you're work continues to improve!! This engine looks very nice.---Brian


----------



## barnesrickw

If you're not running production, and enjoy the process, I say small is good.  Less money, less space.  My shop is now on a 30"x48" bench out in my shed.  Taig lathe and mill.  Can make all the noise I want now.


----------



## jimjam66

Good work so far, Gus.  actually amazingly good considering your tools.  I had a mini-lathe for a bit but got rid of it in favour of the ML7 precisely because simple things like reducing diameter had to be done in really small chunks.  Patience is not a nice-to-have, it's an essential!


----------



## gus

*Day 2/ 8*
*CrankShaft*
Parting of 2'' O.D. surplus from crankdisc end turned out impossible. Beyond the capacity of mini lathe. Had to resort to BandSaw. With guide rail adjusted to length. Cutting off went on smoothly but rather slow. Hand hold won't do.Had to use Vise Grip to hold shaft end. Centering a job in 4 jaw chuck is usually a hassle. Used a 1/2 '' bar to pre-centre chuck hold. It is mandatory to have job dead centre to get good shaft alignment.
Jerry has advised,best to drill & ream crankpin hole in one solid piece to get true alignment between main crankdisc and sub-disc. After coming so far,best not to take risk of messing up the drilling and reaming. Had job and vise held down by quick clamp. Sub-disc will sawn off main disc and both finished on lathe and mill. Crankshaft multi-machine tool job with turning.milling and threading.


----------



## gus

*Crankshaft*
Not a bad day.When it comes machining small pieces,I fare best as long as lathe is not over stretched.
Its finger biting when saw/part the floating crank disc with my bare hands holding the job piece.
By 5pm both pcs were done except for the counterweights. Nearly goofed again.Had I not left the spigot oversize, the floating crankdisc would be scrapped. Spigot was meant to fit on 12 x 21 x 5 ball bearing. The resulting slide fit was good. Its best to have a thorough grasp before machining any V-2 parts. Crankshaft sub-assembly is a wee bit compromised but easily make good to fit it.


----------



## Swifty

Coming along nicely Gus, that is a lot of material that has to be removed. I sometimes wonder if it's not better to make the crank disc and shaft from 2 pieces, pressed together and pinned, I've used that method before.

Paul.


----------



## gus

*Day 2/9*

*CrankShaft*
At long last .Done. No scrap but a bit compromised on the counter-weight thickness. Plan to go aluminum pistons and hence vibration should not be a big problem. Having a RT to hold crank discs to mill the integral counter weight was sure great help. Crankpin and end shaft is Silver Steel. Will harden crankpin. Bearing Spacer will be done tonight. Its week end fishing again.


----------



## jimjam66

That's a good-looking crankshaft, Gus!  Is the Howell V2 a 'knife and fork' conrod engine?


----------



## gus

jimjam66 said:


> That's a good-looking crankshaft, Gus!  Is the Howell V2 a 'knife and fork' conrod engine?



Hi David,

You are correct. Its knife & fork and I have never make such con-rods. A bit worried.


----------



## gus

*Day 2/9*

At last fit in crankshaft/housing sub-assembly with bearings mounted on.
Will move back to the outerheads to work on the tappet valves which has yet to be lapped. Pistons.rings and con-rods will follow. The toughest part will be the gear case and gears. This looks like two months work. Part of the deal is DIY a DH with Indexing Plates to cut  13   16   21  32     t gears. All in 12 plus gears to cut. 
No rush. This a long term project. At this rate , completion hopefully by Christmas??? ;D


----------



## gus

*Day 2/10*

*Valve Lapping.*

Had a very easy day lapping four valve and seats. Brian Rupnow taught us very well. Leaving behind a stub and finger hold to lap and cut off after completion. Used Fine Grit from the very familiar Made in UK, Chemico Valve Lapping Paste that came in fine and coarse grit. Finished up with 400# Grit.


----------



## gus

*Day 2 / 11
*
*Crankcase Oil Passage*
Drilling incline angle mini holes scares me especially if done wrong,it would very heartbreaking at this very last work input. Had no choice but trust Jerry Howell's proven drawings. This V-2 does require some DIY tooling. Had to make an adapter to give the M3 tap long reach to tap into bottom end. Had to hold down crankcase to drill and tap M2.5 hole. Free hand holding could lead to broken tap. Took 3 hours to plan and complete. Drill the 0.018'' Orifice into the Lube Oil Nozzle was made to easy and safe with the Sensitive Micro Drill Chuck. Broke too many micro drills before I come to know of such drill chuck.


----------



## gus

*Day 2/12*

*Cylinder Honing*

Both cylinders I.D. were slight off mark. Had both honed to match at 1.004". N.B. Used Holtest Inside Micrometer to countercheck China Digital Caliper which read 1.005-----1.006''. Counter check with Starret Caliper and we match at 1.004''. Good lesson learnt. M.I.C. Caliper jaws do  wear fast. Time to give away.
The Crankcase served as a very good fixture for cylinder honing.Makita Cordless drill with variable speed turned to be useful to drive brake hone which has shown some wear and should earmarked for disposal after having honed 6 cylinders todate.


----------



## jimjam66

Ah, valve lapping and cylinder honing!  Things I have done in the dim distant past when rebuilding an already very old Alfasud boxer four.  I love your attention to detail and your patience - not sure I would take three hours to drill and tap one hole!  But then I probably would have to put in another ten hours or more re-making the part, THEN spend three hours drilling and tapping the second time.  Note to self:  No need to rush ...

Loving your build so far, Gus!  Thm:


----------



## gus

Hi David,

I used to work at high speed,missed out dimensional details,fits,break taps etc and make unforgivable errors.Most not redeemable. Crying our a job piece and trying to salvage when a new piece would have taken less time. Jerry Howell's Drawings need to be thoroughly understood before plunging in. The Nemett-Lynx just managed to start and run a few times and after that It just won't start and run.These four running engines taught me well. All my two strokes won't start/run. With the Howell V-2, less machining errors were made. Its best when critical and unforgivable job is to allocate planty of time. Take lotsa tea/pea breaks.The last cut can kill a beautifully done job.


----------



## barnesrickw

gus said:


> Hi David,
> 
> I used to work at high speed,missed out dimensional details,fits,break taps etc and make unforgivable errors.Most not redeemable. Crying our a job piece and trying to salvage when a new piece would have taken less time. Jerry Howell's Drawings need to be thoroughly understood before plunging in. The Nemett-Lynx just managed to start and run a few times and after that It just won't start and run.These four running engines taught me well. All my two strokes won't start/run. With the Howell V-2, less machining errors were made. Its best when critical and unforgivable job is to allocate planty of time. Take lotsa tea/pea breaks.The last cut can kill a beautifully done job.




I still live in that world Gus, but I'm learning.


----------



## gus

barnesrickw said:


> I still live in that world Gus, but I'm learning.



Hi Barnesrickw.
Thanks for sharing. At least I am not alone. Sincerely I do hate ruining an otherwise good job piece in a haste and would kick myself for it.


----------



## gus

*Day 2/ 13* --------My Lucky Day. No rings damaged.
*Piston Rings*

DIY Tooling leftover from the Nemett-Lynx Engine dug out to split rings and heat treat. Born-Loser Gus made one more ring for contingency. Rings took 4 hours to turn,split and heat treat. Ring Gaps done at 6----8 thou.Our late Guru Malcom Steed advised in his write up,8 thou max not problem. With three pistons per piston plus oil lube hole,I have no worries.
Not a bad day with one piston half done but grooves cut. Next week will pistons and con-rod time.

Its week end again.  Gus not building engines.Gone Fiiisssshhhhiiiing.


----------



## Swifty

Looking great Gus, brings back memories of my making rings on the Nemmet Lynx. I will use the same method for the V4, but I will need 12 rings plus a few spares. 

Over here, the rivers are now closed for spawning season, but plan to head to lakes in a week or two to try my luck, only problem is that the temperature is down to near zero Deg C overnight, so have to rug up for evening and early morning fishing.

Paul.


----------



## gus

Swifty said:


> Looking great Gus, brings back memories of my making rings on the Nemmet Lynx. I will use the same method for the V4, but I will need 12 rings plus a few spares.
> 
> Over here, the rivers are now closed for spawning season, but plan to head to lakes in a week or two to try my luck, only problem is that the temperature is down to near zero Deg C overnight, so have to rug up for evening and early morning fishing.
> 
> Paul.



Fish count wise today not much but fun wise great. Fishy mate was surprised by a very light bite/tuck which became a 3 minute fight with bait caster screaming away even though it was a 5kg Leopard Ray which is known for great fight and good eating. Sour Curry Ray with plenty of Okra and Tomatoes and goes well with rice. Yummy. Take care. Keep warm. Taking another group tomorrow out fishing and they are a very pro-active group.


----------



## gus

*Day 2/ 14  15 16*

*Pistons*

Too much distractions.Had to run an errand for the boss. Material supplier called and I had to pick up C.I. discs for the V-4 flywheels.
W/0 any hiccups the pistons were done. Took no chances with job holding. 1mm Oil holes were done with the mini chuck. Piston rings grooves done perfectly to fit Piston Rings. Slide fit.
Try out both cylinder fits with pistons. One cylinder is slightly bell mouthed with piston stuck in the middle. A rehone required. Suspect Brake Cylinder Hone is near life end. I have a brand new standby.


----------



## gus

*Day 2/  16  17*

*Con-Rod*

Took two nail biting days to cut con-rod. Again DIY fixtures required. However the one and only fixture served the big end and small end profiling and the milling steps on con-rod and the grooves. This con-rod just managed to scrape thru q.c. with the minor compromise. Bushes were done too with no scrap.
The remainding ''fork'' con-rod will be done next week.
Took a lunch break and con-rod bushed.

Its week-end fishing again.


----------



## gus

*Day 2/ 17*

''Forked" Con -Rod.
The first con-rod took two days.With experience gained from first con-rod,this con-rod took only one day to complete. Somehow Tungsten Carbide End Mill cuts best and gives good surface finishing. Milling the bevels was made easier with Japanese Magnetic Protractor. Copycat Paul Swifty's button to mill big/small end.Results were good compared to the first rod.


----------



## jimjam66

Nicely done and looking good Gus!


----------



## gus

*Day 2 / 18*

*Cylinder and piston sub-assembly*.
Skipped fishing to assemble above which took entire morning. In the process, broke two rings.
With three piston rings each piston,sliding piston in and out cylinder was wee bitty tighter than the two ring design.


----------



## Swifty

Gus, it's not like you to skip fishing, you must be getting keen to get the engine finished. I won't be working on my V4 for a couple of days, it's my turn to go fishing with a friend.

Paul.


----------



## gus

Swifty said:


> Gus, it's not like you to skip fishing, you must be getting keen to get the engine finished. I won't be working on my V4 for a couple of days, it's my turn to go fishing with a friend.
> 
> Paul.




Too much machining makes us dull. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.Must take time off and going fishiiiiiiinnngg.Please post catch.
Sunday was Neap Tide. Out going phase was  hopeful we landed a 1.5kg Snapper and lost two line breakers. Left us gaping/gasping. This was no fish farm escapee. Gus's Snapper was a joke about 500g.
Mate and his fish. A medium Rod Bender.


----------



## Swifty

Hi Gus, no fish yet. Flyfishing at lake, currently 4 deg C. Will get a bit warmer during the day. 

Paul.


----------



## gus

Swifty said:


> Hi Gus, no fish yet. Flyfishing at lake, currently 4 deg C. Will get a bit warmer during the day.
> 
> Paul.




I have fly-rod but the fly reel disappeared. Sometime later will fly over and watch Paul and mates flyfish. Must admit my casting is bad.


----------



## gus

*Day 2 / 19 & 20 *
*Flywheel*

The 4'' flywheel blank is another job that over-stretch the 80mm chuck and Mini Lathe. Was a straight forward job but machining Cast Iron is no fun,very dusty and dirty with Gus covered with C.I. powder.
Chamfering was done with parting tool. Done enough for the day.Will resume work tomorrow. Turning the taper will be tough. Testing my patience and skill. However done enough and goofed enough flywheels.

( I have a problem uploading fotos. SOS SOS)


----------



## ShopShoe

Gus,

I can't resist saying this.

You could MAKE a fly reel. I know I have seen some nice home machined ones on the web somewhere.

In the spirit of good fishing and good machining, Best Wishes. Can't wait till the current engine runs.

--ShopShoe


----------



## gus

ShopShoe said:


> Gus,
> 
> I can't resist saying this.
> 
> You could MAKE a fly reel. I know I have seen some nice home machined ones on the web somewhere.
> 
> In the spirit of good fishing and good machining, Best Wishes. Can't wait till the current engine runs.
> 
> --ShopShoe



Hi ShopShoe.
Did have pipe dreams to make BaitCasting Reel some years back but held back as I then had no gear cutting experience. After the V-2 Engine ,may jump in make a Fly Reel as starter and later on to BaitCast Reel. My fishy mates will have first laugh at my first attempt and hopefully Gus have the last laugh. Ha Ha.


----------



## Swifty

Gus, a fly reel will be a great project, they are very simple. When you come to Melbourne, I will show you the game fishing reel that I made many years ago, I had ideas about shark fishing, but did no more about it.

Paul.


----------



## gus

Swifty said:


> Gus, a fly reel will be a great project, they are very simple. When you come to Melbourne, I will show you the game fishing reel that I made many years ago, I had ideas about shark fishing, but did no more about it.
> 
> Paul.




Hi Paul.

Gamefishing FlyReels are very expensive. Please mail foto. I have wild and bright ideas.  My hand line reel is bitty clumsy to reel in. Alvey Reels are too heavy. I have two .


----------



## gus

*Day 2/  21  22*
*Pump Housing*

The tiny oil pump makes me worried. Took two days to figure the machining. Pit holes for pump gears and bearings not done yet. Jigs and fixtures required. This will tomorrow and Gus not fishing.


----------



## gus

*Day 2 / 23 24*

*Oil Pump Cover*

This 1 1/8 O.D. x 1/6 thick Cover humbled Gus.You just can't rush it. After ruining 2 blanks, I came with one good cover with slightly tight push fit for 1/4'' bearing. Did the reaming in two steps with 6mm reamer and finally 1/4'' reamer. The Oil Pump Body is next drill & reamto fit  bearing.


----------



## gus

Day 2 / 25 26

*Oil Pump Body Gear Case*

Trusted Jerry Howell's center distance between the two tiny gears of 0.272'' and Paul Swift's 13 t pinion gears.Both were spot on with gears meshing well when fitted into gear body cavity. Depth of cavity was done spot with DIY Slide Stop. However its doubtful, I will get the full lube oil flow capacity with one gear having too much side clearance. Now deciding to scrap and redo. Making the second piece will be fast due to pitfall experience with scrap piece.


----------



## Gordon

Gus: Did you purchase the gears? Last I remember you were going to make them using a borrowed hob. Did I miss it?


----------



## Swifty

Hi Gordon, I can answer that for Gus. When I sent Gus the cutter, I also sent him a length of 13 tooth gear that I cut for him, otherwise, using the setup that Gus had for gear cutting he would have had to purchase a master gear to use for indexing when cutting. He will use the cutter for all the other gears needed.

Paul.


----------



## oneKone

Hi Gus, 
I just had a read through your build so far and I'm amazed! Every time you do a build its awesome! Looking forward to more posts.

Cheers,
Chris


----------



## gus

*Day 2 /  27 28 29*

*Oil Pump Casing*

Was a rather long learning/goofing process to pick up new skills thru bad mistakes. The casing required multi-tooling,multi skills and plenty of patience with which I apparently lacked. The I.D. and depth of two blind holes are not very forgiving. Very accurate marking layout,centre popping and spot drilling required. Centre distance of the two blind holes must be spot on to enable the gears to mesh accurately. Miiling the oil grooves with 2 mm endmill is dicy. Bore hole for 1/4 bearings were done with 6 mm reamer and 1/4 '' reamer. The fit was good.Am glad casing done to my satisfaction. Paul's 13 t gears fitted in good. 
Not fishing tomorrow. Will spent time enjoying the trial assembly of oil pump.
With the casing done. Will move on to the timing gear and cam casing. This is another job piece that require multi skills. Will the experience gained from oil pump, the main gear casing will be easier to make.


----------



## gus

*Day 2 /30  31*

*Lube Oil Pump,Gear Type.*

At long last oil pump with the running,same is easy to turn over w/o binding. This not a self-priming pump. Suspect it relies on the pulsating crankcase pressure maintain positive priming. Took my sweet time to fit/lap twin gears and casing and cover.Went to aeromodel hobby shop to buy the 1/8 steel shaft. Saved bit of time turning shaft. With pump inlet facing up and lube oil fed in,the pump did pump some oil out through discharge port. Trust at normal engine speed,same would pump enough oil to cam shafts and spray oil on to crankpin and big ends and in the process con-rod will splash oil into cylinder bores. Gus is humbled by this tiny oil pump.You got treat it with extreme care during the process of machining.

Moving on next to the gear case and cover. These two parts are very unforgiving with so many details and mess up any one detail gear case will be scrapped.


----------



## ShopShoe

Gus,

Thats a very nice bit of machining. Great job on the gears. I have been following your build and Swifty's V-4:  It looks like the Howell V-2 and V-4 are definitely not for the faint of heart.

Looking forward to the next installment.

--ShopShoe


----------



## gus

Trying very hard not to rush,take sweet time to turn Gear Casing and Casing Cover. Lathe is stretched again to cut both. Gear Casing done but still remain as incomplete as there are too many details to do. Both parts could not be turned on the lathe at one go and need flipping over to do other side. Dialing is required as bearing bores must be aligned. Gear Casing Drawing took time to familiarise. Best to take time as one messed up means total scrap. Am happy I took day off not fishing to make these two parts. Sunday Tide is good fishing.


----------



## gus

Gear Case Cover.

The last cut killed the cover. Should have taken the tea/pee break.All I need was one more pass with 1/2 thou and to get snug fit for 1/2'' ball bearing. No worry. Will salvage with adapter bush,loctited in and rebore.


----------



## Gordon

I am also building this same engine so I have been watching your progress. The one thing which is getting me confused is the "odd" dimensions. When I see something like .491 I assume that it is important and should be held to that dimension instead of just making it 1/2". I have been trying to calculate clearances as I go along but still miss things. I may have to redraw an assembly drawing in CAD just to verify clearances etc. I understand that some things must be "odd" dimensions but the problem is in determining what is important and what is close enough. Gus is avoiding some of this because he is converting to metric so everything is "odd". I think that a lot of this is because the original builder made the parts and then measured the final part and made the drawing "as made". I have observed this frequently in other drawings on other projects. I frequently have redrawn the engine in CAD just to verify fits etc.


----------



## Swifty

I have noticed in the Howell V4 drawings, that some holes are called up to drill and ream to size when it is only clearance and a drilled hole is good enough. It certainly pays to study the drawings fully and check mating parts etc.

Paul.


----------



## gus

Hi Gordon.
Paul is right. The drawings must studied careful to have a good idea how the mating parts fit. The Howell V-2 can be very unforgiving. So far so good. Not too many scrapped parts. Its the mini parts and sub-assembly that kills and they can get to be very unforgiving. I have given up rushing completion. There are so many small parts to make. I am about to cut 14 spur gears. Before cutting the gears I have to DIY a DH with Dividing/Indexing Plates. This will take another month. The V-4 and V-2 is not meant for beginners and faint hearted. Many a time we cry over scrapped parts. Misreading dimensions and details deadly.:wall: After building and running the V-2 and acquiring the experience and some more skills, HMEM Member is well equipped to tackle advance engines. Good Luck and all success.


----------



## Gordon

Some things are really easy to determine if a dimension is critical. I am presently working on the rocker arm fulcrum for instance and it calls for a .260 x .260 square. Obviously 1/4" square stock can be used so I am not sure why it would have started out as .260.  Also the stock I had for the main body is .020 too narrow so at some point I have to compensate for this. Calculating the stack up of mating parts gets pretty confusing and I am not sure if the gear case should be make longer or if the bearing recess should be shorter. I am not even sure that it is really important and perhaps I am trying to solve a problem which I do not even have. I guess that I should try to make a CAD cross section. 

At this point I have built about 25 different engines ranging from simple to the Rudy Kouhoupt Case steam traction engine. I still learn on every engine. One of the most interesting aspects of this is determining the proper sequence and which of my machines is best for this part. I have frequently had to remake a part because I machined in the wrong sequence and now cannot hold on to the piece because I machined away the surface I need to hold on to for the next operation. Keeps life interesting. Sure beats sitting in the house watching TV. I look at some of my first projects and think I would certainly do it different knowing what I do now.


----------



## nx06563

I am truly enjoying the build progress.  Jerry Howells designs are definitely works of art and sometimes complicated for aesthetic reasons rather than functional reasons.  I built the v-twin a couple of years ago  and it was about my fifth engine build.  I learned that I wasn't smart enough to anticipate what dimensions were critical and which were "close is good enough".  I would make a list of machining steps  on complicated parts,  draw the part in auto-cad if necessary, redimension the drawing in my order of machining steps.  It helped with logic and math errors. 
Take your time and don't get in a hurry.  Believe it or not I only had to make 1 each of the crank case, gear case, and gear case cover-- don't ask me how many of the other parts that were made several times.  
I still haven't finished two good carburetors and am using model airplane carbs. I did make two great ones of the same side before I realized what I had done. I have a few problems with spatial orientation!

By the way it is a great running engine- just be careful with the valve timing. It seemed to be very critical on my engine and caused a lot of trial and error with carbs-valves-and ignition.

Your engine looks better than mine- Keep up the good work!


----------



## Dale66

I have been following this thread for a while and recently started work on my v twin.
I took the advice of Ernie , a member in So. Florida to start with the most difficult part first, the gear case and its components 
I would recommend this to any one starting this project.
I look forward to reading Gus's progress and all others working on the v twin
This helps me as I slowly progress with mine.
After being retired and 70 years old I have many years in the trade but this is my first engine .
Thanks to all the mambers on this v twin thread for sharing your experiences.
Eventually I hope to add some photos of my progress.
Dale.


----------



## gus

Hi Dale.

Coincidently Gus is 72 and can only work for three hours in the morning with plenty of tea/pee breaks.The afternoon gets to hot and humid and not very conducive to work. Before taking the last two/three cuts,best to go for a break. The gear case cover bearing bore was supposed to have a snug fit but coming to close to fit in with last cut, the Darling Boss called and after putting the phone,the last cut was the death cut and I spent another two hours to turn an adapter bush.Jerry's pitch circles are quite tight and precision center popping and spot on drilling required. I had another near disaster but redeemable today. 
Looking forward for another good day tomorrow.


----------



## jimjam66

I'm glad the 'oopsie' is redeemable, Gus.  Looking forward to the next instalment.


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## gus

At last I see light at the far end of the tunnel. Had to reward myself with a mockup/ trial assembly But I still have 2 months minimum to go before completion of the Howell V-2 Engine.
The Gear Case for now is empty and waiting for 12 spur gears for the timing train. 
Very happy with engine sitting in one corner of the PC Desk.
Six months of sweat and pain forgotten and now looking at the trial assembly.


----------



## gbritnell

Looks great Gus!
gbritnell


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## jimjam66

Nice - that beauty needs a good coat of looking over every day for a while!


----------



## gus

Might work on the Ignition Timing Housing. Again Jerry made it look simple but one must study this print carefully over and over at least ten times. Housing is made of Delrin which I have no experience turning.

Hi Paul, Your expert advice is sought.Please advise how to turn Delrin.


----------



## crankshafter

Hi Gus.
Turning Delrin is no problem but you need a" RAZOR-SHARP"Thm: tool.

BTW nice work on the V-Twin.
CS


----------



## Swifty

Hi Gus, yes, what crankshafter said, a nice sharp tool but stone a small radius on the point. Positive rake on the top as well. I turned a part for the V4 water pump from delrin, as specified, but near the finish it decided to break, it's hard and nice to turn but can be brittle.

Paul.


----------



## michael-au

Good job Gus, nice looking engine

One day I might build this engine swell, I have had the pans for a few years

Will be good to see it running


Michael


----------



## gus

michael-au said:


> Good job Gus, nice looking engine
> 
> One day I might build this engine swell, I have had the pans for a few years
> 
> Will be good to see it running
> 
> 
> Michael



Hi Mike,

Looking forward to build your inline engine too. My machine tools will be over stretched again. Taking some friends on board to fish tomorrow. Not very sure will get good bites with Neap Tide Current. You have a great week end.


----------



## gus

After a nice holiday in Central Thailand and a good rest. I started work again .However there was some procrastination for a couple of days and out of boredom from doing nothing absolutely.
Had planned to minor retrofit the mini DIY D.Head to proceed milling the timing gears using the master gears that came in from SPDI and only to discover they were too small to use as direct index. So no choice called a friend to do and print  out  drawing with 32/16/21/13 holes to DIY index plate. Pin point center popping and drilling is a must. Job done and  the indexing pin will be done tomorrow.


----------



## gus

Indexing Pin done. Quite happy with the spring loaded pin which engaged the index holes positively. Design came from Harold Hall but I reversed it to suit. Gear cutting would be next. Paul Swift gave me a gear hob. My gear cutting skill gone rusty and I expect some goofs.Will have a dry run and practice cuts. Tomorrow will the last day of shop time as I am taking my darling boss to Fukuoka, Japan to celebrate our 44 th anniversary. Time flies. Engine building is keeping me young, body,mind and soul.


----------



## Brian Rupnow

Gus---You never cease to amaze me with your innovative solutions to problems. I am still watching your build, and you are doing a great job.----Brian


----------



## jimjam66

Fantastic work on the dividing plates Gus.  It just show what can be done with a little 'nouse' as the English say.  Looking forward to the progress on your engine once you are back from honeymoon (your 44th honeymoon).


----------



## gus

jimjam66 said:


> Fantastic work on the dividing plates Gus.  It just show what can be done with a little 'nouse' as the English say.  Looking forward to the progress on your engine once you are back from honeymoon (your 44th honeymoon).



Hi David,

Best to travel while we both can. Japan never cease to amaze me. The Japanese folks I meet on the street are very nice and civic minded.

Still trying to accept the bad dreams,decisions,visions the past Japanese leaders had leading to near total destruction of their beautiful Japan. The countryside is so beautiful. Most of their forest is still intact. Stream and river fishing good. Deep Sea fishing good. Never never ever step into the fishing tackle shop. One can spend $300 and come out with a handful. Ha Ha


Will be snooping around the ''TokyuHands'' Store to look for quality Chinese tools made for Japan solely and cost a bit more but very good tools.


----------



## Davewild

That's looking great Gus, my machines are to small for this engine, maybe later when I get larger machines and my skills have improved, your doing a fine job, gear cutting is also on my to learn list!!!

Dave


----------



## Brian-in-Oz

G'day Gus -  I have just spent two hours reading your Howell V2 forum from cover to cover. I am mightily impressed with your skills and ingenuity particularly in light of the equipment you have at hand. That little engine is looking fantastic and I am sure it will be running as sweet as a Swiss sewing machine in no time at all.
You mentioned you may have a go at the Edwards Radial and from what I have seen here you could manage it no problems at all. 
Since finishing my Edwards Radial I have just about Googled myself into insanity trying to decide on my next engine but the Howell V2 is on my short list as is the Little Demon V8 but as yet have not made a final decision (to much
procrastination).

Cheers - keep up the good work and great fishing.


----------



## gus

Brian-in-Oz said:


> G'day Gus -  I have just spent two hours reading your Howell V2 forum from cover to cover. I am mightily impressed with your skills and ingenuity particularly in light of the equipment you have at hand. That little engine is looking fantastic and I am sure it will be running as sweet as a Swiss sewing machine in no time at all.
> You mentioned you may have a go at the Edwards Radial and from what I have seen here you could manage it no problems at all.
> Since finishing my Edwards Radial I have just about Googled myself into insanity trying to decide on my next engine but the Howell V2 is on my short list as is the Little Demon V8 but as yet have not made a final decision (to much
> procrastination).
> 
> Cheers - keep up the good work and great fishing.




Hi Brian-in-oz,

Been looking around for radials to built too and found a three cylinder radial running in YouTube. After a good holiday in Southern Thailand and doing nothing for a week,I have too many lazy bones to remove. Fishing been good and bad. The Good Lord sent a 5 kilo Grouper swimming topsy turvy towards my boat last Sunday. See fish


----------



## bmac2

Holy smokes Gus that fish is almost as big as you!  I think the last time I had grouper was about a 4 oz (113g) piece in a local Indian restaurant. The curry was great but cost me around $30.00.  Your fish with a little rice and some peas is worth a small fortune in these parts.

I like the simplicity of your dividing head. I have all my patterns finished for the Whippet now so as soon as Im done with the pour (hopefully this coming weekend) getting my head around gear cutting is next on my list. 

Keep up the good work and the great fish. Thm:


----------



## jimjam66

That's a nice fish alright.  I've never eaten grouper, what's it taste like?


----------



## gus

bmac2 said:


> Holy smokes Gus that fish is almost as big as you!  I think the last time I had grouper was about a 4 oz (113g) piece in a local Indian restaurant. The curry was great but cost me around $30.00.  Your fish with a little rice and some peas is worth a small fortune in these parts.
> 
> I like the simplicity of your dividing head. I have all my patterns finished for the Whippet now so as soon as I&#8217;m done with the pour (hopefully this coming weekend) getting my head around gear cutting is next on my list.
> 
> Keep up the good work and the great fish. Thm:




Had earlier plan to DIY a Conventional DH with Indexing Plates but on second thoughts I would have to DIY a range of Indexing Plates and many holes to drill. So why not direct index. 
Will be watching your Whippet post. Meanwhile I am in the procrastinating mode. But figuring out how to true up a cheapy mini MIC Chuck which is inconcentric. Using same chuck to mill the timing gears will be disastrous.

This Sunday after fishing will for my Indian Curry FishHead Fix with plenty of Okras and EggPlants. Take care.


----------



## gus

After a one month break from the overtax brain. Its true the Howell Engines make 'HMEM''  engine builder work hard and stretch their basic machining skills to the extreme limit and even beyond to pick new skills.
The 2 1/2'' MIC Scroll Chuck had a run out of 8 thou. This is no can do when Hobbing the timing gears. Been toying with so many ways of truing the three jaws to get near 0 thou Concentricity.
Here's how I did it. Took a mini cut and found that the jaws were soft. Truing done in 10 mins after 4 weeks of desperation. With chuck done. Will move on to turn down hobber 16mm shank to 12 mm. Hobber was a gift from my Maestro Paul Swift.


----------



## gus

Doing nothing is tougher than doing something. All lazy bones taken out and about to hob first gear. Never uses a hob before and I am wondering how to align hob and gear blank.


----------



## jimjam66

Exciting times, Gus!  It's always a thrill learning something new.


----------



## gus

Been working very hard to get some timing gears cut. Was a steep learning curve cutting gears with a 'Hob''.
After ruining half a dozen of gears,some good gears came out. I have another 3 gears to go.                                                                                              Ruined one 32 t gear blank,forgot to reset index arm to 32T from 21T. Was a total wipe-out. Lesson learnt.


----------



## gus

About to finish hobbing all the timing gears. The Howell V-2 is not very a small engine but it has mini timing gears which really stretch your skill and patience. The tail shaft has an integral spur gear which is part of the tiiming gear chain. Same will hobbed tomorrow.                                             Having the hob behind the blank was not a good idea.


----------



## gus

Just when I thought it would the last gear to hob. Wrong. The gear hob packed shop. :rant:
No worry ,I could move up one or two digits to go back to gear hobbing biz. Hob was doing very well cutting brass at 1000 rpm but apparently not with drill steel.Fotos show the worn digits and the bad gear. Tooth height was very much less that the 45 thou.Tooth profile looks spindly like E.T. Fingers!!!:hDe:
Will shift down to 500 rpm and hob with Tapmatic Fluid to minimise gear hob wear.


----------



## gus

Took five gear blanks to make one good 16T Pinion Shaft.:wall: Moved up 2 digits from worn cutting teeth of hob and proceeded to practice hobbing the mini 16T Gear which has its mind and you just can't rush with one pass.:rant: Took two pass with the very last gear blank and at last one good gear came out.
Running the hob at 1000 rpm is murder. Took it down to 700 rpm and she cut very well and with dobs of Tapmatic Fluid ti make cutting easier. 
Next on the list will be the four cams to cut. This may take another week to get good cams.


----------



## gus

Howell V-2 need its pretty good share of tools and fixtures to make all the miscellaneous mini parts. To machine the cam,you required a Rotary Table,A Boring Head with cutter to cut O.D. RT and BH were DIYed years back. Gus unashamedly copy cap Paul Swift's method and getting good results. One trial cam almost done expect for profiling the low cam side. Did not expect the trial cam to emerge intact. The Japanese mini mill performed well giving a very good lobe finish. Had to buy 5/32 and 7/32 Reamers. Substituting with metric reamers is not advisable. Parts may clash and fitting would be a big problem.


----------



## gus

All four cams done today.Will heat treat tonight. Chilly Red or Dull Red is easier to read at night. All my roughing mills are MIC and by now too dull to cut Drill Steel. Had to invert RT to skim off the semi-round lobe using Carbide End Mill. MIC HSS mill will dull very fast when cutting drill steel. Hand finished with fine cut file and emory paper. Results don't look bad and was the best looking cams I ever made. The DIY Rt stood up very well.

The gear case will be another tough job to get right. Have never put in so many gears into a gear box and they must mesh and run smoothly. This will take another week.;D


----------



## gus

Heat Treatment done. Did a file hardness test. One piece was good. the other three pcs were not as hard. Redo all three and quenched in ice cold water. All three passed.


----------



## gus

All gears done and presented as a family. Howell Engines have endless list of mini parts. Howell V-2 and V-4 not meant for faint hearted engineers to build. From here I move on to installing the gears.Getting them to mesh will be fun.

No worry about gear size compared to print as print done to Twice Actual Size.!!!


----------



## michael-au

Coming along nicely Gus


----------



## gus

michael-au said:


> Coming along nicely Gus




Yes. Michael. I can see  day light at the far end of the tunnel. I am left with fitting in the mini parts. Will be another month to see engine running. 
Thanks for the support.


----------



## jimjam66

Good progress, Gus.  That gearbox should be fun!


----------



## gus

jimjam66 said:


> Good progress, Gus.  That gearbox should be fun!



Hi David.

GB will be more than fun. I am going dead slow,plotting every foot step.
Gus was disaster prone since Trade School days.:hDe:


----------



## gus

*Work on Timing Gear Box delayed.*

1. *Locker on which Family Altar* was placed, collapsed after 37 years. Replacing this S$500 locker will cost me at least S$1,500.After a week of mental planning. Had altar repaired for $54 FOR 2 pcs 20'' x 20'' x 9'' high pedestals and have Locker placed on top and equally good. Time taken was 2 hours with Cordless Screw Driver and CL Drill. Darling Wife,Nellie very pleased. A coat of Lacquer is required to bring back the shine.

2. *The diesel fuel line check valve failed* and the Albin 28 had to be towed back last Sunday .Was the most expensive 1 hour tow  trip  to Marina. Boat Tow cost me $400.Peninsular Engines have no parts stockist in Singapore. And had to make a DIY Check Valve which about 10 times the fuel line check valve of Brian Rupnow's H & M check valve. Cost $5.00. 11 mm steel bearing ball f.o.c. Hose barbs $2.00. If I had made check valve 2 weeks ago,could have saved $400 and buy Nellie a Fine Dining Dinner of good U.S./Aussie/Japanese Beef Steak.:rant:

Same valve installed today and all went well. Thanks to Brian Rupnow. All all went well except the fish refused to bite.
One word of caution. ''Never Never lap ball and valve seat. Just press steel on the valve seat with the vice. Very good sealing and no leaks.This check valve will last forever and ever.


----------



## gus

Taking a good hard look at gear case and how to get the center distance between gears to get good meshing. With gears placed on,I am getting a good feel. Will take a week to do a ''no scrap'' job. I have 7 shallow blind pit holes to machine to locate gear train. Jerry Howell has good info guide to turn these blind holes. Will take my sweet time. Lots of tea/pee breaks to help concentration. Will take a week to do a good job.

N.B. Gears were cut with gear hob from Paul Swift. Thanks.Paul .th_wav


----------



## Davewild

gus said:


> Taking a good hard look at gear case and how to get the center distance between gears to get good meshing. With gears placed on,I am getting a good feel. Will take a week to do a ''no scrap'' job. I have 7 shallow blind pit holes to machine to locate gear train. Jerry Howell has good info guide to turn these blind holes. Will take my sweet time. Lots of tea/pee breaks to help concentration. Will take a week to do a good job.
> 
> N.B. Gears were cut with gear hob from Paul Swift. Thanks.Paul .th_wav


It's looking great Gus, fantastic job, I've still to learn gear cutting!!!


----------



## gus

Hi Dave,

Gear cutting is not tough but just a different ball game. Takes at least 4----6 bad gears before getting good gears. Gus is ever ready to help from books to tools etc. Cutting own gears is a must when you get into serious 4 stroke IC Engine building which have timing gears.SPDI sometimes ran out of stock for the gears you want.And they are not cheap. Made my own Rotary Table and Dividing Head. Indexing plates. I go for direct indexing which does away with the messy calculation and indexing. With direct indexing,you can't go wrong. Its fishiiiiinnng again on Sunday.


----------



## Davewild

gus said:


> Hi Dave,
> 
> Gear cutting is not tough but just a different ball game. Takes at least 4----6 bad gears before getting good gears. Gus is ever ready to help from books to tools etc. Cutting own gears is a must when you get into serious 4 stroke IC Engine building which have timing gears.SPDI sometimes ran out of stock for the gears you want.And they are not cheap. Made my own Rotary Table and Dividing Head. Indexing plates. I go for direct indexing which does away with the messy calculation and indexing. With direct indexing,you can't go wrong. Its fishiiiiinnng again on Sunday.


Thanks Gus. It will be very soon that I progress to gear cutting, what books are available? Enjoy your fishing!!!


----------



## Brian Rupnow

Gus--something I have found to be very helpful---if the gears are made perfectly to "specification" then the center to center distance is the sum of each gears pitch radius added together. However, I have made gears which looked perfectly fine, but the teeth were cut a bit shallow and consequently the pitch radius changes. I calculate the "perfect" center to center distance and drill/ream two holes in a scrap piece of aluminum for the correct shaft size and drop the gears onto the shafts. If they mesh fine, then no worries. However--if the bind, then you can shift the hole pattern a bit to accommodate that in your gearcase. If you drill the holes in the gearcase first and then find out your gears "bind" then you are in trouble.----Brian


----------



## gus

Brian Rupnow said:


> Gus--something I have found to be very helpful---if the gears are made perfectly to "specification" then the center to center distance is the sum of each gears pitch radius added together. However, I have made gears which looked perfectly fine, but the teeth were cut a bit shallow and consequently the pitch radius changes. I calculate the "perfect" center to center distance and drill/ream two holes in a scrap piece of aluminum for the correct shaft size and drop the gears onto the shafts. If they mesh fine, then no worries. However--if the bind, then you can shift the hole pattern a bit to accommodate that in your gearcase. If you drill the holes in the gearcase first and then find out your gears "bind" then you are in trouble.----Brian



Hi Brian.

Thanks for info. I am playing by ear. May try a mock meshing on a test piece and from go on to finale. Wish use the thin cigarette paper shim.

Bad day fishing. Engine Starter burnt. Fortunately by pouring on ice cold water,it did spin and start engine.


----------



## gus

Cannabalised or rather call it recycling a not so good RT built 4 years ago. Need a FacePlate like tomorrow to machine the blind pit holes in the gear case. Did surface skimmimg to make faceplate look good. Been looking around for a FP. Was a buy or DIY decision.Buying an Original Sakai FacePlate would cost me a bomb even though the Japanese Yen has gone down to 110 per S$. Buying M.I.China faceplate make not fit in.


----------



## gus

Making jigs and fixtures is part and parcel of machining the 1001 and parts for the Howell V-2 Engine. Have had no experience or requirement to use faceplate to offset machine parts when the 4 jaw chuck can be used. After putting on and clamping the gear case,I get a bit worried. More worried about collision with cutters while boring the blind holes. The clamping proved to enough to hold GC during trial run. More to follow.


----------



## gus

Job holding for the GC while boring the blind pit holes for the cams gave me some headaches. Due to the big offset, clamping would be restricted. While turning GC over I found the three M5 holes for the spigot used to hold Faceplate for facing could be used. Simple solution found. A M6 fastener used to secure GC to FP. 

Fishing been good today. Three 1.5-----2 kg Snappers. Gave me a good fight. Nellie very happy,Gus brought back some fish for three weeks dinner.


----------



## gus

The Timing Gear Train is at last planted in. Some mini rework required. I am first timer using DIY faceplate.


----------



## Art K

Gus,
The gear box looks good.
Art


----------



## gus

Boring the Cavity for Oil Pump.
Setting up took more half morning. As a precaution took a dry hand spin to ensure the boring bar clears the clamps and fasteners.  The Warner 3/8 Boring Bar did a great job. Its another FacePlate job and its  last turning job. The gear case has some more work to do. The oil holes and oil passages.


----------



## jimjam66

Great work Gus - well done!


----------



## gus

*Oil Pump Suction Elbow.*

This mini brass elbow wasn't easy meat. I moved away from making it from a solid brass piece which take up too much time and not having to make a fixture hold solid brass bar to turn/drill the elbow.
My method was to make from 2 pcs. 
Same elbow also functions as a drilling jig to drill the crankcase inlet hole. Jerry Howell gave good work instructions to enble a good elbow to crankcase fit. Deviating from Jerry's method will come to grief and misfit and a scrapped crankcase. Entire job took 2 mornings.


----------



## gus

*Oil Passage from Oil Pump.*
After a week's holiday in Thailand,with batteries fully charged,did some work today.

*Drilling Jig*
Drilling the inclined oil passage was scary and to hit spot on to oil pump discharge even more scarier.Broken drill will mean scrapping Gear Case. Best go slow and steady.
1.5mm hole is another scary task. Broken drill while drilling is another incident,I dread. Took me weeks to mentally design jig. Making the jig,set up.alignment and dry run took two hours. 
Job done in 5 mins and oil passage did meet pump discharge port.;D 
I have another 3 more oil holes to drill and a jig is not necessary but on after-thought,decided it as safest way to get good oil holes and no broken drills.


----------



## Cogsy

It's looking great Gus. Getting close to being finished by the looks. Are you still looking to have it finished by Christmas?


----------



## gus

Hi Al.

The Gear Case has too many details to be done. I have 4 oil holes for the cam lube and 4 M2 Holes to drill and tap and the Gear Case is done. However I am not happy with the gear train and may have to cut some gears.I also dropped 2 gears over the window and thats gone forever. By End Nov,I am about done. Trying very hard not to rush. Howell V-2 can be very unforgiving. After this engine,I could take other engines. Plan to do a 3 Cylinder Radial which is also very scary.  Hopefully Gus gets to be ''Scare Proof''.


----------



## gus

Four Oil holes to lubricate the cam shafts after careful marking/scribing/centre popping. No jig and fixture required as I have earlier thought. Marking and scribing and dry run took an hour.Best to spot drill before final drilling so as to get drilling spot on. Oil passages to cam shaft must be spot on. Drilling 1.3mm and 1.6mm holes is scary for me. Any broken drill and taps would scrap Gear Case. Took frequent tea/pee breaks. Gus is goof proned and hammer-fisted. I still have some minor milling to do. Hopefully GC all done by tomorrow. 
Going for eye operation to remove cataract and pull in new lens in a fortnite and this will set back completion. Eye Surgeon will decide ops date.


----------



## jimjam66

Nice work Gus.  My dad was told yesterday that he is not allowed to drive until he gets his cataracts sorted - he is hoping to have the first one done in the New Year.


----------



## gus

jimjam66 said:


> Nice work Gus.  My dad was told yesterday that he is not allowed to drive until he gets his cataracts sorted - he is hoping to have the first one done in the New Year.




The doctor confirmed the cataract but I also have Glaucoma.Scan showed have some damaged optical nerves. However his boss gave me eye drops to apply for my entire life.One drop every night should lower the eyeball pressure. Next appointment 6 weeks away. Hopefully the medication works.Usually does work but some folks do better with changeover to other drugs.


----------



## ShopShoe

Gus,

I'll be thinking good thoughts for your operation. I enjoy your posts, be they about machining or about fishing.

--ShopShoe


----------



## gus

ShopShoe said:


> Gus,
> 
> I'll be thinking good thoughts for your operation. I enjoy your posts, be they about machining or about fishing.
> 
> --ShopShoe



Hi ShopShoe,

After the last night's eye drop,right eye seems better. Perhaps this eye drop works. Nellie is reading up and Glaucoma and getting a ''bottle full'' and gave me not so bad news.That is Gus won't go blind so easily. I still have the lazy left eye. Medication can help prevent eye condition from going worse. My kid brother having same eye disease for last 5 years and he's doing OK w/o eye ops. However after 6 weeks,the M.O.and his Glaucoma Consultant/Specialist Boss will decide best course of cure. For now health supplements like Bilberry and Lutein seems to give better eye sight and right eye pressure seems diminished. Neliie is a trained senior nurse and Gus is having the best care. Sure glad I married a nurse!!!

Take Care.


----------



## gus

*Glaucoma and Cataract.*

Good news. Eye pressure went down from 30----11. Whatever units of measurement?? Consultant says my eye is responding well to eye drop and operation not required. The eye drop  would be forever to keep Glaucoma under control.

With the good news,I have gone back to work on the Howell V-2 but postings will have no fotos till I figure out what had happened during the recent reformat of Apple NoteBook with new software. Now in the final process of assembling the V-2 but there will some minor reworks and hand fitting. Will post fotos on Face Book.

.


----------



## 10K Pete

I've been watching but not posting but now I have to post.

Great build, Gus!! You guys and your itty, bitty, parts!! Amazing.
Hang in there!

Pete


----------



## Cogsy

I'm looking forward to seeing it all together Gus.


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## Gordon

Gus: how do we see your face book pictures?
I am also building the V2 and I am also approaching the assembly and fitting stage. I am finding that some of the places where I tried to hold tight tolerances like in the gear case should have been opened up more. I have built the gears using a .5 mod gear cutter and so far it looks like it is going to work OK.


----------



## canadianhorsepower

gus said:


> *Glaucoma and Cataract.*
> 
> Good news. Eye pressure went down from 30----11. Whatever units of measurement?? Consultant says my eye is responding well to eye drop and operation not required. The eye drop  would be forever to keep Glaucoma under control.
> 
> Thm:Thm:
> 
> With the good news,I have gone back to work on the Howell V-2 but postings will have no fotos till I figure out what had happened during the recent reformat of Apple NoteBook with new software. Now in the final process of assembling the V-2 but there will some minor reworks and hand fitting. Will post fotos on Face Book.
> 
> .



Hi Gus under what name on Facebook

Cheers


----------



## gus

Gordon said:


> Gus: how do we see your face book pictures?
> I am also building the V2 and I am also approaching the assembly and fitting stage. I am finding that some of the places where I tried to hold tight tolerances like in the gear case should have been opened up more. I have built the gears using a .5 mod gear cutter and so far it looks like it is going to work OK.



Hi Gordon.

Jerry Howell must be chuckling away in his grave at us/amateurs trying to build his V-2. I like his advice-----V-2 is not meant for beginners.Best to say----'' Not for the faint-hearted.He spent many years refining V-2. I stayed Metric with the gears. Cutting one or two gears is OK with me but when it came to so many 48 Pitch gears,I messed trying to familiarise with the gear hob Paul Swift mailed to me.The DIY gears turned out just barely acceptable. I bough Model 0.5 and 0.6 Cutters as standby. V-2 has very tight tolerance. The Gear Case detail was very mind boggling and will only unfold when you have done 80--90% work. I made some forgivable errors and spent time reworking. Drilling the centre holes for the can shafts was tough and error will scrap Gear Case.  Will begin posting on FaceBook soon.
The Glaucoma and operation did put me bit off but with latest good improvement results and no ops required but eye drops forever,I am now at ease. And Gus is not going blind.The Eye Centre had many latest Hi-tech eye test equipment.

Take Care. Christmas and New Year just around the corner.


----------



## Gordon

Gus: I cut the gears to 48 DP dimensions using the.5 mod cutters. Seems to be working OK. I do not know why mod cutters are so much cheaper than dp cutters. The centers on the gear case were not a big problem for me. I have DRO on the mill. I should have opened up the gear cavities more to give more clearance on the gears. I find the drawings to be kind of confusing because you are getting information from 2 or 3 different sheets and the notes. i ended up making some CAD layouts with notes and dimensions my way. I modified my 5C spin indexer per:
http://oxtool.blogspot.com/2013/11/5c-spindexer-indexer.html
Works well for indexing the gears.

You and  are similar. I am 75 years old and I have had two cornea transplants for Fuchs  dystrophy and must use eye drops every day.

Gordon


----------



## gus

Please look for Gus in FB as Augustine Teng. Still trying to post fotos into HMEM.


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## gus

*At long last,found a roundabout way to post belated fotos. 
*
*Cam Shaft Oil Holes*
Drilling deep 1.2mm holes is very stressful for Gus as he is hamfisted and gaff-prone. Was very cautious drilling first three shafts but come to the 4th, overconfidence killed me and shaft and had to make a replacement.Drilling the two side holes to lube the cam and tappets will be  next.


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## gus

*Oil Holes on the Cam Shafts*

Had to make a drilling jig just to drill above safely and accurately. All 8---------1.2mm oil holes drilled with Drill Spindle Speed at max rpm. Best deal was to make jig to drill two shafts with same Lactated to prevent drift. All 8 holes done . Still trying to buy Dye-Kemp to no avail and had to stick to permanent markers which suffice  for small jobs.


----------



## gus

*Oil Holes on the Cam Bush.*

After the cams were hardened and cleaned up, it was timely to drill thru to the bush. Spindle speed maxed and cam held and aligned in vice. Took the risk to drill w/o using the mini chuck. Peck drill 1.1mm hole with great care and came out alive. Clean up burrs with reamer and job done.


----------



## gus

*Cam Hardening*

Took risk doing same in broad daylight to dull red and got away with all 4 cams hardened to requirement. The qty of water is best to be ample to get good results. Note cams,burner torch on top of beer mug. Did file test to reconfirm hardness.


----------



## gus

*Ignition Housing Assembly.*

Easier done than said but small brass clips for the Halls Pickup Head was a bit small and dicy to make. The 1'' OD Clamping was hard to mark out the mounting holes and hard to resort to using the RT to pre drill. 
*Drilling The Flange*
Drilling holes w/o ample clamping is unthinkable.Any goofs will mean an hour plus of making a new piece.Make do with quick clamps. A Finger Clamp is best for mini job pieces. The Hall's Pickup Device well provided for with mini clips. The BandSaw did well with the mini clips with minimal finishing. For a day or so, I was bit put away making these two mini size clips. Snipping off with shears will deform. Hand Sawing is tough and too much to clean up. Tried the bandsaw and it cut well and on track. V-2 has many of such mind boggling mini parts.


----------



## gus

*ignition Housing.*
Turning above was simple. The material was easier to turn on lathe than expected. The angular positions of mounting slots for Hall's Pickup had me puzzled for a while. Made it a point to mill both slots to give snug fit. The DIY Rotary Table again came in handy. Had to make a simple jig to hold housing securely while milling the slots.


----------



## gus

*Case Hardening Tappets*

Ran short of drill steel and had to use mild steel and as such case hardening of wear surface  required.
Butane Gas Torch is too slow and had to use Mapp Gas. Born Loser, heat up to dull red and dip into CaseHarden Compound twice. The small cup of tap water is only good for one quench. Did try to quench second piece and file test found same not as hard as the first piece.All 4 pcs were hardened to requirement.


----------



## gus

Cylinder/piston/con rod Sub assembly.

Had to do some minor rework. Jerry Howell's dimensions for the con-rod was bit tight. Encountered one con-rod colliding with cylinder bottom. Job done and both sub-assembly  mounted and spun w/o obstruction. Work Bench is messy.will housekeep to spic and span tomorrow so that I can work w/o garbage distracting me.


----------



## Gordon

I am beginning to wonder if all of the hardening Jerry Howell is calling for is really necessary. If this engine is like the rest of the engines I have built I will never run it long enough to actually wear stuff out. 

I am finding the drawings rather hard to follow. There is a lot of working with two or three sheets and the notes and it is sometimes hard to figure out what you are supposed to be doing and in what order. I am also finding it confusing when he calls for something to be some unusual dimension like .570 and then realizing later that being +/- .050 would not have made any difference. I am finding that some part that I thought was done actually required additional work as shown on another sheet. I may have had better luck had I actually built the parts in the sequence of the drawings (3-4-5...)instead of doing another part while I am waiting for material or another tool.

Gus or others: What is your plan on the ignition? He suggest using two separate ignitions. I have not given it much thought at this point.


----------



## gus

Hi Gordon,

I followed his plans sht.40 and bought 2 DIY Ignition Kits from Jerry Howell.Com. Will drop by tomorrow the famous SIMLIM Electronic Complex to buy temperature control soldering iron to avoid frying the temperature sensitive transistors.Have not done electronics for last 55 years.
You are right,there are contradicting infos. I got into hot soup following his dimensions while doing the blind holes on the gear case. It was a long dark tunnel and at last I see daylight at the end. I gave up fretting and sort of go slow to enjoy making the parts from his endless lists. It took six scraps to make 2 good carbs. The rocker arms too. I did OK with the tappet valves.

Take Care. Bro.


----------



## Gordon

Gus: I have assemble his ignition systems in the past and they are not that difficult to build. A bigger problem is that he calls for two coils and they are more expensive than the ignition module. I do have a coil with two outputs and I will have to look into using that. Electronics is not my greatest strength. Actually small precision machining is not my greatest strength. I spent my working life building special material handling equipment where for the most part +/- 1/8" was considered precision. My electronic experience is mostly industrial relay logic type circuits so transistors etc are foreign territory. Fortunately being retired fast completion is no longer important and spending half a day trying to figure out stuff from internet sites and youtube videos is not really a problem.


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## gus

Hi Gordon.
We share some common grounds. I am not really a material handling man and I did not volunteer but found myself volunteered by the local GM to design and build two non-contact conveyor lines to send finished goods from my Compressor Assembly Plant to Warehouse. Was supposed to buy the flanged rollers from Interroll but ended doing same myself. Took four months working half day on the design from scratch. A good friend/sub=contractor did the controls for us. Was surprised there was very little hiccups from day one. Also design and build jib cranes and overhead cranes for in-house use. Followed with ''Wheelabrator''steel shot blast Cabinet and dust collector. Been fun.Calculating the motor hp for the conveyor line was fun. Boiled down to a very simple formula we learnt in our 1st year Engineering Science.


----------



## gus

*Final Assembly has begun .* 

Fitted on running gear,piston & con rods, cylinder assemblies,cams and push rod etc etc. But I have a bucketful of mini parts to rework/fit. After 10 long months,I could see light at end of the tunnel. In between work and rest the V-2 sits on my PC Desk purring away quietly. All the pains and trials about forgotten.The Carb Throttle Arms are a bit stick and need rework. 
Tuned the push rod and could the cams moving the push rods,rocker arms and valves.


----------



## Gordon

gus said:


> Hi Gordon.
> We share some common grounds. I am not really a material handling man and I did not volunteer but found myself volunteered by the local GM to design and build two non-contact conveyor lines to send finished goods from my Compressor Assembly Plant to Warehouse. Was supposed to buy the flanged rollers from Interroll but ended doing same myself. Took four months working half day on the design from scratch. A good friend/sub=contractor did the controls for us. Was surprised there was very little hiccups from day one. Also design and build jib cranes and overhead cranes for in-house use. Followed with ''Wheelabrator''steel shot blast Cabinet and dust collector. Been fun.Calculating the motor hp for the conveyor line was fun. Boiled down to a very simple formula we learnt in our 1st year Engineering Science.



Gus: That is the same sort of thing I spent my working life designing and building. It is a big step going from something like that which for the most part is very forgiving on tolerances to something measured in three decimal places and you can hold ten of them in the palm of your hand and if you drop one on the floor you man never find it again. 

I am truly enjoying the change brought about by my retirement. I enjoy the challenge of determining the proper sequence of operations where if you do the operations out of sequence you cannot complete the one you missed. Lots of planning and set up. 20% pre-planning, 70% set up and 10% actually making the part. Fun stuff.

Gordon


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## gus

Hi Gordon,
Your approach and planning is best. After machining the parts to print is not the end, storing them carefully for retrieve later is a must. I dropped a very well done pinion gear over the balcony into the garden and I was sure could find it as I marked the small tree. Pinion gone forever. Even the lathe chip pan is another trap for mini parts. 

Besides assembly of Ingersoll-Rand Small Air Compressors, I also make air receivers. As you said,tolerance to plus and minus 1/8 was about the tightest. With our engine building hobby, its narrow down to 0.0005''. We need a sharp tool and lots of tea and pee breaks as we come to the last cut. Been fun. Am glad I am about to come to the end of the V-2. With the engine block done the rest will not be so demanding.   Take Care.


----------



## gus

Cutting Thin Circular Paper Gaskets.

When you are ham-fisted,hand cutting and hole punching small/thin paper gaskets is not your game.The ID will be anything but round and will be tattered and torned. The Main Bearing Housing ''O'' Ring went AWOL. Replacing the O Ring will be tough. Modified the Rotary Gasket Hole Cutter to cut ID. After some fine tuning the ID was a snug fit on the spigot. Punching the 2 mm holes will be tough. Tried Spot drilling with plywood as support base to avoid tears. Results were good and gaskets came out to expectation.Trimming the OD was easily done. End result is highlighted by the ball point end. Its Sunday and its fishing after morning mass. The RC Church is just across the road.


----------



## gus

Week end fishing serves to give stress relief after 5 days of serious engine building. Neap Tides are known for bad fishing here in Singapore.The fish were very unlucky to be hooked by three lucky anglers. Five good size snappers and grouper. Gus had a good fight with 2 kg Red Snapper. Took foto of mate with my fish.


----------



## michael-au

gus said:


> Week end fishing serves to give stress relief after 5 days of serious engine building. Neap Tides are known for bad fishing here in Singapore.The fish were very unlucky to be hooked by three lucky anglers. Five good size snappers and grouper. Gus had a good fight with 2 kg Red Snapper. Took foto of mate with my fish.




Nice fish


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## gus

*Lube Oil Spray Nozzle and Restrictor Pin*

Mini items like above takes time and patience too. Drilling 0.035'' orifice was easy but looking for the 0.032'' Restrictor Pin was tough.Had planned to use a mini drill 3 thou smaller as required. Fortunately my darling boss was around and she suggested using sewing needles. Am glad I married a Nursing Sister cum engine building consultant. Will buy her a good Christmas Lunch/Dinner. 

Spray Nozzle Assembly fitted on and tested with Singer Sewing Machine Oil. Could see mini drops seeping through.


----------



## gus

*Punch or drill 3 mm gasket holes.*

Ham-fisted guys like Gus would have difficulty to punch 3 mm holes and get them to fit and with no tears.
Spot drilling the gasket holes was about the perfect way. Back up support is required to avoid torn holes.Please feel free to advise alternative.
Drawing did not call for gaskets but since I messed up the contact faces,gasket is required to seal of oil leakage.


A bit hot and humid by 11 am and I had to stop work.
I am inching towards completion of Howell V-2 Engine. Will be another week or two or even three to starting and running. Sub-base and ignition kits yet to be done. 
.


----------



## michael-au

Looking good Gus, will be watching to see the first run, keep up the good work


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## Gordon

Gus:
I use either a brad point drill or a leather punch to make small holes in gaskets. Works great. Brad point drills are used for wood work and rotary leather punches are pretty inexpensive. The small holes do not have to be exact as long as the bolt fits through and there is enough gasket material left around the hole.


----------



## gus

*Soldering the Electronic Ignition Kits from JerryHowell.*

Haven't been soldering  electronic parts on circuit boards for 55 years. Jerry advised we must take precaution when soldering on the electronic parts. Resistors are OK but you must use pliers as heat sink to prevent high soldering temperature damage on the Transistors.(This advice is 55 years late for Gus.No wonder my DIY transistor radios never worked well.)
Best to use Soldering Station to prevent heat damage  soldering iron tips and oxidising tips. Bought a set Made in Taiwan . For once I see no excessively overheated/oxdised soldering tip. 
Since I have only 2 hands and I need a third hand to hold circuit board, made use of Mini Vice Grip and Vise. 2 Kits done.


----------



## gus

Howell V-2 Engine assembled after some reworks and refits. Valve Timing and Ignition Timing will be done last before start up.
Now figuring how and where to site the ignition coils and electronic ignition kits.

*Ignition Coils*

Good News. Above not made in China. Came from Bajaj,India. Bajaj makes look-alike Vespa Scooters in India. It was selling so well despite delivery time of 3----6 months. These scooters performed very well on the Indian Roads but somehow we ended with junks in Singapore. Kick Start levers would fall off after a month and a host of mini problems.Whereas with the Italian make Vespas we have no such problems.

Back to the layout on the Sub-Base. I like the ""Red'' High Tension Coils and the laminating which provide mounting holes. Will enjoying figuring out a neat layout but I also have to provide location for the 2  electronic ignition kits.


----------



## michael-au

Looking good Gus, you have done a very good job on the engine, looks like it won't be to much longer before its running 
Will be watching for a video should have a nice sound as well


----------



## gus

Hi Michael-Au,

I have one more to rework. Fuel delivery line to both Carbs is out of alignment and this makes the overflow non-functional. Will be a 1 hour job. 
Been a relief at last to be out of the tunnel and into the open. Machining skills overstretched, New skills demanded and Patience overstretched. The high tension ignition coil size is about right though Jerry Howell does offer the mini coils. Like the Red Coils and they looked rugged.                   Weekend fiiiiiisssshhhhing again.


----------



## gus

With the Howell V-2 Gas Engine assembled after 10 months of hard labour plus mental bashing, it  was time to do some good fishing.
Had two line breakers today but hauled cup a 4 pounder Snapper. When you are using light lines and rod, its so easy to lose the fish. Gave away fish to a mate who need more than me. Not exactly charity. Or Just a Christmassy Giveaway.

Now getting familiar with the New IP6S Phone and the reformatted Apple NBook. Posting fotos and videos now a simple task.


----------



## gus

*Fuel Line Header.*
Redo Tee Piece as per Howell Drawings so as to be as tidy as Jerry prescribed. Task took whole morning with balcony machine high humidity. The brass fuel cup if not properly aligned will not have its overflow functioning to requirement and may flood carbs.
The foto shows short messy cut using tubing to connect up both carbs to fuel cup.The second shows the rework. Getting the tee piece to align with carbs was tedious with two scraps. Going back to finishing up the electronic ignition kits. Soldering the tiny cables tidily will be difficult for ham-fisted Gus.Will go shopping for heat shrink insulation sleeves. Will be fun. Another new skill to pick up.


----------



## gus

*Locating the two bulky Ignition Coils.*

Had to make a base to mount engine and coils.Took quite a few days to decide best spot to mount coils.
With the coils fastened and wired up to spark plug. Will have insulate bare metal spark lug to prevent arcing to o/head fins.
Next is to figure out best solution to house batteries and the electronic ignition boards and wire up. Looks like have to DIY a box
to house them.Will be at least 3---5 days to hear the vroom vroom.


----------



## gus

Spent 2 1/2 hours making a box to house the duplex Electronic Ignition and 6 volt power pack. Workmanship and jointing has improved a wee bitty. Come tomorrow will figure out how best to wire up,solder and make cable harness to engine. 
Had wanted to leave the top lip uncoated but while running thru the pile of planks,found the Formica Laminate and when on to laminate lid top.

Happy New Year.


----------



## Gordon

Gus:
Have you tried the ignition? I have used the Howell ignition and I was not able to get it to operate with AA batteries or even the larger 6v lantern battery. I had to use a 6v GEL battery in order to get enough spark. I think that you are going to need a larger battery. I do not remember what capacity was required but it was far in excess of AA.


----------



## gus

Hi Gordon,
Thanks for the timely advice. I did get away with AA Batteries with Electronic Ignition bought from S/S Machine & Engineering with the Nemett-Lynx Engine which ran well for a while and thereafter just simply refuse to start and run. Culprit may Gus and the AA Batteries.
I am about ready to test the Ignition and spark plug for sparks. Back up would be buy the 6 volt Gel  Batteries. Most likely would post my gaffe with AA Batteries. Not too much problem to wire up Gel Battery.


----------



## Blogwitch

Gus,

Where a lot of people go wrong is when using rechargeable nicad batteries, they are only rated at 1.2 volts each, so in fact you need 5 to make up a decent 6 volt pack, whereas a fully charged 6 volt gel cell should be giving out around 7.2 to 7.4 volts so giving you that extra oomph to your spark, plus they will have a much larger capacity giving you longer running times.

I used to use Tim 6 boards and found they did run OK on 4.8 volts.

Build is coming along great.

John


----------



## gus

Hi John,

Thanks for the kind advice. As a teenage I  built radios and HiFi Sets with success thru perseverance like spent the whole night to get it going. Coming to transistors and circuit boards,I got mixed results. Transistors are sensitive to high temperature soldering. For this round I took Jerry's advice and bought Soldering Station with temperature control.Spent the entire New Year Day soldering and wiring the circuit board. For once I think I got it right. The acid test comes on Monday,when I go for sparking spark Plugs.  OK its weekend again and its fiiiissshhing. Life has been kind to me. My Glaucoma is responding to eye drops and no operation. Here in Singapore. We welcome 2016 with no terrorist incidence.Happy New Year .


----------



## steammachine

Happy new year Gus, I can't wait to see a video of your engine running. I'm sure it will sound as good as it looks!


----------



## gus

Final connections i.e  Hall Effect Devices and Igniton Coils will be made just before start and run.
Ignition Box Lid hinged to protect Ignition from oil contamination. Decided to Formica Laminate to protect lid from my grimy hands. Come tomorrow with set valve and ignition timing. Spin engine to confirm lube oil flow and Spark Plug sparking. But I have yet to rig up fuel tank. Looks like start up tomorrow won't happen. No worry. I am going dead slow and enjoying the prepping.


----------



## gus

Had a great weekend fishing. Landed all in 4 Snappers. 2 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. All gave ferocious fights.Took 2 home for the boss. Boss will make Curry Fish on Friday. Why Friday??? Ask the boss. I am not the boss.


----------



## RonGinger

Where is Gus? I was expecting to hear the engine run any day now and its been a  month since he posted a fishing photo. Did he decide to stay out fishing and give up building engines?

I sure hope he is well and just taking a long vacation.


----------



## Gordon

RonGinger said:


> Where is Gus? I was expecting to hear the engine run any day now and its been a  month since he posted a fishing photo. Did he decide to stay out fishing and give up building engines?
> 
> I sure hope he is well and just taking a long vacation.



When he said that he was going to only post his pictures on Facebook I signed up. He is presently doing what looks like a food tour of Nagasaki 

Looks like his interests are fishing, machining and food.


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## gus

Gordon said:


> When he said that he was going to only post his pictures on Facebook I signed up. He is presently doing what looks like a food tour of Nagasaki
> 
> Looks like his interests are fishing, machining and food.




Hi Gordon,

Gus back on the saddle and was trying hard to get started again.Just when I thought the lazy bones were extracted, some unhappy events happened.
1.Apple LT broken down and wasted my time reformatting.Bought ACER and
   spent too much time with the Window 10. 
2.Just when all was fine,road works began and right under my nose.


----------



## gus

Gus made a serious start to resume engine building. Gear cutting skills gone rusty. After a bad start with one 14t Module 0.5,successfully cut a pair of steel gears. Japanese Mild Steel cut well. Rigged up a poor man's DRO to get the 1 mm tooth depth but put stops to hold same depth. The Digital Readout can tell lies. Set depth to 1.0 mm but I had reading of 1.02.


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## ShopShoe

Welcome Back Gus.

Glad to see your posts again.


----------



## Gordon

Gus: I am building the same engine and I am a little behind you. I have most of the parts made and have started assembly with the usual minor fitting problems. I have not started on the ignition yet. I have the parts made for the carburetor but have not assembled them yet. I thought that I needed a little break so I decided to build a 4" turn table similar to the one you built. As usual as I completed something on the turntable I thought that there was a better way so I ended up making quite a few of the parts twice. I have a couple of minor maintenance and repair projects and then back to V2.

Gordon


----------



## RonGinger

I am happy to see you back- I was afraid you had decided fishing was more fun and had just moved out to your boat.


----------



## gus

ShopShoe said:


> Welcome Back Gus.
> 
> Glad to see your posts again.




Hi ShopShoe,

Was tough tearing away from the many distractions and go back to serious engine building. Been working for last two days and productivity was bad.
The last 14 hole index plate did not work out well and I had to make another. The indexing pin was bit too loose. Module 0.5   x  14T pinion is tough cookie.


----------



## gus

After a good break ,I am back. Jerry Howell's mini gear type lube oil pump require the patience and skill that I presently have not acquired. Cutting 1 off or 2 off spur gears is easy and simple but cutting Model 0.5 14T Mini Pinion Gears was another skill yet to be acquired using a mini Mill and DIY Dividing Head and DIY Indexing Plate. 
W/O DRO drilling gear shaft holes to get gears to close mesh was tough. 
At long last after some doubts and hesitation, the trial pump casing had gears closely meshed. The acid test would be------" will it self-prime and pump/deliver lube oil to the cams and cylinder walls and conrods. Foto shows the trial demonstration pump half done.Will post tooling when I move on to the pump casing.


----------



## Cogsy

Welcome back Gus - looking forward to watching your progress again.


----------



## makila

Hi Gus,

I have been watching your V2 build with interest as I have had the plans for this engine a while but never got around to starting it. The plans do not look too easy with all the small parts and the detail surrounding the timing gears and oil pump have so far put me off. So, I have just been following your build and looking at my set of plans to make some headway to understanding what is required. 
Having said that, I made a small start this week-end with the V2 crankshaft and squaring off some 1 inch stock for the heads, but that is all I have done on this engine. I am not looking forward to fighting my way through all those gears though!
Well done on persevering with the build- and for supplying good pictures throughout - Kudos to you for that

Steve


----------



## gus

Gordon said:


> Gus: I am building the same engine and I am a little behind you. I have most of the parts made and have started assembly with the usual minor fitting problems. I have not started on the ignition yet. I have the parts made for the carburetor but have not assembled them yet. I thought that I needed a little break so I decided to build a 4" turn table similar to the one you built. As usual as I completed something on the turntable I thought that there was a better way so I ended up making quite a few of the parts twice. I have a couple of minor maintenance and repair projects and then back to V2.
> 
> Gordon



Hi Gordon.

That was good news. Take our time because Jerry's dimensions are quite tight. Gus was not trained as a Tool-Maker which is an all rounder machinist and fitter and hence turned/milled bad parts. I made many mini parts two----four times. The mini parts are very deceiving and after doing the bigger parts , I rushed in like a bull in a China Shop and ended up with many rejects. The lube oil pump is one that demands
very high standard of drilling,reaming,counterboring and milling. All in I made 4 pumps before coming up with one which met Jerry's requirement. The 13 tooth pinion was impossible to source. Substituted with Model 0.5 x 14t. This was because I could buy Metric Gear Cutters easily and cost effective. Cutting the pinions was near disaster as such small pinions demanded some skill and esperience which I lacked. After 1/2 dozen double ended blanks, I came with some good results. I got overstressed and burnt out and was shying away from the mini machineshop. After three months rest and planning,went back to work on the oil pump now completed less ball bearings.


----------



## gus

makila said:


> Hi Gus,
> 
> I have been watching your V2 build with interest as I have had the plans for this engine a while but never got around to starting it. The plans do not look too easy with all the small parts and the detail surrounding the timing gears and oil pump have so far put me off. So, I have just been following your build and looking at my set of plans to make some headway to understanding what is required.
> Having said that, I made a small start this week-end with the V2 crankshaft and squaring off some 1 inch stock for the heads, but that is all I have done on this engine. I am not looking forward to fighting my way through all those gears though!
> Well done on persevering with the build- and for supplying good pictures throughout - Kudos to you for that
> 
> Steve



Hi Steve,
Thanks for the encouragement. I am back in the machineshop turning out the 2nd and 3rd oil pump. The 2nd was educational to check and confirm that the gear pump would self-prime and pump and it did well. The 3rd pump would have done well except I nicked the counterbore for the gear. However it did self-prime and deliver oil with 6 '' head. Had a hard time deciding to reject or make 4th pump which was done in 3 days and now assembled less ball bearings. Having come so far, stubborn Gus is not about to give up. The next post will show 4th pump WIP.


----------



## gus

RonGinger said:


> Where is Gus? I was expecting to hear the engine run any day now and its been a  month since he posted a fishing photo. Did he decide to stay out fishing and give up building engines?
> 
> I sure hope he is well and just taking a long vacation.



Hi Ron was back working on the Lube Oil Pump. As of today after the 4th pump,I got it self-priming and pumping oil. Its true I got burnt out. 
The new gear case and new timing gears will be next.I messed up the gear case as Jerry Howell's drawings takes time to comprehend and work on.Made too many unforgivable mistakes on Gear Case. I got away with Module 0.5 Pinions for the oil pump. 48 Pitch Gear Cutters cost a big bomb compared to Metric Module Cutters.


----------



## gus

gus said:


> Hi Ron was back working on the Lube Oil Pump. As of today after the 4th pump,I got it self-priming and pumping oil. Its true I got burnt out and need a good break. But came back with too many lazy bones.So took a while to my ass into gear.
> The new gear case and new timing gears will be next.I messed up the gear case as Jerry Howell's drawings takes time to comprehend and work on.Made too many unforgivable mistakes on Gear Case. I got away with Module 0.5 Pinions for the oil pump. 48 Pitch Gear Cutters cost a big bomb compared to Metric Module Cutters.


 
Take care.


----------



## gus

Gear Type Lube Oil Pump.
Above will not prime if the gears are not closely meshed and excessive clearance between pump wall and gear tip.Managed to make a near perfect proto type which could self prime and pump oil. With the gear shaft center distance done satisfactorily,I could use pump body as drilling jig.


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## gus

*CounterBoring the cavity to hold both gears*.

W/o DRO I had to make a jig in order to get counterbore perfectly centered on gear shaft holes. Jig Bushing was made with material from scrap bin and case harden using Brownells Case Hardening Compound. C/bore diameter changed to 8mm as I have gone metric to Module 0.5 x 14 t. The gear meshing turned to be as required. Depth of C/Bore was set with quill down to bottom dead end to get the 0.805 depth. Actual depth cut was slight short and had to cut by hand rotate. A power cut with hand feed may over cut depth.


----------



## gus

*Pump Casing.*

Best to do scribing using Digital Height Gage. Jerry's print dimensions such centre distances and angles was taken serioulsy.I took short cuts and ended up with dud and heartache. Centre punching is critical to get all holes done spot on. Any slight deviation won't . This part is very unforgiving. I messed up three pcs.Pump Casing done to print and sanded down to get flat mating faces.


----------



## gus

*Pump Testing*

With the gear shaft center distance done right and the counterbores to depth,fitting went smoothly though I must admit there were some slight bumps to turn over. Pump did self-primed and pumped oil to a pressure head of 10'' though deep down in me ,15------20'' is not ruled out. But the acid test would pumping copius qty of lube oil to cams and shafts and the con rods,journals and splash lube to cylinder walls.


----------



## Brian Rupnow

Gus--I still follow your posts, and it's nice to know that I have a kindred spirit on the far side of the world. I fully understand the "burn out" syndrome.  I have built one too many small engines in the past year, and although I will probably soon want to get back into my small machine shop, I think it will be to build something other than a small engine.--Brian Rupnow


----------



## gus

Brian Rupnow said:


> Gus--I still follow your posts, and it's nice to know that I have a kindred spirit on the far side of the world. I fully understand the "burn out" syndrome.  I have built one too many small engines in the past year, and although I will probably soon want to get back into my small machine shop, I think it will be to build something other than a small engine.--Brian Rupnow




Hi Brian,

Nice to know we both have same problem----------burnt-out. I tend to use my brain a wee bitty too much. Taking the problem to bed tends to overwork the brain.  With lube pump done,self-priming and pumping lube oil,I will sleep very well tonight. I am making a new gear case and cutting metric gear train. Will take a week or so just to cut the gear case blank. Hopefully by June and latest July ,the Howell V-2 Engine completed and running.
Trust all us well.


----------



## gus

*Make New Gear Case*

Not very happy with the very first gear case which I messed ,misreading the drawings. Not so sure it will undermine the engine performance.

The Makita BandSaw decided to go on strike. Saw Blade broke and Gus had to go back to manual hacksaw which took and hour. Blank was cut square. With lots of cutting fluid, the sawing was made easier and smooth.

Back end of Gear Case done and oil groove and oil ring groove done to make Jerry Howell happy. Dimensional requirements best as per print to avoid misfit and scrap. 

Its confirmed,all lazy bones removed and Gus back to metal bashing. Am glad i took time off.

Put another hour's work to bore the gear case to receive the main bearing. Bored to 0.827'' ID as per Jerry's drawing and the half cranksahaft bearing fit in snugly. Two weeks ago put a 4 watt LED Light. I am impressed with the light output.


----------



## geo

I broke a drill bit in the gear case drilling the oil gallery's it's now a paperweight 
I make it a rule not to do any machining after I've been on night shift thought I'd just face off some material for a new gear case locked up the power feed destroyed the mechanism In the apron and one gear in the head stock oh well fools who break there own rules.


----------



## gus

geo said:


> I broke a drill bit in the gear case drilling the oil gallery's it's now a paperweight
> I make it a rule not to do any machining after I've been on night shift thought I'd just face off some material for a new gear case locked up the power feed destroyed the mechanism In the apron and one gear in the head stock oh well fools who break there own rules.



Hi Geo.
I have this worry too. Best to have brand new good drills. The M.I.C. aka ''Made in China'' drills are very risky. Best to use highest spindle speed and do the drill/retrieve often to prevent drill breakage. New drills must be checked to ensure cutting edge is good. 
At ''73'' my mind gets tired and distracted and I take pee/tea breaks to refresh.
The last cut can kill the work piece. No worry. After some scrapped parts,I am now more cautious and not repeating the wrong steps. As the HMEM Vets
say----------------The Howell V-2 Engine is not meant for faint hearted to build. I scrapped 4 carbs before getting to good carbs. No worry. Take time. I am now into the 15 month.


----------



## gus

*Centering the Gear Case Blank.*

Wasted 30 mins using the dial gage. In desperation, I went over to use my DIY scribing block and job piece centered in 5 minutes. A spin

confirmed centering well done by eye ball check. Took the whole morning to complete the front half of gear case. ODs,IDs,depths and thickness spot on. Took frequent pee/tea breaks to stay well rested and alert. Made a small heap of swarfs.

Its Saturday tommorrow and Gus gone fiiiishhhhhhhhhhhhinnnng.


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## Art K

Gus,
Have a good day fishing. I am still following along, and am glad that you are posting photos. It looks like you are making good progress.
Art


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## gus

Art K said:


> Gus,
> Have a good day fishing. I am still following along, and am glad that you are posting photos. It looks like you are making good progress.
> Art



Hi Art,
Took a good break to recover from burnt-out. And the seven itch is back. The oil pump and gear case had to be redone. Made too many fatal errors. Both sub-assemblies were very unforgiving. The pinion gears had to be good. And the pump body had some vital fit requirements. Gear meshing must quite close with very minute gap and the clearance between gear tip and pump wall slight turning fit. Not meeting all these means no lube oil pumping. 
Messed up the gear case. New Gear Case made to print. Will take a week or two to complete Gear Case Sub-Assembly.
Fishing today wasn't best but we had good company and a cooler day. The silty water spoiled the day's fishing.


----------



## gus

Art K said:


> Gus,
> Have a good day fishing. I am still following along, and am glad that you are posting photos. It looks like you are making good progress.
> Art



Hi Art K,

There was a long weekend last week. Gus hooked nothing big but my fishy friends had a great time while Gus was busy taking fotos/videos. Battling this 30 pounder Cobia was a 10 min. vicious fight using a Light Jigging Rod.


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## Cogsy

That's a nice fish Gus - I dream of catching a cobia some day, and hopefully on light gear as well.


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## gus

Cogsy said:


> That's a nice fish Gus - I dream of catching a cobia some day, and hopefully on light gear as well.




Hi Al,

A PE 2---3 Spinner Rod with a good reel will do the job but Cobias are full of fight till gaffed. Leave in the sea for a while allows it to recover to another lightning dive. It was a 5 min. no holds fight. The weekend fishing is three days away. Please feel free to go into my FB . Address is Augustine Teng to see the fight. Red Snapper will give up in mid water but the initial fight is equally vicious.  Take care.


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## gus

*Gear Case Cover.
*

Took  30 mins of heaving and panting to cut blank.
Took 2 hours to cut Blank Cover. All ODs are to print. Will bore bearing hole tomorrow. ID and depth is critical and not forgiving.
Taking my sweet time with ample tea/pee breaks. Another big heap of swarfs to remove.


----------



## gus

*Gear Case Cover*

Measuring 2.74 OD x  0.375 thick, cover is a vital part for Ger Case Sub-assembly. Hole for off-set bearing was bore to tight push fit and concentric with the Cover OD. Groove for oil ring done to 0.62'' deep as per print. While having done a good job on the ODs,IDs and thickness,neglected the cover finishing.Guess I could blame it on not so good eye sight with Glaucoma right eye. Took my sweet time that is 2 mornings to machine Cover and plenty of tea/pee breaks. But there is one minor goof. Bearing Hole is 0.070 too deep. A spacer will correct the issue.


----------



## gus

*Crankshaft Retainer.
*

Work proceeded at snail pace. Cut and fit spacers to ensure Tail-Shaft Main Bearing is located/fitted as per print.
TailShaft (Mini) Retainer 3/8 OD x 0.65 thick required patience. Scrapped one pce. Trying out the countersunk and removing the 6-32 Countersink Flat Screw required some caution. If same falls off into the chip pan,it will as good as gone. I have only one pce.Put in a paper tray to catch same.Mother Mary was there for insurance. Nothing lost.Amen. Sub-assemby fitted up. Took 3 1/2 hours work with nothing much to look at. I have a  mini TailShaft Cover to do and that will be next week. Its weekend fiiiisssshhhhing tomorrow.


----------



## gus

*TailShaft Cover.*
Jerry Howell's Engines have many mini parts and you have to take your sweet time making these parts.
Spent an hour making new spacer washer to refit TailShaft End to fit into Gear Case Cover and also to enough recess to accept subject Cover. Turning to required OD and paper thin thickness was easy but the parting off was very slow and full of suspense.With job overhung,there was the danger of seizing and flying out. Took many shallow parting cuts. Same cover fit in good and snug. Was a 3 hour job with no rush. Next week will move on to finishing up the too many details on the Gear Case and most of them finger nail biting. Any one wrong cut and job is scrapped and another paper weight.


----------



## gus

*Gear Case sub-assembly with TailShaft & Bearing*

Had the Cover sanded/cleansed and Gear Case and TailShaft sub-assemblies fitted together to check for minimum axial play and free spinning. Bearing was a bit scratchy. Both assemblies were mounted on crankcase with no obstruction. Somehow when I don't go fishing on Saturday,I get more work done. Will replace scatchy bearing. For next week with machine Gear Case to fit oil pump and timing gear trains. Will be a week's work.


----------



## gus

*Gear Case.*

Profiling the Gear Case required angle plate bought three  years ago from the engineering hardware streets in HongKong.
With item secured the two flats for the cam tappet bushings skimmed to print dimensions. Job done with no goofs.
Milling the exterior profile was made tedious using a mini mill. Vertical feed was short by 3 mm. Had to lower mill head to finish cut. Job done again with no goofs. Both cuts too 3 1/2 hours. Gear Case Assembly will take the rest of the week.


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## ShopShoe

Gus,

This engine is getting to look better and better. I like it a lot and enjoy following your process of design and execution.

I know well the frustration of having a machine that is capable of a task, but has a limit of some kind to overcome. ("...  Vertical feed was short by 3 mm. Had to lower mill head to finish cut. ...) Well done and I agree that this engine really requires that one extra special thing to accomplish: Patience.

Good Work

--ShopShoe


----------



## gus

ShopShoe said:


> Gus,
> 
> This engine is getting to look better and better. I like it a lot and enjoy following your process of design and execution.
> 
> I know well the frustration of having a machine that is capable of a task, but has a limit of some kind to overcome. ("...  Vertical feed was short by 3 mm. Had to lower mill head to finish cut. ...) Well done and I agree that this engine really requires that one extra special thing to accomplish: Patience.
> 
> Good Work
> 
> --ShopShoe



Hi ShopShoe,

Thanks for following my humble post. The V-2 Engine has too many details to
make and must be as per print. As of Feb 2016, I took a long break to size up the situation. Went into some deep thoughts and sort of re-invent myself.This engine is very unforgiving and having only mini mill and mini lathe made it uphill task. With the completion of the Gear Case Sub-assembly,its about done. Next would the ensuring,I get enough lube oil going thru.


----------



## gus

*Gear Case.*

I have no depthing tool to mark out the centre distance between the Tail Shaft Drive Gear and Oil pump driven gear. Using 1/8''
Silver Steel Shaft,made a centre punch to the cross hair. End results was good with good gear meshing.

*Dowel Pins*

The Gear Case and cover must dowel pinned to hold alignment of cam shafts and the tail end of oil pump. Overhung/protuding pump must be sealed at the cover to minimise oil leaks. 

Work today was more brain work than physical work. Any misalignment would ruin job.


----------



## michael-au

Nice work Gus


----------



## Gordon

gus. With the completion of the Gear Case Sub-assembly said:
			
		

> I really wonder about all of the effort to get the oil pump to work. The only thing that it lubricates is the cams. I wonder how important that would be. There is no lubrication on the wrist pin for instance other than what splashes up so I wonder how important the cams are. I do not plan on running this engine for extended periods of time. That being said I do want the engine to be correct and per plan.
> 
> Gordon


----------



## Brian Rupnow

This small engine is like many of the other small engines that are designed. Not all of the features are absolutely necessary, but the intent of the plans is also to exercise your ability as a machinist, and make you expand your machining capabilities.---Brian


----------



## Art K

Gus,
The nice thing about this is that it's a hobby at any time you can step back and rethink what you're about to do. Good work
Art


----------



## gus

Art K said:


> Gus,
> The nice thing about this is that it's a hobby at any time you can step back and rethink what you're about to do. Good work
> Art




Hi Art,

Thanks. After working with Ingersoll-Rand for 32 years,I still a baggage of bad work habits to rid off like solving engineering problems while in bed and ended up with no sleep though problems solved. Your are correct,its only a hobby and projects have no date lines,invoicing target shipping date etc.
The Gear Case is one that you cannot bash thru in one stroke. 
Been a great day. I had another two gears meshed and pinned.


----------



## gus

*Timing Gear Train*

Two driven Cam gears pinned and meshed. As gears were DIY and hence centre distance will be hard to get or even guessed.
Resorted to WW-1 method using a 2 thou tissue paper in between both gears. Transfer punch and checked carefully. Acid test would be good meshing with no snag or excessive play. Taking a break now and most likely go after the first two cam gears. As I can see these two gears will be. slightly difficult to mesh.  Its good idea to have the mini gears nailed down on plywood piece to prevent loss or mixed up. Been a great day with 3 gears meshed.


----------



## gus

michael-au said:


> Nice work Gus




Hi Michael.

Thanks for the support visit. Having very basic mini machine tools been very challenging but there were times when I wished I had all the old big/medium/small machine tools I used to have. 

SOS SOS.

Not getting good cpompression. Please advise TDC Clearance between outer-head and piston top. Info vital to solve and get good compression.


----------



## gus

Brian Rupnow said:


> This small engine is like many of the other small engines that are designed. Not all of the features are absolutely necessary, but the intent of the plans is also to exercise your ability as a machinist, and make you expand your machining capabilities.---Brian




Hi Brian.

Well said.Thanks for the support. My sincere wish is when some HMEM Beginner embarking on building the Howell V-2 is kept informed/cautioned of the many pitfalls. V-2 is very unforgiving and not meant for the faint hearted hobby machinist. A beginner must have some good experience and having built some basis gas engines before tackling same engine. 

Trust all is well.


----------



## geo

Gus 
The offset for the camshaft holes is.737 I had my drawing sitting on the mill and read it as .732 the end of the seven finishes on a hidden detail line looks a bit like a two what's the old saying check twice do once . The point is as you say in your posts your not on deadlines the family farm isn't resting on the outcome .
I used your idea to pretest  the oil pump looks ok . Thanks again for sharing


----------



## gus

*Cam Gears*

Put in two more cam gears and they mesh good w/o too much gap. Scribing/marking and pondering took up an hour. Will finish up the other two cam gears. Machining the blind holes to house the gears need to be fugure out. The hole depth must be to print so that gear train will operate properly.Some measuring tools required.  Quite happy with the meshing.


----------



## gus

geo said:


> Gus
> The offset for the camshaft holes is.737 I had my drawing sitting on the mill and read it as .732 the end of the seven finishes on a hidden detail line looks a bit like a two what's the old saying check twice do once . The point is as you say in your posts your not on deadlines the family farm isn't resting on the outcome .
> I used your idea to pretest  the oil pump looks ok . Thanks again for sharing


 
Hi Geo,

No worry. Somtimes its best to rework. Salvaging a job can be time wasting.
Its true I tried salvaging the gear case and ended up with burnt-out. Making a new gear case was rewarding. Anticipation avoided the fatal errors. Take plenty of tea/pea breaks to keep alert mind. For round I goofed on the Gear Case Cover dowel pins. As I get near to completion,I get worried of the last cut syndrome. Take your time. The oil pump is important as it is the only means of providing lube oil for the cam shafts,cams,gears,con-rods and cylnder lubrication. There is no con-rod dipper to get splash lube. All the oil ports must have oil shooting out at vital parts.


----------



## gus

*Last 2 Cam Gears to mesh.*
Laundry Day. But I cheated and drilled/reamed mini shaft holes for above. Measure twice and drill once.Results was good meshing.
Will work on the Gear Case Cover. The mini cam pins/shafts does entend into the cover for good support.
Boring the pit holes for the gear will another chore but hole depth must be done to print. Failure to complymeans gear train won't jive.


----------



## gus

*Outer End Cam Shaft Support at Gear Case Cover.*

The 4 Mini Cam Shafts are supported at Gear Case and Cover. That is both shaft ends supported. No Details given on Cover.
Any misfit/misalignment will end up with no support at the cover. Shaft ends cannot be left unsupported. See drawing. Cam and shaft end is shaded. The best way to drill these 4 holes is to cover put on gear case with dowel pins inserted and transfer drill. Job done. Took 30 odd mins to conceive idea and 10 mins to drill .Happy with end results. All four mini shafts inserted.

There is a fair bit of work to do on the cover. No room for error.


----------



## gus

*Oil Pump*

The oil pump has to be embeded into the Gear Case and surface flushed. With no DRO and no LMS Stops. Made a DIY Cheapie Stop.Use the pump casing to set stop. Again took many tea/pee breaks. Just two cuts away for finishing the ID again tea break.Job done. Pump fit with slide fit and flushed with surface. There is a long list of mini details to be done. You have got to love doing all the mini features. Its a mindset. Enjoy the machining of so many features or keep the Howell V-2 on the ''forgot shelf'' or scrap bin or newspaper weight..


----------



## gus

*Cavities for Timing Gear Train*

Here's another blow by blow post. All 6 Cavities/Pit Holes done. Except for one cam gear pit done a bit too deep but forgiveable with a shim washer.  A DIY Face Plate was necessary to hold Gear Case for the boring with only one 5mm CheeseHead Fastener. Gear Case still have a long list of must machining.drilling/tapping 2 mm for grub screws,milling drilling and reaming etc. Cover still one last job to do. The Timing Gear Case is a sub-assembly to timing gear train,oil pump and tappet bushings etc etc. You got to love or hate doing Gear Case. No Fishing today.Fishing tommorow after morning mass.


----------



## gus

*Gear Case*

Entire Timing Gear Train fitted in and they spin and meshed good . Contemplating a good break. There is fear ham-fisted Gus may do damage. Sitting at PC Desk and hand spin the tail shaft and gear train. The rest of the metal bashing and completion will happen next week. Amen. And hugging the 30 year old Pneumatic Spear Gun which will be surrendered to Gun Licensing Board for scrapping. Had many choice fish for dinner. At 73, I am too old to free dive 60' to hunt for fish.


----------



## gus

*Gear Case Sub-Assembly*

Port Holes for Tappet Bushings and Crankcase Vent done. Took 3 1/2 hours of work. I am left with 4 -------1.5 mm oil holes for the cams, 4 x  M2 holes to drill and tap  and a  1.6mm ID x 25 mm deep oil passage to drill . And drill and tap breakages will ruin me.


----------



## gus

*So many mini holes to drill and tap*

Gus started work early at 7.30am and Nellie was wondering why is Gus working overtime.

Gear Case did survived w/o drill and tap breakage except a bad job on the oil suction. Did  check twice, mark and drill same hole. No problem with plugging and re-drill. Drilling the 1.5mm ID x 25mm deep oil passage went well and aligned. If 1.5mm drill breaks and get stuck in it. that will another newspaper weight.


----------



## gus

*Last 2 big thru holes to drill.*

Job piece was to big for Drilling Vice. Hand holding while drilling 10mm thru holes would be very risky. Job piece held down with 8mm fasteners for peace of mind. There is also a potential risk of snatching/grabbing as drill breaks thru.Grind relief drill cutting edges. Holes drilled safely. However I still have one last hole to drill and tap.


----------



## gus

*Crankcase Lube Oil Outlet *

Above was hard to drill and aligned with Lube Oil Pump Suction Elbow. Months back same missed by 2mm. Spent weeks racking my brains to come up with some ideas to rectify. 
Took three mornings to make elbow, drill and fit into Gear Case and Oil Outlet. To drill same outlet, a jig is a must. But for now I am happy with elbow and flange. Elbow is highlighted in blue.No fishing tomorrow. Work on Gear Case has yet to be 100% done.


----------



## 10K Pete

That's quite a complicated piece of work there, Gus. But every problem
has had a good solution so far. I look forward to each progress report!

Too bad about the spear gun...

Pete


----------



## gus

*Final fitting in Lube Oil Pump*

Took the entire morning to fit above. As there is no gasket to seal oil leakage,had to take insurance-----lap the mating faces of gear case and pump. Loctite on Pump Gear. There's obstruction and pump body could not go flush in. Drill a recess to take gear hub/boss. Productivity almost nil. But job satisfaction with OIl Pump fitted in.


----------



## gus

*Pump Trial*

Self-priming did function with water as medium. The ''O" Ring sealing between pump suction inlet and elbow was good and hence had very good suction. Here's one mischief,I ran short of lube oil and I did the unthinkable-----borrowed Nellie's cooking oil to conduct further pump test. Will fit in Timing Gear Train and tappets/bushings. The Gear Case Cover is another challenge. The hole for the oil pump tail shaft.  An O ring serves as oil seal. Badly done and oil will seep thru.There are 2 counterbores to do. One to receive the oil pump boss and the ''O'' Ring Oil seal. Tooling and Jig required to do a good job. No point fretting. Might as well enjoy making these tools.


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## gus

*Gear Case completed less Cover*

Timing Gear Train, Oil Pump c/w driven gear, Cams,Tappets,Tail Shaft and Bushings finally fitted on. Tail Shaft which is a pinion shaft itself could easily/smoothly turn gear train and cams.

*Cover*
Some more work required before Gear Case can be covered.
A mini ''O'' type oil seal has yet to be done. Tooling and jigs required. Oil seal is so deceivingly simple and very unforgiving.Its a death trap w/o jigs and tooling
See drawing.  1/8 shaft hole is shown arrowed. If oil seal is properly done,oil leakage will be a problem.


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## gus

*Lube Oil Pump Tail Shaft Oil Seal*

3/8 Countbore is a very risky hit or miss ops or oops w/o a 1/8 CounterBore. A 3/8 drill could hit and miss. Had to spend 3 hours making a fixture to ensure I get a good hit. Foto shows Fixture and locating plug. Counterbore done w/o mishap and Gear Case Cover Trial fit was good with no gap. The 1/4'' x  1/8 '' O Ring is another job requiring a 1/4'' guide bush.


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## 10K Pete

Gus, thanks for putting the ball point pen in that picture. I didn't really
appreciate how small those parts were!!

Pete


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## gus

*DIY ''O'' Ring Oil Seal*

The very shallow 1/4 ID x 0.165  counterbore for "O" Ring done. Jig modified with 1/4'' ID bush(hardened) inserted and locating pin reduced to 1/4'' OD. Counterbore has to be concentric to the 1/8'' ID shaft bore to function as oil seal. Was a bit painful to regrind 6.2mm drill to drill flat bottom hole

Cover can be be closed shut.


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## gbritnell

Outstanding work you're doing on quite a complicated build Gus. Looking forward to the day you try for first pops. 
gbritnelll


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## RonGinger

Gus, you said you "borrowed the cooking oil from Nellies kitchen."  Does that mean you returned it when you were through testing the pump?


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## gus

RonGinger said:


> Gus, you said you "borrowed the cooking oil from Nellies kitchen."  Does that mean you returned it when you were through testing the pump?




If Nellie ever knows that Gus borrowed her cooking oil to run the engine, she will get real mad. Ha Ha. So far so good. 

Most likely by This Friday I get to dry spin engine to test lube oil circulation and after that will top up with SAE 30 Engine Oil. 

Am Glad I took a 3 month break and come back refreshed to finish up and run engine. Been working longer hours like start work at 8am and finish work at 12 when Nellie yells lunch ready. Married for 45 years. She is devout and Gus a bit lapsed. Pray only when in deep ****. Ha Ha.

Thanks for support and viewing.


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## gus

*Gear Case Cover.*

Tail Shaft End Covered up. Ignition Timing Rotor and Housing fitted on. But I have 2 extra M2 threaded holes to give away. 
Taking a break now and will check Cam Lube Holes . Nothing scrapped today except 2 extra M2 Thread Holes.


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## michael-au

Great job Gus


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## Art K

Gus,
Good to see your progress 


> If Nellie ever knows that Gus borrowed her cooking oil to run the engine, she will get real mad. Ha Ha. So far so good.


Can I assume this means Nellie doesn't read your build blog?:hDe:
Art


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## gus

Art K said:


> Gus,
> Good to see your progress
> Can I assume this means Nellie doesn't read your build blog?:hDe:
> Art



Hi Art.

Fortunately she is computer illiterate. Ha Ha.
Today top up with ''Nellie'' Cooking oil to pump and forced feed lube oil flow test. Very happy.


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## gus

*Running Gear Lube.*
Oil Droplet Lube for Crankpins,ConRods and Cylinders confirmed working. Video posted on FaceBook. I can see lube oil oozing thru the cam pins and crankcase drip-nozzle. Opened up the 0.5mm orifice to 0.8mm as I suspect the original 0.5mm may be too small and droplets takes too long to form and drop. Droplets actually becomes splash lube. Fotos show droplets oozing out.


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## gus

*Oil Pump Tail Shaft Oil Seal.*

After a series of Oil Pump running test, oil seal did work and no oil leak. See Scriber Point.


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## gus

*Valve Timing*

Best to use Jerry Howell's timing charts to set inlet/exhaust valve timing. Made  flywheel disc size discs for mounting on to f/wheel to set timing. Timing discs takes time to be be understood and accepted. The rotational direction seems wrong CW v/s actual CCW. However with exhaust timing disc stuck on and a trial cam setting confirmed Drawing was correct. For the very first time I get to preset cam timing and sleep in peace.


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## gus

A conventional fuel tank arangement may not suit the Howell V-2 with its fuel overflow return and hence a mini fuel pump required. DIY a mini centrifugal pump and subseqquent found pump delivery too big. My mini jam bottle got pump clean withing 30 seconds. Went on to build a 500 rpm gear type pump. Spent another week to build and assemble a Fuel Transfer cum Power Pack. A Bosch Cordless Drill Battery rated at 10.3 V.DC should do. Pump test with lube oil was good with very low flow.But may need to pinch delivery hose a wee bit to suit. Next week looks very hopeful for the very first pop.


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## gus

*Electronic Ignition Circuit Board Soldering.
*

Not been doing nothing. One circuit board did fire the spark plug but the second didn't. Born loser Gus ordered another 3 kits from Howell. One had components soldered on and  the other 2 came loose for DIY Soldering. Long before arrival of above,I went into YouTube to pick soldering know-how of electronic parts on circuit board. To my horror, I just realised I have been doing it wrong for 55 years on DIY radios and hifi amplifiers.I have been doing cold soldering. On circuit boards ,350 C min. is a must and solder cycle not to exceed 3 secs to avoid damage to circuit board copper lamination. 

Must as well set up prep to do a good job.Soldering Station Temperature set at 400C. Circuit board held with vise grip and vise. Job done and inspected. No cold joints. Wetted solder joints.


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## gus

Almost done except for the final connections to terminal strip of CDI Circuit Boards. Looks like tomorrow will be a good day. Ignition Cable and Earth are cable tied together to avoid missing out earthing engine casing and frying circuit board.Hall Efffect Devices came loose and two sets of cable to be done. Doing a tidy job with tiny cables will be tough.


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## michael-au

Good job Gus
Can't be long until you have it running


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## Gordon

Gus:
I am at about the same point on my build. I am having a problem with the valve timing. I set it up per the drawing and it seems right when I turn it over by hand but when I turn it over with my rechargeable drill I end up with pressure at the intake and suction at the exhaust. I have been over it many times and I cannot find the problem. I also have a problem with low compression. The problem is head to cylinder fit. Rings and valves are sealing well but after several tries at polishing the surfaces I am still getting leakage.

As usual just building the parts and putting them together is only the beginning. Getting things to actually run is another project. I do not know how some folks seem to build something and it runs on the first try. Never happens for me. In the end it is always some simple thing and once I fix that it takes off and runs. 

Gordon


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## gus

Gordon said:


> Gus:
> I am at about the same point on my build. I am having a problem with the valve timing. I set it up per the drawing and it seems right when I turn it over by hand but when I turn it over with my rechargeable drill I end up with pressure at the intake and suction at the exhaust. I have been over it many times and I cannot find the problem. I also have a problem with low compression. The problem is head to cylinder fit. Rings and valves are sealing well but after several tries at polishing the surfaces I am still getting leakage.
> 
> As usual just building the parts and putting them together is only the beginning. Getting things to actually run is another project. I do not know how some folks seem to build something and it runs on the first try. Never happens for me. In the end it is always some simple thing and once I fix that it takes off and runs.
> 
> Gordon



No worry. Use the Timing Chart and stick on to flywheel. Had same problem with the intake and exhaust timing too. Timing chart helps .


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## gus

*Hall Effect Device.*

Been figuring out for weeks how to do a good and tidy job soldering harness to device. Tooth Pick Size Job. Not happy with earliers attempt. 

Suggestions and expert advice welcomed. (No work today. Had to take an elderly sister for MRI. No worry Nellie and Gus remain healthy at 70 and 73.)


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## Blogwitch

Gus,

I have done many of those joints so here are a couple of tips.

DON'T use heat shrink over the joints. Go down to the local fishing tackle shop and get some of the tiny silicone tube they use and slip it over the joints.

The other thing I do is to machine up a holder out of some plastic or nylon (preferred) that will take the wires, silicone tubing and the hall effect itself. Just machine a slot deep enough to fit it all in with about 5mm of the wire as well. Place the lot in the slot and fill with 5 minute epoxy. Make sure you have the hall effect the right way around. This is called 'potting', and once done, it will enable you to handle it fairly roughly without fear of breaking any wires. In fact you can machine up a holder out of nylon or plastic almost any shape you want with the slot in it to mount it onto your engine. If the sensor works after you have potted it, I have found that they don't fail. Most of the problems begin when the wire and joints are flexed too much when playing about setting things up.

John


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## gus

*Duplex Ignition Power Pack*

After too many distractions and procrastination. All wire connections done. Went thru external connections from devices.
Will test all two ignition circuit boards to make sure they  fire both spark plugs. 
DIY Duplex Ignition Power Pack comes with a cover to keep dust free for storage. Plan to make a flat two.


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## gus

*DIY Electronic Ignition from Jerry Howell.*

I had taken precaution when soldering components to circuit board to avoid overheating. Did not realise Hall Effect Device is also sensitive to soldering heat. Ruined 2 pcs Hall Devices. One circuit did fire the spark plug but one did not and so had to redo cable harness. 

All 2 DIY  CDI did fire. 

Tomorrow is D Day. I am not hopeful of getting the very first pop. Methanol is on hand to top up. Hope to report good results by this Friday 5th August.


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## michael-au

Good luck Gus hope all goes well and it fires up easily for you


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## Gordon

Gus:
Check where each cylinder fires. On mine when I set the timing for cylinder #1, cylinder #2 will be off by 5° to 10°. I am working on that.

My main problem seems to be compression. I have good compression when I have the head off and put my hand over the cylinder and the valves seem to seat well but I am loosing compression at the head to cylinder. I have tried polishing the surfaces more but still not working properly.

Gordon


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## gus

Gordon said:


> Gus:
> Check where each cylinder fires. On mine when I set the timing for cylinder #1, cylinder #2 will be off by 5° to 10°. I am working on that.
> 
> My main problem seems to be compression. I have good compression when I have the head off and put my hand over the cylinder and the valves seem to seat well but I am loosing compression at the head to cylinder. I have tried polishing the surfaces more but still not working properly.
> 
> Gordon



I will be cheating and using paper gasket for cylinder and head. Will do a final check on valve timing and ignition timing tomorrow.


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## Brian Rupnow

Good luck Gus.--And using gaskets isn't cheating--it's common sense.--Brian


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## Cogsy

Good luck Gus. I'll listen out for the first pops (or the shouts of joy).


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## gus

Cogsy said:


> Good luck Gus. I'll listen out for the first pops (or the shouts of joy).




Hi Cogsy,

Will be soon. Found the goof. Exhaust pipes blocked.There's been too much distraction. Like taking my elderly sister to hospital. Heart problem etc etc. Believe there are other causes of fainting spells. Today I am looking at a 16mm   20mm Drill Mill and getting prices .They take orders for single units. 20mm is about the max limit the balcony will take.


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## gus

*Very First Pop/Sputter*
Had to lower the fuel cup by a wee bit to have fuel level slightly below fuel jets to eliminate flooding carb.
Distinctively heard a pop or sputter. I would claim to be a false start. Anti-climax, "Cordless battery flat" . Will make another attempt after recharging.Ignition timing------------advance or retard planned.


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## gus

*Real Poppinp and Firing.*

OK . The cylinder on the right got started and trying to run but the partner on the left won't start and run. 
Will another week before the Vroom Vroom can be heard.


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## Cogsy

Sounds promising Gus. Won't be long now.


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## Art K

Gus,
I look forward to hearing it run!
Art


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## Buchanan

Gus  

Best of luck with the starting. I really like the clamps on your plug leads as well as your box. The engine is the best part though.

Buchanan from Moss Vale.


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## Brian Rupnow

Gus--I see you posting pictures of your engine on facebook, but we all want to know---Does it run???


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## rourkek4

Gus, Congrats on this build, looks great!

On a side note (and apologies for putting it in this thread), This Saturday I am heading to Singapore for two weeks for work (I will be commuting out to Johor each day).

Is there anything mechanical/hobby related i should try see during my time there, or any machine/tool shops to browse

Much appreciated,
Kevin


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## gus

Buchanan said:


> Gus
> 
> Best of luck with the starting. I really like the clamps on your plug leads as well as your box. The engine is the best part though.
> 
> Buchanan from Moss Vale.




Hi Buch.

Went to Bandanoon to visit my old ''92'' boss and they took me to Mossvale for Lunch. We had FlatHead Fillet. World Best. FlatHead is not our favourite fish but there after and whatever we hooked,went home for fillet dishes. See you sometime when I drop by again.


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## gus

rourkek4 said:


> Gus, Congrats on this build, looks great!
> 
> On a side note (and apologies for putting it in this thread), This Saturday I am heading to Singapore for two weeks for work (I will be commuting out to Johor each day).
> 
> Is there anything mechanical/hobby related i should try see during my time there, or any machine/tool shops to browse
> 
> Much appreciated,
> Kevin



Hi.

I am out of touch now after retiring for 16 years. Found it easier to buy from internet. There is nothing cmparable with MachineryHouse. Homely which used to have everything packed shop last year. Buy I will call my network friends to troll for info. HupHong Machinery is a small outlet and very expensive. 

Johore.
The causeway can be badly jammed. Best to avoid the morning/evening rush.
Holiday and pre-holiday also bad.


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## gus

Brian Rupnow said:


> Gus--I see you posting pictures of your engine on facebook, but we all want to know---Does it run???



Hi Brian.

Other than the false starts,I am getting nowhere. You will the first to know. There has been a pretty lot of goofs/mess. Now reading '' Constructing the Nemtt-Lynx'' which has lotsa info. Seems my engine building skill and start ups gone backwards. Sigh.


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## curiosity

Sighhh,

I hate you guys, (not really) but......

Dam I take my hat off to the talented lot who have enough skill and machinery to do these builds.

If not to rude a question what is the cost and worth of a completed build, I've not seen many of these types of builds being sold, and the odd one or two going for what I would class as silly prices. I may be wrong in my assumption or how I value some things and would love to be educated in how to value and price some builds.

I work with a CnC bass reliefs simple Simon stuff and have always admired  the skill time and effort that goes into some of these engines. I'm sure like many things once you've built your first dozen things move quicker better and more cost effective like most things.

My collection of steam engines, steam powered boat, hot air, flame lickers and various things like gyroscopes pulled out of altimeters and the like from real planes only because I'm curious. 

You will notice also, I'm not good enough to build them I can only buy and appreciate someone else's handiwork.

The one thing I don't have in my collection of odds and sods is an IC, why I have these engines is so the Grandkids when they come about they have an alternative to the standard ninja turtle toys etc, no iPhone, Ipad, not that I have anything against technology which I love - I have a keyboard plastered to my fingers.

I like them to play with the models I have learning how to maintain them start them and have them try to work out how and why they work, clean and polish them after playing with them, what I would class as lifetime toys.

I can never seem to fall over what seems to be a common selling phrase on eBay.. Barn find, left to me by my father and I have no interest, my late Uncles, given too me and I don't want it.. and the one I hate seeing the most is "my late husbands" obviously the other partner had no interest at all and is cashing in (all with a healthy price tag)..

If anyone has any directions to one of these type of barns, I'd love to find one that someone no longer wants or needs some tinkering to get it going again.

In the meantime in appreciation of all you builders out there I love seeing your work and wish I could do the same.

I hate you all (affectionately) please excuse my rant.

Cheers and avagreatday,
Steve


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## Brian Rupnow

Curiosity--In terms of cost to the builder, for an engine like Gus has built figure about $300.00 to $400.00 for material. For a much simpler engine like the "Rupnow Vertical Engine", figure about $100.00 in materials. However--In terms of the hours involved in making one of these engines---You can't afford it. The Rupnow engine has about  120 hours involved in the actual machining and assembly and 30 hours of design time. At $30 an hour (which is damn cheap for machining) that comes to $4500 plus material. For Gus's engine, I would expect Gus to have at least 600 hours of labour into it, so figure about $18,000 plus material. However---there isn't a big market out there for these engines. When Gus and I die, our wives will do extremely well if they can get $300 to $1000 for the engines on Ebay.---Brian


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## gus

Brian Rupnow said:


> Curiosity--In terms of cost to the builder, for an engine like Gus has built figure about $300.00 to $400.00 for material. For a much simpler engine like the "Rupnow Vertical Engine", figure about $100.00 in materials. However--In terms of the hours involved in making one of these engines---You can't afford it. The Rupnow engine has about  120 hours involved in the actual machining and assembly and 30 hours of design time. At $30 an hour (which is damn cheap for machining) that comes to $4500 plus material. For Gus's engine, I would expect Gus to have at least 600 hours of labour into it, so figure about $18,000 plus material. However---there isn't a big market out there for these engines. When Gus and I die, our wives will do extremely well if they can get $300 to $1000 for the engines on Ebay.---Brian


 
Hi Brian,

Over here in Singapore,the six engines I built will only have scrap value but will be very good paper weight. I have your H&M Engine at my computer desk as a ''Mascot'' and Trophy. 
With my ''70'' sister down with stroke,I am now staring at old age creeping on me and hence I will maxing my surplus time in the machineshop. When I get bed-ridden,I will have happy memories as a angler and engine builder.Meanwhile there's too much distraction but I made the Cable Harness with Hall Device crimped on and heat shrink sleeve. Paul Swift is busy with his kidney campaigs and his V-4 is temporary shelved. Come next week will try getting V-2 spinning. Gordon was right .V-2 Engine is jinxed.Ha ha Ha.
Take care.


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## curiosity

Brian Rupnow said:


> Curiosity--In terms of cost to the builder, for an engine like Gus has built figure about $300.00 to $400.00 for material. For a much simpler engine like the "Rupnow Vertical Engine", figure about $100.00 in materials. However--In terms of the hours involved in making one of these engines---You can't afford it. The Rupnow engine has about  120 hours involved in the actual machining and assembly and 30 hours of design time. At $30 an hour (which is damn cheap for machining) that comes to $4500 plus material. For Gus's engine, I would expect Gus to have at least 600 hours of labour into it, so figure about $18,000 plus material. However---there isn't a big market out there for these engines. When Gus and I die, our wives will do extremely well if they can get $300 to $1000 for the engines on Ebay.---Brian



Hey Brian G'day,

Well Brian you know what they say only the good die young...

I hope you are as bad as they come and live forever. 
Thank you for the run down, build time I never account for that when I am creating a design only because if I did I'd never sell anything.

So It would be safe to assume that you do it because you can and have a love for making such items and definitely not for the money.

Thanks for the run down its much appreciated.

Cheers Steve...

I love the machines absolutely brilliant hope you all make many more..


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## curiosity

Hey Gus,

I am sorry to hear about your Sister, she is indeed lucky to have someone look after her.

Its sad that your models are paper weights, I am sure you say that affectionately and that they would be not considered scrap value. I couldn't image machines like the ones I have seen being built in this thread as scrap.

If you have a link with your engines displayed would love to have a look at them.

Hopefully your lot changes and luck gives you a smile.

I have at least something in common with you and that is fishing..

Cheers,
Steve


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## gus

curiosity said:


> Hey Gus,
> 
> I am sorry to hear about your Sister, she is indeed lucky to have someone look after her.
> 
> Its sad that your models are paper weights, I am sure you say that affectionately and that they would be not considered scrap value. I couldn't image machines like the ones I have seen being built in this thread as scrap.
> 
> If you have a link with your engines displayed would love to have a look at them.
> 
> Hopefully your lot changes and luck gives you a smile.
> 
> I have at least something in common with you and that is fishing..
> 
> Cheers,
> Steve



Will make a post shortly on the Hall Device Harness. On FaceBook you fren ""Augustine Teng'' to see the fishy posts made every weekend. Today is bad. No fish bite.


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## curiosity

Found you, handsome young fella with grey hair and scarf... Cheers,

Look forward to your post.

Steve


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## gus

curiosity said:


> Found you, handsome young fella with grey hair and scarf... Cheers,
> 
> Look forward to your post.
> 
> Steve



Hi Steve,
Taken in Nanjing,China 2010 when I was consultant at a small air compressor plant.
The heating system kaput and I had to put on a scarf to help out. Wet cold at 2 C no fun. Being able to speak Chinese fluently was great help. The Chinese names for parts took me a while. Ha ha


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## gus

Hi HMEM Folks .
Gus is back on the horse chasing completion and test run of the Howell V-2 Engine with domestic problems settled. A full time Care Giver Maid employed to look after my ''stroked'' Sister Tris and taking over my laundry duties which has been upsetting my engine building. OK Now for the serious engine building.

*Hall Effect Device and Cable Harness*.
Thought I was smart enough to soft solder harness to the device and ended up destroying 6 device and ordered another 10 pcs to make two Harness. The Device is a transistor which is very sensitive to excessive heat. 
After 6 failures, I went on to crimping. Tried using crimping pliers and they are usually too big. Had to make a crimping tool.Took some trial and errors to successfully made a pair of harness which performed well with good strong sparks.


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## geo

Gus 
The elbow from the gear case to the crankcase a bit tricky
I'll be happy to bolt it altogether if it runs that's a bonus


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## gus

geo said:


> Gus
> The elbow from the gear case to the crankcase a bit tricky
> I'll be happy to bolt it altogether if it runs that's a bonus



Hi Geo.

No worries. I have the chance to make a new gear case. Aligning the crankcase and gear case so a to mate the elbow was tough. I had the crankcase hole plugged and drilled and got it spot on. 

Will be back on the work bench to start and run engine. This is after frying the umpteenth Hall Device and circuit boards. Earthing the plug and Ignition Board is a must to prevent frying Hall Device and boards. The Dry run with two new Hall Device Harnesses was good. Hall Devices were crimped on to cables and insulator sleeves. When installing Harness on to Sensor Housing,please make a handle bar and have harness cable strapped to prevent device breakage.
Its more 24 months now and about to see light at the end of the tunnel. Just bought a 13mm non-cordless drill to start engine. Cordless batteries tend to run down fast. Hopefully with this engine under my belt, and having picked up so much from my goofs,I will the better man to build other engines. Two stroke engines look simple but call for unforgiving precision machining and lapping.
Good Luck.


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