- Joined
- Jun 20, 2015
- Messages
- 86
- Reaction score
- 162
Part 1 - Flattening the Base
Today I finally made a start on my No.9 I have had the castings for a few years now but I wanted to finish some other projects before starting it. Also to be honest I am always very nervous about starting a new engine and I have been procrastinating quite a lot!
![IMG_8917.jpeg IMG_8917.jpeg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/homemodelenginemachinist/data/attach/110/110103-IMG-8917.jpeg)
Here are the castings. They are very old. No sign of the original packaging (they arrived in a wooden box!) but I do have the plans and the book. The plans are dated 1975. Some rust on the fixings but nothing too major. I also have a set of castings for the governor (bought separately) if we get that far. The crankshaft looks to be cast. It includes piston rings and the keyway key for the flywheel.
I decided to start with the base. First cleaning it up with files till it sat flat with no rocking. Then I put it in the surface grinder and made both sides flat and parallel.
![Using engineers blue to check for flatness on the surface plate. Using engineers blue to check for flatness on the surface plate.](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/homemodelenginemachinist/data/attach/110/110104-IMG-8919.jpeg)
![IMG_8920.jpeg IMG_8920.jpeg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/homemodelenginemachinist/data/attach/110/110105-IMG-8920.jpeg)
I am very lucky to have this wonderful machine in my home shop.
Next came the very tricky part of the sole plate. This is quite difficult to hang on to but I eventually managed to get the bottom to sit flat using my files.
Once that was done I bolted it down to my milling machine and flattened the crosshead ways with a 12mm end mill. Once I had that as a reference surface I could flip it over and bolt it down using a 123 block as a spacer. The photo below shows my clamping arrangement. The casting is supported by the block on the left and the block on the right is just there to provide some bracing using a couple of adjustable parallels as machinists jacks sitting on top of a second 123 block. The rear support for the strap clamp is sitting between the bearings and is supported by the second 123 block also. A bit precarious but it seemed stable enough and I took light cuts to remove all traces of my terrible filing skills! It seemed to work out ok. So far everything is flat and parallel.
![IMG_8922.jpeg IMG_8922.jpeg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/homemodelenginemachinist/data/attach/110/110106-IMG-8922.jpeg)
Ok that's it for week one. Now I am thinking about how to machine the rest of the sole plate. Right now the current plan is to bolt it down to a hefty lump of aluminium which I will square up. Then I should be able to attack it with the boring bar. Stay tuned for further instalments!
![IMG_8924.jpeg IMG_8924.jpeg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/homemodelenginemachinist/data/attach/110/110107-IMG-8924.jpeg)
Last edited: