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Thank you all for your comments, I really do appreciate them. I'm feeling very frustrated at the moment, in pain and not able to get into my workshop. Hopefully soon 😊

My apologies for no new content. I went in hospital a couple of weeks ago for an operation on my spine and it's going to be a while before I can do any work on my #5.

On a slight tangent, I came across this pin chuck from DSPIAE. It holds taps and drill bits more securely than other pin chucks and is very comfy to hold.

Getting back to the cylinder, I used my 50mm face cutter on the steam chest face. This face cutter gives a really good finish on whatever material I use. Whilst in this position the steam chest pocket was machined out and the three cutouts for the steam passages. I couldn't actually see...

I was a little concerned with the cast crankshaft, it was quite bent and I wasn't sure I would be able to machine it to plan dimensions. I ran a file over all the sticky out bits, then in the three jaw chuck machined it roundish and centre drilled it at both ends. Swapping to my nice new...

Thank you both so much for all the information on annealing, I appreciate your fingers must now be aching so much 😉. I do like the test of running a file over the casting to see how hard it is. I did this on the #5 casting and there was a lot of difference between the thick part of the frame...

Thank you gents for your comments regarding annealing the castings. I have a friend with a wood burning stove which I can use. When I do the next castings I'll have to volunteer to clear the ashes out next morning 😉 Out of interest how would I be able to measure the temperature the stove gets...

Thank you for your comments 😊. I have my eye on another P.M. Research casting kit so I'll have to do some research on annealing. I have a couple of led panel lights over my bench which makes it a nice working area. I do need to put some good lighting over my machines, especially the milling...

Hi Craig, Thank you for your suggestion and I will look at his videos. The tap driver I use is the one in the photograph below. I use the knurled section at the bottom most of the time and the T section when it gets harder. I can be a bit clumsy sometimes and I think with that, the tap being...

A little more progress in our buddy build. The Twin Oscillator has been assembled, though quite a bit of fettling was required to get the parts to fit. With shafts and holes made to plan, a bit of polishing was required to get them to fit. It turns over but is quite stiff, the pistons seem a...

With the base now nice and true I clamped the Standard down and drilled the four #50 holes in the top. When I was tapping the last hole the tap struggled to get through, I took it out a couple of times to clean it and the hole but it snapped 😭. After a lot of panicking and various pointy...

With the bottom of the Standard just a tad out of true, I thought it would be worthwhile truing it up. Whilst the Standard was upside down I also drilled the 2-56 clearance holes in the base.

So far......

With a couple of new #50 drill bits I set the Standard on its side again and started drilling the four holes which will be tapped 2-56 for the slide valve shaft. The first was a bit tough, second and third were a little easier, but the last one would not drill, even though I was using a cutting...

I blunted my only #50 number drill bit on the bearing blocks, so whilst waiting for a couple more I started to machine the Cylinder. I used a file to lightly take down a few high spots then fitted it to my shiny new four jaw chuck. It didn't take to long to get it centered, I centered it...

With the bearing blocks threaded, they were clamped together and thin cyno applied to the joints. I didnt want to trust must the 2-56 screws to keep evrythjng in place whilst drilling/reaming to the crankshaft size. The 2-56 screws were fitted, before fixing the Standard to a 90 degree block...

The Standard was mounted on its side and the lower bearing blocks were machined to get a nice flat surface. Drilling the lower bearing blocks was not straight forward, I couldn't get a Chuck or collet to take a standard length drill bit because the Standard frame was in the way. It required...

I did have a problem trying to drill/tap the bearing hubs, I ended up having to make some really long drill bits. I'll post pictures of them tomorrow. Any advice, hints or tips would be appreciated 😊

Hi Craig, I was quite anxious when I was about to start, then I checked it again and again 😉 It was actually really smooth when running, I was surprised how smooth it was. I did keep checking everything was tight, the thought of something coming loose and flying around was constantly in my...

The upper bearing hubs were machined together initially, this made it a lot easier to hold and align for machining. They were then separated, finished off machining and drilled and tapped for oil cups.