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I realise that the members of this forum seem to have an aversion to anything to do with woodwork :rolleyes:, but stick with me and go along for the ride. Here in the Land of Oz, we have a native tree called a River Red Gum. The wood of this tree is so hard and dense that it is generally only...

I have one of those, and as a collector of things "old and technical" I wouldn't part with it. But there again, if the price was right........ Ian.

We got the bed plate all cleaned up and refitted the bearings. Here is all 3.3m (~10 feet 10 inches) and 4 tonnes of it. After we fitted the bearings and caps, still 3.3m but now 5 tonnes! From the end, excuse the funny angle, it was tipped up to clean underneath. The next step here is to...

Nick, can't say at the moment, our flywheel is lying down with that side on the ground. Perhaps if it didn't weigh 6 tonnes we could have a quick peek:D. It will be moved soon though so I will try to remember to look. I found a bit of railing from the platform, sorry no casting here, the...

Right the second time, that is just a fence made from steel pipe and mesh to keep small children and their fathers away from the moving bits! I will get some pictures of the platform posts soon when we drag them out of 'storage' round the back of the shed. We are currently dressing up the...

I see Nick is making the support arms for the service platform. Here are some of ours, a different pattern to his. There are six in all about 900mm long, each one almost too heavy for one person to lift. We also went and stood up the three cylinders in their positions relative to each other, so...

HSS drills may wear out quicker, but carbide drills are EXTREMELY fragile if put under sideways pressure such as moving the board slightly while withdrawing the drill for example. Just my 50 cents worth. Ian.

I agree with all your sentiments, wheelwright, but that is not the pin in question. That one was just standing up, posing for a photo. The damaged one has had considerable metal to metal contact and has quite a grooved pattern on it although I could not give a figure for depth. Everything to do...

Hi crankshafter, as far as I know, the nearest one is in Singapore. Freight costs make that a non-starter for us. Nick, this is not a spur-of-the-moment decision, the person in charge of this project has worked on this type/size of engine for the last 50 years and I trust his judgement in...

This engine was taken out of service in the 1960's after a big end failed. As a result, the crankshaft needs some attention. Surprising as it may seem, there is only one company in Oz we could locate that has the capability to regrind a crank of this size. (2.5 metres long, 2.5 tonnes weight)...

I couldn't let this slip by. We pulled an injector and dismantled it again, no big deal really as it was only loosely assembled. Anyway here are all the bits with the 300mm ruler down front, The strange colouring that looks like rust is actually grease. The only part not visible here is the...

Hi Mark, we are only just coming to grips with the size of this thing, as it was shipped to us in pieces from where it had been in storage for a long time. Talk about a giant jigsaw puzzle. We still have some items which are in the "we will find out where that goes when we put it all together"...

Hi Jeff, to the best of my (limited) knowledge, it is at tdc or even very slightly later. The temperature in the cylinder at this point is plenty high enough to cause immediate combustion. I must remember when we reassemble this beast to check things like that and make notes of real timings. Ian.

Yes it does, and it is, Nick. We have assembled the injectors, but I will see if one can be pulled down again as I don't have any pictures of the internals, although I believe you will not be attempting a working one! That spring basically bears on the end of the needle valve which extends all...

Now getting back to the piston and con-rod. The big end is what I think is known as a marine style, ie a split bearing assembly which then bolts onto the end of the rod, common in steam engines. Bearing journal 200mm diameter. Shim plates are fitted in the bearing to rod joint in order to...

I forgot a small part of the valve gear, the spring retainer. Here is one that is 'left over'. That retainer is machined to a bearing surface on it's outer face and runs inside the cage retainer like this, Not only does it hold the spring in, but it also takes all sideways thrust from the...

Here's one you probably wouldn't guess from the outside. I know it surprised me when we pulled it out. A couple of pistons, as pulled; One of them a little bit later, actually quite a bit later; That piston is 850mm long in an engine with a stroke of 560mm. Six piston rings, all 10mm square...

Nick, just a correction to a guess I made some time ago. The cylinder casting is 2250mm high, a bit shorter than I thought. Since you are making bits for the heads, how about some parts you cannot see on the MAN? A valve and it's cage. The head of the valve is 135mm diameter and the overall...

Although it only starts on one cylinder and air is only admitted for a very short time. According to some original info, 520psi/35atm at idle, 920psi/63atm at full load. The engine driven compressor is rated at 1000psi/68atm. The blast pressure seems to have to be manually adjusted by the...

Don't hold your breath if you mean the big engine. Yes it will run one day but that could be quite a few days/weeks/months/who knows? We still need to organise shed space and a massive concrete foundation for the engine and alternator which together weigh about 40-45 tonnes all up. Also a supply...