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When you scale an engine, power diminishes in proportion to the CUBE of the scaling factor. However, nature cannot be scaled, and builders of perfect scale engines start to have trouble with camshafts twisting, 'cos of the springs! For any other aspect of a small engine, if the prototype was...

Yes, I have, this very day arranged to have the first four cast. I will give prices as soon as I hear. my Father and I met Les, and we both bought castings from him; I made the pattern when my Dad machined his case and cracked it, and Les had passed. I asked John's permission before I did this...

Nice work! Don't let yourself down when it comes to the cover studs... 10Vs with four or six of 'em each end look so naff! They're also a hallmark of the lazy machinist... At a glance, your ports appear no better or worse than any other 10V casting I've seen, though. Andrew

Bridgeports are whippy. Very versatile, but not as rigid as a Deckel. The FP series was originated in 1917, then copied by at least seven other companies! The are plenty of this pattern out there, and by the time you have the vertical, and high speed vertical heads, and a slotting attachment...

There is only one casting for this engine... That might be why the design was so popular - price!! It is for the crankcase. Les liked to make engines that were true to scale externally, and similar internally; sometimes making concessions to ensure a well-running model. For the Gnome, Les used...

Chaps, I have made patterns to reproduce Les Chenery's 1/5th scale Monosoupape crankcase castings, with the blessing of Les' son John, who still sells the drawings. I am writing here to try and gauge if there is likely to be any interest at this stage; prices will come later, and I'm not asking...

I made my first engine from castings, a 10V, back in '93. The crosshead guide cracked when it was reamed, but when I did a 10H, a Score and a No.9 things went smooth- my first lathe was a cheap rubbish Ross and Alexander, with only one speed- 900rpm! That and a knackered drilling machine. The...

All gears have multiple teeth in mesh, otherwise the constant velocity condition cannot be met. Helical gears do have more room for movement, I suppose, before becoming "notchy", but as long as the design is sufficiently robust to cope with the power transmission requirement (plus safety factor)...

I'd better point out that spur gears -can- transmit more power because the area of contact as they roll across each other is across the entire width of the tooth. Helical gears only have a rolling -point- contact, moving across the teeth as they run. This is why they are quieter. I'm keen on...

There is another one, NthreadP, which is free to download from lathes.co.uk, written by Geoff Carter. My changwheel set rises by fives, but a similar model rises by fours, so I have supplemental gears too, and there really isn't much I can't cut within 0.5%, and usually far better. I seem to cut...

Absolutely! They also make very fine circular parallels- but although they're not bad, two races of the same type may not necessarily be the -exact- same width. The "important" tolerances regard the diameters.

I have several sets; Johanssen, Pitter and Matrix. if you've got them, you use them- more especially if you don't have DROs on everything. Some of my sets are out of industrial limits, not that it bothers me at home, the Pitters were retired simply because they are imperial. I have never paid...

Pre-war is 14.5 degs. That figure helped with the mathematics. During the war, the angle changed as this allowed pinions with fewer teeth to be hobbed. Some companies never left the original standard (Myford Lathes in England is an example Deckel in Germany did the same) in order to preserve...

Where are you based, and what do you want to do? 20dp is a nice size if you like 1" scale traction engines or run a myford lathe, 18dp isn't as common, ditto for 16dp; my lathe uses 14dp, so I've got a set of those. Usually, if it's simply a ratio you need, a massage of gear centres, or...

D&J Collets Ltd are essentially what Crawford Collets left out of their collet range when they decided to relocate and specialise. They will make any collet you ask for, and if you elaborate on the cone angle, they will give an identification; if they sense an impending sale, this may well be...

Well, no pain, no gain. I'll only be doing it once, and at least I have the machine for it- a MkII BCA. Thank you for the description, xpylon. I am in the UK, I'm crippled, so I split my time between lodgings in Hatfield, Herts for work, and my house in Luton, Beds, where my machines are. I...

Thank you, and I will share anything I learn...

My project is a bit small for that, but thank you for replying! I've added a link, so people can see the project, and the timing case I want to make.

Folks, I'm usually a Westbury builder, but I've recently started a Whittle V8. The timing gear cover has a basic profile with many lugs around the periphery which the studs pass through... How on earth do you machine these things manually?! I don't know how to upload photos, but here's a link...

I am embarking on one of these; I've made the cylinders (remarkably with the same grooving tool) from EN16T, the pistons will be next after they have been honed. I got into it, and I made six extra while I was there... For another "one day maybe" project! My question is this, though- I don't...