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Brian, it was on an earlier post of yours that I based my grooves. Same dimensions, .057" deep by .096" wide groove, just one. I'm hoping that when I get it on the engine with the connecting rod, which has much better leverage than my finger, that it won't feel so stiff. Thanks for the...

Got in some more shop time this evening. Worked on the water hopper. Started by turning a piece from my aluminum pile into a nice square/smooth blank as a starting point. Started with the two stepped bores for the cylinder and the tapped mounting holes. After that I hogged...

Thanks Brian and Bob. I've watched builds from both of you with interest during my dry-spell in machining this year. The 12L14 is all I had on hand in the necessary size. I'll paint the OD where it passes through the water hopper and see what happens. If it rusts up too badly I'll replace it...

Made the cylinder tonight. I've almost finished up what I consider the "difficult" parts of this engine. Decided to make a bit more work for myself and I'm making this one hopper-cooled. To that end I made a cylinder with no fins. It's made from more 12L14, same as the crankshaft. Started...

I scored a set of Vaughn castings at an estate sale earlier this year. Absolutely complete in the original Debolt box and never been worked on. I haven't worked up the skills necessary to build it yet, but maybe after another couple engines I will. It looks like a really good kit.

Got my scrap rate down to 50%! Made my valves this evening. The first one actually turned out pretty well out of the gate, but when setting up for the 45* angle the cutter ended up cutting into the stem slightly for clearance. I set up and tried again, backing out the clearance value (or so I...

I run mine with 99.8% pure methanol (methyl alcohol) purchased from Amazon.com. I made the wick for mine by buying some premade wick for an oil lamp and cutting a strip off one edge. It more or less unraveled when I did that, but once I had it twisted up and shoved into the burner it's been...

I believe it moves like that in the video because it is drawing in room-temperature air. When you draw in hot air from the flame, that air cools after the valve is shut and creates a vacuum. The motion of the control piston due to air compression won't happen when there is a vacuum in the...

Progress has been a little slow. I've been mentoring a FIRST robotics team (middle school) and the last couple weekends they've been in my shop using the bridgeport (carefully supervised) to make some robot parts. Also add to that the fact that I ruined my first two attempts at a crankshaft...

I started making the valves, then decided I should have the guides made first so I can check the stem fitment as I go. Sorry, no in-progress pics. These were pretty straightforward, although I did have to scrap the first one because I thought it was supposed to be .250" for the second diameter...

Thanks Gus, this was my first attempt at a spoked flywheel and since the Webster plans don't call for spokes I had to kind of figure it out as I went along. Modeling the whole engine and flywheel in SolidWorks was crucial for this as it let me play with all the variables. The flywheel is 4...

It snowed here so I left work early and got some shop-time in. Started by dialing-in the flywheel on the rotab again and after a few extra calculations drilling the pilot holes for the spokes. After this disaster struck. I picked out a brand new M.A. Ford carbide 1/4" end mill for...

Got a bit more work done this evening. Spent too much time figuring out where all my tools were, indicating in the rotary table and the chuck, etc. I had a piece of 5"-diameter brass for the flywheel. It was an end off of a drop and had a nasty saw-cut gouge on one side. After facing both...

I haven't done a lot of machining this year, but it's Christmas time again and I'm going to try and build my first I.C. engine for my Father's present. Two years ago I built him a "Poppin" and he loved it. I've decided to build something along the lines of a Webster, with a few changes such...

I'm still disappointed with the surface finishes I've been getting from my South Bend CNC lathe. I think I figured it out, however. The lathe has no front gib. Back when it was a manual lathe there was 40 pounds of apron and assorted gears hanging from the front edge of the carriage, so a front...

Finally finished up getting my shop insulated/drywalled. This entailed rewiring the whole place for outlets (no more splicing in wherever I feel like it) and rewiring my machines for plugs. Now I'm back to using my tools, and I find that I still haven't solved the issue with this CNC...

Picked these up a while ago, but I think they're over my head. It appears to be somebody's pet project of trying to re-create an engine from an old patent application. Came with (2) cast-iron cylinder castings, (2) cast-iron flywheel castings, (2) bronze uprights, the wooden patterns for the...

No coolant, ballscrew is fed Vactra #2 way oil via a Bijur one-shot pump. Screw was pretty clean when I took it apart. The lathe only sat 3 or 4 weeks between when the PO stopped running it and when I powered it back up at my house. I'll have a better idea of the bearing alignment when I go...

Ok, lots more info. For starters, I took the leadscrew back to the surface table and found something interesting. Although it would fail a .001"/foot cert, it's not actually bent .005". We found that there is actually a second bend about 10" closer to the headstock that is 180* from the...

Well, the verdict is in, and it appears to be a (slightly) bent leadscrew. Once I got it all apart and cleaned I rolled it across a 4'x8' granite surface table and found a slight bend centered at about 20" from the HS end. The bend is just about .005" at the apex. Althought I've read that on...