Building one of Rudy's steamers

[Deanofid]

Okay, okay! No balsa. I bow to everyone's woody wisdom! :bow:

Seriously though... Explain what the lagging does. Please.

Mike (seriously) I put up an explanation two posts down from my last picture post.
Appreciate the sticks!

Dean,
you have access to a computer I can tell,

Actually Tony, I'm doing all this with a can and a string. I'm very handy.
Yes, I know about the online hobby places. Just lazy with my credit card. And thanks again
for the nice comment.


Dave, that's pretty wood. Thanks for the offer. I'll get in touch.


Dean

 

[Twmaster]

Okay, okay! No balsa. I bow to everyone's woody wisdom! :bow:

Mike (seriously) I put up an explanation two posts down from my last picture post.
Appreciate the sticks!

Hurmph. I missed it. It's all Zee's fault. Yea, Zee's fault....

 

[Deanofid]

Again, a little more done, today.
One more thing to do on the cylinder, then I can get going with the eccentric.
There are two condensate drain valves that go into the side of the cylinder.

The print calls for the valve stems to be made of brass, but I think it would look better if
the valves were made from two different colored metals. The end of the stem has been
cut here, and the seat point cut using the compound slide.

Then the longer part of the stem is turned down to take 4-40 threads.
The material is stainless hex rod. It could be turned from round just as easily. I used hex
rod for a reason.
Once the threads are done, the piece is parted off to length.

The handle part of the valve stem is supposed to be 1/4" diameter. By using hex rod for
this, instead of round stock, I can turn away most of the pointed corners on it, but leave a
small flat. Then, when it comes time contour the "petals", the bits of the flats from the hex
rod can be used to locate them.

Above, the stem/handle on the right is finished, and the one on the left is just getting
started. One of the dished out areas has been filed in using a small round file. (It's a chainsaw
file, actually.) Looking just to the left of that one filed spot, you can see one of the left over
flats from the hex rod. There are six of those spots, of course, and they give you a good way
of spacing the petals of the handle fairly nicely.

After the filing is done the piece is put back into the lathe, and the end is faced off to length.
Rounding off the edges on the two faces of the handle, then drilling holes inside each petal part
will give it an even more realistic appearance. Didn't go quite that far with these.

The body of the valve is a piece of 3/16" brass rod. It's threaded on one end to fit the holes
in the back side of the cylinder, then parted off and flipped end for end to drill the tiny through
hole, and tap the threads that will take the valve stem.

Working on the other end of the valve body, the tap hole has been drilled. It goes about
half way through the piece. Then the smaller hole that will let water flow through it is drilled
the rest of the way through.

In the setup above, a pin vise is being used to drill that smaller hole. The bit is only .040"
diameter, and between that husky drill chuck and the 600 watt motor on the lathe,
it wouldn't have much of a chance if it should bind in the hole. Would snap it like a toothpick.
To prevent problems like that, you can use a pin vise to hold the drill bit, and let it float in
the drill chuck. The jaws of the drill chuck are tightened by hand only enough to start to grip
the pin vise, then backed off a smidge. When actually drilling the hole, the drill chuck isn't used
to apply pressure. It is just there to act as a guide. The pin vise is held lightly between your
fingers, and with the lathe chuck spinning, the bit is fed into the work piece. If it should grab or
bind from cuttings, the pin vise will spin between your fingers instead of breaking off the drill bit.

When the lathe work is done on the two valve bodies, a hole is drilled to meet up with the
end of the threads on the inside. This hole is where the water will come out when first
starting up the cold engine if it's run on steam.

A tiny pipe was made that fits into these holes in the side of each valve body. No pictures
of that. It's just a piece of .093" brass rod drilled through its length to make a tube.

Once those holes are drilled in the side of the valves, the little pipe is soldered in. Then a
tap is run down the threads inside the valves to clean up any solder that may have come
through, and the valve stems are screwed in.

The completed valves are screwed into the cylinder, and that's the days progress.
I think the stainless handles are set off nicely against all the brass stuff. They work well, too.

Putting an aquarium pump to the threaded end of the valve, and turning the handle in and
out, it turned on and off, just like the kitchen faucet.

I did do some other work on the engine today, but it amounted to fitting up. Something else
I had missed earlier. With everything assembled thus far, it seemed tight when rotating the
flywheels. Not the cross head. I had checked that. Then I thought maybe I had cut the piston
rod gland off center, but removing the gland didn't remedy the problem. What I found was the
steam chest valve plate was about .001" long on one end. When the bottom cylinder head was snugged down against the cylinder, that valve plate was holding it up, and the reamed hole that
the piston rod runs in was cocked up just that tiny amount. After dressing it down and
reassembling things, it's nice and smooth.

Eccentric work soon.

Thanks for looking in!

Dean

 

[joe d]

Dean

Looking good! I really like those little valves... filed away for future reference :bow:

Joe

 

[cobra428]

Dean,
She's lookin real good :bow:

Tony

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Always fascinating Dean. Very enjoyable.

 

[4156df]

Dean,
Great looking valves and something I have yet to do for my tractor. I'm wondering how you got the threads to run so close to the shoulder particularly on the brass part. Are they single point threaded or did you use a die? If you used a die is there something special about them? Whew! Can you tell I am impressed?
Regards,
Dennis

 

[Deanofid]

Joe, Tony, Zee, As always, thanks for your nice remarks!

Dennis;
They were done with a die. Nothing special about it. If you have a die that is properly made, it will have two distinct sides to it. One side has a slight taper to the threads to make it easy to start, and often says "Start From This Side". The other side has abrupt threads that come out right to the edge.

After cutting as many thread possible in the normal fashion, reverse the die and thread it on back wards. That will cut threads almost up to the corner.

I said something about having a die that is properly made. Some of the stuff coming from off shore is tapered on both ends, and won't do a cut right into the corner. All my American dies have two distinct sides. Some of my Chinese dies don't.

Dean

 

[JimN]

You make it all look so easy, it is looking nice.

JimN

 

[Deanofid]

Thank you, Jim!


Dennis, I forgot a detail about the threaded pieces you asked about.
If you can't get threads into the corner where two diameters meet by using a die, you can do two other things that will help. Either free bore the hole that the threads go into a little, or cut a reduced diameter directly behind the threads on the piece that needs to sit flush.

Often, the second method is the easier, since it will already be in the lathe to thread it. You have to be careful about the wall thickness on your piece, though.

HTH

Dean

 

[Deanofid]

Hello all;

Started on the eccentric, today. Only got the strap done, but it took me some time to
set up and get going on it, so, one thing done for the afternoon is okay for me.

It starts out as a small piece of oddly shaped brass. This piece has one straight edge on it,
so that one was used as a datum to locate the rest of the marks on the piece. The whole
outside of the thing could be cut by coordinates on the mill and RT, but I need to know where
some lines fall, so I can drill some waste holes for mounting it. Besides, sometimes lines help
keep me from getting lost on a piece like this.

The waste holes mentioned above are drilled in the piece. One, in the center for locating
the piece on the RT, and the four others to mount the piece on a piece of, eh, wood, so I
can keep it well off the surface of the RT.

After the RT is set up on the milling machine, the RT is set to all zeros and the work piece
is dialed in on its one straight edge. This is for a reference for later on, so I can find my way
back "home" after the round parts are cut.

Then, before cutting starts, the RT and work piece are centered using a pin in the spindle,
and the X and Y dials to move the RT.

Once it's all set, the X is cranked over equal to the radius of the piece, plus the end mill offset,
and the round parts are cut out.

I did work to the line on this piece where the larger radius meets the straight bits on the
eccentric strap. It can be done by RT coordinate, which takes some figuring, (for me, at
least). To the line is plenty accurate for what will be the OD (non running) surface.

Once all the round parts that can be cut are done, I go back to my "home setting", which
puts everything back where I started. Then the straight line locations can be dialed in from
the center coordinate on the mill dials.

Here, the two straight bits that form the mount for the eccentric rod have been cut, and the
small flat for the oil cup is being cut.

And that's the mill work done. Next, to the lathe.

How lucky am I? The piece fits in the three jaw with none of the bumpy parts getting in
the way of the soft jaws.

The piece is bored out to size. After that, the two holes needed for the rod and oil cup
are drilled.

A little clean up with some paper to knock off the machine marks. The piece was draw filed
with a fine swiss pattern file, then fine paper wrapped around the file, and it is papered.

The arrow in the picture shows the direction to go when papering. Not long ways, as if you
were doing normal filing. If you file or paper a thin piece like in the normal manner, you will
end up with soft, rounded over edges.

Another day, another part.

Thanks for checking in.

Dean

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Just hold on there Dean.
This newbie got confused...and I'm hoping I'm not the only one.

Papered? What does that mean? Sandpaper instead of file?

I have no problem with wood...(is that blasphemy?)...seems cheaper than using up metal.

When you milled around the edge...did you plunge cut and then take a finishing cut? Or did you plunge and rotate? I haven't been able to make a clean cut like that. (Not that anyone should expect I should.) ;D

I continue to be amazed that your M&M's last long enough for a pic. I just had a pack...or think I did...they went pretty quick. ;D

Lucky? Riiiiight.

Great work. Great post.

 

[4156df]

Dean,
Beautiful part, very clever technique! I'm watching and learning.
Dennis

 

[gbritnell]

Hi Dean, innovative engineering there. Usually I do the bore first and then clamp it down and do the outside. You learn something new here every day.
gbritnell

 

[Powder keg]

Looking good!!! Thanks for taking the time to share)

 

[steamer]

Wood backing plates, wood screws and proper draw filing and "papering" ...(Yup Zee that is what it's called ;D)..techniques to avoid rounded edges....sounds like a clockmaker to me?

Great Job...and nicely done!

Dave

 

[Deanofid]

Zee, Dennis, George, Keg, and Dave, thanks very much. I'm fairly taken aback by yours,
and all the other kind remarks here.

Zee; What Steamer Dave said. Papering=sanding. For this kind of thing, a small piece of
fine w/d paper is rolled tightly around a file or small flat stick. I usually do it in two steps,
after filing. First with something slightly coarse, like 320, then with finer grit, like 600. If
you have some deeper filing marks to polish out, you can start with 220, then 320, and keep
working your way up, (finer) until you get the finish you like. Use the finest paper grit that
will remove the file marks that you can to start, then progress to finer grits.


Dennis; I'm watching you too!


George; It just seemed like it would work well from a work holding point of view. Bigger,
or longer screws would have been a comfort. When I went to take the piece off, they
were nearly loose!


Dave; I have made one clock. It actually runs, and has been doing so for about a year.
It's still in need of a chapter ring and hands. Someday.
Re: Papering. I'm a fan of W.R. Smith and Ward Goodrich. What can I say?
Clock repair is kind of an off shoot of my machining activities.
Wheels and pinions. I'm mesmerized.

Thanks again, all.

Dean

 

[Powder keg]

I wondered how some of you guys got nice crisp corners. I've been doing it wrong. Thanks again.

 

[Deanofid]

Hello all;

A couple of little bits done today, to finish up the eccentric strap assembly.

The clevis yoke is 1/8" thick CRS, milled to size, drilled for the rod in one end, and reamed
for the clevis pin in the other. The rod itself is a piece of drill rod, each end turned down a
bit to fit the holes in the strap and clevis eye. These two pieces are made the same way
as the crank rod, and there are already pictures of that earlier in this thread, so I'll just show
the completed piece here.

The end of the rod in the eccentric strap was a tight fit, so it was put in with Locktite.
On the end that goes into the eye, I grabbed the wrong sized bit by mistake, (one number
larger than it should have been), and it was too loose for Locktite, so it was soldered in.
These things happen.

It's not much, but there it is. More tomorrow.

Thanks for looking.

Dean

 

[Twmaster]

Dean,

Your reply earlier about papering... I did no tget your response. Is that just plain paper wrapped around the file or sandpaper of some sort? Why exactly the 'paper'?

Thank you.