Shop shoe
Thanks for the kind words. My philosophy with Elmer builds is that as long as I'm not screwing with a critical dimension, the design is a starting point and I let it take me wherever it goes. Some of my ideas never get to an actual part, some get that far and then I decide that I don't like it, or it does something unforeseen with the operation of the engine. Then there are some that work well and I really like them. My favorite departure from Elmer so far is replacing the ladder on the pumping engine with the spiral staircase. A close second was the 3 cylinder rotary. Elmer's had square cylinders; my "interpretation" has round cylinders with internal air passages.
As far as explaining what I did and why I did it is easy. When I started learning to do machining (about 2 1/2 years ago), most of what I learned was from reading build logs and other posts here. HMEM was my apprenticeship. I'm just trying to give back a little of what I learned.