Chuck
Back in March of this year we spoke and between you and Brian Rupnow I was able to get really good working drawings and enough good insight to make the air powered single cylinder hit and miss engine. This was a perfect project for an apprentice coming through the machine shop. I made some minor changes along the way and we now have a working model. It worked out so well that everyone here is actually asking for one. After teaching the machine shop basics and fundamentals I stood with my latest apprentice (in his back pocket I might add) and watched him build these parts. We added some ball bearings in the crank shaft journals because we were getting some vibration as the hole in the journal became worn. The bearings cleared that right up. The crank shaft was made out of one piece out of 300 series stainless steel That was a treat for sure. We added a lubrication hole in the top of the cylinder and oil ring groves in the piston and a few other cosmetic touches. The flywheels were out of brass as you can see in the pictures and then we wrote a program for the CNC mill and did the cut outs. As of the pictures I am sending you we have not made the base yet. We should start that tomorrow We will be sending out all the aluminum parts for anodize, the brass will be polished and then painted on the inside and finally reassembled for all to see. My apprentice will be going to electronics next so we will probably make the base big enough to allow for him to mount a pulley and drive some sort of generator to power some LEDs or something. Anyway it should be interesting. I cant thank you enough for the project. This has been a great experience for me as well as my apprentice and will be a project for the apprentices coming through in the future. Please enjoy the pictures as much as I am being able to send them to you. Thank You!!!!!!!
Best regards,
Bob Romanelli
Apprenticeship Coordinator
