Entablature Steam Pumping Engine

[Rivergypsy]

Hi Philjoe.

Glad you like it! There is more - the compound marine engine will pick up again soon, and i'm modelling a Leavitt twin beam in SW to go next. I do hate a quiet life though, lol.

Cheers
Dave

 

[idahoan]

It is always a treat to see an update on this project; It just keeps getting better.


The flywheel is especially interesting to me as I have a down the road project that will require a fully machined flywheel from stock similar to what you are doing here.
Will the pieces at 12 and 6 eventually be removed? Is this part of your indexing scheme for when you flip it over to do the other side?


Thanks for taking the time to keep us up dated on your progress of this great engine.

Dave

 

[Rivergypsy]

Hi Dave

I'm glad you're enjoying it, and thanks for the reply!

Which project are you thinking of for a machined 'wheel? It is a lot of work to take one (at least this size) from solid, but it's a huge amount of fun and a nice challenge too. I left the webs in at 12 and 6 so that i could both get some extra bolts in while roughing, and also get a orientation when it's flipped over. It's also located on the 50mm centre boss, but this will be re-working when it goes over.

So far here, there's two hours rough turning, which was a lot of fun - 4kg of steel an hour, and still too hot to comfortably hold four hours later Rof}
On the mill, it's been running since Tuesday lunchtime, and often into the night, with a fair few more hours to go.

Seriously though, thats not meant to discourage you - go for it!Thm:

 

[Rivergypsy]

Not too far from the end of side one now - here's 12 o'clock done, and 6 about to start. I will re-run the side four pockets though, to suit the thinner, elliptical spoke section I've changed to. hopefully that'll run overnight, together with finishing the hub, and then tomorrow it gets flipped

Very glad that I went for steel rather than stainless too...

 

[idahoan]

Comming along nicely!

I have plans for the Otto and Langen; the flywheel on it is 7.75" and I would most likely machine it from cast iron (Dura Bar).

Can you do full 3d surfacing on your interact? We have one in the shop at work and I believe that it can only handle 2 axis at a time. XY YZ etc.

Thanks for the photos and keep them comming.

Dave

 

[Rivergypsy]

Thanks again, Dave It's going to be running through tonigh on the side pockets, so I'll take some more snaps in the morning.

Now thats going to be a nice project thats I've not seen before. Where did you find the plans?

All the Interacts I've used so far (Heidenhain TNC151 onwards, non Boss controlled) have been able to do full 3D, thankfully. You could do a test run with a linear 3 axis move to check yours though. The only limit I've found is the maximum file size of ~5500 lines of code, so to get a small stepover on large areas, they often need to be broken down into smaller chunks.

What sort of CAM package would you be using to program it? I've run FeatureMill and GibbsCAM with Interact posts so far, and after a tiny bit of fine tuning they've been spot on.

 

[Rivergypsy]

Side two nearly done - just the final rim sections, and 12 and 6 o'clock to go, and it's going to be running on those overnight. So, tomorrow we may just see the roughed flywheel on the engine to get a true picture of how it looks!!

 

[Rivergypsy]

Finally we've got the first fitting of the flywheel! woohoo1
Its felt like an eternity to get here, but after it went on last night I spent the rest of the evening grinning like a Cheshire cat, lol.
The trunk port and cylinder are ready for polishing too, so I'd better pull my finger out and make some scale fasteners for them too...
Next jobs - the stand for the valve lifting lever, the governor valve, and some more valve gear components...

 

[Rivergypsy]

Here's another little update - the cylinder/trunk/steam chest assy is now finished and polished (and still waiting for scale fastners, lol), I've also knocked up the pillar for the valve lifting lever too.

Also, here's a pic of the drive pulley with the start of the 3D profiling of the spokes. I'll post another pic of it shortly, but the first side is nearly done, and looking verrry sexy if I do say so myself

 

[kvom]

A good example of using soft jaws in the vise to hold round or odd-shaped parts securely and accurately.

 

[Rivergypsy]

Thanks KVOM. We've not got any soft jaws for this vice, so just using a pair of blocks like this often comes in handy.

 

[Rivergypsy]

First side just about an hour from finishing woohoo1

 

[Rivergypsy]

At last!! Much slow machining later and the drive pulley is off of the mill!
woohoo1woohoo1woohoo1

Due to memory size on the Interact, the step-over isn't as small as I'd like, so there's still a good bit of hand finishing to do, but overall I'm well chuffed with it ;D I've finished the taper turning on the hub and inside of the rim, and rough turned the crowning on the OD, so the next job is to Loctite it onto a 1/2" pin, and finish the OD. I'm happier doing it this way as I can go back to collets, so there's less worry about catching a finger on a chuck jaw, which is definitely anti-enjoyment...

 

[Brian Rupnow]

You do beautiful work.---Brian

 

[Rivergypsy]

Thanks very much, Brian - I do have to admit that this is distracting me from your engine at the moment, as it feels as though it's on the home straight, but I will get back on track!!

 

[kvom]

Due to memory size on the Interact, the step-over isn't as small as I'd like

Would it have worked to generate the code for one spoke, than rotate either the pulley or the work plane for each additional spoke?

 

[Rivergypsy]

It would have been an option to have run each 60deg in turn, thats true. What I do try and do is to have the minimum amount of cutters (as there's only manual tool change) and to get them working for as long and as reliably as possible so that I can run them whilst I'm doing other jobs or hopefully overnight. What I used here was three programs per side - 6mm ball nose to rough to within 0.3, finish apart from the corners, and then a 3mm to tickle the corners out. I guess we all do it differently though, and thats part of the fun

 

[Rivergypsy]

Still plodding away here, polishing stainless every evening, but here's the governor body after two ops on the cnc. I've left a round boss on both sides of the ball to allow it to be help in the lathe for boring the pivot once the main drillings are in. Next ops are the 5mm drillings and to finish the flanges...

 

[Rivergypsy]

A little more progress here - I've made the square headed fasteners for the bottom end of the engine, which are from M1.6 up to M5. Not the most pleasant job in the world, but thankfully a friend with a sliding head lathe is doing the majority of them which are M3. Cheating I know, but nicer than going 'round the bend machining them all manually ;D

Also, the polishing is progressing slowly, and parts starting to come together for what will hopefully be the final time...

I've also roughed out the edge trims for the box base, which are quite happily doing banana impressions as the stresses come out of them, so they can wait a while before finishing

 

[jwcnc1911]

Man! Seeing this build and the hybrid CNC/manual work going on here is fantastic! Depending on complexity i do this a lot myself. I have never really been interested in steamies because of the associated mess with running them or lack of authenticity of running on air. Having said that, this is a magnificent display of patience and skill and it makes me think you could build a model toilet and it would be equally impressive!