Horizontal Mill Engine From Kit

[vlmarshall]

Beerless friend!? *beer*

Ah well, nice finish on those parts. Wake me when you get to the locomotives. *beer*

 

[mklotz]

The rounding over jig would be faster but I wasn't pushing that - at least, not in my last post.

I just don't see why you need the sliding jig. Consider this approach for the eccentric arm...

Drill the required holes at each end of the arm blank.
With angle blocks in the mill, mill the angled sides of the eccentric arm.

Make a plug to fit the center hole of your RT. Drill and ream it to, say, 1/4".
Make two plugs. One end of each plug is a sliding fit in the 1/4" hole. The other end is a sliding fit in each of the holes in the eccentric arm.

Center RT in mill. Mount plug in RT. Insert one of the smaller plugs. Mount the eccentric arm to this plug, packed above RT table and clamped. Use RT to mill radius on that end of eccentric arm. Repeat procedure for other end of eccentric arm. Done.

I didn't faff around with an RT for the reversing lever. Coordinate chain drilling to remove the bulk of the material in the slot and then some filing. It's thin brass so it's really not much work.

1500 posts!? Damn, I'm a wordy SOB, aren't I? (rhetorical question)

 

[CrewCab]

1500 posts!? Damn, I'm a wordy SOB, aren't I? (rhetorical question)

Hey, Zee's catching you Marv ............... and I think he's in danger of making this the longest ever thread on HMEM ........... ;D

Though to be fair ............. Zee, well done; it's been fun so far plus, you I and lots of others have learnt a lot and, at the same time we are having a bit of fun .......... keep it up, I suspect this thread will be still running when you retire, though hopefully by then you will be on to the Mk171/2 version of the Zeep Mill Engine 8)

CC

 

[Krown Kustoms]

Yes, to add to CC
I enjoy following this thread Zee.
There is info and humor, what else can you ask for in chatting with people who I have never met.
Thanks
-B-

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Marv...as I suspected...you had another method. Thanks. No...RT is not 'needed' but that was the approach the instructions took. And, out of necessity, I've deviated from the instructions. When you don't have a 6"...you do what you can with 4". (And I've been successful so far ;D.)

CC...hm...gee I hope I'm not doing this when I retire. For one thing...we would all get fed up with my lack of progress. It was bad enough I got 4 Model #2A kits to get it running. (I didn't say 'right'...just 'running').

This isn't in response to your reply, but I was thinking about this thread earlier (aside from everyday...all day long)...worried about my progress...but I can't feel too bad. There's a rocker in there somewhere (okay..maybe some other guy did it ;D) and a Spindex mod, and the indicator holders...and gee...when you make the same part twice...it takes twice as long :big:.

-B-...thank you. I'm real happy people are enjoying this and very glad that the knowledgeable ones are contributing so we can all learn.

As for what else I could ask for?....Well, here are just a 'few' suggestions...

Beer (especially from the guy who owes me)
Money is always good
German or Swiss chocolates
More money
Wine and cheese are a big hit here
And, yes, more money

But yeah...you're right...the members here make it so enjoyable to participant.

Thanks all.

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Made the eccentric arm! Woo woo! Not the biggest deal in the world but this was probably the most complicated and difficult part I've done to date. Several mistakes but I think the part will do just fine.

Many thanks to the beerless one. His help was invaluable. Why...I'll even say he owes me less beer. However...beer minus less beer is still beer. ;D

I didn't have a .625 reamer. Beerless one suggested 4-jaw and boring. Okay. I can do that!

Then make the other two holes. The middle one is for decoration. As for the small one...well...I forgot to drill under size and then ream. Should be okay.

See the lock lever sitting on top of the vise? Well...there's a little story that goes with that. When drilling the hole before boring I could see one of the jaws on the chuck was pretty far out and I looked for any possible interference. The carriage, of course, was between the chuck and the tailstock which had the bit. Things looked good. What I hadn't counted on was that the vibration, due to the off-balance chuck, would cause the lever on the carriage clamp to rotate. Which it did. What I heard was 'thwock thwock thwock ding!'. The ding being the lever bouncing off a wall. Oh yeah...I also heard a 'wha?' but that was me. (I had glasses on and the magnifying light was between me and the fun.)

Mounted on the fixture. Luckily, beerless one reminded me to indicate the key to the X axis.

Now...to be honest...this is actually the 2nd part. (Yes...must keep 2:1 ratio.)...The first time I did this I tried to end-mill the 0.625. Big mistake and I knew I was making it. This hobby will quickly teach you to leave nothing to luck. Anyway...didn't clamp well enough so the part rotated on me and was bad. O' beerless one suggested a pin. I had a 0.125 copper rod (was supposed to be tubing) so I used that.

The problem is...since the 1st part caused badness (okay...I caused the badness), the block was no longer centered. I centered on the hole to mount the 2nd part. This, I think, bit me later.

Now for milling. First pass....time to pucker...and pucker I did. Plunge, move, plunge, move...

I could see that a piece of brass was going to come free and go flying...which it certainly did. That little piece of information should have been in the instructions.

Figuring a little thin bit of brass would be easy to clean up, I had hoped to set the cutter a hair above the block and spare it from being milled. Nope. But is okay.

Through the woods...

To grandma's...

Grandma wasn't home...so back again...

Move the block 0.95 inch to center on the small hole because I'm going to rotate around that now (I hope this answers Marv's question.)

And now the dreaded last operation...where things seem to invariably go wrong...

Finished the other end...and discovered the problem...

The part was just a tad off to one side in X. You'll see in a moment.

Polished...

So you can see that the bottom of the arm (big end) is a little closer to the hole that it should be. But the distances to either side look pretty good!

So happy guy!

Probably be an hour or two before the pucker relaxes though.

One more part for Isabella!

[EDIT: Almost forgot! Who needs 6" my 4" (RT) did great!]

 

[chuck foster]

looking good zee Thm: Thm:

chuck

 

[JimN]

Looks good to me Zee. You should post a pic of all the parts you have made, hmmm thinking about that for me, would be a large pile unless it was only the parts that made it through inspection.


Jim
Abbotsford, BC

 

[Artie]

This is the stuff that I enjoy/hate about this hobby... what you call the Pucker Factor..its exhilerating when it works out all good.. but damned frustrating when it all goes bad on that last step...

So.... bloody well done mate!

Incidentally...can I send you an Aussie $1 coin? (read this in your best Texan slow drawl...) "Cause I caint get the scale perspective right ina mah haid with thet there damn foreeeign currency...".. 8)

 

[vlmarshall]

Congrats, Zeep! I'm glad that part worked out for you. Not too sure about the "beerless one" you keep picking on, unfairly, I'd say. ;D

 

[Deanofid]

You're still making good progress, Zee!
The setup block you made for your RT will come in handy for lots of stuff, and, it's a good fixture plate. Thick enough to be faced off many times.

So, who is this mysterious beerless man you keep mentioning? Does he wear a mask over his eyes, or have a cape, maybe? Does he have special machinist powers... A Swarf Super Hero, perhaps? Swarfman?
Us machinist types need our own super hero!

Incidentally...can I send you an Aussie $1 coin? (read this in your best Texan slow drawl...) "Cause I caint get the scale perspective right ina mah haid with thet there damn foreeeign currency...".. 8)

So, ya wanna send him some furrin currency...?

Dean

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Thanks Chuck.

Thanks Jim. Pics of original parts or the re-dos? The pile of original parts is larger. ;D

Thanks Artie. I have an Aussie friend at work...I'll try and hit him up. Reminds me to ask him what he's doing over here. ;D

Thanks 'Oh bee...', I mean, Vernon.

Thanks Dean. Yeah...if I keep using this fixture and it gets faced down enough...then I'll bolt a thin plate on top of that. Could even have different plates for different things but we'll see if it's ever needed again. If I do, I'd like to come up with a better method for clamping the block down. Maybe slots on the side. I don't know if bolts into the side against the key would be enough. Maybe slot along the length of the key so the bolt doesn't chew up the side? Probably should be a steel key then? Well...now I'm rambling...

 

[Krown Kustoms]

Looks good Zee, you wont notice the offset hole after assembly.
There might be a slight timing advance, everything I have ever worked on a timing advance is good.
Im not formilliar with this engine I assume this part goes to valve timing.

For the foreeeign coin, it is .75 inch dia or 19.05 milimeter ☺

-B-

 

[mklotz]

Nicely done, Zee. We're all proud of you. To put it in the vernacular... You've come a long way, baby.

I could see that a piece of brass was going to come free and go flying

Stop just short of the point where it's free and break it off with pliers. This is especially important when cutting a piece free in a cavity (imagine cutting a square hole into a piece of plate with an endmill). When the waste breaks free, it can jam between the endmill and the hole wall with spectacularly disturbing results. Break it off and remove it by hand rather than trying to mill it free.

On outside cuts like you were doing, it's less of a problem. Sometimes, if the (ferrous) fragment is going to be small, one can get by with a magnet placed close by to capture the part when it breaks free. For non-ferrous, a layer of double-sided carpet tape under the part is a good restraint.

Oh yeah, and for our foreign cousins, as someone has pointed out, an American penny is *exactly* 0.75 inches in diameter. It's a handy thing to remember when you find yourself in the store and you've forgottten your six inch scale. In fact, it's worth memorizing the dimensions of other currencies as emergency rulers.

 

[black85vette]

On outside cuts like you were doing, it's less of a problem. Sometimes, if the (ferrous) fragment is going to be small, one can get by with a magnet placed close by to capture the part when it breaks free. For non-ferrous, a layer of double-sided carpet tape under the part is a good restraint.

That's a useful tip. Thanks, I'll file that away.


Zee; good looking part and nice setup for it!

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Thanks -B-. Timing shouldn't be a problem due to the offset of the profile. The distance from the small to large hole is what's critical. That's not to say I got that right either. ;D

Thanks Marv. Yes...nice tip to grab the part rather than let it go.

Thanks black85vette.

The replies reminded of something I had wanted to mention in the earlier post. You really have to be careful with brass. I couldn't believe how much it tends to grab the end mill and try to bring the spindle down. Had to keep a real good hold on the crank. The bigger the bite (plunge) the more it grabbed.

Was wondering if there are different end-mills for brass?

 

[Paolo]

Nice idea for doing latch...!! Thanks for sharing :bow:
Best regards Paolo

 

[arnoldb]

Good going Zee - Well done!

Don't know if you can buy end mills specially for brass though... (I know- I know GIYF :hDe: - just cant be bothered ;D)

At least you got to work :big:

 

[mklotz]

The replies reminded of something I had wanted to mention in the earlier post. You really have to be careful with brass. I couldn't believe how much it tends to grab the end mill and try to bring the spindle down. Had to keep a real good hold on the crank. The bigger the bite (plunge) the more it grabbed.

Was wondering if there are different end-mills for brass?

Doesn't your mill have a spindle lock? Most do although I'm not familiar with the mini mills so perhaps not. If it does, get in the habit of using it. There's slop in them thar spindles.

No special mills for brass that I know of.

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Thanks Arnold.
Thanks Paolo. Wife is still thinking about Rome next year...in the fall maybe.

Marv...isn't the spindle lock the hole/bar that stops the spindle from turning so you can change out tools? I think you mean the Z-axis lock.

Yes mini-mill does have a Z-axis lock. But if I had used it...I wouldn't have been able to do the plunges. I did use the stop though so the plunge wouldn't go further than I wanted.

The Z-axis lock is nothing more than a '4th gib screw'. Right? At least on my mini-mill.

But, if I do understand you right, I should have locked the Z-axis when I was doing the finish cuts which were done by rotating or cranking the mill over with the spindle at a set Z. But those cuts didn't have any grab to them.

Thanks.