Mark's Monitor Build

[Robert Ritchie]

Oh yes, progress is great, pics, post and work superior!

 

[dnalot]

Just a quick post. The base for the steam chest has been glued to the cylinder and all went well. Tested for leaks and all is tight.

Mounted the cylinder to the mill and trued up the valve surfaces and then relieved the flanges to locate the steam chest in place. All the steam chest parts now stack up properly and are located (locked) in position for drilling and tapping the holes for the bolts that will hold everything together. I will wait for a new 2-56 tap and the appropriate drill bits before I move on with this step.

In the meantime I will be modeling the heads and a couple of other parts for casting.

Mark T

 

[Robert Ritchie]

Looking great!

 

[darwenguy]

Looks like a realy interesting engine design. And your brass castings look amazing, well worth the effort.
Thanks for sharing.

Luke.

 

[Geken]

Fabulous castings,great work Mark.

As a friend of Rich Carlstedt and also a builder of a Monitor engine he made me aware of your post.
Can't wait to see this build to the finish.This looks like being an excellent model.I built my Monitor engine to 1/25.4"(1mm to 1") scale, as a lookalike of Rich Carlstedt's using plans from the internet and Rich's, many thanks to Rich.All parts were fabricated and not all are to scale,and some omitted for simplicity and size limitations.
Can be seen here..

Geoff

 

[dnalot]

Hi Geken

I found your video on You-Tube just yesterday. Played it over and over just to listen to the great sound ( the engine not the music, not that there is anything wrong with the music ). Nicely done. And I like your monkey (ape).

Mark T

 

[GreenTwin]

There were Monitor engine builds before Rich's build, but I must say Rich opened the door for many builds on this engine.
I consider Rich's build sort of the gold standard on Monitor builds, and he did a tremendous amount of research on this engine, in order to get it accurately built.
And Rich has seen the actual Monitor engine that was recovered from the ocean.
What a fantastic day that must have been. It is quite rare to get to see such an historical piece.

And thanks to Rich for publishing his Monitor drawings; he did not have to do that, and he no doubt put a huge amount of time and effort into creating those drawings.

And lastely, Rich is just a downright super nice guy; I have met him; and he gladly shares any information he has.
Hats off to Rich for kicking off a Monitor building spree in the hobby !!! Who knows how many Monitors will get built.

Pat J

 

[Robert Ritchie]

Looking great, great progress, can't wait to see in run! Great post!

 

[Gedeon Spilett]

lot of skills in these builds, thanks to share!
this engine looks great, i'm anxious to see the progresses.

 

[stanstocker]

Hi Geken

I found your video on You-Tube just yesterday. Played it over and over just to listen to the great sound ( the engine not the music, not that there is anything wrong with the music ). Nicely done. And I like your monkey (ape).

Mark T

Hi Folks!
These are beautiful engines, the work in this thread is great to see. BUT I'M GOING NUTS!!! Watched the video at least three times, and never saw a monkey. Must be a term I don't know or an inside joke. Please help me scratch the itch in my brain that keeps going "What monkey...."
Thanks,
Stan

 

[Geken]

Hi Folks!
These are beautiful engines, the work in this thread is great to see. BUT I'M GOING NUTS!!! Watched the video at least three times, and never saw a monkey. Must be a term I don't know or an inside joke. Please help me scratch the itch in my brain that keeps going "What monkey...."
Thanks,
Stan

Hi Stan. The monkey is my profile picture on Youtube
Geoff

 

[stanstocker]

Hi Stan. The monkey is my profile picture on Youtube
Geoff

Ah... Thank you kindly! I was so focused on the video I completely missed it Tree, I'd like you to meet forest...

Take care,
Stan

 

[dnalot]

Ah... Thank you kindly! I was so focused on the video I completely missed it

Mark T

 

[GreenTwin]

LOL, I missed the gorilla.
.

 

[dnalot]

Spring is not a good time to start a build. I have been keeping busy cleaning up after winter and enjoying some leisure time outside. I have 5 acres with lots of trees and it takes awhile to clean up. I live in a tiny town called Mossyrock. Its named that because everything gets covered with moss here. What time I have been in my shop has gone to annual machine maintenance. And continuing experimentation and perfecting my investment casting equipment and skills. Summer is now here and I hope to get a little more time in the shop.

I have now advanced to expecting good results rather than hoping for the best when casting. The parts that gave me the most trouble were the heads. Size was the issue. They are 3.6” in diameter. The main problem is that the pattern expands when heated before it turns to a gas during the burnout. That results in cracks in the plaster. Making the pattern a bit large and putting a radius on sharp edges helped a lot. And upgrading to a plaster made for use with resin patterns helped as well. Up to this point I have been getting away with plaster made for casting with wax patterns. The other problem was clearance between the side of the flask and the pattern. .25” is good. I had only .125” on both sides if centered. I had a couple of tries where the pattern touched the side and very bad things happened. I had to use a 4” flask as the 5” flask I ordered has been on back order for some time now.

The cylinder assembly now has its mounts and the exhaust manifold installed. The valve surfaces have been polished. And the holes for the studs that will hold the steam chests have been drilled and tapped. 2-56 screws

The heads were giving me problems in printing. The resin is very brittle and required very heavy supports yet still tended to be ripped apart during the printing. I finally got a few decent prints and tried to cast them. I got the plaster cracking under control but kept having surface issues in the area near where the sprue attached. I finally accepted the fact the heads would not be perfect and used the best two. The heads have now been machined to fit and drilled. And the ends of the cylinders have been drilled and tapped.

This last photo is of the plan set. 294 pages of drawings and illustrations. Mr Carlstedt did a fantastic job. But I may have found an omission or I might simply be blind. As I look forward to what to do next I have been looking at the drain valves. Several of them connect to what looks like a three way valve(2ea) just under the steam chest covers. I have not been able to find drawings for these valves. Help Richard Help.

Mark T

Thanks for watching and weighing in.

 

[Richard Carlstedt]

Mark , did you download all the drawings ? my recall is that there are 309 pages in the book
The very last pages are the cocks , but you are right that I did not draw up the Tri-Cock itself
which I think you are referring to --- and which is the white arrow in the picture.
The red arrow is the cutoff chest drain.
The black and yellow arrows point to where drain cocks are installed. They intersect the steam passages in the cylinder , and direct steam when turned on to the Tri-Cock . I'll post a picture of their location if thats what you need. The cylinder drain cocks (4) were on the bottom of the cylinder and
I did not draw up the linkage which i know they used , but no details were found in my research
and that linkage may have been destroyed during recovery or lost due to corrosion.
Fabulous work Mark !
Rich

 

[Richard Hed]

Spring is not a good time to start a build. I have been keeping busy cleaning up after winter and enjoying some leisure time outside. I have 5 acres with lots of trees and it takes awhile to clean up. I live in a tiny town called Mossyrock. Its named that because everything gets covered with moss here. What time I have been in my shop has gone to annual machine maintenance. And continuing experimentation and perfecting my investment casting equipment and skills. Summer is now here and I hope to get a little more time in the shop.

I have now advanced to expecting good results rather than hoping for the best when casting. The parts that gave me the most trouble were the heads. Size was the issue. They are 3.6” in diameter. The main problem is that the pattern expands when heated before it turns to a gas during the burnout. That results in cracks in the plaster. Making the pattern a bit large and putting a radius on sharp edges helped a lot. And upgrading to a plaster made for use with resin patterns helped as well. Up to this point I have been getting away with plaster made for casting with wax patterns. The other problem was clearance between the side of the flask and the pattern. .25” is good. I had only .125” on both sides if centered. I had a couple of tries where the pattern touched the side and very bad things happened. I had to use a 4” flask as the 5” flask I ordered has been on back order for some time now.

The cylinder assembly now has its mounts and the exhaust manifold installed. The valve surfaces have been polished. And the holes for the studs that will hold the steam chests have been drilled and tapped. 2-56 screws

The heads were giving me problems in printing. The resin is very brittle and required very heavy supports yet still tended to be ripped apart during the printing. I finally got a few decent prints and tried to cast them. I got the plaster cracking under control but kept having surface issues in the area near where the sprue attached. I finally accepted the fact the heads would not be perfect and used the best two. The heads have now been machined to fit and drilled. And the ends of the cylinders have been drilled and tapped.



View attachment 138488View attachment 138489View attachment 138490View attachment 138491View attachment 138492View attachment 138493

This last photo is of the plan set. 294 pages of drawings and illustrations. Mr Carlstedt did a fantastic job. But I may have found an omission or I might simply be blind. As I look forward to what to do next I have been looking at the drain valves. Several of them connect to what looks like a three way valve(2ea) just under the steam chest covers. I have not been able to find drawings for these valves. Help Richard Help.

Mark T

Thanks for watching and weighing in.

I've been wondering how you were coming along with this build. I would like to drop by, but I'm working and won't be able to find the time, until the season is over at least. I can hardly wait for you to finish and show us it running

 

[dnalot]

I would like to drop by

As you know you are always welcome Richard.

Mark T

 

[dnalot]

I did not draw up the Tri-Cock itself
which I think you are referring to --- and which is the white arrow in the picture.

It is. I will just wing it.

Mark T

 

[minh-thanh]

View attachment 138488View attachment 138489View attachment 138490View attachment 138491View attachment 138492View attachment 138493



Mark T

Thanks for watching and weighing in.

It's really awesome !