Mery 6-stroke kit.

[Jack3M]

Had moments here and there, got the cast aluminum base leveled.

Spent probably 2 hours trying to get the cylinder indicated in. Never had such a difficult time, but finally got it. Using a 1 1/4" tool steel bar that got a carbide bit Silver Soldered to it. Working well. I still have motion in my cross slide and cannot get it out. Worked for hours on this and still have 100 thou or so to take off. The tolerance is 0.0000+ and 0.0005 - Wow. The sleeve is a temperature fit. Freeze one and heat the other. They install countertops tomorrow so won't get squat done.

 

[Jack3M]

Oops forgot photos It is slow going as to reduce flexion I can only take a .001 cut per run, very slow going, and often I do twice at the same setting to avoid highs and lows.

 

[Jack3M]

broke my hand when disposal fell on it no telling how long till i can work on it

 

[propclock]

Probably going to get negativity on this one, Locktite allows you to have .001
clearance. I admire all those that shrink/press fit, but when you are done
you get to bore/hone it again! because after the stress , The I.D. is no longer the
same. Again I love a perfect fit, but chemicals have improved this hobby, IMO.
Thanks to the military. Over.

 

[Jack3M]

I am not adverse to modern technology and "tools" Thanks for thr reminder. BUT my hand is going to really resttrict progress for a while.

 

[Jack3M]

The kitchen is done. Finger still in a splint to prevent having displacement and thusly surgery. Already stiff enough. Got two fractures in one bone. Pain pretty well under control unless I do something stupid, like jam it into something.

Anyhow I had to come back to see how deep I was cutting per pass. Thinking on trying to get some done on this. The kitchen looks great and the garbage disposal which fell on my hand to do the damage has been tossed for such a serious infraction. Hope to post real stuff soon....

 

[Jack3M]

Well It is bored. It is not off center it is angle of camera. Used gauge blocks made from brass, with the final one a go-no-go of .001". Didn't even catch the finger

 

[Jack3M]

Today the sleeve was installed in the cylinder and began boring that. Kind of a make sure you do some things first section, as in the water jacket fittings. That is what is showing in the photo with the drill bit.

Tried the hot cold thing and the cylinder got suck half way and ended up pressing the whole shebang together. This allows enough overhang on either end to get a good grip for further work until the ends are finished up which comes after boring. There are 4 holes that need drilled before final boring to size, two exhaust and two intake ports that go thru into the cylinder.

 

[Jack3M]

Boring can be boring....pun intended. Think I learned something and would like comments. The big boring bar was too large to start boring the sleeve with so made one out of 3/4 cold rolled steel. Nothing fancy, just wanted to get to the point I could use the bigger one for less flexion. Seems it did a crap job and I went back to the 3/4 and got everything sweet again. My assumption is that the flexion allowed will also stop resonance which I have quite bad on the other bar, made from O1 tool steel. We are talking horrid finish versus sweet finish taking the same amount and same speed....though I did try different speeds to see if it would stop the resonance.
Pulled the whole shebang off to drill the holes when I got within 10 thou. Stopped as it was uncomfortably hot in the garage, looking for record heat next 2 days I hear.

 

[Jack3M]

Welllllll, I goofed up. Made a really stupid mistake and not sure how I got my mind set on the wrong internal diameter, but I did, then took it out of the lathe and cut off the ends.....OH NO. Well needless to say, not possible to get true the whole length, so Gary Martin saved me with an in stock sleeve. Pressed out the old one and ran over there way early this morning...an hour each way....trying to beat the Portland morning rush on a Friday.
Additionally, while between stuff, got the cream color ordered, arrived, and powder coated that inside part of the base. Also tried two of my red colors and still not sure which I like best.

 

[Jack3M]

Thinkin' maybe I jumped over some steps in describing this process of the cylinder sleeve. First, to get an average indicated center taking the best of both inner and outer to get as true of run as possible. Then made aluminum 'plug' to fit in the end of the cylinder to keep things from moving while working on the outside of the sleeve, as can be seen in this photo. Now getting this an average of true was very time consuming.

Since the powder coat stuff was sorta out and about, played with my reds to get the color wanted, a candy red metal flake with depth. Took 3 powders to achieve this. First had tried to two colors of red with just them and their process. Not the colors I wanted, one was close. Got to thinking and tried a red base coat, followed by a red transparent coat, followed with a clear.

 

[Jack3M]

Forgot to mention since I plan on pressing the sleeve in again, going to taper one end .002" over 1" to help get a straight start.

 

[MrMetric]

I really appreciate your documenting the experiences while building the Mery. I picked one up recently, as you know from our personal chat. The kit didn't come with plans, so that is the first order of business that needs to be worked out, but I'm definitely following your progress in the interim.

 

[Jack3M]

Interesting few days. Bunches of had to do stuff, and when I pressed in the sleeve again, dang if the cylinder didn't crack. Guess I needed to heat it anyhow....DUH. Oh well, went back and got another from Gary. Nice guy, didn't even make me feel like the ***** I am. So between all the other crud that had to be done, got they cylinder bored, heated the cylinder and froze the sleeve, and with the tapered end, it literally fell into place and locked. Needed to press it for another 1/8 inch to get my marks. Of course back to boring and boring and boring and this time I got the correct internal measurement.
While waiting on each pass, got to messin' with the powder coat and did the main body. Boy is it shiny. But, no matter how hard I tried, there still were flecks of red that got in the white, and redoing the white only made it worse, so I think paint will be the only resolution, I know I don't want to mask it any more, what a task.

 

[Jack3M]

No photos today, not much to see, but quite a bit to say. The combined height of the rotory table with 4 jaw and the part, and a drill chuck totally eliminated my ability to accurately lay out holes in my cheap drill press which did have enough distance, unlike my mill, but could not dial in the circles of 2" and 2.125 on the ends of the cylinder assembly.
So, a friend of mine bailed me out with his mill, there was just enough room to drill the holes. Had to take my rotory table there as his is way too big and already had the 4 jaw trammed on mine. He had ER40 collet set and that gave us plenty of room to drill the holes.
Therefore this is an important thing to note about this kit.
Now, while doing this, knowing the base will be very difficult to drill the holes in each end got a template made from card stock, by locating before drilling and drilling thru the templates as the pilot holes for the tapped lugs were done.

 

[Jack3M]

First I should have told ya'll which mill I have....a grizzly 704

Moving along; tapped the holes, I chose M3, just because I prefer metric and that is my tooling for that stuff. Used the drill press to assure straight starts. That completed this part with the exception of cutting off the cylinder ends, and the holes for the exhaust and explosion chamber mounts which I do at the same time for accuracy of layout. As far as cutting the ends off, not only will the cut end get support with a plug in that end with the tailstock. More than anything though, delaying for a indexable parting tool to arrive, carbide cuts cast so sweetly.

Since all the holes are drilled and having the ends of the cylinder to grasp and make it easy to PC(powder coat) this which was completed. Intermittently have been working on the stuffing box, slip fit in base, and cylinder end is heat and fit which will wait until the ends are cut off. Also the brass packing fitting is completed, no photos...forgot. This is final fitted AFTER the shrink fit for the stuffing box so that the bolts for the fitting are vertical after assembly.

 

[Jack3M]

Correction, M4 not M3

 

[Jack3M]

Moving along. Piston was simple turning job.
The packing gland had what appears to be an oil hole, but checking ahead, there is minimal access for this. Did it anyhow.

 

[Jack3M]

This part is more difficult. Gary had stated and in his documentation package it is also mentioned to add weight to either a wheel or the crank. I thought it was just fore more mass, but a friend pointed out it is a balance thing. Therefore, the crank will be modified. Have seen folks do a one piece turning. As far as I am concerned it is too much metal waste. Previously I have made crank by silver soldering the parts together.

My friend told me to make a dummy and make that balance on the center of the crankshaft to offset the end with the con rod. This is currently what is being worked on. Couldn't find the right thickness in the scrap bin at the metal place so opted to use some 3/4 and bring it down to the thickness dimension. Photos are of the dummy including the balance point./

 

[Jack3M]

Got some of the work done