My take on PM Research #1 engine

[Nikhil Bhale]

I ordered these castings from US about 3 years ago. One of my friends brought it here to India. Saved some on the shipping cost.

I followed the two series on YouTube on building of this engine as best as I can.

All the dimensions were changed from imperial to metric. All the fasteners were also changed to metric.
All the decimal errors of converting imperial to metric added up during assembly. More about this later.

I have yet to test the engine on compressed air. But it turns freely by hand. When I used a drill to turn the engine nothing came loose and everything turns okay.

I have currently painted the engine with clear acrylic paint.
Now the engine is sitting on a block of teak. But I will fabricate a plywood base for it.

Here are some pictures of the engine.

 

[Nikhil Bhale]

Here are some more machining photos.
Machining base.

Regards
Nikhil

 

[Nikhil Bhale]

Here are some pictures of machining cylinder.
A steel rod fixed in the drill chuck is insurance during facing operation.

This is my angle block for machining steam passages in cylinder.

Regards
Nikhil

 

[Nikhil Bhale]

Machining crankshaft
The drawings ask for 3/8" crank pin and crankshaft. I don't have imperial drills or reamers to bore out the main bearings and connecting rod to 3/8". So the dimensions were changed to 10mm.

The drawings also mentions about crankpin turning jig. I didn't have any suitable material to make that. So I made a jig out of aluminium flat bar. Crankpin was centred in four jaw chuck and turning operations carried out. I used a brazed carbide parting tool to turn crankpin.

Regards
Nikhil

 

[Nikhil Bhale]

Machining flywheel
My Sieg lathe has a belt and pulley arrangment for changing speed. Lowest speed is 125 RPM. Flywheel was turned on this RPM.
Some mistakes were made. Flywheel was centred by indicating on outside rim. So now when the engine runs outside rim is running true but the inner cast surf wobbles.

A M4 set screw is used to hold flywheel on crankshaft.

Regards
Nikhil

 

[Nikhil Bhale]

Duplicate post deleted.

Regards
Nikhil

 

[Nikhil Bhale]

Some more machining on base.
Cylinder seating area has to be spot faced. Same was done by a 40mm facemill.

Main bearing were bored using a 10mm dia and 200mm long endmill.

Regards
Nikhil

 

[olympic]

Looking great!

 

[stanstocker]

Excellent! Don't be bothered by the flywheel wobble too much. I doubt there are many here who haven't wished they used a difference surface of a casting when setting up more than once...

Cheers,
Stan

 

[Nikhil Bhale]

Machining some miscellaneous parts.

Machining piston. The smallest grooving/ parting off tool I have is 2mm wide. So piston ring grooves dimensions are different from that given in drawing. I will not be able to use the teflon piston rings provided with the kit. The counter bore for piston rod nut was made with endmill.

The eccentric was turned on a 4 jaw chuck.

The gland were mounted on a piece of aluminium bar and turned.

The crosshead was machined as per drawing. But during threading for the piston rod my tap bottomed out. Luckily it did not break but the threads were stripped.
Also during assembly I observed that piston rod was binding at bottom of stroke. Piston rod dia was reduced from 5mm to 4.8mm. Now there is no binding. Also the crosshead was drilled and tapped M3 at two places. Grub screws are used to hold piston rod in place.

Regards
Nikhil

 

[ALCO-jim]

I ordered these castings from US about 3 years ago. One of my friends brought it here to India. Saved some on the shipping cost.

I followed the two series on YouTube on building of this engine as best as I can.

All the dimensions were changed from imperial to metric. All the fasteners were also changed to metric.
All the decimal errors of converting imperial to metric added up during assembly. More about this later.

I have yet to test the engine on compressed air. But it turns freely by hand. When I used a drill to turn the engine nothing came loose and everything turns okay.

I have currently painted the engine with clear acrylic paint.
Now the engine is sitting on a block of teak. But I will fabricate a plywood base for it.

Here are some pictures of the engine.
View attachment 128537

View attachment 128538

View attachment 128539

View attachment 128540

View attachment 128542

Wow. Nice work !

 

[packrat]

I have also seen that YouTube series, good photos and a wonderful job on the engine.

 

[Baltic]

GooD work!! , I am building the same at the moment, only done the fly wheel and base so far,

 

[Nikhil Bhale]

Looking great!

Thanks

 

[Nikhil Bhale]

Excellent! Don't be bothered by the flywheel wobble too much. I doubt there are many here who haven't wished they used a difference surface of a casting when setting up more than once...

Cheers,
Stan

Yes. There is always a next time. I think this is the moto of my life. This and my impatience is the real hindrance to my model making hobby.

Regards
Nikhil

 

[Nikhil Bhale]

GooD work!! , I am building the same at the moment, only done the fly wheel and base so far,

Best of luck for your project. I will recommend watching the two YouTube series before proceeding if you are novice like me.

Regards
Nikhil

 

[Nikhil Bhale]

I have also seen that YouTube series, good photos and a wonderful job on the engine.

Yes they both are good series.

Regards
Nikhil

 

[Eccentric]

Looking good Nikhil. This was my first engine build and I think it is a great kit, I learned so much. I also followed Quinn and Joe's videos, would certainly have messed up a few of the castings without their help.

 

[Baltic]

Best of luck for your project. I will recommend watching the two YouTube series before proceeding if you are novice like me.

Regards
Nikhil

Hi Nikhil,
Just a quick question in relation to the steam valve chest/cylinder, the Valves port, the drawing calls for 3/32 slots, smallest I have is 1/8th, what size did you use Nikhil?? 3/32 is not a common size in Aus,

Thanks Gary,

 

[Nikhil Bhale]

Hi Nikhil,
Just a quick question in relation to the steam valve chest/cylinder, the Valves port, the drawing calls for 3/32 slots, smallest I have is 1/8th, what size did you use Nikhil?? 3/32 is not a common size in Aus,

Thanks Gary,

Hi Gary,

I don't have any imperial tools I used metric tool for all operations.
I milled out the slots 2.5mm and 4mm with respective end mills.
The centreline distance was maintained as per the drawings.

Regards
Nikhil