PM Research No. 1 Build

[Don1966]

Well done Brian, and I have enjoyed following alone with you on your journey. Thanks for taking the time to share you built will us, I also have learned from your post. Thanks a bunch.

Don

 

[SilverSanJuan]

Stunning work Brian. Simply Stunning. Thanks for posting all of your progress. I've learned a lot here.

Todd

 

[vcutajar]

Brian

Congratulations on your completed engine. Looking forward to see it run. Thank you for taking the time of documenting the engine build. I for one learned things on your journey. I also liked your last "second thoughts" post. I am sure it will help somebody else doing the engine.

Vince

 

[rhitee93]

Don, Todd, and Vince,

Thanks for the kind words. It's been fun I got the video put together and up on youtube yesterday. Hopefully I'll be able to do the pics tomorrow night...

 

[tvoght]

Brian,
Bee - Yu - Tee - Full!
--Tim

 

[rhitee93]

Hi there Tim, and thank you! Good to hear from ya again. How's the Upshur coming along?

This post is still accumulating a number of hits, so I though i would add a link to the finished engine post here. You can see nicer photos and a final video in this post:

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/f43/horizontal-mill-engine-pm-research-no-1-a-18653/

 

[ChooChooMike]

EXCELLENT BUILD THREAD BRIAN !! Well deserving of the POM !! Kudos !!th_wavwoohoo1woohoo1

 

[lkrestorer]

I realize that this is a post that hasn't been added to since 2012 but it seems to be a very good look at a build of the PM Research #1 engine with a lot of classy upgrades. I am ordering one of those casting kits and am anxious to get started on the build.
One very interesting modification that was made in this posting was the brass cylinder head and the brass chest cover plate instead of the cast iron parts. But, this is where my amateur status throws up a red flag.
The pictures show a piece of brass plate fastened to an aluminum plate in a vise on (what appears to be) a manual Bridgeport. The author talks about machining the outside of the piece and machining a raised boss around each bolt hole like it is a very simple task. My question is: How is this done on a manual machine? It's an operation that could be done quite well with a CNC machine but I see no mention of that in the article. My mill is entirely manual and I could do this by using a rotary table and repositioning to center on each bolt hole - but that's a lot of setup work and I would love to find an easier way.
Also, good luck looking at the pictures. I can only see some of them occasionally (it changes each time I try to look at them) when I use Firefox and almost never with Internet Explorer.
Thank you for any help that you can give.

 

[Cogsy]

Also, good luck looking at the pictures. I can only see some of them occasionally (it changes each time I try to look at them) when I use Firefox and almost never with Internet Explorer.
Thank you for any help that you can give.

It's the dreaded Photobucket money grab again - they want over $400 a year for people to be able to post pictures on forums like this. There are work-arounds (extensions) for Chrome and, I think, Firefox, but not IE.

 

[Ghosty]

I have an external drive with 6TB storage that I keep all me pics and files in, don't need photobucket, used to use it years ago but not for a long time.

Cheers

 

[lkrestorer]

Thank you guys for the Photobucket info.
But ... what about machining round stuff like those raised (round) bosses and the circumference of the brass head? Is there a nice neat way of doing that on a manual mill that I'm not aware of?
I have done bolt circles just fine (usually I "cheat" and use the DRO) and I've rounded things by mounting them on the rotary table so I can fix a center point but, like I said, I'd have to reposition and center each of the bolt holes to cut a circle around them. The pictures in this posting made it look like it was a piece of cake.
Maybe I'm being naïve thinking that there might be an easier way that I don't know of but that's why I'm reaching out to all of you "more seasoned" machinists.

 

[10K Pete]

If you put a pin in the center of the RT that fits the holes in the part then you position the part on the pin for each "rounding". Once the pin is dialed in you only need to watch the divisions on the table or the layout lines on the part.

Pete

 

[lkrestorer]

Thanks Pete for the answer. That would be a simpler way than what I was picturing with my tunnel vision and I will probably do it that way. What got me going was the setup that was shown in the pictures. I did not see a rotary table being used and all of the pictures just showed a brass plate fastened to a larger sacrificial aluminum plate that was clamped in a normal vise.
It will be pretty easy to machine the O.D. of the cylinder head and the center decorative depression by "randomly" mounting it on the R.T. The bolt circle can also be drilled before changing the setup. Then the "pin" method can be used to finish the small bosses around each hole.
Those brass pieces do really add some nice shiny bits to the build. I plan on making my own studs and cute little brass nuts, too. The casting kit is in the mail and I'm looking forward to it showing up on my doorstep.
I'd still be interested in hearing how the original machining was done.

Len

 

[tractorjunkie]

Does anyone have the pics from this project on a disc or memory stick that I could copy? I looked at this site about a year ago and am now about to start on my engine. Now that photobucket nonsense has blocked them so I can't view them. This is a great build thread but it would really help to have the pics. Thanks

 

[Cogsy]

Now that photobucket nonsense has blocked them so I can't view them. This is a great build thread but it would really help to have the pics. Thanks

There is a fix for (I believe) Chrome and Firefox browsers that somehow gets around the issue. Install one of those browsers and google 'photobucket fix' or similar and you should be OK.

 

[lkrestorer]

Tractorjunkie,

I'm in the middle of building the PM #1 and it is going great. It's a very nice kit of castings. I was also disappointed with the Photobucket problem because this thread has some very good pictures on it.
I've been a died-in-the-wool Internet Explorer user until this problem came up. I have since loaded Mozilla Firefox: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/ and added this add-on fix of theirs: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/photobucket-fix/?src=api
When you first go to a forum, or any place that has Photobucket pictures, it will first show you the dreaded "you can't look at this" screen but then after a second or two it will populate with all of the pictures. It really does work great. The only problem I've had is trying to learn the new browser's foibles but in reality Firefox works very nice, too. I believe you can accomplish the same thing with Google Chrome but I refuse to use that because of the way that Google tries to slip that into your computer when you aren't looking. I want to install programs on my computer that I want not because somebody forces it on me.
Give it a try and enjoy. It works great. And enjoy the build. It's a lot of fun. (You call yourself Tractorjunkie, well, I've got a 1939 John Deere "B" that I'm reassembling after a major restoration. That's a lot of fun, too.)

Len

 

[tractorjunkie]

Thank you for the help! I will try this immediately! I had Firefox at one time on my other laptop. Looks like I need to add it to this one. Yes I'm working on the reference plate and mounting the frame to it. This build is very helpful to a novice like myself and the pics were really informative. As to the moniker, yes I love old tractors. I have a '44 Farmall H, a 1959 AC D17, my old standby JD 4010. use to have a 1944(?) Model B that I've kicked myself for selling many times. I'm on the lookout for a Famall F20 and/or a JD model R. Yep the name fits.

 

[tractorjunkie]

Well I tried firefox no luck. still no images. Thanks anyway

 

[Cogsy]

Well I tried firefox no luck. still no images. Thanks anyway

Did you install the 'fix' though? The browser on it's own won't help.

 

[lkrestorer]

Well I tried firefox no luck. still no images. Thanks anyway

I was surprised by your answer so I tried it on another computer that I own that didn't have Firefox on it. I loaded the newest version of Firefox and got that up and running first. Then I went to the second link that was in my first message and followed the directions to load the add-on.
At this point I had to close and reload Firefox to get the add-on to work. There was nothing else that I had to do. When I first went to HMEM it still showed the Photobucket "no picture" screens but after a couple of seconds all of the pictures showed up.
I don't know what went wrong (that's probably the most common comment made about anything computer!) but try it again. I was very disappointed when I at first couldn't see the pictures and the "fixes" on this forum were not very clear so I kept looking. It's working fine on my computer now. (You're not running an Apple, are you? If you are then all bets are off.)
Good luck, The pictures add a lot to these posts. They have been helping me a lot because it is my first "from castings" build.