Redwing #1009

[AlbertdeWitte]

Hi Guys

Yesterday I had some spare time. I made the push-rod, keeper bracket, bearing rod and push rod plate. I decided to use a bearing instead of the conventional cam follower as suggested on the plan.

 

[AlbertdeWitte]

Hi Guys

Yesterday I had few hours to spare and I made the muffler. It was not easy clamping the outer side in the lathe so I used a piece of brass bushing left over to hold it in position.

 

[a41capt]

It's looking better day-by-day Albert! You do some mighty fine work. I wish mine was as nice!

I'm having a bit of trouble getting my first LTD Stirling to run after any hours of build time. They're so finicky, and the quality of my work doesn't even come close to yours!

I hope you will post a video of it running when it's complete.

 

[AlbertdeWitte]

It's looking better day-by-day Albert! You do some mighty fine work. I wish mine was as nice!

I'm having a bit of trouble getting my first LTD Stirling to run after any hours of build time. They're so finicky, and the quality of my work doesn't even come close to yours!

I hope you will post a video of it running when it's complete.

Thank you very much. I do criticize my own work a lot though. Should I built another Red Wing I would have done it better. I must submit that I learnt a lot sofar from this project and I do enjoy building it. A friend of mine is into the Stirling engines and has already built a few from scratch. He also had some problems but seems to have overcome them

I will surely make a video of the engine running....one of my worries to get it running still haunts me LOL

I am now onto all the parts of the governor, more challenges!!

 

[AlbertdeWitte]

Hi All

Yesterday I was in the mood for some plumbing so I made the elbow and connected the rest... and of course another look what it would look like photo.

 

[AlbertdeWitte]

Guys!!

I have over 10,000 visits here, Thanks a lot!!

 

[a41capt]

Guys!!

I have over 10,000 visits here, Thanks a lot!!

It's an excellent project and you do really nice work Albert. Why wouldn't we want to keep tabs on this?

Keep it up, I look forward to each new entry!

John W
Camp Verde, AZ. USA

 

[DanLins]

Nice work on this Albert! I'm curious to know if the milling machine could have been used on the bore instead of how you did it on your lathe.

Also, what did you use to hone the bore?

Thanks,

Dan Linscheid

 

[10K Pete]

I've read every post, Albert, and with great interest. That type of engine is on my
list to do someday.

Pete

 

[AlbertdeWitte]

It's an excellent project and you do really nice work Albert. Why wouldn't we want to keep tabs on this?

Keep it up, I look forward to each new entry!

John W
Camp Verde, AZ. USA

Hi John

Thanks a lot!!

 

[AlbertdeWitte]

Nice work on this Albert! I'm curious to know if the milling machine could have been used on the bore instead of how you did it on your lathe.

Also, what did you use to hone the bore?

Thanks,

Dan Linscheid

Hi Dan

Thanks for the question. I certainly looked at the option to use the milling machine instead of the lathe, however my milling machine is just too small and does not have an auto feed on the z axis. The auto feed is critical to get the tolerances correct as suggested by the plans including a smooth result of the bore. Furthermore the little instruction booklet that comes with the engine also suggest to do it in the lathe. It was a major issue to align it in the lathe though and to make sure its clamped properly. Well it work well for me. The plan suggests a bore of 1.480 and then to be honed to 1.500. I made a mandrill to 1.500 exactly and started honing with a normal 1.25 - 2" honing tool rigged in my cordless Bosch drill until I had a "slip fit" from the mandrill all the way through. I used normal paraffin for the process which took about 2 hours to complete. I looked now through my photo collection and must submit that I did not take photos of the honing process. Only the completed work. Hope this clarifies it better.

Albert

 

[AlbertdeWitte]

I've read every post, Albert, and with great interest. That type of engine is on my
list to do someday.

Pete

Thanks again Pete!!

Take it on and build it man, its most satisfying and challenging all the way

Regards

Albert

 

[AlbertdeWitte]

Hi there John!!

Thank you so much for the compliment, not just a compliment but what I consider a very inspiring commend.

I am currently working on the gear pin and realized I dont have the 5/16 x 24tpi die nut. On inquiry I could have one supplied at around 50usd and had to wait a week for it. I then decided to cut the thread with the lathe. Then I had another disappointment. The gear setup on the lathe requires a 70 teeth gear and that specific one is not amongst the set of gear. I have ordered that also which will take 2 weeks to arrive. In my anxiety to move forward with the part I came across a set of dies and taps on eBay for 40usd which will also arrive in about 2 weeks. This means I am going to put this part aside to complete later. What is really difficult for me is to build engines in imperial as where South Africa is Metric. One can just not find the right tools here. Eg reaming with a 5/16 reamer is required a lot on this engine where I have to use a boring bar all the time to reach the correct hole size.

I started lest night on the bush for the gear on the same gear pin and did the boring bar thing again as per above. As I was about to polish the bush and part it our electricity went off again.

I will post few photos later.

Thanks again!

Yesterday I got my order including the 5/16 24 die I was referring to above so I finished gear pin and it was nice checking the fit and how it clamps the cam lever into any required setting.

 

[AlbertdeWitte]

Guys

I also completed the collar that controls the latch out bar and governor weights. It is a pure pleasure to use cold rolled steel on some of the parts as provided by PMR. I so wished I could get some steel locally. Its easy to cut and parts like a dream. Once again the DRO made quick work of a precision part.

 

[AlbertdeWitte]

Hi All

yesterday I was on to the next part which is the governor bracket. Looking at this little part for some time on the plan seemed simple to make but I ran again into all sorts of challenges. I used the same arbor I used before on the cam to clamp it in the lathe. I machined the one side and flipped it on the other side to machine. When I was almost done I realized I removed too little material on the inside and I had to repeat the whole process again. Once that was done I clamped it in the rotary table and zeroed the line up to do the milling of the arms. That went relatively easy and then I flipped the rotary table over 90deg and did the drilling of the holes as per plan. When finished I de burred the edges and tested the fit. I got it right!! Another part of the list (I must count the remaining ones LOL)

The next parts lined up are making the slots in the flywheel and the to machine the weights and latch out arm. Until the next post ENJOY

 

[AlbertdeWitte]

Hi Guys

This weekend I could not spend as much time on the engine as I would have liked to, but I managed to make some progress

I slotted the flywheel, fitted the weight bracket including broaching.

Then I made some more smaller parts like the weight pins, weight studs and the latch out bar pin. They are really small and I had to use magnifying glasses in some places.

Progress at least!

 

[cwelkie]

You've sure got the momentum up Albert. Feels good to check off a part/session for a change doesn't it?
Cheers
Charlie

 

[Barnbikes]

Did the original have a spark plug or a igniter? I have seen models built both ways.

 

[AlbertdeWitte]

Guys

Last night I made the governor weights. I came up with an idea to clamp them in such a way that I was able to flip over the 1-2-3 blocks in any required position for drilling and milling. It certainly worked well for me. I could also not wait to hook them up and see what it looks like. One is a bit on the skew side which I figured out that it was the casting with unmatched edges from the pattern that caused it. I will tweak it a bit.

I am left with push rod brackets and the latch out bar. Then the moment of truth to arrive....striping everything, do all the seals, rings, sealants, gaskets thread locking. I still need to acquire a 6/12 volt battery. Then to mount it on the wood pallets and to see if I can get it running.

Having worked through all of the above and all if well I will strip, clean it and paint. I can still not decide on the color scheme, but I am working on it.

 

[AlbertdeWitte]

You've sure got the momentum up Albert. Feels good to check off a part/session for a change doesn't it?
Cheers
Charlie

Thanks again Charlie!!