Snow Tandem Engine

[joe d]

Dean

Alles klar! Thanks for that, your CoC is neater than mine usually turn out. It was the placement of the steel plate that had me confused (not that that is necessarily difficult to do).

I'll let you know how I get on with it.

Joe

 

[Rustkolector]

Joe,
Many Snow builders had trouble with the .060" radial thickness on the rings shown in the plans. The rings were too stiff and would often break in installation. If you use the ring dimensional data created by the Trimble method, you can't go wrong. That data recommends a radial thickness of about .042" -.044". This produces a ring that can be installed and removed many times without fear of breakage. I use a modified Trimble ring fixture for heat treating rings and have always had good results. It uses a round pin for a ring separator, and according to Trimble produces a more round finished ring than using a flat separator. My modification eliminates the fixture cover. Instead, I spread and stack all the rings on the fixture, clamp the rings with the fixture top, then coat the rings with thick (pasty) white silver brazing flux for anti scale protection. I put the ring fixture on a fire brick with another fire brick standing upright immediatelly behind the fixture. I slowly heat to dull red using two hand held propane torches. I keep both torches moving all the time. At the dull red temp of about 1050F, the flux becomes your temperature indicator and turns clear. Hold for a 3-5 minutes. Cover with suitable insulation and let cool slowly. When cool, brush under hot water to remove flux. Rings will be a light gray color, but should have no scale or pitting. This method works very well for me and produces excellent, round, flat piston rings.

Jeff

 

[joe d]

Well, been a while... caught one of the many bugs going around, and have been bloody miserable for most of the last couple of weeks. Actually stayed home from work one day (I HATE wasting a day off work being ill.) Anyhow, went in the shop every day, and most days came right back out again, realizing that running machinery was not going to end well. Slowly starting to get back to normal, so have slowly started to make some progress

Got the honking big chunk of flat ali squared up and drilled here and there for the base plate

Then started on the coolant return manifold, turned the "funnels" that go on the top of the vertical pipes

soft soldered in place

and then soft soldered them on to a longish bit of pipe that runs back to the coolant tank that isn't built yet

Lots to do still, but it's getting there!

Cheers, Joe

 

[Deanofid]

Sure is looking good, Joe. Glad you got some shop time.
The assembly shot shows the valve gear and other parts to the right of the engine.. you sure have made a lot of parts for this! Great stuff!

Dean

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Glad you're coming back up to speed.
Looks great!

 

[4156df]

Joe,
It's definitely looking like an engine, and a fine one at that. Glad you're back at it.
Dennis

 

[ksouers]

Looks really nice put together, Joe.

What are the funnels for?

 

[joe d]

Thanks, guys.

Dean: once it's done, I'm going to figure out just how many pieces there are!

Kevin: the coolant is pumped into the cylinder assemblies from the bottom, and exits from the top of the assemblies (you can see the "exit" holes on the top of the assemblies, just to the inside of the valve cages, with a pair of 2-56 tapped holes to hold flanges) there will be flanged pipes with two bends that will end just above the funnels so that the coolant will (hopefully) squirt right down into them! I presume that on the original, this was to permit a degree of cooling of the now hot fluid. You'll see 'em pretty soon...

Jeff: apologies for not acknowledging your reply. Having already turned the rings to plan dimensions, I've stuck with them that way for now. If future breakages require new ones, I'll turn some new pistons and go with your advice!

Cheers all, Joe

 

[Maryak]

Joe,

I'm late as usual but beautiful work, will be a real stunner when it's finished. :bow:

Best Regards
Bob

 

[joe d]

Cheers, Bob. Thanks for the moral support!

Joe

 

[joe d]

Wow...

over a month since there's been anything of note to add here...this is not good. Been side-tracked with some major cleaning up, first the furnace room, this led to cleaning my office/library, which somehow ended up with cleaning the shop. Note to anyone considering cleaning their shop: DON'T! It's really sad to see all that extra floor-space with no machines on it...

Had a few little jobs to do with the woodworking equipment, so went ahead and did the wooden base for the engine while set up for the brown stuff

Here's a nice bit of cherry after getting some edge treatment on the router table (a keen observer will have noted that this table, with a sacrificial melamine top, is usually home to my Taig lathe)

Some inletting on the underside for a TIM6 ignition module, some wiring, and a battery pack stuck in where it's meant to go to check for fit

And here it is with the engine parts sitting on it

Now just have to get some sort of finish on it, probably polyurethane as I have lots of it on hand, and it's fairly durable.

Cheers, Joe

 

[hopeless]

trashX? Nah we export that to Canada and Pommyland and drink Toohey's Old Black 'ere.

And a nice drop it is too, But I do prefer the coopers version.....its aussie owned still ;D
Pete

 

[zeeprogrammer]

That's a sharp looking display Joe. Very nice.

 

[arnoldb]

Joe, that looks lovely! I like the way you've chosen to hide away the electrics as well :bow:

Regards, Arnold

 

[b.lindsey]

That's a beautiful piece of cherry joe. Not to mention the engine sitting on it Nice work!!

Bill

 

[Deanofid]

Joe, that electrics pocket is a nice, neat job. I hate to see a good man have to turn to the tree
to get something done, but it sure looks great when he knows what he's doing. It's going to
make a really nice display! Your beautiful engine looks right at home on it.

Dean

 

[bearcar1]

I dunno Joe, poly'? A better choice would be Linseed or Danish Oil don't you think? It would be a bit more work but in the end that deep hand rubbed finish would compliment that fine engine a treat. Thm:

BC1
Jim

 

[joe d]

Hi guys

Pete: you really went way back to find that one... can't hide a beer from an Aussie ;D

Zeep and Arnold and Bill: Thanks

Dean: Been a wood-worker much much longer than I've been a learner machinist, so it's almost cheating :big:

Jim: Just figures that somebody would catch me trying to be lazy...Oil would and will (and now that I've been caught out) be a better finish. Got lots of linseed oil on hand, but the danged stuff takes years to really dry. I've been building a little table out of some more of the same cherry tree, and have been figuring on mixing up a batch of French Polish for it.. might well use some on the engine base too, but will do some research first as to it's sensitivity to oil, coolant, and fuel.

Cheers all, Joe

 

[kustomkb]

Looking good Joe!

can't wait to see her run.

 

[Cedge]

Joe...
Try Tung oil. I've used it for years for refinishing gun stocks and it is a hard, very durable, fast drying finish that also happens to be self leveling.... ie. no brush marks. It's not picky about how it's applied. I've even rubbed it on with my finger and gotten a nice finish. Much more user friendly than linseed oil.

Steve