Straight 8

[deere_x475guy]

Not much to report right now but i did manage to get the cylinder liners finished and ready to be pressed in. I had been using my milling machine as a makeshift press but now that i have the Bridgeport that's just not going to happen. So now i'm on the hunt for a semi good sized arbor press to do these types of things. Until then I will move on to something else but I don't know what.

??????????????

Sounds like you to take a road trip...we can do it in my shop real quick...

 

[stevehuckss396]

Sounds like you to take a road trip...we can do it in my shop real quick...

Thanks Bob but I think i'm gonig to buy a new one after work today. I was hoping to score something from craigs list or Ebay. There has been nothing on Craigslist and all ebay has is junk chinese.

 

[cobra428]

Hi Steve,
Engine is "looking good"!

I bought a small arbor from HF for $29.00 a while a go. Never used it. It's to heavy to pick up, so I use my drill press for light pushes. I just saw the price went up on them. That's like my horiz band saw. Got it at 79 now 250.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3552

Tony

 

[stevehuckss396]

Hi Steve,
Engine is "looking good"!

I bought a small arbor from HF for $29.00 a while a go. Never used it. It's to heavy to pick up, so I use my drill press for light pushes. I just saw the price went up on them. That's like my horiz band saw. Got it at 79 now 250.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3552

Tony

No offense but i have never had any luck with any of the cheap chinese products. I would perfer to pay 3 times more and use it for the rest of my life.Every HF or the like product i buy is usually in the trash in a year or 2 and never seem to work the way it should. I am going to KBC tool after work and get a good press USA made press and never have to buy another one. Might also keep so poor guy working also!

 

[cobra428]

Might also keep so poor guy working also!

Your absolutely right.

A friend of mine used to say that only a rich man can afford to buy cheap tools. A poor man has to buy good tools so he don't have to keep buying them over and over.

Tony

 

[stevehuckss396]

Your absolutely right.

A friend of mine used to say that only a rich man can afford to buy cheap tools. A poor man has to buy good tools so he don't have to keep buying them over and over.

Tony

There is alot of trth to that. I used to buy cheap stuff and found myself buying more, and how do you feel when you break a 3 dollar tap off in a part you have 7 hours into. I now buy the 12 dollar taps and I dont stand at the bench wishing i didn't have to make another 7 hour part. It just never works out for me so i'll spend the extra cabbage.

 

[cobra428]

Yeah Steve,
Taps, reamers etc I buy good stuff. I just figured how many times will I use the arbor? Once a year....maybe.

Tony

 

[kvom]

In have a 20T shop press, so between that, the vise, and the arbor press I'm set up.

 

[stevehuckss396]

Yeah Steve,
Taps, reamers etc I buy good stuff. I just figured how many times will I use the arbor? Once a year....maybe.
Tony

I went in the back and I checked out what they had in stock. The 30 dollar press was first. It was a piece of crap. The mesh on the gears was so bad that it actually made a kerchunk noise as i moved it down and surged. I paid the money for the good stuff. The casting was much nicer and the movement was smooth as silk.

 

[cobra428]

Congrats on your new toy!

Tony

 

[Twmaster]

What did you end up with Steve? I had one of those cheap arse Chinese arbor presses. Took it back the next day as it was just as awful as you mentioned.

 

[stevehuckss396]

What did you end up with Steve? I had one of those cheap arse Chinese arbor presses. Took it back the next day as it was just as awful as you mentioned.

It is made by Dake in Grand Haven, MI. 1-1/2 ton. I bought it because it is of high quality and it is made in my home state of michigan and this state is struggling real bad right now. Trying to help out the local guy and the local economy. Well that and I really really really like it!!

 

[Twmaster]

Thanks Steve. I'm familiar with Dake. Couple of the local members of our metalworking club have their big hydraulic presses.

After having too many unhappy experiences with Chinese tooling I do my best to not buy inferior stuff. I do own some chinese stuff. I have a nice little 2" screwless vise that is dead nuts square as far as I can tell. Other than that there is little left in my shop from offshore.

 

[stevehuckss396]

Got the block finished up. I used a q-tip and painted the surfaces that make contact with the green loc-tite. Green is a very thin liquid that creeps into very narrow gaps. Then using the new arbor press and a small aluminum ram tool that i made, I rammed the liners in. I broke the lower edges of the liner steps with a piece of sand paper so they slid in real nice but it did take a little force.

Over to the mill where i milled the extra .025 off the tops of the liners to bring them down to the deck height.

The bores were finished up in the mill. I like boring in the mill because the sleeves are installed and I dont have to worry about damaging them during the installation. Also the boring head gives me the best chance for a straight bore with minimum taper and the size between all cylinders should be very close because the boring head gets set and all 8 holes are bored. Cant do that on the lathe, well i cant!

With a little debur and a puff of air and she is all ready to be honed. The finish is so nice off the boring bar that very minimum honing will be needed.

 

[cobra428]

NICE!

Tony

 

[chuck foster]

looking good steve Thm:

chuck

 

[arnoldb]

Looking very good indeed Steve !

Regards, Arnold

 

[gbritnell]

Hi Steve, that is one sweet looking block. What do you hone with? I use a brass lap type tool charged with abrasive grit.
George

 

[stevehuckss396]

Hi Steve, that is one sweet looking block. What do you hone with? I use a brass lap type tool charged with abrasive grit.
George

Have not honed it yet. I am thinking i'm not going to. The finish is very nice and shiny. If i hone it the finish will get courser. It is almost a mirror finish now. It is better right now than the peewee was after i lapped it.

 

[Artie]

Steve, firstly let me say that Im watching this build with mucho interest, its fascinating. A job well done.

Honing....... honing is done to purposefully roughen the surface slightly to hold oil while the rings bed in, critical on full sized engines, not sure how important this is on miniatures. And finally to allow the bores to be finished to an exact size, again, critical when the pistons are made to an exact tolerance and the bores are then made to match, we usually do this the other way round in our hobby.

My apologies if this was known, before I chipped in.

Again, loving it.

Artie