Swifty's build of Howell V4

[Brian Rupnow]

Paul--I am still following and enormously impressed with your work. The engine looks great!! I am in "stasis" here, not really ready to build anything more at the moment, but still thinking very seriously of buying a new lathe. We are just finishing up a gorgeous September here, the kind that people write songs about---Warm, dry, a continuation of summer, which seems to happen about once every 30 years in Canada. Cooler, rainier weather is being called for next week. Carry on---I am watching both your post on this engine and Guss's build as well.----Brian

 

[Swifty]

Hi Brian, thanks for following, and thanks to everyone for their comments. Of course, the seasons are reversed down here, we are in spring now with some lovely warm days, then some still a bit cooler. This coming weekend is the start of a few days starting at 25C and leading to 30C, looking forward to it.

Paul.

 

[Swifty]

I decided to make something relatively easy, the flywheel. I had a piece of rusty 3/4"mild steel plate, so my recently acquired 6 x 4 bandsaw came into good use to cut off a piece of the plate just over 3"square.


A centre punch in the middle, then off to the 4 jaw chuck in the lathe. You can see that I used a centre in the tail stock pushing against the block, which was backed up by a couple of parallels, the jaws were tightened in this position.


I don't know what grade of mild steel it is, but it was certainly difficult to machine and get a reasonable finish. Anyway, I managed to machine one half and put a pilot hole in the centre.


Then changed over to the 3 jaw chuck to machine the other side.


Next step was to recess one side, turn a taper in the bore and then recess the other side.


I have a dislike of flywheels that don't run true, so I turned up a short stub taper on a piece of scrap and mounted the flywheel on it to finish the outside true.


A bit of work with some emery helped with the surface finish, the recess will be painted later.




Next I will have to turn the taper collet that the flywheel locks on to.

Paul.

 

[gus]

The taper boring will be fun and matching the taper hub will be very challenging.

 

[Swifty]

The taper boring will be fun and matching the taper hub will be very challenging.

Not a problem Gus, I will post on how it's done. The flywheel is already bored with a taper in the centre.

Paul.

 

[Swifty]

Next I went to work on the collet that will clamp on the crankshaft when the fly wheel is tightened. First off was to set the top slide over at the same angle as the bore in the flywheel. I held the flywheel in the chuck, and after making sure that it ran true, I swung the topslide over at the correct angle and using an indicator, I checked to make sure the angle matched.


Next, I rough turned the outside, drilled the bore and using a boring bar, took the hole out to reaming size. After that, I ran a reamer into the hole, boring the hole first ensured that the ID and OD will be concentric.


A small step on the back and then it was parted off.


Next step was to machine 3 slots not quite through, and a fourth slot all the way through. I decided to make a holder for the collet so that I could utlilise my square 5C collet block to get the slots positioned. I turned a piece of material down so the collet just slid on, next I drilled and tapped an M6 hole, and then used a hacksaw to split the holder. As I tighten the screw, it will tighten up the holder on the collet.


I then set it up in the mill with a slitting saw and cut the slots.


A bit of a deburr and we have one split collet.


Paul.

 

[Swifty]

The next part to make was the cord start pulley, although I don't like my chances of starting it with a cord pull. I also made the crankshaft 10mm longer to allow for a future one way bearing with an electric starter, so in the mean time I made up a 10mm thick washer to take it's place so that I could tighten up the fly wheel.



Paul.

 

[michael-au]

Nice work Paul

 

[Swifty]

The last couple of days I have been working on the fan shroud whenever I had a chance. Started off by cutting a 1 1/8" slice off a thicker piece of aluminium, marking the centre and holding it in my 4 jaw chuck.



I roughed out a lot first, then had to readjust to get it to stick further out in the chuck, then I finished machining one side. I have an idea brewing in the back of my head about how I'm going to hold it to machine the rest, I just hope that it will work. The straight sided part of the shroud has very thin walls, so small cuts with a fine touch will be called for.



Paul.

 

[Swifty]

Some further work on the fan shroud, I ended up holding it in the vice to mill the other side out, I initially thought of clamping it to the mill table, but took the easier way out. There is still material on the outside to mill off, but that will be easy, although the wall thickness will only be .040".





Paul.

 

[Swifty]

Just touching base, I've been in hospital for a few days for a minor operation, now that I'm home I have to take it easy for a few days before I can get back to work on the engine. So hang in there, I'm glad that people are following and I appreciate your comments and feedback.

Paul.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Paul--Best wishes for a speedy recovery.----Brian

 

[michael-au]

Hope you are better soon Paul

 

[Roboguy]

Hi Paul, very best wishes for a quick recovery and a speedy return to your workshop.

I also want to say thanks so much for sharing your builds in such a detailed and engaging manner. I am a complete novice, about to start on my first simple engine build, and I have learnt so much about work holding and other techniques just from this thread.

I have literally just finished reading this complete thread from beginning to end and am just starting on your Lynx build.

Hope to see you posting here again soon.

Cheers
James

 

[Swifty]

Thanks for all your wishes guys, I have mentioned in the past that I am on dialysis every second day, and although very healthy apart from that, there are always things that crop up due to my kidney failure, that requires a stay in hospital. But I'm positive, and eager to get back to the engine, and always in the back of my mind I am thinking about the next project.

James, it's very easy for me to skim through making parts, thinking that it's fairly straight forward machining and everyone knows how it's done, but of course that isn't the case. I must endeavour to show a bit more of the simple things as well, planning the method of approach to a part is half the battle won.

Paul.

 

[gus]

Welcome back. Fishing been good today. Landed to Finger Mark Snappers. 2kg and 1.5 kg.

Take care. Best to have 100% recovery before resume V-4.

 

[dsage]

WOW !!

I just spent all afternoon and this evening reading this whole build log.
Great work Paul ! It brings back memories of all the issues I ran into building the V8 (version of the V4). It's nice to see how you tackled some of the things I too had trouble with.

http://davesage.ca/

I have been following Gus' V2 build but I hadn't caught on to this one. It's fun to see you and Gus back and for the with comments on your build.
I hope things are well with you as I note nothing has been posted for a month.

If I can make a couple of suggestion on your water pump.

1. Coat the magnets with something water proof and durable like a coat of epoxy or at least a thick dab of paint. The super magnets will corrode and decompose if they get wet. Even though they are plated the plating is usually poor.

2. Mount the pump on the engine temporarily and mark, drill and tap a 2-56 or smaller hole at the highest point.
The way the pump is mounted it will get air trapped in it that is VERY hard to remove and it will not pump with the slightest bit of air in it. (Gerry suggests you have to turn the engine rad up (or something) to try to get the air out but then you have the crankcase oil all over the place. The small screw will allow you to let the air out as you fill the rad. Then you tighten it up perhaps with a bit of sealant on the threads. Be careful the screw must be VERY short so it does not contact the impeller.

I think as already mentioned you will need to go back and build up the divider inside your oil pump. !!! Use soft solder not epoxy !!!. You wouldn't want it coming off inside the pump. It should be a quick job. I would also suggest making the pressure gauge adapter suggested by Gerry. I found this gauge to fit exactly to the adapter the way Gerry designed it. You can see it on my engine in my link above.

http://www.pmmodelengines.com/shop/boiler-accessories/miniature-pressure-gauge/

Fantastic work !! Looking forward to the conclusion and to hear it run.

Thanks

Sage

 

[Swifty]

Hi Sage, well it's been 4 weeks since my kidney transplant, which followed shortly after having my parathyroid glands removed. I'm certainly itching to get back to the engine build, although I have to be careful of lifting heavy items. I'm down to hospital visits 3 days per week now, so I have the time to get back and do something, that's when I'm not rushing off and having a pee. My bladder is not use to holding so much and when I stand up the pressure sure builds up.

I recall reading somewhere about the bleed screw in the pump, I will put one in. One thing that's holding me up is the radiator cores, I had planned to put readouts on the lathe longitudinal and cross slide to help with the fin spacing, but that involves moving the lathe away from the wall so I can access the back of it, at the moment that's out due to the transplant, maybe I will just have to mount a digital vernier on the topslide or saddle for the time being.

Paul.

 

[gus]

Hi Paul,

Great to have you back. I got worried. Been having too much distraction and slightly burnt out. Now back on the lathe and work bench putting the gear case and gears together. Pinion shaft and main cam gears meshed but sticky. Will put the cams tomorrow and hopefully the oil pump.

Take care.

 

[dsage]

Holy Smokes Paul:
I didn't know you were going through all that !! I'm glad your back (so soon).
Take your time by all means.
I guess I lucked out on the radiator fins. I used whatever brass my local metal supplier had in square. But is was fairly soft. Someone posted earlier their solution to stopping the fins from bending. Give it a try. Whatever works..
Again, I guess I just lucked out but I just used a regular front cutoff tool the correct width for a single pass. But I do remember making sure it was VERY sharp and with a lot of top rake and stuck it out only enough. Then I just took it slow. I also used a square collett and had it supported with the tail stock with only an inch or so protruding.
I had a DRO but a dial indicator on a magnetic base should be fine to just slip it along. I do remember writing down a series of readings to stop at to avoid the mental math hundreds of times.
An odd thing though. After completing all the fins on all the pieces, quite some time later I thought it might be useful to make a short sample to show people at shows how it is made since they always ask. On that sample the fins bent a bit. Can't explain it.

Glad you're back.

Sage