Swifty's build of Howell V4

[Swifty]

I'm going to try annealing the brass to see if it stops the fins from bending as I machine them.

Paul.

 

[dsage]

Good idea That will probably help. Keep some cutting fluid on it too so the (now soft) brass doesn't stick to your tool. You'll need to clean it with solvent - like brake clean - after if you follow the advice below.
Good luck.


Before I forget. When it comes to soldering the rad together get yourself some solder paste that they use for soldering surface mount chips. Its a bit expensive but does an amazing job.
It's un-believable how nice that stuff makes the job dead easy. Clean everything really well. Put the paste in and on all the joints liberally but make a nice neat job of it. This is the nice thing about using the paste. You can work while it's cold and get all the joints nice and neat with just enough solder exactly where you need it. Wiping it off where you don't. A lot of the joints are not accessible using regular solder.
Then the most important part - I think Gerry mentioned it somewhere or the guys at Sherline thought it up - mount the whole rad on an aluminum plate and clamp it to the plate with everything just so. Heat the whole aluminum plate (not so much the rad itself). Put a small dot of the paste on the rad about as far away from the heat as possible and heat the whole thing until that spot of solder melts. I used a couple of torches to get the whole plate and rad heated evenly. All of a sudden the solder paste will melt and flow and - voila- your done. You can keep some thin 60/40 rosin core electronics solder nearby for any place that seems like it may be deficient in solder. When it's all done you can barely see the joints as the solder flows into the joints.
That's how I did it. Perfect first time.
I know someone who has a plating business. He plated the top tank in chrome and the fins in something he calls antique brass - a sort of brown color for the fins. But that isn't necessary. All chrome would be cool though.


Sage



Sage

 

[mayhugh1]

There's lots of brass alloys and some are more easily machined than others. I use 360 brass for general purpose non-bearing parts and it machines beautifully. I made the radiator (and nearly all the rest of the brass parts) for my Howell V-4 out of 360 and had absolutely no problems with the fins. I've also turned washers as thin as .008" (I think) from it with no problems or special tools. It's available at most metal suppliers in rounds, hexes, and squares. Even Enco sells it which is where I purchased while they had a 30% discount and free shipping promotion going on.
http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INPDFF?PMPAGE=839&PARTPG=INLMK32

- Terry

By the way, annealing might the wrong direction to go. You might want it harder instead of softer.

 

[Swifty]

Looks like I will have to do a test piece again to see how it behaves. The first test piece moved a lot when machining, it was some unknown grade of 1/2" square brass from a scrap merchant.

Paul.

 

[ELM6061]

As always Paul, informative from front to end, backed up with quality workmanship, always a pleasure to follow one of your builds.
Best news of all was your operation and to here you are doing so well, couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Say hi to Barbs and hope her knee is doing well.
Ed

 

[Swifty]

I've decided that it's about time I got back to work on the V4 after having my kidney transplant. I have been taking the opportunity lately to catch up on a few small jobs at home, some of them even involving machining. My next step is to finish the radiator, to do a good job of the fins I really need to fit a readout to my lathe, it's on the "to do" list but I haven't ordered one yet, in the mean time I have followed a few others and made a clamp set up so I can fit a digital vernier on the saddle.



The temperature yesterday was 40C, too hot to work, but today its only 19C, a much better temperature to get to work and try out the latest modification.

Paul.

 

[bmac2]

Hi Paul
I’m glad to hear you and your wife on the mend. We’re having a bit of a hot spell here too. Might not sound like much but it hit +1 today and for Alberta in mid-January I’ll take.Thm:
One of the reasons I chose this caliper for hacking up was that it eats button batteries for breakfast. Digging around on the internet I found that with some of the Chinese calipers when you turn them off all that shuts down is the display. With this one the difference between on and off was around 5 milliamps so if I forgot to remove the battery it would be dead in under a week. This past weekend’s mod was to add a small on/off switch and a AAA battery holder.
I’m looking forward to following along with the radiator.

 

[Swifty]

Hi Bob, I have no problems with the battery in my caliper, each battery seems to last for ages. A quick spreadsheet and I had all the positions for the grooves, however on the second fin, I broke the tool. So it's back to making a new one tomorrow.

Paul.

 

[Swifty]

After grinding up a new grooving tool, a lot of trial and error on test pieces and setting up the tool spot on with an indicator in all planes, I finally figured out the best approach. For some reason, if I put the grooves in from the tail stock end towards the chuck, the fins bent over, so the approach was to start off at the chuck end and work towards the tail stock. It took about 40 minutes for the first one, only 7 more to go. It's just as well that I bought 3 metres of brass bar to allow for plenty of trials.



Paul.

 

[Roboguy]

Looking great Paul. I am loving following this build. Good to see you making progress again.

Cheers,
James

 

[gus]

Great to know you back in the machineshop. (My V-2 Oil pump won't auto prime and put,have to re-do). After the fishing trip,I have too many lazy bones to remove.Ha Ha.)

 

[gus]

Hi Paul
I’m glad to hear you and your wife on the mend. We’re having a bit of a hot spell here too. Might not sound like much but it hit +1 today and for Alberta in mid-January I’ll take.Thm:
One of the reasons I chose this caliper for hacking up was that it eats button batteries for breakfast. Digging around on the internet I found that with some of the Chinese calipers when you turn them off all that shuts down is the display. With this one the difference between on and off was around 5 milliamps so if I forgot to remove the battery it would be dead in under a week. This past weekend’s mod was to add a small on/off switch and a AAA battery holder.
I’m looking forward to following along with the radiator.

Its true some M.I.C. Callipers eat batteries. In the early 90s when MIC Calipers first appear in the Singapore Market,nobody would buy them as after a while the display became Christmas Tree Lights. Batteries on Mitutoyo will last a very long time. However its S$25 v/s S$180. The replacement MIC Calipers bought lately did last. When you drop Caliper the inside prongs get damaged.Replacement is not painful. Normally I would drag aside the sales assistant and ask for his honest advice. His best advice would be avoid the cheaper caliber. Ha Ha.

 

[Swifty]

Been working on and off on the radiator cores the last few days, and now have all 8 finished and also drilled through the centre. My desktop computer is playing up at the moment, so it's away being looked at, so can't post progress photo's. It's too hard trying to attach photo's from photo bucket using my iPad.

Paul.

 

[bmac2]

Excellent can’t wait to see them.Thm:

 

[geo]

Paul your thread regarding dp cutters I realise I'm a bit out of date but millers tooling in Brisbane have purchased all of an old supplier in melbournes gear and spline cutters .i purchased my 48 cutters from millers tooling a year or so back wasn't cheap but good gear came from same supplier
His name was kyp vatis

 

[Swifty]

I've been very busy lately and haven't had much of a chance to work on the engine. In the last update, I was machining all the cooling fins for the radiator, here is a photo of a rough assembly prior to setup for soldering. A few days later I tackled the job of soldering it all together, I decided to use a paste lead type solder that I bought from an electronics shop. I cleaned all the joints and applied a bit of flux followed with a light application of paste solder. The solder comes in a 15 gram syringe, at the time I thought that it was fairly dear to buy, but you don't need much, so the cost is worth it. I clamped it together lightly and applied gentle heat to the joints, I was very surprised at how great it worked. It flows well with hardly any clean up after.



Paul.

 

[gbritnell]

Great looking radiator. I have built one of Jerry's style rads and it works well.
Gbritnell

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Paul--that radiator is GORGEOUS, what a great job!!!---Brian

 

[michael-au]

Nice job on the radiator Paul
Looks fantastic

Michael

 

[ELM6061]

Gday Paul, mate that radiator look magnificent. Hope all is going well with your self and hi to the better half, hope the leg has healed up ok.