Edwards Radial 5 Build

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LADmachining

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Happy New Year everyone!

Following a request from another member, I have uploaded some photos of my Edwards 5 cylinder radial engine that has been an on-going project for a few years now.

Construction commenced in March 2004. Here is the starting point....

Materials1.jpg


This was about £60 ($120 at the time) worth of material. I expect the material cost would have doubled in recent years.. :eek:

I didn't proceed with the project in any particular order - just completed what I had the tooling for, and what would fit on the machines I had at the time.

LinkRods16.jpg


4 x link rods completed.

MasterRod28.jpg


Cutting the recess in the master rod. This pushed my Sherline mill to the limit for available space. The roatry table is mounted horizontally on the table, whilst the spindle is rotated through 90 degrees and is parallel to the table surface. Even with a long series end-mill, it was only just long enough, and had to be used with the minimum of the plain shank in the collet. I was glas when this part was finished!

OilPump9.jpg


MK1 version of the oil pump. After building it, I found some errors in the plans, which meant that the passages in the main body of the pump did not line up with the plunger. Bob Seigler corrected the drawings after I sent him an email querying the problem, and a new pump body was made.

Piston18.jpg


Piston blanks, awaiting milling of the conrod clearance slot in the underside, and drilling/reaming of the gudgeon pin hole.

IntManf24.jpg


Facing off the mounting face of the inlet manifold block, after completion of milling operations.

RockerArm1.jpg


Here is an action shot of a process that probably had the longest set-up time of all - about 3 months! I could not work out a simple way of cutting the complicated shape of the rocker arms with the equipment I had, so I set about converting my SHerline mill to CNC. That should do it.... ;D First part of the process is to cut out a rocker blank from a piece of 1/4" ali plate to the side profile shown in the drawings. This blank is then mounted in the milling vice, and the profiling work continues, forming the rounded ends of the rocker.

RockerArm3.jpg


A before and after shot, showing the first stage blank in the background. Still a little more work to do before the part is completed - drilling/tapping for tappet adjuster and rocker tip thrust pad.

Sump6.jpg


Oil sump completed - pretty self-explanatory! :)

Crankcase1.jpg


By this time, I had moved to a new house and had a much bigger workshop - this meant bigge rmachines! Here is the blank for the crankcase about to undergo machining.

Crankcase10.jpg


Faced to length, then internal recess bored. Just completed boring for main bearing. Face of the case and bearing recess were turned at the same setting, so can be relied on being in exact alignment - this allows use of the face for future setups, knowing it will allow any subsequent machinging to be in line with the crankshaft/main bearings.

Crankcase15.jpg


The case was removed from the chuck, and a piece of scrap bar turned to be a good fit in the main bearing recess turned above. The case was then mounted on this mandrel. Here, the gearcase end of the case is being turned so that the crankcase ends up the correct width, then the gearcase mounting recess is formed. I just worked to the plan dimensions, the gearcase ID will be turned to a good fit on this step.

Crankcase25.jpg


Having completed all lathe operations, the part is moved to the mill, where it is clamped to the table and centred under the spindle. Various holes are then drilled and tapped by co-ordinate drilling.

Crankcase41.jpg


Case now mounted on the rotary table (also converted to CNC) for milling of the cylinder mounting flats.

More to follow soon. In the meantime, here is a link to the Photobucket album where there are quite a few more photos.

http://s488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/LADmachining/Edwards%20Radial%205%20Work%20In%20Progress/

Regards,

Anthony
 
Anthony, very impressive stuff. That sherline is coping well. It was my first milling machine. Wish I had kept it - was very accurate, but at the time it had to give way for a larger one.

Nick
 
Very nice Anthony.
Great way to start the New Year with a long term Work In Progress.
Nice set of photos on your Photo Bucket site. Nice to see both the progress of the engine as well as the progress on your shop equipment.
Gail in NM
 
Awesome stuff. I really like seeing the unusual ways some machines are put to work...like that Sherline mill of yours. :bow:
 
Anthony;
Thanks for taking the time to post the build. Much appreciated by someone who "hasn't been there, hasn't done that..."
Cheers
Garry
 
Thanks for the kind words everyone. Here are some more photos...

Cylinder Heads

These parts involve probably the longest total build time of all the parts on the engine. A fixture was used which allowed any set-ups to be re-used for all of the heads in turn. This worked out well...

Firstly, the fixture was made from an offcut of 1/4" ali plate. It was mounted on the lathe and a spigot formed which was a good fit on the circular recess that will be formed on the underside of each head. The holes for the head securing screws were laid out by co-ordinate drilling, then tapped. Finally, the edges of the plate were squared with an end mill to provide to reference faces relative to the mounting holes. Two pins were made which were a good fit in the cylinder head screw holes, they were threaded one end to screw into the fixture plate, then cut a slot in the other end so they could be tightened with a screwdriver.

CylinderHeadFixture1.jpg


Another view of the fixture plate can be seen later....

CylinderHead3.jpg


Turning of the heads proper can now begin. Each blank was faced off, then the head recess formed by opening out with progressively bigger end mills. The top slide is swivelled round and a short boring bar is used to cut the angled face of the coombustion chamber. The cylindrical recess in which the cylinder liner seats is then cut to be a good fit on the head fixture spigot. Each had to be given this treatment in turn, which was a bit long winded with all the tool changes.

CylinderHead4.jpg


Cutting the combustion chamber.

CylinderHead5.jpg


Once the head mounting holes are drilled and counterbored, a holding fixture is made to enable the top of the head to be faced to bring the blank to the correct thickness.

CylinderHead10.jpg


The blank heads are now mounted on an angle plate, using the fixture plate made earlier.

CylinderHead12.jpg


Angled cuts are taken to form the recess for the rocker arm bracket.

CylinderHead15.jpg


A 1/4" end mill, and a quick bit of g-code, cuts a .500" counterbore in each head by CNC. The largest end-mill the Sherline can use is 10mm (.400" approx) - although I have since made a 1/2" end mill holder.

CylinderHead23.jpg


Mounting faces for the intake and exhaust manifolds are cut.

CylinderHead25.jpg


Transferring the fixture back to an angle plate, we are now set-up for the most time consuming task of making the heads - cutting the fins! Each fin takes about 7 passes - 6 cuts of .5mm, then a final pass of .35mm to give a total depth of 1/4" (as you can tell, I am quite happy working in both units, even though I was only ever taught metric at school).

CylinderHead30.jpg


And this is about 45 minutes later..... About 1hr 10m to cut each head.

CylinderHead28.jpg


Here are some before and after shots.

DSCF0003.jpg


Five completed heads - a sixth was made as a spare in case of 'accidents'.

DSCF0002.jpg


This was the state of the mill after the operations were completed. The bare fixture plate can be seen on the angle plate.

That's all for now - but more will follow...! ;D

Anthony










 
I thought I was the only one to include chips in my pictures LOL Looking good!!! Where did you get the plans?

 
The plans can be downloaded FOC when you join the Yahoo group "R&R Engines" (radial and round).

The designer, Forrest Edwards, gave permission for his plans to be CADed and distributed freely. The CAD work was done by Robert Seigler - might be worth approaching him to see if the plans could be uploaded on this site??

Anthony
 
HI Anthony,
WOW!!!!!!!! nice do so far :bow: :bow: since I have been away from this sort of thing for 30 nyrs or so I was a bit confused in a few sheets of the drawings the first is how to lay out the final shape of the crankcase , I notice your heads must take a seaprate valve guide my drwgs show an extension above the head w/no separation making it to look like it was machined as one piece. there are afew other areas that seemingly do not have all the dims. or maybe I have forgotten how to interpret them ??? ::) :big:. I notice also quite a few holes in the crankcase flats that have no explanation dim or otherwise well gotta go study these some more thanx again smitty
 
Anthony,

I joined that R_and_R_engines group tonight to get a look at those plans.
I am a registered member of just about every Yahoo Group concerned with
model engine machining and didn't really need another distraction, but that
IS a great group. Thanks for pointing it out!

After looking over those prints I have to say that project is well beyond my
personal home hobby skills. Seeing your progress to date, I am just as sure that
it is well within your skills. It has just made me more anxious to follow this thread
as it progresses. Please keep us updated as you go!

Beautiful documentation of the build.
Thanks for taking us along with it.

Rick
 
Anthony,
Thanks for posting your work. It looks awesome! While above my skill level currently you make it seem like it is attainable eventually.

Looking forward to more when you have time,

Sean
 
Great work Antony :bow: :bow:

realy enjoyed following your build story board.

Thanks for showing

Stew
 
I also signed up on the group and looked at the plans. Having just made the little 5-cylinder air-operated radial, I can understand most of what this is about. I might consider this for a build in the future once my skill level improves. Please continue to post your progress.
 
Hi kvom,

I have followed the build of your Liney Halo engine - I think the skill level on that would be about the same as the Edwards, if not higher, due to the small size of the parts involved.

The only 'extras' on this engine compared to yours, which can up the required skill level, are the fits for the ball bearings in the crankcase and on the crankshaft, boring and fitting the gears, and producing piston rings.

I feel my skill level has increased *by* tackling the project. It hasn't been easy, by any means, but I have learnt and put to use a whole new set of skills. Coming up with some of the set-ups certainly got the grey matter working - looking back through the photos I have, I think it may have been mis-firing at some points! Some set-ups look decidedly dubious...

Anthony
 
Hi Lad, I am really looking forward to following your build. I have had the plans for this project since 2007 and have the cam almost done...!!!

Oh and I still haven't finished the webster...although it is much closer to completion...:)

 
Wow, that is really nice work. More work in those heads than most of my engines!

Nick
 
Hi kvom,

I have followed the build of your Liney Halo engine - I think the skill level on that would be about the same as the Edwards, if not higher, due to the small size of the parts involved.

The only 'extras' on this engine compared to yours, which can up the required skill level, are the fits for the ball bearings in the crankcase and on the crankshaft, boring and fitting the gears, and producing piston rings.

I feel my skill level has increased *by* tackling the project. It hasn't been easy, by any means, but I have learnt and put to use a whole new set of skills. Coming up with some of the set-ups certainly got the grey matter working - looking back through the photos I have, I think it may have been mis-firing at some points! Some set-ups look decidedly dubious...

Anthony

Co did you ever finish this engine?
Would like to see the finished engine...
I am gathering parts to build one and may buy the Harbor Freight 2 speed mini mil as it's on sale right now...
Steve
 
Anthony --

I've been reading this and other threads with great interest since I'm just starting on an Edwards radial 5 of my own. Your work on your project looked first-rate, and I'm most curious to learn if you took it all the way. I'm especially interested in how you might have solved the challenge of grinding the cams -- I don't have any cnc gear and am wondering if I may have to remedy that. Anyway, I'd love hear what you're working on now. I really enjoyed your posts on this thread so far...


Best,


Michael
 
Hi Michael and all Forest Edwards Radial enthusiasts.
I have been poking around this site for a long time and have bitten the bullet and joined.
I have been building an Edwards radial for about two years and have completed most major parts except the heads. They are next.
The cam was not the hassle I thought it would be and I would be happy to communicate with you on this (and anything else) Michael.
Once I become more familiar with the site I could add some photos if anyone is interested. (most components and machining operation have been photographed)

Cheers all - Brian in South Australia:fan:
 
Welcome Brian. By all means post photos. We are photo junkies here.:D:D

I am very interested in how you did the cam as I plan on making this engine also.


Ron
 

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