Recent content by Bill Lawson

Any feelings about epoxy? I really don't like the temp of brazing. I would like to machine to finish and epoxy together. Bill

Hello again, the Snow cylinder is moving along. Lots of chips, one brain f--t. I wonder if I could epoxy the cylinder liner to the cylinder case with good results instead of silver braze that the print calls for? Thanks for any help. Bill

oldengineguy: Thanks for your response. I will adjust my drawings to 1 1/8 bore. Could you advise me of any pitfalls that I may encounter making my build. Bill

I am looking to build the Snow. A tandem double-acting engine. I am a parts maker with several builds (none running). I like making parts. The Snow plans use a 1 1/16" dia. bore. Does anyone have any insight as to using a 1.00" bore and pistons? Commercial rings are available that make my task...

Your craftmanship is outstanding. Some pictures of your setups would be appreciated.

Brian, what is your next project? Have you considered an opposed single cylinder dual piston engine similar to a Fairbanks Morse marine engine? Thanks Bill.

SmithDoor is correct. My preference, after the spot or c’drill is to use a drill that is about the diameter of the web thickness of the larger drill 1/2” and larger, then bore to establish center line and ream to size.

Back to water, I had to use filtered and deionized water in an industrial application to avoid contamination. I believe that we could have used distilled water. When I will need water for steam applications I will use distilled water. Most grocery stores sell distilled water for about a dollar...

I have seen white (not the manufacture) fire trucks. Also, I recall seeing chartreuse emergency vehicles.

Don’t practice on your finish part, use samples and practice until you are comfortable. You won’t be sorry and the final product will be beautiful. Bill

I made 4 or 5 valves and failed. I finally decided that .094 thou diameter was too long without deflecting and bending. My solution was to center drill the end and use a live center. I think that I left the shaft on the long side to allow clearance for the tool space between the tool and center...

Brian, I seen to have the same problem locating misplaced things. I never realized that I was forgetful. Bill

Back in the day, we had to use the green sc wheels to form our tool and finish on the expensive diamond wheels. The green wheels broke down very fast and helped to carry off the heat from grinding the carbide.

A deep hole is more than 6 diameters. A 1/2” drill drilling 3” deep. Many of us have exceeded this rule without bad results. A gundrill is designed for deep straight holes. It has1 cutting edge, 1 flute along its length, and 2 wear pads. Extreme cutting fluid pressure fed thru the drill break...

Jet 918 is a nice lathe for the price. Drawbacks no quick change gearbox, but it chases a nice thread with the supplied gears. Also, there is no power cross feed even though their literature states that the cross feed rates are the same as longitudinal.