Elmer's #13 - Open Column Twin with Poppet Valves

With about six months of machining "experience" (See my Engine made on a mill) I went to Cabin Fever and was tremendously impressed with the astounding craftsmanship.

I took out my little engine and then Dave (dreeves) and Scott (Cheepo45), sitting on either side of me started putting engines on the table. Lots of engines. Then Tin Falcon puts up the HMEM banner and more of his engines appear.
Since no one laughed uncontrollably at my little wobbler, I was committed (or should be) to going home and making engines.

The real kick starter was finding ArnoldB's Grasshopper build. So step by step, I followed Arnold's build and a month later finished the Grasshopper. Many things on the drawings which made no sense to a newbie, were made clear by Arnold. After running it in, it can chug along on 2.5-3 psi all day. Thanks Arnold!! I have that one documented and will write up the build log.

Now I've started my engine #3, Elmer's #13. The Open Column Twin with Poppet Valves.
Arnold to the rescue again when I was not understanding how to layout the spiral cams. Hey Arnold, if you come to the States, you've got a dinner and some fine Scottish produce waiting along with the Grand Tour of Philadelphia.

What follows is two days in the shop.

The cams marked out.



The 6061 rod went into a 5C collet and then into the indexer.(Not counting the evening spent milling the base of the Phase II indexer so that I could get it square in the vise. Luckily the front of the base was at 90 degrees to the centerline of the spindle so I had a datum surface to start)

Same setting for the end mill for the first 90 degrees and then moving it out for each half degree, rinse and repeat 32 times.






Move the part in the collet to the lathe and parted two cams off.






On to the base. Milled to size and then face milled both sides.




After milling the opening (lots of coolant made a big difference. The Grasshopper steam chest (version 1) looked like I had chewed it out of the 6061. I am learning every day), I listed X and Y points for the holes , and moved from one to the other using the DRO.



There are 4 relief areas for the crankshaft. I started to get out the Jo blocks to set up the sine vise and then remembered the Harbor Freight angle gauge the I picked up last week when I was driving past HF (didn't need a thing, but can't resist)



The angle specified was 30 degrees and since the little relief areas can't be that critical I went with the angle gauge on the sine vise. Worked perfectly and it might even be 30 degrees.





Calling this part finished.





Next part has 2 - 15/16" holes. Did some layout just as a sanity check but used the DRO for positioning. Have to really stop and think with the Criterion boring head because when it is advanced .001, it really does increase the diameter by .001 unlike my lathe which requires me to remember that advancing by .001 actually increases the bore diameter by .002.




And then drilling 14 holes. Just hitting numbers on the DRO and done.







Looking at the next part, the columns, I thought that I would try to make them a bit different from the plans. Dimensions are the same. After figuring out a good sequence for turning them I tried a prototype.



This is not a recommended result.




This is much more satisfactory once I had the correct sequence of operations.



So end of the weekend, but I should get a few evenings in the shop this week.
Stay tuned and please, If you see me doing something stupid or the wrong way or you have a better method, let me know. Most of what I do is being done for the first time.

Best
Stan

Stan,

Never ever be ashamed of what you have made, everyone has to start somewhere, and not all of us have a masterpiece inside our bodies.

I started 50 odd years ago, just under ten years of age, with the real basics, but I managed to make my first steam engine. Not nice to look at, but it worked.

You are lucky in that you have reasonable machinery to work with, whereas I have had all that time to hone my skills, by what I would call 'the hard way'.

You are being helped along greatly by all the unselfish people on here that give up a lot of their time to bring you the results of their labour.
Nowadays it is normally about 2 to 3 years before you can go from a raw beginner to being fairly able to design and make your own small engines, purely because sites such as this have brought most of the shortcuts and techniques to the masses, through the medium of the internet.

Even now, you are starting to carry on the tradition that most of us try to do on here, by showing everyone what you are doing.

Well done.


John

John
Thanks so much for the comments. I know I have a long way to go, but was actually quite proud of my litte wobbler ( like a first child)
I have learned so much from this forum and without it I doubt that I could have gotten this far.
You have been a very big part of it. The knowledge and experience that you have and are very willing to share is very gratefully accepted.
Best
Stan

Hi Stan!

You are off to a great start with that engine.

I have seen some of Dave's collection and I have seen Tin's stuff. Both are outstanding collections BUT even better are the people. I have met both Dave and Tin in person (sorry Scott, I haven't met you yet... though I am sure you fall into this as well). With them next to you, there is no reason to be embarrassed, as they are good people. As John basically said (quite well), we all start somewhere.

Back to your engine. The pictures are great. I am glad to see you aren't afraid to post your mistakes. Please keep it coming.

BTW... not too far from you...

Eric

To echo John's advise and comments, we all started in the same place. The level of craftsmenship you and others here display is inspiring to me. It takes a bit of intestinal fortitute to get started in this hobby, between the monetary layout, the endless quest for knowledge, and the time devotion, the desire to make things that move and make noise overcomes all this. We all share a common bond in this I think and I urge all who are thinking of making the plunge to do it.
I learned the trade in a large manufacturing enviroment at a young age. I started my apprenticeship at 19 and it was like hitting the lottery for me. Not everyone I worked with shared my enthusiasm for the trade and that is why I like it here. The sharing of knowledge here is second to none and the enthusiastic attitude towards learning keeps me coming back for more.
Please keep posting your progress, I will be watching and cheering you on. Dave

That's a good job on the cams Stan, and great work all along Thm:. You might have been better off making the cams from steel, as they'll see quite a bit of wear, but now you've done it once, it will be easy to do later on if they start wearing.

Thank you for the kind words - if I ever happen to cross the great ocean and get to your part of the world I'll be sure to take you up on your offer

And yes, I also echo what John and others said!

For me there's a lot more to building these small engines than just ending with an engine on display. It's a whole journey of meeting new people and interacting in a common environment, and also a lot of personal gratification from seeing my own and others' progress over time. The little engines eventually start to tell a tale of self development and provide a tangible way of measuring one's own progress. And it's a lot of fun to boot!

Kind regards, Arnold

Stan the cams came out great, as have the rest of the parts. This should be a fine running little engine before too long and your collection will have grown by 50% too

Looking forward to seeing more of your proogress on this one.

Bill

Sshire said:

With about six months of machining "experience" (See my Engine made on a mill) I went to Cabin Fever and was tremendously impressed with the astounding craftsmanship.

I took out my little engine and then Dave (dreeves) and Scott (Cheepo45), sitting on either side of me started putting engines on the table. Lots of engines. Then Tin Falcon puts up the HMEM banner and more of his engines appear.
Since no one laughed uncontrollably at my little wobbler, I was committed (or should be) to going home and making engines.

The real kick starter was finding ArnoldB's Grasshopper build. So step by step, I followed Arnold's build and a month later finished the Grasshopper. Many things on the drawings which made no sense to a newbie, were made clear by Arnold. After running it in, it can chug along on 2.5-3 psi all day. Thanks Arnold!! I have that one documented and will write up the build log.

Now I've started my engine #3, Elmer's #13. The Open Column Twin with Poppet Valves.
Arnold to the rescue again when I was not understanding how to layout the spiral cams. Hey Arnold, if you come to the States, you've got a dinner and some fine Scottish produce waiting along with the Grand Tour of Philadelphia.

What follows is two days in the shop.

The cams marked out.

The 6061 rod went into a 5C collet and then into the indexer.(Not counting the evening spent milling the base of the Phase II indexer so that I could get it square in the vise. Luckily the front of the base was at 90 degrees to the centerline of the spindle so I had a datum surface to start)

Same setting for the end mill for the first 90 degrees and then moving it out for each half degree, rinse and repeat 32 times.

Move the part in the collet to the lathe and parted two cams off.

On to the base. Milled to size and then face milled both sides.

After milling the opening (lots of coolant made a big difference. The Grasshopper steam chest (version 1) looked like I had chewed it out of the 6061. I am learning every day), I listed X and Y points for the holes , and moved from one to the other using the DRO.

There are 4 relief areas for the crankshaft. I started to get out the Jo blocks to set up the sine vise and then remembered the Harbor Freight angle gauge the I picked up last week when I was driving past HF (didn't need a thing, but can't resist)

The angle specified was 30 degrees and since the little relief areas can't be that critical I went with the angle gauge on the sine vise. Worked perfectly and it might even be 30 degrees.

Calling this part finished.

Next part has 2 - 15/16" holes. Did some layout just as a sanity check but used the DRO for positioning. Have to really stop and think with the Criterion boring head because when it is advanced .001, it really does increase the diameter by .001 unlike my lathe which requires me to remember that advancing by .001 actually increases the bore diameter by .002.

And then drilling 14 holes. Just hitting numbers on the DRO and done.

Looking at the next part, the columns, I thought that I would try to make them a bit different from the plans. Dimensions are the same. After figuring out a good sequence for turning them I tried a prototype.

This is not a recommended result.

This is much more satisfactory once I had the correct sequence of operations.

So end of the weekend, but I should get a few evenings in the shop this week.
Stay tuned and please, If you see me doing something stupid or the wrong way or you have a better method, let me know. Most of what I do is being done for the first time.

Best
Stan

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Could I ask where in the world did you find those plans? I was looking at the Elmer's in the magazine but it doesn't have plans. One cojuld make plans from the photos and drawings, but that would be a LOT of extra work. This looks like a very fun project.

Well you could ask, but the last post was 10 years ago, so you may not get a response.

.

GreenTwin said:

Well you could ask, but the last post was 10 years ago, so you may not get a response.

.

Click to expand...

I see that.

Richard Hed said:

I see that.

Click to expand...

Someone posted a link recently for the old john-tom site. the plan is on there. https://web.archive.org/web/20220123220452/http://www.john-tom.com/html/ElmersEngines.html

sarel said:

Someone posted a link recently for the old john-tom site. the plan is on there. https://web.archive.org/web/20220123220452/http://www.john-tom.com/html/ElmersEngines.html

Click to expand...

Ah, Thank yew for that. I notice when I downloaded part A I must have missed part "B". So good that John-Tom is still in existence. I thot the feds or someone had whacked them.