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If I read something that irks me into typing an immediate response - then as my fingers fly to the keyboard, my internal moderator says Woah! That is a sure indicator that I should refrain from posting and I wait a day or so to see how others respond before jumping in. At least 50% of the time...

A caution - Beryllium was often used for Gyro flywheels. Beryllium is used in aerospace applications as it is stronger than steel and lighter than Aluminium, electrically conductive and has no fatigue mechanism (inside its elastic limits) so it's good for conductive springs and such. However...

I normally work from my own designs, even when working from plans I normally redraw them - this gives me the mental process of how I'm going to machine them and in what order. With complex parts, I will normally do a sequence of machining stage drawings - like block up, main holes etc. etc. that...

I had a similar experience :- Chinese ? Junk ! What bothered me was it was very well made junk - I suspect that the manufacturers failed to grind their mounting hardware every time it was mounted. (Batch-wise manufacturing with frequent tool changing). Obviously this "wears" the tooling out...

I have a nasty habit of working in 3rd angle but still using 1st angle for the plan view (which is a hangover from woodwork drawing in high school). So my first rule is the drawing must be comprehensible regardless - like the question above "which side are the holes in ?" should not arise - the...

try this Oldboatguys_Engine_Plans.pdf This version is missing the conrod - I know it has been addressed but I can't find it. Regards, Ken I

The original was by Gerry Dykstra aka "Oldboatguy"and was called Gerry's beam engine - the plans are in the download section. I metricated it and made some changes with Gerry's nod of approval and those drawings are also in the download section. I'm not sure why but over time some drawings...

A ways removed from model engineering. An M56 cap screw. Regards, Ken I

Green Twin - very cool and worthy of restoration. Brian Rupnow posted plans for a Popcorn engine back in 2011 Brian does Popcorn I'm not sure - but it might be nice to reverse engineer it back to steam driven. Meanwhile here's the 1948 Wurlitzer 1015 that that colour cylinder turret capstan...

In one of my other hobbies - restoring old jukeboxes - I had to restore a "ballbearing" raceway - a Zink diecast part that had become badly brinelled - so much so that it no longer rotated properly I pondered how I could replicate the 1/16" radius required for the 1/8" diameter balls - then it...

I chose PB simply because I didn't want mild steel on mild steel for fear of seizing. On an original (10 times that size which I use industrially) I've had seizures and they are an SOB to get off - I think the sleeve on the originals are a tougher/harder steel than the tapers - but even then...

Here's something I did on my beam engine Flywheel becoming loose (setscrew is used) I made a model of an industrial "clampex" coupling A lot of work but looks nice and industrial Regards, Ken I

I have a collection of square ground twist drills. As an apprentice, the first time I had to counterbore a largish hole for which we had no cutter, my artisan gave me a drill and told me to pre-drill all the holes - then to grind the drill square and follow up to counterbore depth and then...

Just to back up what K2 said - I once used a sliding hammer on a stubborn pulley and although I succeeded, I found out that the stator laminations had shifted apart and torn into the windings - I pushed the stator back together with a hydraulic press and rewound the motor. The point is that...

I'm with Steamhippie & K2 - drill and tap and use a sliding hammer to remove the taper gib key. Time, penetrating oil, thermal cycles and patience. That looks like a tapered Gib-Head key - can be very hard to remove, Drilling all the way through (at tap size for thread / sliding hammer) will...

Here's a tip for avoiding setscrew (grubscrew) marks in your shafting. Place a small piece of soft solder in before the screw - this hydraulics into place and holds quite firmly without leaving any permanent marks. Obviously less grip than if the screw bites into the surface but it works for...

A simple way to hydraulically test your tank is to use your mains water pressure, assuming it's high enough - it often is. Otherwise beg, steal borrow or hire a hand water pump and gauge. My own house pressure reaches 125psi late at night when the bulk of use has ceased. Alternatively, if you...

ajoeiam - couldn't agree more - I spent a good deal of my life as a professional engineer signing off on pressure vessel tests - conducting most myself. Failure under hydraulic load is nowhere near as dramatic as shown above and pinhole failure is the most common form of failure. I never had...

I have been using a cluster diamond for dressing my bench grinder wheels. This was a nearly worn-out unit from a centreless grinder and has lasted years. A friend asked if I could find him one - no luck - not at a reasonable price. Then I came up with this idea using the clusters off a Ø5"...

On this beam engine the ports are simply drilled Ø1.5mm holes - 3 of them drilled side by side to emulate a slot. I have done this Ø12mm bore engine with a single hole and it works just fine - its amazing how much air (or steam) can get through a small hole. Since we are generally interested in...