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ER32 collets go up to 3/4" diameter, which might increase your work and toolholding abilities. Simon

Hands down, Rhino for Mac http://mac.rhino3d.com It's still in beta so you have to send an email requesting access, but it's really the only 2D/3D package that feels at home on Mac. I tried some of the others (DraftSight, TurboCAD), and they fall felt like bad ports. Simon

NickG: see the "HMEM sold" thread, and other threads. Content posted here is now automatically copyrighted by Group Builder, not by the poster. Simon

Hi Austin Thanks for being active in the forums and taking some of the flak after the switch over. I'm happy to see some of the wrinkles getting smoothed out, but I cannot keep contributing technical posts to this forum given section 6.2 of Group Builder's terms of service: (from...

I'm going to continue documentation of this build at madmodder: http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=7362.0

Another Sunday, another day in the shop :) I got the other side of the valve chest gland profile rounded off, but here's what happens when you go a bit too far on the rounding table: I should be able to take it out by filing. I milled the valve chest down to about the right thickness; the...

Wow, what a great runner! Nice job! Simon

I worked on the valve chest today, which seemed to be a bit slow going. First step after marking up: square up the inside a bit. No critical dimensions here, just need room for the valve to move. This kit is old enough that the valve guide is cast into the valve chest; the newer models have...

Likewise, I'm learning a lot from this build already. How I wish I'd used a reference plate in the past; it makes everything so much easier! Keep it coming, John. Simon

Love them! Simon

Hi Ed The collets came with my lathe; the previous owner had assembled a set, and a couple of them are shorter (which is very annoying, forcing you to swap draw bars!). I see MT2 collets on eBay, which are probably equivalent quality to what I have. The longer ones are a bit too long for this...

Wait, what? Have I been putting nuts on the wrong way around all this time? The only online discussion I could find was http://powerlineman.com/lforum/archive/index.php/t-7628.html, which has all kinds of opinions :) Simon

Thanks Brian! I'm pretty sure all the tightness is in the connecting rod on the journal, and there because of the radius on the journal ends interfering with the sides of the split bearing. I just need to work on that some more. The steam passages were cast as part of the cylinder casting, so...

Brian, this looks awesome; I'm inspired by your treatment of the castings, and hope to try it on my Stuart. Up until now, I've been thinking of PM castings as "toy" castings not worthy of a lot of finishing, but your build has changed my mind. The nuts look great! I wonder if just rounding off...

I left the piston rod gland set up in the rotary table last night, so couldn't resist drilling the 7 holes (capstan holes?) tonight. I put an MT2 collet in the center hole of the rotary table, holding a spare piston rod (1/4"), so could use that to center the bottom cylinder cover with piston...

Hi Brock Yes, a previous owner did a hatchet job on the bronze fingers and fitted bearings; one of them isn't even square :-\ They leave marks on even steel parts, so I don't really like them. It would be easy to make new fingers; they are just a push fit. Thanks for the comments all! Work is...

I plucked up the courage to thread the bottom cylinder cover for the piston rod gland today this evening. To hold the cover, I put the soft jaws onto the 3-jaw chuck, clamped the jaws down onto a bit of stuck, and cut a lip to fit the cylinder cover, then removed the stock and clamped down on...

I understand what you mean by the "cone" on the end; take a small cut at an angle on the end (which means making the part over-sized to begin with, perhaps), matching that angle to the "starter" angle on the die. That assumes that the die is accurately ground, of course! I guess I can use a...

Dave, the packing gland is screwed in (with a hard-to-find 1/2" 26TPI BSB thread!). I actually made a quick tail post die holder for the die, and cut the thread already: but I did that after reaming for the piston rod, and I'm wondering if it would have been better to tap the bottom cylinder...

Guess what I found in the old fixings jar? Not one, but two 1/16" pins :D The newer fixings set that I got recently from Stuart for this engine didn't have any, so I'm glad these castings came with their own fixings set. Made some good progress today. I'd been putting off milling the exhaust...