Building one of Rudy's steamers

[Deanofid]

Arnold and Nick, thanks much! I appreciate your comments, as always.

Nothing much going on this engine today. I have the new/old Atlas up and running, and have a day's worth of sorting to do on it. Needs new spindle bearings. Atlas/Clausing has them on the way! Yea!

Dean

 

[Deanofid]

My new/old lathe has been keeping me from this engine project. Maybe I'll get back to it Monday.
Here's what has had me pre-occupied. I've had it completely torn down and bit by bit, have it back together. In the vid, you also get a slightly cheesey grin and a shot of the trash can as a bonus!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S7Jz8oN3vU[/ame]

I guess I don't know how to imbed it, so click the blue link.

Wait.. Maybe I got it.


Dean

 

[joe d]

Dean

That's one really nice trash can ya got there.... :big:

Nice lathe, too! Won't pass judgement on any cheesy grins, lest somebody sees mine someday.

Cheers, Joe

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Nice vid Dean.
Nice whiplash you gave me too. ;D Take those pans a little slower!

 

[Powder keg]

Looking great!!! Like the finishes you are getting.

 

[Twmaster]

Schweeet! Nice old Atlas Dean.

 

[Artie]

Yeah, I really got excited when I noticed the classic "Dornier' style trash can... is that an original or a replica (there are SOOO many replicas on the markets these days).... oh.... very nice lathe as well..... now that trash can.......

;D

Nice job mate.....

 

[metalnwood]

Hello Dean, I am looking for my next engine and I wanted to do something like this but I can't find the plans for this to have a look at. I have been to Rudy's site but I only see sterlings, flame lickers and IC?

I don't suppose you could post a link to his page please?


Edit: What a dope, it's in you first post that you didn't get it from his site!
Edit 2: Double dope, its not even by the guy I thought it was, shame

Thanks,
Jason

 

[Deanofid]

Not sure if you still want the link, Jason, but will post it anyway.
The prints come from the book "The Shop Wisdom of Rudy Kouhoupt" and can be purchased from this page:

https://secure.villagepress.com/store/items/detail/item/821

I've seen them on Amazon, too.

There is a lot more than just the prints for this particular engine in the book. It has 4-5 engines in all, plus many shop projects.

Dean

 

[Deanofid]

Began work on the cylinder today.

First, cut out all the stock pieces for the main cylinder assembly. Cylinder, valve plate,
steam chest and cover plate.

The holes for the fasteners that hold the four pieces together are all located from the valve
cover plate, so the first operation was to clamp the cover plate to the cylinder block, and
spot all the holes. I drilled clear through the plate, and then into the cylinder to the needed
depth for tapped holes. Later, I'll drill out the holes in the plate for clearance over the studs
that hold the pieces together.

The cover plate is then removed, and the outlines of the valve pockets are milled with a 1/16"
end mill. These pockets were located via mill table coordinates. I didn't notice anything called
out for the radius in the corners of the pockets, but figured 1/32" would be about right.

After the pocket outlines are done, the waste material is removed with a larger end mill.
Faster that way, and saves on smaller tools. They break pretty easily. For removing this
material, I picked the same end mill size that was also needed for the center exhaust slot.
In the shot above, I have that center slot cut, but I misread the print. The slot was
supposed to be a bit longer. I had to put the piece back in the milling machine later to
correct that.

Next side, and more holes. The shot above shows a bottoming tap being used to thread
the holes. These holes are shallow enough that a taper tap bottomed out before cutting
the first full thread. Normally, I'd start a hole with a taper tap. It makes things a lot easier
at the start of threading. Even a plug tap would make things easier, but didn't have one
of those in this size.

A couple more holes were tapped on another side, but I won't show that.

Here, the piece has been mounted in the vise at a 45 deg angle to mill the exhaust passage
that connects the exhaust pipe hole with the exhaust port on the cylinder face.

When milling into a "V", like this, in brass, and plunge milling into brass in any case, the
milling machine needs to really be going. Like 5000 rpm for this 7/64" end mill. If you go
at it with a slow spindle speed, the cutting edge on the end mill tends to grab at the brass
and will want to suck it up toward the spindle. That kind of thing can make a mess.

Another thing about plunging... Make sure your end mill is made for it! You need a center
cutting end mill for plunging where there is no pilot hole to start with.

And something else. Plunging into any metal puts weird forces on the milling machine. A
fellow with a big ol' B'port machine will not notice it so much when using smaller end mills,
but for many of us who have small machines to begin with, plunging gives them a work out.
To a small milling machine, small end mills may not be small.. They may be big, in proportion.
So, if you've got a small machine, give it a fightin' chance when plunging, and lock her gibs
nice and snug.

And.. no, that's all on this point for now.

Then another 45 degree setup to mill the cylinder ports, one on each end. I chose to mill
these ports before boring the cylinder. Rudy had it the other way 'round. He bored the
cylinder first, then cut the ports. It seems to me that doing it the way I'm showing it here
will save having to clean up the bur brought up by the end mill inside the top cap recess
where this port will end up.

This little step took quite a few passes. This is the longest end mill I have in this size, and
it's barely long enough. I was concerned about running the shoulder of the tiny bit into the
edge of the port pocket. I know from experience that cutting on the end mill's shoulder will pop them right off. Would also mess up the work piece.

It all came out well, though.

Here's the slot that is the result of the previous milling step, and where the work will end for today.

Next will be the cylinder boring, and then... some other stuff.

Dean

 

[thayer]

Hi Dean, it looks great!

I've got a quick newbie question for you when you have the time. When you are tracing the perimeter of the valve pockets with the 1/16 end mill, what sort of DOC, and feeds are you using with that 5k on the spindle?

Thanks,

Thayer

 

[Deanofid]

Hi Thayer;

The depth of the pockets is .060", and I cut that full amount at one swipe. My machine is manual, so I can't tell you the actual feed rate, but I can say it only took about two minutes to cut the perimeter on each pocket.

Hope that helps!

Dean

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Looks good Dean.

My little project showed the cylinder being done before the ports as well but I did the ports first. After boring and reaming the cylinder I found the ports were nearly closed by metal being pushed over/into them. My material was aluminum though and that might make a difference.

 

[thayer]

Hi Thayer;

The depth of the pockets is .060", and I cut that full amount at one swipe. My machine is manual, so I can't tell you the actual feed rate, but I can say it only took about two minutes to cut the perimeter on each pocket.

Hope that helps!

Dean

It definitely does, thank you very much.

Thayer

 

[arnoldb]

Well done Dean, & very well presented !

Regards, Arnold

 

[Twmaster]

Dean, nicely done. As I have said before, I learn some new technique almost every post I see on your projects.

 

[Artie]

The depth of the pockets is .060", and I cut that full amount at one swipe. Dean

Hi Dean, it must be a scale thing.. depth of cut 0.060", thats 1.5mm (sorry about metricating), it looks more like 3mm and just wanted to confirm the cut depth as its a job I will shortly be doing.

Thanks

Artie

 

[Deanofid]

Zee, thanks again for your comments.
Some aluminum is kind of gooey, or mushy, and will smear over small openings. Thinking about the kind of aluminum that plugs small end mills, here. Sometimes your tool may just need a little touch up, or something like a spritz of WD 40 will help. Sometimes, nothing will help much.

Arnold and Mike, thanks a lot for continuing to check in on the build.
Always appreciate that!

Hi Artie;
The cut was .060" deep with a 1/16" end mill. It probably looks like more because of the close shot and the lighting/shadows. Sorry, I don't know much about your medicating. I hope you get over it soon...


Today.. Boring.

Cylinder boring!

I chose to align bore this piece. It is easier just to chuck it up in a four jaw and run a reamer
through it, but I don't have a reamer larger than 1/2". The bore is .625". Anyway, I don't
mind doing the needed set up for an align boring job, (some folks call it line-boring). I've used
this method for a lot of projects, and it works well.

First thing to do is find the center of the cylinder. I don't have a surface plate, but the finished
surface of my bench is quite flat. I used a surface gauge to mark out square lines on the end
of the work piece, then reset the gauge to mark out another smaller square.

Doing it this way gives you a neat little grid. You could just mark out one square for the
same result as in the picture above, but marking a second smaller square gives you a kind
of bullseye target and you can easily see if you've got something off center. Laying out
the "X" that marks center is just a matter of running a line through the corners of the squares.

Then the piece is center punched using a magnifying glass, and put into a vise on the lathe
cross slide. Shims are used to bring the piece to the right height to match the punch mark
to the head stock center. The cross slide centers it fore and aft.
The same thing can be done without a vise. You'd just have to make a cross bar with a
couple of holes in it to bolt down across the top of the work piece.

At this point, the cross slide gib is locked.

For a final check before making any chips, I ran a DI over the top and side of the piece, just
to make sure it wasn't caddywhumpus in some direction. When everything looks good, a
hole is drilled through the center of the piece. Biggest drill bit I have is 1/2", so that what
I used. The bit was honed for cutting brass, of course.

This is the setup for align boring. After the hole through the center of the piece has been
drilled, a boring bar that has a center hole drilled in each end is passed through the piece
and mounted between centers.

The boring bar is cross drilled to take a bit made from small drill rod. A set screw holds the
bit tight in the hole.

Here, I've taken the start of the cut. For each cut, the set screw is loosened and the cutting
bit extended out of the hole a little. The bit is short enough that only one end sticks out of
the cross hole that goes through the bar.
To set the tool for a certain cut, I divide the bore size I want by two, then add one half the
diameter of the boring bar. Set the tool to that measurement, and the tool will cut the diameter needed.

For instance, the bore I want here is .625". The diameter of the boring bar is .375".

.625" / 2 = .3125"

.3125" + .1875" (half the dia of the boring bar) = .500". Nice round number in this case.

By measuring the distance from the tool tip to the back side of the boring bar OD, you can
set the tool to cut just what you want.

The shot above shows the recess that will take the inner boss on one of the end caps.
The same tool is used to cut both end recesses, and the bore. The tool is ground to a sort
of wedge shape, and will cut in either directing just by rotating it 180 deg. (It has a similar
cutting edge whether going to the right or left, right side up, or upside down.)

To measure the bore, the boring bar can be removed at any time, and since it is run between
centers, I know it will go back into the same cutting position each time I remove it and return
it to its place between the centers.

I use simple telescoping bore snap gauges for this kind of stuff. They take a little practice to
get used to, but they work pretty well, for me.

This shot shows where the end cap recess just broke through to the end of the threaded hole
for one of the condensation drains. It's supposed to be like that!

And this one shows the steam passage after the recess has been bored.

I got the piston and rod done too. I'll put pics up for that tomorrow.

Dean

 

[zeeprogrammer]

caddywhumpus

Did you and Marv go to the same school? I need to get your guys' dictionary. ;D

Great post Dean. Great thread.

 

[Artie]

Thanks mate...no not MEDICATING... METRICATING.... converting to millimetres (60 thou = 1.5mm)... maybe I should medicate.... might make the world seem like a nicer place....... 8)

Really enjoying the posts.. thanks again, looks great!

Artie