Elbow Engine

[PhiberOptix]

I have found another engine that I would like to build, called an Elbow Engine,
apparently it was all the fad a while back on here, but I haven't made one
and I like the concept so let get the preliminaries done

Locate the materials I need for the engine and mark them up ready for sawing
at this point I did not have anything close to 4 inch round bar for the fly wheel
I was going to cut a slice off some 4 inch square ally and turn it down in a 4 jaw
but I was given an off cut from my friends work place which made life easier

I also have materials in here to be cut down for other projects saddle stop,
chasis for three other engines ooh and a hex lighter (yes im going to be busy)

here is the materials ready for cutting minus the pistons and fly wheel which
I didn't have when this photo was taken

Cleaning up the freebie offcut, this will become the flywheel in time
note to self :- set the date on camera !!

Parts so far, (less pistons) with saw marks etc all cleaned up ready for machining
down to size tomorrow

.

 

[zeeprogrammer]

I've seen a couple of those. One recently on the forum but I got in late and didn't have the chance to follow progress.

I'll be interested to watch this. No pressure understand. But you started it. ;D

 

[SBWHART]

Hi

I built one of these little roosters about 12 months ago, the plans look deceptively easy but in reality to get a runner is very hard, you have to pay attention to getting things square and aligned, I modified the design somewhat to increase my chances of getting a runner, along the lines of this.

You can follow my build over on the site http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=820.0

It a fascinating engine well worth the effort of building.

Have fun

Stew

 

[arnoldb]

Nice start on this one Andy - Really looking forward to the rest of the build Thm:

Cheers, Arnold

 

[Stan]

I made all the parts twice for one of those elbow engines, without success, and then found out that my square was not 90°. I gave up on the project for the time being. They require a high degree of precision in all measurements and angles of the frame, along with getting the pistons bent to 90°. This is not an easy engine to build.

 

[PhiberOptix]

The base is now down to size, and all angles 90 degrees

I am not doing the fly wheel out of two parts (web and rim) as the offcut i was given is larger than required for both rim and web i will making this out of the one piece

Thank you Stan and SBWHART for your advice, if it ends up a non runner, it will make an interesting paper weight/ornament

 

[RobWilson]

Coming along nicely Andy Thm:
when milling dose the saddle sill have power feed on a combo ?

Regards Rob

 

[PhiberOptix]

Coming along nicely Andy Thm:
when milling dose the saddle sill have power feed on a combo ?

Regards Rob

Hi Rob

Unfortunatly not m8, power feed is only in Lathe mode and only in the 'X' plane nothing in the 'Y' at all

Regards
Andy

 

[SBWHART]

Hi Andy

Comming along well

Cheers

Stew

 

[rake60]

Please keep up posted as you go Andy!

I did build the Elbow Engine and managed to get it running
by cheating.
It was the most frustrating thing I had ever built.

Rick

 

[PhiberOptix]

Today's swarfe pile reached waist height lol

the parts so far

The two bits I concentrated on today The Fly Wheel and The Column
Tomorrow I will finish off the Fly Wheel

I must admit I do not like the design of the 'web' on the fly wheel it reminds
me of the old tape spools from a tape recorder, or the old computer spools
from the 70's.

I think I will change the design of the 'web' to small holes growing larger towards the rim

 

[JimM]

Looking good Andy

In the pic of the base in the vice what tooling is in the mill? or is it that just the chuck ?

Cheers

Jim

 

[craynerd]

Andy, I`m new to M.E but had the chance to take a look at Stews engine in person last week and it really is a smooth running engine and an excellent build. His write up is also very detailed and I`m sure you would find it very useful.

This engine looks so easy in terms of the parts but when I attempted this it was a huge failure and I am about the start the entire build again.

If you look at Stews design, he has also added an additional valve port block on the vertical support and this seems to work well yet is not shown in the original plans. I will be adding this on my next build. You will obviously need to increase the horizontal distance to account for the extra space of the valve port. Also, the pistons need to be perfectly 90deg. I bent mine to what I thought would be acceptable but you literally need to hold each one over a block and bend it bit by bit until it is perfectly square.

Like I said, mine was a fail but hope that with my better understanding the next one won`t be! Good luck, I`ll be watching!!!

Chris

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Those are pretty old pics. What are you trying to pull over on us? :big:
And watch out for the month/day...I hope you get the order right.
Or instead of upside-down/ downside-up...you might get a bunch of left/right comments. This forum can (sometimes) be downright unforgiving.

Then we'll really get confused.

 

[PhiberOptix]

Those are pretty old pics. What are you trying to pull over on us?

Done the marking out manually but I will be verifying this digitally before tool touches material
sorted the date out on the camera (that was harder than doing the marking out)

 

[Krown Kustoms]

I like the elbow engine, I would like to build one.
Out of the couple of hundred engine plans I have not one is an elbow.
Which one are you building, I may have missed it, just got of work 12 hrs is a long day
-B-

 

[deverett]

The pistons all need to be bent to exactly 90 degrees.

A simple jig to ensure that they are so can be knocked up quickly in the mill.

Get a piece of 1/2" plate, put in the mill vice and with a 1/4" end mill, mill a 1/4" deep slot in the x and y planes. You will get a cross that is exactly at 90 degrees. If your pistons drop in the slot, they are bent to the correct angle.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

 

[PhiberOptix]

Krown Kustoms

To be honnest I cant remember where I got the plans from, I think they were from
http://www.john-tom.com/html/SteamPlans.html
however I may be mistaken (Check your PM & Email)

In the pic of the base in the vice what tooling is in the mill? or is it that just the chuck ?

Just setting up to mill the sides, the milling head has a collet holder

If you look at Stews design, he has also added an additional valve port block on the vertical support and this seems to work well yet is not shown in the original plans.

The other valve port is built into the flywheel post in the plans I have

Thank you everyone
regards
Andy

 

[zeeprogrammer]

I knew it! You live in a country that thinks this is the 8th day of the 24th month!

I wish I could work as fast as you Andy. Great stuff.

P.S. Who cares what month month or day it is?

 

[PhiberOptix]

I knew it! You live in a country that thinks this is the 8th day of the 24th month!

I wish I could work as fast as you Andy. Great stuff.

P.S. Who cares what month month or day it is?

ZEE
ROFLMAO No m8 I am from a country that was writing dates before other country's were even discovered :big: :big:
cant say much more than that as my American wife is lurking about LOL