Engine turning experiment

[Harold Lee]

The first time I saw engine turning was on a craftsman wood lathe in the early 50s. I remember it looks like fish scales. My favorite example of this technique is Charles Lindberg's plane "The Spirit of St. Louis". The entire forward section was engine
turned.

http://www.atpm.com/7.01/washington-dc/images/spirit-of-st-louis.jpg

Harold

 

[David Morrow]

I haven't done this for a long time but it was one of my first experiments with CNC. IIRC, I used a small round disk made from green 3M scrubbing pad and some neoprene backing to provide a little spring relief if the mill pushed down too hard. Lubricant was WD-40 and I set up a drilling pattern and let the mill do its thing.


http://www.ldrider.ca/cnc/cncparts/cncparts.htm

 

[Harold Lee]

The first engine I built from castings was a Stuart 10V and I posted in the dustier corners of this forum. The brass "lagging" was my first try at engine turning.

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=1862.0

I used a dowel and some clover grinding compound.

Harold

 

[dgjessing]

Still experimenting... An artificial wine bottle cork epoxied to a 1/4 20 arbor:

Just by eye, no attempt at perfection. Started in the upper left corner, worked right then down and so on - you can see how the cork quickly got worked in and started doing a nice cut all the way to the center.

I'm thinking this "cutter" (for lack of a better word) ought to last quite a while as the entire cork is 1 1/2" long and the steel arbor is into it 3/4" - we got 3/4" to wear out before it's toast.

Prepared the surface with a spritz of WD40 and a bit of valve grinding compound spread all around more or less evenly. Spit would probably work just as well as WD40...

 

[Blogwitch]

Looks like you have found the right formula for your way of working Dave. :bow: :bow: :bow:

The sky is the only limit now.


John

 

[rhitee93]

The cork is a great idea. I might have to spring for one of those "Upity" bottles of wine that don't unscrew...

 

[dgjessing]

The cork is a great idea. I might have to spring for one of those "Upity" bottles of wine that don't unscrew...

See if you've got a DIY wine/beer shop nearby - there you can buy a bag of them for very little money.

I discovered this a few years ago as part of a booze smuggling operation... It turns out that you are allowed to bring a couple bottles of wine (only) onto a cruise ship. Well, my two wine bottles had gin (with a little yellow food coloring in them) instead. Did you know a drill press makes a great bottle corking machine? But I digress.... :

 

[rhitee93]

Well, my two wine bottles had gin (with a little yellow food coloring in them) instead.

Rof} That is a good one.

 

[jtrent76]

Hi everyone, first post here! My votech instructor called it spot finishing..
;D