Howell v-2 four stroke gas engine.

[gus]

Hi Al,

I may have chewed off a big engine that I can cannot swallow and digest. Rough dimension sketch on crankcase blank with a 150 mm steel rule to give an idea how big the engine is. Did manage to face front/back of blank. Will band saw the outline for milling. Trying very hard not to rush and make unforgiveable mistakes. Crankcase is the base to grow and build engine block by block. The power table feed on the mini mill will cut out the hand cranking. With so much metal to endmill off,power feed sure came J.I.T. Gus will sit back with Power Feed doing all the cranking.

 

[gbritnell]

Hi Gus,
Just be patient. I started out with a Craftsman/Atlas 6" lathe with a milling attachment. I was always over my head as far as size but it can be done. There's a great pool of knowledge on this forum so whenever you feel stressed just give us a shout.
gbritnell

 

[Swifty]

Hi Gus, I have just purchased the Howell V4 engine plans as a PDF download, I just wish that the Aussie dollar and US dollar had not changed so much recently, would have been cheaper. I've printed it all out and I'm busy studying the drawings, I would like to use metric fasteners if I can, will see how it can work out.

Paul.

 

[gus]

Hi Gus, I have just purchased the Howell V4 engine plans as a PDF download, I just wish that the Aussie dollar and US dollar had not changed so much recently, would have been cheaper. I've printed it all out and I'm busy studying the drawings, I would like to use metric fasteners if I can, will see how it can work out.

Paul.

I have gone metric since 2004 with the very first mini oscillator steam engine.
It is nearly impossible to get Imperial Fasteners in Singapore.
The V-2 will have metric fasteners.

The V-2 Crankcase took Gus a while to accept its humongous size. The V-4 is double. Will watch like a hawk when you start machining the crankcase.

Plan to do the V-4 2016. The water pump,oil pump and radiator gives me the thrills.

 

[gus]

Day Two

Marking out. I have quite a few wee bitty tools. Digital Height Gage,Vee block,Protractor,Divider Starrett Scriber and a cheapy table.Use the UK Aerosol Engineers Blue.
The Makita Bandsaw was a valuable tool to have. Cut to rough profile in 15 mins. The manual hacksaw could kill Gus.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Gus--You are once again impressing me. Best of luck with your build.---Brian

 

[gus]

Gus--You are once again impressing me. Best of luck with your build.---Brian

Thanks for the kind appraisal. I owe it to you very much. The Rupnow Engine took me into unfamiliar territories,which gave me good experience,acquire new skills,polished up old skills and gave me confidence to take on the Howell V-2.

I was about to give up on getting your engine to do the hit & miss. With your coaxing I overcame the burnt-out. Holidays in Japan did help.Fishing trips too.

Have ID my problems---------impatience and need to take longer tea breaks.
The V-2 crankcase scares me because of its size which stretched the Mini lathe and mill to its very extreme limits.

The HMEM is a good Forum with many helpful members ever ready to help.

 

[gus]

Day Three.
''Skimming of the pad face'' using existing vise with mini holding area is very risky. Could demolish the mill and job piece.:rant:
Looks like a DIY fixture is required.

 

[kuhncw]

You've picked a very nice engine to build, Gus. The setup with the vise does look pretty risky. I've had parts slip in the vise and when that happens things get very exciting very quickly.

Your thought of taking time to build a fixture of some type is a good idea. A simple angle plate and c-clamps would be a big improvement.

Good luck.

Chuck

 

[bazmak]

Hi Gus,will follow this thread with great interest but its probably out of my reach.Last post could be remedied with a large angle plate.I made one up in a previous thread and use it a lot for this type of setup. Regards Barry

 

[gus]

While holidaying in HongKong2013,I bought a Vertek Angle Plate as backup. Sure hate to deface same with 3 M6 tapped holes to secure crankcase to mill the cylinder pad face. Job done to print details.

First cut was done with great care.No vibration. Next few cuts went deeper. Took great caution. Could lose the job piece and mini mill.

Next HK trip,will buy bigger angle plate but how big as I have a mini mill.:wall:

 

[gus]

You've picked a very nice engine to build, Gus. The setup with the vise does look pretty risky. I've had parts slip in the vise and when that happens things get very exciting very quickly.

Your thought of taking time to build a fixture of some type is a good idea. A simple angle plate and c-clamps would be a big improvement.

Good luck.

Chuck

Hi Chuck,

Gus is an incurable risk taker. But I backed off. What will go wrong,will go wrong.Having come so far to removed so much metal to make crankcase blank,I have no desire to cut another piece. Recalled buying an Angle Plate while in HongKong. While everybody was buying branded goods Gus bought a piece of Cast Iron.:hDe::rant:

 

[gus]

Hi Gus,will follow this thread with great interest but its probably out of my reach.Last post could be remedied with a large angle plate.I made one up in a previous thread and use it a lot for this type of setup. Regards Barry

Hi Barry,

Deep in my mind, I knew it would a bad gamble and I won't win. A win means job done. A defeat means job ruined. So best use angle plate fixture. Best be sure than sorry.

 

[kuhncw]

Gus, the new setup looks much safer. To me, figuring out the fixturing is half the fun of this hobby.

Chuck

 

[gus]

Day Four.
The mini lathe will stall if I use a 20mm to drill thru. Had to call up my arsenal of twist drills and drill from 6 mm with increment of 2 mm to hit 20 mm and from there use Warner Boring Tool to hit finished bore diameter of 2.125". Gus been working very hard with tea/pee breaks in between. Started at 8am and by noon hole done.
Encountered tool chatter. Reduce spindle speed by one step to minimise chatter mark.Was a compromise between tool chatter and bore finish. Missed print bore diameter by one thou.2.126'' I.D. Blank now looks like a crankcase.
Looks like the crankcase will take another week to get done with all the fine details.
Turning aluminum gets you a big PVC Bag of swarves. For safety purpose, best to clear swarf pan often.
Boring the internal recess cavity will be tough to look good. Found my 10 year old DIY Boring Bar.Gus taking his sweet time with small bites on this humongous crankcase. So far so good. No goofs.

 

[Cogsy]

Starting to take on some form now. Looking good.

 

[Davewild]

Gus, that is looking real cool.

 

[mattty]

Looking forward to watching this build. Does this engine require any castings or is it all stock.
Thanks Matt

 

[gus]

Hi Matt,

Absolutely no expensive castings .All bar stocks. The crankcase has about 80----90 % metal machined off.
As I edge toward completion of crankcase,I get worried of the last cut syndrome. The last cut can make or break the crankcase. The other end of the crankcase will be recess cut today and I am working out a way to secure same.Failure will see same fly out .
Taking my sweet time nibbling away.

 

[gus]

Day Five and End Week One.

Crankcase internal counterbore 2.5'' x 1.5 '' long took 4 hours of hard work with many t/p breaks, HSS tool bit grinding and set-up plus several rounds of dry run to ensure no goofs and no throwaway crankcase.

An old DIY 4-way tool post with a DIY humongous boring tool came handy.

Counterbore I.D. wee bit under size but hopefully not critical.

Will take another week of hard work to complete. Too many minor details and some not forgiving at all.

I still have the other end to profile and I am not having ample space to secure to chuck. Another simple tool to
make.