Saying hello

[jpowersny2]

Hi all,

I've been enjoying your forum since Christmas eve. I have near zero machining experience, but I've wanted to build a LTD stirling since long before they were ubiquitous. I bought plans and a few odds-and-ends several years ago and they sat in my workshop because I had no machine tools. Earlier this year my dad gave me a mini lathe and mill; Santa brought a bunch of accessories. I had to build a couple of storm door window brackets for my wife first. But I've finally started work on my engine...not the stirling. I decided that the stirling would be a little ambitious for a first engine, so I've started an oscillating single stroke steam engine. The crank shaft is done. The plans didn't call for bearings, but I scarfed up a couple from an old model gyrocopter gearbox and plan to use them because it just has to run better with than without. I'm almost done with the flywheel. The only problem is that I asked Santa for the wrong boring tool holder, so I'm improvising until the correct one arrives. Even so, I hope to have it running on air within a week.

Anyway, I've already picked up some good tips from this forum and I love the pictures and pointers to youtube.

I'll be back.
[no fancy handle, just] John

 

[rake60]

Welcome to HMEM John!

Rick

 

[1Kenny]

Welcome John,

We love pictures.

Kenny

 

[Brass_Machine]

Welcome 'just' John


Pictures are a good thing around here. I think it is an unwritten rule that you cannot talk about an engine you are building without providing pictures. Admins? Mods? ;D

I assume by your name that you are located in New York some where?

Which LTD Stirling plans did you buy?

Eric

 

[jpowersny2]

Not much to look at yet, but I don't want to break any rules , so here's what I've got so far:

This is for the LittleMachineShop.com oscillating engine.

The stirling is Jerry Howell's Miser. The only part I have started on this is the support column. I couldn't finish it because I didn't have a milling machine when I started, just the lathe. I haven't parted this off yet. You can see in the picture that the upper square is smaller than the lower. Not having a milling machine at the time, I used the table saw as a dado to mill it.

 

[deere_x475guy]

John welcome to the board. When I first got started with my mini lath (which I wish I still had) I used this site extensively:
http://www.mini-lathe.com/

I bought his premium content and printed everything out and have it in a reference book now. It really helped me get started and the first project I did was the "Project: Making a Tap Guide:. I still have this tool and use it everytime I have to tap something.

Have fun

 

[cfellows]

Hi John,

Glad to have you aboard. Looking forward to your company.

Chuck

 

[wareagle]

John, welcome to HMEM and congrats on your new machinery! Keep the pics coming on your project!

 

[jpowersny2]

This might not be the right place to continue with this, but here's my next part. I can say that I am definitely on a (the) steep part of the learning curve as I am learning new things with each new part. My progress is visible in this picture as the crank wheel came out with far fewer tooling marks than the flywheel did...I think it has to do with the tool angle (is that rake angle?), and also I retouched the tool edges on the grinder.

I had to build the crank wheel twice because the first time around the last operation was to put in the pin hole and tap it. The problem was there was too little metal left to hold up, so the outside distorted. I turned it down again, but then the hole was no longer perpendicular to the wheel. The 2nd time I drilled and tapped the hole with a lot of metal remaining. After getting all the dimensions close, I mounted the wheel to the real axle and finished it up, which involved a bit of truing. Is that standard practice or is there a better way?

The steal pin was pleasantly interesting. I was able to uniformly turn it down to within 0.001 of the plans. I was surprised because I didn't expect to be able to get this accuracy with a mini lathe. I'm coming to the belief that inaccuracy in equipment can be compensated for by the patience of of the machinist; thoughts? The disappointing part of the pin was that the last time I screwed it in I scratched it by not gripping it hard enough. I don't think it will matter though.

I'm glad I started with a practice engine before jumping in and doing a more difficult one that I will care about more.