Snow Tandem Engine

[cobra428]

Looks nice all set in place on the bearing block, Joe.
Where did you get that cute distributor?

Dean

"Hi Dean

Got it from Mike Neal at MJN. I'm not sure if he's still in business, I've read some horror stories regarding trying to get ahold of him lately. If so, too bad, it's a nice piece of kit.

Joe"

I tried to get a coil from MJN last year and he sent my check back (it didn't bounce, he just didn't want to be bothered)

CNC Machine

http://www.cncengines.com/index.html

Roy said he is going to start carring them

Tony

 

[joe d]

Jason: Thanks. Tony: Thanks for the info.

went to work on the crankshaft...cut a couple of lengths of drill rod, and turned & faced & bored a couple of disks of 12L14 for the webs, and then bolted the webs on a sacrificial plate on the mill to cut out the unwanted bits

Cleaned all the bits, assembled them, and silver-soldered them together (and didn't take a picture of that) and the back to the lathe to true it up

Once it was running true, hacksawed out the bit of the crankshaft between the webs, and cleaned up the ends in the mill

Here's the bits:

And mocked up with the drill bit pretending to be a camshaft

Next up will be the brackets for the camshaft, but that will delayed a bit as I'm out of town all next week, and then will have a ridiculous amount of reading to do to catch up on all the posts.....

Cheers, Joe

 

[Deanofid]

... and then will have a ridiculous amount of reading to do to catch up on all the posts.....

Cheers, Joe

Yeah. It's almost like ya can't do without it, isn't it?

That crank looks great, Joe. Your assembly pictures really show off all your good work!

Dean

 

[gbritnell]

Hi Joe, excellent documentation and very nice pictures, oh and the work is great too. What Tony said about the distributor caps is correct. Originally they came from Bruce Satra. I had purchased a couple of different configurations years ago. Nice pieces.
George

 

[putputman]

Joe, I have been following your post since the beginning and just today it dawned on me what you are building. :noidea: oh:

I saw this marvelous machine at the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion in Rollag, MN. several years ago. You have tackled one of the most ambitious projects I've seen in a long time.

I have attached a copy of a brochure handed out at the show. It gives a some specs and a little history of how they got the engine.

Really looking forward to seeing yours run.

View attachment Snow Engine - Rollag.pdf

 

[joe d]

Dean, George, and Arv

Thanks for the kind comments. George: my distributor is marked Satra, so I guess Mike Neal was getting them from him?

Arv: Thanks very much for the pamphlet... I envy your having seen the original!

Cheers. Joe

 

[joe d]

Well, after a week off on vacation with the Mrs, and a week-end out of town at a friend's farm, I've finally gotten back to work in the shop...

Got the base plate flycut at a local shop, as it is way bigger than the work envelope of my Taig mill, and didn't want to poke extraneous holes in it for hold-downs in order to do it in stages...

Then milled up the brackets for the camshaft, used the same set-ups again as I had used for the rocker arm brackets, here they are with their bushings and bushing supports, gets assembled with some epoxy

Here they are after glue-up, rounding over, and sanding as far as 600 grit, with a chunk of drill rod for the camshaft,

what it looks like at the crankshaft end of things

Over all, really starting to look like an engine now!

A few more things to make yet, and then a short pause to make my copy of George Britnell's tubing bender for the plumbing.

Cheers, Joe

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Over all, really starting to look like an engine now!

Indeed! Looking good.
Nice shot of the crankshaft end of things...I don't think I'd had the opportunity to see that before.

 

[deere_x475guy]

Joe, I really enjoy watching your build on this ...nice job!

 

[Deanofid]

So glad you're back at this, Joe. It's a truly interesting build, and it seems to be getting "close"!
Looks terrific put together.

Dean

 

[potman]

This is a great one Joe.

I've seen the vid's of the prototype in Rolleg
but it's going to be a lot of fun to see yours running.

Any guesses on how many RPM she'll turn?

earl...

 

[SBWHART]

Coming along real nice Joe

Have fun

Stew

 

[ozzie46]

Very, very nice Joe. Keep up the good work.


Ron

 

[ariz]

Joe I had never seen your build...
there are so many builds here that sometime I choose to watch one simply by its name: unfortunately 'snow tandem' didn't catch my attention

but now that I have seen it, I admit that I was losing a very nice and interesting engine

you are doing a great job :bow:

 

[joe d]

Zee, deere x475guy, Dean:Thanks for looking in. Earl: Haven't any idea how one would calculate the "expected" (or should that be "hoped for?") rpm... I'm certain there is some clever formula for that, but I will find out the hard way once it running (and I borrow a tach...) Stew & Ron, Thanks... Ariz: Thanks, come on back some time!

Got a little more done this week-end:

Turned and milled some steel for the crosshead

Cut and faced some drill rod for the piston rods, milled faint reliefs on them for setscrews, turned, drilled and tapped a connector

Stuck 'em together to see what it looks like

And here's what the crosshead look like where it belongs:

Still got the cams to do, and then I can decide whether I'm making tools for tubing bending, or making tools for line-boring the cylinders....

Cheers, Joe

 

[Speedy]

I applaud you sir :bow:
love the build and your doing great on the smaller machines.

 

[gbritnell]

Your workmanship is first rate. This engine is one of the most unique models out there. I have only seen a couple and they always get my attention.
gbritnell

 

[joe d]

Speedy: Thanks. You know the limitations of these sized machines yourself.

George: I'll have to get a bigger hat... coming from you I really appreciate that!

Cheers, Joe

 

[Rustkolector]

Joe,
How much do you have to bore out of the cylinders yet?

Jeff

 

[joe d]

Hi Jeff

I left them at .995 when I roughed them out, if I was feeling lazy I could just hone them now, the bore is good, and adjust the piston to fit. On the other hand, I feel like I should make the effort to stick to the print....

Joe