Ralph
Hang in there.... it'll come together. Mine was put on air today and I'm now getting sporadic bursts of powered movement. I'm having to tweak the squareness of the pistons even tighter than I'd have thought . The tolerances are tight on the drums and it appears even the slightest bit of angle has to be beaten out.
I've just had to remove two piston sets and adjust them by feel rather than by sight. Each time, a little more friction disappears and the binding at full extension gets less and less. I'm close enough to smell success, but the little devil hasn;t given up yet...LOL.
I made a small modification that might prove to be worth consisering. The ends of the pistons were binding against the cylinder walls due to my having shortened them, trying to avoid their striking the valve plate. I managed to get them far too short in the process. This only became obvious when they began to "droop" when at thier highest point. this cocked them into the walls and caused the binding problem.
The solution I came up with was to chuck the pistons back in the lathe and center drill the ends. I then press fitted a small brass button measuring 1/4 dia x .150 in. and dressed the edges. This gave back the lneeded ength and added a nice brass bearing surface at the ends of the pistons. Once these were massaged a bit, the binding was reduced significantly. The brass also provided an easily replaceable wear point.
Now if I can get past the problem of having an air compressor that's too small to keep up with the demand, I'll eventually whip this project and begin looking for the next one. Help!!.... I'm hooked....LOL
Steve
