Trout's Twin

[Troutsqueezer]

Hi Guys,

It occurred to me that I have bits and pieces of this build spread all around this forum and it might be a good idea to bring them all together to form some sort of cohesive build thread, albeit not a very thorough one but better than nothing. At first I didn't think it would be too interesting for others as basically I'm following Metal Butcher's build of the same engine but with some slight variations. I've decided it's easier to ask questions if I have a single thread going on the build.

I have deleted the pic that was in this spot and moved it further down into the series of pics which I will be uploading shortly.

I should mention that this engine is Elmer's #44 Open Column Twin.

-Trout

 

[kendo]

Hi
What a great piece of work,she looks beautiful fella.can't wait to see the rest
when your done. This one post i will be keeping my eye on

Ken

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Very nice looking Trout. I'm interested in seeing more too.

 

[SAM in LA]

Looks great.

I like the look of the brass acorn nuts.

I haven't seen any of those in a long time.

SAM

 

[Metal Butcher]

Hi Trout. What a surprise!

You've made some serious progress on your build. :bow:

I look forward to your future progress reports.

In all my excitement I forgot to say "It looks great!"

Wish I had your patients to polish things up the way that you did.

Keep up the good work.

-MB

 

[4156df]

Hey Trout,
It's looking good.
Dennis

 

[cfellows]

That's a beauty, Trout. I really like the finish.

Chuck

 

[ironman]

Very impressive work Trout. Looks flashy already. Lots of pics OK? ironman

 

[Troutsqueezer]

So this is what I started with and as you can see had a few parts made already before I started shooting pics.

My first stumbling block was how to round the edges of the bearing block. Thanks to the experts here I figured out that by using a bolt and washers I could hand file around the edges of the washer and get the needed effect.

After filing.

After bling.

Next I started milling and drilling the valve plate.

Fly cutting the block. First time I've ever used a fly cutter. I'm in love with that tool now. I've read on here that fly cutting with the X2 may be problematic. Not so. I even held it in the drill chuck to allow for slippage if needed to save the mill gears if it jammed.

This is the pic I've shown before with the block ready for processing and the crankshaft assembly and frame blinged out.

Drilling and boring the block. I used my new boring head which worked like a charm. I'm starting to feel like a real rookie machinist now. For the small 1/16 port vents on the bores I used a cut-off drill bit as an end mill by flattening the end and then I pushed it up into the drill chuck almost all the way with only enough sticking out to make the 1/16 depth cut. I took it very slow but it worked like a charm. I should buy a 1/16 end mill some day but this certainly was cost effective.

This is where I'm at now. The block has been blung and I'm ready to make some round things now. I haven't used my lathe much on this project yet except for the crankshaft. So this week I will make the pistons, after I lap the cylinders.

-Trout

 

[Metal Butcher]

WOW! Things are starting to come together really nice.
I like your approach of building from the ground up, and finishing the parts as you go along.

Super! :bow:

-MB

 

[bearcar1]

Now really trout, 'blung' ??? Is that really a word or did you just make that up Rof} Rof} Rof}

That certainly is a great looking bunch of blung you got going there. :big: :big:

Seriuosly, terrific looking engine, and the use of a modified drill bit as a milling cutter, novel.
Thm:


BC1
Jim

 

[Troutsqueezer]

Thanks guys.

I'm not sure why I polish up the parts as soon as I finish them. Mild Obsessive Compulsive Shiny Disorder I suspect. Then there's this thought I have in the back of my head that if this engine decides not to run, at least it's going to look good up there on my shelf.


"Blinged" just doesn't sound right does it? Turns out there are about 3 different definitions for "blung":

1. When you had bling and you lost it.
2. Used to describe jewelery that is quite fake.
3. Past tense of bling

It follows then that I could have also used the phrase "the bling bling on the block is blung".

-Trout

 

[bearcar1]

Or you just returned from a visit to the local dentist "Hi honey, I blung some phizza home for dinner...." I understand, it just sounds humorous to me, of course "bling bling" sounds too "Gangsta" so go figure. You just can't win. ;D That is a great looking piece of work though.


BC1
Jim

 

[Bill Mc]

Hi Troutsqueezer - Great idea about making small milling bits out of drill bits (especially if you have drill bits which are damaged on the ends anyway). I wrote this tip in my little note book. - Thanx - Billmc

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Rof}
Great.
bling blung

I tend to 'finish' as I go along too and have wondered about it...I've seen some threads where people haven't blinged until virtually all the parts have been done. I can understand the reason for it. But I like seeing the blinged/blunged (now I'm confused) part as soon as I as I can. Even though it's meant some parts sit around and get, er, unblinged because of handling.

In any case...that's some nice blinging.

 

[Troutsqueezer]

Thanks guys.

I started turning the pistons today but didn't have much time left after all the honeydew chores I had to plow through today. When we had a rare heavy snow here in Northern CA. back in December it took out a large number of huge oak tree limbs that I am still sawing up, stacking for firewood and hauling the rest away for burning. Tomorrow may be a better day for some shop time and I'll have another pic to post.

Yep Zee, I was lapping the cylinder today and merely touched it against a metal part on the lathe and what do you know, there's a scratch! Aw, I knew it would happen because as you pointed out, it always does and actually I'm fully prepared to refinish all the pieces before the engine goes to its display case. I bought all five grades of those metal finish compounds from Lowes (gift certificate) and only use the number one grade (coarsest) this early in the game. Later I will work my way up incrementally to the number 5 finish to get that super high gloss mirror effect. But then, if I'm feeling lazy, I might skip the middle grades and jump straight to number 5 if the finish looks good enough for hobby work. :big:

-T

 

[Troutsqueezer]

Greetings fellow Earthlings,

Today, while at work ;D I have been pondering what the logical steps would be to finish up the pistons tonight (or at least one). Here's what I came up with when my brain wandered too far away from my "real" work:

What I have now is a 1" diameter brass rod chucked in the lathe with about one inch turned down so it is a close fit to one of the cylinder bores. That's all I've done so far. I'm thinking it would be in logical order to hollow out the inside of the piston first and drill the small hole for the pin afterward. I'll come back to that however after I ask my main question: Would it work to put a 1/2" end mill in my tailstock and plunge cut the 1/2" blind hole on the lathe? I can track the depth pretty easily as I have a DI on the tailstock. Then maybe I could use a boring tool to cut the 5/8" shelf. Would a two flute work better to allow for chip escape? Or is there a better way entirely?

Assuming I hollowed out the main section first, I'm wondering about the best way to hold the piston to drill the pin hole - before parting which means I would have to re-chuck the piston to part off, or after parting in which case I would have to come up with a way to hold the piston while drilling. Is this a good approach?

FWIW, I don't have any collets yet (if they are part of the solution for holding the piston) but I'm ordering some 5C's with chuck & square/hex holders end of Feb.

-Trout

 

[mklotz]

Using an endmill as you suggest to make a flat-bottomed hole on the lathe is perfectly acceptable. I've done it numerous times and it works well. Use a two flute if you have it but it's really not critical.

Bottom the endmill out in the TS chuck. End mills are hard throughout, including the shank. The TS chuck can't get a good grip on a hardened shank and the possibility of slippage exists.

I would drill the wrist pin (gudgeon) hole first and then part off. Rechucking to part off is no big deal since the sliding surfaces of the piston aren't affected.

 

[Metal Butcher]

I have made quite a few of these Alien parts.

I usually finish the O.D. last. The reason being that on a small piston with a thin skirt, the finished outer diameter on a soft metal piston may magically grow a little oversize. But you may not experience this celestial phenomena if you go very slow with sharp end mills. I normally use four flute center cutting end mills. Afterwards and during the cut-off, I will usually stop at the half way point and back out of the cut-off to break the two sharp corners on the piston with a file or what ever method your accustomed to using. And then I finish up with the parting.

I drill the wrist pin hole in the milling vise, easy does it with the clamping pressure to avoid bloating out the thin skirt. The jaws should clamp on the top and bottom (skirt) of the piston. I zero out the spindle on the 'Y' movement (fixed jaw), shift over and move towards the location, zero out again, this time on the 'X' movement. now I move the spindle to the center of the piston. Drill slightly under size and ream the specified size.

I hope you can understand what I'm saying.

-MB

 

[Troutsqueezer]

Sure am glad I asked. Thanks very much guys. Top notch advice as usual and as always, there's more than one way to skin a cat (not that I would ever do that...)

-Trout