Vertical single

[joe d]

Hi all

Bits and pieces of this have been in other threads, but it's now far enough along to qualify as a work in progress...

Here's the cross-head guide set up for boring

Here's all the parts that are ready for assembly

and here's what it looks like so far:

A big thank you to those who have provided advice (directly or simply by posting your various tips) this is my first, and parts of the learning curve look vertical from underneath.... ;D

Cheers, Joe

 

[Powder keg]

Looking great!!! Keep the pictures coming.

p.s. I did get your package:O) Thanks!!! Wish the weather would warm up here.

Wes

 

[Brass_Machine]

Hey Joe,

A casting kit? Who is the maker? Those have their own troubles as much as machining from bar stock. Good job so far!

Keep the pictures coming.

Eric

 

[Powder keg]

I forgot to add. I like your sett up where your boring out the cross head slide. Almost to big of a job for that lathe LOL :O)

Later, Wes

 

[joe d]

Eric

From plans here http://www.vintageprojects.com/machine-shop/steam-engine-hobby.html

made the patterns and had them cast, so I can't blame anybody but myself

It was my first run at pattern making as well, but things seem to have worked out ok so far. Somebody else now has the patterns, never know, might see another build!

Wes: You can have my weather if you want it... -20 for several days, followed by a foot of snow last week, mixed with freezing rain, now it's melting, up to + 7 or 8 tomorrow... sure plays hell with arthritic knees! Regarding boring: you don't want to see the rube goldberg gadget I resorted to due to the short length of my boring tool... suffice it to say that it wasn't the most rigid set up. A lot of very VERY light passes! I think you're right, it about maxed out the capacity of the lathe.

Joe



Joe

 

[Brass_Machine]

Joe,

You did the patterns too! Thats pretty cool. The castings look good.

How hard was it to do the patterns? That is a lot of 'firsts' for you with this engine.

I thought the same thing about the lathe setup, but saw that Wes had already posted a comment.

Keep up the good work

Eric

 

[joe d]

Eric

The hardest part of the patterns was remembering to allow for "draft" , otherwise pretty straightforward wood-working. The foundry I used wanted the patterns as whole pieces as opposed to in halves on moulding boards, which simplified things in some respects. On the other hand, no cores, so the cross-head guide and the cylinder are solid: I've got a lot of material to remove. Oh well. If it was easy, it wouldn't be so much fun!

Joe

 

[Bernd]

Joe,

Nice work all around. Very nice workmanship. And keep those pics coming. They are inspiring.

Bernd

 

[Alphawolf45]

I am sorta encouraged to see this build.I would like to see any pictures of the patterns that you made..I am presently building much the same engine . It will be my first engine build also.

 

[Mcgyver]

I am really impressed with the amount of grass roots model engineering going on, guys making their own designs, patterns and castings. i would guess its partially in response to the prices of casting kits - whats a 7A these days? - not sure but i bet you need to be sitting down. As you Joe and others write about it, I think it makes it more accessible to others which is a great contribution.

can you comment on what it was like working with the foundry - how you sourced it, how interested they were in one-of's, and how they priced it? I assumed they put your's in with a bunch of others - did you have to take what you got so far as alloy goes?

thanks

 

[joe d]

Alphawolf45: Check your PMs...

Mcgyver: Kind of worked up to the castings in reverse: did all the bar-stock bits first, simply because the stock is easy to get. Once I had to get on with the castings, started out with a "google" search that didn't find me much, and then came up lucky with good old Yellow Pages... found a foundry (sorrry, had to ;D) that is about a ten minute walk from my house. Re-drew the plans in 1:1, brought them in and asked if they did such one-offs... turns out the fellow has done work for live-steamers in the area, recognized the bits for what they were, and said sure. Had a choice of red or yellow brass, or bronze, with a promised time span of a week in order to fit it in on the tail end of one of his commercial pours. I got the feeling that he would not have been at all interested if I had needed him to produce the patterns as well. On the other hand, he re-iterated several times that I really had to bring back the engine for him to see once it's finished, so I will... never know when I'll need more stuff cast! In conversations with a few others, it does seem that I paid at the high end of the scale, but it is next door, and there wasn't a lot of other choices in the area.

Cheers, Joe

 

[joe d]

Progress.....

Been working on the steam chest;
Heres the basic casting

Here it is milled to size, with the interior removed by chain drilling, the valve gland (unfinished) and the valve guide:

Heres all the bits finished with machining:

and here it is mocked up:

It's going to be put on the back burner for a bit as I've joined the Team Build, and need to create a boring head for my little mill before I can bore the cylinder.

Joe

 

[joe d]

More progress: finished my parts for the team build, so got back to the vertical single: still haven't made or bought a boring head, so I went ahead with the flywheel instead of the cylinder

The rough casting:

Turned to size, and drilled out like a swiss cheese to remove the most of the excess material:

finished turning, and stuck on the crankshaft just to see how it looks

Still have lots of polishing to remove chatter & tooling marks, and I'm still debating whether to follow the plans and just drill and tap for a set-screw, or to get real busy and do a collet type fitting.... decisions, decisions.....

Cheers, Joe

 

[Brass_Machine]

looking good Joe!

Eric

 

[Bogstandard]

I know this is a bit late to mention to you Joe, but this post might help others in the future who need to put a recess in a flywheel. If you go a bit further down the post, there is a vid of it in action.

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=844.0

BTW, coming along nice there Joe.

John

 

[Alphawolf45]

I like it that you made the wood patterns and had the parts cast and now youre thinking how you want to do things and then machining all the parts.. Thats pretty well doing it all yourself.. Thats just really excellent Joe...

 

[joe d]

Added a compound to my arsenal, and was then able to bore and turn a nice tapered collet type fitting, with a matching tapered bore in the hub of the flywheel. Tightened it up on a piece of drill rod as an arbour and trued it up. Runs really smoothly, no discernible wobble. Bogstandard posted about this a while ago, I'd add the link but I haven't found the thread it was in....

Front side, with collet visible (SH capscrews will be replaced with SS Hex head)

Rear view, still a little bit of chatter marks to get rid of...

Cheers all, Joe

 

[Bogstandard]

Joe,

I think it was Chuck who brought up the tapered collet idea.

Things are looking real well.

John

 

[joe d]

Further progress:

As posted elsewhere, I built an adjustable boring tool holder in order to bore the cylinder on the mill as it is far too unbalanced to bore on my Taig lathe without shaking the machine to bits... tried it out and am happy to report that it works just fine. Had a minor issue with some chatter, a friend pointed out the value of a stiffer boring tool, he was right, all is good now!

Milling the bolting flanges on the rotary table

Using the shiny new boring tool holder

The end result:

I'm getting there... more than half done now!

Joe

 

[Brass_Machine]

Looking good!

Eric