Werowance attempts Upshur Vertical Single

[werowance]

decided on the Upshur Vertical Single as my next engine, bout the plans studied them a few days then got started last night.

ordered most of my material yesterday and last night the only thing I found that was close enough was the top plate for the engine. plans called for brass or steel but I had a piece of bronze that I had made flat for the Webster engine gas tank but didn't use. so milled it square and thinner, then removed the tool marks with a little sand paper on a sheet of glass. I hope to have my aluminum plate any day now as it wasn't shipping from very far away.

some of these pics you may have seen in my Webster build where I heated and pressed the bronze bushing to make it flat.

 

[werowance]

on my ordering of stock I do have a question. the rod offers 2 different types. a split rod where the rod splits so it can bolt to the crankshaft - required if doing a 1 piece crank shaft and a single piece rod - no split no bolts that can be used only if you do a built up crank. now in my opinion no matter the style of crankshaft I end up doing I still want the 2 piece rod. either of the 2 style rods do not have a bearing in them in the plans. on either end.

so I'm thinking either 2024 aluminum as the plans only say "aluminum" as the material. or a bronze or brass split bearing for the main and a round press in for the piston side. how does one prevent spinning of the main bearing on a split rod? lock tight? or will 2024 aluminum be fine without a bearing?

 

[Brian Rupnow]

On a rod with two piece thin wall bushings, you can always drill the rod and push in a short pin, then put a corresponding hole in the bushing half that sets in the rod. That will keep the half bushing in the rod from rotating, and in turn will keep the half bushing in the rod cap from turning.

 

[werowance]

that's a good idea. the pin could be bronze or aluminum and lock tighted in right

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Yes.---Brian

 

[jlchapman]

I'll be watching this. I have the plans, just have not got around to building it.

 

[werowance]

got a little bit started last night. Wife and I went out of town for our anniversary and got back home Sunday afternoon. in the mail box waiting on me was some 1215 crs for the cylinder, some 6061 aluminum for the body and some ball bearings (an upgrade, the plans don't call for them) for the cam shaft. plans just call for the shaft to ride in the drilled holes in the aluminum side plates. got the aluminum cut up and glued/clamped together with locktight so I could machine as 1 piece and the 1215 cut to usable length and chucked up, faced and cut deep enough to be past the skin. (really wasn't much "skin" on the outer layer) and then had to call it quits for the night.

 

[werowance]

got a little done on the cylinder. outside major diameter cut and drilled just big enough to get my boring bar started last night

 

[werowance]

last night got the minor outside dia cut as well as bored to about .726 which is what my plug gauge (a socket that measures .726) says. ill switch to a real bore gauge tonight when I start back on it.
now when I say I got the minor outside dia cut, the plans originally call for aluminum press on fins but I am going with a solid 1 piece cylinder. so on the fins I should be able to cut them deeper - as deep as the minor diameter as the base of the cylinder is thus giving me more surface area for cooling. fin depth would be the same outside diameter as the base outside diameter. does this sound ok?

I don't know that I have ever used 1215 cold roled steel before but it cuts pretty nice - not as nice as 12L14 but I like it. also leaves a finish as good as 12L14. and its a lot cheaper. I was going to use 1144 but they cancled my order stating that it was mislabeled in their bin and when they pulled it to cut it found out it was misslabled. so he gave me a good price on 1215. much cheaper than either the 1144 or 12L14 would have been.

 

[CFLBob]

Just a comment so that I get the update emails and can follow your build. That 1215 steel sure does look really beautiful, though. That's worth a comment.

 

[werowance]

and we have a cylinder now. will lap it a little before soldering it to the top plate and then finish laping it afterwards just incase there is any residue or something left over from the soldering.

only had to grind my parting tool 3 times to get it right lol. kept over grinding it to thin

 

[awake]

Beautiful! I have never worked with 1215, so I looked it up. It sounds like it is alloyed with sulfur and phosphorous to make a free-machining steel - basically similar to 12L14, but without the lead, so it is just a bit less easy to machine, but far more machinable than 1018. And as you have demonstrated, finishes beautifully! I look forward to seeing this engine continue to take shape!

 

[Johno1958]

Good job and I must say the finish is fantastic.

 

[Art K]

werowance,
I haven't been on this forum for a while but saw you were starting to build the Upshur Vertical single. This was my first engine. Mine has run great for years and I took it apart this summer to do a rebuild on it.

I used the stock I had. This is what I found when I dissassembled it. I am planning to replace the bearings as well as the crank and rod. I am planning to use a bronze bushing this time. It's about .04 oblong and also the crank is undersized. I don't remember what steel I used but the new one will be 1144. Here is my earlier article on HMEM.
https://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/threads/my-first-engine.18599/#post-245774
The way I had it set up it would spin 7500 rpm I used a fractional bearing for the cam and metric for the crank. Pulled out the inner seal on the inside and used splash lube. I had a leaded steel sleeve in the aluminum cylinder. If you have any questions feel free to ask.
Art

 

[werowance]

Thanks Johno, the rod you show is one I had saw earlier and why I questioned the non bronze or brass bearing for the bottom of the rod or whether I might should use 2024 aluminum for it? what aluminum did you use?

werowance,
I haven't been on this forum for a while but saw you were starting to build the Upshur Vertical single. This was my first engine. Mine has run great for years and I took it apart this summer to do a rebuild on it.

I used the stock I had. This is what I found when I dissassembled it. I am planning to replace the bearings as well as the crank and rod. I am planning to use a bronze bushing this time. It's about .04 oblong and also the crank is undersized. I don't remember what steel I used but the new one will be 1144. Here is my earlier article on HMEM.
https://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/threads/my-first-engine.18599/#post-245774
The way I had it set up it would spin 7500 rpm I used a fractional bearing for the cam and metric for the crank. Pulled out the inner seal on the inside and used splash lube. I had a leaded steel sleeve in the aluminum cylinder. If you have any questions feel free to ask.
Art

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Werowance--if you plan on putting a bushing insert in the big end of the rod, use 660 bronze. It machines well and can be purchased in round rods so there is very little waste. Don't use oilite bronze, as it will wear away quickly due to the reversing load on it.

 

[werowance]

this weekend I didn't get much done, managed to make a lap, first picture you will see I have it blued up and marked in quarters, I drilled and taped with a taper tap then sawed it length wise to make the 4 quarters. the taper of the threads end about mid way down the rod so as when a bolt is screwed down that far it start spreading the quarters out. some 800 grit laping compound and the cylinder is almost finished - 2nd picture. I will do the final lap once soldered to the top plate. and third picture is where I got the hole bored in the top plate for the cylinder to be soldered into. the piece of hss tool bit is just to hold it up for the picture.

 

[werowance]

Werowance--if you plan on putting a bushing insert in the big end of the rod, use 660 bronze. It machines well and can be purchased in round rods so there is very little waste. Don't use oilite bronze, as it will wear away quickly due to the reversing load on it.

what about using bronze for the entire rod? to much weight being thrown around maybe? I just see it done a lot on steam engines but didn't know about this one.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Bronze con-rod will work well enough on a low rpm engine. Not good though on anything that revs over 1000 rpm. I used to machine bronze inserts for the big end of engines I built. I came to realize that if lubricated properly, a 6061 aluminum rod will last far beyond the few hours that any of my engines are actually ran. I have never seen a rod worn the way Art's picture shows.

 

[Art K]

I have to admit to putting a lot of miles on my engine. You might say ran hard & put away wet. I usually change the oil in the spring before the NAMES show, and run it at the Badger Steam & Gas in August then the Zanesville show. I probably used 6061 aluminum originally. I also wasn't afraid to run it at high rpm for prolonged periods of time. I had an incident where I melted my Perry carb when I ran it for about 20 minutes at about 6000 rpm. Heat transfer from the head to the carb about 1.5 inches away did it in. In my next engine I used a sort of fiber reinforced plastic to isolate the heat. I never did have it overheat & seize up. In Brian's defense I think I did get it to idle down to 450 Romo's. I haven't gotten much done lately due to my mill computers death.
Art