Author Topic: Side Valve IC engine (Read 20310 times)

NormanV · « **Reply #25 on:** April 01, 2015, 03:32:27 PM »

I've finally got back to this engine. I cleaned up the feet and drilled the mounting holes and then mounted it on the faceplate. I put a wooden bung in the top of the cylinder to aid lining it up and then faced the top.
Tomorrow I need to make the final cut to obtain a good surface.
To bore it I'm going to use a piece of 25mm Dia BMS bar as a boring bar. I've got to go in 120mm and I think that my 12mm boring bar will be too flexible with that much overhang.

vtsteam · « **Reply #26 on:** April 01, 2015, 06:40:54 PM »

You're coming along, Norman!

NormanV · « **Reply #27 on:** July 01, 2015, 10:20:22 AM »

I've finally made some progress with this engine. I have cast the cylinder head and the cover. Here are the patterns.

NormanV · « **Reply #28 on:** July 01, 2015, 10:24:50 AM »

The cover is a simple casting as it has a flat bottom.
I have often been dismayed at the time my furnace takes to melt the aluminium, I have been too embarrassed to quote my times but for this casting I only had to melt 1kg of metal and it was liquid in 20 minutes so there is obviously nothing wrong with the furnace it is just that previously I have been melting 3-4 kgs which usually takes an hour.

NormanV · « **Reply #29 on:** July 01, 2015, 10:29:11 AM »

The cylinder head was a bit more complicated as it has recesses on both sides plus the boss on the end produces an undercut. I thought that I would get around that by making a board with a cut out to cover the undercut. There was a bit of a gap between the board and the pattern, I had no putty or plasticene to plug the gap so I made a flour and water dough which did the job admirably.

NormanV · « **Reply #30 on:** July 01, 2015, 10:33:50 AM »

The intention was to remove the board after doing the first ramming with sand, but like an idiot I forgot. This meant that the casting has a flange all the way around it! The inside of the casting turned out well so I will just trim it down rather than recast it. I also had some of the sand break away on the outside but that will machine off.

awemawson · « **Reply #31 on:** July 01, 2015, 11:00:53 AM »

Not too bad at all Norman - heck of a hot day to be casting !

NormanV · « **Reply #32 on:** July 01, 2015, 12:52:53 PM »

It was the warm weather that made me want to be outside, I didn't spend much time standing near to the furnace though.
The sand was lovely and warm, last time I did any casting it was near freezing!

vtsteam · « **Reply #33 on:** July 03, 2015, 12:08:12 PM »

Now that is familiar looking!!

First casting for my Tecumseh 6hp IC to steam engine conversion.

Good work, Norman!

NormanV · « **Reply #34 on:** July 03, 2015, 02:08:06 PM »

Gosh, they are very similar!
I've decided not to be so lazy and to cast another cylinder head, the metal is in the furnace as I type.
I had stupid problems moulding the sand. First attempt, I'd opened the mould and put in a screw to lift the pattern and as I removed the screwdriver from the screw it caught in the Phillips recess and dislodged the pattern. Second attempt, the sand dropped out as I opened the mould! By now I had run out of talcum powder as parting so I used some fine dry sand, that worked fine.

NormanV · « **Reply #35 on:** July 03, 2015, 02:56:00 PM »

Here is the new cylinder head. There is quite a lot of flashing on it as I made the pattern without any draught and relied on the rapping to loosen it in the sand to allow removal. The recesses on both surfaces are fine, I've a bit of cleaning up to do but the time saved in pattern making more than compensates for that.

NormanV · « **Reply #36 on:** July 03, 2015, 03:34:10 PM »

Here it is after a few minutes with a file and a hacksaw.

tom osselton · « **Reply #37 on:** July 03, 2015, 03:39:56 PM »

Turned out well!

vtsteam · « **Reply #38 on:** July 03, 2015, 03:45:19 PM »

Looks good Norman!

NormanV · « **Reply #39 on:** July 14, 2015, 09:34:22 AM »

I got back to boring out the cylinder of the engine. Firstly I had to make a more rigid boring bar. My 12mm dia one was causing chatter. I obtained a piece of 22mm square steel that was the largest size that would fit my toolholder. It made quite a beefy holder.

NormanV · « **Reply #40 on:** July 14, 2015, 09:46:40 AM »

I then cleaned up the bore and started work on the waterspace. I was about half way through and all appeared to be going well. Then I noticed a change in the sound of the cutter. I stopped the machine to check what was happening. My homebrew digital readout made from a tyre depth gauge had somehow shifted and I had cut too deep, so deep in fact that I had parted off the top of the cylinder from inside!

My immediate reaction was that was the end of this motor, but after a little thought I realized that this may not be a catast.... catastro...... problem. Having the cylinder in two halves means that I can machine the water space more accurately and then make a spacer to join the two halves back together. The cylinder is going to have a cast iron sleeve anyway so it should all go together ok.

P.S. catastrophe

awemawson · « **Reply #41 on:** July 14, 2015, 10:49:00 AM »

Oops !

Glad to see that you've found an upside - give me those positive vibs

vtsteam · « **Reply #42 on:** July 15, 2015, 12:02:07 PM »

Aha, Plan B!

NormanV · « **Reply #43 on:** August 14, 2015, 03:35:11 PM »

I've decided to give up on this engine, at least for now. There are just too many unknowns, I will keep the patterns and maybe later I will try again.

awemawson · « **Reply #44 on:** August 14, 2015, 05:45:31 PM »

Come on Norman, that's not the spirit that got you to the Falklands and back - dogged determination needed

vtsteam · « **Reply #45 on:** August 23, 2015, 08:34:56 PM »

Sometimes it's good to start over, though, and with past experience things go well and quickly. Plan B can be melting down a half finished casting and pouring a new one.

SteveT · « **Reply #46 on:** September 03, 2015, 02:30:49 PM »

Impressive work looking forward to seeing the project progressing

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Author Topic: Side Valve IC engine (Read 20310 times)