Philip Duclos "Victorian" IC engine project

[cedge]

John
It's just another case of spending a whole lot of hours making something that could have been easily solved for about $30.00....LOL. I could have gotten the gears ready made, but where is the fun and in that? I learned a whole new set of skills and, as you say, I can look at it knowing I made the whole darned thing with my very own grubby hands.

I cut the cast iron piston rings last night and will cut the piston to match them later today. The con rod will also be attacked in earnest. Then everything will be positioned and bolted onto the base. That will let me turn the crank under power to finish the gear fitting. Still lots fiddly bits to make, but it's definitely looking more and more like an engine every time I do something.

Steve

[sbwhart]

Stew
Since nothing was moved in the setup, the point of the tool was used to realign the blank. The tool bit was made from drill rod so it could be machined on the mill. It was then heated and dropped in oil to harden it. A diamond hone was used to touch up the cutting edge.

first time I've tried hardened  drill rod as a cutting tool but it works a treat. It also offers a lot of new options for profiles.

Steve

Thanks for answering my questions Steve.  Nice job with the gears by the way 

Stew

[SPiN Racing]

Nicely Done!

Watching this thread in earnest. Still learning stuff.. ideas and methods..

[cedge]

You guys are still here?....LOL  Okay we'll keep going. It's a little hard to stop when you know you're being watched.

The project cleared a couple of hurdles over the past two days. The rings were turned from the remaining small piece of Durabar cast iron and then I launched off into uncharted waters. Cutting the rings was no big deal. Lots of care was taken to get the dimensions right and the end product was 2 small rings measuring .750 x .0625 with a wall thickness of .0312. That is 1/32 of an inch for those who are still getting used to decimals. The darned things even felt fragile.

Now.... the rings had to be split. Thank the gods for good advice from a local friend and machinist who builds IC engines. On my recent visit, he showed me a couple of tricks I didn't know I needed. One was the easy way to split a cast iron ring that looks like it would fall part under any sort of stress. The photo below shows how the the ring splitting was done. It was slipped over the end of a MT2 taper and then gently struck with a piece of brass. It split cleanly and happened so fast that at first I thought the piece had broken.

The photos were taken after the rings had been completed, so bear with me when you see the gaps are already opened.



The other trick my friend John shared with me was his method for heat treating the rings to prevent warping or uneven heating. He showed me his little aluminum "can" that he made for just that purpose. The rings needed to be expanded so they will spring against the cylinder walls. This is done by placing a spacer in the gap and then placing the rings inside the "can" and closing the lid. The can was then placed in the kitchen oven at 500° for an hour and then left to cool, unopened. The aluminum spreads the heat evenly and cools the same way, preventing warp and relieving any stress the machining might have induced.



Once the rings were cool, the ends of the gaps were filed to allow the rings to fit within the cylinder bore with .003 left in the gap for what I assume is expansion clearance. The end result was a beautiful fit. The piston was then turned and the grooves were cut to fit the original inner diameter of the rings, plus .001 (who really cuts a .0005 pass on a hobby lathe?) The copper wire in the ring groove is there to keep the piston from disappearing down the cylinder bore while I'm handling it.



I then moved back to the lathe to turn the basic shape of the modified connecting rod. Once the contour was as I wanted it, the piece was moved to the mill to give it the flat surfaces. Yes.... I know the vice is more stable in the middle and yep... that small end is probably a great place for a machinist jack, but I was only removing .010 per pass for a total take of .0625. No harm, no foul.... and it worked out fine. The big end was still very firmly attached to a nice solid supportive piece of brass hex bar which.



The big end got the same treatment, along cuts for the bolt heads. The piece was then cut off the hex bar before drilling the end cap bolt holes. Brass was chosen for the connecting rod due it's wear properties, since the crank design made installing a bushing impractical.



The big end was made longer than its final configuration so it could be cut away. The end cap bolt holes were drilled prior to the separation so things could be cleanly re-mated. My handy dandy carbide saw blade made easy work of the cut. The setup is much more stable then it appears and the blade was introduced slowly and advanced into the cut in quite small increments. A final pass with an end mill put the mating surface to rights and once bolted together, let me drill and ream the journal bearing surface in the proper spot.



The con rod was then fitted to the crank shaft for a test fit and with a bit of oil, proved to be spot on. Just enough friction to let me know it was a good fit and little enough to allow for an easy lapping fit with a bit of metal polish, just to slick it all up.



Another couple of steps out of the way. The piston and con rod will get some attention tomorrow as the wrist pin is fitted and the crank is tested int he crank case. I'm a wee bit concerned that the modification to the con rod might require some clearance adjustments to the inner bore, but that remains to be seen. Tomorrow should tell more of that story, as some of the assembly process begins in earnest.

Steve

[Stilldrillin]

You guys are still here?....LOL  Okay we'll keep going. It's a little hard to stop when you know you're being watched.
Steve

Still here Steve.....  

A little quiet, perhaps. ......  

Thoroughly enjoying/ admiring every word, every pic.  

David D

[sbwhart]

Still watching Steve

I've been reading an article in Model Engineer about making cast iron piston rings and you got the method spot on  , its all coming together well.

Stew

[Brass_Machine]

You guys are still here?....LOL  Okay we'll keep going. It's a little hard to stop when you know you're being watched.

...

Yup here watching and waiting. Very nice job on the connecting rod BTW.

The piston and ring info is great. I would have never thought of that. Thanks!

Eric

[kvom]

Me too!

[DeereGuy]

Same here Steve, learning something new everyday

[cedge]

No major parts made this weekend, as I began fitting things together so they work properly together and catching some of the small items, like spacers, that I've needed to make, up to this point. 

The crank case was relieved enough to miss the crank bolts and the crank now clears the walls for a nice smooth rotation. I can highly recommend having a rotary file bit in your tool box. It saved me hours of hand filing work in awkward places and positions.

Once those thing were all taken care of, it was time to assemble the parts and pieces in a semi permanent state. The photo below shows the connecting rod installed along with  the temporary piston. Installing it became almost second nature while the crank case was being expanded. It was a little tricky since the end cap had to be held onto the crankshaft with a piece of copper wire while the nuts were being inserted from the top of the engine base.  The copper wire was then removed to allow things to rotate.



The gears still needed to be bedded in, so once the cylinder was fitted back on the base and the small gear was secured tot he shaft, it was time to see just how well things were really fitting. The little engine was placed on the lathe bed  and the crank shaft was secured in the three jaw chuck to give it a spin. Since the lowest speed on my lathe is 100 rpm, that is where things began. The final run speed was at 500 RPM and if you look closely, the camera shows no hint of vibration in base. Smooth as silk.



The whole process took a while, with several grades of polishing materials being used. I began with a gray stick compound which is typically used for quick scratch removal and as things began to settle in, progressed to my preferred finishing polish, called MAAS. It's similar to Flitz or Semi-chrome and leaves a super fine finish without leaving unwanted grit behind during clean up. A bit of cutting oil was added to the mix just to make sure there was enough lubrication to prevent any chance of binding as the metal worked against itself. The gray slurry in the photo is oil and MAAS after about 30 minutes of run time at about 500 rpm.  The gears are now feel close enough to finished to attempt to run the engine when the time comes.



Even with the temporary piston and no rings, the engine is already proving to have very good compression. After a squirt of light oil into the bore I placed my thumb over the hole and was delighted to see strong spray of oil mist escape as the compression easily lifted my digit and them sucked it back hard enough to leave an imprint of the bore on the thumb pad.

The bearing cover was drilled and bolted in position using 4-40 hex head cap screw. Like others on the board, I dislike using socket head screws on an engine like this one. It just deserves better.



Tomorrow, I'm off in search of band saw blades. The last one in the place gave up the ghost while cutting the material for the cylinder head. That certainly slowed progress a bit.....(grin). Hopefully, I'll be back in the shop later tonight to at least begin gathering materials for the governor build.

Steve

[Bernd]

Steve,

That took a lot of brass b***'s to run that engine like that without tying it down. It may not have vibrated but the lathe could have.

But looking very good and I can't believe the detailed process you are putting into that engine. Nice. 

The thing I'm learning here is that you need to put full concentration on one project and see it through to completion. My problem is to many things interest me and I never finish one project.

Keep up the good work.

Bernd

[cedge]

Bernd
By the time I took that photo, all the vibration was pretty much gone. What you don't see is me holding the engne in my hand until it wore in a bit. The engine was only on the lathe bed once it was obvious it was stable. Brass ones maybe, but they're not so big as to make me hurt me or the engine....(wink)

I long ago learned that if I had too many things going at one time, nothing got completed. I've got a long listof builds I want to do, but I'm not a huge multi-tasking type where technical things are concerned. I like to be able to think my way through a project un-distracted by other nagging projects. If I'm working more than one engine, the planned mods and such get jumbled up in my head.

Steve

[cedge]

Today I gambled a bit and took on a project that saw the cam gear back on the mill for a bit of careful, and I do mean careful, modifications. With all the work in making it one piece, cutting the gear and running it in for smooth operation, this step could have burned a whole lot of work.

The cam on the rear of the gear actuates a rod which controls the exhaust valve in conjunction with the governor. A roller runs inside the rim of the cam side of the gear which rides up on the cam when the engine is ready for a power stroke. This action is somewhat hidden in the original design, so I decided to reveal things a bit so the action can be seen.

The operation began with some careful calculations and a couple of drawings, just to prove the idea was going to fit in the limited space and accommodate the cam. Once everything checked out, the gear was placed on the rotary indexer and drilled for creating six spokes.



As thing progressed, it didn't look much like spokes, but everything was fitting where it was supposed to be and unwanted metal was disappearing at a nice pace.



The whole gear is about the size of a silver dollar and the interior of the cam ring is a radius of only 3/4 inch and drops to 19/32 inch where the cam runs along the rim. Did I mention that the central hub robs both dimensions of 1/4 inch radius? Like I said, things were tight and large movements were not on the menu. As The last cut was made and 6 small spokes emerged, I got the chance to breathe again.



Once the gear was off the mill, I began hand filing the spokes to reshape and contour the corners and edges.  I enjoy file work and the time it gives me to think ahead consider any other changes I want to add. The session was quite peaceful and soon the small gear was taking on a nice old fashioned look. Three of the spokes were completely independent and were quickly knocked out. The remaining three were a bit more of a puzzle. The one center of the cam is heavily attached the cam by about half the thickness of the spoke. This required some very delicate file work, especially since half of the spoke was embedded in a solid mass.

The outer two spokes just miss the ramp to the cam and gave little room to maneuver. This is where patience and a steady hand come in handy.



Here is the reverse side, showing the cam and the embedded spoke. Now all it needs is a bit of final polishing to improve on the current hand filed finish.



I think the results were worth all the sweat and the open look should make the engine even more interesting to watch when it's running. Ya just gotta love a good challenge like this one....(grin)



Steve

[Brass_Machine]

Steve,

 

That gear is a work of art. 

Wow. Just wow.

Eric

[sbwhart]

That's fantastic work Steve  it really adds to the the engine appearance.

 

Stew

[spuddevans]

That is some really beautiful handywork. You sir, have a keen eye for detail and a steady hand to achieve what your eye beholds.

 


Tim

[Stilldrillin]

OH, MY........

That`s some beautiful work you`ve done there Steve! 

 

David D

[bogstandard]

Just one thing Steve, you have done such a wonderful job on the top gear, the bottom one now looks a little bulky. Maybe that requires the same treatment 


John

[NickG]

That took even bigger balls to start attacking the fine gear with the mill and rotary table! I agree it was worth it though, looks spectacular now! 

[Darren]

You've really opened my eyes with this one Steve, I'd never have thought this could be done on manual machines 

[Bernd]

Ya, what they said above. WOW  Now that takes guts.

I have to give you a couple of    for that one. I'm impressed.

Bernd

[cedge]

Thanks for hanging in here with me guys. The encouragement is keeping it all going and makes it fun to share the project.

Darren.... if it can't be done manually... please don't tell me....LOL.  It's all based the bumblebee theory... if I don't know I'm not supposed to be able to fly, I can ignore the fact that I can't.

But I digress. I got a phone call, today, chiding me for the long silence on this thread....(grin). Worry not.... I've been steady at it, between taking care of family obligations and attending small local weekend tractor and engine shows, so without further delay....here goes.

This installment begins with a slug of rather ugly cast iron which was turned oversized to allow me a bit of room for creativity. I'm steadily drifting away from the original Victorian design, more and more, as I add small touches of my own. The critical dimensions are still those Duclos prescribed, but the devil is in the details of the final product.... as you will soon see.



That slug of iron is the genesis for the engine's cylinder head. The first attempt went well, right up to the moment I was counter drilling flat spots to seat the acorn nuts I'd chosen to use instead of socket head bolts. I'd already completed a lot of polishing and hand finish work when I was bitten on the arse by an old adage. Measure twice and cut once. Add in the mistake of seeing one end mill with my eyes and my hand grabbing the next larger one and things went pears shaped.... real fast. I managed to open an unwanted hole directly into the combustion chamber, ruining hours of work. This is why you'll possibly notice two versions of the head in the photos.

The photo below shows the head from the bottom side where the combustion chamber and the valves can be seen. The valves are 5/16 inch in diameter and 1 1/32 inches long. The seat angle is 45° and only 1/16 inch in length. Yep.... we're working tiny here. The valves were successfully lapped and the cast iron cooperated, giving me a nice tight seal. Too bad, this head would sadly die only half an hour later...(grin).



Here you see the cylinder head from the top, with the valves in place. You also get a first peek at the newly reshaped water jacket and cylinder. More on that change to he original version in a moment.



Sometimes, serendipity or perhaps, even more rarely seen, synchronicity enter the picture. The tulip contour, along with the need for a little added  metal in one section of the head lead to several interesting "obstacles".  The use of a ball end mill along the corners of all vertical areas also added to the fun. The Tulip shape required a bit of an under cut to the bottom edge of the head. When everything combined, the end result was a series of odd looking edge lines around the head, once it was turned back to the final dimensions.

None of this was predicted when the cutting began.... it just came to be as things progressed. The photo below shows the end results. I typically do a lot of hand filing to get the look I like, so my first thought was "no biggie... it can be filed away". As the filing began, some very nice clean flowing lines began to present themselves to my eye. They were pleasing in a natural sort of way so I began to try to figure out how to use them instead of removing them. I liked the results and they are now part of the design. No straight edges in my world...(grin)



Once again, the obligatory test fit photo..... (grin). The valve springs and keepers are now in place, all the head ports are drilled or threaded and the acorn nuts are installed. The head will have a lot of brass attached to it as the carburetor, muffler, oiler and the cam roller assembly, so I toned the head down a bit after it was all   polished. It received a gun blue treatment which was then lightened to a "Hematite" silver using a gentle 0000 steel wool rub. The lower neck was also given a bluing, but left darker to help highlight the tulip contour.



As I mentioned early on, this engine is destined to become "my" engine, but will remain a tribute to the skills and generosity of Philp Duclos. I dunno.... but I think he just might approve... eh?

Steve

[Stilldrillin]

Steve........

I just don`t have the words to write.......... 

Sorry........ 

David D

[cedge]

This installment deals with a re-engineering project that I'd been mentally toying with ever since the engine build began. The original design called for a very simple governor that strapped two springs to the flyballs to force them to collapse at low RPM. Functional, but with its square shafts and those springs hanging out like sore thumbs, I decided I wanted something a bit more complex and visually mechanical.

The redesign began with a pirated copy of Bogster's Crap-O-cad V.3.0 which I nabbed while he wasn't looking. This highly technical program gave me a chance to think the basics through while enjoying the fact that Bogster was out for one copy of his best...(grin). From this simple sketch, I launched off into the creative voids.



The first thought was to use a simple pair of simple straps running from the ball rods back to the lower tensioner, but space was a wee bit tight in there between the rods and the crank shaft. The connectors were finally made at a 90° so that they could fold up neatly and still allow full travel of the flyballs. When expanded, the linkage almost appears to be a small eagle with its wings spread. The spring was hand wound, but it is a shot in the dark which will probably have to be adjusted a bit once the engine is running. I made several of differing tensions to deal with that when the time come.



I then began the flywheel which is seen here in its first fitting. The rim is hot rolled steel which donated to the cause by Zuesrekning. Thanks Tim. The center is brass which was press fitted (.004 overlapped dimensions) using my patented 4 pound press. Can you say small sledge hammer?  The final version will be a 6  curved spoke flywheel which will allow the works to be seen and contribute to the opened up look I've been chasing. 




Since the first photo gave a small insight into the thought process in use, the last one will give another peek. Here the fuel tank is getting a bit of experimentation and visualization. This type of thing helps me get a better image in my head of how I will want to secure it when its time comes. The tank is a small steam engine boiler that is doing stand in duty until I've made the real deal. I had planned to use a hexagonal tank, but once it was tried out , it was immediately and definitely apparent that it was not meant for this project.




The ignition system will be ordered on Monday and the carb and exhaust muffler are yet to be built, but the project is getting closer to completion than I expected to be by now. Hopefully this one will be running before Labor Day when I'm supposed to exhibit some of my engines.

Steve

[shoey51]

what a great bit of workmanship looking forward to seeing the finished job now