Author Topic: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine  (Read 70938 times)

Offline Artie

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #75 on: September 11, 2010, 06:00:32 AM »
Hey all, got some shop time today and made a start on the eccentric straps. As already detailed Ive made the sheaves so they can be dismantled and this will allow me to use one piece straps and this is todays efforts....

I bolted the four pieces togather and driledl the pilot holes in one go and then seperated them and bored the eccentric sheave holes using the boring head.





These have 0.1mm (4 thou) clearance and 0.2mm side play (8 thou).



These are what they look like in Edgar T Westburys plans.



South Wales, wait...NEW South Wales... Batemans Bay.

Offline Artie

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #76 on: September 11, 2010, 06:25:57 AM »
and these are what thye look like in my build....

bolted the drilled flat plate to the table and faced it off til it was 10.5mm.



Then marked out the raised boss area and trimmed around it...





Then proceeded to reduce the body of the plate down to 4mm..




South Wales, wait...NEW South Wales... Batemans Bay.

Offline Artie

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #77 on: September 11, 2010, 06:29:26 AM »
Fitted the bull nose cutter and radiused the edge of the boss.





And then finished facing the plate at exactly 4mm. The bearing surface of the sheave is 4.2mm.
South Wales, wait...NEW South Wales... Batemans Bay.

Offline Artie

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #78 on: September 11, 2010, 06:37:10 AM »
Theres one done, this will be fitted to a mandrel in the 4 jaw on the RT to radius the big end and also to trimk the unwanted material to shape the strap.





Lot of trimming to be done yet....



And three more to do... and by the magic of photography......





And thats it, these are a nice sliding fit with not discernable slop. Pretty happy with them so far...

Im back on the road tomorrow for a week, see what I can get done after I get back...

Cheers all..

« Last Edit: September 11, 2010, 06:43:30 AM by Artie »
South Wales, wait...NEW South Wales... Batemans Bay.

Offline Artie

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #79 on: September 11, 2010, 11:04:40 PM »
and an idea of what the profile should look like when finished...

No oil reservoir like in Edgars, just a drilling to the journal with a countersunk opening I can jam the oil can into and pump oil through it every so often.

South Wales, wait...NEW South Wales... Batemans Bay.

Offline Artie

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #80 on: October 02, 2010, 05:33:11 AM »
Howdy folks, this has been a pretty slow time. Had much happening and as a result not much time in the shop....but.... a bit for tonight....

This is what Ive got... as you can see from the above C o C I came close to the concept......



And this is how it came about......











Am I ever gonna find a jig I can use more than once??? Made a mandrel (another one!!!) to support the big end and rounded off, trimmed the sides and well, its pretty much self explanatory... no rocket science, just tedious repetitious work... fun at the same time.... hand finished with the files and emery paper..... dont forget your files! The are your friends..... :med:

I had a cock up in the machining sequence and ended up NOT drilling the end holes nearest the big ends on three of the links.... dont ask... brain fade or just tired.. I tried to do some work the other night and felt fine... but after 10 mins of serious concentration I gave up... just weary.... damn close to 50 these days....  :coffee:

And a thought on the DRO's next.....

South Wales, wait...NEW South Wales... Batemans Bay.

Offline Artie

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #81 on: October 02, 2010, 05:50:20 AM »
DRO's......

Ive only recently installed them on my mill.......

Wow..... how the hell did I ever survive without them?

Firstly, I thought long and hard about the units available, my personal thanks to Rick (Balck85vette from HMEM) for his insight and the links he supplied.

I concluded 2 things.....

Firstly I did not want a single unit for this purpose, Im no electronic whizzz (or any whizz for that matter) and if one part of the unit failed, then all were junk....

Secondly individual units were approx half the price of a 3 axis DRO, so I wasnt about to pay that money and (see point above).

So I have them installed and I absolutely love the precision they allow (with such little effort!).

I installed the quill DRO first and imediatley fell in love with it (seriously!), I had the x and y ordered from Hafco and they took absolutely ages to arrive, but when they did, they almost bolted straight up, very little manufacturing required.





The down side is that the readouts are no where as large as the unitised DRO's, ok, I can live with that....



But Im in no way displeased with them.... obsolute rippers!
South Wales, wait...NEW South Wales... Batemans Bay.

Offline jcs0001

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #82 on: October 02, 2010, 09:49:51 PM »
Artie:

Really interesting series of posts.  Having got to the point of making a few ugly aluminum ingots and making a lot of scrap metal on my lathe and mill I really appreciate your work.  Also very much appreciate the amount of documentation you have done - thanks.

John.

Offline Brass_Machine

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #83 on: October 02, 2010, 10:10:12 PM »
Looking good so far. I really like the "action" shots of machining.

Tell me a little more about the DRO.

Eric
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Offline Artie

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #84 on: October 17, 2010, 04:21:51 AM »
A little more... its been sooo long since Ive had shop time.... and today was all hand fitting.... files and sandpaper.... last week I managed to machine the clevis grooves.... that was nice and easy with the DRO's

G'day John, mate, no ingot is ugly... its now potential BILLET STOCK...... and you have the ability to have almost ANY size billet stock you wish... MAJOR advantage.... you are now one of the chosen ones..... oh the arrogance of a caster.....  :D :). Mate its my pleasure to 'show off' my stuff if you and others enjoy it....

Hi Eric, I dont know what to tell you about the items, they are sourced from an Aussie supply company and are branded with their name, however, Im pretty certain the are chinese manufacture.

What do you want to know and Ill do my best to help. These are NOT the ideal set up. They are however cost effective..... and I bloody LOVE them.... life is so much easier/precise/relaxed/ etc etc etc.

Mounting was easier than expected and it works a treat.. so much so that Ive bought another set for the lathe... seperate thread coming up...

Anyway a couple of pics for tonight....

Having cut the clevis grooves I went about hand finishing the parts, not finished as the clevis end hasnt been radiused to size or length yet, just roughly ground on the belt linisher...







I get a real buzz from hand cranking the mill and lathe and then using files and sandpaper to finish the item.... a little old school I guess.... no apologys offered for that though  :beer:

Having said that.... I would LOVE to play with a CNC as well... Ideal world? BOTH hand and CNC.....

I Look like having a couple of weeks where I can get into this a bit so, hopefully, some action on this front....

Cheers

Rob
South Wales, wait...NEW South Wales... Batemans Bay.

Offline Stilldrillin

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #85 on: October 17, 2010, 04:58:11 AM »
Rob.
Those two little assemblies look great!  :clap:

Eagerly looking forward to further action......  :thumbup:

David D
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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #86 on: October 17, 2010, 05:04:12 PM »
Hi Rob


Lookin GREAT  :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: you sure have been busy  :thumbup:


Rob W  :D

Offline Artie

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #87 on: October 20, 2010, 07:01:58 AM »
Hey Roberto.... Busy? nah not really mate Ive had very little shop time of late work has kept me very busy.....  :(

Thanks Dave... its really starting to become fun now..... Im achieving something!

What I do have tonight is a video of the linkages in motion... please be kind, this is my very first engine build and therefore these are my first moving parts.... Im enjoying myself....

Firstly the finished items. I machined the ends of the clevises to length and radius. Used a pin held in the Rotary table with the 4 jaw chuck attached, held the pin in place and moved the arms by hand against the cutter, no pics sorry, it took both hands to make it a safe operation....

However, the result....





Yes they are all polished, not so much for Bling's sake but to remove all sanding marks.... Ill let them tarnish now and stay that way....

Some movement! (sorry about the out of focus pics...used my phone cam....

South Wales, wait...NEW South Wales... Batemans Bay.

Offline Dean W

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #88 on: October 20, 2010, 05:38:54 PM »
"Bigger than War and Peace"..  Maybe so, ArtieRob, but really worth the effort.  They look fab, mate!
Nice to hear your voice in the video, too.
Dean W.

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #89 on: October 20, 2010, 06:08:14 PM »
Rob0  :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow:

crackin job ,,,,,,,,,  :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:  i could play with them all night  :med:



Rob W  :)

Offline Artie

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #90 on: October 20, 2010, 06:21:42 PM »
Hello to the 'pair of W's' Rob and Dean.... thanks mates, loads of fun,.... Rob, updates on your casting of the RSW engine?
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Offline Bogstandard

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #91 on: October 21, 2010, 02:48:41 AM »
Rob,

I haven't been following this post, purely because of the heading. I drool over being able to cast things myself, but not having the room or bodily temperament, I just can't. I do cast up the odd lead hammer now and again.

So I thought I had better have a look see, because casting posts don't usually go on for this long, and what do I find, most of it isn't about casting at all, but building an engine. Now that is something I can follow.

Great post, keep it coming.


Bogs
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Offline Artie

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #92 on: October 21, 2010, 05:54:23 AM »
Hi John, thanks for your kind words, the thread simply evolved from the casting stuff. I had thought about making a dedicated engine build thread but just didnt. If anyone wants it moved, or the moderators think it should, no problem, just let me know... only too happy....

Tonight! I have one half of a crankshaft...... but first some sunny bling.... for no other reason than it looks pretty in the sunshine.....



Now for more serious stuff... the crank. It has been machined up for some time, just now the linkages are finished the time seemed right.... it was an exercise in jigging or more accurately just clamping, and silver soldering.....





Looking rather 'busy' now.. FINALLY!



The shafts were left very long to allow easy alignment and then cut and filed afterwards. Originally I was going to press fit the thing together, after I changed my mind and decided to braise it I had to relieve the clearances a little to allow solder penetration.



Thats it for now, I have more shop time this weekend and hope to produce the plug for casting the entire engine room floor.. this will have raised bosses to mount everything to... its a simple thing so I might even get it cast up... we will see....

Cheers all..

Rob
South Wales, wait...NEW South Wales... Batemans Bay.

Offline Dean W

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #93 on: October 21, 2010, 07:30:36 PM »
Now, with it all together, it looks like it really means business, Rob!  Doing great!
Dean W.

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Offline Artie

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #94 on: October 22, 2010, 07:26:46 AM »
Yes Dean, Im highly motivated... damn the lawns.....

I also have a site manager who is on  my case quite regularly... Gentlemen...

Meet Vespa....



Im surface grinding plate right now... she doesnt like the noise......



So I had to stop..she told me so......



I was doing this...



And seriously... I think the pitch wasnt comfortbale cause she was really quite pissed off... until I turned it off...

It a flywheel grinder which I use to surface steel and cast iron...

Tonight was supposed to be finish the second crank half....but I left the crank cheeks at home.....

So I started making the reversing links... but I needed 5mm plate and only had 6mm in stock...soooo out came the grinder and the magnetic chuck....... damn useful thing...

Cheap too... she only cost just under $10,000 au, of course during the week she actually DOES grind flywheels for a living.... under sufferance of course, til the weekend arrives and I use her for useful stuff.....

So Im making the plates which the Stevenson linkage rods attach. More pics of the design later it all fits here...





And thats it... the shop is about 3kms from home so I cant just drop out and do stuff... it has to be planned to some degree.... it also ajoins to a mates business workshop, we have an arrangement... tonight his wife grabbed me and told me I was joining them for dinner... so not much actually happened as a result...

Vespa enjoyed the pork chop bones though..... anyway, shes tired and has clocked off, so I have to go......



Much more to come over the next few days....

Cheers all

Rob
South Wales, wait...NEW South Wales... Batemans Bay.

Offline Artie

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #95 on: October 22, 2010, 07:41:36 AM »
Ive been asked about Vespa... She is an Aussie Terrier/Silky Terrier cross..... and is a BITCH... my daughters tell me this is an acronym for a Babe In Total Control Of Herself.

As Vespa rules this barnyard, who am I to argue?
South Wales, wait...NEW South Wales... Batemans Bay.

Offline Dean W

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #96 on: October 22, 2010, 08:46:53 PM »
A little pooch makes a good shop mate, Rob.  I have one too.  She lays in the doorway of the shop room, (which is inside my house).  At times she'll just sit up straight and watch my every move for an hour or two.  She's the reason I vacuum the shop floor everyday, as sometimes when I'm in another room, she will lay under the bench.  Don't want her tracking chips into my bedroom!
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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #97 on: October 23, 2010, 05:29:01 AM »
Hi Rob
 :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: dose look stunning  :bugeye: great to see it start to come together  :clap: :clap:

Looking forward to seeing the base casting  :thumbup:  looks like it will be a good size casting  :ddb:

R&B engine ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, mmmmmmmmmmmmm dead stop at the moment ,,,,,,,,,, been a tad crook the past month or so  :bang: :bang: :bang: 


Rob


mumble mumble mumble ,,,, got shop dog envy ,, everyone's got a dog  :(  ,, i just got wor lass  :doh: 

Offline Artie

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #98 on: October 23, 2010, 05:33:29 AM »
    ,, i just got wor lass 

WTF is that?
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Offline Stilldrillin

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Re: Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine
« Reply #99 on: October 23, 2010, 06:08:18 AM »
    ,, i just got wor lass 

WTF is that?

Rob.
A little further south from t'other Rob, it's "ar lass".  :thumbup:

Dooant yer understand plain english rahnd yower side?  :scratch:

David D
David.

Still drilling holes... Sometimes, in the right place!

Still modifying bits of metal... Occasionally, making an improvement!