Shed Matters 3

[Stanley]

I went in the shed much easier in my mind because I am going to address a matter I have been Ignoring, the fact that I totally cocked up when I re-bored the pedestal bearings after cocking up the first time. This morning as you can see I went to some considerable trouble to get set up to bore for the third time. I have stripped the engine down and in the course of doing that I have made sure that all the studs, nuts and bolts are in good order and fit properly. Then I took a long time setting the bed up under the pillar drill and boring the bearings until I had a clean parallel bore. I then measured to make sure I had got it right. Then a careful measure and a decision on the bore and si9ze of the two sleeves I shall make for the crankshaft so that it is a good fit in the bearings. Last I found a piece of 1/2" steel to make the sleeves and that will be the job tomorrow, some accurate turning and I always enjoy that!

[Stanley]

Two hours in the shed making two tiny bushes! I'm not apologising because at knocking off time I have the two bushes in place on the crankshaft, locked in place with Loctite shaft lock and both checked for fit in their bearings. From cock-up to the point where I can say the shaft is a perfect fit in its bearings!

[Stanley]

Mixed bag of jobs this morning. First, install the shaft, tighten the bearings down and check for free running and play. It's tight but that will run in, no play whatsoever. A good fit and actually better than the design because the bearings have more area. It's a win all round.



Next I drilled the plinth for the holding down bolts and fitted the box bed to check I had them right.



The rest of the session was taken up with preparing castings by masking some parts and painting all of them. I used spray paint for this engine....



At closing time I have painted all the castings. The smaller ones are hung up to dry, the box bed, engine bed and the cylinder are on the bench. I was in the shed early and out early. I'll be glad to tidy up in the morning and get back to proper engineering.

[Stanley]

Just one pic that tells you all you need to know about this morning....



I've started the build of the engine because until I have that done I can't easily address the eccentric and valve timing. Slow careful work fine tuning all the studs and fastenings, putting gaskets in and making sure that everything is properly finished as this work is the final build.

[Stanley]

The picture tells the story. I have spent the morning fitting the engine. The flywheel and it's bearings, the crosshead and slide, the cylinder piston and rod and its gland are all finally fitted and don't need touching again. All the studs cut back to nut level.
The valve chest is a temporary fit, I'm not sure where I go from here, I fancy it will be the eccentric and rod then the final fit of the valve chest and lid. That's for tomorrow.

[Stanley]

You might well think nothing has been done..... Not so. The fit of all the bearings on the piston side was perfect except for a slight click in the crosshead. So this morning I spent the first hour making a new crosshead pin and fitting it to get a better fit. There is no click now! I spent the rest of the time in the shed converting a piece of scrap into a blank for the eccentric. That's for tomorrow. High quality work, I'm happy.....

[Stanley]

A nice morning in the shed. I finished making the eccentric and fitting it with its 3/16" Whitworth Unbrako set screw instead of the piddling little set screw provided. During the course of this I went into the drill collection to find 25/64" dill to replace the one in my index which is badly worn and needs dumping. I cleaned Mrs Harrison and started work on the brass casting for the eccentric strap. As usual I am not making it the Stuart way but my way which I think is far better. In the course of doing that I resharpened my cutter.



Knocking off time, ready for more work on the strap. A nice 2 hours, no mistakes so it's a good day!

[Stanley]

Quietly away working on the eccentric strap. Lots of fiddly little operations, like many parts, a lot more to them than meets the eye. I finished up with the strap split. bolted together and under the VM ready for boring. But that's for tomorrow.

[PanBiker]

One for Stanley if you haven't already seen it, it's 40mins worth.

[Stanley]

Thanks Ian but I've watched all Eric's videos. He does a good job and has a good sense of humour.

[Stanley]

All set up yesterday. I started by boring the eccentric strap and made sure I got it right!



Here it is installed on the eccentric. It's tight but that's what I am aiming for. By the time it's been on and off during fitting it will be a perfect fit.



Here's where I ended up. I have measured to check the design length of the connecting link. It's exactly right. I have started work on the link and it's under the mill to put the rounded end on it. This is for tomorrow. So far so good, that's all we can hope for.

[Stanley]

First I finished making the link and fitting it



Here's where I was after an hour and a quarter. The link is fitted and adjusted to give an equidistant throw across the valve face. The next job is to fit the brass support you can see on the valve rod. I made the mistake of drilling and tapping the bed for it before I fitted it and tomorrow I shall have to find a way of rectifying that

[Stanley]

The design committee sat well into the night and came up with a cunning plan, stick paper on the face of the bracket. Blue the pad on the engine bed and press the pad on to get a positio0n for the two holes in the bracket. One was perfect the other was slightly off centre and I had to file the hole in the bracket oval but it's hidden by the bolt head.



Here we are at knocking off time, the bracket is fitted and all is well. I may tweak the bracket slightly tomorrow but that's a minor matter. We're getting close to an engine!

[BobH]

That engine is coming along well, Stanley. I am always interested in how you tackle the machining and overcome the problems.
Today I did a trial assembly of the multipole generator. I too had to file some holes to get the fit right. In my case I needed to move the bearings over slightly to centre the rotor in the coils and prevent any rubbing which could be catastrophic.

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[Stanley]

Everybody has their own style Bob.
I like 'I had to file a few holes'! Yes we all go there don't we.
The dynamo is looking good.

[Stanley]

One picture tells all. I have sorted out all the small problems and we have an engine that has accurately fitted bearings and eccentric strap. I have sorted out the valve train and adjusted it before setting the valve ready for running. All the glands are packed. In short, all that needs to be done is to re-finish the flywheel and install it on the engine. That's for tomorrow.....

[Stanley]

I spent almost the whole of the first hour in the shed completely refitting the steam pipe on top of the steam chest. I had confused 4BA with 5BA when I fitted it originally so that had to be put right.
Next5 I addressed the flywheel which is a sloppy fit on the shaft. So I decided to bore it, bush it and then rebore the bush to the correct size for the shaft. I've got as far as boring the wheel for a half inch bush. The bore has been reamed and checked with a standard.

[Stanley]

Two Pics tell the story. First I made the bush as accurately as I could. I made it an interference fit and pressed it into place in the vice. It will never move again. Then I put the flywheel back in the lathe again and bored it to a close fot on the shaft which turned out to be 9.7mm. Once the boring was done I made the flywheel look pretty by skimming the rim, face and sides, and polished with emery. I have checked the fit but not fitted it yet. I shall have a good think tomorrow. Nice morning....

[BobH]

9.7mm sounds like a bit over 3/8” in christian units. The bit over would be 6.8thou” by my quick calculation. No wonder it caused a problem. Nice looking engine, Stanley.

[Stanley]

Thanks Bob, It's not bad but you have to ignore the fact I didn't quite get the cylinder on straight!
(They'll never see it off the Ribble....)

[Stanley]

Two pictures tell the story. This morning I trimmed the crankshaft, fitted the flywheel using super glue. (It's a miniature engine for God's sake! It's not running 300 looms.) I've lined the bottom of the plinth with rubber to protect any furniture it sits on. The engine is a runner and it's finished. It turns over very smoothly and accurately, the only fault with it is that the cylinder isn't mounted perfectly square. I shall order another set of castings and make another, better one!

[BobH]

Stanley, perhaps you should build the next one opposite hand and put them on a base together as a twin. There is just the downside that it means not building to drawing and errors could ensue

[Stanley]

That's a good thought Bob and I like it. I never check the drawings anyway so it wouldn't mean more mistakes. I shall order another engine immediately!
On second thoughts no. I shall clean up in the shed, do my maintenance on the machines and make a crankshaft.... Then order the castings for the next.

[MickBrett]

There is just the downside that it means not building to drawing and errors could ensue

In my youth, when we had to make opposite hand parts, we had to look through the back of the drawing whilst holding it up to the light.
Fun times...

[Stanley]

That would work. I was dreaming about reversing the hand of the engine last night.....