Shed Matters 3

[Stanley]

More work on the refinement and fitting of the bottom crankshaft bearings. I spent almost half an hour filing to a final fit and then realised I had one more cut to make. I had to put the 5/8" cutter back in but made the cut and fitted the brasses. Then I checked the width of the flywheel between the brasses. There's always something! Tomorrow I shall put the crankshaft back in the lathe and take a skim down each side of the wings..... We're getting there!

[Stanley]

Just one job this morning... reduce the width of the crankshaft webs until they fit in between the brasses on the engine. The first part of that was to start afresh with my HSS cutter. Take a fresh piece of cobalt HSS and sharpen it carefully, hone it with a fine diamond hone and test it for centre on a piece of scrap steel. Then turn the webs down and re-finish the webs. Then off to the Co-op for the weekly shop.

[Stanley]

I wasn't satisfied with the amount of room there was between the brasses for the crank web so I took a 1/32" skim of the inside of each brass and that cured that! Then I fitted and drilled the top brasses for the holding down bolts. Then marled the bed for two of them and drilled them. I have tapped one 4BA and it was closing time so I left it at that. Plenty of time tomorrow!

[Stanley]

Slowly forward with fitting the top bearing caps. Slow because everything had to be refined, the size of the clearance holes in the lugs, the clearance for the nots, the length of the threads on the studs (This latter made more difficult because I must have had a bad batch, two of the studs sheared in two as I was threading them and had to be replaced.)Eventually I got them fitted and drilled for the other two studs. At closing time I had just one more to thread. That's for tomorrow!

[Stanley]

Late into the shed due to domestic matters but I finished tapping for the studs and fitted the top brasses. Once they were on I drilled the oil hole and cut a pocket in each. Then put some tackle away, reinstate the normal cutter on the mill and tidy up. A good three quarters of an hour!

[Stanley]

This morning the job was to bore the crankshaft bearings. I went about it as usual, setting up in the compound vise under the pillar drill and after checking positioning, boring first 1/4" and then 1/2". As you can see I wasn't totally satisfied with my first set up so I reversed the bed and bored the other bearing from the opposite side. Than I ran the 1/2" reamer through from both sides and now I am certain my bores line up. Very satisfying because I avoided a serious mistake by being super careful..... A good hour and a quarter!

[Stanley]

The first thing I did was install the crankshaft and check it for fit. It was fine, so I stripped the castings down preparatory to painting them. This was where I ran into trouble. I have been using the same black paint for 40 years and i reached the end of the road today. It is all unusable so I have binned the lot. I managed to do the base, bed and flywheel with a new can of black spray paint. The cylinder has to be done with a small brush and I will get a new can of black paint to do it, preferably Humbrol which is excellent for small jobs. Not a perfect morning in the shed but no disasters and still a step forward.

[Stanley]

Later on Wednesday..... I have bitten two bullets, first by spending £10 on 250cc of Hammerite smooth black and secondly by spending £30 (inc. P&P) on a letter drill index. I have been looking for one for years and rejecting them because of the cost but decided today that as I can only find 3 for sale on the whole of the internet it was perhaps time to bite the second bullet.
Once I get it I can load it up with my letter drills and establish exactly which ones are missing from the set. I can then buy them.....

[Stanley]

I started the morning by sanding the permanent base for the engine and cutting the padding for the base to protect furniture. I mounted the bed on the base, re-installed the crosshead guides and then put the brasses back in, fixed the studs with Loctite thread lock, installed the crankshaft and oiled the bed. Next I shall screw the base down on the baseboard and then I can install the cylinder and and paint it. Lots of small jobs and steady progress.

[Stanley]

It was genuine. A full set of HSS number drills in an index. Not the very best quality like Morse or Cleveland but nevertheless a full set. They doin't get used very often but when they're needed they're essential.
All those years searching and it was as easy as that.

[Stanley]

I mounted the base and bed castings on the baseboard and then fitted the cylinder. I shall paint the cylinder in place on the bed. I didn't want to start painting this morning so I addressed a matter I knew was going to come up.... I knew the crankshaft was going to be a bit short on length to enable the flywheel to clear the bed because my stock for the shaft was only just long enough. I cut one collar for the shaft and bored it the wrong size! I'll sort that out tomorrow morning.

[Stanley]

I started by finishing the collar for the shaft and made sure that it was wide enough to make the flywheel clear the bed. Then after measuring I cut back the boss on the outside so that the crankshaft reaches through to the outside of the boss. Than I polished the whole of the flywheel and made it pretty. That got me to the stage where I can paint the cylinder but want to have a full shift to do that so I will address painting tomorrow. A nice productive hour!

[Stanley]

I started the day by painting the parts of the cylinder that need it. Then I cleaned the end of the shaft and installed the flywheel using Loctite shaft fit. Then it was housekeeping, I changed the jaws on the chuck back to the internal one and then cleaned Mrs Harrison. That will do for this morning. a productive three quarters of an hour.

[Stanley]

This morning I have been getting castings ready for the next phase, this includes putting a centre in the end of the rectangular stock that I shall make the connecting rod out of. As you can see from the first image, the flywheel is mounted and spinning beautifully and I couldn't resist demonstrating this!

[Stanley]

I have spent this morning making the valve the right size and shape. You'd be surprised how many operations are needed! I am nearly there, only the width to adjust and then I can actually make it into a valve!

[Stanley]

This morning I started by reducing the width. There was so much to take off the casting I opened the valve chest up to check and 7/8" from 1 1/8" was correct so I cut that. The next job was to swap to a 1/4" cutter and cut the groove in the valve that holds the driver bar. I did that and finished ready to cut the recess in the bottom of the valve needed for it to function. That's for tomorrow. This morning was a good error free hour and a quarter.

[Stanley]

I started by refining the fit of the driver in the slot in the valve. Then I cut the recess in the bottom face of the valve. Next I marked the valve for the level of the hole for the valve rod. I drilled that 3/16" to allow space for the 5/32" valve rod to float in the hole. Then I marked the driver, drilled it and tapped it 4BA for the valve rod. That's all the operations on the valve finished without error. Huge sigh of relief and I took the small cutter out of the mill. A good hour and a quarter....

[Stanley]

I started this morning by renovating the milling cutter, backing it off and touching the cutting edge up. Then I started into making the valve rod, cutting it down to size and putting 3/4" of 4BA thread on the valve end.... You can see it fitted to the driver in the valve. That was where I had to stop and go shopping. The shopping is put away and I know exactly where I am starting tomorrow, the finishing of the valve rod.

[Stanley]

I started this morning by cutting the valve rod to length and threading the end that holds the clevis, 4BA for 7/32". Then I shifted to machining the clevis itself. I shaped the front end, drilled it for tapping 4BA and then tapped it and tested it. Next I moved on the drilling the clevis 5BA tapping size, opened one side up to 5BA clearance and tapped the far side 5BA ready to accept the clevis pin I shall make.... I am ready now for milling the slot in the clevis and finishing the end. That's for tomorrow....

[Stanley]

I had a day off yesterday but this morning I was back in the shed to finish making the valve rod clevis. I had made a mistake in that I did too much work on the clevis before cutting the slot in it which was this morning's task. This meant that I hadn't enough to get hold of to cut the slot full depth. I had to cut as much as possible and then finish it by hand with the Hacksaw. Not good with my eyesight but I did it and shaped the end of the piece. As you can see it is now ready for fitting. Not perfect but certainly good enough!

[Stanley]

This morning I shifted my attention to the crosshead. The first job was to measure and make a fag packet drawing which is different than the drawing as every engine has little variations, that's what hand-made means! Once I was satisfied with the dimensions, and that took half an hour, I got into the VM and started cutting. I finished up with a smaller piece of bronze and tomorrow it will get smaller again as I adjust the length.

[Stanley]

More work on shaping the crosshead. Today I squared the ends and cut it down to length. Then I marked out and set up to cut the groove down each side. At knocking off time I had the crosshead ready for fitting to the slide and marking up for the next operations. A good hour and a quarter and I look forwards to tomorrow.

[Stanley]

On with the crosshead.... I started by marking the crosshead for drilling to accept the piston rod. Then I took the piston out, packed it, lubricated the cylinder and then cut a slot in the piston so it can be tightened in the crosshead. I drilled and tapped the crosshead and installed it and tightened the piston rod in the crosshead. Then I tried the movement and it is a perfect fit. I am ready now to drill the crosshead and prepare it for the connecting rod. This was a good hour and a quarter. I am a happy bunny so far!

[Stanley]

The job this morning was to make the pivot pin for the connecting rod. I have done that and marked the crosshead for drilling tapping and slotting to take the rod. Then I went for shopping. That's all put away now.

[Stanley]

I had to start the day by making a spacer to go under the nut when the pin is in use in the crosshead. This is because I made it too long..... It took me over 30 minutes to make the spacer because I kept making mistakes but catching them by checking myself. (It's called old age!). Then I Drilled and tapped the crosshead ready for the pin, but first I have to machine the slot for the end of the rod and drill one side for 3/16" clearance. That will be easier when the slot is cut..... Lots of errors but caught before they were mistakes.... A good hour and a quarter.