Shed Matters 3

[Stanley]

Sorry lads, I am declaring a holiday in the shed today. It's been a busy week so far and I need a rest....
(It's a good place to pause!)

[Stanley]

One very simple task this morning, make and install two interference fit buttons in the gap in the slugs so that when I apply pressure to the centre for the next cutting process, that pressure doesn't distort the shaft. They had to be exactly -505"wide. Not as easy as it looks but they are both done and fitted. Now I can think about the next stage, muck-shifting to get rid of the excess metal.... I don't mind it taking an hour.....

[Stanley]

Today I started cutting out the remainder of the excess metal from the stock. I started by doing a complete re-sharpen of my Cobalt HSS cutter, I wanted to cut the metal out, not tear it away which is what tipped tools tend to do. I got set up and took 50thou cuts until I got close to 1/2" which is the finished diameter of the shaft6 in the bearing. Then I stopped and had a mini clean up and left the final cut until tomorrow. You can see from the colour of the chips that I had been running hot and want to have a cool shaft to do my measuring on for the journal. I took out a shovel full of chips harvested from the floor and the lathe....

[Stanley]

This morning I finished the now cool leg of the crankshaft exactly to size and polished it. Then I had another clean up and took all the chips out. Next I made sure the HSS cutter was sharp, burnishing it with a fine diamond lap. Then I put the crankshaft back in the chuck and set it up ready for tomorrow when I repeat the exercise and finish the other leg.
I know I am slow but I have been careful, avoided errors and ended up with a shaft that has a 1/2" journal and a 3/8" shaft, exactly.... I need to repeat that three more times.... Very enjoyable!

[Stanley]

I left everything ready for more muck-shifting and so went straight into 50thou side producing blue chips. I finished up with a very hot workpiece ready for final finishing to it can sit and wait until tomorrow. I improved the shining hour by cleaning up the chips off the Lathe and the floor. I have a nice clean shop tomorrow to concentrate on the finish of the other leg of this shaft. A good morning!

[Stanley]

Only one image needed today. Remember where we finished yesterday with a clean lathe and a workpiece that just needed some final touches to finish it. These 'final touches' are the ones where a mistake is made and many hours of work lost so the pressure mounts as we near completion. I started by honing the cutter with a very fine diamond hone, then carefully turning the journal to 1/2" and the shaft to 3/8" exactly. Then cleaning up the outside face of the web of the shaft. Finally polishing both sides and knocking out the spacer that has been protecting the i9ntegrity of the shaft under the pressure from the live centre. My picture is of the finished shaft and the piece of stock for the next one. That's right, I am a glutton for punishment (and an optimist!) as I am going to chop out a second shaft for the engine after the current one. That's what you call a vote of confidence!

[Stanley]

Today's task is taking the first cuts to take the cuts towards the rough cutting the crankshaft to the correct target. I had to leave the cut to cool down in order to finish the cuts. I connected the chips and left the cutting until tomorrow when the metal is ready for final cuts.

[Stanley]

The leg I rough turned yesterday was of course cool this morning and could be measured accurately I did that and did my calculations. Then I honed the HSS cutter and fitted it in place of the indexed carbide tool, we are into fine and accurate turning this morning. Then some careful work and I finished up with this leg of the second shaft accurately sized and polished so I reversed it in the chuck and set up with the indexed carbide cutter in place ready for starting the rough turning of the last leg tomorrow. The last act was to clean the lathe, a tidy lathe is a sign of a tidy mind! A good hour's careful work and no mistakes. I like mornings like this!

[Stanley]

Everything was ready and a nice clean lathe so I started into this morning's job, muck shifting. I'd hardly got going when a clattering noise informed me that the inserted disc that was taking the weight of the live centre had come out. So I had to stop and put the disc back in but this time instead of relying on a close fit, I put a bit of Loctite instant glue in and restarted. No problems from then on but 50thoucuts and some hot chips until an hour later I got to the stage where I was into fine turning so I stopped because the workpiece was too hot to measure. I finished the morning off by cleaning all the chips up. I am ready now for the finishing cuts and polishing tomorrow. A good morning!

[Stanley]

Just out of curiosity I went back in the shed and measured my last cut to see how much it had shrunk since it cooled down. When I left it was 5075" on remeasuring cold it was 5072", it had lost 3 thou on the diameter. I want to measure it accurately at a reference temp of somewhere near 65F.

[Stanley]

Only one pic needed this morning. I have finished the second crankshaft exactly to size and polished it. I now have two crankshafts for the Stuart No 9 Engine and both are chopped out of one piece of solid steel, not cobbled together out of round and flat bar and stuck together with either Loctite or silver solder as recommended by Stuarts. Anyone looking at my engines in 100 years will notice and nod approvingly I think......
I rounded the morning off by cleaning Mrs Harrison and sweeping the floor. Tomorrow I can start on the castings.... That'll be a bit of a change!

[Stanley]

I changed my mind and decided there was one last niggling little job that needed doing on the shafts, the ends needed cutting to the same lengths and making pretty. The only way to do that safely was to get a little used piece of the tackle out, the fixed steady. This was the only way to make absolutely sure there was no mistake, it doesn't bear thinking about if I lost control of the cut and bent the shaft..... This way I was sure and as you can see ended up with two tidy shafts. That's that itch scratched and I am content. Well worth the hour I spent on it!

[Stanley]

Complete change this morning. From lathe work to hand filing and some grinding on the wheel. The job was to clean up the castings, get rid of the worst flash and prepare them for machine finishing. After an hour and a quarter I have done most of them, just a bit more on the bed and the base to do but that can wait until tomorrow. Dirty work and reminded me of muscles I had forgotten about but essential work and very satisfying.

[Stanley]

More casting preparation. I finished the hand work on the bed and then installed it in the vise on the VM and milled the base flat. Then I turned it over and milled the heads of the beds for the pedestal bearings and the bed of the crosshead slide. Next I addressed the face of the target end of the bed which needed milling dead flat and square with the base and 1/4" thick. I fitted a larger cutter and did this. I took it out of the mill and checked it on the surface/assembly plate to make sure it was at 90 degrees to the base. Then I cleaned the chips off my mill. A good morning, all is well and I am ready to carry on with the castings tomorrow.

[Stanley]

I concentrated on the cylinder and in a variation of my usual method I used the inherent accuracy of the 90degree relationship between the two axis of the mill and milled the face of the valve seat and the two ends of the cylinder. It worked well but was actually no more accurate than my usual method. I spent almost 30 minutes on the faces on a new sheet of 80grit emery and ended with perfectly acceptable surfaces. A good hour with concrete progress. Now for breakfast, I've earned it.

[Stanley]

First I addressed the base and instead of removing the vise and bolting it directly to the bed I tried to take an easier way out by removing one of the jaws from the vise. I got the base cleaned up on both sides but it was harder and took longer. (Lesson noted!) Once the base was done I moved back to the bed. I need to cut out the horns where the crankshaft bearings sit 5/8" wide and 3/8" deep. By knocking off time I had this set up and was ready to start cutting. I shall leave that until tomorrow. I haven't made any mistakes but I'm not very pleased with myself for the time I wasted and the risks I took with the4 base. Not up to my usual standard.

[Stanley]

This morning was spent entire;y on the bed casting, cutting out the pockets for the crankshaft bearing brasses, Cleaning the flanks of the castings inside the horns and outside. Cleaning the faces of the bosses for the holding down bolts and grinding out the aperture in the target face of the casting where the front cylinder lid and piston rod gland will fit. Now I can move onto the smaller castings but that is for tomorrow!

[Stanley]

This morning was devoted to one thing, boring the cylinder out to 1.5" diameter. I need to do this in order to make the piston and rod and turn the front and rear cylinder covers as I need to size the centring section in the centre. I have set up, done the boring and checked it for parallel as well as centre. It is fine, well within tolerances. I have put the boring head away but need to clean up tomorrow.... A very good and productive hour that opens up the path to lots more jobs.....

[Stanley]

The morning started well and I had a normal hour cleaning the VM and working on the steam chest. I got to the stage where I needed two more cuts to finish the chest and there was a phut out of the VM on/off switch and a very small puff of smoke. I isolated the mill and took the head back to the point where I had access to the wiring and found the trouble, not serious, just a loose connection that had given up the ghost. It needs another terminal fixing on the wire and then reconnecting to the switch. Not my favourite work but I have the necessary terminals and so there will not be any second sleep. I shall have my breakfast and then go back in the shed and re-connect the wiring, put everything back in place and see if I have solved the problem. I can't grumble, I have had thirty years service with no complaint and this is only a minor annoyance....

[Stanley]

No sleep, I am off back into the shed.....

[Stanley]

Later...... I pulled the switch out of the mill, found the connection that had failed, remade it exactly as it was before but securely. Put everything back together and hit the button. Nothing but a kick and a park from the starter but no joy so there is evidently a fault elsewhere in the motor wiring, perhaps caused by the short when the connection failed.
So I need a competent electrician used to dealing with motors. Can anybody recommend someone please. I'll put this elsewhere on the site, not everyone follows Shed Matters.
I am now annoyed!

[Stanley]

I decided to strip the defective starter switch out of the mill and free the wiring up ready for installing the new switch when it arrives. Then I cleaned the mill up and moved my attention to Mrs Harrison. I shall continue working on the castings with the lathe where possible so I installed the 4 jaw SC chuck in place of the 3 jaw and set the steam chest up for machining the remaining sides of it. That was 3/4 of an hour in the shed and I decided that was enough. I know my limitations and a short night's sleep plus the clocks changing signals to me the need to have a quiet day and take it easy. So I shall start here with breakfast and second sleep. I've done a good morning's work.... I think you can see from the soot deposits on the back of the switch the point where I believe it failed.

[Stanley]

First I finished the two sides of the steam chest and then in a departure from my normal process, I marked the steam chest for the attachment studs using the paper gasket that comes with the set of castings and drilled it. Normally I'd use the lid for the template but I can't process that until the VM is in production again. I could do it in the horizontal mill but it would be complicated. Then I marked the cylinder and chest with witness marks to keep me straight. Tomorrow I shall do the lids for the cylinder.

[Stanley]

Only one pic needed. It took me an hour to turn this rough casting into a back lid for the cylinder with a register that closely fits the bore, the thickness adjusted and the PCD of the bolt hole circle marked on the end. Slow but accurate and no mistakes and if you think you could do better go to it. You'll find that it's surprisingly difficult and you have to get quite inventive to hold it.

[Stanley]

Today it was the turn of the front lid. I have spent an hour and a quarter getting it to size with a register that fits the cylinder and a piston rod gland housing that fits in the aperture in the target end of the bed. All these tasks are done, tomorrow I can decide where to go next from my numerous choices.....