Shed Matters 3

[Stanley]

This morning I marked the gland and drilled the clearance holes for the 5BA studs. I put a witness mark on the gland and repeated it on the front lid. Then I drilled and tapped for the studs, fitted them and I had everything exactly right, the gland dropped on the studs and entered the socket in the lid with no adjustment at all needed. Only a baby step but done well and accurately. Now for my reward, breakfast!

[Stanley]

More work on the front lid. There are two different sizes of fastening, 4BA for the studs and 5BA for the two countersunk screws that secure the kid where there is no access at the front size for a stud. I have made more mistakes in the past at this stage that any other part of the engine so everything was triple checked! As you can see I am all right so far, now I need to drill and tap the cylinder for the 4BA studs. No rush, that's for tomorrow. Now for breakfast!

[Stanley]

Another baby step but done accurately. The remaining four tappings for the 4BA studs in the cylinder for the front lid. Marked, drilled and tapped and the lid dropped on with no adjustments needed. That will do for this morning. Now I am chasing my breakfast!

[Stanley]

This morning I made the valve rod gland, fitted it and marked it for orientation and the PCD of the stud holes. These are drilled and the valve chamber boss has been marked for drilling and tapping but that's for tomorrow. The job now is breakfast!

[Stanley]

I started the morning by drilling and tapping for the 5BA suds that hold the valve rod gland in place. Once they were fitted I marked the cylinder for orientation on the target end of the bed with the valve face vertical. I marked and drilled the position of the four 4BA studs and adjusted the holes until I had a good fit. The valve face is not quite vertical so tomorrow I shall adjust the holes in the target end until that fault is rectified. That was a good 50 minutes so I have knocked off for breakfast.

[Stanley]

This morning I massaged the holes in the target end until I had got the cylinder rotated until the valve face was perpendicular to the bed. Then I marked and drilled the clearance holes in the back lid. I am ready now to mark the orientation of the hole pattern, dismantle the cylinder and mark, drill and tap the 4BA stud holes in the cylinder. But at the moment I am focussed on my breakfast.....

[Stanley]

This morning was a catalogue of small things. First I marked the back lid with a witness mark and then marked the back of the cylinder for drilling and tapping 4 BA for the six studs. To do this I had to dismantle the cylinder and while doing this I refined and improved the fit of some of the parts to make it easier to rebuild after painting. Then I drilled and tapped the cylinder for the studs that will hold the back lid on. These are all done and are now ready for fitting tomorrow. I deserve my breakfast.....

[Stanley]

We are continuing with the job of finishing all the tasks that need to be done to finish the cylinder and It's ancillary parts. The first job this morning was to fit the studs to the back end and make sure the lid fitted the stud locations. It was perfect as far as orientation was concerned but I will have to increase the amount of thread to ensure the nuts can tighten down on the lid. Next I cut the exhaust port in the valve face and then drilled and tapped for the exhaust pipe which I then fitted. Tomorrow I shall address the studs.... Now the job is breakfast!

[Stanley]

Just one exciting task this morning. Increase the amount of thread on all six 4BA studs for the back lid, refit them and test that all the threads are good. This completes the work needed on the cylinder. I don't need to drill any more holes in it! Now I want my breakfast.

[Stanley]

Almost a day off! All I wanted to do this morning was to dismantle the castings and get them ready for painting. So that's what we have here and painting is a job best done in daylight..... So That's it, less than half an hour and now I want my breakfast!

[Stanley]

I wasn't going to ditch the shed again. I am still recoiling from painting but there are other matters to attend to. I went through my parts and sorted all the non-ferocious bits that can be machined. For today I concentrated on the steam valve. I ended the day with it dimensionally correct and square and ready for the steam passage to be milled in the base and the driver bar fitted on top. Now for breakfast!

[Stanley]

This morning I marked the valve for the exhaust passage and the slot for the driver bar. I then machined both of them, fitted the driver bar and marked it to preserve orientation. I then drilled the clearance hole through the valve for the valve rod. Then I put my 1/4" cutter away and re-fitted the larger cutter on the VM. That will do for this morning... I have earned my breakfast!

[Stanley]

Just one task this morning, make the valve rod and fit it to the valve. It took me an hour..... I keep telling you, I'm getting old! Now for breakfast!

[Stanley]

Only one job this morning, make the clevis for the end of the valve rod. The slot is 3/32" and the nut and bolt 7BA. I want to go on record again as saying I hate 7BA! I have yet to finish it to length and round the end but it took me an hour to do this with no errors. Now I want my breakfast!

[Stanley]

I started the morning by mounting the base on it's final plinth. Than I fitted the bed to the base. Next I cut the valve rod clevis to length and rounded the end. There is still some refinement needed on the slot but I shall leave that until I am fitting the eccentric link. Then I measured and marked the stock for the crosshead guide bars and milled out the slot in it . That's enough for this morning, now I need my breakfast.

[Stanley]

Once again, just one task that has to be done accurately. I cut the crosshead guide bars to length and marked them for the six 5BA clearance holes that are needed for the holding down bolts. Then I punched the witness marks into the bed and the bars that ensure correct orientation when fitting. Tomorrow I shall mark the bed and drill and tap for the 5BA bolts. Now however I am chasing my breakfast.

[Stanley]

First thing this morning was to di9smount the bed off the base, set it up in the VM and refine the finish of the bed of the crosshead by some careful milling. Then I further refines it by hand wit a file and some fine abrasives. Next I marked the bed with the front hole of each guide and drilled and tapped the first one. The next job was to bolt that bar down so that the other two holes for holding down bolts can be accurately Drilled and tapped. Problem was I hit a snag, I only had 5 bolts, one was missing so the next half hour was spent in an unsuccessful search for a bolt and cutting a 4BA one down so it would fit. Then I had to adjust the clearance hole in the bar to suit the new bolt and fit it. That got me to an hour and a quarter so I( have knocked off for breakfast. I have checked the other 5 bolts and they are OK.

[Stanley]

One clear task this morning.... Drill and tap the remaining five holes for the 5BA holding down bolts that retain the crosshead Guides. Then fit the bolts ensuring that the guides are parallel. That's done with no errors and it took 45 minutes.... Now for breakfast.

[Stanley]

This morning was not a lot to do with machining, more like scratching itches! I went in the shed with a nagging thought that I had missed something in my future planning. I had decided I had no material for future crankshafts. I went digging in my stock and found that I had enough material for three more crankshafts if I made very slight adjustments to sizes. Having got that out of the way I went back to looking at the stock that Stuarts have provided for making the bottom halves of the bronze bearings for the crankshaft and I wasn't very pleased with what I found, the stock provided is barely large enough and the two were different lengths. I went looking in my treasure chest and found two pieces that were far better and substituted them for the two in the kit. I then spent the rest of the morning working on them to get them to the right size. So just one image. I have milled them to the same length and am now reducing them to the 3/4" wide I need to maker the bearings. None of this was time wasted, just different! Now I am going to have my breakfast.

[Stanley]

The first task this morning was to finish milling the blanks to size and then to make sure there was enough space in between the bearing beds for the crankshaft and the cheeks of the bearing. This entailed taking a skim down each internal face using the 5/82 end mill I have mounted to cut the bearing. Then I measured up and marked the blanks for the meat that has to be milled out of them. That got me to 45 minutes so rather than start on the next stage, cutting the stock, I have left that for tomorrow. I am going to post and then have my breakfast.

[Stanley]

This morning I cut out the waste from the bottom bearing stock. The cutter was dull, like all my cutters it's old but I took the time to touch up the cutting edge and went quietly forward taking very small cuts. I reached my mark on both sides and it took almost an hour. I shall take them out of the vise, refine them and fit them tomorrow. Now I am chasing my breakfast!

[Stanley]

This morning I spent over 45 minutes fitting the bottom halves of the crankshaft bearings into the bed. This entailed refining the bearing blanks and their beds in the casting and then modifying the crankshaft until it was a perfect fit. Lastly I punched witness marks into the wings of the bearings so that their orientation couldn't be mixed up. I am very pleased with the fit, it's good! I deserve my breakfast.

[Stanley]

This morning I spent over 45 minutes entirely on the two top components of the crankshaft bearings. First I fettled the flash off with the grindstone, then Milled all the faces square and to equal dimensions. (It was while I was doing this I discovered the blowhole in one of them. I could get a replacement from Stuarts but is it worth the hassle?) Then I polished the faces on fine emery paper and finished by breaking the edges with a file. I finished with them ready for the final stages, that can wait until tomorrow. The job now is breakfast.

[Stanley]

I spent just over an hour on the two top brasses and am almost there. I just have to drill and tap the bed and fit the studs. I admit to being slow but I have made no mistakes.....

[Stanley]

One clear task this morning. Mark drill and tap the holes in the bearing horns to accept the 4BA studs that will retain the bearing caps. That has been done and I have also drilled the oil holes in the caps. These are off centre because I have been influenced by the blow hole in the casting. I'm hoping that the misalignment caused by this won't leap out at the casual observer. They will be perfectly fine for feeding oil to the bearings. The studs have been fitted with Loctite and I shall let them cure overnight before tightening the caps down. I can also see that I will have to make a further adjustment to the crankshaft but that's simple and also for tomorrow. Now for breakfast!