Enough shed improvement, I feel the need to do something concrete and with a purpose. I'm going to start by converting these excellent castings from my late friend Geoff Smith at Pitt Street foundry in Keighley into an HP cylinder for a Stuart 5A engine. They are worthless now as they are but when I've done it it could be attractive for anyone building a 5A with limited resources. The 5A is a bit too big for the normal 3" lathe and the biggest problems are the cylinder and the flywheel. I have both and it could be a good help for someone. I shall be doing it the way |Newton taught me. Everybody has their own way of approaching this. I note that Doublejohn starts with the face of the valve chest. I start with the cylinder ends. It could be useful for beginners to see the process as it applies to all such castings. This doesn't mean Newton's way is any better but he did know a thing or two about engines! His way was how they did it with the full size article.
One thing about quality of castings, Geoff used good iron and flaws and spongy shops are absent. Always examine your castings carefully before you start, especially for blow holes, the most usual fault with inferior metal. No point putting work into a bad casting. By the way, I shall be working from the original Stuart drawings even though Newton's version of the 5A was slightly different having a longer con-rod and hence slightly larger standards. Apart from that they are identical.
Later, 11:00. Only had 30 minutes in the shed, had to write an obituary....
First job was to paint the castings where appropriate with layout ink. White for castings and blue for steel. This is in between because idle bugger me used the same brush. I did this early this morning so it would be be bone dry. Next job was a good clean up. Cast iron dust is mucky stuff and bad enough when it's dry but if it's mixed with oil and nasty swarf from yesterdays turning it's even worse. This way it can be vacuumed up frequently. I did the carpets as well, nowt like a straight edge and a clean start.
Next job was to get the four jaw onto the lathe. As I've said before, this lathe was the best £1000 I ever spent. It came out of Bolton Technical College and god alone knows what they were teaching them. The four jaw, faceplate, catch plate and gear for the Norton box had never been used, still coated with the protective grease that was on it when it came out of the factory. It had only been used for turning Tufnol, I suppose on Health and safety grounds and the only thing that had any wear was the three jaw. So this 9" Pratt chuck is to all intents and purposes, brand new.
Tomorrow there are no distractions.... Looking forward to it! ( By the way, note the board on the lathe bed. Anyone can drop a chuck as it's coming off the threads on the nose and once you mark the ways it is there forever!)
. Good to see you back in that shed anyway, I had been starting to get a bit worried in the summer that you had hung up your micrometer for good 
