SHED MATTERS 2

[Stanley]

I spent a while making up my mind but in the end decided there was no reason for the extra piece on the casting so I set it up square and milled it off. That solves that one!



That looks OK! Now I have to think about getting it to lie flat on the bed. This casting is all sorts of shapes and I had to do a bit of studying. Ideally I wanted to bend it and take the twist out of it but of course that isn't possible. So I used my head.



I took off as little as possible.



Here's where I finished up. Not a bad result considering but to make it perfect I'll have to put a shim under the long edge. No problem there.

[micktoon]

Hi Stanley more good work it looks like plans are getting used less as the build goes on lol. Happy New Year to you from up North, I hope you have many a project in the shed in 2017 and enjoy them all. All the best Mick

[Stanley]

From the way this is going, the winding engine is going to last me all year! Happy New year to all the congregation.......

[Stanley]

Today I want to put a shim under the secondary bed to make up for the lack of metal in the casting. I have taken virtually nothing off the bottom and it's 1/16" shy of where I want it to be. So I went searching and found this sheet of copper, just the right thickness so problem solved. But then I had another thought and looked in a rarely visited treasure chest.....



and found this piece of brass sheet amongst some old stuff I have, salvaged from on of Newton's regular clear outs. It will be over 100 years old but is exactly what I want and less wasteful to cut out.



A bit of marking out and then a session with the hacksaw and file.....



That's about it, it raises the whole of the bed the required amount.



The bed sits on it nice and square. I was considering sweating it on to the base of the casting but realised I had no need.



Here it is clamped down onto the bed and checked for position. I have blued the tongue where it sits on the bed and marked it for 2 X 4BA set screws. All my tapping drills, taps and clearance drills sorted out together with the set screws.



Set up in the Progress drill. I didn't rush, I tapped the thread with the quill in the same position as for the drill and put the set screw in and tightened it down as I did each hole to make sure that the bed didn't shift in between holes.... I found I had to reverse the bed in the vise but that was no problem. I went on quietly until all the holes were done and set screws installed in them all. There will be no problems with matching up!



I'll admit to doing a bit of overtime as this was where I wanted to finish up, all the setscrews installed and ready to cut the excess off the 3 2BA ones. The secondary bed needs to be drilled for clearance so that it gets pulled down tight onto the bed and the plate. The shim needs tidying up and then we can re-assemble and file the excess on the casting back where needed. A nice job for tomorrow. Three good hours I reckon. I am pleased with where we are at!

[Stanley]

The job today is to finish fitting the secondary bed. I opened out all the bolt holes to clearance size so that the bolts are actually forcing the bed down onto the baseplate to make it absolutely solid. Same for the shim as well.



Then I mounted the bed in the mill and took my final cuts to level the face off so that it's parallel with the bed plate and dead square. I polished the brass shim up a bit as well. All the edges on the bed and the shim broken.



The next item to be fitted is the standard that carries the end of the flyshaft and the crank. In passing, I haven't worked out yet why this engine was designed like this.... It's bizarre! But that is beside the point isn't it! I decided to mill the bottom of the casting square so that it will be easier to set it up for measuring and marking when I fit it.



Here's the result. The more sharp eyed amongst you will have spotted that the 2BA holding bolts I have used match the ones that are already in there. I have two batches of the set screws and one has a larger head than the other. All the bolts now have the larger head, they match up.



You're not going to like this one.... My final move on the bed for the time being was to poke a taper reamer through the cross head hole to improve the fit. Sorry, I couldn't help myself. It's a while since I had a clean up so I set to and got a bit of order back into the shed, particularly the lathe.... I fancy a bit of a change!



That's right, I put the big 4 jaw on and threw the flywheel at it. Not as silly as it sounds because I'm going to need the finished size of the flywheel shortly. All castings are a moveable feast and this one is no exception. I set it up so that the boss was central.



And then rough turned the face of the rim until I had it squared up.



Here's my last cut going on before knocking off. very fine cut with fine feed to get some finish on this side of the rim. I'll carry on tomorrow and get the boss turned true as well.

[Stanley]

I was late in the shed this morning because I had an unaccountable surge of domesticity. I cleared this corner of the kitchen out by throwing out some of the equipment which sat there and was hardly ever used. And then I went and did the supermarket shopping. Notice that the winding engine has taken up residence in the kitchen for a while. You have no idea how much pleasure it gives me to see it sat there. Quite a lot has been accomplished.....



Back to my knitting! I carried on where I had left off yesterday, taking one slow fine cut right across the face of the flywheel to the boss. This shows up all the faults in the casting, for much of the way I was only cutting on three spokes. Eventually I shall clean up the spokes with a file and I can make it look a lot better. The main thing at the moment is to concentrate on accuracy and both sides parallel.



See what I mean? Looks horrible at the moment but fear not, it will all be right on the night. Main thing is that I have this side of the flywheel brought into a relationship with the boss which I have cleaned up. I have put a chamfer on the edge of the rim and the boss.



We now have the boss square with the face of the wheel and concentric with what will be the rim. Time to bore it out, I want a 7/16" hole though it. This isn't what the drawing says.... it wants me to bore it larger, cut flats on it and mount the flywheel like it was on the original engine, with four stakes. Forget it! I've tried doing that and it's a disaster. No way you can get the wheel running true at this scale and nothing looks worse than a wandering flywheel! I shall make the shaft a plug fit on the bore but instead of two stakes at 90 degrees, I shall get the Loctite Shaft Grade out. Notice that I have put a Sharpie mark on the wheel and the jaw. I shall have to reverse the wheel in the chuck shortly and want to match this mark up with the same jaw. That way, despite the rim being only a rough ground finish and not circular, I shall be somewhere near the same concentric relationship with the boss.



I've bored it with a 27/64" drill and now I'm poking a 7/16" reamer through.



One slow pass through at 75rpm and it came out with this fine dust in the top flutes. Just right. Bleeding obvious tip, never reverse a reamer in the bore, always turn it in the cutting direction even when withdrawing it.



Here we are at knocking off time. I have reversed the casting and bumped the true face down snugly into the jaws. Notice that my Sharpie Marks are lined up. I'm ready now to do the same turning operations on this side of the wheel in sure knowledge that it will be parallel with the other side. Notice that just to reassure myself I got my 7/16" standard gauge out and tried it in the bore. perfect plug fit.... That'll do me for today!

[micktoon]

Hi Stanley , more lovely work there. just looking at the spokes and the one spoke is cast and looks like its not been hit while turning. Do the spokes all get flattened off or will you be rounding off the others so they all look the same rounded edges ?
I keep thinking this thing looks bigger in the pictures, until I see it on your kitchen bench, or on the flywheel photos with the reamer until you mention 7/16ths reamer. Great work and glad to see its keeping you busy.
Cheers Mick

[Whyperion]

Anyone want a 3 jaw lathe chuck and key, free if you collect from Burnley otherwise it's posted UK for £10. It is rusty been left outside a domestic garage, but should clean up.

[Stanley]

Mick, thanks. You have no idea how big that bore looks, like the Mersey Tunnel! You're right, one spoke is cast out of line, sloppy work at the foundry but I shall take a view when I have done the other side, a big flat file and some paint will hide it. One good point is that the metal is good quality up to press and no flaws. I'm doing it slowly and carefully and aiming for dead true. The one in the model on Youtube is staked and has a wobble. (LINK)
The chuck, what size, has it got both sets of jaws and how about a pic?

[Magnu420]

Anyone want a 3 jaw lathe chuck and key, free if you collect from Burnley otherwise it's posted UK for £10. It is rusty been left outside a domestic garage, but should clean up.

Pm sent @ whyperion

[Whyperion]

PM Replied to, should be being collected from the porch in due course. Only the jaws that were in it (I have no time to root around the area I found it in that the HA covered with leaves and the fly tippers covered with oil ) I think its about 5in dia, fits in one hand, which is handy. Rather blurry rear image,

[Stanley]

I checked everything this morning to make sure the set up was tight, took the Wimet out and touched it up to make sure it was sharp and set to with a good solid roughing cut right across the face. By the way, this old Wimet has worn to the point there's only a little bit of carbide left on the tip but plenty for this job, no heavy cuts here!



The first cut was OK but never touched most of the spokes and missed one altogether. No matter, I can deal with that later. I put another 20 thou on and took another cut across the face with my slowest feed, there's no rush and I was rewarded by a nice finish on the side of the rim.



The last cut touched three of the spokes. Now I faced the end of the boss. It's running slightly out of concentric despite using the same jaw but no matter, that was expected but notice that I left the periphery of the boss until the next set up.



This is where I finished up. Nice finish on the face of the rim.



Then a good clean up and the 4 jaw off and put away. The Polish 3 jaw installed and I am ready for the next set up. Remember that the boss on the other side is turned dead square with the rim? I shall use that to chuck the wheel while I finish the boss on this side and turn the periphery of the rim. The boss isn't very deep so to make sure I have a safe hold I shall make a mandrel with a spigot that fits the bore exactly and a good stub the same diameter as the boss so that as well as gripping the boss I shall have hold of the mandrel as well. That will make sure it is firm and as near dead square as I can get. If I've got everything right that means the wheel will run dead true on the shaft with no wobble..... (Or at least, that's the plan!) One thing about measurements compared with the drawings. The drawings are of the original hence the stakes and the strengthening rings on the boss, a common practice with flywheels and usually shrunk on. The spokes are oval and very light. I don't see any point in taking metal out of a good casting so I shall finish up with a heavier wheel than the drawing but I see nothing wrong with that as there is plenty of room for it. I'm not looking for authenticity (shock horror!) but an engine that looks good and runs well.....

[Stanley]

In my pursuit of excellence I started with the basics. I remembered John's tip about slackening the back plate bolts and dialling in a test piece bumping the chuck to see whether you could get a better reading. I was successful to a certain extent but didn't get it dead accurate because I made the back plate too good a fit! However I finished up within a thou of concentricity which isn't bad for an old bloke....



I found a piece of 1" scrap and started to make the mandrel as accurately as I could. The major diameter is the same as the boss.



I got serious, out with the micrometer and the 7/16" standard which I knew was a good fit!



Here's the result. The spigot is a drive fit in the boss. Dangerous stuff because while I want to have a perfectly secure hold I run the danger of distorting the casting slightly. I decided to go for the best fit and hold.



When I mounted the assembly in the chuck it was running within a thou of true at the rim, not bad at all. The first thing I did was turn the periphery of the boss, reface it and chamfer the edge.



I ran it at 48rpm, and restricted myself to 5 thou cuts at a slow feed rate until I had got rid of the low shops and was getting a relatively continuous cut and then went mad and took 10 thou.



Here's where we ended up. Near enough dead true even after I drove the mandrel out. I've chamfered the rim and given it a bit of polish. Not bad acually. Not sure how much to do to that spokes, I'll take a view later but at the moment I'm thinking of doing the minimum.

[Big Kev]

Having seen it 'in the flesh' today it all looks very good.

[Stanley]

Light levels in the kitchen dropped, it wasn't a cloud it was Kev in his winter gear..... Nice to see him and he now has his 120mb worth of aerial views of Barlick....

[Stanley]

I gave the flywheel a coat of thin oil and put it on one side. This morning we have to attend to the crank support bracket..... By the way, I'm not going to mill it all over, just the parts that need attention. It will be painted in the end and as-cast surfaces are OK.



I want this side perfectly level and smooth, at the moment it's anything but flat.



So, a light skim across the face until I had it smooth. The mark you can see on it is where the casting has to be split to create the bearing for the fly shaft so it needn't be milled out.



Next I milled out the recess where the holding down studs end up. I needed it to have a flat bottom and enough room for the nuts and I wanted the widest spacing I could get, one inch centres. I've decided on 2BA to hold it down.



I used a small stone on the Dremel to tidy the corners up.



Crashing on I set to to cut the slit in the HM but then realised I was slipping up. I should have drilled for the 2BA holding down bolts! Rather than go through the fiddly job of setting up again I cut it but left a sliver to locate the two halves while I drill it. I can separate it with the hacksaw and file the rag off.



So here's where I ended up at knocking off time..... Slow but sure, I shall finish it tomorrow and mount it. By the way, I forgot to mention.... While I had the small end mill in the VM I cut the oil pocket in the top face of the bearing.

[Stanley]

The further I get into this the better I enjoy it..... Today was carrying on with the crank support bracket and bearing. I started by drilling and tapping the holes for the holding down bolts of the bearing cap. Then I cut the web with the hacksaw and filed the faces flat.



I soon had that done and the centre marked for the bearing which is 1/2".



I drilled it 15/32".



And then drilled the 1/8" oil passage from the pocket to the bearing. I did this now so the reamer would clean the exit hole up into the bearing.



Then a rare treat. Into the front room, the 4 jaw put on Johnny's lathe, centre the casting up using the tailstock centre and ream it. The half inch reamer is the same taper as the tails stock so this was perfect.



I couldn't get the reamer all the way through on Johnny's 1927 lathe, the jaws of the chuck were interfering so I popped it right through by hand.



De burr the edges and then a quick check with the 1/2" standard. Perfect fit......



Knocking off time. Ready to mount on the engine bed but that's for tomorrow.... Nice morning, I enjoyed that and all went well. I think I'm getting the hang of this at last.......

[Stanley]

Here's where we start this morning, blue the bed and mark up for the holding down studs.



One or two things were under my feet so I allowed myself a bit of tidying up. I had two 3/4" milling cutters that need touching up and some tools could be put away. When I bought the T&C grinder I thought it was a bit expensive but it has been one of the best investments I ever made. Such a joy to be able to keep my cutters in good order. Apart from anything else it's essential when the capacity of your VM is restricted. So back to the job in hand.



Into the Progress drill and the holes for the bracket drilled and tapped. Another observation, if you haven't got one, invest in a compound vise, it makes things so much easier.



I ran the tap through by hand just to make sure I had a good thread.



This took a bit longer than you might think..... I had to do some more grinding out in the corners so the nuts would fit in but I managed it in the end and got the nuts on and tightened down. I had to modify a spanner to get it in and go very carefully. It is not going to come off again if I can help it. On reflection smaller studs would have been good but these look the part now they are on. Notice the heads are still poking out underneath. I turned the engine over and got rid of them.



That was the end of machining for the day, I have to make some very careful decisions about where I go next. I can't do the remaining jobs on the engine itself until I have the drive shaft and eccentric in place. I have to confess I made a mistake in comprehension, it wasn't until I had a hard study of the engine I realised that I had been thinking in terms of the crankshaft running the winch drum when of course it doesn't, it drives the pinion that drives the bull gear on the end of the winch drum.Once I had got my head round that I noticed that once more, the man who did the drawings had been recording the original engine. I am not building the original and I think I can simplify the plethora of different diameters on the crankshaft which, while they reflect the original , were the product of a very eccentric designer. After all, he built an engine with the cylinder the wrong way round! Purists might not like this. Tough! Go and make your own!

Later after my afternoon sleep.
Wonderful what a couple of hour's sleep can do. The Design Committee has been at work and come up with a plan that I think will work.... By the way, I had a look at the other castings and noted that the brass eccentric strap is awful, I may have to scrap it and make another. Another decision is that I am not going to make the eccentric as per the drawing which involves the Fieldhouse version of a lattice eccentric rod, I shall make it a plain rod instead, better and a far cleaner design. (This is my engine!)

[Stanley]

not a lot of machine work this morning but don't run away with the idea I have been idle! Far from it. As you can see above, the landscape has changed, more big (Well, relatively!) lumps of CI. Before I got here I spent a lot of time mulling over the drawings and running different scenarios through my head for how I go forward. I have decided that what I need to do is build the winch section but without the elements that are concerned with the drive from the engine. The first thing I decided was that rather than build it as per the plans, more or less as part of the plinth, I was going to build it on its own bed plate which is how I reckon it ought to have been done in the original. That way I can get a better idea of what the plinth needs to be. I can make almost all of it without having to even think about the engine and its relationship to it. To do this I need a piece of 1/4" plate 8" X 8" so I banged an email off to my mate Terry. I have plenty of work to do before I need the plate!



Luckily the casting for the winch drum is quite a good one. It has an annular feature at one end which is very close to circular and concentric. So I used my centre finder to identify the centre on the plain curved end, mounted it in the 3 jaw, bumped it about a bit in the jaws and got a good centre poked into it. I was going to try to get way with doing the same for the other centre but couldn't move it in the jaws of the chuck so I chucked the big 4 jaw on and got it with that. I couldn't get both ends right at the same time but that doesn't matter, it was the centre holes I was after. All my cutting will be done to register with them and there's enough meat on the casting to let me do this.



Then back to the 3 jaw and put a centre in it, I was going to touch it up but no need it's running dead true. Here's where I finished up at closing time, all ready to start turning. I've forgotten where I got the tip about using a cable tie to hold the dog onto the chuck jaw, I have an idea it was John Mills. Whoever it was, thanks, it's a tidy way of doing it!

[Stanley]

Here we go! I started by getting the diameter if the rims down to 3.5".



Getting serious! Not often the 4" micrometer gets an outing.



Then I started on the drum. I was getting chatter so I dragged the cutter back as far as I could into the tool holder and experimented with feeds and speeds. I found I got the best results with 419rpm and a 5 thou cut on fine feed so lots of patience!



A while later I got down to this, a nice finish and only a tenth of an inch above my target 2" so I left it at that. There might be a flaw lurking in the casting and it's not critical.



You wouldn't believe how careful I was cleaning this corner out! By this time it was closing time. Not a great deal to show but all good work. That'll do me, I'm in no rush!

[Stanley]

I had a bit of a problem this morning. I wanted to set my compound to cut the six degree angle on the three sides of the flanges (The right hand end is a different matter.) So the cross slide handle had to come off to allow the compound slide to swing. No problem with advancing the cut as that could be done using the compound. However, I soon found I had some interesting setting up problems.



The right hand end was easy, no driver dog to contend with and I soon had a clean cut and a chamfer on the inside of the flange.



I wanted to cut the outside of the flange on the left hand end while I am set on this angle and had to have a narrower cutter to clear the driving dog, a bit of fiddling and I got that done as well plus the chamfer.



Then I had to reverse the 6 degree angle to cut the inside of this flange. Funnily enough this took more setting up because I had to clear the right hand flange. Again, a bit of a fiddle but I got it done and the chamfer.



Now for the right hand end. I had a bit of a problem here because it's curved. An old fashioned turner would have set up his tool rest and done it freehand with a graver. I did consider making a hand tool and doing it this way but then decided to do it my way and the purists aren't going to like this!



The sharper members of the congregation will recognise the marks on the end. That's right, I used my angle grinder starting with a coarse flexible disc and the workpiece turning on low speed. It took a while but here's where I finished up at closing time. The worst of the marks taken out and ready for the same treatment with a finer grit disc. That's the first job tomorrow. You can scoff at the angle grinder but it did a good job.
One interesting thing was that when I put the cross handle back on and tightened it up I found that whilst the motion of the compound was stiffer, I had taken almost all the backlash out of the cross slide feed screw. A bonus!

[Stanley]

First thing this morning was to carry on with the angle grinder using different grades of abrasive until I had got to this stage. Not bad and it will do me!



Next job was to do a deep clean of Mrs Harrison and a full lubrication. I spent about half an hour on this because I'm well aware of the damage that grinding dust can do. I tried a set up for the next cuts using the three jaw but it soon became evident that not only was the hold precarious but because I was using lead to cushion the grip on the finished surface I couldn't get it running accurately enough for me.



So I took the 3 jaw off and mounted the winch drum in the four jaw with lead cushioning. I haven't started dialling it in because by this time it was closing time. That will be the first job tomorrow. I also had another small job to do.....



I walked down to Gissings because I had word my bedplate for the winch was waiting for me in the stores.... Wonderful having friends. Terry told me this week that when the weight of my demands exceeds my body weight he'll start charging...... I like that!

[Big Kev]

Do Gissing's use galvanised sheets? I need to get a couple of flashings made up for the rooflights on my kitchen roof and am looking for a local supplier.

[Stanley]

It would surprise me if they didn't have some about them. If not they will tell you where you can get it. Have you considered Lead flashing? I'd ring my mates FM Builders on 812707, they are brilliant at flashings and do a good job at a reasonable price.

[Stanley]

I started by dialling the casting in. Got it to within half a thou at the chuck end and it is within a thou at the centre end. Not bad seeing as how I centred the rough casting on my marking with the centre finder.



Then I did some interpretation of the drawings and a fag packet drawing so that I know where I am going. Not exactly to the measurements on the drawing but close enough!



When I was satisfied with my bosses and had broken all the edges I took the stub off with the hacksaw instead of the parting tool. I don't want any dramas at this stage and also I don't want to disturb the drum. I want to drill it on the same centre as the bosses.



Then a very careful facing off of the end.....



I found a long series drill for the pilot.... Very careful drilling, can you imagine what a tragedy it would be to break a drill off in this hole?



Then a nice long 1/2" drill......



Which cut well......



This where I finished up at knocking off time. There's half a thou difference between the two ends but here's the 1/2" standard a lovely fit at the chuck end. Not bad at all.