Shed Matters 3

[Stanley]

I started the day by remounting the castings on the finished plinth. Then I moved on to further refinement of the rough steam valve casting. I ended the day with the driver bar fitted and I am ready to mill the exhaust passage in the base of the valve. But that will do tomorrow.....

[Stanley]

I finished the steam valve by marking it and milling out the exhaust passage in its base. The drawings call for 1/8" depth but this is not necessary, 1/16" deep is plenty. Then I started work on the eccentric strap and spent the rest of my hour and a quarter in the shed on that. I shall carry on with that tomorrow.

[Stanley]

More work on the eccentric strap. I have got it's physical shape and size now. I have given it its oil hole, better to do that now. Then I adjusted the lugs and fitted the two 5BA bolts. I need to give clearance for the heads and nuts tomorrow.

[Stanley]

The main task today was to fit the retaining bolts to the eccentric strap mark it with witness marks and then split it with a slitting saw. It is now ready for boring but that will have to wait until the eccentric is made. Then I did the first rough fettling of the governor stand/valve rod bracket. This can't be finished until I have the valve fitted and can properly mark the bracket. That's for later. The next job is to turn the eccentric.

[Stanley]

Only one image today. I spent my time in the shed measuring for and making the eccentric for the engine. I have marked the PCD of the bore and will drill it tomorrow.
On another matter, the shopping is done and put away. I am ready for veggie cooking later....

[Stanley]

The task was to finish the eccentric. No eccentric turning needed, all you have to do is drill the hole for the shaft on the PCD of the eccentric you have pre4viously marked on the body. I bored it 1/64" under size and then eased it with a file until it just fit. Once I had achieved that I drilled and tapped it for a 1/8" Whitworth Unbrako set screw and polished the bed of the eccentric ready for the strap. I can get an accurate measurement now and bore the strap tomorrow....

[Stanley]

Today's task was to make the eccentric rod. The drawings speak with forked tongue and you have to check everything twice! 5BA at the valve end becomes 7BA. And the other end comes in at 5BA. The gap in the clevis started at 3/32" but had to be opened to 1/8". So if you are making the engine, check everything carefully. I finished up ready to finish each end of the rod and to make the housing on the strap for the end of the rod.

[Stanley]

This morning was refinement of the eccentric rod, a flat bar actually. It had to be rounded at the ends. The eccentric to be drilled and tapped and cut out to accept the rod. And then all to be fitted together. All this is fiddly and takes time but I am ready now to bore for the fit of the strap on the eccentric. That's the job for tomorrow.

[Stanley]

The job this morning was to bore the eccentric strap to fit the eccentric and make sure it fits. All went well, a good hour and a quarter with solid progress.

[Stanley]

This morning I fitted the steam valve in the steam chest. This meant marking and drilling the valve body and doing the same for the driving bar but tapping that to take the 4BA valve rod. More fitting needed tomorrow but this morning I have the valve installed. Just some adjustments to make. A good and productive hour and a quarter. A nice morning.

[Stanley]

Main job was checking the throw of the eccentric and adjusting the length of the valve rod before starting to finish the governor stand and rod support. The latter is a bugger as there are no easy ways to set it up. It had to be done by rack of the eye and my eyes aren't very good! But I think I have got it somewhere near. Fitting is tomorrow.
The new carpet in the shed is brilliant and makes a lot of difference as it feels cushioned underfoot. Lovely!

[Stanley]

I feel like a bit of a traitor this morning because for some reason I have decided I want a morning off from Shed duties. So I am sat here listening to the news and drinking tea. They can't touch you for it!

[Stanley]

A small job, install the two 5BA studs that bolt the governor stand to the engine. Fit the stand, mark the position of the studs and drill and tap for them. I have fitted the studs with Loctite and will mount the bracket tomorrow. It will have to be dismounted from the valve rod to line the studs up. Could be more difficult than it looks so I'll attack that tomorrow....

[Stanley]

Sorry to disappoint but domestic matters interfered with shed time today. Never mind, there's no rush!

[Stanley]

If you're looking at this and can't see any difference from the last image I can't blame you. The difference is that the governor stand is now bolted to the bed and the valve train is connected. It has taken an hour and a half of fitting by effecting tiny adjustments to get here. The engine can be laced up now and declared finished. That is after one or two more little fitting jobs but none of them as finnicky or difficult as today.

[Stanley]

This morning I did the last few adjustments and ended up by fixing the flywheel on the shaft with Loctite 638. Tomorrow when I can prove that has sealed I shall declare the engine finished.
Incidentally, I try to avoid using set screws in the boss of the flywheel, relying on close fit and Loctite because setscrews always lead to affecting the concentricity on the shaft. This way it's as central as it was in the lathe.

[Stanley]

This morning was a search in the treasure chests for stock for two No 9 crankshafts. I have ordered a set of castings to build another engine and found this piece of shafting which was just the right size to make two blanks so that is where I am. I might even make two shafts! I cleaned the big 3 jaw chuck and fitted it and cleaned the lathe up ready for a big muck shifting exercise. As you know I am convinced I cannot die if I have an engine on the go so here I am preparing for two.

[Stanley]

Today I start the task of converting two lumps of scrap into two crankshaft blanks 5" X 2", faced and centred at both ends and eventually with the PCD of the rank pin centre marked on one end. So, routine turning and ending with a chip chase so I can have a clean start tomorrow. A nice hour and a quarter and the scrap shaft turns out to be good metal which is nice.....

[Stanley]

My castings were delivered from Stuarts yesterday but today I carried on turning my two billets of scrap shafting into reasonably sized blanks for two engine shafts. (That's right I shall make two, I am an optimist!) I finished one of them this morning and cleaned up my chips ready for a clean start tomorrow.

[Stanley]

Simple reduction of the second billet to an acceptable stock size. Most of the excess taken off and a quick clean up of the lathe and the floor. A quiet and productive hour and a half. Quietly forward.

[Stanley]

A nice hour and a half. I finished preparing the second crankshaft blank, cleaned the lathe and unpacked the castings and parts from Stuarts.

[Stanley]

A good hour in the shed. I have refined both the billets to 2" diameter and with the PCD of the crank pin position marked on one end and drilled with a witness hole with a centre drill. Then I removed the vise from the vertical mill and sorted out a 7/16" mill for cutting the surplus material from the centre of the billet. First job tomorrow is to sharpen that cutter and speed up the spindle on the mill. All according to plan and yes, I looked back to make sure I am not making the same mistake I made with the last engine which led to a smash!

[Stanley]

This morning was all about recovering from yesterday and getting my ducks in a row for tomorrow. So I did jobs as varied as storing carpet remnants and disposing of old carpet and underlay. Then I sharpened three 7/16" milling cutters, a blunt 3/8" and the standard 1" cutter that I do most of my work with. I shall start tomorrow by speeding up the mill, tidying up the parts for the next engine, fastening the crankshaft blank down and starting to =mill out most of the surplus from the gap between the faces of the shaft to cut down on what has to be removed by interrupted cutting. And yes, I've decided to make two crankshafts....

[Stanley]

I started this morning by refining my measurement and getting set up to cut out the excess metal from the middle of the crankshaft. Then I got all my parts tidied up and put in a ready use box. I made a bad start with a bum cutter that was cutting badly and over size but soon realised and swapped to a better cutter which is doing a clean tidy job. I finished the morning by muck shifting until knocking off time. Tomorrow I can go in and get straight into cutting.

[Stanley]

Only one image this morning. I Have finished the first deep cut into the blank but then instead of doing the small cuts I found two more 7/16" cutters and sharpened them and the one I have been using. I'll do the two small cuts on this blank tomorrow....