OneGuyFromBarlick

I intimated yesterday that as you get older you are less mentally agile. Here's an example. I realised this morning that what I needed was a 3/16" hole through the crosshead for the connecting rod. Simple as that, so I drilled it out and went on to do some careful measuring and then cut the slot in the4 crosshead for the rod. That's done and the crosshead is now ready for fitting. I think I shall make the connecting rod first...... But that's for tomorrow.

This morning I addressed the connecting rod. First I did some measuring and marking and then set up the rectangular sock in the chuck checking it for accuracy with the dial indicator. Then I quietly turned down the end to the diameter I need to make the eye for the crosshead pin. I was held up by having to give my digital caliper a good clean to get the metal dust out of it. For some reason, that was suddenly a problem. I finished up ready to do more measuring and cutting tomorrow.

Only one image needed. I checked all my measurements and carried on cutting the rectangular stock back to the relatively slender body of the connecting rod. Careful turning because of course much of the work was an interrupted cut.

Exciting morning for all the wrong reasons.... I finished the shape of the con rod and started to part it off, I made a silly mistake, had a dig in, bent the rod and shattered the parting tool so I spent the rest of my hour repairing the parting tool, straightening the con rod and finishing the foot. I got away with it but only just....

I said I might let the damaged rod go forward but I couldn't do it. I set to to make a new one. I had one obvious candidate, the piece of very old wrought iron shafting you might remember me having so much trouble with. I put a new tip in my indexed cutter and got going. No rush and I had an uneventful morning. I feel much better having decided to scrap the damaged rod.

Just one target this morning, a perfect blank for the connecting rod. I spent an hour and a quarter doing some careful turning and at knocking off time I had a perfect blank and what's more, made out of wrought iron which I reckon could be 200 years old and which I had discarded as too difficult to machine many months ago. So I am pleased on two counts, first that I have my con-rod and second that I managed to use this very difficult material.
I don't know whether you can see but the inclusions in the wrought iron are the cause of the speckles on the foot.

I started this morning by doing some maintenance. I cleaned and oiled Mrs Harrison. Then I started to refine the bronze castings for the crank bearing. At knocking off time I was well into that job, I know where I am starting tomorrow!

Simple task this morning. Carry on with refining the crank bearing. Careful milling, rubbing down on fine emery paper and finally marking both halves with witness marks. Tomorrow I shall address the oil reservoir.....

This morning's task was fitting the two bolts that will hold the crank bearing halves together. Careful measuring, checking and drilling and I have decided not to counterbore the back bearing to make the bolts long enough to capture the foot of the con-rod. Instead I have found some 4BA threaded rod and I shall make the fastenings out of that.

More progress with the con-rod and crank bearing. This morning I drilled the bearing 3/8" for the crank pin. I said yesterday that I was going to use threaded rod instead of counterboring the bearing but this morning I decided the bolts were the tidier solution so I bored the bearing and then bored the foot of the con rod for the bolts. The last image is of the con rod fitted to the bearing. Tomorrow I shall make and fit the the oil reservoir and its plug.

As you can see I decided to finish the cutting to size of the foot of the co,rod before going further. The first side was easy but I made a bold decision with the other side when you consider the state of my eyes, I decided to cut the meat off by hand with the hacksaw. It turned out well, I was surprisingly accurate and eased the second cut considerably. Then I took out the top bolt and drilled the oil hole down through into the actual bearing. I cleaned all my cuts up and finished up ready to do what I promised yesterday, drill and tap the oil reservoir and make its plug.

As you can see, a simple morning, a bit of fine turning, even finer threading 3?16" X 40tpi and some knurling and we ended up with the oil reservoir cut, threaded and filled with a tiny plug.

This morning I got a piece of scrap out of the treasure chest and started to make the valve eccentric. I have marked the eccentric circle on the end for boring to go on the crankshaft and cut the groove for the eccentric strap. As usual I am ignoring the Stuart design and going for the Stanley version which is much easier and has never let me down.
I have been for the shopping and put it away. (There wasn't much!)
Oh, and my chicken is roasting in the oven.

Only one job this morning, part the eccentric off and bore it 3/8" to fit on the shaft. It needed to be a shade over 3/8" so I bored it with a 'V' letter drill and then massaged the bore with a file until it fit the shaft exactly. That's what took the time! Tomorrow it needs an Unbrako grub screw fitting for locking it on the shaft.

First I drilled and tapped the eccentric for the 3/16" Whitworth grub screw that will lock it on the shaft. Then I milled the eccentric strap down to fit the groove in the eccentric. Then I drilled it for the oil hole and put some finish on it. Tomorrow I shall refine it further for fitting on to the valve rod.

This morning I worked on the flat link that connects the eccentric strap to the valve rod. First job was to reduce the thickness of the stock from 1/8" to 3/32", which needed some careful milling. Once that was done I drilled the holes at each end and countersunk the one at the eccentric strap end. That was done very carefully with no errors and took an hour.....

A morning of small steps. First sharpen a 5/16" slot drill and then cut a slot 3/32" deep in the frame of the eccentric strap to accept the valve strap. Then reduce the strap and shape it to fit the eccentric strap. I touched up the everyday cutter while I was in cutter sharpening mode. Tomorrow I can fit the strap and reduce the rest of it to fit the clevis on the valve rod..... Dead easy to cock up, so slow and careful. It worked, it was error free!

More work on the flat link. It's now fitted at both ends in the valve train. Then I went back to the eccentric strap. I modified the shape and marked and drilled for the 5BA bolts that will hold the two halves together. I am ready now to split the strap and bore it to fit the eccentric. That's for tomorrow. A successful and error free morning.....

More work on the eccentric strap. First I put two witness marks on to ensure the two halves can be easily oriented. Then split the two halves using a slitting saw, I can't trust my eyes to saw straight!. Then a clean up, fit my boring head and set the strap up for boring to fit the eccentric. Once I had that done I walked away from it because it was almost knocking off time and there's no rush! An error-free hour so it was a good one.

Just one image. The strap is bored and fitted to the eccentric. We are ready to go forward with the rest of the valve train. I put the boring head away and set the mill up for normal milling because that's where we are going next.

I concentrated on the connecting rod this morning. First some delicate taper turning of the rod to get the cross head end down to 1/4" as this is the best way of marking how deep to cut the flats on the end of the rod and it looks so much tidier afterwards. (One degree of taper.) Then measuring and marking the rod for correct length and I finished with it ready to finish and fit tomorrow. Once more, delicate work done without error. Such a relief given the fact I don't see straight!

Only two simple jobs this morning, drilling the hole for the crosshead pin and adjusting both ends of the rod to give the right length and fit. Dead simple but scope for such big mistakes so all done very carefully. I ended up with it ready for fitting.

I thought this morning would be largely routine but had a surprise when I realised how much work I had to do to make the crank pin bearing fit. I even had to go into the mill and do some very sketchy milling of one side. All done very carefully and successfully. Then there was the matter of installing the con-rod and fitting the piston rod to it to confirm that my measurements are correct and that the piston doesn't foul either of the covers. I did that and it's perfect so then I moved to installing the back cover with its packing. That's done and two studs installed. Tomorrow I shall start by finishing installing the studs. The piston, rod and crosshead runs accurately and really freely. So far so good!