OneGuyFromBarlick

I started the day by finishing the initial turning of the flywheel and putting the chuck back to the normal internal jaws. Then I turned my attention to the cylinder. This has to be machined and bored before the lids can be machined. I started by the first rough fettling with the grinder, and in the case of the flash in the bore, a punch a chisel and some convincing blows! Then a good measure up and marking for overall length of 2 1/8". Next into the vise on the VM and I started by rough machining both ends so I can check for being square before taking them down to the mark. That was 45 minutes so I stopped and am now chasing my breakfast!

More work on the cylinder.... ready now for the finishing cuts, cutting the Exhaust port and Boring. All that is for tomorrow. Now I deserve breakfast!

This morning the task is to bore the cylinder. However, there were things needed doing first. I wanted to clean up some of the CI dust on the vertical mill and lathe but Henry, my shop vac, has been a bit short of suck lately.... Time to empty him! That's not quick and easy but it had to be done. Once that was out of the way I mounted the boring head on the mill and did some very careful measuring on my cylinder because I made a very small error when I was cutting it to length on the mill and wanted to make sure I was boring it in such a way that I would be able to compensate for that very small mistake. That took a bit of weighing up but once I had it done I mounted the cylinder in the vise and positioned the boring head ready for work. That's where I stopped for breakfast. My work tomorrow is quite clear, start the day by boring the cylinder to 1.5" diameter.

I got a call from my old boss John Ingoe yesterday.... I had put the arm on him to find me some 2" steel for making crankshafts as it seems I am going to live for ever! He responded positively and is going to get back to me. Nice..... a bit of help is worth a lot of pity!

Today I bored the cylinder, cut the exhaust port in the valve face and drilled and tapped the hole for the exhaust pipe. Now I want my breakfast....

I started the morning by taking two refining cuts on the exterior of the Cylinder and then I moved on the the steam chest casting. I have made a good start on this but will finish it tomorrow. Now it's breakfast time!

The remaining external faces of the steam chest milled square, smooth and to size. Then the internal faces of the chest cleaned up using the files and vise. Lastly I measured, marked and drilled the hole and counterbore for the valve rod gland. A good 45 minutes work. Now for breakfast.

This morning was all about the steam chest lid. It's a good thing to avoid any heavy cuts or aggressive milling because, being thin, the lid can be prone to cold short, very brittle areas such as the corners. So I took it very carefully and had no problems. Now I want my breakfast.