Recommend me a first engine

[Phil CatchesidesParticipant @philcatchesides15448]

Bearings and gears have arrived – how can you make and sell (at a profit) a ball race for £1 – and some bar stock ordered with bits needed for 'Locomotion'. The book is on its way so in a couple of days I will be an expert ! I won't be starting right now but I like to make sure I have hard to source bits in my hand before spending time. One question; the drawing says the connecting rod is made from 'dural' which is presumably an aluminium alloy – where do I get this from and exactly what is it ?

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

Phil

For the con rods my choice of Aluminum would be from 2014, 7075 or 6061 in that order, others may have more info on suppliers and/or grade.

Emgee

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Look for H15 from the model engineering suppliers (sometimes called HE15)

Rod

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Phil Catchesides on 04/11/2016 08:42:50:

One question; the drawing says the connecting rod is made from 'dural' which is presumably an aluminium alloy – where do I get this from and exactly what is it ?

Dural is the name of an early and very successful Aluminium alloy. It contained Copper and is somewhat stronger than mild-steel. Being light and strong it was much used in aircraft. Having been supplanted by improved alloys it's possible that no-one makes it these days. The name became a generic term for 'aluminium alloy' much like Hoover means 'Vacuum Cleaner'.

Other contributors have already identified suitable alternatives and possible sources. The alloys are a little hard to find for sale but aluminium tread-plate is fairly common. Tread-plate has a good specification because people rely on it in high places. My local metal emporia usually has off-cuts. Might do if it's thick enough to make your con-rod.

Dave

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Quite a good source of light alloy suitable for a con rod is an alloy bike peddle, preferably a straight one, some are made with a curve. You might win a used one at a bike shop.

Ian S C

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

M-Machine have a few small square and rectangular sections listed in HE15 (2014) which are handy sizes for conrods that I have used in the past though sometimes it is a bit cheaper to buy round section and cut from that.

[Phil CatchesidesParticipant @philcatchesides15448]

I think a friend may have bike cranks, I only need a bit for the con rods so can hack it out of a crank but if this fails then thanks for spec

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

Posted by Ian S C on 04/11/2016 12:07:25:

Quite a good source of light alloy suitable for a con rod is an alloy bike peddle, preferably a straight one, some are made with a curve. You might win a used one at a bike shop.

Ian S C

.

Good one.

I had never thought of that for a probably free source of such.

Nick

[Phil CatchesidesParticipant @philcatchesides15448]

Got some alloy cranks from a bikey friend (allegedly quite serious money when new but one is slightly bent), cut down and machined (nice stuff to machine) into con rod blanks. Good to go ! Any other bits I need to worry about ? Phil

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