Stuart ‘Victoria’ : a beginners tale..

[GarryCParticipant @garryc]

Day 19.

The Steam Chest.

I found this difficult to set up on the lathe again as the Gland Boss was off center, but so far so good. I have drilled the Steam Chest at 7BA tapping size ready for 'spotting' through to the Cylinder Port Face – they will then need openning out to clearance size… I had to get an 'extra long drill bit' for the lengthways drilling.

The Steam Chest Drawing.

The Steam Chest and Cover as Supplied.

Setting up to face the Steam Chest 1.

Setting up the Steam Chest 2.

Extra Long Drill Bit for Lengthways Drilling.

The Gland Boss just needing the fixing holes.

The Steam Chest with holes for 'spotting through' to the Cylinder. They will then need openning out to 7BA Clearance Size.

Regards

Allan.

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Hi Alan

A little tip when using the "extra long drill" that you show. When I did the same thing I was a little concerned that the drill would pick up the correct place in the far end of the steam chest. My solution, which worked well, was to drill and ream the first hole then select a piece of silver steel to fit. I held this in a collet and drilled it out to accomodate a No1 centre drill which I then loctited into place. This enabled the centre drill to make the centre hole in exactly the right place and when I put the long drill through it picked up perfectly.

You seem to be forging ahead with your project – well done. You will soon need to be chosing the paint colours!

Regards

Norman

[GarryCParticipant @garryc]

Hi Norman

Thanks for the comments, I was worried about that as well, it sounds like a good tip for the future – I was as gentle on 'first contact' with the far end end of the steam chest as I could possibly be also bearing in mind it was directly on the 'join' line of the casting making it more likely the drill would move to one side or the other, but it looks ok to the eye anyway, so I have fingers crossed…

I can see lots of bits and pieces on the Drawing that look a bit frightening and one or two that I have no idea of how to tackle yet – painting seems a lifetime away at the moment!

Cheers

Allan.

[GarryCParticipant @garryc]

Day 20.

A bit more work on the Cylinder and Steam Chest.

The holes from the Steam Chest were spotted through and then drilled and tapped 7BA into the Cylinder Port Face, the Steam Chest holes were then opened out to 7BA Clearance size. Also the Exhaust Flange was drilled – needs the flange fixing holes to be done after the flange has been made..The Steam Chest was test fitted over the Cylinder studs. The Steam Chest Cover to be done next.

Setting up to drill the Cylinder Port Face after the holes from the Steam Chest were 'spotted through'.

Drilling the Exhaust Flange.

Testing the Studs fit the Cylinder ok. (The ports not very pretty I know..)

Test fitting the Steam Chest.

Regards

Allan.

[GarryCParticipant @garryc]

Day 21.

The Steam Chest Cover.

Not much to hold on to in the chuck while facing and I found it a bit awkward to clamp for spotting through from the Steam Chest in order to do all holes in one setting without having to move the clamp – so it turned out to be a bit more difficult than I thought it would be, or I think it looks. Just need now to do the gland fixing holes..

Facing the Steam Chest Cover.

The Setup used for Spotting Through from the Steam Chest. I guess there maybe much better ways to do this..

The Steam Chest Cover test fitting over the Studs 1.

The Steam Chest Cover 2.

Regards

Allan.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Allan, looking neat, but what I want to know is how does a beginner manage to make self-clearing swarf?

I've been at this for 14 years and everything still ends up buried in swarf…

Neil

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

I'm sure that some blokes have two workshops, one where the work is done, the other for photos. Ian S C

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Have you ever seen those hollow drills? It isn't for feeding coolant to the work, they connect a hoover to the spindle and suck the swarf straight up the drill.

Neil

[GarryCParticipant @garryc]

I do tend to tidy up as I go along, mostly because I like it that way but also to minimise the amout falling to the floor because of the dog and I guess I have a bit of a hangup from my old days at British Steel. We had to sweep away swarf very often and I remember that we were not allowed out at the end of a shift unless the machine we were using was completely cleaned down and the floor swept around it – every time. I also remember it was a sacking offence to leave the chuck key in the chuck……

Cheers

Allan.

[GarryCParticipant @garryc]

Day 22.

The Glands.

There are I think 4 Glands – have made a start on 3 of them. Think it best to leave the one that fits to the Cylinder Cover until after that has been done so that I have something to turn the diameter of the boss to size… Two of them have to be tapped.

I found them quite small and fiddly to do – the result so far is not that good but ok I think.. After putting in the 4 Jaw I faced, Centre Drilled, Drilled,Tapped then turned the boss.

One 2 inch Elliptical Bar is supplied to do all 4 Glands.

Tapping one of the Glands.

One of the Glands ready for parting off.

Parting off one of the Glands.

Three of the four Glands now needing fixing holes.

Test fitting one of the Glands.

Regards

Allan.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Neat Allan.

I've found that o-rings work well as packing for this sort of gland.

Neil

[John CoatesParticipant @johncoates48577]

Having never built a model (do motorbikes) I quite enjoyed reading this Allan so thanks

[Anonymous]

Looking good, I can't see anything wrong with the glands. You're making fast progress, better start thinking about the next project!

Regards,

Andrew

[GarryCParticipant @garryc]

Thanks Neil, I have to confess that I don't yet know what the Gland Packing is. I assume it is nothing to do with the gasket but material between the Gland Boss and the Cylinder – have to do some digging about that..

Thanks John – hope you decide to give it a go!

Thanks Andrew – much left to do yet though and more difficult some of it I think…

Cheers

Allan.

[GarryCParticipant @garryc]

Day 23.

Fixing three of the Glands.

Not too much trouble doing this but a bit fiddly here and there. I think I would have been better marking out and drilling the fixing holes first and not last. I could have maybe used a more accurate method instead of by eye alone. I would definitely try it this way around if I had to do again…

Setting up to drill one of the Flanges. I used the drill bit to center the Flange to the hole in the Steam Chest Cover before clamping and then set the drill stop and spotted through from the 7BA Tapping Size holes in the Flange. The Flange holes were then later opened out to 7BA Clearance size.

Test fitting of the Studs to the Steam Chest Cover after tapping.

Openning out the Holes to Clearance Size in the one of the Flanges. I held by hand…

Tapping the Steam Chest Cover.

Test fitting the Flanges (no gaskets).

Regards

Allan.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

You could have scribed a line at centre height before parting off the glands to get all three holes in line but what you have done looks fine.

The gland packing is traditionally "graphite yarn" basically a string that is impregnated with grahite and tallow, you wind a bit around the rod and poke it into the gland pocket and then the gland is used to squeeze it against the rod to get a seal.

You can now get a PTFE version that does the same job, both are available from the usual ME suppliers.

Neil mentioned O rings which can also work well but you need to size the gland pocket and gland to suit the ring to get the correct compression of the ring so a bit late to think about them for this engine.

J

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Hi Allan

Another "little tip!" – Remove the steam chest from the cylinder and, with the valve rod gland still in place, use a fine file to profile the cast iron on the chest to match that of the gland. It won't make it run any better but it will give you a warm feeling each time you look at it! Coming on well now – when can we expect the youtube video of it running?!

Cheers

Norman

[GarryCParticipant @garryc]

Thanks again both.

Day 24.

The Cylinder Covers.

Have made a start on the Cylinder Covers. Made a slight error in drilling and not allowing for the drill tip. Can anyone tell me when reading a drawing and looking at the given drill depths is it usual for the measurement to include the length to the tip of the drill or to the point where the drill stops cutting to full width? Hope that makes sense. I will need to make the Front Cover Gland slightly longer as a result and hope that will be ok..

I used the 3 jaw chuck – only had the Locating Spigot to hold on to for the Casting of the Front Cover but it seemed surprisingly solid and held ok. It did mean turning right up to the chuck but again seemed to go ok.

Need to make the Front Gland next and then do the ring of fixing holes…

The Cylinder Cover Drawings.

The Front Cylinder Cover Casting.

Holding onto the Locating Spigot.

Having to Turn right up against the Chuck.

Drilling the Front Cylinder Cover.

The Front Cylinder Cover – no fixing holes yet. (The hole is central – bad camera angle).

The Bar supplied for the back Cylinder Cover.

Test fitting the rear Cylinder Cover. No fixing holes yet.

Test fitting the front Cylinder Cover – no fixing holes yet,

Regards

Allan.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Well going by my Alibre drawing package it sto where the drill is cutting full width not the point. No need to make the gland bigger, just use a bit more packing.

One thing for next time, its best to machine the locating spigot and drill/ream the piston hole at the same setting to ensure they are concentric. Then turn the casting around to open up the packing counterbore.

[GarryCParticipant @garryc]

Thanks very much Jason, that makes perfect sense thinking about it – great bit of advice.

Cheers

Allan.

[GarryCParticipant @garryc]

Day 25.

Drilling the Cylinder Cover stud holes.

I had an idea this would be harder than it looked to get right. Despite what I thought was measuring accurately I have ended up quite a bit out on the required 1 5/16 PCD. As I will spot through the holes to the Cylinder Covers I hope it should be ok though. The Cylinder Support Brackets uses two of the holes on each cover so I will need to spot through to them now as well (perhaps that would have been the best way to do it anyway)..

Maybe I had not measured the Cover diameter correctly (on each cover – not very good I know…). I used the diameter to work out how much to come down to the required PCD for drilling. Still haven't yet been able to figure out how I got this so wrong, and twice…

Drilling the cylinder Covers. I marked and punched the first hole, then put some tape under each hole to start hoping it may help the drill bit not to slide. Maybe I would have been better to have marked and punched each one – perhaps this was where the PCD error came from…

The Cylinder Covers with 7BA tapping size holes for spotting through to the Cylinder. The holes to be opened out to 7BA Clearance size afterwards.

Regards

Allan.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Looks like you subtracted the PCD from the OD and then forgot to divide by 2, should be OK just watch that none of the stud holes break into the steam passages.

J

[Steve WithnellParticipant @stevewithnell34426]

On your point about holding "thin stuff" try one of these –

**LINK**

The other photo's in the series show how it is used.

All it is, is a blank arbor from Arcurotrade, drilled and tapped 12mm then a piece of 12mm threaded rod, a couple of nuts an an appropriate slice of cast iron bar, machined to whatever suits your purpose.

Fit the arbor in the chuck, set the cast iron 'face' to the correct depth, then just take a light skim to ensure it is flat and true. Then you have a backstop for your thin pieces.

You must skim the backstop everytime it's adjusted as it's likely to go out of true.

[Stunned at your ability to keep your machines and fixtures looking like they are straight of the box! Mine look like that only once…]

Steve

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Hi Alan

| "I marked and punched the first hole, then put some tape under each hole to start hoping it may help  the drill bit not to slide."

Always a good idea to use a centre drill first – especially when drilling small sized holes. The pilot on a No. 1 centre drill is only just over 1mm dia so OK for all but the smallest of holes. Just go in deeply enought for the thicker part to put a chamfer around the edge and this is then the ideal start to drill your hole proper.

Norman

Edited By NJH on 27/09/2013 17:52:51

[GarryCParticipant @garryc]

Thanks again for the comments. Steve, that looks interesting and useful I may have a go at that sometime. Thanks Norman, I must get a small set of centre drills, I'm sure someone else has recommended this before – I keep forgetting for some reason but hopefully the message has got through this time. and thanks Jason, thought I had remembered to do that but must have gone wrong with the numbers somewhere, although the 'spotted through' holes look to be in the right place in the Cylinder Walls. A measurement across the centre between the two bracket holes is well short of the 1 /5/16 PCD the drawing specified. Its a mystery to me – much better of course when you mess up to at least why etc..

Day 26.

Fixing the Back Cylinder Cover.

Spotting through the 7BA tapping size holes into the Cylinder.

I did half the holes in one setting, then tapped the Cylinder and used the Studs to line up and hold to drill the remaining.

Openning out the Rear Cylinder stud holes to 7BA Cleanance Size. Used a clamp because of the locating spigot on the undersize making it unsteady.

Spotting through the remaining holes using the studs to hold in place.

Test Fitting the Back Cylinder Cover. (The two longer studs pass through the supporting bracket).

Regards

Allan.

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