The Workshop Progress thread 2018

[geoff walker 1Participant @geoffwalker1]

Nice work Jim, looking good.

Are those just very short studs in the cylinder end or are they extended into the cylinder wall thickness?

Keep the pics coming and can you put 6" rule in the pics so I get an idea of the scale.

ATB Geoff

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Wow! Much workshop business!

Good to see so much great work in progress.

Neil

[Jim NicParticipant @jimnic]

Thanks Geoff

The 7BA studs are 10.5mm long and the holes, which are 5mm deep, would probably just break through the outside cylinder wall if they went much deeper.

Jim

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I want to try out my new scope this evening, but so I can set the focus witha a camera and leave it I had to make a short 5mm diameter length of nylon rod for the focus clamp.

Before starting I thought "should I seal up the anodising bath?" I thought, "no, I'll just be careful, I will probably use it later."

All I could find was an M6 nylon screw, which after some faff was just right, I offered it up to the parts of the focuser and went all butterfingers.

The focuser pressure block with the rod in it span towards the bench, hit it, bounced off at an angle and landed in my anodising bath…

Thought for a spilt second, grabbed it with bare hand and straight into the adjacent container full of washing soda solution for a quick fizz.

Straight off to the utility room sink and, yes you've guessed it.

As soon as the stream of the tap hit the block, the rod fell out and went straight down the plughole.

It took me considerably longer to find another nylon M6 screw than to turn up a new rod.

The lid is on the anodising bath now.

Neil

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

Filled the garden refuse bin to the top thought better clean up the garden.
I did dig up some spuds that's grown from the odd ones left in the ground from last year.
Managed to get into workshop this morning and did my first attempt at Tig coating stellite on a full size test piece cam follower.
Seems a lot easier than using oxy- acet have rough machined the test follower then a jig to make so can radius the foot.
Will play with the Alexander grinder and hope to do the follower foot radius with it otherwise could do it on the lathe or mill but don’t like grinding on them
The problem I have Tig welding have to do it without my specs even magnifier helmet lenses are not any good.
Very close up without specs things look large with no distortion bloody age related eye problem.

For speed nuts it's Elvington FIM and ACU record attempts this weekend.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Spent a couple of hours filing and die grinding the 10" Allman flywheel to a point where it is ready to be machined, looks a lot more promising now than when I got it.

[Jim NicParticipant @jimnic]

By eck Jason that's a flywheel and a half and no mistake. Once you get that spinning it'll carry on for ever.

Jim

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

It is a bit of a beast with that thick rim, the previous Allman engine that I built ran for quite a while and this one is heavier

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Super bearing fit there Jason.

George

[Ian HewsonParticipant @ianhewson99641]

Still don’t know how Jason fits it all in to a day, I feel tired imagining how he does it👍

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Made a start on the IF Allman flywheel yesterday, should get it finished today, seems more like SG iron than a nice grey iron but is not machining up too badly.

At 10.5" it is right on the limit of my 280, to start with the rough casting was just kissing the yellow carrage legs so had to have quite a bit of tool overhang hence the inverted boring bar and running in reverse ( don't try that with a screw on chuck)

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

I have another lathe tool similar to this one, but right hand at one end and left hand at the other, and it gets used as your boring bar is, except that the tool is the right way up, and the lathe is turning forward (screw on chuck).

Ian S C

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Ian, I do also have a L/H tool for my usual CC** insert but as I don't use the L/H very often I only have a 6mm Sq one and that would have sung a bit with 80mm sticking out teh tool post so I went with teh more substantial boring bar.

All machining finished now just a little bit of grinding work and a keyway to broach.

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Another little contribution of my Boxer twin, marked out for the cylinder blocks. Pic 1 is marked out for one then the light went on, turned it round & marked for both blocks, obviously it will be split down the middle & the dimensions are such that there is enough room for machining. I plan on setting it up in 4 jaw then drill to 9mm then bore out to reaming size for 11mm, split down middle & finish machining to leave 5.5 radius to fit cylinders & solder…

A small contribution but mine own…

George.

[Brian O’ConnorParticipant @brianoconnor49474]

Just finished the Cam Gear Bracket for my Star hit&miss engine. It started out as a 3in x 3in x 1.5in block of cast iron. It now weighs less than 10% of its original weight. Bucket of swarf, anyone?

B

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Nice work, Brian – do you have a DRO on the mill or was this painstaking manual positioning? And looks like a rotary table for the top feature?

Murray

[geoff walker 1Participant @geoffwalker1]

Yes, very nice, as someone once said it's amazing what you find inside a big chunk of cast iron.

Hope you had a good clean up Brian!!!!

Geoff

[Jim NicParticipant @jimnic]

Whatever that started out as Brian, and whatever it has ended up as, it is a very good looking piece of hardware which clearly took a lot of skill and care to make.

Jim

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Nice job Brian, bet your glad you didn’t have to saw and file it

Mike

[Brian O’ConnorParticipant @brianoconnor49474]

Thank you all for your kind comments. I think that this was the most stressful bit of machining that I have ever done. I didn't have an image of the finished piece, only (American) drawings so I spent a lot of time thinking about what it would look like and how I was going to tackle making it. I was terrified of screwing up at every stage, it's so easy to turn the wrong wheel ot turn it the wrong way. I do have DROs on mill and lathe and don't know how I would have managed without them. I also made extensive use of my centring microscope (Hemingway kit – well worth making).

Murray.

For the top feature (the support for the governor) I turned the top bit on the lathe with it held in the 4-jaw but had to file the lower part.

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Modified spare fly wheel for my Boxer. It was originally for a gyroscope toy that still is on the back burner for some reason, had to make a new boss & solder it in to allow for drilling & tapping for locking grub screw as the web is too thin to drill through from the rim ( according to drawing dims' )…

George.

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Posted by Brian O'Connor on 18/09/2018 15:38:52:

Just finished the Cam Gear Bracket for my Star hit&miss engine. It started out as a 3in x 3in x 1.5in block of cast iron. It now weighs less than 10% of its original weight. Bucket of swarf, anyone?

B

'Cam Gear Bracket' nowhere near describes what is obviously a beautiful piece of workmanship.

There a brackets and there are brackets, but this one is doing a lot more holding than any other bracket I have seen!

Ian P

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Machined up & reamed the cylinder blocks before splitting into separate items & machined chamfers in prep for soldering. Inlet ports have been marked off & drilled through blocks so after soldering to cylinders the ports will be drilled through cylinder wall to ensure alignment… methinks… …

Reaming through cyl. block before splitting in two to get correct diameter.

… cylinders & blocks prior to chamfering, radii fit…

… machining chamfers…

… cylinders, blocks & pistons …

Looks ok so far… .

George.

[David TaylorParticipant @davidtaylor63402]

I spent a lot of the non-work week planning and making these brake shoes. They still need their inside edges rounding off the clear the flange root and the hanger slots probably need to be deeper but I might just do that with a file as I don't have a suitable endmill or slitting saw.

Regards, David.

[Alan VosParticipant @alanvos39612]

Posted by Brian O'Connor on 18/09/2018 23:05:31:

I think that this was the most stressful bit of machining that I have ever done. I didn't have an image of the finished piece, only (American) drawings so I spent a lot of time thinking about what it would look like and how I was going to tackle making it.

You may wish to consider investing some time in 3D CAD. Numerous free options available (see other threads). I use Fusion 360. With that you could use the drawings to produce the 3D shape. Then start over with a solid block and subtractive cuts to simulate a machining sequence.

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