Geared horizontal twin engine

[Brian Rupnow]

So, as I was saying, these are probably the prettiest cross-head guides I have seen. There is a world of work in machining one of these, and it all has to be done in the correct sequence or you paint yourself into a corner and find that you have nothing to hold onto for the next machining operation. One done, and one more to go, tomorrow.

[crueby]

Looking great!   

[Brian Rupnow]

And that, my friends, makes two beautiful cross head guides. I'm very pleased with the way they both turned out. I started this morning at 8:30 and machined until 3:30 to finish the second cross head guide. (That included time to eat my lunch and walk sixteen minutes on the horrible treadmill. We have 9" of snow here now, so my fat mans walks in the bush trails are ended for this winter. Not sure what part I will make next, but I have to check my stock and see what material I have.

[Brian Rupnow]

I think I'm going to dive into the Rupnow fortune and buy some brass tomorrow. This engine almost demands that the flywheels be made of brass. Almost all of what remains to be built can be steel or aluminum, but I really like the color contrast of brass. I wish that there was some other cheap, exotically colored metal, but I'm pretty well stuck with two predominant colors. Steel and aluminum are very similar in color, no contrast there, and the lovely yellow of brass really makes it "pop". I'm not a huge fan of paint, and anodizing or black oxide coating is too expensive for my tastes.

[crueby]

Mmmmmmmm, love the look of brass too.   

[Art K]

Brian,
This is a clever looking engine. You are making good progress. The only snow we've got here melted soon after hitting the ground. Since the YMCA closed my exercise has become 10 minutes on the rowing machine as a warm up and then 30 minutes on the bike in a Blackburn trak stand.
Art

[Brian Rupnow]

This morning I loaded my wheelbarrow full of money and went shopping for material. The place I usually shop did not have any 5" x 3/8" brass (for flywheels) nor did the have any 1 1/2" x 1" brass (for cylinders). The 3 pieces you see in the picture cost $60. Then I went to my other metal supplier, and they had no 6" x 3/8" brass, but they did have a piece of 1 1/2" x 1" brass x 12" long, and it cost $71 and won't be here until tomorrow. That means that I now have to go and see the local robber-barons and see if they have any 5" x 3/8" brass to make flywheels.

[Brian Rupnow]

Somebody suggested that I buy cast flywheels. Remember--I'm in Canada, home of the brave and the penniless. For me to buy a cast iron flywheel , eat the currency exchange, the tax, and the shipping, I might as well use brass. An executive decision has been made. The flywheels are going to be made from hot rolled steel (which is dirt cheap) and painted the color of my choice. The amount of machining will be exactly the same, the weight will be almost the same, and the painted flywheels will look like they might be brass. In fact, maybe I'll lie!!!--I'll paint them and tell people that they are made of brass.--Who's going to know??

[Brian Rupnow]

Along with running around town buying material and walking on the horrible treadmill for 20 minutes, I was able to finish a base for the geared engine. I would have rather made something on my lathe, but it's nice to have a baseplate to assemble all the pieces on.

[Brian Rupnow]

So--Today we are taking our lead from Sesame Street. Today we are going to make round things. Four cylinder end caps to get the ball rolling, and then maybe a a couple of cross heads.

[crueby]

Brian, how will the guide tubes attach to the end caps? Soldered/welded?

[Brian Rupnow]

It's a trick. There is a counterbore in the end of the crosshead guides that fits snugly over the end cap on the cylinder.

[Brian Rupnow]

So today I picked up my piece of brass to make cylinders from, along with a piece of 6" x 1/2" hot rolled steel flatbar 12" long which will become flywheels. That cost $87.74 along with the $60 I paid for the other steel and aluminum and brass. So, it looks like the butchers bill for this engine is going to be around  $148 and that doesn't include the material that I already had when I started this build.

[Brian Rupnow]

Making round parts went quite swimmingly--Until I broke off a #10-24 tap. Tried all of my usual tricks to remove it, and none of them worked. Will remake that part tomorrow morning.   BAH!!!----HUMBUG!!!

[crueby]

 

The only reliable way I've found to remove them is to use a small diamond-coated bur in the rotary tool to grind out the center. Not too bad on a small size, for a 10-24 that would take quite a while.