Wright Brothers 1903 Engine

[b.lindsey]

Thanks Prop amd Zee.  I need to pick up the pace some to keep the interest going, i know, but its a complicated little thing in many ways. Thanks for checking in!!

Bill

[Dave Otto]

Cool another update to the 1903; it is going to be fun watching this one take shape.

Dave

[b.lindsey]

Lets hope so Dave, as opposed to an exercise in futility!!

Bill

[Tennessee Whiskey]

Well what seems to be the hold up here pal. Theys ain't no great big parts or nothing. I sho am glad youns ain't building one em air catypiller thangs
I check in either in early am or on my way to bed. You keep this one going. I can't wait to see that prop spin, and I don't even have the least little Zee doubt it will. Thought bout getting Marv to to an airframe?

Great work
Eric

[Don1966]

Looking good Bill, I like the idea of turning the crank throws together and drilling together. Looks like the little Gremlin has been in your shop also.
following you with great interest here Bill.

Don

[b.lindsey]

Actually Don the  web parts were all drilled individually at work using the DRO to set the hole ctc distance carefully. Even with that the two sets of holes lined up amazingly well. I figure some slight variations in other areas won't have much if any effect. Tonight i got the three centerline spacer pieces installed into three or the crank assemblies. Tomorrow after the loctite sets (or goes off as our UK friends say) the four cranks will all be joined  leaving just the two end pieces to go.

Thanks for the ihterest guys!!

Bill

[Bearcar1]

Simply amazing Bill. Your quality of build and the patience to do so is evident. I can't wait to see the end result no matter how long it should take to happen. This rare piece of aviation history is going to be so cool when you are finished.


BC1
Jim

[swilliams]

Great to see more action here Bill. It's such a great project!

Steve

[Tennessee Whiskey]

Bill, I hope you know I was just poking a little fun last night. I couldn't sleep so this morning about two I reread the thread. This is some seriously small stuff. Don't worry about the pace, we ain't paying you. And as far as the interest part, that's gonna be here in anything you do on this forum. It was the smaller scale stuff that started me in this addiction and this is keeping my "boiler stoked". You keep up the good work and "I'll be check'n in on ya now ya hear"

PS How bout an IC pocket watch? Back case for fuel tank; fill it like a butane lighter; flywheel where the crown should be

Eric

[b.lindsey]

Thanks Jim, Steve, and Eric.  And yes Eric, I took your comments in the spirit they were intended   I speak redneck too ya know   As to the IC pocket watch, why not must make it a just make it a sterling cycle wristwatch running off the heat of one's wrist. I think I'll leave that to George though...he's far better at the really really small stuff!!

P.S. Hope you are making good progress on digging out and rebuilding over there.

Bill

[b.lindsey]

A little more done on the crankshaft, basically the main part of it is finished. After assembling the 4 crank pieces together along the central axis and letting that all cure, I began drilling and reaming for the 16 total (14 so far) #6/0 taper pins through each connection as shown in photo 1.  Once each of the joints was pinned, I used the belt sander to grind them down near flush, then a needle file to get even closer and then some 320 grit paper on a flat plate to even things out even more. Now both sides lay perfectly flat on a surface plate as I had hoped. The last picture is just for scale.  Now the two end pieced need to be cut and machined...one end for the flywheel and propellerl sprockets, and the other for the cam sprocket.

[stevehuckss396]

That looks super nice. I have tried to make a multi-piece crank and it didn't do much of anything perfectly. Especially lay flat on a surface. Great job.

[ths]

Hi Bill,

Firstly, lovely work, and a very enjoyable thread.

Secondly, I can't quite see how you were able to 'turn' the radii on the crank webs in one of the photos in post 58. The webs are shown set up on the lathe, but I can't see how they can do a complete rotation. I'm wondering if they were planed towards the chuck. Perhaps I'm just missing the bleeding obvious!

Cheers, Hugh.

[swilliams]

Looking great Bill. Do you know if the original had a built up crank? Would be pretty challenging to carve that out from the solid.

Steve

[zeeprogrammer]

Pretty amazing Bill.
Pretty small too!