Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss

[Chris J]

Is there some kind of lacquer that could be sprayed on to keep the look and preserve the metal ?

[mklotz]

Is there some kind of lacquer that could be sprayed on to keep the look and preserve the metal ?

Recently someone put me on to Renaissance Wax...

http://www.amazon.com/Picreator-Renaissance-Wax-200ml/dp/B0012S1XBO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1370792041&sr=8-2&keywords=Renaissance+wax

which is used by museums and such to protect frequently handled metallic objects such as swords and armor.  Some shooters are also using it on their guns in preference to the old standby, Flitz.

As a test, I polished some brass and steel display items and then waxed them with this product.  I left them out on a bookcase and fondle them as I walk by every day.  In over two months of exposure, the shine hasn't diminished and the items are not marked by fingerprints.  Also, the steel feels smooth and slick to the touch-very sensuous.

I don't polish engines because I think "bling" looks trashy on an industrial item.  Nevertheless, I'm sure this stuff would work well on engines. 

$26 for 200 ml is pricey.  Amazon sells a 65 ml container for $16.

http://www.amazon.com/Renaissance-Wax-Polish/dp/B003AJWN62/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370792041&sr=8-1&keywords=Renaissance+wax

Give it a try.  Even if you decide not to use it on your engines, you can earn some real points with SWMBO by waxing her candlesticks.

[b.lindsey]

It sounds really   good Marv, and if so, wouldn't getting over three times as much for less than twice the price be worth it?  Flitz isn't cheap either but I find it less than satisfactory.

Bill

[arnoldb]

Thank you all for your kind comments and checking in 

Jim, you nailed it with Shrek coming out at the worst possible time with newly-acquired words...  African Greys have a knack for embarrassing their owners, and it's extremely difficult to "un-learn" them  .  Overall though, he's a good little birdy 

Steve, the definite one is Gail Graham's Lobo Pup.  The other would be a hit and miss; I'm leaning towards the Tiny.  A working IC model of a Lister D type might also make the list.

As to painting the flywheel - the rest of the model will be painted, and the flywheel is already a prominent part.  It'll be a bit overpowering if left unpainted; I'd rather make the valve train appear a bit more prominent when the engine's done; that's where this engine's true essence lies for me.

I was looking forward to a good shop session today, but a call-out to a customer dashed that.  I did get a bit done though; with the flywheel done, I really wanted to see how things looked assembled, and that meant I had to do a bit of woodwork.

The mounting hole locations were all marked on the base, and then I drilled the holes with the drill press.  Jim (BC1) mentioned earlier in the thread that the teak I'm using is oily, and that causes the flutes on the drill bit to clog up quite quickly while drilling.  The wood is fairly thick, so I peck-drilled and brushed off the clogged up wood from the drill bit regularly with a small brass brush.  Tempting as it might be to just hold down the workpiece on the drill table for a job like this, it's always better to clamp it up:


While drilling the holes, I heard a bird-call outside the shop that I didn't recognize.  It sounded a bit like an eagle, but up in the tree was this pretty male Grey Hornbill:

I haven't seen many of those around; they are plentiful in other parts of Africa, but central Namibia is literally on the outside edge of their main habitat.

To make the flywheel cut-out, I cobbled together bits from the clamping kit, opened the mill vise to maximum, added a suitable spacer on top of the rotary table's table to make the base lay flat across the vise jaws and on the rotary table, and clamped things down as best as I could.  A bit Rube Goldberg, but it worked:


The four corner locations was drilled with an 8mm drill, leaving some room for finishing to size, then I used a 12mm carbide end mil to start taking out the excess:

With the ill flat-out at 1200rpm, this was a breeze.

Once the excess dropped out, I ran the mill around all the edges, opening them up to final size:


Now it's starting to look like an engine     I'll have to make up or invest in some more fasteners though; things are mounted very loosely here:




Just for fun, I perched my version of Elmer's Tiny on top of the flywheel - these make up my smallest and biggest builds to date:


Things are still slightly stiff, but it's a good feeling to flip over an engine for the first time:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9oszK0OMEE" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9oszK0OMEE</a>

Kind regards, Arnold

[vcutajar]

WOW.  Now it is really taking shape.  Thanks for showing it mounted on the base.

Vince

[Kim]

Hey Arnold,
Very impressive to see it on its base, even if only temporarily mounted!  Your Corliss is really looking good 

And the Grey Hornbill was just an added bonus. I've never seen a Hornbill, gray or any other color for that matter!

Kim

[NickG]

Flywheel looks awesome Arnold - was just going to say its almost a shame to cover it up with paint. With a casting you want to hide the mess but it will hide some of the great workmanship here. Then again - look at Jason's painted one on his grasshopper - looks spot on and sure this will too.

[Don1966]

Awesome Arnold, she's shaping up nicely. It shouldn't be to long now before she's up and running. 

Don

[b.lindsey]

Fantastic Arnold, I would have to say it was a productive day after all!!!

Bill

[sbwhart]

Looking extremely good Arnold

Are you going to put some fancy rebating around the edge of the wooden base, if so be carful of the edges splitting when you go across the end of the grain, I've fallen foul of this in the past,  best to take the across the grain cut first then you have a chance to clean the split away when you take the cut with the grain, or if you can grip the wood close to the edge so that you give it some support to stop it splitting.

Looking forward to the nest instalment

Stew

[NickG]

When I posted my last reply I hadn't seen your assembly pics and vid - mustn't have displayed properly on the phone. Wow!   

Does the engine have a metal base too or is everything to be bolted to the wood as per pic? Turning over nice and freely - half the battle.

Nick

[EmanMyford]

Hi Arnold, the engine is looking great!
Its only when you showed Tiny on the flywheel when I realized the scale.

Kind Regards.
Ewald

[arnoldb]

Thank you all who checked in 

Vince, I'll be keeping things on the simple side from now - the interesting bits are coming up, and I'd like to pick up problems if they arise.  You keep on with your build; it will turn out much prettier than mine 

Kim, this Hornbill is completely bland compared to other species over the world.  The rest in Namibia aren't that colourful either; they just have yellow to bright orange beaks depending on the species.  I'm surprised that you don't have some native species in Oregon  .  Anyhow, if you stick in "hornbill bird images" in Google, you'll see what I mean, though there are very few images of the one I sighted...  It may be rarer than I thought - or so common in its more habitual areas that no-one bothers to photograph it.  In case no-one have guessed it yet, I do like birds very much; be it from the Avis or Homo Sapiens lineage 

Don, there's still quite a lot to do, so don't get your hopes up too soon.  The valve train will take quite a bit of effort; even though it's down to some of the smaller sizes I'm used to working with, it will still be challenging.  Vince and Jerry already mentioned some of the tricky stuff that's about to come up...

Stew, yes, I'll be firing up the router at some point to trim up the edges, and like you mentioned, across the ends first and then length-wise.  The base still needs quite a bit of height added as well.  I'm out of wood for that, so it's a question of buying more wood to add on, or make some kind of raised and covered platform from whatever bits I can find, or just add some ornamental feet to raise it and leave the bottom exposed...  Choices - choices  .  For now, I'll focus on finishing the basic engine and get it running 

Nick, there's no other base; it will get mounted straight to the wood.  It's turning over OK, but the piston still needs a ring,  and the piston rod pack nut needs packing.  Both these will tend to tighten up things.  On the other hand, the cylinder bore must still be lapped, which will ease up friction with the piston ring.  I've found that its easier to get a runner by checking things as one's going along and sorting out any minor problems that might arise along the way - like I had with the connecting rod catching against the cross-head guide.

Thanks Ewald  .  Actually, if I removed some of the excess length from Tiny's crank shaft and the crank pin, it would fit inside the cylinder bore of the Corliss 

Kind regards, Arnold

[arnoldb]

Well, not much progress today.

The last bit that needs to go on the crankshaft (for now) is the eccentric.  Once that's done, I can mount things a bit more permanently and get to work on the valve train.

This is pretty much a duplicate of Vince's post - I didn't have stainless for the eccentric though, so I made it from mild steel.
A simple turning operation.  To make the groove, I ground up and honed the end of a bit of 4mm square high speed steel to make a form tool; my parting tool is inclined to flex too much for this kind of job:


Off to the mill, and I drilled the hole for the crankshaft:


I used the band saw to saw off the eccentric, and faced the sawed side to length:


The last step was to drill and tap for the grub screw:


One finished eccentric after some de-burring; it looks vaguely familiar  :



In Vince's thread I mentioned that I was thinking about how to go about making the different rods in the valve train adjustable...
My first thought was to use BA threads on one side and Metric on the other for each of the rods.  Unfortunately this won't quite work; at the closest equivalent sizes their thread pitches are near-identical, so won't work.  I'm in no position to order other types of taps and/or dies from overseas at the moment either - the N$ is pretty worthless right now on international currency markets 

So I guess it'll be the slightly harder way for me.  I've done quite a few 0.5mm pitch threads; that's not hard to do on thicker bits; my boring head has an M6x0.5mm home-brew leadscrew, and I also made an M4.5x0.5 tap that works really well.  Time to see if I can make a couple each of M3x0.5 and M2x0.4 Left Hand taps in taper and plug form...
  Wonder If I'll be able to get down to M1.6x0.35 LH...
Single-point screw cutting the different rod ends to match the taps wouldn't be hard to do if once I can make the taps.  I've never tried to make my own dies; that might be a bit more difficult in these smaller sizes, so will have to wait.

Kind regards, Arnold

[vcutajar]

Always look forward to your weekly update Arnold.  Like you, I haven't done much this week.

Regarding the rod adjustment, I have come to the conclusion that it is better to leave it till later and see if it is actually required.  I think that if I silver solder the clevis side, I might still have some adjustment leeway with the 3mm x 0.5 thread on the other side.  Still not sure about it and that is the reason I am leaving it until other parts are done.

Vince