Author Topic: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss  (Read 167268 times)

Offline arnoldb

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #375 on: October 27, 2013, 05:03:44 PM »
Thanks Vince.  I'm going for blue; will see what that turns out like...

Eric, you nailed it with the joys of home ownership.  There's always something to fix.  At least the couplings make things easy -

Thanks Don.  The pipe definitely is too shallow, but I can't blame the blokes who buried the pipe too much.  My house is on the side of a small hill, and there's mica bedrock about 3 inches below the pipe.  Digging holes or trenches on this property is not fun at all  :o


Sigh...  I was looking forward to a happy day painting.  Alas, the compressor motor made funny struggling sounds, let out the white magic smoke and tripped the overload switch when I started it up to fill the tank:

Fortunately I hadn't mixed up the paint yet...

Closer investigation, and the starting cap is toast.  The fact that the connecting terminal for the running cap is broken off wouldn't have done the starting cap any good either, and the bottom terminal on the overload switch must have had an iffy connection, as that overheated as well  :zap:


On closer inspection, the running cap isn't even the correct rating according to the spec sheet on the motor; it's just 45uF and should be 60uF.  So it's all a bit of a mess...  I'll get replacement caps of the correct ratings for both, and a new overload switch.  I was so disgusted, I closed shop and went to sort out a problem with the electric gate in front.  Sigh... That needs a new battery.  I guess the electrical suppliers are going to make a killing out of me this week.

It's true; Murphy was an optimist  :LittleDevil:

Kind regards, Arnold
Building an engine takes Patience, Planning, Preparation and Machining.
Procrastination is nearly the same, but it precludes machining.
Thus, an engine will only be built once the procrastination stops and the machining begins!

Online steamer

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #376 on: October 27, 2013, 05:52:32 PM »
Ahhh Not so bad Arnold....I hate painting! :lolb:

Dave
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Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #377 on: October 27, 2013, 08:45:37 PM »
I had several pages to catch up on Arnold and its nice to see all the progress you have made. Not only the parts but the painting looks great as well. Will try to stay closer tuned to the progress :)

Bill

Offline arnoldb

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #378 on: November 02, 2013, 04:41:39 PM »
Dave, me too; it's one of those things that I want to get over and done with, though I must say this lot was a lot more enjoyable than I've done in the past.  It was just frustrating that I couldn't get on with it.

Thanks Bill - progress will be a bit slow though; the painting takes time to do...  I guess I'd better get going on the studs 'n stuff while waiting for the paint to dry.

I got the spares for the compressor this week, and bright and early this morning installed the lot.  Started her up, and something was still not right, and by the time I killed the electricity, the brand new starting cap had leaked electrolytic fluid again  :rant: .

So,there was another problem.  With the fan belt safety guard removed I turned the compressor over by hand a couple of turns, and it turned fairly easily, so the motor shouldn't have any problems starting up and getting to speed.  Next possible culprit: the centrifugal switch that's supposed to take the starting cap out of circuit once the motor is up to about 75% of speed.  I disassembled the motor, and found that the centrifugal switch had it's contacts fused closed, with lots of evidence of arcing:


After prying the contacts apart, I cleaned the burnt faces with a bit of emery, and started checking the mechanism out.  Operating the fly-weights by hand, I soon found out that the mechanism wasn't operating very smoothly, nor very positively.  Some tweaking of the contact spring plates soon had the positive operation of the mechanism sorted out, and a light application of dry lubricant in a couple of spots soon had it operating smoothly.
As the new starting cap was also now damaged, I made a mad dash to the supplier; fortunately they are open on Saturdays, but it was close to their closing time.  They were out of stock on the caps, but it's one of those few places where the owner still takes a bit of pride in customer care.  So he removed a cap from one of the floor display models, and handed it to me - free of charge.  On the way out of the shop, I bumped into a buddy of mine, and we retired to a near-by coffee shop for a bit of a face-to-face natter.  That's much nicer than using a phone.

Back home, with the motor assembled again and all the wiring sorted out, I gave it a run without the fan belt.  Started easily, and I could hear the centrifugal switch operate.  A quick test with a multimeter confirmed that things were running well.  After assembling everything back together - with some judicious application of thin rubber strips in a couple of places that always rattled a bit in the past, but were hard to get to, and the compressor is running sweeter than ever.  I think that the wire on the running cap had been broken since new, and without that cap in circuit to shift the electrical phase between the running coil and starting coil closer to 90o apart, the motor always struggled to start and get up to speed, thus loading the starting circuit for unnecessarily long periods.  Enough motor-theory...

I finally got back to painting.  The bare-metal bits received primer. The flywheel got a second coat after fixing some blemishes by rubbing down.

On to the colour.  I've had the primer for quite a while, so three weeks ago when I went to buy the colour paint, I went to the company that supplied the primer so that I could discuss getting an appropriate paint type to match it.  I wanted a semi gloss colour paint.  I soon found out that they're not quite as helpful as the tooling company I mentioned earlier in this post.  The "customer service" droid pointed me at the selection of compatible automotive semi gloss paints.  Pretty much none of them had a colour sample on the lid as is usual, so I asked about having some paint mixed up to specification. "No, we don't mix automotive semi gloss to specs, only gloss.  You'll just have to select from the shelf."  Before I could point out that the selection on the shelf had no colour dots, he'd turned his back on me and dashed off somewhere.
After digging around the tins of paint, looking for dried-out spillage droplets on the rims of the tops, I eventually settled on "Ford Blue" as the closest match to what I wanted.  The cashier was more helpful.  When I plonked the paint can and a can of thinners (chosen from next to the paint) down to pay, she told me it's the wrong thinners for the paint, got up and exchanged it for the correct thinners, and told me to mix it at about 20% thinner to paint for spraying.  A gentle enguiry as to where the "boss" was, and "He's not here today.  No, we're not allowed to hand out his cell number or email address." - Pity; I'd really liked to have a chat with him about customer service.  The cashier deserves better, and he needs to know what's going on - if he cares about his business.  Somehow, I don't think I'm going back to this paint shop.
Maybe I'm just getting more grumpy with age  :LittleDevil:

Anyway, the results of today's painting work:


Kind regards, Arnold
Building an engine takes Patience, Planning, Preparation and Machining.
Procrastination is nearly the same, but it precludes machining.
Thus, an engine will only be built once the procrastination stops and the machining begins!

Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #379 on: November 02, 2013, 05:17:12 PM »
Sounds like you had a busy morning Arnold. Glad you got the motor issue sorted out though, now the painting can resume :)

Bill

Offline vcutajar

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #380 on: November 02, 2013, 05:56:58 PM »
I am starting to like that blue.  Can't wait to see it all assembled.

Vince

Offline NickG

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #381 on: November 03, 2013, 08:57:18 AM »
Well done with the motor Arnold, I took the one to bits recently that will go on my shaper - it had an annoying rattle, the only thing I could put t down to was play in the centrifugal clutch mechanism - strange though as the noise happened suddenly - I always thought there was something rattling around inside it! Doesn't seem to be anything untoward so at least I know now, will just have to put up with the rattle!

Lol @ "customer service droid" !

Offline gbritnell

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #382 on: November 03, 2013, 11:39:05 AM »
Being a Ford man I'm partial to that blue anyway but it still looks good. With all the paint and brightwork it will look great.
gbritnell
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Offline Don1966

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #383 on: November 03, 2013, 02:36:20 PM »
Nice work getting your motor back running again Arnold, and I do like the blue it's my favorite color. Waiting to see it all assembled and running.

Don

Offline cfellows

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #384 on: November 03, 2013, 03:23:14 PM »
Just flipped through the entire thread.  A lot of darned nice work there, Arnold.  The Corliss is a really pretty engine and your example looks like it will be top shelf!  I do admire your patience.

Chuck
So many projects, so little time...

Offline arnoldb

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #385 on: November 03, 2013, 06:54:14 PM »
Thanks All  :praise2:

It's good to be back on track - though assembly is still quite a bit off.  It's me and nuts and studs next.

Nick, that phrase was blatantly borrowed from a couple of episodes of BOFH  ;)

Today was a good 'un.  After rubbing down some blemishes early in the morning, the last parts got a second coat of primer, and this dried fairly quickly, so by about 11:00 I sprayed the last of the top coat and set the parts out to dry:


At about 18:00, I took the last painted parts out; they were dry enough to handle (very carefully though) and took a group-shot:


The flywheel was the hardest part to get an even coat on - and there's some parts of the spokes where the top coat ended up too thick:

Those might thin out a bit more as it dries further - at least I'm hoping so.  If not, it'll be back to sanding and another coat of paint.

I'm quite pleased with how the cylinder block turned out:

Of course, the final verdict will have to wait for a bit, as it needs to dry further, and only once the masking is removed, will I get to see how well it actually worked.

I staged a shot of the cylinder block and cross-head guide to get a "feel" for things.  Like George mentioned, the colour should offset the bare metal bits nicely; I was scared it may be a bit light, but should do fine:


The flywheel, on the other hand, might be a bit "too blue".  From what I've seen, most of these types of engines had the entire flywheel painted, but it looks a bit overpowering and might need some form of toning down or additional detailing.  I'll see what it looks like all-assembled first though. 

As to the rest of the shop time today, most of that was spent contemplating how I'd go about making all the nuts and studs.  The engine would look OK with screws used as fasteners, but it would look better with more appropriate fasteners.  I don't quite share Jo's passion for making these though.  In my short model engine making career, I ended up doing this out of necessity rather than choice; simply because I could not easily get my grubby paws on commercial items.  Making a couple each time for one of Elmer's engines isn't too bad, but there's a lot more required here, and I may as well prepare for the future.  The contemplation turned into a couple of C-o-Cs, and near the end of shop time I started machining a bit.  Not a lot yet, but a bit.  That's a post for the tooling section though.

Kind regards, Arnold
Building an engine takes Patience, Planning, Preparation and Machining.
Procrastination is nearly the same, but it precludes machining.
Thus, an engine will only be built once the procrastination stops and the machining begins!

Offline Jo

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #386 on: November 03, 2013, 07:19:36 PM »
As to the rest of the shop time today, most of that was spent contemplating how I'd go about making all the nuts and studs.  The engine would look OK with screws  :hellno: used as fasteners  :slap:, but it would look better with more appropriate fasteners  8).  I don't quite share Jo's passion for making these though. 

Kind regards, Arnold

 :lolb: what gives you the idea I like doing studs. In my experience studs never live up to all the hype their only positive side is stud humor is fun  :mischief: and they give me something to do on a cold winter's night in my bedroom.

Jo
Enjoyment is more important than achievement.

Offline vcutajar

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #387 on: November 03, 2013, 07:56:02 PM »
Arnold

I guess it is a bit late, but what do you think if you leave the rim of the flywheel unpainted?  That is what I intend to do on mine.

Vince

Offline Maryak

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #388 on: November 03, 2013, 09:45:22 PM »
Nice paint job Arnold  :ThumbsUp:

As an alternative to Vince's suggestion maybe some shallow rope grooves. They should cut through the paint OK and leave a nice contrast.

Best Regards
Bob
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Offline NickG

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #389 on: November 03, 2013, 09:55:14 PM »
I would never have dreamt of painting the rim of a flywheel until I saw Jason's and Stew's engines which look excellent. When you think about it, it is more realistic for the whole thing to be painted. That said, I do still like some bright work - I like both schools of thought, on my latest engine I have painted the rim also. It could be an easy way to break up the blue if you decide there is too much. I think it'll look good once together.

 

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