Author Topic: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss  (Read 167266 times)

Offline BaronJ

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #450 on: June 05, 2014, 09:50:27 PM »
Just to avoid any confusion, the photo in reply 439 is not "Agnes" by the way.

Phil

Hi Phil,

Yes your right.  There are a couple of photos that are of a model Corlis engine and not "Agnes".
It was right behind me.  I spotted it when I turned round, I thought it was interesting so I snapped a couple of pictures of it.
Sorry for any confusion.

Best Regards:  Baron.

I don’t regret the things I’ve done, I regret the things I didn’t do when I had the chance.

Offline BaronJ

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #451 on: June 05, 2014, 09:53:30 PM »
Thanks all who checked in  :)

Thank you for the photos Baron -  :headscratch: Don't know why you're having problems with the attachments though.  The forum is set to allow up to 8 attachments per individual post up to a total of 10 Megabytes for all eight, without an individual size restriction...  Check your PMs for my email address - then you can forward all the photos to me, and I'll put them up in a separate post like Alan suggested  :ThumbsUp:

Kind regards, Arnold

Done !  Check your mail.

Best Regards:  Baron.

I don’t regret the things I’ve done, I regret the things I didn’t do when I had the chance.

Offline BaronJ

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #452 on: June 05, 2014, 10:02:04 PM »
In that case I must not be doing it right.
I've found that I can attach a single picture, but clicking on "more attachments" gets ignored !

I'll try again with this post.

No !  Its taken just the one picture...

And just look at the SIZE of your one picture - Six-hundred and odd Kb, whereas Alan's images (Test 1) are a much more reasonable 60~70 Kb, and he can attach several for far less 'cost' than your single image.
Geoff
P.S. Try using Windross "Image Resizer".  It's free, simple and works!  (One of the few Windose things that fulfills those criteria.)

Thanks for your notes Geoff,

Sorry I don't use Winblows...  I'm a diehard Linux user and have been for many years.  I don't have the time to be continually having to maintain a computer OS and fighting virus, phishing etc.  Linux does all the things you mention and more, but thanks for the suggestion anyway.  :-)

One of the reasons for posting large high detail photographs is just that "High detail".  People building this engine want to be able to look at the particular details that are important to them.

Best Regards:  Baron.

I don’t regret the things I’ve done, I regret the things I didn’t do when I had the chance.

Offline Maryak

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #453 on: June 06, 2014, 04:54:02 AM »
Testin addin fotos
Если вы у Тетушки были яйца, она была бы Дядюшкой

Offline pgp001

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #454 on: June 06, 2014, 06:40:58 AM »
One of the reasons for posting large high detail photographs is just that "High detail".  People building this engine want to be able to look at the particular details that are important to them.

Sorry this has strayed off topic but:-

Correct me if I am wrong but I think the "People" building this engine is just me. There are no more castings out there that I know about, and I have the patterns.
If there is another one being built from scratch I would love to know about it please.

Cheers
Phil

Offline Steam Haulage

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #455 on: June 06, 2014, 08:05:12 AM »
Phil,
I presume you are referring to the MEM Corliss when you say 'this engine'. What are the castings you refer to?
I am in the early stages of the build.
As opportunity presents I have obtained most of the materials I shall need.
You might have seen my initial turning of the flywheel from solid. I've not posted for some months as I'm going through the set-up of my workshop, acquiring a new mill and lathe making all the bits and pieces which I used to have but which disappeared in a family break-up. This weekend should see some progress though as I attempt to mill the spokes (or rather the spaces between).

Jerry
Dogs look up to you, cats look down on you, pigs treat you as equal.

Offline BaronJ

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #456 on: June 06, 2014, 09:22:10 PM »
I'm in the process of attempting to design a four cylinder corlis style engine.  Rather than having the cylinders in series putting them vertically side by side in the style of a marine engine.  Whether it gets anywhere is yet to be seen.

Sneaking in another picture...  The big beam to the very left in this picture is for the last engine that will be restored at Markham.

 
Best Regards:  Baron.

I don’t regret the things I’ve done, I regret the things I didn’t do when I had the chance.

Offline pgp001

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #457 on: June 07, 2014, 09:09:29 AM »
Phil,
I presume you are referring to the MEM Corliss when you say 'this engine'. What are the castings you refer to?
I am in the early stages of the build.
As opportunity presents I have obtained most of the materials I shall need.
You might have seen my initial turning of the flywheel from solid. I've not posted for some months as I'm going through the set-up of my workshop, acquiring a new mill and lathe making all the bits and pieces which I used to have but which disappeared in a family break-up. This weekend should see some progress though as I attempt to mill the spokes (or rather the spaces between).

Jerry

Hi Jerry

I was actually referring to the Pollit & Wigzell engine "Agnes" ie the one which Baron has been putting some excellent closeup detail photo's recently.
To my knowledge there are only three models of Agnes in existence, two were built by the late Peter Southworth, and I am slowly building the third one.
One of Peter's was sold at auction in 1995 and never been seen since, the other one is on display at the Northern Mill Engine Society in Bolton Lanc's.

So you see why I would be interested if anyone else is building that particular engine.

Phil

Offline Steam Haulage

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #458 on: June 07, 2014, 10:56:30 AM »
Phil,

Now I understand. My assumption was based on the fact that this thread is a build of the MEM Corliss and that Baron's photographs were of details on Agnes which could be of use to MEM Corliss builders. (You know what they say about assumptions)

Like you I am very interested in Baron's pictures, he has kindly sent me the complete set.
As I am not too far from Agnes herself I am hoping to visit, on a steaming day if possible, equipped with a fully charged camera and a notebook. I am concerned to get the smaller details as Peter Southworth's excellent book seems to be more focused on the GA of the engine and its history.

It is not my future intention to build a copy of Agnes, more to set-out to make my own design of horizontal engine, incorporating some of my own thoughts and seeing why they don't work.

Thanks for the explanation
Jerry
Dogs look up to you, cats look down on you, pigs treat you as equal.

Offline BaronJ

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #459 on: June 07, 2014, 02:16:52 PM »
Hi Guys,

Not just to see "Agnes" but to enjoy all the other very fine specimens of engines from the age of steam !  Markham is very much worth a visit and the adjacent garden centre is sure to be enjoyed by the ladies.

 
Best Regards:  Baron.

I don’t regret the things I’ve done, I regret the things I didn’t do when I had the chance.

Offline arnoldb

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #460 on: June 08, 2014, 10:56:44 PM »
Thanks all who replied  :)

The best use of leave I have found is to provide more time in the workshop  :pinkelephant:
;D - That's true Jo - though I can really do with a proper holiday for a change...

At least I had a bit of shop time over the weekend...

A bit of work was done on the mounting feet for the engine base - this is not on the plans, and will depend on each builder's own needs.  Basically, the base needs to be quite thick, as the flywheel protrudes a good amount below the engine base level.  I could have done more woodwork and made a riser "box" to go beneath the base plank, but opted rather for some riser feet.
Some 25mm (1") bronze was given a quick clean-up to get rid of the outer skin:


Then I used a quickly-ground round nose form tool to trim the end down - after checking on the lathe's leadscrew handwheel where the rear parting tool contacted the end of the workpiece, as well as noting the setting on the cross slide:


An additional form cut was made at a shallower setting - and the length once again checked off the leadscrew handwheel, and a disc parted off.  Five more followed using the same readings, and I had this lot:


I then bandsawed six 26mm long slugs off some 16mm bronze, and faced one end of each, as well as drilled a 5mm hole through them.
This left the "problem" of facing the other side of each to get them the same length.  Up to now, I've always managed to find some way to do this type of job, but everything was just at odd lengths and wouldn't fit chucks for easy repeatability, so I first made a quick tool...

I used a normal MT2 center to set the cross slide to the same angle as the Morse taper.  The scrap aluminium in the chuck end was just faced and center drilled so I could mount the MT2 center, and I indicated the top slide angle from that:


A handy bit of 20mm stainless was turned down a bit and then I turned the taper on it with the top slide:


One advantage of screw-on chucks are that one can actually unscrew the chuck to check things:


Far from a perfect fit - but close enough for this job:


The end was then drilled and tapped for M10 thread - to add a draw-bar, and next it was mounted in the lathe's spindle with a draw bar through the headstock.  Then I faced it dow to a thin flange at the nose end, and drilled and tapped it for M6:


This makes a rudimentary back stop that fits inside all of the lathe's chucks, and with a cap screw, or as time and needs dictate other bits to screw in there, a way to set things at fixed depths in chucks - here I just used a cap screw to set a quick depth on it before screwing back the chuck:


With that, it was easy to face the rest of the bronze slugs to the same length:


The bottom side of each of the discs turned earlier received a generous counter sink - I did that on the small lathe, as it's chuck conveniently gripped at that size:


For Saturday, this lot ended my shop session - not much to show, but it was a good session:


On Sunday I made a quick arbor for the 16x26mm bronze slugs, and skimmed the cruddy outside layer off - down to 15.2mm OD.  Then I did some calculations...
15.2 x 3.142 = 47.76 - close enough to 48mm circumference.  Hmmm... That was conveniently divisible by 12 - so I could make 12 "flutes" on each at a 4mm spacing.  To have things appear symmetric, that would leave 2mm flutes and gaps.  Digging through my selection, I decided to use a 3mm ball nosed cutter to cut the flutes - but that would leave only 1mm between the flutes...
Some more maths - how deep did I need to cut with the 3mm ball nose cutter to have the flutes about 2mm wide?:

Before the phi lands in the soup - I used pretty rough math, and rounded some things in between while going along.  It was close enough for this job.

I then proceeded to cut 12 grooves into each workpiece with the ball-nosed cutter:


A while ago, I was asked by a fellow member to sometimes include wider shots of the machine-setups I use, so I snapped this:

This setup is only good for very light work - there's not a lot of support for the workpiece, and the long overhangs will easily lead to lots of vibration issues for bigger cuts.

After a bit of spit 'n polish, I added some bits of 7mm tubing to the "feet" - to match holes I'd drilled into one end each of the uprights.  A drop of bearing retainer keeps it together:


A final bit of cleanup, and some more bearing retainer later, and I have six feet for the base:


It should look OK once mounted to the base:


That ended my shop time for the weekend.  A hectic work week is about to commence, and I'm already booked to work on next Saturday as well, so I don't think there will be updates soon...

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 vcutajar

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #461 on: June 09, 2014, 04:43:02 AM »
Good progress Arnold.

I loved that backstop.

Vince

Offline Jo

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #462 on: June 09, 2014, 07:04:15 AM »
Bronze for the feet  :o That is rather expensive stuff to be using for feet, it looks like a purchased bit as well  :disappointed:.

I have a good stock of bronze came from an old boat prop shaft, it is rather yellowier than that good stuff you are using there. But the price was right  ;D

Jo
Enjoyment is more important than achievement.

Offline BaronJ

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #463 on: June 09, 2014, 03:14:45 PM »
Hi Arnold,
Those legs look very posh.  :cartwheel: :cartwheel: :cartwheel:   I really like them.  That fluting sets them off nicely.
In the picture they look as if they are made from gold.



Best Regards:  Baron.

I don’t regret the things I’ve done, I regret the things I didn’t do when I had the chance.

Offline BaronJ

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Re: Arnold's take on the MEM Corliss
« Reply #464 on: June 09, 2014, 03:20:52 PM »
Hi Guys n Gals,


Whilst I remember...   There is a steam engine meeting this weekend at Markham.  I'm told that there will be a portable track laid and rides weather permitting.  I will be there with a bit of luck.


Sneaking in another photo !



Best Regards:  Baron.

I don’t regret the things I’ve done, I regret the things I didn’t do when I had the chance.

 

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