Doxford opposed piston engine model

[bytewise]

There was some delay at the foundry but they finally delivered. Attached are pictures of the flywheel casting and finished wheel. Also attached are pictures of my setup for cutting the keyway in the wheel using my Atlas shaper.
I have cut several metal plates for the base and crank case. I am practicing my mig welding touch before I work on the final parts.
More as work continues.
Hugh

[bytewise]

I cut pieces, and welded the base assembly. I also have done some machining of the crankcase end plates. Pictures are attached. Next I will bore the main journals and babbit them
Then I will start on crankshaft pieces.
Progress is slower than I would like, but not stalled!
Hugh

[bytewise]

Since my last post I have added a layer to the engine base and machined the endplates. The first picture is the Base. The next picture is the finished end plates before boring. My first attempts at installing Babbitt in the journals was not very good so I made a mold of pieces of aluminum. Pictures show the mold pieces and as assembled (without the necessary clamps). This worked very well. I did discover that I had to heat the part and mold very hot for the Babbitt to flow into the mold cavity. One cap done! Three more to go for the mains. Later there will be three con rods to do. The last picture is the crankcase parts just set in place loose with an alignment shaft. It feels good to finally get some parts together that look like part of an engine.  Hugh

[Don1966]

Looking good from here Hugh, keep it coming bud I have been following with interest.

Don

[ths]

Hi Hugh,

Quite an interesting project you've got going. How was the foundry to deal with, were they used to this sort of one off work? Are you going to bore the bearings after pouring the Babbitt?

Cheers, (another) Hugh.

[bytewise]

I am making the babbitt considerably smaller bore than the final dimension and will bore them to size.
I used the Ross Valve Co in Troy NY to cast the parts. They are one of the few companies that still use manual procedures to make castings. They make valves primarily for water of all sizes. No one product is make in very large quantities so the manual procedures are appropriate. They were very helpful. I made the mold board to their specification and the patterns for my parts. The castings were very good. I understand there is another foundry in PA, 'Cattail ... something" but I don't know anything about it.
Since I made the patterns, the cost of the castings was very reasonable.
Hugh

[steamer]

Hey Hugh,

What year and model is that Horizontal?

Dave

[DavidF]

Its the cattail foundry, Amish run. best off to either write or stop by. I havent had anything cast by them, but know a few who have and they do good work. I perfer to cast my own stuff...

[bytewise]

Dave: My horizontal mill is a B & S #2 universal made before 1915. I also have a B & S dividing head and the change gears.
Hugh

[steamer]

Cool!....I have a couple of lathes that old...Neat stuff!

Dave

[bytewise]

Some more info about boring the main journals.  The Vert mill is by Becker of Fitchburg Ma made before 1900. A previous owner made extensive modifications to it. He rebuilt the head to use tapered roller bearings and added vernier measuring scales to the x and y travels. The quill head moves on large dovetail surfaces. The spindle is MT3. I made the boring head. It is 3 in. dia. Overall the machine is very ridged. First picture is of the mill.
I practiced boring on some scrap and finally am am able to bore to dimension.
Next picture shows the setup for facing the thrust surfaces on one end plate.
Then, boring the journal, and boring head detail.
Hugh

[DennisWA]

Hugh
Very impressive. It is good to see 100-year old machinery still producing quality work!

What did you make your boring head on?

Cheers
Dennis

[bytewise]

I made the boring head long ago when I only had the Becker mill an an Atlas 10 inch lathe. The feed screw is 24 pitch. It would be nice if it were 50, but that is what I could do at the time.
Hugh

[bytewise]

I am now working on the crankshaft parts. The pins are done. The web pieces have been cut and rough drilled for the pins. Attached picture shows rounding the end of the web pieces. The second picture shows boring the pin hole for a shrink fit. I am able to accurately position the holes using the vernier scales on X and Y of the mill.  I hit the dia number on this one! Three more to go.
Hugh

[bytewise]

For the last couple of weeks I have been working on the crankshaft. Progress has been very slow. The cheek pieces were to be shrunk on the pins. However, because of my antique tools and limited skills, I too often bored oversize. I had to remake pieces several times before I got acceptable parts. The fits still were not all a good tight shrink. After aligning the parts I drilled and reamed the joints for tapered pins. Oil holes have been drilled for pressure oiling to all the journals. Attached are a couple of pictures of the crank and my alignment setup.
The next operation planed is to assemble and weld crankcase sub-assemblies together.
Hugh