Crosskill Demonstration Engine

[Jo]

One bit down, but I was thinking that this would be made on the Cowells? Perhaps that is just for the demo day.

Hugh.

Hugh: Yes it will be mounted on the Cowells for the turning demonstration. If I had been using the original castings the entire engine could have been made on the Cowells. Of course the disadvantage of small lathes is you can only take small cuts, so it would take much longer than using the bigger equipment and I need to get on and have it ready for the show  .

Jo

[Jo]

  I knew this was going to happen as soon as I saw that engraving there was no hope for me. That flywheel just is never going to look right with round spokes.   

I have scaled the print to give me a template .... looks like I have some spokes to fret out. 

Jo

[Jasonb]

To save you from fretting you could turn tapered spokes, bend and then silversolder them to hub & rim

[ths]

The spokes look rather flattish in the illo's at the top of the page. Perhaps a bit of jigsaw and file work would get you there.

Hugh.

[Jo]

Jason: I don't trust myself to bend them evenly and once you draw them out the centres look rather wide so I assume they are at best oval.

The spokes look rather flattish in the illo's at the top of the page. Perhaps a bit of jigsaw and file work would get you there.

Hugh.

I don't have a jigsaw.... It will be have to be done with chain drilling and an abrafile.

Jo

[NickG]

Personally I much prefer straight spokes  rather than curved. They look good with the taper. Think I've got some plans by duclos that shows you how to cut curved spokes on the rotary table if you fancy trying that.

[ths]

Jo, I've no doubt that you'll get it made, but does it have to be ready on the day? Surely you'll have enough to do?

Hugh.

[Jo]

Hugh I am using this as a bit of light relief between doing my eyes in on the DTC and wearing my arm out on the R&B. Once the S&P  moves into the workshop I know everything else will stop.

----

Flywheel. I was going to use a bit of rust and turn the rim out of that and then my eyes happened upon an old bearing outer, so to make it feel wanted I first heated it to cherry red and left it to cool:



Then it made friends with a tipped tool 



It was still a little hard but it lost, turning it around the nudger was put into use to true it up:



One turned rim. It is still 1mm over sized, the original bearing groove is about to be used to locate the spoke plate.



Not sure if I am going to get any more done today, the sun is out again  .

Jo

[steamer]

I agree with Hugh.....between the parts you have already and the super models chatting you up...I suspect it will not be a "productive" day from the perspective of making a lot of engine parts....Don't get me wrong!....I think the demonstration will go swimmingly!...you don't see ME's doing lathe demo's at shows..and you REALLY don't see many women ME's doing that...so I suspect you will be drawing a sizeable crowd....and answering a lot of questions!....I think if you brought 3 or 4 parts to be turned in the lathe you would be doing well to get those done what with all the other distractions.    I did a scraping demo...consisting of making a 3" square surface flat....should take less than an hour...but took all day at the show!....though I wasn't being chatted up by super models...can't understand that...   Probably should have worn a skirt ...........anyway I can tell you I was flooded with questions!  What is this?  How does it work?....why do you do this?...how do you sharpen it?..will you fix my lathe?...ect ect....

Consider a video monitor aimed at the work zone...after you get 2-3 people deep ...the crowd can't see.

Just sayin

Dave

[Jo]

.....between the parts you have already and the super models chatting you up......

....though I wasn't being chatted up by super models...can't understand that...   Probably should have worn a skirt ...........anyway I can tell you I was flooded with questions!  What is this?  How does it work?....why do you do this?...how do you sharpen it?..will you fix my lathe?...ect ect....

  I think I could rather fancy the idea of being chatted up by the super model

Good point I might have to be careful what I put with that skirt, a low slung top is likely to attract all sorts of undesirable attention from swarf as well as the cameras from the Model Engineering press 

I am hoping to get lots of questions and don't expect to get anything done, but having nearly machined items to show people means that it is easier for them to understand what goes in to making a model engine.

Jo

[Captain Jerry]

Jo

I agree about the chatting.  In the early 1960's I was a factory rep for Shopsmith (multipurpose woodworking tool) and a major part of my job involved product demonstrations at fairs and other events.  The job  required more than turning skill on the lathe.  I was trained for the job by a midwesterner of German descent who's father and grandfather had been members of the Turners Guild.  My instructor was also a master turner but was also a master magician with enough skill to be invited to perform at the White House in the Truman years.

Here are a few things that I learned from him. 

• Watching someone else run a machine is interesting for a few minutes at most.
• People would rather talk to you than to watch you. (Maybe different in your case depending on the blouse)
• You should be able to talk as you work so people don't feel ignored.
• It is better to complete a simple piece that anyone can understand than to get to involved in the part and loose your audience.
• The work should look easy.  That takes practice.

My job was to sell machines and that is not quite the same as what you are expected to do but most of the above still apply.  If it were me, I would have a partly assembled engine on display that shows what you and your equipment are capable and limit the actual work to a simple part that you can complete within just a few minutes that can be fitted to the assembly.   I would have plenty of stock cut to size and center drilled ready to mount.  It is very interesting to start with a square section that you can turn round in one or two passes.  One of the columns would make a nice demo.  You could leave a square section at one end and turn a bead at the other end with a form tool and taper the column if you want to. 

Since my focus was on selling machines, one technique that I used, if I felt that I had a potential buyer was to turn a small piece and then hand it to him. From then on, I would keep my hands away from it so that he could not hand it back.  He was captured.
I had lots of fun at this job.  I hope you enjoy your experience.  I wish I could be there to see it.


Jerry

[steamer]

.....between the parts you have already and the super models chatting you up......

....though I wasn't being chatted up by super models...can't understand that...   Probably should have worn a skirt ...........anyway I can tell you I was flooded with questions!  What is this?  How does it work?....why do you do this?...how do you sharpen it?..will you fix my lathe?...ect ect....

  I think I could rather fancy the idea of being chatted up by the super model

Good point I might have to be careful what I put with that skirt, a low slung top is likely to attract all sorts of undesirable attention from swarf as well as the cameras from the Model Engineering press 

I am hoping to get lots of questions and don't expect to get anything done, but having nearly machined items to show people means that it is easier for them to understand what goes in to making a model engine.

Jo

Hadn't thought of the blouse.........I'll try that next time!.....

[ScroungerLee]

Bill, They are planning to have me providing the "live female turning demonstration" for the full two days. 

I am just catching up on your efforts.  Are you sure the phrase above has to do with a lathe?  My first interperation had to do with pole dancing

Lee

[Jo]

My first interpretation had to do with pole dancing

Well they are going to be disappointed then  They are likely to get a skirt that is as far as my "sexy" outfit is going to stretch as I wouldn't want to be accused of giving anyone a heart attack

--

I need a centre for that flywheel... Find a scrappy bit of steel, ok it is black steel, it will do. Do you like my scrappy drawing.. more of that high quality art work in a second   Find the centre by joining the corners:



Mount on a mandrel and turn to diameter and face:



Already it is not looking like a bit of scrap  . Take that quality art work and glue it to the piece of metal and transfer the pattern with a centre punch:



I don't trust my hand scribbles or the centre pops, so start drawing up a bit of geometry to make sure everything is equally spaced:



Having centre poped the three corners for each opening for the appropriate sized drill, drill each hole:



Time for some character building with a hacksaw and a file Sorry F1 race stops play 

Jo

[NickG]

Looking good Jo, so did you index those corner holes to make sure they were equispaced?

yep you'll have to cover up, as you said swarf down the top cant be pleasent! Unless you can were a low cut top with a sort of transparent screen or something - kind of like safety glasses for other parts of the anatomy!

I only ever see snippets of f1 these days but there seemed to be quite a bit of over taking towards the end!