Ryan's Engine

[Bearcar1]

Actually Zee', I was thinking more along the lines of placing it the collection of 'spare parts' to go along with this engine when I present it to Ryan. What more could a young mind wish for, his very own engine, tools to work on it with and lots of 'spare' parts. I've already got a small baggie of extra nuts, bolts, and the occasional bit of brass and rod started. Maybe it's just me but I wish I was Ryan when he gets this surprise. Ahhhh, to be young once again. 


BC1
Jim

[zeeprogrammer]

Actually Zee', I was thinking more along the lines of placing it the collection of 'spare parts' to go along with this engine when I present it to Ryan.

Counts as a project in my book.

It's a great idea.

[b.lindsey]

Nice job on those Jim...its really starting to come together now and a long weekend just ahead too!!
Bill

[Dean W]

Maybe it's just me but I wish I was Ryan when he gets this surprise. Ahhhh, to be young once again. 

It's not just you, Jim.  That's a nice thought, and one I think many of us more "mature" guys can relate to.
We remember joyous things and happenings fondly.

[RMO]

Just found this build log this evening. It was very relaxing to read it from the start. You just might change a young mans life with this project.  Way to go.

Mike O

[Bearcar1]

Counts as a project in my book.

It's a great idea.

Thanks Carl, I'd like to think so anyway. 

Nice job on those Jim...its really starting to come together now and a long weekend just ahead too!!
Bill

you are oh so correct  Bill, and my plan is to hopefully get the valve and the crank disc completed in that time frame 

Maybe it's just me but I wish I was Ryan when he gets this surprise. Ahhhh, to be young once again. 

It's not just you, Jim.  That's a nice thought, and one I think many of us more "mature" guys can relate to.
We remember joyous things and happenings fondly.

Hey! who are you calling mature?    "wye I oughta ...        no not really, Dean, and you are so right about our remembrances from the past. As strange as it may sound, there are time when I have been working on this project that I find myself back in my Grandpa's shop when he was making a much larger engine for me.

Just found this build log this evening. It was very relaxing to read it from the start. You just might change a young mans life with this project.  Way to go.

Mike O

Glad you found us Mike, and am also glad to know it as being relaxing. It doesn't seem like i to me at times but slowly it is taking shape. Too slowly I think at times but then again I just despise doing things over due to impatience. 




Yes Elizabeth, there is a Santa Clause!  I was able to complete the valve rod without incident and it was not as hard as I first thought it was going to be.  I began by bluing up a piece of .062"x.750" brass strip and then proceeded to scribe three lines on one surface the long way. The first was the center line reference and the other two were scribed .0625" on either side of it and those were to indicate the actual sides of the finished part. Towards one end of the strip, and on the centerline, I placed a center pop mark and drilled a this location, a .0469" (3/64) hole. This would later get opened out to .062" to fit the wrist pin. Once all of that was done, I took the piece over to the mill and clamped it in the vise. The flat side of the strip made it easy to get level and I proceeded to use the thinnest slitting saw that I had available to cut the strip right up to the perviously marked out lines but leaving a tad extra material around the area of the hole located in the one end. Once again I made up a set of quick and dirty filing buttons in the lathe that were the diameter of the round, 'doughnut', portion of the part. In the buttons, I drilled a hole using the same drill size I used to make the hole in the rod. After parting off the buttons, I used the drill bit as an axle in the holes and proceeded to round over and final shape the end of the rod using a sharp file. Hopefully everyone did not get lost in my description here and I apologize for not having any photos to document these happenings. Some 'jiggy-jagging' around got the rod centered in the sheave and an easy application of solder left me with an almost finished part that only required a short bit of time to get cleaned up. Here is the result.





BC1
Jim

[Dean W]

Looks really good, Jim.  You're catching all the nice details on these parts.  It shows up good on ya!
Well done. 

[Bearcar1]

Thank you very much Dean, for your kind words.

 I've been chugging along and ran into my first major CRAP  moment. (I stole that one from Zeep  ) Having spent numerous hours (several attempts to get it right) turning down what would become the valve, and then polishing it all up to a fine finish and finally lapping the pig to the bore, I find that it is too long! WTF??? I know it is too long because I hooked it up to the valve rod and did a dry run of it and the piece bottoms out on the up stroke of the eccentric. I remeasured it and it was exactly to plans so I set about seeing exactly how much too long the beast was. I unbolted the legs with the cylinder still attached, from the base and began to place small pieces of brass shims under them until the valve was no longer being fouled. Turns out that height was .125". Hmmm.....   Now going back to a much earlier post, I had mentioned that these original magazine article drawings were "something less than desired" in terms of clarity, that very stigma had reared its ugly head. In all due fairness, I made an error when I bent the legs by failing to take into account the thickness of the material used. (.062"x 2=.125")  CRAP.  What I had done was made the bends exactly on the bend lines, instead of making the bends 'outside' the lines so that the finished height was what was called out for (but not thoroughly documented) in the drawings. CRAP. I had a few options and making two new legs wasn't at the top of the list. I could make up some spacers to raise the the legs up, or I could reduce the length of the valve by the required amount. What I decided to do was shorten up the valve rod instead. So I unsoldered the pieces and shortened the rod accordingly. This seemed to be the easiest and most practical as I  did not think a set of spacers would look right and I wanted to keep the valve as long as possible, I felt the longer it was the better support in the bore it would provide. Now the valve has a wee bit of clearance at the top of its travel and is smooth as silk. All is good with the world once again (I hope) 





BC1
Jim

[zeeprogrammer]

Wow. That certainly did warrant the caps lock.
Nice recovery. Engine looks great.
Not much longer to a video right?

No problem stealing from me.

My crap is your crap. 

[Dean W]

My crap is your crap. 

Isn't it so nice how folks here are willing to share? 

[b.lindsey]

Sorry about the glitch Jim, but you seem to have overcome it, so well done. Take solace in the fact that others will benefit from your analysis and working around the issue.

Bill

[Bearcar1]

Wow. That certainly did warrant the caps lock.
Nice recovery. Engine looks great.
Not much longer to a video right?

No problem stealing from me.

My crap is your crap. 

Yes it did indeed Zee, although that word wasn't the one being used at the time      A video is in the very back of my mind and will prove to be a challenge as I have never posted a video before, something else to worry about but not right now. As far as stealing your crap,  well, I left you most of it, besides, I did not think that you would miss what little bit I took, and thank you  .

My crap is your crap. 

Isn't it so nice how folks here are willing to share? 

Absolutely Dean! It is good crap too, you should see it. Zee has nothing but the finest, I gotsta tell ya'. 

Sorry about the glitch Jim, but you seem to have overcome it, so well done. Take solace in the fact that others will benefit from your analysis and working around the issue.

Bill

Bill, thank you. I never really thought of it in those terms and perhaps you are right, hopefully anyone else wishing to erect one of these engines will not make the same silly mistake as I did. I have to make an adjustment in the length of the connecting rod now as well, I'm thinking. I'll make make up a 'dummy' part out of some scrap to test my theory. Something along the lines of a thin plate with two holes drilled the required dimension apart and test fitted. If the piston doesn't bottom out, I'm good to go, but I think that it will and would rather know before going through all of  gyrations of making up a spec'd part only to find it doesn't fit. I know it has been known to happen before but, CRAP, what a let down . (there, that's the last of it Zee', I'll be coming over to get some more so be sure all your doors and windows are locked )


BC1
Jim

[Bearcar1]

 There were some outside obligations that required my attention for a couple of days and then it was back to the task at hand, that of drilling the valve ports in the part itself. I've never been keen on drilling holes through round stock because I usually get them off-center just a fraction for whatever reason and I was absolutely dreading having to do what was called for here. Especially now that I had the piece perfectly fit to the bore in the cylinder and nicely polished to a fine finish. I would not be a happy camper if I had to start over again at this point in time. Anyway, I came up with a the idea that I think worked out quite well (that remains to be seen) and only took a short amount of time to prepare. It entailed making up a jig to hold the valve body directly under the center of the mill spindle. I found a scrap of aluminum flat bar and proceeded to cut a short length from it to make the strap. I then drilled and tapped a set of holes through both pieces to accommodate a set of hex head cap screws. I then mounted this jig plate to the mill table, taking care that the spindle center would pass between the two hold down screws of the clamp. With this done, I mounted up a 45* router bit and proceeded to cut a 'vee' slot in the base plate. This slot would ensure me that when the round valve was clamped in it, the center of the valve would be accurately located, which was my main concern to begin with. Here's the arrangement before I clamped the valve in place.





In the image below, I have clamped the valve in the fixture, making certain that the axis of the pivot hole was at 90* using a drill bit in the chuck as a guide and then tightening the clamping strap down. Then, after finding the end of the valve and using the hand wheels, I determined the locations of the holes to be drilled. One was to pass into the central core hole that had already been drilled to depth, and another hole that overlapped the first and was only about .030" deep. Oh joy.





What I wound up doing was drilling the holes and then I used a small burr in the Dremel to open out the metal between the holes. I hope it will be effective, but that remains to be seen.





Thanks for checking in,


BC1
Jim

[smfr]

That jig is a great idea, I like it!

Simon

[Pete49]

I made exactly the same mistake as you with the hight and did the bends exactly the same as you. I wonder how many other budding model makers did this  On reflection it seems like it would catch anyone without an engineering background. Nice job with the jig.
Pete