Liney RV-1 Build

[sshire]

Bill
I was wondering about all of the counterbores also. I'm going to email Doug at Liney to see if there is some reason that we're missing.
Since the next project is the PM Horizontal Boiler, and I intend to run the rv-1 on steam as well as air,  steel pistons are not going to work for me.
I'll report when I hear from Doug.
If anyone else has built this engine, let's hear your thoughts on counterbores.

Stan

[sshire]

Doug was quick to respond. Here's his email answer.

"The counter bore in the bearings and pistons is not required. Less thickness on the axle and pins is less drag and a gap to put some oil for lubrication. You could make the bearing post larger and use ball bearings if you want to get a little fancier but the steel axle through brass will work fine.

You can see this in the completed engine photo. I will try to get some better photos for builders:

http://www.minicastings.com/acatalog/Liney-RV-1_complete.html"

[b.lindsey]

Thanks Stan....pretty much what I had thought... as well as making it a little more forgiving in terms of alignment too. I don't see that a ball bearing is needed so will just stay with the straight through .125" on mine.

Bill

[sshire]

Agree, but it's good to hear it from the source.
Best,
Stan

[ChooChooMike]

I built the RV-1 a number of years ago. Was fun to make in my "early" machining years (ok, still early relatively speaking !).

Runs like a bat outta Hades too - very fast and doesn't need a lot of air pressure

Looking good so far !!  If I had one thing I'd change, it'd be to use a heavier flywheel (brass). The AL one is almost too light. Though it really doesn't matter much since it's not going to be doing any real work.

Mike

[b.lindsey]

Thanks Mike and to your point I used cast iron for the flywheel as noted earlier in the log for just the reasons you mentioned.

Bill

[b.lindsey]

Another weekend so back to the build.  Obviously didn't get much done this week other than gathering a few scraps of material for the weekend.

I started out this morning on the base. The material I had on hand was some 3/16" aluminum plate rather than 1/8" but shouldn't matter and has the benefit of the flywheel protruding less beneath the underside of the base. In the first photo, I am just squaring up the piece and bringing it down to the final size. In photo 2 I have drilled the 6 holes for mounting the bearing stands and the valve body. In addition, I drilled four 3/16" holes...one at each corner of the cutout for the flywheel. Finally in photo 3 a 3/16 dia. end mill was used to finish cutting out the opening for the flywheel.

The last 3 photos show the base with the bearing stands and flywheel mounted and everything seems to turn freely even withough the counterbores in the bearing stands.

[Don1966]

Looks like a lot to me Bill and looking good at that.

Don

[b.lindsey]

Then it was on to the valve body.  I has tried to order a few inches of 1" square brass stock at the beginning of the week but the $7.00 worth of brass was going to cost $15.00 to ship so I decided not to do that. Instead, I had a length of 1.25" dia brass that I cut down on all four sides, yeilding the piece shown in Photo 1. The 1" width is the main critical dimension, and I can live with the other slightly rounded edges from an asthetic standpoint.

Photo 2 shows drilling the four mounting holes on the underside of the valve body and they are right on the line where the flat bottom meets the rounded edge but still shouldn't be that noticable once mounted to the base plate.

In photo 3, the mill was used to spot and drill a 3/8" hole through the center of the valve body. This was then centered in the 4 jaw chuck on the lathe and indicated true as shown in photo 4. The ports for the air connection and exhaist had been drilled over at the mill previously. Photo 5 shows the boring bar enlarging the 3/8" hole to a smooth .500" bore for a nice slip fit of the valve in the body.

Finally in photo 6, it was back to the mill to add the decorative fins to the top of the valve body using a 1/16" dia end mill.

[b.lindsey]

The last few photos for now show the valve body added to the base along with the previously installed bearing stands and flywheel. The valve and spacers are also shown in the valve body since these parts had been finished previously' I'm beginning to see a little engine in there somewhere now!

Next up will be the cylinders and pistons and crank disks, but that will have to wait till tomorrow.

Thanks for checking in!

[smfr]

Very nice, Bill! I like the details on the valve body.

Simon

[b.lindsey]

Thanks Simon...it works for me. Used up some scrap and saved the $22.00 in material and shipping for something else   Honestly i don't think it looks bad at all.

Bill

[vcutajar]

It looks great Bill, especially those curved edges.

Vince

[sshire]

Bill
Looking great. The rounded edges give it a much smoother look than the drawings.
Just curious if you have the Sherline boring head for the mill? That would have allowed you to do all ops there.
Watching this with great interest since the RV-1 is in the lineup right after the boiler.
Best
Stan

[Captain Jerry]

Bill

That was a good use of material and an all around improvement in appearance.  A nice added detail.

Jerry