Author Topic: Muncaster's Joys Valve Engine  (Read 159485 times)

Online Don1966

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Re: Muncaster's Joys Valve Engine
« Reply #540 on: June 02, 2015, 12:00:02 AM »
Simon that's some exceptional work and the hand wheel is a treat not to mention the covers. Gorgeous bud just gorgeous.

Don

Offline smfr

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Re: Muncaster's Joys Valve Engine
« Reply #541 on: June 21, 2015, 07:41:01 PM »
A little more done here. The cylinder block was drilled and tapped 8BA for screws to hold the covers:



These are the last holes in this part, and went with no problems  :cartwheel:

I got some brass screws from BA Bolts in the UK, made a little jig to shorten 12 at once:



I did consider using studs here, but I think I'll stick with the screws, since this is a model of a small-sized engine  :thinking:

The oilers on the main bearings also needed to be finished off. First, drilling through the oil wells into the bearing to take some brass tube:



There's a bit of drill rod in the bearing to avoid deflecting the bronze where the drill comes out, and that worked well. A temporary bearing cap was then fitted, and the bearing drilled out for some clearance around the oil dripper:



Making those little brass tubes cost me a few small drills  :wallbang: It's K&S brass, and more grabby when drilling than 360, also not helped by my tailstock being a bit off:



Here's the tube press-fitted into the bearing cap:



and the fit with the bearing:



I realize now that the hole is too big, and the oil is just going to drain out over the top of the bearing, so I'll probably re-make the brass tubes if I can make a hole small enough.

Finally, the cylinder block needed a good amount of finishing on the exposed surfaces, since machining marks are still very visible:



I started with wet&dry on the glass plate, using water, but that makes a horrible rusty mess if you even leave it over lunch:



The red pen is to detect when the low spots are being taken off. I did find that with water, the paper wears out pretty fast, and seems to go into a mode where it's just polishing the part and not cutting any more. Performance with oil seemed much better, and left a better, duller surface finish with better cutting action:



So it was oil from then on! I went up from 150 grit to 600. Some of the deeper scratches needed attention with files and emery sticks, before going back to the glass plate smoothing.

So now we have this:



Next up is to cut some holes in the base for bottom access, and figure out the exhaust. I'm still not sure where the pipework is going to go  :noidea:

Thanks again for watching!
Simon

Offline Jasonb

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Re: Muncaster's Joys Valve Engine
« Reply #542 on: June 21, 2015, 07:51:27 PM »
Simon, those oil tubes should have a strand of worstead wool (natural wool will do ) poked down into them and the top should be draped down into the box where it will wick up the oil. The tube should stand above the bottom of the cavity. That way it will not all run out all at once
« Last Edit: June 21, 2015, 08:00:13 PM by Jasonb »

Online Don1966

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Re: Muncaster's Joys Valve Engine
« Reply #543 on: June 21, 2015, 09:07:01 PM »
Simon every detail you doing is making this engine just that much more georgous. The lubricator looks like it's a small one, I would just make an orfice and put it in the end of the lubricator to limit the flow of oil. Stunning work bud.

Don

Offline smfr

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Re: Muncaster's Joys Valve Engine
« Reply #544 on: August 19, 2015, 05:08:02 AM »
Sorry for the lack of updates here folks! Other things have just got in the way over the summer. The only progress I've made recently is to acquire some Aluminum primer and a possible option for the top color (I'm thinking of a chocolate brown, possibly with cream pin-striping).

As we get into autumn I hope to pick this up again.

Simon

Offline smfr

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Re: Muncaster's Joys Valve Engine
« Reply #545 on: January 04, 2016, 03:38:56 AM »
Uh oh, this thread is so old I got a warning from the forum software! But there's progress, so here we go!

Just to remind you where we are, here's a shot of the current state of things. The base is semi-complete, and the engine is mostly done other than paint, finishing, and some pipework:



First, the base needed a hole for access to the exhaust fittings and the cylinder valves, so I milled one through the base, just plunging with an end-mill as I would for metal. This rosewood seems quite happy being machined with metal cutters:



The plinth is screwed down with some screws:



but these cheap brass Chinese-made screws are prone to breaking :hammerbash:
 


I located and drilled holes to take studs to attach the engine base, counter-sinking them on the bottom:



and made the studs from 303 SS:



A bit of silver-soldering, and we have an exhaust part:



which goes out through a hole in the plinth:



and is sectioned to make assembly easier:



Then the base got a final sanding, and a rub-down with alcohol to remove finger grease:



before staining and some polyurethane.

There was one final job to do on the engine base, which was to fix down the crosshead slides, since these should appear as part of the "casting". I made some small pockets underneath with a burr, mixed up some JB-Weld, and carefully bedded down the slides on a tiny amount of the epoxy, then filleted around the edges, using a ball-ended rod to form the fillets, then screwed them down to set, being careful to set the spacing between the slides:



After an overnight set, they were cleaned up, and the crosshead slides bedded in with some Timesaver compound (which is messy, so done before painting).

Then, today, I masked up the parts in preparation for painting, and get them a wipe down with mineral spirits to remove any grease:



and got a first coat on primer on. For the aluminium parts, I'm using aluminum primer, so we'll see how well that resists knocks and bangs.



and on the other parts, a self-etching primer.

So, with a bit more painting and decoration we'll be almost done! If this El Nino happens like they say it will, I'll get a few more wet weekends in the shop and get the darn thing done!

Thanks for watching  :ThumbsUp:

Simon

Offline ths

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Re: Muncaster's Joys Valve Engine
« Reply #546 on: January 04, 2016, 04:57:29 AM »
I'll second your thoughts on Chinese 'brass' screws. I think that really coloured zinc. There's a lot of nice work there. Cheers, Hugh.

Offline fumopuc

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Re: Muncaster's Joys Valve Engine
« Reply #547 on: January 04, 2016, 05:33:12 AM »
Hi Simon, good to see you back on it. Superb finish as usual.
Kind Regards
Achim

Offline Bluechip

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Re: Muncaster's Joys Valve Engine
« Reply #548 on: January 04, 2016, 06:44:28 AM »
Really impressive, Simon.  :ThumbsUp: Looking forward to see it finished.

Brass screws? I used to think they were rubbish, Chinese or not. Until a cabinet maker told me never, ever to drive one without a pilot hole. After that their quality seemed to improve.  :thinking:

I don't know if you piloted them or not, but they should be.

Regards

Dave
« Last Edit: January 04, 2016, 06:59:44 AM by Bluechip »

Offline smfr

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Re: Muncaster's Joys Valve Engine
« Reply #549 on: January 04, 2016, 07:35:20 AM »
I don't know if you piloted them or not, but they should be.

Thanks for the comments, Dave! I did have pilot holes; first one size, then a few sizes larger! I also did the soap on the threads trick.

Simon

Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Muncaster's Joys Valve Engine
« Reply #550 on: January 04, 2016, 01:13:02 PM »
Thanks for the update Simon, good to see you back on the project. That base is beautiful and the chocolate with cream pin striping would be a nice choice I think.

Bill

Online Don1966

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Re: Muncaster's Joys Valve Engine
« Reply #551 on: January 04, 2016, 01:52:46 PM »
Simon glad to see you back on this impressive engine built. I have been waiting to see it complete bud. Nice choice for the base.

Don

Offline kvom

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Re: Muncaster's Joys Valve Engine
« Reply #552 on: January 04, 2016, 03:48:48 PM »
I had lost track of your progress.  Glad to see it back in play.

On mine I found that the crosshead slides needed to be precisely aligned for smooth motion.  Since I had machined them at the same time as everything else on the casting being straight was not an issue, but the width and centering of the bottom of the crosshead itself needed shaving to get precisely centered on the bores.

Offline zeeprogrammer

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Re: Muncaster's Joys Valve Engine
« Reply #553 on: January 05, 2016, 12:15:19 AM »
I had lost track of your progress.  Glad to see it back in play.

Same here.

Always happy to see you at work play.
Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
"To work. To work."
Zee-Another Thread Trasher.

Offline Dave Otto

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Re: Muncaster's Joys Valve Engine
« Reply #554 on: January 05, 2016, 12:55:38 AM »
Yes, nice to see progress on this interesting and beautiful engine.
I do understand about other things getting in the way of projects.

Dave

 

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