MEM_Corliss Yet another!

[Steam Haulage]

Hi all, especially to everyone who inspired me to set out on this project. My thanks for the plans and build records, some of which are still going on, Arnold, Vince, Maryak, Capn Jerry, etc. And to everyone who chimed in with hints to the build logs.

Anyway I bought a chunk of CI for the flywheel from M-Machine, helpful as expected, with adequate sizes. My initial thoughts were to go larger than the plans, to give more weight to the rim.

[Jo]

 

I'll be following along 

Jo

[Steam Haulage]

With one side roughly turned to work on the other.

You will see that I have used fairly chunky tools with carbide inserts. Some will know that I had asked for advice about these but probably inevitably there seemed to be two opposing camps which pulled me in different directions.
So I consulted some professionals I know who all came down on the side of indexable tooling. Having always thought since re-entering the hobby that modernisation should be my watchword. Since my first entry in the 80s nothing in the UK seemed to have moved.  I spoke to a supplier in Glasgow who gave me some firm recommendations on using Kennametal kit.

So far I have not regretted choosing to use his advice. Anyway I have rough turned both sides and the rim using only one edge of each tip, i.e. one LH and one RH. Obviously I shall have to change around each to get a good finish. Although the holders were certainly expensive they are also rigid. Inserts in the less than £10 bracket is just a running cost I am prepared to bear as each has 4 tips and they take a good bashing. You can see the cut is interrupted.
Only time will tell.

Jerry

[Bezalel]

Thats a nice chunk of iron there Jerry,
 
I'm loking forward to seeing a corliss attached to it.
 
I'll be following.
 
Bez

[tvoght]

A good start!. I'll be watching.

--Tim

[vcutajar]

Goody. Another Corliss.

Jerry, I pulled up a chair and popcorn.

Did you have a change of heart?  You were going to use the faceplate and then decided to use a chuck.

Keep it up.

Vince

[Alan Haisley]

Another Corless to watch.



Alan

[Steam Haulage]

Vince,

Yes I did change my mind but not in the way you might at first think. I thought long and hard about the modifications I might make; have adopted metric, by converting everything in AutoCAD from the original TC plans then adopting metric 'preferred' sizes. Most of them seem to be able to furnish a size near as damitt to the original imperial so that I (at this stage hopefully) can use those wherever it seems judicious, so that the crankshaft will end up reamed to 10mm rather than 9.525mm / 0.375". Of course I may have to think again about bearings, I hope I can turn/ream them to suit the final size.

Any way to return to the flywheel: my faceplate, as you saw comfortably took the original 220mm diam piece, then I thought I would be making made enough adaptation to the MEM drawings, which obviously are the result of a lot of thought, without seeing what happens if I keep to the plans, so I set too and turned the OD back to 184mm on the faceplate. My 4-jaw has about 200mm capacity so I set it up in that and continued the roughing. The lathe has plenty of power but my shop vac bag was almost too heavy and tightly packed to lift out of the drum when I wheelie binned it this evening.

Assuming I can get this total build finished I will think about a repeat using the larger diameter. I already have some CI tube of that diameter and some MS tube and these I will turn to be an interference fit to try making the flywheel as a composite

I'll have to get back to work this week, hopefully more next weekend.

Thanks to all for following.

Jerry

[b.lindsey]

Following along here as well Jerry. Your are already off to a good start.

Bill

[Maryak]

Hi Jerry,

Maybe Arnold can confirm but IIRC a set of metric plans was provided using 24mm = 1 inch as the conversion.

If they were not published, I think I have a set somewhere here to the above scale.

Best Regards
Bob

[arnoldb]

Hi Jerry - good to see a start on another one 

Bob's correct - he made a set of 24mm = 1" plans for metric use - that's how I built mine.

I'm at work now; if you can't find them, I'll upload them this evening.

Kind regards, Arnold

[Steam Haulage]

Hi Arnold and Maryak,

I have those plans and have studied them for some time, however I made the decision to stick with 25.40 / inch. In ACAD it was simple to scale everything 1.0493 X, with a guessing stick and calculator and using metric measures, DRO, metric callipers and mike so far it seems as easy to measure to 0.001 mm as to 0.001".
The units are not my difficulty, it's my care and attention, I'm not as young as I was so working 5 full days plus machining at the weekend and grabbed minutes whenever possible only makes me look forward to retirement; and this will not happen until the EC commission gives up rushing out new regulations so frequently.

Thank you both for the offer of the 25:1 plans, much appreciated anyway.

Jerry

[Steam Haulage]

Arnold,

I should have given you due credit, I have followed you build from the very beginning, it's your flywheel I am plagiarising now.

Thanks for the inspiration.

Jerry

[arnoldb]

Hi Jerry

I deserve none  - if you're making the flywheel from solid, it's Vince that deserves the credit 

Kind regards, Arnold

[Steam Haulage]

Yes, I have followed both of your builds and mixed up the source of the flywheel 'process' in my mind so my plagiarism apologies should have gone to Vince. I hope he doesn't feel too offended by my slip-up.

Thanks for pointing out my c--k--p and giving me a chance to make a correction.

Jerry

[vcutajar]

Jerry

None taken.  These are things that happen.  Did you get Don's Excel sheet for making the spokes?  I wouldn't have been able to finish my first-ever spoked flywheel without it.

Vince

[Steam Haulage]

Some more progress with the layout of the flywheel spokes.

I took some time to lay out the spokes to my own satisfaction and developed the attached in ACAD from which I laser cut a template to fit around the hub and within the inner rim. AutoCAD is really quick for this sort of thing.
All I have to do now is to make it.
Jerry

[RickBarnes]

Not sure if I mentioned it on this forum or not, but I attached a link to the museum I work at.  I get to play with a 90 hp corliss there.  http://muskegonheritage.org/

[Steam Haulage]

At last some more progress on the MEM Corliss ( my build, with acknowledgements to the designers and builders)

Progress has been less than snail's pace since my last update in March, while I did more work on my collection of misunderstood tools.

Attached are the flywheel marked out and after drilling out the corners and set-up for milling out the spoke spaces,
and with the first one end-mill cut on one side.

At least I have progressed a little further

Jerry

[Steam Haulage]

Oops, got in a muddle with the pictures!
Jerry

[Jo]

Nice to see you back at this engine Jerry and a nice bit of progress, 

Jo

[vcutajar]

Jerry

I know the feeling.  Any progress even if a little is a move in the right direction.

Are you using a rotary table to cut the spokes?

Vince

[Steam Haulage]

Yes Vince.
Though the rotary table has given me no end of trouble. In a separate thread about RTs which I followed I asked about dismantling it. I set it on the milling table and fixed the flywheel with 4 x 6mm hold down bolts into the tee slots and could only get about 45 deg. of rotation. Without thinking further I removed the FW from the RT and took the RT to the bench.
Could not find any cause of the binding but dismantled and cleaned it. Back on the mill remounted the flywheel, it rotated further (60deg) but still not further.
When I slackened the hold down bolts the rotation was 360 so I assume the flywheel (cast iron) is more rigid than the RT. ( you know what assumptions make) In the end I slackened every adjuster on the RT, tightened the flywheel hold down bolts and used the RT clamping to keep the table from moving.
Everything seems to work OK, using the mill DRO and RT rotary scale to align for each of the 8 spokes. I checked that I could get a full 360 degree rotation before I milled the first.

Back to the bench with the RT once I have finished all the spokes tho'. I may look for a better quality old type RT if I can find one I can afford.

Jerry

[Steam Haulage]

I thought I should give a quick update on my (lack of) progress on m build. Some of the following may be familiar!

I'm still working on the build which Vcutajar mentioned in post 120 in another thread. Some members may remember that in my personal intro. I mentioned the need for me to assemble a new workshop, having lost the one I had some years ago.
I made the flywheel which I showed in my log and then began to realise the lack of some of the 'incidental' kit which I needed.
Beginning with the making of a slotting tool based on Peter Robinson's design in MEW issue 4 entitled "a professional slotting tool". As I now have a GH 1330 lathe which has a four-way tool post I decided to adapt his design to fit directly in the place of a tool holder.
I had determined before I set out to re-establish a workshop that I would work as much as possible in metric units. I then discovered that I would need to set-out the whole thing in millimetres.
As I began to use some of the drills which I had from the past I rediscovered many of these had less than optimum sharpness. Graham Meek had by then started his topic on this forum entitled "getting the most out of a drill grinding jig, or Perfect twist drills every time.". You can probably guess the rest; and that is where I am now.

Jerry