Elderberry Steam Launch V2 by AOG

[AOG]

The mill is aligned and the vise is indicated in so it's time for a new engine build. I reached into the closet of engine kits and pulled out an Elderberry Steam Launch kit. My first thought was to toss it back into the closet because I have already made one. The first one was made strictly to print and was right on the edge of my abilities at the time. The basic kit has some design elements  that make it easer to construct but I think negatively impact the looks. In short I can do better so I will.

Here is a picture of the kit



Right away we get to a design feature I don't like. The basic design has the hardware extending below the base plate. It causes the engine to rock and negatively impacts the looks. Since I am going to mount this engine on a piece of Corian I needed to add some mounting feet. I  redesigned  the base to make it thicker and added a pocket to hide the hardware.

Squaring up the stock



Then I face milled the top and bottom



After layout this is spotting



And drilling the holes



All holes drilled



Milling the pocket



Milling out the webs between the feet



Milling the feet down to the correct thickness



If you look at the previous picture you'll notice where I overshot the depth while milling out the web and marked up the sides up at the top. I decided to save the piece by pulling out the round over end mill and beveling the edges.



It actually came out pretty well. Now I get to spend some good quality time with my files and filing buttons to round over the feet.

[b.lindsey]

Nice start Anthony, and a nice save with the corner rounding bit as well. Another thing I never was crazy about with this engine was the clear tubing connecting the valve to the cylinder. Just curious if that is one of the things you plan on changing as well.

Bill

[AOG]

No I'll probably leave that alone. The engine is to small for brass pipe and I don't trust my ability to bend copper tubing.

Tony

[AOG]

I got weekend off so I had some quality time In the shop. First I squared up the brass bar that would become the pillow block and the valve block.



Then I face milled the bar flat on both sides.



Then using a slitting saw I split the blocks.



First I step drilled the hole to size.



Then reamed the pillow block.



Then I match drilled the valve block to the step block and final drilled the valve block to size.



The valve block was then reamed to size.



Next I drilled the mounting holes in both blocks.



Then it was over to the tapping stand.



The pillow block was done but I still needed to drill and tap the ports into the valve block.



Next I started on the valve blank. Over to the lathe where I faced the bar.



Then I skimmed the outside of the bar to brighten it up.



Then the valve was turned to be a slip fit into the valve block.



Then the hole for the shaft was drilled.



And then it was reamed to size.



Then the valve blank was parted off.



Then the hole for the grub screw was drilled.



And then tapped. I'll finish the blank on the rotary table when I set it up to mill the flywheel.



Then the batteries in my camera died so I didn't get any pictures of making the four fittings for the valve block and the cylinder. After a quick recharge I was able to get a family shot.



Next time I'll do the crankshaft and possibly the columns

Tony

[AOG]

This was not a good weekend for me. I ended up with a reminder of what happens when you fail to pay attention to details. It started off ok. I decided to make the four columns that will support the cylinder. First I faced the end of the hex stock.



Then I turned down the end.



Out came the tailstock die holder and I threaded the end.



Then the column was parted off



After repeating for the other three columns. I put in my spindle  stop and faced the columns to length



Then the other side was turned down.



And then the columns were threaded.



It was now time to start the crankshaft. Per instructions, the shaft and crank disk were to be turned down from a single piece of bar stock. First I faced both ends of the bar.



Then I center drilled the end and turned down the shaft portion



After cutting away the center drilled portion I flipped the piece and attempted to part the crank disk to length. That was a mistake. As I was parting, I heard that evil "tink" sound and I ended up with this.



On hindsight I should have extended the large end of the bar out a little further and parted off. To top off the situation, I was out of material to make another attempt. At that point I decided I would change the design. I'm going to go with a built up shaft. I will order some drill rod of the correct diameter and press it into the crank disk. To that end I completed parting off the crank disk and drilled it to take the shaft.



Next I decided to work on the flywheel blank. I started by facing off both sides of the blank.



Then I turned the hub



Next came trepanning the one side



Then the blank was flipped and marked out.



The other side was also trepanned out



Then the center was drilled



And then reamed



I put the flywheel in the mill to drill the set screw hole when disaster struck. I wasn't paying close enough attention to the geometry of my set up and crashed the drill chuck into the flywheel.  The chuck gouged up the rim and boogered ( a technical term) the set screw hole.



Thankfully I was able to save the piece. A quick skim on the rim and the gouges were gone. Next I used my round insert profiling tool and cut un a decorative arc in the hub.



With a little blending I think it will come out nice. After that I decided to quit while I was behind.

Tony

[b.lindsey]

Tony, sorry about the little mishap...but as they say, hindsight is 20/20. The flywheel work looks really nice though. I'm surue the next attempt with the shaft/crankdisk will turn out just fine too.

Bill

[AOG]

The interesting thing is that when I made this engine the first time these kinds of mistakes happened regularly. I would have to make the parts two and three times before I had one that was good enough. Now two of those kinds of mistakes in a session is a reason to get POed. Even then I still managed to save one of the parts. In retrospect ( and after cooling off) it kind of gives me some perspective on what a few more engines worth of experience means in this hobby.

Tony

[AOG]

I got some time in the shop this weekend so it's time for another update. The first thing I did was redo the crank shaft. I drilled the broken crank disk for the crank pin and shaft



Then I faced off and shouldered a piece of drill rod



Then I pressed the shaft into the crank disk



Then I faced off the crank disk to width



Then I pressed in the crank pin



Next I started on the cylinder by facing the blank



Then I drilled the blank out enough to use a boring bar



Then I bored out the cylinder



It turns out that I didn't have a mandril that would fit the bore so I had to make one. I started by turning it to a slip fit on the cylinder



Then I tap drilled it.



And tapped it 1/8 npt



Then it went into the ER-32 collet block and slit



Here is the finished mandril with a 1/8 npt plug screwed in



Then the whole assembly went into the collet chuck.



Then I turned the cylinder to the final profile. Lite cuts were the order of the day



Then it was over to the mill to spot face the port



Then it was drilled and tapped



The rest of the operations will be completed when I set up the rotary table.
Then I started on the cylinder cover.

The blank was faced and the step was cut



Then it was parted to length.

 

And the other side was faced



Next it was time to work on the piston.

The blank was faced and turned to diameter...... The second time. I turned the blank undersized on my first attempt.



Then the oil grooves were cut



Then it was over to the mill where the cross pin hole was drilled



Then the piston was slit and parted off



Next I started the connecting rod by squaring up the bar



After layout I used my laser center to pick up my bottom hole



The hole was drilled. The process was repeated for the piston side.



Then it was over to the vise for bending



The part was taken over to the die filer for fileing



I will leave you with a family shot



Until next time

Tony

[b.lindsey]

Nice to see an update Tony. You should be getting closer now by the looks of the family shot

Bill

[AOG]

All I have left is to mill valve slots and drill/tap the bolt circles. All of those tasks require setting up my rotary table. Becauese of the limited height on my mini mill I find the task a pain so I have been putting it off.

Tony

[mklotz]

You can do the bolt circles by coordinate drilling.  No need for a rotary table.

[AOG]

You can do the bolt circles by coordinate drilling.  No need for a rotary table.

I don't have a DRO. I am counting turns. I know I could theoretically still do it that way but it never comes out right for me. The rotary table is a big pain to set up but once it's dialed in I get consistently good results out of it.

Tony

[AOG]

At the suggestion of a friend I ended up borrowing his sherline rotary table and using it instead of my 4 inch table. I have to say that did the trick. Because it was so much smaller I had enough headroom to mount my coaxial indicator and quickly center up on the rotab. I think I need to get one.



After centering on the table I started by drilling the bolt circle for the cylinder head.



Then I transfer punched the hole pattern onto the cylinder.



Then the top end of the cylinder was drilled



And tapped



Here is the cover test fitted to the cylinder.



Then the cylinder was flipped over and rotated 45 deg from the air inlet. Then the holes for the four columns were drilled



And tapped



The four columns were then test fitted to the cylinder and the base



The next operation was to use a woodruff key cutter to cut the valve grooves in the valve blank



That completes the machining on the engine itself so I started on the Corian base. First I squared up the base



Then the holes were laid out and transfer punched



Then back unto the mill vise where I used my laser center to pick up the holes.



And drill them



After drilling, It was time to tap the holes 4-40. Unfortunately I snapped the tap off in the first hole. Thankfully after a 24 hour soak in Alum I was able to get the broken tap out. All I have left is to file,fit and finish the motor so the next entry should be the finished product. Thanks for following.

Tony

[b.lindsey]

Looking good Tony. I am glad to see the Sherline RT worked out well for you too.

Bill

[Roger B]

Looking good    How big is the Sherline RT (other than less than 4")?