Elderberry Mill Engine/ Elmer's 43 by AOG

[vascon2196]

I have a cemetery of scrap parts in the woods behind my shop.

I throw them as far as I can.

It happens.

[AOG]

Lots of work this weekend but not a lot of pictures. On the plus side I finished the reversing lever that was giving me fits last weekend. On the negative side  it took me four attempts to get one that I was happy with. Let's pick up where we left off. Here we are on attempt number three with the proper sized holes drilled in it



Next the slot was milled. If you look closely you can see that I have already screwed this piece up. I didn't properly support the piece with a clamp. I was relying on the bolt through the boss to hold the part during milling. The piece ended up rotating and throwing the geometry off.



 Ok lesson learned. Now let's jump to part number four. Here I am cutting out the top of the lever. (With clamps installed this time)



Next I milled out the the lower section.



Then it was over to the die filer to clean up the edges and round over the lever. The last thing I did on the piece was drill the starter hole for the pin.



Here are my attempts in sequence. From left to right they are. Failure to properly support the piece in the lathe. Next was mistaking a diameter for a radius. Followed by clamp your parts properly or else and lastly the final piece.  Hopefully someone will learn from my mistakes.



The next piece was the tilting guide. I started by turning down the narrow section.



Then it was over to the mill and into my square collet block for squaring up.



The edges were taken to final dimensions.



Then the collet block was turned vertical and the slot milled out.



That's it for this week.

Tony

[b.lindsey]

Looks like you are back on track Tony. Probably glad to get that lever arm behind you too, but the final  result looks nice!!

Bill

[AOG]

Thanks Bill

Tony

[zeeprogrammer]

On the negative side  it took me four attempts to get one that I was happy with.

Only four? Doing well. Every attempt is a learning and therefore a win.
I did this engine. And wish I'd made a few more attempts to make it better.

Good progress from my point of view.

[AOG]

Not a lot of progress this week. I spent most of my time doing house projects and some tooling that I will make a separate post for. I started by making the sliding piece for the  eccentric. First the piece was squared off and milled slightly oversize.



Then the piece was filed until it was a good sliding fit into the guide



Then it was drilled and tapped



Next I made a "practice" cylinder.  I started by squaring up the stock and milling to size.



Then the bore was drilled and reamed



Then I drilled the holes for the end covers



Next I came in from the side to drill the exhaust.



Afterwards I came in from the top to meet the previous hole. This is also where I ruined the piece when I went to deep and cut unto the bore. I didn't find that out until later so we will continue.



Next I cut the pockets.



And I drilled the holes to mount the valve chest.



Then I drilled the angled holes from the pockets to the ends



It was at this point that I pulled the piece out of the vice to inspect and noticed that I had drilled into the cylinder. Naturally I am out of the appropriate bar stock to make another attempt so I will have to order some more before I can continue.

Tony
 

[b.lindsey]

Bummer about breaking through Tony, but another lesson learned. It happens to us all. All you can do it get more stock and try again.

Bill

[Jo]

It happens to us all. All you can do it get more stock and try again.

Or you could make a 'press' in liner out of something like stainless or cast Iron. As there does not seem to be much metal spare around the bore you could aim to reduce the bore by say 1/8"  changing the piston size to suit  .

This is a trick that I have had to use on a number of my vintage casting sets when a hole (occlusion) in the cylinder casting is found in the bore line 

Jo

P.S. If you only intend on running the engine on air Loctite will secure the liner.

[AOG]

Jo if it was a casting set set I would probably attempt to sleeve it. Since it is a barstock engine (that's right on the edge of my skill level) I will remake the part. My goal is to progress through these increasingly more challenging  barstock engines until I gain enough skill and experience to feel comfortable building the casting kits that are aging in my closet.

Tony

[AOG]

I'm sorry to say that this build log is suspended indefinitely. While I was away for work someone decided they needed my possessions more than I did. All of my electronics and camera gear was taken as well as some of my tools.  I am having to post this using my iPhone. I may pick this up sometime in the future once I get everything cleaned up and my missing equipment replaced.

Tony

[Don1966]

Sorry to hear that some no goods have done that to you Tony. I would put some cameras around once you replace you tools. There are apps for them so you can keep a eye on things and record while away. Cameras are very cheap. Good luck in recovering them and did you have serial numbers for the cameras written down some where? I would let the police know so they can keep a eye out for them.

Regards Don

[b.lindsey]

Tony, so sorry to hear of your loss of property. The world is a crazy place these days, I just hope they catch the SOB's

Bill

[AOG]

It's been a crazy month. There are nine people in jail and I got back about three quarters of my stuff back. Thanks to an insurance check I have new camera gear and a new iPad. That means that this thread is open for business. While I have been unable to post I have still been working on the engine. My last update left off with me screwing up the cylinder. That was the first thing I redid.  Next I made the cylinder cover.  I turned a register on some square stock parted it off and drilled the four mounting holes. There are no pics because I didn't have my new camera yet. The next piece was the cross head. I chucked up some for of the square bar and faced it and turned the cross head section to size



Then I drilled and reamed the bore.



Then the piece was parted off from the stock



Then it was flipped around and the register was cut.



Then over to the mill where the cylinder cover was trimmed to size.



Next the mounting holes were drilled



The piece was turned and one side was milled away.



Then it was flipped again and the other side milled to dimension.



That completes the crosshead. The next piece is the valve chest. I started by squaring up the block.



Then over to the four jaw to turn the end.



Then I used my ball turner to round the end over.



Then the piece was flipped and the other boss was turned and the center hole drilled and reamed



Then it was over to the mill for final sizing.



Next the mounting holes were drilled and the pocket plunge milled.



That completes the valve chest. The valve cover and valve plate were made at the same time from the same bar. After cutting the bar in half the the pieces were squared up and sized.



Then the pieces were placed under the valve chest and transfer punched.



The punch marks were picked up by my laser.



And the mounting holes drilled



On the valve plate the corners for the slots were drilled.



Then the slots were milled out.



That completes the valve cover and valve plate. I'll end this post with a family shot.



Tony

[Admiral_dk]

Nice to hear that they caught the villains and that you got most of your stuff back 

Good to see you back on the project too - nice parts by the way 

[AOG]

Thanks

Tony