Author Topic: Burrell Single Crank Compound Traction Engines - 4" Scale  (Read 83801 times)

Offline jadge

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Re: Burrell Single Crank Compound Traction Engines - 4" Scale
« Reply #120 on: November 18, 2017, 10:27:10 PM »
Thanks Terry, another thumbs up for Reliant. They're also relatively convenient to visit on my trips up north. I've been dithering about getting the wheels painted after shot blasting as I want to tidy up the welded fillets. But it sounds like I should get them primed and sort out the fillets as best I can. I certainly don't want to be cleaning assembled, but rusty, wheels.

Andrew

Offline jadge

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Re: Burrell Single Crank Compound Traction Engines - 4" Scale
« Reply #121 on: January 15, 2018, 11:42:26 AM »
This is an interim progress report on my traction engine rear wheels. The rationale for working on the wheels is as follows:

  • Get rear wheels finished
  • Fit wheels to engines - feel smug
  • Move engines out of kitchen
  • Move builder in to strip and refit kitchen
  • End of comments from my mum about the kitchen being a health hazard

The rims and T-rings have been machined, rolled, welded and fettled over some considerable period. Likewise the hubs, except for some odd reason I failed to drill and tap the holes for the spokes when machining the hubs. So I had to set up again and get them done. At least with a reversing tapping head running at 500rpm threading was way quicker than by hand. Here is a rim and hub on my build jig, the rim is propped up by ¾" as on the left hand wheel the hub is offset so the wheel clears the flywheel. The build plate is scrap aluminium. When buying aluminium for work from my stockholder I also asked them to dig out a piece at least 650mm square and around 10mm thick. I didn't care about dings or nicks so I got the plate at a greatly reduced price, and the stockholder got more than scrap value.  :ThumbsUp:



The spokes were bent to the appropriate angle in my box 'n' pan folder, operating somewhat over it's design limit.  :embarassed:



It takes me about 20 minutes to fit each spoke. Here is the build well under way, one side done and the other side started:



And finally two wheels done, one left hand and one right hand. There are no strakes, as these wheels will be going to have rubber tyres fitted:



Next job is to make a jig to drill the remaining three rivet holes in each spoke, and then get them riveted.

I wouldn't want to pre-empt Kim from commenting on size, but the rule shown is 24".  ;D

Andrew


Offline Perry

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Re: Burrell Single Crank Compound Traction Engines - 4" Scale
« Reply #122 on: January 15, 2018, 12:51:45 PM »
Really impressive!

Online Jasonb

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Re: Burrell Single Crank Compound Traction Engines - 4" Scale
« Reply #123 on: January 15, 2018, 01:22:03 PM »
Good to see you got some more of the engine done over the Xmas Andrew, the remaining six should be plain sailing.  :)

J

Offline Kim

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Re: Burrell Single Crank Compound Traction Engines - 4" Scale
« Reply #124 on: January 15, 2018, 05:24:29 PM »
Well, Andrew, I don't feel preempted, I just feel validated!
And I'm glad you mentioned that it was a 24" rule there, otherwise I might have assumed it was a 6" rule and thought it was a normal sized model!

Boy, those wheels are BIG!   :o

Kim


Offline scc

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Re: Burrell Single Crank Compound Traction Engines - 4" Scale
« Reply #125 on: January 15, 2018, 08:00:50 PM »
Hi Andrew,   Just been catching up on your build via TT. I'm glad your work "issues" seem sorted.. I can certainly recommend the 3day week-4day weekend routine. Engine bits all looking good :ThumbsUp:
Regards        Terry

Offline jadge

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Re: Burrell Single Crank Compound Traction Engines - 4" Scale
« Reply #126 on: January 17, 2018, 10:44:12 AM »
Boy, those wheels are BIG!   :o

Not only are they big they're darn heavy. It was quite a strain lifting them on and off the build jig.  :o
I've been told that once rubber tyres are fitted it about doubles the weight. If I want to move them afterwards I'll have to roll them; good job they're more or less round.  :ThumbsUp:

Andrew

Offline scc

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Re: Burrell Single Crank Compound Traction Engines - 4" Scale
« Reply #127 on: January 17, 2018, 11:44:10 AM »
Yes,  Extremely heavy with the rubber on :help:   Terry

Offline jadge

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Re: Burrell Single Crank Compound Traction Engines - 4" Scale
« Reply #128 on: January 18, 2018, 10:21:02 AM »
Terry: thanks for the confirmation. Better get an engine crane on order.  :)

Andrew

Offline jadge

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Re: Burrell Single Crank Compound Traction Engines - 4" Scale
« Reply #129 on: April 08, 2018, 09:34:22 PM »
All the spokes on my traction engine wheels are fixed using 3/16" steel rivets. I've been experimenting with closing said rivets, before working on the wheels. I made some rivet snaps, and a jig for the front wheels. The snaps are made from silver steel and are hardened and tempered. The jig is hogged out of a lump of hot rolled steel:



During the experiments I closed a lot of rivets:



Initially the rivets were closed by hand. But I just didn't seem to be able to apply enough force to properly form the domed head, even with a lump hammer. I have been considering the use of a hydraulic press to close the rivets, partly from noise considerations. The problem with a hydraulic press is that the cheap ones are not wide enough for the rear wheels. I found a press online that would be wide enough for both front and rear wheels, but it was £700.  :o So as an interim measure I decided to try my #3 flypress. This was bought years ago on Ebay and has been used to stamp out sheet metal parts using home made press tooling. Experiments showed that it was perfectly capable of closing a rivet. However the bench was less capable! It needs strengthing with a length of steel angle before I go too much further. The experiments also gave me a figure for the length of rivet that I needed before closing to form a proper domed head.

Here is the flypress setup for riveting the wheels, fudge it and bodge it are in charge of the wheel holding:



And a close up of the riveting jig arrangement:



I started by filing each rivet to the required length, but that got tedious rather quickly. So I've now made a small split collet holder that I can use in the Britan repetition lathe, along with a sprung loaded backstop, to machine the rivets to length. It only takes a few seconds each. The home formed heads seem pretty fair to me, especially when they are closed against the T-ring rather than the spoke, dunno why that should be:



For the front wheels the home formed heads are on the inside, but this is good news for the rear wheels where the home formed heads have to be on the outside, in full view of the rivet counters. So far two front wheels have been riveted:



Two more front wheels to go, and then on to the rear wheels.

Andrew

Offline Kim

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Re: Burrell Single Crank Compound Traction Engines - 4" Scale
« Reply #130 on: April 09, 2018, 05:35:00 AM »
Nice looking rivets there, Andrew! Looks like you've got that figured.

You are getting very consistent looking round heads on your rivets too.  You should feel quite proud of that!

Kim

Offline jadge

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Re: Burrell Single Crank Compound Traction Engines - 4" Scale
« Reply #131 on: April 24, 2018, 09:33:58 PM »
You are getting very consistent looking round heads on your rivets too.  You should feel quite proud of that!

I am quite pleased with the rivet heads. The riveting isn't perfect, but then again neither is full size.

I've recently had a "good grief I actually finished something" moment; vis the front wheels.  :o Before fitting the hub covers I went a bit over the top and pinned each spoke with a 6mm dowel pin. All done freehand, hence the somewhat cavalier placements:



I didn't add a layer of glue between the hubs and the covers, as sometimes mentioned, as I didn't think it would add to the fit. However I did spread a thin layer of Araldite across each spoke, where it leaves the hub, to fill a slight gap. On the wheels with steel tyres I also fitted the bronze bushes with bearing retainer, and the oiler pipes. These were left off the two wheels that will be going to have rubber tyres fitted as I think the vulcanisation process will be too hot for the retainer. Here are the four wheels, artfully arranged on the sitting room carpet:



For scale the wheels with steel tyres are 15" OD, just in case anyone was wondering.  :)

Andrew

Offline zeeprogrammer

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Re: Burrell Single Crank Compound Traction Engines - 4" Scale
« Reply #132 on: April 24, 2018, 11:34:10 PM »
They look fantastic.  :ThumbsUp:

15"! Wow.
Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
"To work. To work."
Zee-Another Thread Trasher.

Online Dave Otto

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Re: Burrell Single Crank Compound Traction Engines - 4" Scale
« Reply #133 on: April 25, 2018, 01:12:59 AM »
Beautiful job on the wheels Andrew!
I really enjoyed seeing how you approached the riveting.


Dave

Offline yogi

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Re: Burrell Single Crank Compound Traction Engines - 4" Scale
« Reply #134 on: April 27, 2018, 05:03:24 AM »
Always good to see your techniques Andrew!
Thanks for sharing.  :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp:

 

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