Author Topic: Kearsarge Windlass Engines  (Read 18850 times)

Offline crueby

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Re: Kearsarge Windlass Engines
« Reply #525 on: March 25, 2024, 04:04:16 PM »
While waiting for the brass bars to get stress relieved and cool down again, I did get a little metal cutting done: drilled/countersunk holes in the engine base (the one that is part of the main base plate) plus a couple more holes in the mill table tooling plate. This lets me bolt the base to the mill table, then bolt the engine bed blank to it for milling/drilling/shaping/nibbling/etc. Once attached I'll try and keep it in place till all the shaping and drilling is done. I'll put a thin plywood spacer over the top of the base to give room to mill through the bed without marring the base plate.



Offline crueby

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Re: Kearsarge Windlass Engines
« Reply #526 on: March 26, 2024, 03:23:54 PM »
Work on the engine bed has begun. The shop elves took the larger bar up to the band saw for me, and brought back this blank for the engine bed...

One of them sneezed before they got it upright on the bench though... 


 :facepalm:

I clamped the base piece (shown in the previous post) to the blank and used it as a drill guide to start the mounting holes down each side, then removed the base and drilled through with a close clearance size drill. The base was bolted back down to the mill table, and the bed blank screwed down on that with a piece of 1/8" plywood between so I can mill/drill through the bed without damaging the base. I milled the right hand end (which will be at the bow end) true, and the correct distance from the mounting hole in the front right corner (which will become the reference point for the rest of the part). Next I'll mill the other end to length relative to that, then take the sides in to final size....

Once the outsides are all shaped, I'll lay out and cut the two large openings in the middle.  This is what it will eventually look like:




Online Kim

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Re: Kearsarge Windlass Engines
« Reply #527 on: March 26, 2024, 04:14:10 PM »
Nice!  That's going to be some complex whittling!  :popcorn: :popcorn:

Hope the Elves were OK.  Don't you hate all that paperwork that comes with an on the job accident?  Tell them to be more careful next time!  And take that safety class seriously!  :Lol:

Kim

Offline crueby

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Re: Kearsarge Windlass Engines
« Reply #528 on: March 26, 2024, 05:49:53 PM »
Nice!  That's going to be some complex whittling!  :popcorn: :popcorn:

Hope the Elves were OK.  Don't you hate all that paperwork that comes with an on the job accident?  Tell them to be more careful next time!  And take that safety class seriously!  :Lol:

Kim
They were wearing their (not very) hard hats and their plastic toed shoes, so I am off the hook at least!   :LittleDevil:

Offline crueby

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Re: Kearsarge Windlass Engines
« Reply #529 on: March 26, 2024, 05:51:49 PM »
More cranking and the other end and sides are now to size, ready to lay out and start cutting out the openings...

Thats assuming the shop elves don't steal it for a new door on their brass vault!   :Lol:

Offline cnr6400

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Re: Kearsarge Windlass Engines
« Reply #530 on: March 26, 2024, 07:03:04 PM »
 :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: Glad the inflatable pant  leg air bags worked for the elves. Hope they've got their wheelbarrows and the Mann truck handy for all the solid gold brass chips soon to be flying!  :Lol:
"I've cut that stock three times, and it's still too short!"

Offline steam guy willy

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Re: Kearsarge Windlass Engines
« Reply #531 on: March 27, 2024, 01:39:54 AM »
That looks like a lot of straw for the shop elves use for bedding ??!!!

"W".   :ROFL: :ROFL: :lolb:

Offline crueby

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Re: Kearsarge Windlass Engines
« Reply #532 on: March 27, 2024, 01:49:58 AM »
That looks like a lot of straw for the shop elves use for bedding ??!!!

"W".   :ROFL: :ROFL: :lolb:
Looks soft but those shavings are ITCHY!  I keep finding bits of it in socks and shirt sleeves. I don't know  how they stand it. Well, they are made of plastic...  :Lol:

Offline crueby

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Re: Kearsarge Windlass Engines
« Reply #533 on: March 27, 2024, 01:50:56 AM »
:ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: Glad the inflatable pant  leg air bags worked for the elves. Hope they've got their wheelbarrows and the Mann truck handy for all the solid gold brass chips soon to be flying!  :Lol:
I'm  trying to figure out where they found the elf sized shop vac...  :shrug:

Offline kvom

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Re: Kearsarge Windlass Engines
« Reply #534 on: March 27, 2024, 11:16:08 AM »
Nice!  That's going to be some complex whittling!  :popcorn: :popcorn:

And tapping!   :popcorn:

Offline crueby

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Re: Kearsarge Windlass Engines
« Reply #535 on: March 27, 2024, 03:18:21 PM »
Nice!  That's going to be some complex whittling!  :popcorn: :popcorn:

And tapping!   :popcorn:
Milling, Whittling, and Tapping, Attorneys At Law!   (wholey owned subsidiary of Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe)

Offline crueby

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Re: Kearsarge Windlass Engines
« Reply #536 on: March 27, 2024, 03:23:28 PM »
Todays playtime game was to cut out the openings in the engine bed for the cranks. Started by drilling corner stop holes all the way through, just into the plywood spacer. In addition to making the cuts with the end mill easier to set, its crucial to have things line up for later cuts.

Went around with a medium size end mill, as deep as it would go. Took the cuts in stages to get down to depth, with the vacuum going to clear chips.

Then flipped the block over to finish the cuts from the other side. This is where the drilled holes really helped, no worries about where to cut. The removed blocks are on either side, ready for the elves to haul away in their steam powered wheelbarrows... Hmmm, that would be fun...


Block back upright again, ready to take the inside edges out to finished dimensions with the longer end mill.


Offline cnr6400

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Re: Kearsarge Windlass Engines
« Reply #537 on: March 27, 2024, 06:56:57 PM »
 :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: Hope the shop elves don't cut themselves getting in to and out of those new hot tubs.  :facepalm: Doh! I keep forgetting they read this chat!  :Lol:
"I've cut that stock three times, and it's still too short!"

Offline crueby

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Re: Kearsarge Windlass Engines
« Reply #538 on: Today at 04:20:33 PM »
Bunch more done on the engine bed. The insides of the openings have been taken out to final size and smoothed with a long end mill

Then went around the outside and took the top down partway, to where the angled gussets will stick out. The screws were taken out one at a time as this work went, each replaced with a shorter one when that section was done. On the near side the cut was straight across the length, on the side away from the camera it went out and back around the extensions to the openings (which are to give the cranks more room) as well as a block in the center which will become a support for an angled brace up to the engine blocks.


Then started taking the top surface down to the final height, here its halfway done:

and all the way across

Then laid out and cut the side away from the camera down farther, that side has a lower height except where the post supports are on the two ends

Next steps are to take the sides down to leave just the low flanges, leaving the gussets at the ends and one in the middle. Here is after first set of passes on one side, taking it down as far as this end mill will reach. Will come back and take it down the rest of the way with a longer one. Again, the screws are being taken out one at a time while working across that portion, and they are being replaced with shorter ones as it goes.



 

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