Monitor Steam Engine

[sshire]

OK,Zee
Since we've moved into food mode, here's the deal with the French bread.

1. You can't get the correct flour in this country. It's French type 45 or 55. (This is my flour drawer. I'm sworn to secrecy). 

 

2. Send T to the 5 day Artisan Bread Course at King Arthur Flour in Vermont. I had a great week there and learned an amazing number of things.

3. The best bread in the world was made by Lionel Poilâne. After he died in 2002, his daughter took over. I've had her bread. Same as Dad and Grandad's. 

4. Without a starter, (biga, poolish,etc) there's no chance of a decent loaf. (Compared to Wonder Bread, anything is decent)
5. A major component of the whole French Bread thing is the crust. Paper thin and shatters like glass. Only one way to get it. Steam injected oven. No, dumping water into a pan in the oven, ice cubes in a skillet, water spray bottle are all useless. The steam under pressure at the beginning of the bake is the key. There's your next project. PMR Horizontal Boiler, piped to the oven.
6. You can get sort of close to the French Type 55 flour with a 50/50 blend of King Arthur AP and King Arthur Bread Flour.
7. Stop using supermarket yeast. SAF Red Instant Yeast. About $6 a pound. Great yeast.
8. That's what I know.

[philjoe5]

It's nice to have a nightcap and peek in to see what progress is being made.  Tonight though, I think I had a bit too much Irish because this steam engine has suddenly become very confusing

Cheers,
Phil

[zeeprogrammer]

It's nice to have a nightcap and peek in to see what progress is being made.  Tonight though, I think I had a bit too much Irish because this steam engine has suddenly become very confusing

I sometimes have the same reaction.  I often enter here with great trepidation. And it's my thread. 

This is what I get for answering a question. Cletus...next time you may get ignored. Take it personally. 

Thanks Stan. I'll have to tell T about the Vermont thing.
We know about the flour thing and she's tried different blends. (I see some King Arthur less than 10 feet away.)
As for crust...a big part of that is personal taste. She's a crust lover (thicker) and I'm not (thin).
The yeast sounds familiar but I'll tell her about it.

I hadn't noticed any steam injected ovens in the pastry shops.

In any case, she makes great bread.

[zeeprogrammer]

The merest progress...

Worked on the steam chest outriggers...

The beginning stock shaped up a bit.



After drilling some holes and a bit of milling.
To mill that 2"-ish by 1/4" I had to have the part stick out of the vise. I'd placed a parallel behind it, horizontally, to give some backing.
I'd also made some buttons. Hadn't seen much in the forum on such things for a while so I thought it worthwhile.



Ready to file using my handmade machinist clamp. I think it might have been easier to drill through the buttons and bolt the things up but this wasn't difficult to do.



Done filing. The machinist clamp was held in a bench vise. (Wow. T gave me that bench vise some 35 years ago. I had no use for it until I started this hobby 8 years ago.)



The picture doesn't really do it justice. I think it came out swell. Should look great after some sanding/polishing.



At this point I realized I have two problems. Remember the steam chests...



No holes to mount the outrigger! Somehow I forgot that operation. 

The other problem is how to do the 1/8" by 2.5" slot in the outrigger. My 1/8" end-mill only has a 3/8" cutting length and I need to go through 1/2".
I'd thought about milling one side, flipping, and then milling the other.

But a certain comment made on another thread, having to do with me showing 'how not to do things", made me stop.
I won't name that person...but you all know who she is. 

I'm going to order an 1/8" end mill with 3/4" cutting length. Hertel has one for under $9 at Enco.

[crueby]

Any progress is progress! Outriggers look good.

[sco]

How about a slitting saw to cut the slot Zee rather than a long delicate end mill?

Simon.

[Jasonb]

Zee are those outriggers the right length? To me the 1/4 x 5/8 section looks to be less than half the length when it should be just over half.

Same wit the slot, although not dimentioned I would say it should be about 1.5" long.

J

[zeeprogrammer]

Thanks Chris.
Simon...I gave a slitting saw serious thought. But I couldn't figure out a number of things...

1) How to get square (or round) at the end of the slot. (See red arrow in attachment.)
2) How to keep the outrigger from getting slapped around as I cut 2.5". I thought about a sacrificial block to help (see purple in attachment). A machinist jack underneath would also help. But would the part bounce off it?

I suppose some filing would do for the end of the slot but it would be quite a bit unless I came around to the other side to knock it down a bit.

I'm open to suggestions. Either way I'd have to order a cutter. I don't have an 1/8" slitting saw.

I've busted one 1/8" end mill already in a stainless steel rod. But I'm thinking this is aluminum and with shallow cuts and slow speed I should (hopefully) be okay.

Just saw your post Jason. I'll go check the drawings and get back to you.

[Jasonb]

You could drill a hole before you cut teh slot to give a rounded end but you won't get teh saw to cut all the way to teh hole

Provided you have your vice clocked true and you keep the same face of the work against the fixed jaw milling from both sides should be fine particularly with a 2-flute cutter that won't get pulled to one side.

[zeeprogrammer]

 

I was all set to tell Jason to take a hike. I checked my drawing (Cubify Design) and all was well. And I knew (thought) the animated assembly was fine. Everything spot on.

5.25" long, 2.188" milled away...uh...why did he say 'just over half'?

Went to the original drawing. Took a snip to attach it so I could give Jason a bit of a slap. And then I saw it.

4.25" long. 

How in the world did I read the 4 as a 5?
And just keep quiet Marv. I'd been over these drawings a number of times when I did the CAD work. 

What really irks me...up to now, even with the CAD stuff, I'd been referencing the original drawings.
This time...this time!, (worried about some of the errors I'd come across), I printed the drawing from the CAD.

So here it is my friends..."crap crap and crap". With an additional 'darn it'.

Thanks Jason. Seriously. 

And now, as I always try to do...the silver lining...

The next set will be even better.
I have buttons.
I have helpful friends.

I get an extra 'stinking hoppie' to drown my woes in celebrate.

Still....

[Jasonb]

Zee you should not need a complete new pair, just cut off the excess and redo the end. Its better than if you had made them 3" long

[Don1966]

Well Zee, good to know your still human buddy, the old saying s*^+% happens.......
Good to know you caught it now anyway.......

Don

[zeeprogrammer]

You could drill a hole before you cut teh slot to give a rounded end but you won't get teh saw to cut all the way to teh hole

Provided you have your vice clocked true and you keep the same face of the work against the fixed jaw milling from both sides should be fine particularly with a 2-flute cutter that won't get pulled to one side.

I could have used a longer 1/8" end mill a couple of times already so I'm not too bothered buying and waiting for one.

[zeeprogrammer]

Jason...quite right. It's an easy fix.

Don...thanks!

Well it's not like I burned supper. 

[crueby]

Depending on the material (especially for steel, for aluminum too sometimes if the alloy is one of the ones that likes to stick to the cutter edge), for long slots like that I will frequently drill a chain of holes down the length to remove the bulk of the material, goes pretty quick in the mill. Then come back with the end mill and connect the dots.

Glad you guys caught that one! Though we might have learned some new phrases...