Newbie in Texas

[plataman]

Newbie in Dallas, Texas. Be patient with me..... Recently retired and making chips. I have owned a 1943 Atlas lathe for over 30 years and just acquired a milling machine to round out the shop. Past experiences have been mainly restoration and repair of antique autos, old electric fans, clocks and anything from our kitchen that breaks down. My middle name should be "unfinished" because many past projects have been interrupted by a nasty habit called "working for a living". Sure glad that mess is behind me now and looking for a model engine project to exercise the lathe and new mill. Scratch build? Casting kit? Which ones? Lots of questions and eager to learn. Looking forward to many rewarding hours in the shop. Terry

[Flyboy Jim]

Welcome to MEM Terry. 

Lots of help and good information here.

What kind of mill did you get?

Jim

[plataman]

Got lucky (?) and ran into a fellow clearing out his shop to relocate out of state. It's a 1999 vintage Enco 30, so I understand if you stop reading this now. Tore it down completely for cleaning, inspection, paint and adjustment. Looks like very little wear and has performed well. I would rather it had a knee but the price was right and I thought a good way to break into mill ownership. One good thing is the Enco is R-8 so all  tooling would be transferable if I upgrade someday. I am the neighborhood mad scientist so designing a power feed unit for the X table using a variable speed 12 volt motor. See you down the road!

[vcutajar]

Hi Terry and welcome to the group.

Vince

[rudydubya]

Glad to meet you, Terry.  Welcome to the forum.

Regards,
Rudy

[Brian Rupnow]

Hi Terry--Welcome to the forum. If you are looking for an i.c. engine to build, one of the most popular "starter" engines from barstock is the Webster engine. It had been built and documented by many, many people. and the plans are a free download from the internet. I just finished a very interesting build of a gas engine which is currently being built by others in four different countries, and is a good "beginner" engine. You can read about it and find a download link for all of the drawings here.---Brian
http://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php/topic,6248.0.html

[steamer]

Welcome Terry!

No worries ....no time frames of deadlines here.

Smiles per mile....not miles per hour....  8-)

Dave

[Tin Falcon]

This should get you lost for a while


http://john-tom.com/html/SteamPlans.html

http://john-tom.com/html/ElmersEngines.html


http://john-tom.com/html/ICEngines.html

Tin

[b.lindsey]

Hi and welcome to MEM Terry. Its a great bunch here and always willing to answer  questions  so ask away as things come up.

Bill

[Kim]

Hi Terry,
Welcome to the forum!
Kim

[plataman]

Thanks everybody for the warm welcome and thanks Brian for the lead on a couple of starter engines. Doing a first project out of barstock is appealing as no worries about messing up expensive castings. Several years ago I started two wobbler type steam engines of my own design; about 3 inches tall and all brass. What an education! This was a simple design but the
process taught me a lot. No CAD here, just drawing board T square and triangles, remember those? Spent time as a tool designer for Caterpillar so very comfortable with the old school drawing tools.  The 12 inch Atlas lathe worked out well but the milling attachment leaves a lot to be desired. One engine was for me and one for my Dad but when he passed away everything went into a drawer. It has been almost six years so think it's time to finish the engines. However I always like stuff a bit different so may redesign to make one engine from the two; a two cylinder wobbler with two flywheels. Thanks again everyone, see you down the road! Terry in Texas.