After my last Elmer's engine I was looking for something simple while I work out what my next big project was going to be. I reached into the closet of castings and came up with the Stuart ST kit. This will be my first Stuart engine so we will see how that goes. The kit came nicely packaged with everything shrink wrapped onto the box.
If you'll notice, there is only one actual casting in the kit. The cylinder is a weird extrusion. The rest is made from bar and sheet. After a quick Jo approved fondling of the parts, I found that nothing is undersized and most of the bar stock is long enough to hold. Let's get started on the only casting. First I filed the sides of the base square. I then aligned the base of the standard vertically and milled it flat.
Then the mounting holes were drilled into the base.
I dusted off my small tooling plate and transferred the holes.
Unfortunately the casting must have slipped when I transfer punched the holes. When I mounted the standard onto the plate it wasn't square to the tooling plate. Next I milled the top flat.
Then I drilled the the main passages in the same setup.
I went to clean up and drill the intake and exhaust ports. One side went well.
This next photo is what happens when you get distracted and forget to tighten the vise.
Now that I have successfully ruined the only casting in the kit, I decided to start on the cylinder while I wait for a replacement. First I cleaned up both sides of the extrusion and took it to length.
Then the bore was drilled and reamed to size.
Next it was over to the mill to flatten the valve face.
The pivot hole was drilled and tapped and then the ports were spot drilled.
Then I made my second mistake. The plans call out a 30 degree angle between the ports. I misinterpreted that to be the angle between the port and the face. I ended up drilling through the side instead of into the bore. I plugged the hole and drilled at the correct 15 degree angle to finish the ports.
I have elected to clad the cylinder in wood instead of the supplied sheetmetal so I skipped drilling those mounting holes into the cylinder. That's all for this round.
Till next time.
Tony
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