The "Little Pearl" Single Cylinder Marine Engine

[b.lindsey]

Got a few things done today. First up some clean up of the base after tapping fourteen 10-32 holes. The sides, top and bottom look a bit more presentable now (photos 1 & 2). Then I clamped the base rails to the base to drill down through the rails (photos 3 & 4). I really didn't want to use regular old lag screws, so decided to make and use long hex cap screws as will be used for the other fasteners. This required counterboring the bottom of the rails however for the nut (photo 5) and then checking that there was enough clearance for the four nuts (photo 6). Lastly for today I got the other bearing cap drilled and spotfaced (photo 7). Tomorrow will be fastener making day I think

Bill

[crueby]

Nice!


 

[Kim]

Drilling that wood in your mill, eh?  Want the holes to be perfectly aligned for sure!

That's looking nice, Bill!
Kim

[b.lindsey]

Yep it will work on the brown stuff too Kim I did want the alignment good as well so the rails would snug up to the base nicely.

Bill

[b.lindsey]

Today was dome head cap screw making day. There were 14 to make, 4 each for the bearing caps, 4 for mounting the base to the wooden rails and 2 for the pump. The ones for mounting the base to the rails were 2" under the head with only the bottom 1/4" or so threaded, all the rest were 1" under the head but threaded most of the way up. Picture 1 shows these after threading and parting off and photo 2 shows that the heads were left long for later finishing. For consistency, I ground a small form tool to dome the heads (photo 3) and tried it on some short lengths of the brass hex stock until I was happy with the results (photo 4). I set the lathe up so as to use the form tool to a specific stopping point with each screw mounted in the 3 jaw chuck with the underside of the head against the jaws. That way the head height would be consistent for all 14 screws. One is shown in photo 5. Photo 6 shows one bearing cap mounted to the base, photo 7 the pump end, and finally an overall view of these assembled components.

Bill

[yogi]

Looking good Bill! 

[Kim]

That's a nice collection of little fasteners you made there, Bill.  I like the dome heads.
Kim

[b.lindsey]

Thanks Yogi and Kim. I think they will look better than SHCS's and it keeps the all brass/bronze theme going too, which seems fitting for a marine engine.

Bill

[Tennessee Whiskey]

Nice looking fasteners Professor. Which lathe did you use?

Cletus

[b.lindsey]

Cletus, I used the Sherline for those....it was closer to the heater

Bill

[Dave Otto]

Kudos for making your own hardware, man that looks nice!!

Dave

[b.lindsey]

Thanks Dave, just thinking and looking at the plans...finishing up the engine with the same hardware means this many more:

valve linkage bracket -3 pcs.
cylinder head to cylilnder - 4 pcs.
pedestal to cylinder bottom - 4 pcs.
steam chest cover - 6 pcs.
connecting rod small ends - 4 pcs. (8-32 though rather than 10-32)
connecting rod big end - 2 pcs
eccentric straps - 2 each or 4 pcs.
pedestal to base - 4 pcs

So 31 pieces yet to make  ...at least I have the form tool made now 

Bill

[b.lindsey]

Wasn't sure if I would get around to the eccentric straps this weekend or not, but I did make some progress on them today. After a little light flycutting to smooth the sawn edges (photo 1) , I got them fastened together with some temporary fasteners (photo 2). With that done I also flycut the "ears" to get to the proper width dimension (photo 3). With two square edges I could clamp in the vise comfortable I milled off the casting sprues from the bottom of each (photo 4) and then flycut the top and bottom of one strap to the required front to back dimension. After a little sanding on the surface plate I was left with what is shown in photo 5. You can see a good bit had to be removed from both faces to thin it down. Lots more to go on these but this is a start.

Bill

[crueby]

Great start on the straps!


 

[10KPete]

I'm watching another great build...

 

Pete