Author Topic: Textile Mill Diorama  (Read 112246 times)

Offline J.L.

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #465 on: July 14, 2018, 07:22:43 PM »
Hi Jason,
You make two points I must seriously consider. I will remove the shims and get thing in order there.

Secondly, I will mill the pad for the cylinder down rather than try to keep setting up the cylinder (upside down) to shave off incremental amount until the piston rod slips into the boss in the crosshead.

Excellent advice. You have saved me a lot of time and effort. I've got the vice off the bed now and can proceed to mill that pad.

Good point about not messing with the possibility of getting the cylinder foot out of parallel with the cylinder bore.

Thanks,
John



Offline J.L.

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Success
« Reply #466 on: July 15, 2018, 12:44:42 AM »
Thank you all for your input.

The con rod is connected to the crosshead which is sliding nicely.   :cartwheel:

The concern about the shims is resolved. There are none. Jason, I held a 7/16" reamer in a vice and rotated the split block about it. I could hear and see the hole responding to the sharp blades of the reamer.

The visual effect of the high kick and low plunge of the crankshaft is almost mesmerizing. This is old hat to most, but for me this was a thrill.

P.S. There will be locknuts on those big end bolts.

« Last Edit: July 15, 2018, 12:47:44 AM by J.L. »

Online crueby

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #467 on: July 15, 2018, 01:13:11 AM »
Beautiful!


 :cartwheel:

Offline scc

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #468 on: July 15, 2018, 09:53:20 AM »
Beautiful!


 :cartwheel:
            Seconded!    Terry

Offline wagnmkr

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #469 on: July 15, 2018, 10:37:56 AM »
Beautiful!


 :cartwheel:
            Seconded!    Terry

Me three ... Gorgeous!   Tom
I was cut out to be rich ... but ... I was sewn up all wrong!

Offline propforward

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #470 on: July 15, 2018, 11:57:26 AM »
Brilliant - that's absolutely delightful!
Stuart

Forging ahead regardless.

Offline J.L.

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Mountng the Cylinder
« Reply #471 on: July 15, 2018, 01:09:37 PM »
Thank you all for your kind words.  :)

Now we come to the challenging part of bringing the cylinder 'online'.  ;D

Jacob and Tug, you both talked about taking care to keep the foot of the cylinder parallel to the walls of the cylinder bore. On this engine, mounting the cylinder seems a bit primitive compared to other ways of going about it. You have to find a way to clamp it firmly in place once you have it at the correct elevation so that you can turn the entire engine over to spot drill for the tapping holes.

If it were a car, I guess you could lift it up with the hoist, get under it and drill up into the cylinder's foot to spot the tapping holes.

Other methods are so much easier. Photo one shows a Stuart cylinder mounted vertically with a mounting plate.

Photo two shows another Stuart cylinder mounted horizontally with end brackets.

You can see from the third photo that when I had the cylinder bored, care was taken to just flatten the foot parallel with the bore and the cylinder's face.  The casting flaws were ignored.

There is not a lot of meat on that pad. Hopefully enough will be left when machined down as you suggested Jason. I understand how you did it Tug, but don't feel confident to go that route.


Offline propforward

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #472 on: July 15, 2018, 01:29:32 PM »
I like the way you take the time to present photographs of your components - actually placing them (presumably) in a light tent of some devising.
Stuart

Forging ahead regardless.

Offline J.L.

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #473 on: July 15, 2018, 03:26:22 PM »
Thanks. You are close, but no light tent. Most of my shots not taken in the shop are taken on a desktop with a white backdrop that comes down from the ceiling and curves onto the top of the desk. Overhead florescent lighting is used as well as a florescent reflector lamp.

Here we go with machining the cylinder pad...

Offline J.L.

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Finish
« Reply #474 on: July 16, 2018, 07:25:00 PM »
A thought occurred to me (that happens every now and then) as I was working with the cylinder. I've been handling it so much that the paint  finish is beginning to look 'old'. This is exactly the look I'm going for with a hard working mill engine that has been in service for perhaps ten to twenty years.  I tend to prime and paint the parts as I go along, and the more handling they receive, the more the finish dulls.

This engine is not destined to sit on the top of the mantle with gleaming brass and polished steel. However, at some point, it would be nice to make a display model to mount for display only. Brass is such a beautiful metal. Perhaps some day...

Now back to handling that cylinder and attempting to fasten it from below.



Online mklotz

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #475 on: July 16, 2018, 07:30:29 PM »
Besides, according to Jo, casting fondling is psychologically therapeutic.  Both you and the engine improve.
Regards, Marv
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Offline J.L.

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #476 on: July 16, 2018, 08:54:34 PM »
Marv,  :ThumbsUp:

I think I have found a simple way of securing the cylinder while tweaking it into place and spotting the holes to thread below.  Two tee nuts were made to fasten the bed of the engine across the milling table with the cylinder section hanging out in front.

My parallels have holes drilled in them. That made the making of a clamping system easy.  The parallel will cover the center hole below, but that's okay. The other two will be exposed.

I am also thinking of taking the nuts and studs out of the cover of the cylinder and pulling the cover out a bit. That may let me see in to visually determine how far back the piston is coming. The stroke is supposed to be 2 1/4". It would be nice to centre the cylinder now than have to adjust the piston rod length later.



Offline J.L.

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #477 on: July 17, 2018, 05:53:40 PM »
The clamping setup allowed me to see the piston face at each end of the cylinder. The cylinder was then moved back and forth until the free space at each end of the bore was equal.

There is not much free space there!  ::)  The crankshaft is almost throwing the piston furthur than the cylinder's length.  To prevent the piston face from hitting the cylinder covers, the registers were cut from 1/16" to 1/32" and the location of the inlet ports were opened up by milling the registers flat to the interior faces of the covers. 

You will see the black o-ring in the photos. I removed it for ease of operation while setting the cylinder. I must say, it is rather hard and offers perhaps more resistance than necessary. I did widen the groove to let it squish, but am considering replacing it with a softer silicone ring. They are not as durable and wear out faster, but we are only talking about 30 psi of air pressure and the machine is not going to be running constantly.  There also is no risk of deterioration due to steam.

I may have trouble finding just one from a local supplier. We will see.
« Last Edit: July 17, 2018, 08:19:14 PM by J.L. »

Offline J.L.

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #478 on: July 17, 2018, 08:17:59 PM »
My lucky day. A 1 1/2" O.D. silicone 0-ring is a stock item. M & C Hydraulic have added it to their dalily order. I may have it tomorrow.

Here is the engine upside down with two of the three holes drilled to fasten the foot of the cylinder to the bed. The centre bolt hole (under the parallel) will be the final hole drilled later to lock everything up once things have been adjusted.

Offline J.L.

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #479 on: July 18, 2018, 01:54:11 PM »
The cylinder block is mounted.  :)


 

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