Author Topic: PMR 7 Twin Cylinder Steam Engine  (Read 32045 times)

Offline zeeprogrammer

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PMR 7 Twin Cylinder Steam Engine
« on: April 09, 2018, 07:10:50 PM »
Well. At last. Today I got some machining time in.

This is the PMR #7 Twin Cylinder Steam Engine. I picked it up at Cabin Fever a couple of years ago.
I had talked about this back in my shop thread.
Many thanks to Jason for some helpful tips.
Also many thanks to Dean Williams. He did this engine and shows it on his website.

1st pic is the box of goodies.
2nd pic is all the goodies.
3rd pic shows the bottom of the base being milled.
4th pic is the base after milling.

This was done several months ago and then I got stuck for lack of appropriate drill bits.
Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
"To work. To work."
Zee-Another Thread Trasher.

Offline zeeprogrammer

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Re: PMR 7 Twin Cylinder Steam Engine
« Reply #1 on: April 09, 2018, 07:17:51 PM »
Finally received the aircraft drill bits a couple of weeks ago.
I also needed a long enough center drill tool and with Jason's helpful tips, made one. (Last pic).
It took me a while to get the base mounted and squared on the lathe.
I used a long straight rod to line the bearings up to the chuck.

1st pic shows spot facing a bearing.
2nd pic shows me about to center drill the 4th bearing.
3rd pic is drilling undersized.
4th pic is reaming.
5th pic. Then I used the center drill tool I'd made as a guide and turned the base around so I could spot face the other outer bearing.

So far so good.
Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
"To work. To work."
Zee-Another Thread Trasher.

Offline Jasonb

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Re: PMR 7 Twin Cylinder Steam Engine
« Reply #2 on: April 09, 2018, 07:21:42 PM »
Good to see you getting some swarf on those new machines at last :)

Offline crueby

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Re: PMR 7 Twin Cylinder Steam Engine
« Reply #3 on: April 09, 2018, 07:48:20 PM »
Huh?   What?   :o

Zee is making swarf again!  Yeehah!   :whoohoo:


Hey, shop elves, over here! And bring the popcorn!
               :popcornsmall:
 :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

Good to see you back in the shop!   :cheers:

I like the long center drill setup, did you drill one at a time, center drill the next, drill that one, etc to
get all the way across?

Offline b.lindsey

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Re: PMR 7 Twin Cylinder Steam Engine
« Reply #4 on: April 09, 2018, 07:57:23 PM »
Great start Zee and that is a nice model to break those new machines in on too!!  I would say you did indeed tackle one of the harder tasks first, line drilling those bores across the whole base, but a nice set-up. Are those new machines feeling a bit more comfortable now?

Bill

Offline zeeprogrammer

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Re: PMR 7 Twin Cylinder Steam Engine
« Reply #5 on: April 09, 2018, 08:05:42 PM »
Thanks Jason.

Thanks Chris. Center drill, drilled, reamed then moved to the next one and repeated.
Had to so that the center drill would fit through a bearing to get to the next.

I suppose I could have centered drilled one and then drilled/reamed through two (I think that was suggested in my shop thread) but this didn't take long.
As usual, all the time was spent setting up.

It was handy being able to mount on the carriage. And I'd lucked out in that the mounting kit from my small rotary table happened to fit.

Thanks Bill. I've played most with the lathe and I'm certainly enjoying it. The mill is still a big unknown.
I'm still not convinced I have it well enough in tram and it's going to take some getting used to in having 3 controls for Z instead of 2.
Which is part of my tram concerns. I trammed (as well as I could) the head to the column and the column to the table.
I don't think I'm doing it right. The quill (is that right terminology?) to the head?

Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
"To work. To work."
Zee-Another Thread Trasher.

Offline zeeprogrammer

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Re: PMR 7 Twin Cylinder Steam Engine
« Reply #6 on: April 09, 2018, 08:15:20 PM »
Just a reminder...although many of you know this about me already...

I'm still very much a newbie. I've made all of 5 small engines from kits and some odds and ends.

Suggestions  :noidea: and corrections  :slap: are always welcome and hopefully many laughs and fun can be had  :lolb: (at my expense and yours as well).

I'm such a newbie that having drilled 4 holes, sliding in the crank, and feeling how smooth it turns is a major accomplishment and so I sit here celebrating  :wine1:

Which reminds me...where in the heck did T hide my tu-tu?
Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
"To work. To work."
Zee-Another Thread Trasher.

Offline crueby

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Re: PMR 7 Twin Cylinder Steam Engine
« Reply #7 on: April 09, 2018, 08:45:16 PM »
Just a reminder...although many of you know this about me already...

I'm still very much a newbie. I've made all of 5 small engines from kits and some odds and ends.

Suggestions  :noidea: and corrections  :slap: are always welcome and hopefully many laughs and fun can be had  :lolb: (at my expense and yours as well).

I'm such a newbie that having drilled 4 holes, sliding in the crank, and feeling how smooth it turns is a major accomplishment and so I sit here celebrating  :wine1:

Which reminds me...where in the heck did T hide my tu-tu?
I THOUGHT you looked familiar....!


Offline Gas_mantle

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Re: PMR 7 Twin Cylinder Steam Engine
« Reply #8 on: April 09, 2018, 08:55:14 PM »
Just a reminder...although many of you know this about me already...

I'm still very much a newbie. I've made all of 5 small engines from kits and some odds and ends.

Suggestions  :noidea: and corrections  :slap: are always welcome and hopefully many laughs and fun can be had  :lolb: (at my expense and yours as well).

I'm such a newbie that having drilled 4 holes, sliding in the crank, and feeling how smooth it turns is a major accomplishment and so I sit here celebrating  :wine1:

Which reminds me...where in the heck did T hide my tu-tu?
I THOUGHT you looked familiar....!



That ought to help with the trunk guide  ;)

Offline zeeprogrammer

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Re: PMR 7 Twin Cylinder Steam Engine
« Reply #9 on: April 09, 2018, 09:36:13 PM »
And so it begins.  :facepalm2:
Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
"To work. To work."
Zee-Another Thread Trasher.

Offline Perry

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Re: PMR 7 Twin Cylinder Steam Engine
« Reply #10 on: April 09, 2018, 10:04:23 PM »
Oh great! This will be a nice engine, watching with interest  :whoohoo:

Offline Tennessee Whiskey

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Re: PMR 7 Twin Cylinder Steam Engine
« Reply #11 on: April 10, 2018, 08:30:22 PM »
What? Holy son of a diddly; Zee has started a build thread and I missed it  :facepalm:. As your grandmother would have said (and Stephan Gotteswinter) “Velcome back to de shop”  :lolb:  My hat is off to you for jumping in on a very respectable build. I suspect a twin engine is a whole different ballgame. I really like the line boring on the lathe  :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp:. Did I read correctly that your lathe has T-slots? I can see now how useful that can be. On the tramming : if you are good in the X and Y locations, your quill should be fine also. I’m assuming when you say three ways to move the Z you are talking about the knee, the lever on the quill, and a fine feed down wheel on the quill. I use the lever for drilling and reaming and to bring the cutter to the work surface. I use the knee to set depth of cuts, and I use the downfeed wheel on the quill for boring and such. Does your mill have power down feed? Man this is great 👍 I’m going out and stock up on Titos vodka and tipsy onions  :mischief:. Lou; where’s that jelly jar? :lolb: :lolb:

Cletus

Offline zeeprogrammer

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Re: PMR 7 Twin Cylinder Steam Engine
« Reply #12 on: April 10, 2018, 09:36:06 PM »
Hi Eric. Yep, the lathe has T-slots. I hadn't really known it came with. Very handy.
As for the controls, if you're meaning the knee is the big handwheel at the top of the column that moves the head up and down...then yes. Plus the quill lever and the fine feed. My mini-mill didn't have the quill lever.
The fine feed has a built-in DRO which is handy.

I'm not sure if I'm going about this correctly...but so far things seem okay.

1st Pic. The cutting guard keeps getting in the way of the model and clamps so I took it off. The switch is just taped to the side of the head. I need to dress that up better. Maybe connect the wires and push them into the hole. Can always fish them out.

2nd Pic. Used the crank shaft to square the base to the mill.

3rd Pic. Faced the cylinder mounts.

4th Pic. Drilled the oil holes in the bearings. I won't be using oil cups. I'd missed a step and needed to go back over. I had spotted and drilled and should have put a little counter sink in as well.

5th Pic. One side (cross head?) milled, drilled, and tapped. I'd used the crankshaft to find height and the the faced cylinder mount to locate Y position for milling and drilling. I'd centered inside the cross head area for my X dimensions. Later I can indicate off those sides to find the center line for the cylinder.

Loving the DRO!

The big question for me is drilling the hole in the cylinder mounts as well as the 3 smaller holes for mounting the cylinder. I've got the two references I need. One is the height from the bottom of the base and the other is the two side faces in the cross head which should give me the center line. The question is going to be how to mount and square the base for drilling. I think my only option is to use an L bracket and mount the base on its side in the mill. Hopefully I have the headroom I need. I don't see a good way to do this on the lathe (but no doubt do-able).

I'm hoping the mill is beefy enough not to move too much. It's been so long since I've done any machining that I keep forgetting to lock down. I'm thinking I also forgot a step in drilling/tapping the four holes. Seems there should be a small chamfer in there.

Decent day. Even had time to run a couple of errands, deal with a termite inspection, and have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
That was the downside to today. Jelly.  :cussing: T doesn't remember that I make my sandwiches with jam. Easy to spread and doesn't mess up the bread.
Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
"To work. To work."
Zee-Another Thread Trasher.

Offline AOG

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Re: PMR 7 Twin Cylinder Steam Engine
« Reply #13 on: April 10, 2018, 09:49:13 PM »
Zee, what I do is mount the casting to a piece of plate with the cylinder mount faces parallel to the edge. Level and clamp the plate in the vise and you are good to go for a constant reference from the bottom of the casting. An example is attached.

Tony

Offline zeeprogrammer

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Re: PMR 7 Twin Cylinder Steam Engine
« Reply #14 on: April 10, 2018, 10:36:48 PM »
Thanks Tony. That's exactly what I'm thinking.
I didn't have the headroom to do the crankshaft bearings that way.
But I should be able to do the cylinder mounts.

Youngest daughter came by today. "What? Are you growing a beard now?".
Ah. Forgot to shave. Since a week ago yesterday.
I used to have a beard. I'm afraid to see what it looks like now.
Gray is fine with me. (It won't be yet...still got a bit of brown and red).

I worry about bald patches.  :lolb:
Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
"To work. To work."
Zee-Another Thread Trasher.

 

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