Some of you may remember that I purchased a set of Tulip Castings at the Midlands show last year. Having been reminded that I was supposed to be providing the supplier with a set of drawings by the midlands show this year
I thought I should get on with it. It is one thing drawing up an engine but it is another making sure that it will come out of a set of castings.
If you recall these are the castings I returned back from the show with. Adrian has clearly been trying to emulate the high quality of castings that we normally associate with Alyn Foundry
but it is still to be seen if they come up to the standards that Graham supplies.
With castings home and given them a little clean up they sat on the dining room table while I thought about the drawings. This model was originally made by Ronnie Bickerton as a model "Bamford" and had a short article on it in Stationary Engine Magazine, there was no clues in it as regards the drawings but looking at the photos of the model I suspect it is a scaled up RLE. Having got Graham's agreement to scale up from his drawings for the Tulip engine in theory I could start but not before Surus deposited the castings in his collection for a spot of
aging Following intensive negotiations
I was allowed the base casting the other day and have started machining it. Only to find that the pattern must have warped and the bottom face of the base had lots of hard bits
So a heafty cut was needed:
Turning it over the top faces were also warped
so they needed a heavy cut as well. Overall I have left the casting at 76.2mm tall which hopefully is some sort of imperial measurement so it may match what Ronnie did
While it clamped up I decided to face and drill for the base mounting bolts only to find that the casting is a bit tall to use a standard length cutter
so an extra long one was needed.
The lobes for the base mounting bolts do not stick out the same distance on either side of the casting
This is going to be fun
ever had the feeling you shouldn't have started an engine
Jo