Author Topic: 15 HP Witte hit-and-miss  (Read 13296 times)

Offline Craig DeShong

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Re: 15 HP Witte hit-and-miss
« Reply #15 on: April 04, 2020, 10:26:08 PM »
Thanks for your comments and thanks for those that stop by to see the progress.
Chris: had to pull the planer out from the wall and sweep behind; chips were everywhere. ::)
Andy: Like I said; never miss a chance to play with ALL your toys. :ThumbsUp:

Moving on to forming the cylinder;  so you have an idea where we’re going with this chunk of cast iron, I give you an image of the finished cylinder below:



I thought, while I had lots of straight, flat surfaces for holding the piece in my vice; that I might drill and tap the head and cylinder mount holes.  Also, I milled in the shoulders for the water inlet and outlet openings.



With that accomplished, I centered the work piece in my 4-jaw chuck and machined the rear smaller cylindrical protrusion.  Here I’m just beginning the work.


And here, it’s has just been completed.




Now the “fun” begins. :facepalm:  Because the front of the cylinder has protrusions for attaching the water inlet and outlet pipes, and because the cylinder has mounting flanges; I couldn’t turn the cylinder on the lathe.  I’m going to nibble the material away to make the cylinder round.  A little filing should clean up the flats.  Here is the setup below.



You might think that this would be a long and tedious operation.  It does take longer than just turning on the lathe, but an hour or two produced this ¼ of the cylinder roughed out to where I can smooth things out with a file later.


Now, only three more quadrants to do yet. :insane:
« Last Edit: April 04, 2020, 11:11:30 PM by Craig DeShong »
Craig
The destination motivates us toward excellence, the journey entertains us, and along the way we meet so many interesting people.

Offline Craig DeShong

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Re: 15 HP Witte hit-and-miss
« Reply #16 on: April 06, 2020, 07:31:25 PM »
Thanks for stopping by to see the latest.

A few more hours of carving on the cylinder block finished the other three sides.   Below is a photo just after it was taken off the mill.




This was followed by a few BORING hours (get it? Huh?  HUH?) of turning out the center of the cylinder in order to receive the liner.  Here I’m forming the water jacket recess.  This was slow going because the boring bar that lets me reach in to take a larger diameter than the ends is pretty flexible (compared to a standard boring bar).



So after some filing to smooth some contours this cylinder "block" is pretty much finished (with the exception of the end collars that are made of steel.  These seem to be decoration to me but maybe they keep the casting from chipping out?




Finally a view of the project so far.

Craig
The destination motivates us toward excellence, the journey entertains us, and along the way we meet so many interesting people.

Offline awake

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Re: 15 HP Witte hit-and-miss
« Reply #17 on: April 06, 2020, 08:23:22 PM »
Yes, got it! And here is the expected response to puns: Groan! :) (At least, that's the response I always get!)

Looks like an awful lot of whittling. Since this is the outer casing, not where the piston rides, would it have been possible to make it from steel, and silver braze (or weld :)) the tabs and such on?
Andy

Online Dave Otto

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Re: 15 HP Witte hit-and-miss
« Reply #18 on: April 07, 2020, 01:18:05 AM »
Nice work Craig, looks great!

Dave

Offline Craig DeShong

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Re: 15 HP Witte hit-and-miss
« Reply #19 on: April 07, 2020, 09:37:18 PM »
Andy and Dave; thanks for stopping by with your comments and encouragement.  Comments and encouragement are always appreciated.  Thanks also to those silently stopping by to see the progress.

Andy- to answer your question; YES it would have been possible for someone to weld or braze the flanges and water inlet/outlet to a turned cylinder; just not me.  I don't weld and shy away from silver soldering/brazing if at all possible.

I spent the full day today, working on the head.  I was going to take some pictures as I moved along but alas… I never got to it.  All the work today was turntable work; going round and round and moving the clamps as I went.  I could have put in another hour and finished the part, but… tomorrow is another day and there is no need to rush this thing because as soon as I get it done I’ll need another project.
Here is a photo of the head so far…



When I got back in the house I noticed Joe (the owner of the full size) had sent me a photo of it when it was working for a living.  The photo is of it installed in the pump house with its triplex pump and water storage tanks.

« Last Edit: April 07, 2020, 09:45:39 PM by Craig DeShong »
Craig
The destination motivates us toward excellence, the journey entertains us, and along the way we meet so many interesting people.

Online Dave Otto

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Re: 15 HP Witte hit-and-miss
« Reply #20 on: April 08, 2020, 01:08:09 AM »
Cool picture Craig, I love the motion of the triplex pumps!
Someday I would like to model one.

Dave

Offline Craig DeShong

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Re: 15 HP Witte hit-and-miss
« Reply #21 on: April 08, 2020, 09:06:46 PM »
Thanks for stopping by to see the goings-on.

Dave- It would have been neat to get the pump too; but maybe there was no room or maybe the pump was still in service?

I spent the day working on finishing the head.  Below I’m using the Volstro rotary milling head to form the bearing boss for the front side shaft support.



And here is a shot of the completed head.



And finally I give you a photo of the complete model so far.



Actually I got a little further and then make a bone-head mistake on one of the valve chests; it was while I was still sizing the raw piece of cast iron but I figured one mistake might lead to another so I called it quits for today.  Tomorrow I’ll start with a fresh piece.
Craig
The destination motivates us toward excellence, the journey entertains us, and along the way we meet so many interesting people.

Offline awake

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Re: 15 HP Witte hit-and-miss
« Reply #22 on: April 08, 2020, 09:10:28 PM »
Now Craig, why do you show us pictures that only lead to extreme tool envy?!? :)

Very nice work on that part - I shudder to think how much trouble it would be to do it without a Volstro rotary head.

And when it comes to those bone-headed mistakes and time to call it quits - for me this point usually involves blood. :)
Andy

Offline Craig DeShong

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Re: 15 HP Witte hit-and-miss
« Reply #23 on: April 11, 2020, 06:41:34 PM »
Thanks for those stopping by to see the progress.

Andy- I show my more interesting setups because they aren’t run-of-the-mill and my thoughts are that many of those who stop by to follow this build might be interested in seeing something a little different.  I’m very lucky to have some of the Bridgeport accessories I have.  Some came with the mill when I bought it and others I was lucky enough to get at super prices.  It is nice to have this tooling because it gives me the flexibility I wouldn’t normally have.  I don’t think I could have built some of the models I’ve designed and built without accessories like the rotary milling head.

More progress.  I’ve completed the valve chests, with the exception of the cover.  Once again I’m realizing that in building exact (well, kind of  sort of exact: I don't profess to have near the talent of  George, Mike, Chris, or many of the others who post here) scale models some of the parts get really small.

I’ve decided I really like working with cast iron.  It mills nicely, you don’t need lubricants to work it, and you can power tap the threads.  Now if I just didn’t have to deal with all that back talcum powder that gets all over and in everything!

Here are a few photos of the valve chests though I haven’t cut the valve seats or valve guides yet. 




« Last Edit: April 11, 2020, 08:14:29 PM by Craig DeShong »
Craig
The destination motivates us toward excellence, the journey entertains us, and along the way we meet so many interesting people.

Offline kvom

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Re: 15 HP Witte hit-and-miss
« Reply #24 on: April 11, 2020, 11:29:18 PM »
You should post a video of the Volstro in action. 

Offline awake

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Re: 15 HP Witte hit-and-miss
« Reply #25 on: April 12, 2020, 01:26:35 AM »
Craig, I hope you know that I'm joking - it is very cool to see these accessories, and gives me ideas for future tool purchases. :)

As always, the parts look great!
Andy

Offline Craig DeShong

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Re: 15 HP Witte hit-and-miss
« Reply #26 on: April 12, 2020, 07:32:53 PM »
Thanks for those of you stopping by the see what’s going on with this project.

Andy: sure I know you’re kidding.  One of my favorite movie sequences is in “GanTorino” where Clint Eastwood describes how “guys” talk to each other… a real classic.  :ROFL:

BTW- ALL of you are ALWAYS welcome to stop by for a visit.  Just make sure you bring a mask and maintain the 6 foot "safe" distance.  :)  :ThumbsUp:

One of the things I really like about this forum is the way we all communicate with each other.  I see lots of congratulations when we succeed and lots of commiseration when things don’t turn out as planned.  What I don’t ever see is someone berate someone else; I think part of that is due to our diligent and excellent moderators but mostly it’s due to the quality of people who frequent this forum and the way we respect each other.  Be you a beginner or a seasoned pro, or somewhere in between, everyone is encouraged and supported.  Thanks to you all for that courtesy you show me and everyone else.

Kirk asked for a video of the Volstro milling head in operation, and I got it out to help me machine the valve chest cover, so I thought I’d go ahead and make the video he requested.  I hope many of you will find this of interest.

First, so you know where I’m going; here is the drawing for what I’m making:



The Rotary Milling Head is well suited for this operation and in this particular case I think it outshines a turntable.  I say this because there is no center indication on the piece where it can be accurately aligned on a turntable; but with the stock clamped in my mill vice I can easily center the placement of the “to be milled” arc of the circle under the center of my mill quill.  Then it’s a simple matter to cut a lead-in shoulder using the Y axis feed on my mill till the piece is centered under the quill, cut the arc using the rotary milling head, and then using the Y axis of the mill again, cut the lead-out shoulder.  The video below, hopefully, shows this.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKwDZAS3790" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKwDZAS3790</a>


Here is a better view of the piece right after I removed it from the above milling operation.



And finally the piece finished and installed on the valve chests (yea- I agree: crappy bolts, but it’s what I had on hand to make sure the holes were lined up as they should be)

Craig
The destination motivates us toward excellence, the journey entertains us, and along the way we meet so many interesting people.

Offline awake

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Re: 15 HP Witte hit-and-miss
« Reply #27 on: April 12, 2020, 10:01:30 PM »
Every time I see you use it, I think that it seems way easier than setting up the rotary table. For one thing, you don't have to figure out a way to clamp the part on the RT; you can hold it in the vise!
Andy

Offline Craig DeShong

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Re: 15 HP Witte hit-and-miss
« Reply #28 on: April 14, 2020, 09:04:30 PM »
Andy: thanks for the comment.  Yes, often setup seems much easier to me and… it’s a lot lighter than my ten inch turntable to move on and off the mill table.

Thanks also for those of who stop by to see the latest.  See, you really need to stop by and follow this thread; otherwise how would you possibly see me make a fool of myself. :embarassed:

Yup I did it; I thought it was material for stand-up comics, or the keystone cops or possibly the three stooges.  What did I do? Well, I cut it off THREE times and it was still too short. :wallbang:  Yea, I couldn’t believe it could be done either.  :hammerbash:

Yesterday, I was attempting to size a piece of stock 1.61 inches in length.  All I can figure is that, in my demented mind, I was transposing the one and the six behind the decimal point.  Anyway, I cut the stock down and it was too long, I cut it down again and it was STILL too long; as I was cutting it down a third time I objectively looked at the piece and said to myself, “NO WAY that is 1 ½ inches in length let alone 1.6 something, and when I measured it, it wasn’t.
I don’t know about you but when I do something like that I don’t put my tools away, I don’t sweep up the chips from the mill/lathe let alone the floor; I just turn everything off and go in the house for the rest of the day. :slap:  Not much got done yesterday. :facepalm:


Today, however, I was using my brain somewhat more efficiently :ThumbsUp: and got done what I was attempting yesterday.

This is a piece I’m calling the “spray bar” for lack of a better term.  It fits up into the air intake, holds the needle valve and fuel delivery pipe; and supports the third valve that emits fuel into the air intake stream when the governor allow such to happen.



Here I have it attached to the intake valve chest.

Craig
The destination motivates us toward excellence, the journey entertains us, and along the way we meet so many interesting people.

Offline Craig DeShong

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Re: 15 HP Witte hit-and-miss
« Reply #29 on: April 17, 2020, 08:53:43 PM »
Thanks for stopping by to see the goings-on.

I’ve realized that I can’t proceed much further along with the head of this engine without having the side shaft in.  To do that, I need to make the side shaft bearings and the rear side shaft bearing block.  While I’m doing that I might as well fit the helical gears and install the crankshaft, but to do that I'll need the crankshaft bearings.  Also, before I make the crankshaft I should have the connecting rod and connecting rod bearing completed so that when I turn the crankshaft throw, I have the connecting rod and bearing for a trial fit.

Anyway… as you can see, I won’t be visiting the head area again for a little while at least.

In the below photo I’ve started on the connecting rod.  This is turned out of a flat bar of steel on the lathe.



Once the connecting rod shaft is turned and threaded for the piston/wrist-pin receiver (making that later) It’s time to drill/ream the hole for the crankshaft bearing.  This will be a split bearing so I’m first drilling the holes for the connecting rod cap connection bolts.  The connecting rod cap will be cut from the same piece of connecting rod material.



Now that I’ve separated the connecting rod cap from the connecting rod, I’ve bolted them together and I’m now drilling/reaming the hole for the split bearing.



Here I show the connecting rod, ready to receive the split bearing.




And here I have the bearing installed.



Next will be fabrication of the crankshaft.
Craig
The destination motivates us toward excellence, the journey entertains us, and along the way we meet so many interesting people.

 

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