Model Engine Maker
Help! => Specific Engine Help => Topic started by: Jo on May 31, 2018, 04:28:32 PM
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As a few of you were enquiring about Morton M5's I thought I would show you what I have been fondling today :mischief:
This is the little single cylinder Morton. It shares the same cylinder and head assembly at the 5 cylinder version. (It has the wrong points bracket on it :facepalm2: )
For all you enthusiasts who want to make your own Morton you will note that there are various cylinders/head castings :naughty: Some Crankcase patterns and the timing cover pattern has been found. Even the building jigs :ThumbsUp:.
However before anyone goes off wanting to do investment casting from the cylinder ::) It might be worth noting that I have tracked down the original patterns/moulds etc and the person who has them is investigating putting this engine back into production. So we may yet see the Morton casting sets becoming available again :whoohoo:
Jo
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Hi jo. Nice looking Morton parts.
Isn't Mike white. (USA) doing Morton castings? He took over from Bruce satra. I'm sure they had 7 cylinder Morton in the pipeline. I can remember seeing a video of it run. I did contact Mike recently regarding cylinder castings. I've not had a reply yet.
I wanted 14 cylinder castings to make a double row Morton. It's been done before.
Robbie
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I have always liked the Morton. The single cylinder version looks such an 'ugly bug', which makes it specially cute and appealing.
I do hope the investment casting do become available again. Am I correct in thinking the multipart metal dies for the cylinder were used to 'cast' the investment waxes, rather than to diecast the cylinders in aluminium?
If you have tracked down the crankcase and timing cover patterns and also the original patterns/moulds etc; does that mean the person who owns them is now the 'owner' of the design?
Mike
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old posting, but has any development occurred on the availability of castings for this engine ?
I cannot find a posting newer than this one
Thanks for any leads
Rich
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No but I may, depending on the Covid situation, be visiting the owner of the patterns next week. The major problem here in the UK is getting castings done.
The guy who has them I recall also has the capability to do aluminium casting but has not done any it for over 10 years that I recall :thinking: he prefers to go to the foundry.
Jo
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Jo are those original patterns from the US or another set of patterns that have been made up at some time? The unmachined casting in a couple of your photos does not look to have the crispness of that of the built up engine so wonder if they are from the same pattern or have been cast using different methods?
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Are you are referring to the reject cylinder casting alongside the original Morton cylinder? The owner was going to look into investment casting or making a die for cylinder castings.
Jo
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This was the one that did not look to be upto the same standard as the others. Also some differences in shape so I thought itt may have come from different patterns.
(https://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=8172.0;attach=84192;image)
looking at the head I would doubt it could easily be pulled from a die or sand so more likely as Mike says dies were used to make up several waxes that were joined together and then investment cast as one.
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I suspect that reject was an attempt to use an existing cylinder as a pattern and it proved what they had originally thought that it would not work.
Jo
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Many years ago while attending an antique engine show an older fellow came up to my table and looked at my engines. After a short while he commented that I didn't have a radial engine and would I like a set of drawings for one. Naturally I said yes and he actually left the show and came back with a full set of Morton drawings. The drawings lay dormant in my drawings box for many years until I decided to take a look at them. I studied them and went online to find out more information about the Morton and discovered it's shortcomings. At that point I designed my own engine based on a lot of the Morton dimensions. Being as this is Jo's thread I won't elaborate on my work but here's a some pictures of what I came up with.
gbritnell
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That is a very nice looking engine George 8)
Jo
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I went today to attempt to borrow the Morton Castings and patterns to find the owner has SOLD them :hammerbash: and he never mentioned anything to us :cussing:
Jo
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No doubt got a better offer than the little fella was willing to stretch too, maybe two boxes of Snickers would have sealed the deal rather than one ;).
Wonder if we will see any engines surface or will the patterns just sit on a shelf again :thinking:
Has he finished that No1 yet?
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I don't expect to see anything surface and he could not remember who he sold them to :slap:
He has been doing a 5A for over 2 years now and 14 of those months has been on the water pump :noidea:
Jo
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Ah 5A :-[
So did you come back with anything else of interest that has not already been confiscated?
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I just had a look at the set of drawings I have for the M5 and it looks like it would be possible to cut the crankcase and various covers from solid on manual machines, it's not a big item as the crankcase would fit inside a 2" cube. If you have access to one then not difficult on a 3 axis CNC and even easier on a 4 axis CNC for anyone who really wanted to make one of these.
That leaves the cylinder/head castings. Again they could be got quite close with manual machining but a bit of a long job on the M5, not so bad if just doing the M1. Sitting watching a CNC do it would be another option to getting 5 made made which is where they excell when castings are no longer available. But in todays world there is enough info about to model these in a 3D CAD package and then the most cost effective way would likely be to get them 3D printed in wax so they can be investment cast in a suitable aluminium and then have them heat treated so they are nice to machine.
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Looks like a fairly true CNC cylinder/head "castings" would be possible. This is the first setup that does most of the head, it would then need 4 more setups to come in from each side to do the upper couple of cylinder fins, the lower ones would be quicker to do on the lathe. In practice the valve holes and slots in the rocker posts would be better cut separately but I just used the 3D model to try out the CAM without removing these features.
Downside is a high speed spindle would really be needed unless you wanted to let the machine run for hours as a long neck 1.5mm ball nosed cutter would be needed to get between the fins but if someone really wanted to make one or five it could be done.
https://www.shop-apt.co.uk/2-flute-long-neck-carbide-ball-nose-end-mills-55hrc/long-neck-ball-nose-carbide-cutter-1-5mm-dia-16mm-neck-length-50mm-long-55hrc.html
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My engine while not an exact copy of the Morton was evolved from the Morton drawings. Everything was machined from solid, manually. I made the cylinders and heads as separate pieces and screwed them together. Like I said I don't want to hijack Jo's thread but could post some pictures if wanted.
gbritnell
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Up to Jo where they go but I'd be interested to see how you did it and what the shortcomings of the design are and how you improved them. I doubt I would ever do a M5 but the M1 is a possibility.
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Like I said I don't want to hijack Jo's thread but could post some pictures if wanted.
gbritnell
Feel free to post away George, we would all love to see how you made yours :) .
Jo
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In that case
George, you said yours was based on Morton drawings, was that original Morton ones, ones from Bruce Satra when he was producing castings or the ones in Model Engine Builder. I have the MEB ones.
I did find a full 3D CAD model of the M5 on Grabcad if anyone wants to take a look, that is what I used to do that bit of CAM from.
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Looks like a fairly true CNC cylinder/head "castings" would be possible. This is the first setup that does most of the head, it would then need 4 more setups to come in from each side to do the upper couple of cylinder fins, the lower ones would be quicker to do on the lathe. In practice the valve holes and slots in the rocker posts would be better cut separately but I just used the 3D model to try out the CAM without removing these features.
Downside is a high speed spindle would really be needed unless you wanted to let the machine run for hours as a long neck 1.5mm ball nosed cutter would be needed to get between the fins but if someone really wanted to make one or five it could be done.
https://www.shop-apt.co.uk/2-flute-long-neck-carbide-ball-nose-end-mills-55hrc/long-neck-ball-nose-carbide-cutter-1-5mm-dia-16mm-neck-length-50mm-long-55hrc.html
Jason I believe ther is more to the compound angles of the rocker arm brackets than you have allowed for. Either angled over jig fixtures or a five axis CNC. Perhaps best to compromise on that part of the design and do it the like Georges engine.
Mike
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The cuts from the top will only remove some of the material around the rocker posts, once the head has been repositioned and cut with the sides, front and back facing upwards the outer edges of the two protruding parts will be as drawn, this will also machine the inlet, exhaust and plug bosses. In effect 5 fixed axis by manually repositioning the embryo head much like that figure I posted a few months back that was attacked from 4 separate sides. This would really just give a "casting"
I would then do the slots to form the forks and pivot holes as separate ops with the head at a jaunty angle much like the castings have to be machined, same for the inlet, exhaust and plug holes
The part has been modelled with them on a compound angle but their shape is more tapered towards the top than the paper drawings that I have which I think looks better but would be easy enough to straighten them up if desired.
EDIT
This would be after the first side has been cut which has got to the area under the rocker post that the first setup could not reach. Green in finished surface, the blue is material still to remove and it looks like an even smaller dia cutter would b needed to get down between the fins
The lower fins don't have any obstructions so could be done on the lathe or while the part was vertical for the first machining a slitting saw could be used.
I was only having a quick play last night, if I were to make one it would need a bit more thought to what would be the best ways to do it but certainly looks possible.
J
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First I will give an overview of how my 'Morton' came to be.
I was attending an antique engine show decades ago when a fellow walked up to my display and after looking at my engines he remarked "you don't have a radial." To which I replied "no sir I don't." He asked me if I would like a complete set of drawings for one and I eagerly said yes. He actually left the show grounds and came back some time later with a complete set of original Morton drawings.
I took them home and they stayed in my box of drawings for many years until I decided to pull them out and investigate just what a Morton was. I did a lot of searching and found that the original Mortons had some shortcomings so using the drawings as a starting point I went about creating my version.
The bore and stroke are exactly as the Morton as is the basic overall size. From there I made the following changes. I moved the pushrods to the front and designed a cam ring to operate them. The head/cylinder is made from 2 pieces. The distributor was mounted vertically rather than straight out the back. I made an oil pump setup with a pressure and scavenge system. My crankshaft is mounted on ball bearings but after running it for some time found that the load on the front bearing was too much so I was able to modify the original parts to accept a second outer bearing.
My engine was machined from solid aluminum using an early version Enco mill/drill. No matter what I did with it it still left tool marks which had to be filed and polished out.
Ok, on to the first installment, The crankcase. The pictures kind of speak for themselves so I won't go into a lot of description for things that should be obvious.
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This is what it looked like at this point, before further sculpting. Fear not all those ugly tool marks will eventually disappear.
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The next step was to start refining some of the shapes, specifically the lifter bosses. I made a template that went into the lifter bores and after marking with an ink marker I scribed a line to machine to. I started by stepping off the nose and then as the radius progressed up to the lifter area I bumped the ball mill to the layout line.
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After many hours of filing and polishing this is what it looked like. I mark all my cuts with an ink marker so I can tell where the high spots are.
So this is it for the main crankcase. I'll add more parts in the future.
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Thanks for the details George, look forward to the next installment.
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Nice work George. :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp:
Thats some lovely drilling, milling and hand filing. That crankcase is realy pleasing to the eye.
Mike
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On the original Morton the cylinder/head casting is one piece. The cylinder is bored for a sleeve and the valve assemblies are inserted from the head side. I'm not a bit fan of doing valves that way so with the redesign I made the heads and cylinders as separate pieces.
To accomplish this I decided to thread the pocket in the head (internal) and thread the end of the cylinder. (external) My cylinder barrels are made from steel (12L14) and the heads are aluminum. With the heads being aluminum I machined them for valve seats and guides. The valve seats are steel and the guides are bronze.
The cylinders were drilled and bored then the outer profiles were cut with the fins.
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The next step was to thread the cylinders. Trying to chase the threads on the lathe up to a shoulder is a little tenuous so I used a method that someone had shown me many years ago. This was done on my small 6 inch Craftsman/Atlas lathe but could be used on larger machines. I made a crank handle with a threaded rod that inserts into the lathe spindle from the rear. On the end is a long aluminum bushing that has been split at 30 degrees. By tightening the nut the handle end it draws the aluminum bushing together and it wedges against the inside of the spindle. The lathe is set of the appropriate thread, in this case is was 40 TPI. The feed lever is engaged and the spindle is cranked by hand thus allowing the threading tool to come right up against the shoulder. A fixture was made to hold the cylinders concentric and they were all threaded.
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The heads were turned and cylindrical fins added then they were threaded with an internal tool by the same method as the cylinders.
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The seal between the cylinder and the head is by a thin copper washer. This will be explained further on.
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George, It's great to see this after buying the drawings from you the other day. I can follow along. I had found your build on the other site, but it's good to see this here. Like I told you, it's not likely that I would undertake this project (certainly not in the near term), but I can build vicariously through you.,,--Tim
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Splendid fabrication as ever :praise2: :praise2: :wine1:
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Always a pleasure to watch you whittle George! :popcorn:
As I remember there was a lot of complex geometry on that model, seems you've sorted that out.
Watching along!
Dave
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The rear crankcase cover took the most sculpting. I started with a block of aluminum and set it up in the 4 jaw chuck and drilled and bored the inside cavity. I then made a threaded plug to mount it on and cut the back outside creating a radius on the boss. From there it went back in the mill for holes and gear pockets. The gear pockets are for the gears to drive the oil pump.
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From the lathe the part went into the dividing head on the mill. Holes were drilled and shapes were stepped off.
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This is what the part looked like prior to filing and polishing.
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Beautiful work, George.
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George,
It's great to see this, as I have only seen the finished engine.
Art
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The last piece of the crankcase assembly was the rear housing. As I had mentioned my redesign included an oil pump and the distributor was relocated from horizontal to a vertical position.
I started with a block of aluminum in the lathe and cut the small step which locates into the rear crankcase housing. The part was then put on the mill and the pockets for the gears train were machined in. Once that was finished the block was blued up and the shapes were laid out as a guide to machining the shapes.
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Along with stepping off the radial shapes I used plugs to indicate to set up for cutting the angled surfaces. The part was then moved to the rotary table to finish the outside diameter.
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The following pictures are of the part prior to hand finishing all the surfaces.
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The final pictures of the posting are of the finished crankcase, filed, polished and assembled.
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Just beautiful and a very nice description on how you did it - I'm enjoying to see this again - so thank you George :cheers:
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The heads probably took the most time for an individual part, not counting there was 5 of them. I started with round stock and turned the combustion chamber counterbore and the fins. I drilled a hole to the depth of the combustion chamber then made a conical tool from drill rod to cut the shape.
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The head was laid out with center lines then set up in the mill to put the valve pockets in. I calculated the distance needed in CAD, picked up the center lines then drilled and reamed for the valve guides and pockets.
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The head was securely screwed onto a threaded mandrel then put into the mill vise. The head was tilted to the required angle and initial milling started for the various shapes and fins. I blued up the boss shape around the valve guide hole and stepped the radius off.
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The next step was to put the top fins onto the head. This was accomplished with a slittng saw of the proper thickness.
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Some final pictures of the head with all the holes drilled and tapped. The heads will have steel valve seats pressed in and bronze guides also pressed in place.