Author Topic: Chris's Holly Pumping Engine Build  (Read 154204 times)

Offline derekwarner

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Re: Chris's Holly Pumping Engine Build
« Reply #330 on: April 19, 2021, 03:14:04 AM »
Thanks for sharing, those 3 video's are excellent viewing  :hammerbash:

We had a thread in the last weeks on Why viewing is Dimensioning  or something

Certainly not the case with this Members work  :Lol: :Jester: :atcomputer: ...I mean how crazy can these projects be?

To be continued  :cheers: :popcorn:  :wine1:

Derek
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Illawarra Live Steamers Co-op - Australia
www.ils.org.au

Offline fumopuc

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Re: Chris's Holly Pumping Engine Build
« Reply #331 on: April 19, 2021, 07:32:40 AM »
Hi Chris, very instructional videos are at this link. Thanks for it.
Kind Regards
Achim

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Holly Pumping Engine Build
« Reply #332 on: April 19, 2021, 09:59:31 PM »
Been a busy couple of days on the pump chambers, got the other two chambers turned and bored out...

Then moved over to the mill to drill the pattern of holes around the top rim for the seal retaining ring in the elf storage containers, um, I mean pump chambers...

With those holes all drilled, moved on to making the retaining rings from a smaller offcut bar. The bar was turned to diameter, bored through, and the flanges turned in for the first ring before drilling matching clearance holes in the rim:

Then parted off the first one, ready to turn the flanges on for the second one...

Over the last week or so I've also been bolting up all 87.3 gazillion of the fastenings for the pipes, valve chambers, and force chambers that I 3D printed. Here is the set:

"But, um, wait you idiot... You need to put in the check valves and internal tubing!"  I can hear you yell at your screen.   :atcomputer:

No worries there - the top/bottom flange sections and one end of each pipe is actually made as a separate piece, so the sections can be unstacked/slid apart as needed for access to the insides:


Here is a closer view of the way the flange comes apart, there is a lip on one side that mates with a recess on the flange:

This will (hopefully) give me enough access to the internals of the chambers/pipes to connect up the tubing/valves that will actually carry the water for the pumps. I am hoping to be able to pump water out/back into a container for demonstrations, but since that will not involve pumping into a pressurized system like the real ones, I shouldn't have to worry about the back pressures and force fluctuations that the real one did. These engines only ran at 10 to 20 RPM, but even so the volume per revolution was pretty high (nearly 1000 gallons per rev on the real engines). I am going to be running some tests on one of the pump chambers after the pipe flanges get added to determine the openings I need on the check valves and the tubing sizes, to let it pump freely. Depending on the results, I may be able to have the inlet water come in on just one side, and the outlet go out the other side of the system, which would make connecting everything up easier. If not, there will have to be inlets/outlets on both sides (inlet comes in from one end through the lower pipes, outlet goes out the other end through the upper pipes).


So, next steps - finish up the retaining rings, then will start on the pipe flanges and brackets that go on top of the pump cylinders - all metal, silver soldered onto the pump chambers.
 :cheers:

Offline pgp001

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Re: Chris's Holly Pumping Engine Build
« Reply #333 on: April 19, 2021, 10:27:57 PM »
Very impressive, I like it  :ThumbsUp:

Phil

Offline gary.a.ayres

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Re: Chris's Holly Pumping Engine Build
« Reply #334 on: April 19, 2021, 11:23:15 PM »
Fabulous!

 :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp:

Offline Craig DeShong

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Re: Chris's Holly Pumping Engine Build
« Reply #335 on: April 20, 2021, 03:48:18 AM »
Still loving those printed parts Chris.  You keep this up and I’m going to need to investigate 3D printing.

BTW.... if you hear strange noises coming from your shop in the wee hours... and you seem to be missing some of those printed parts... I’d be looking for a still that the elves have bashed together and then squirreled  away in some dark corner. :DrinkPint:
Craig
The destination motivates us toward excellence, the journey entertains us, and along the way we meet so many interesting people.

Offline fumopuc

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Re: Chris's Holly Pumping Engine Build
« Reply #336 on: April 20, 2021, 06:24:32 AM »
Hi Chris, I like these 3D printing some time very much.
I push the card into the printer, press the start bottom and go to bed.
Next morning if you wake up and enter the shop, the part is finished.
May be some day your shop elves will be able to do it in the same way.
In the evening you will put the drawing on the table, together with a piece of the right material and in the morning when you enter your shop again, the part is finished, laying  there beside the drawing at the table.
O.K., it does not match with the "Global Digitization"  it is more magic.
So may be no a real picture of our future.
Kind Regards
Achim

Offline cnr6400

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Re: Chris's Holly Pumping Engine Build
« Reply #337 on: April 20, 2021, 02:29:50 PM »
 :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

Chris, the pumps / piping parts look great. Smart idea with the slip joints for disassembly.

Craig, maybe Chris is not worried about a still so much now that the shop elves have access to all those joints (pipe or otherwise)  :Lol:
"I've cut that stock three times, and it's still too short!"

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Holly Pumping Engine Build
« Reply #338 on: April 20, 2021, 02:40:57 PM »
Hmmmm, now I'm scared to go see what the elves are up to!   :paranoia:

Before worrying about that, the latest thoughts were how I'm going to mill the openings for the pipe flanges and brackets in the sides of the pump chambers. Lets see, a jig block running this way to bolt onto that, then a block over there....   :thinking:




Offline cnr6400

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Re: Chris's Holly Pumping Engine Build
« Reply #339 on: April 20, 2021, 04:30:52 PM »
It looks like it already has its' hands up in surrender, in the pic!  :Lol:

Jig designer's dream for that job. The milling might be interesting too, wall depth in the oval cuts will vary a lot. You will probably blast through it as usual before I am done typing........ :cheers:   :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

BTW it may be wise to get the water hose ready in case you see shop elves  :smokin2:     

If there is enough pressure and flow, repeat offenders are unlikely.  :Lol:
"I've cut that stock three times, and it's still too short!"

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Holly Pumping Engine Build
« Reply #340 on: April 20, 2021, 10:01:29 PM »
So, after getting the water hose back from the shop elves and getting dried off.... 


Got the three pump chamber seal retaining rings finished up, turned the last one and did a cleanup pass on the side that was parted off.

Then, after some part pondering (sort of like casting fondling, but not) and thinking on how to hold the chambers to cut the openings for the pipe flanges, I decided to go a fairly simple route and make an arbor to hold them with a 1" 5C collet in a square holder.

I had toyed with making a jig to hold them on the rotary table and do the cutting with small end mills, but that got too complicated for alignment so I went back to drilling two side by side holes and expanding them out with the boring head. The pipe that comes out of the chamber, as you can see in the CAD screen capture a couple posts ago, is round on the ends with a flat section in the center. The OD of the end arcs is .870", so too big to drill directly, and the two holes intersect since they are only 1/2" apart, so the boring head won out. I started by positioning the part and drilling two 3/8" holes a half inch apart.

Then bored the first hole out to size, it started out as an interrupted cut due to the curve of the part, and again when the two holes intersected. The brass cuts very easy, so the interrupted cuts were no problem, was able to start out at a higher RPM at first but had to cut it back a bit as the boring head was offset at the larger diameters.


Then moved over to the second hole and brought it up to the same size

As you can see, the drilled holes go through the side wall, but the bored holes do not - I wanted to leave a ledge there to help position the flange that will be inserted and silver soldered. To keep from miscounting and lowering the head too much (which would be nasty as the cutter bottomed out), I put a heavy machinist parallel clamp on the mill column as a hard stop - its just on the frame of the column, not touching the leadscrew at all.

So, for each chamber, I'll drill/bore through both sides, turning the square holder over to get at the other side, and am using the end of the holder as an index point on the end of the vise. The parts are marked where they are on the arbor, so I can swap parts and get them back to the same position again later - the pipe holes need to be the in the right orientation in relation to the holes in the bottom flange so things will line up with the valve chambers when bolted to the base. After all the holes are bored, I'll go back and use an end mill to connect the dots - taking out the little triangle of material left between the two holes, completing the openings. The arbor needs to stay in the collet through all this to make sure everything aligns.


After that, I can mill the slots in the sides of the chambers for the brackets that hold the arms, which will go up to the bottom of the engine bed plates. Then can start making the pipe flanges themselves, and the brackets. Going to be a while!!
 :cheers:

Offline cnr6400

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Re: Chris's Holly Pumping Engine Build
« Reply #341 on: April 20, 2021, 11:57:52 PM »
 :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:
"I've cut that stock three times, and it's still too short!"

Offline Don1966

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Re: Chris's Holly Pumping Engine Build
« Reply #342 on: April 21, 2021, 01:34:06 AM »
Geeez Dog do you ever sleep? That’s some amazing work at an incredible rate. But you know .......I..............likeeeeee...... :Love:


  :drinking-41:
Don

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Holly Pumping Engine Build
« Reply #343 on: April 21, 2021, 02:05:16 PM »
Well, getting no work out of the shop elves today!  When they woke up this morning and looked out the window, they got all excited and ran out the door so they could build a Snow engine!


They remember ones like this at Cabin Fever

Normal people build snow men.... they build snow engines...   :facepalm2:

Offline RReid

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Re: Chris's Holly Pumping Engine Build
« Reply #344 on: April 21, 2021, 03:02:06 PM »
Are you sure they didn't 3D print all that?
Regards,
Ron

 

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