Chris's Holly Pumping Engine Build

[crueby]

...and I felt certain all of that brass swarf would have been save for heat treatment  cooling beds..........

Maybe, as  I am just starting so 100 years beyond your treasure..

Derek

What a cute little jar of swarf. I think I made more than that this morning...   

 

[crueby]

So, with the top faces on the base plates done, time to turn them over and put the gridwork into the bottom faces. Took some time to work out the pattern of movements to hit the corners of the openings with a small end mill, wrote that down, and followed the recipe to put holes at all the corners of the grids. This will make taking out the centers of the areas simple, just keep cutting till tangent with the corner holes.

I sketched on the edges of the grids to make it easy to keep track of where I am - with the through-holes from the top side it can get confusing as to whats a corner hole and whats a through hole. Did this pattern on all three plates, then switched to a larger diameter end mill and started taking out the centers of the openings - these go about 3/4 of the way through the base.

A few more sessions should see the grids roughed out - will go back with the smaller end mill to take the sides of the openings back to finished dimension, this step is just to remove the bulk of the material. So, I'll be returning the brass to its original swarf form, ready to be set free out in the wild.   

[Kim]

That's gonna be a LOT of brass swarf! 

Kim

[cnr6400]

I think I'll make a backyard brass swarf feeder this weekend, in case any of Chris's brass swarf wanders by on its' return to the wild.........

Machining looks great Chris! 

Pretty soon you will be able to direct people to a particular hole on a picture by saying "on the northwest corner of A street at 3rd street, in LP town" 

[crueby]

I think I'll make a backyard brass swarf feeder this weekend, in case any of Chris's brass swarf wanders by on its' return to the wild.........

Machining looks great Chris! 

Pretty soon you will be able to direct people to a particular hole on a picture by saying "on the northwest corner of A street at 3rd street, in LP town" 

 


So far, I am making the catacombs...!


Must be removing a bunch, noticing that the first baseplate is a lot lighter than it started.  Was looking ahead to the crankshaft base plates that will sit up at the top of the lower frames. Those bases are very thick, will likely piece them up from plate stock given thier size.

[samc88]

Lovely work, looks an impressive project. Cant be the only one disappointed that you aren't making 1260 check valves though!

[crueby]

Lovely work, looks an impressive project. Cant be the only one disappointed that you aren't making 1260 check valves though!

If it was only 1000 I would...   

[Don1966]

You never cease to amaze me Dog......



 
Don

[crueby]

Thanks Don! Great to have you along.

Yesterday I started taking out the center sections of the grids with a medium sized end mill. It is too big to get all the way into the corners, but it takes out the bulk of the material pretty easily.

Then went back and used the smaller cutter to trimm the sides out to size and tangent with the corners. This part went a lot faster.

So, one set of very heavy small parts trays, or a brass waffle maker for the elves, is done. Started in on the next one, have about 3/4 of the centers taken out on that one so far. I got tired of holding the end of the vacuum nozzle near the cutter to keep the chips from obstructing the view of the edges, and grabbed an offcut of large steer bar, taped the nozzle to that, and set it next to the mill. Much more convenient that way.
 

[cnr6400]

 

I'm sure you thought of this when you were laying out the grids in CAD- are the openings sized so they are just a bit tight to fit any possible multiple array of Elfensteiner stubby empties? Wouldn't want the shop elves to appropriate these beauty grid plates to become the world's most well made but expensive beer crates!   

Hope the shop elves are coping OK with their 223 wheelbarrow loads per day of the brass swarf. Thirsty work to be sure,,,,,,

[crueby]

I'm sure you thought of this when you were laying out the grids in CAD- are the openings sized so they are just a bit tight to fit any possible multiple array of Elfensteiner stubby empties? Wouldn't want the shop elves to appropriate these beauty grid plates to become the world's most well made but expensive beer crates!   

Hope the shop elves are coping OK with their 223 wheelbarrow loads per day of the brass swarf. Thirsty work to be sure,,,,,,

Huh. That would explain the little bottle caps in the grids...   

[Elam Works]

Chris,

Well when you have the elves on piece rates you cannot expect them to take time to walk over to the trash receptacle. Lucky you are not running CNC or they probably would be wizzing in the coolant tanks...

-Doug

[PJPickard]

Every project of your is really interesting to me...this one is REALLY interesting! Looking forward to watching this one!

[crueby]

Every project of your is really interesting to me...this one is REALLY interesting! Looking forward to watching this one!

Glad to have you along for the ride - there are a bunch of parts that will be new challenges for me, will be figuring out a lot as I go along on how to fabricate things.
 

[crueby]

More work this afternoon on the third beer crate, I mean base plate....