Chris's Holly Pumping Engine Build

[Dan Rowe]

Nice find thanks to the gent who found it.

Speaking of hot bearings on vintage large engines.... well the only way to detect the bearing temperature on the engine was to touch the bearing!!! Notice the missing paint on the vertical rail support near the main bearing, just where you would hang on to touch the bearing.

The big end bearing of the conrod was checked by touching it as it passed by to check for a hot bearing. Needless to say, this was somewhat dangerous and more than one engineer was missing a finger or two.

Cheers Dan

[crueby]

Nice find thanks to the gent who found it.

Speaking of hot bearings on vintage large engines.... well the only way to detect the bearing temperature on the engine was to touch the bearing!!! Notice the missing paint on the vertical rail support near the main bearing, just where you would hang on to touch the bearing.

The big end bearing of the conrod was checked by touching it as it passed by to check for a hot bearing. Needless to say, this was somewhat dangerous and more than one engineer was missing a finger or two.

Cheers Dan

Lets see, grab railing, lean over, touch bearing, burn hand, grab that hand with other one, losing grip on railing, fall into the crankshaft....   

[Dan Rowe]

Chris, yes not a good outcome. This was a common practice on ships so the extra challenge of the deck moving.

I had one Chief that was missing both his middle fingers on one hand. He was not the sharpest knife in the drawer he told me to pack a petcock because it was leaking.....

Cheers Dan

[cnr6400]

Great that the info on the drag boxes and the pulse damper/ force chambers came to light. Many thanks to the member that sent it to Chris, and to Chris for posting! 

[crueby]

That little saw made quick work of trimming the + bar to length too. I hacksaw cut the full bar to pieces a little longer than needed for pairs of the finished pieces, slit the ends to fit over the guide rails, then set up the mini vise at an angle to trim the bars to length and cut the angle in - the bars slid into the side of the vise till they touched bottom of the jaws, so the position was repeatable.
Partway through a cut

finished cut

and two of them slipped into place on a frame - will use a drop of loctite 638 on each to hold them in place, these are not under tension so they just need a little glue to hold them in place. In the picture, they are just slipped on, so the angles are not even.

After lunch I'll get them glued in, and can start cutting down stock for all the mounting pads that go on the faces of the frames for the lay shaft and K-frame brackets.

[cnr6400]

Parts are looking great Chris. Hard to b eat the slitting saw for that sort of job - but you are right, you have to watch your fingers! I usually throw a thick rag around the teeth of mine if I have fingers near the teeth to move the stock. Shop time is scarce enough without using some time for first aid / leakage stopping! 

[crueby]

Got a start on the pads that will go on the faces of the engine frames - on the real ones these were cast in, I'm adding them on to mimic the look without having to mill off so much from the raw bar stock. There are three round pads that hold the lay shaft support bearings, three will be part of the bearings brackets themselves, but while I'm set up for that hole circle, best to drill them all. Also a pair for the lay shaft drive-shaft that comes up from the crankshaft. So, turned some stainless to diameter, and drilled the holes on the rotab

then parted them off. A little file cleanup on the parted faces is needed, and the sides of the discs away from the holes will get milled off flat - the center of the discs will be near the edge of the frame, and trimmed to be flush.

[crueby]

Got the pads cut and drilled for the other mounting points on the engine frames. These ones are for the main supports of the lay shaft:


and these are for the K-shaped frames that go between the pairs of engine frames on both sides. They are all same outer shape, but the upper and lower sets have the holes in different places.

With all the pads cut and drilled, started with attaching the lay shaft frame holders. Took a while with the plans to lay out which pad goes on which side of which frame, they are all different. The tall pads were measured out and clamped in place on the frames for drilling and tapping. The plates have the tap-size hole in them already, so they were used as drill guides for the frames.


Tapping was done through both pieces at once, so the plates are threaded as well.

Was about to start laying out the other pads, when I realized that I had not yet drilled the 1-72 holes in the tops of the frames for the brackets that hold the upper catwalks around the cylinders. So, started doing those instead before I forget again.

[cnr6400]

Great looking frame detail parts Chris! 

[crueby]

Thanks CNR!  Almost ready for final detailing and paint...

Got the pads for the lay shaft bearings and drive shaft bracket bolted on and all the holes drilled/tapped, again using the plates as drill guides into the rails.

then milled off the overhangs - the larger discs taken off in a straight line at the edge of the rails, the one smaller one followed the countour of the catwalk bracket

then laid out and drilled the holes for the K-frames, these are just through-drilled clearance size, the K-frames will be tapped at the top and have a nut at the bottom.

Last step on the frames will be to add a little filler in any gaps, sand, and a coat of paint! A long process for these frames.

[RReid]

A long process for these frames.

To badly paraphrase a well known aphorism - You're about to see the light at the top of the tower!

Then you can take pride in another job well done and a big step forward in the larger job.

[crueby]

A long process for these frames.

To badly paraphrase a well known aphorism - You're about to see the light at the top of the tower!

Then you can take pride in another job well done and a big step forward in the larger job.

    

[Admiral_dk]

Chris you mention that you are almost ready for painting those - but I must admit that I thought that the guide part in the middle should be worked on in the mill to ensure a flat even surface on those ...?

Per

[crueby]

Chris you mention that you are almost ready for painting those - but I must admit that I thought that the guide part in the middle should be worked on in the mill to ensure a flat even surface on those ...?

Per

Hi Per,


The wide flat pieces that make the sides of the guides were made from ground flat bar stock, much more even than the usual rolled bar. The soldering jig ensured that they were held parallel too. At most they should need a little polishing or lapping with the crossheads. At least that's what I am hoping!

[crueby]

And after some sanding/filling in a few sports, painting, and paint cure time overnight, we have the next 'floor' up on the Holly 'building'!    And yes, the tops of each pair of frames are different widths and hole pattern, that is to match the different size compound cylinder bases that will go on top. There is another 4-3/4" of height to the final top 'floor'. Um, all you guys ARE coming over to help move this thing when its done, right?!


 
The tops of the frames are nicely aligned, all fits well.

And naturally the shop elves did their best King Kong impressions while climbing up the Empire Pump Building, looking for biplanes to swat...

Next up will be the K-frames, which go between the pairs on each side. They can be seen in this picture, the 'K' shapes lying on their sides up near the tops of the frames. I see another jig to make...