Bailey's 1881 Bee

[Jo]

There seems to be a lean/angular offset in two of them, wonder if it was intentional?

They are tapered so it is probably an optical illusion 

Before starting the fun bit  I need to finish off that easy job of turning the ring:



Time to make the legs fit the ring. First job set up a boring head with a tip that is at 72mm diameter = the same as the ring outside dimension. Then mount up one leg vertically clamped hard against the bed and a vertical surface with a suitable piece of brown stuff as a packer. Find the centre of the leg, move the fly cutter (boring head) up to just touch the work:



Hang on... I need some consistency here  Lets find out how far in that flycutter needs to go so that I can get the same measurement on each leg. Start by measuring the offset:



Then knock up a sketch to see what the cut might look like:



Ok 101mm out for the cutter centre line looks about right so off we go again:



Does the cut look to be central on the leg  I'll just tweak it over a bit then continue on down/in and have a look at what it might look like with the ring in place:



I think that is ok so I can do the other two. What seems (was  ) hours later I have three legs ready for attaching to the ring:



But not today 

Jo

[Kim]

Pretty interesting setup and procedure, Jo.  Thanks for sharing.

The tripod and curved legs certainly make for some interesting machining!

Kim

[Admiral_dk]

Another great show and tell about what to consider with castings 

[Jo]

Thanks Guys, another bodge and run about to come 

The three legs need to be attached to the ring. This means drilling some holes at the correct height and in the centre of the legs. So back on the mill, clamp up the leg, find the centre and drop down a little (the top of the leg is tapered)



Drill the hole, then tap it to match the chosen cap head screw:



Repeat for other 2 legs. Then mount up the ring, find its centre



and drill three holes round the outside at 120 degrees for the clearance size of the cap head thread.



I bolted the three legs on and that short one  So I added (soft soldered) a 1mm packer under the foot and moved the hole in the ring up 1mm to make that leg taller:

 

It is still not perfect but early engines made out of castings never were so I'm calling that an "original feature"  Now to counter bore in those cap heads...

Jo

[crueby]

That tripod base is coming out great - excellent use of the clamping jigs.
 

[Jo]

Not much exciting swarf making today 

I have been roughing out the air chamber and starting on the firebox. Both of these castings are large cup shaped items with lots of taper on all surfaces.

It is not exciting so I won't go into details or put the photo's inline (they are attached). You can see I have been using my chicken stick and a bearing as supports as these are big pieces and because it is gunmetal there is a risk of digging it 

I am limited on how far I can go with these as Royal Snail has lost my 35mm Stainless tube    and I am waiting for the supplier to get back to me on the way forward 

Jo

[Mike Bondarczuk]

Jo,

Pardon my ignorance but what is a chicken stick, and how do you use it, or is it an insider KFC joke.

Mike

[bent]

I think she means the live center in the tailstock.  Chicken stick, meaning not being brave enough to dangle the part off of a 1/8" rim contacting the chuck...

Lovely bits of bronze there, Jo.

[crueby]

Yup - in the first two pictures there is the rod from the tailstock into the center of the part, just in case it slipped out of the chuck, castings will do that sometimes from the uneven surface.

[Jo]

I use my plunger centre in the tailstock as my "Chicken stick" in case the bronze escapes from the chuck 

Did you spot me checking the fit of the ring from the stand on the air chamber 

Jo

[Jo]

Things are moving on...

I've bored the firebox casting, including the bore for the cylinder:



Then moved on to the Air Chamber. This is tricky as the inside is 56mm bore, with a 35mm bore on either end to constrain what you can use to bore it:



So I started with a "pointy" tool and then went in with a grooving shaped tool:



This reduced the ringing  The outside was shaped up and finally the holes drilled:



To get everything to fit together I had to counterbore the heads of some M4 allen screws into the top ring of the leg assembly:



With some reduced head allen screws in place a quick check they all fit together without the heads hitting:



Join it all together and we have the first stage of our Space ship 



The water jacket is another big casting so same machining stages:



Notice there are some marks still on that surface - it is not yet to the correct depth - this is just a roughing cut so it is square for holding.



Skim the top edge and zero:



Before boring and cutting the 35mm diameter for the cylinder liner:



Check the length and



Yes I still have 3.2mm to come off which will get rid of those marks we saw earlier 

Jo

[Roger B]

That's a lot of shiny swarf    looking good 

[Dave Otto]

Great progress Jo.
The base/legs assembly looks nice!

Dave

[steamer]

Thats a lot a brass!!!

Coming along Jo....Lot going on with this one...

Dave

[crueby]

Love how you counterbored the inside end of the holes.  Surus should be getting his space suit ready for launching the ship soon!