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PM Research #4 - Quarter Horse Vertical Steam Engine

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Dan Rowe:
This will be fun to watch.  :popcorn: :popcorn: I hope your air compressor is up for the challenge. :Lol:

Cheers Dan

propforward:
Thanks everyone for looking in and following along. I appreciate the interest very much, and any and all critique / suggestions along the way gratefully received.

MJM - absolutely, it is very pleasing to see tweaks and mods to the machine tools bearing fruit. I just swept the surfaces of this part and they are flat to within half a thou, and no sign of saw toothing from the face milling process - so that means my mill is trammed reasonably well and pleases me very much.

The next stage was pretty simple, just drilling and tapping holes. Not very much to say about it, the main point I guess is that to keep everything as visually symmetrical as possible I established the center lines in X and Y axis by using an indicator mounted in the spindle. A technique I got from Joe Pie on youtube, and who's channel I thoroughly recommend. Not that this is a unique to him approach, just one I wasn't practiced in using, and I must say I do like this for finding center on awkward parts where an edge finder doesn't work out so well.

Simply rotate sweep and find the high spot of your indicator on one side, set zero, move to the opposite edge, find the high spot, move the table to get zero on the indicator, then move to half the value of the measured dimension and there is zero. Not a very good explanation - best to just watch the man himself if you aren't familiar with this technique:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RygvDDyA2X4

Anyway, couple of pics


Having done that, it's a matter of center drilling locations, drilling the pilot holes and then tapping. I have taken to using a spring loaded tap plunger because it does make getting straight threads much easier.



I also set about the part with my files and cleaned it up. Should have done that first - note to self for the next parts.


I reckon I could have made this part in at least 2 less set ups, but I'm less concerned about that efficiency right now, and mostly focused on part accuracy.

Anyhoo, speaking of next parts, the column is up next.





First thing will be to spend some time with the files on it, and in the meantime I'm mulling over the approach for it. Stan Shire faced the bottom of the feet in a lathe, using a mandrel to keep everything square to the cast bore. I'm more inclined to either face mill or side mill the feet flat, but also using a mandrel to maintain squareness to the bore. I think side milling may be difficult because of the size of the feet, so I may have to make up a jig to clamp the feet and stop them vibrating / deflecting when face milled.

More to come!

propforward:

--- Quote from: Dan Rowe on March 20, 2022, 05:37:55 PM ---This will be fun to watch.  :popcorn: :popcorn: I hope your air compressor is up for the challenge. :Lol:

Cheers Dan

--- End quote ---

Just the excuse I need for a new compressor.  :LittleDevil:

Baltic:
I will be watching this build with interest, will be some interesting challenges, what a beast, how much does the kit weigh. I looked at this engine a while ago, would have to re-mortgage the house to pay for shipping to Aus, 
Gary

mikehinz:
I'll also be following along!   One of these days I'd like to attempt a larger engine also!

Good work so far and good luck as you progress!

Mike

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