Author Topic: 1837 HMS Gorgon Engine  (Read 5557 times)

Offline RReid

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Re: 1837 HMS Gorgon Engine
« Reply #30 on: September 21, 2022, 03:54:27 PM »
Chris, Kim, and Dave - Thank you!
Speaking of family shots, it's now time to spend some time with the oldest son and his family.
Regards,
Ron

Online Admiral_dk

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Re: 1837 HMS Gorgon Engine
« Reply #31 on: September 21, 2022, 06:24:50 PM »
Lovely Family shot  :Love:  and I agree - the Aluminium 'Plate' looks much better  :ThumbsUp:

Per

Offline RReid

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Re: 1837 HMS Gorgon Engine
« Reply #32 on: October 05, 2022, 04:10:15 PM »
Been away visiting the Oregon branch of the family, so no shop time. But I did have my laptop and had time while the kiddies were at work and school to work on drawings for a proposed next project. Actually two proposals, either a DOHC inline twin, or a full on DOHC 4, both meant to give a big nod to the Alfa Romeo Giulietta/Giulia engines. The twin I call the Halfa (ryhmes with Alfa) and the 4 cylinder the Bialbero (Italian for "twin shaft"). Still plenty of details to work out, but since we will be quickly heading off to TX to see that branch, I'll have that to work on.




Regards,
Ron

Online Kim

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Re: 1837 HMS Gorgon Engine
« Reply #33 on: October 05, 2022, 05:41:37 PM »
Those look like some fun projects!  Hope Oregon treated you well while you were here! :)

Kim

Online crueby

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Re: 1837 HMS Gorgon Engine
« Reply #34 on: October 05, 2022, 06:24:27 PM »
Oh boy, more projects to look forward to! 

Offline RReid

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Re: 1837 HMS Gorgon Engine
« Reply #35 on: October 06, 2022, 05:35:49 PM »
Thanks Kim, Chris!
Quote
Hope Oregon treated you well while you were here!
We always have a good time in Oregon, and often "treat" ourselves on the way home. This time we spent the night on the CA side in Dunsmuir at the Railroad Park Resort. Very nice place, you can stay in a caboose, a cabin, or in the campground. We opted for a cabin this time because I wasn't sure my wife would like the ladder up to the cupola of a caboose, but she thinks they're cool and wants to try one next time. Dinner in the dining car restaurant was excellent. At one time Dunsmuir was the base of a helper district with SP cab-forward Mallets added onto trains to battle the grade up toward Shasta.






When is a Shay not a Shay? When it's a Willamette. Made in Portland, OR after the Shay patents expired, but also with significant upgrades like superheat, Walshaerts valve gear, and piston valves. This is one of six said to survive.
Regards,
Ron

Online Kim

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Re: 1837 HMS Gorgon Engine
« Reply #36 on: October 06, 2022, 05:44:51 PM »
Wow, Ron! That looks fun!  I've been through there a few times and never knew there was a railroad park there! And that Willamette is pretty neat!  I never knew about that either.  I've got so much to learn!   :D

Kim

Online Admiral_dk

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Re: 1837 HMS Gorgon Engine
« Reply #37 on: October 06, 2022, 10:40:50 PM »
Thank you for showing the pics - Like Kim - I never heard of a Willamette  :cheers:

Per

Offline Roger B

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Re: 1837 HMS Gorgon Engine
« Reply #38 on: October 07, 2022, 05:22:59 PM »
Still following and enjoying  :ThumbsUp:  :ThumbsUp:  :wine1:

Those twin cam engines look fun, especially trying to fit water passages in the head. Long ago in the UK there was a man racing a Mini with a two cylinder Cosworth BDA which he had made from a blown up four cylinder version.
Best regards

Roger

Offline RReid

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Re: 1837 HMS Gorgon Engine
« Reply #39 on: October 07, 2022, 08:36:29 PM »
What a neat little engine! Thanks for that, Roger. I have an idea about designing a narrow angle Cosworth style head that could be interchangeable with the wider angle Alfa style head. But having the thought is all I've done so far.

My designs deviate from Alfa practice and will be more BDA'ish in the use of toothed belts to drive the cams instead of chain. I agree about fitting water passages in the heads; it remains to be seen if they'll get that feature or not. I'll go into more detail about the design options and final choices after I finish the Gorgon engine, finish the design phase, decide which of the two versions to build, and start a thread!
Regards,
Ron

Offline RReid

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Re: 1837 HMS Gorgon Engine
« Reply #40 on: November 21, 2022, 12:36:08 AM »
Looking back, I see that it's been two months since the last actual progress update on this engine. Most of that time involved visits to one or another set of kids/grandkids, including 3 weeks in TX bracketed by a week of travel going and a week and a half coming back. While away, I did get a lot of design time in on the two DOHC engines mentioned in a post above. So much time that I'm now excited to actually start building one. The Gorgon was always kind of a time filler while I completed those designs, but I didn't really expect to get so far with them so soon. Now I think I'm going to back-burner this project to get started on the Halfa build.

However, before leaving for TX I had made a start on the Gorgon connecting rods. The plans suggest a 3-piece construction, with separate big and little ends connected by a round tapering “web”. I thought I could turn them as one piece from rectangular bar and went down that road. To my dismay, twice I got toward the small end of the taper and the cutting forces broke the work off. The second time I used a finer radius on the cutting tool and less feed, but still broke it. Frustrating, since I've done smaller diameters in brass than that successfully. Just to cocky and careless I guess.

Now back in the shop, I thought I would finish those up before switching projects. I figured I would salvage them by making new small end pieces and silver soldering them together per the plans. That went fine on the first one. The second one though, just as the solder melted into the joint and I was about to pull the torch away, the web melted/broke. Fudge-nuts! Oh well, I think I'll pause here for now.

Regards,
Ron

Online Kim

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Re: 1837 HMS Gorgon Engine
« Reply #41 on: November 21, 2022, 05:27:59 AM »
Ugh... That's frustrating!  :(

Gald you had some visits from the grand kids!  That's always fun! :)

Kim

 

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