steam engine with 40 mm bore

[scc]

Lovely work  Michael        Terry

[Kim]

Looks great, Michael!   

Sorry the cast iron was giving you grief there.  I can't really help you with the solution there.  I've heard other smart people on the forum saying that you can anneal the casting.  The recommendation seems to be to embed it in the coals in a fire pit. Then it should heat up in the fire and cool slowly overnight and be more workable when it cools.  But I've no experience at that.  I'll have to let others provide more meaningful input.

Kim

[Admiral_dk]

Good progress - though I do understand your fustrations 

Kim is right - the problem is how to ensure that the cooling down take hours ...!
An Electric Oven/Kiln that can be programmed to have a Temperature Profile, is by far the easiest way of doing it .... but only a few have one. So if you stumble across on for firing Clay/Ceramics @ a cheap price .... (you might need to add the sensor and controller - but they are cheap in China).

Per       

[ettingtonliam]

I just used to make up the fire or stove before going to bed, bury the nasty casting in the coals (or wood), leave it there overnight. Rake out wth the ash in the moring.

That worked for me several tmes.

[Michael S.]

Now that it's warmer outside again and not so cold in the workshop, I was able to work on the machine after work. All holes were drilled and threads cut.
First rehearsal setup.
The screws are provisional and will be replaced with bolts and nuts.
The last picture shows the Reeves and the Dörfel side by side.

[crueby]

Looks great! 

[Kim]

Just a bit bigger, eh? 

Wonderful work, Michael!

Kim

[Michael S.]

More small steps on the cylinder done.
The steam box has bushes made of bronze. For the valve stem. I also added a socket to the top of the box. Wasn't foreseen in the plan.
The lower cylinder cover also gets a bronze bushing for the piston rod.
The work for the 12 bolts on the cylinder was a bit exhausting. Instead of 4 pieces in M ​​6, I made 6 pieces in M ​​5 thread.
I had a lot of bolts converted to M6 threads and M5s. Wasn't faster than making it straight from the 5 mm rod.
But the material of the bolts was optimal.

Paint was distributed on the machine base.
Fields taped and painted the black color.
A thin orange stripe is added later. But first it has to dry well.

Greetings Michael

[crueby]

Looking great. Not long till it is done!

[Kim]

Lots of nice little pieces! 

The base paint is looking great too! Looking forward to seeing the racing stripe!

Kim

[Dave Otto]

I do like the color!

Dave

[Michael S.]

I've finished the piston. The piston rings are from some small motorcycle. I could buy them exactly in 40.00 mm.
The crosshead only finished on the outside on the piston rod.

Greetings Michael

[Michael S.]

And now the base with rally stripes.

[crueby]

Excellent!   When the piston rings are compressed in the bore, does the gap at the ends close up completely?

[Michael S.]

No, there is a gap of about 0.30 millimeters. I think that's enough for heat expansion. Is there any experience?