Warrior Double acting twin cylinder steam engine from castings

[steam guy willy]

More work on the standards and checking out the perpendicular alignment with the 3/4" steel rods. next jobs are the cylinders....and the standards will be pinned from the bottom to keep them aligned .

Willy

[Zephyrin]

nice, fast work for a convalescent, Willy, very inspiring, thanks to share all the machining setup...

[steam guy willy]

Thanks 'Z"  and yes I am managing to work OK ...mainly though by muscle memory I think .... starting on the cylinders and using the 4 jaw independent chuck, I cut out a plate to rest the cylinders on,.. and use aluminium plate to hold it in place as it squishes into the cast finish on the casting. I can also measure the depth of the cylinder using a micrometer using the plate as the hole in the chuck is quite large . I have faced and bored cylinders and the next job is to make a mandrel to be able to face the other end. I also have this hole gauge to check on the bore ..this is a metric item and I have not found an imperial one ...to date
Willy

[Kim]

Nice work, Willy!  Enjoying your build 

That's a pretty nifty bore gauge!  I've never seen one like that before.  Seems like you could get 1-2 digits of accuracy from that?

Kim

[steam guy willy]

Hi Kimi do have quite a few gauges ..some of the home made and others bought... I have now made a mandrel to face off the other end of the cylinders ..these are quite quick and easy and t also use them to hold the cylinders in the vice and you can get them at any angle ... There is some casting holes and porosity in on of the castings ...only visible once they are machined....I am following the drawings but some of the dimensions are missing however it is quite easy to calculate them using the digital micrometer as you can add and subtract measurements using the zero button and also converting the fractions to decimals before conversion tables .... the cylinder has been milled to dimension and the ports will be marked out ready for milling out...

Willy

[crueby]

Moving right along, looking great!

[steam guy willy]

 Cheers "C"   and making the cylinder covers ..first the covers are turned using the cast on spigots to fit the bores ,the 3/16th piston rod hole is also drilled and reamed at this setting, the bottom one is then attached to the cylinder with countersunk screws and then turned up using the mandrel and the stuffing box 5/16th thread is put on using the tailstock die holder...

Willy

[steam guy willy]

The cylinder lower cover has now been attached to the standard with 7BA studs and more cleaning up and fitting needs to be done ...

Willy

[RReid]

That's coming along nicely Willy!

[steam guy willy]

I have now made the cylinder top cover , just a quick turning job... I also turned up the crosshead using the cast on chucking piece but when I removed it from the chuck I noticed there was a discrepancy with the central part thickneses. I needed to see if the width had enough meat on it to drill and tap for the piston rod so I could still use this casting. I made a jig to hold it in place and made a top cover to keep a long centre drill in place to drill for the piston rod.  so more work tomorrow....Also the collared brass item is a BA hut gauge I made to identify all the nuts I have
Willy

[crueby]

Moving right along, great progress.   

[Admiral_dk]

You are really back in the shop Willy - and you get a lot done in a short time - great to see 

Out of curiosity - how big / small is this one ?

Per             

[steam guy willy]

Hi thanks Chris and Hi Per The bore and stroke are 3/4".  and about 6" long and 5" tall...  I have been sorting out the dimensions for the piston rod and it is 3/16th Pia and the threads are 5/32nd  X 40 tpi.  so the rod is turned down to .148" with a tapering part to aid the tailstock die holder do its work, so it is turned to the shoulder about 3/8" which is then reduced to 3/16th after it is threaded. The hole for the crosshead is drilled No 30  or .1285. 3/16" deep .and two taps are used to get the thread all the way down.  I have used some brass to try out the procedure
Willy

 

[Roger B]

Excellent progress   

I like your selection of gauges  My father had an Archimedean drill like that one. I think my brother has it now.

[steam guy willy]

Hi Jason ..yes the drill is quite useful as you can tilt it over to get holes aligned prior to filling in the press ..I have now marked out the steam chest ports with the Height Gauge and drilled the holes ready for the milling machine ... not 100% accurate but I used slightly smaller drills to start the operation . I have also drawn out the dimensions to calculate all the heigt guage increments

Willy