Borderer Cast iron scratch build

[Team ricky]

A little more done today

I made the lower cylinder covers and gland nuts , Cast iron and silver steel….

Went with 16mm registers as I’ll go with 16mm cylinders

[Team ricky]

Just looking into piston materials……

I haven’t got any stock but have a choice of any suitable material

Cast iron seems to make sense on cost
Gun metal maybe better for cylinder wear not sure , obv corrosion resistant

The ring material will be Viton

Hopefully ppl with more experience can chip in

[crueby]

If the o ring is doing the sealing, then the piston itself can be small enough diameter not to actually touch the walls of the cylinder (this is they way I build mine, not everyone does it that way), so wear is not an issue. The piston can then be the same material as the cylinder. If, however, they will touch, then you want a dissimaler metal to avoid galling and wear. Also, if you will be running on steam, then corrosion is also an issue as you point out, even with steam oil there will be moisture left in the cylinder after a run, so you don't want something that will rust easily.

 

[Team ricky]

Thanks for your input

I’ll go with Bronze/Gm for them , corrosion isn’t a great set up as you say !

I have now got reamers and drills to have a go at the bores

[Team ricky]

Chipping away at little bits

I have set up a new machine which is capable of bigger jobs ! I had been struggling a bit with the little proxxon, It is a very good machine but has limitations that you find especially when milling !

The new to me machine is the same concept with the mill but 3x the size and it handles much bigger jobs no problems….

Here’s the bores and mounting hole’s accurately placed - The bores I’ll hone tomorrow, they are just reamed atm and need a final finish

Then there is some millling to complete to the sides of the cylinder block to reveal the lug features and provide a landing zone for cladding later

[Team ricky]

Squeaky bum time finished and out of the way !!


I have honed the bores, Created the semi circular steam pockets to the cylinder tops and bottoms , Drilled all 8 steam passages, Milled the ports and exhaust holes to the side of the cylinder’s…

All went well , I have in the past taken too long drilling the steam passages independently of each other and sometimes just with a Dremel and taking it slowly it’s definitely viable but takes ages ! So I decided to fit a 3 axis vice to the bigger lathe and create a repeating set up for all 8 /2mm holes, This is definitely the way forward spending most if the job time setting up then the actual milling then drilling is very quick and easy! Just needed to use a torch and carefully break through into the ports…

Next up is the pistons , Trunk guides , cylinder top covers

[Team ricky]

A little more done on the project

On to fitting the parts soon

[redhouseluv]

That's looking really good, you have made some great progress 

[Team ricky]

Cheers

A bit more done today, I’ve profiled the top and lugs of the cylinder block and drilled and tapped the 8ba Cylinder cover holes , Probably the risky bits out of the way ! I did break a tap building the GM version and used alum to corrode the tap out , I was very careful with the cast iron as that’s not an option if I break a tap off ….