The Webster Chicago

[maury]

After about a year and a half working on the Fairbanks-Morse R
3 cylinder, I needed a break. Nearly done, I need to set up for powder coating
and finish a few minor details before final assembly.
 I have a freind who has access to  a partially disassembled Chicage Webester,
 and he feels the strong urge to have a model of it. I've gotten the bug too, so
we decided to get started measuring it. A month or two back. Information
trickled in and there were a lot of questions and more measuring and pictures.
So, I've spent the past few weeks with Solidworks cranking out a design.
Currently the modeling of most of the parts is complete, and everything  seem
 to fit properly in the elevation, though I'm sure there will be engineering
changes  during the building phase.
This will be my first hot tube design, so a few new challenges.
I will be making the patterns for castings and casting some of the parts for the
prototype in aluminum. My friend has assess to an iron foundry, so he will
supply the iron castings. I just got a new Bambu Labs A1 printer, and can't wait
to start making patterns.

Maury

[Jasonb]

I'll look forward to this one coming together, what sort of size have you gone for?

[Alyn Foundry]

I have a ‘ bit of a thing ‘ for inverted vertical engines…. 😉

I too will be following the progress. Regarding hot tube ignition, yes it does scale but within certain limits.

We also use a Bamboo labs 3D printer, very pleased with its performance. Here’s a sample of recently produced patterns.

   Graham.

[maury]

Well, Im back after my Computer gave me a big scare. It would not boot, gave a CPU fan error. After checking it out (???) I ended up taking it in to a repair hack shop to get it repaired. Fortunately, it was only the fan that was broken. It's my CAD computer, and everything I've done since 2013 is on there.

So, I've been printing some patterns which were exported before the fan issue. These are the parts I need in iron for building the prototype, and have been sent to my friend for casting in iron.

Most are strait forward except the Exhaust valve cage. That part has really unusual geometry, and I have no ldea how it was initially manufactured. After studying it some, I decides to pattern the bottom of the part split in cope and drag. The top of the part has its geometry in an external core. Thus is the first part I've made like this, We'll see how it goes.

[crueby]

Hopefully all backed up onto other drives too? Still a pain to restore on a new machine if needed, but it least it isnt lost that way.

[maury]

Thanks to all who have tuned in.
I won't loose my data, its the applications I'm worried about. My Solidworks License is 2013 and my Bob Cam 4 axis software is also no longer "supported". I won't be buying new versions if I loose my computer. I'll still have my lathe and bridgeport though.

[maury]

Still too cold to work in the shop here so I'm printing more patterns and working on shop drawings. As soon as we get a reasonably warm clear day Ill be pouring castings of these patterns. With any luck, the ones I sent to the iron foundry will be back next month. Still working on the water jacket pattern, and core box. It has some really interesting geometry. Can't wait to start cutting metal.

[maury]

Well the weather has cooperated, so a good opportunity for foundry work.
I always have a bit of anxiety about trying out a new core box, but this one worked well.
I cored out the exhaust passage and combustion chamber in the head. The rest of the parts are
for the intake, bearing caps and the latchout. I was concerned about the yoke, as it is only 3/16 thick
and wide in sections. The part filled well, can't wait to get it on the Bridgeport.
There will be another batch of castings before I can get into cutting metal though, and more pattern
making.

[Admiral_dk]

I'm absolutely no expert on castings - but they look good 

Enjoy your time machining them 

Per           

[maury]

Thanks for the compliment on the castings

I still have more patterns to make, but I wanted to start cutting metal. not having all the castings, I decided to start with the valve train. I only need 1 casting for that.

[maury]

Continuing on in the shop I decided to check out the head casting. For this I needed to break out my rotary table
which I haven't used for many moons. Drilling the water passages is a bit tricky as the holes need to align across
different setups, so special attention is given to precise alignment in the setups.

[Dave Otto]

That is looking like good progress Maury!
I didn't realize that you were working on a Fairbanks R, or I didn't remember. Are these PMD castings or your own?
I noticed that on one of the tables at the Cabin fever show video there were some R castings that apparently someone is working on making.

Dave

[maury]

Dave, thanks for tuning in. Yes, I'm building a Fairbanks R 3 cylinder. About 8 to 10 years ago I bought the prints for this engine from Bob. I've always wanted to build this engine, and when PMD imploded I just set them aside- plenty of other projects. I made patterns and aluminum castings in my foundry, and after about a year I now have an almost completed engine. Next step is to powder coat it before final assembly.

The patterns went to a friend who is interested in producing the kit. The drawings have been redone in Solidworks, are completed and checked.

When I get my iron set of castings, I might do a build log

[maury]

Time for an update. I have machined the intake section as much as I can at this point. Still waiting for the iron casting for the exhaust and hot tube which also connects this assembly to the engine.

[maury]

I had some more shop time this week, working on some of the general assembly parts while waiting for the iron castings.
The needle valve is for controlling the gas flow for the hot tube. Since I have little experience with hot tube ignition, I may dummy up a hot tube system to sanity check my design before cutting on the casting.
The latch out assembly is complete now, and is waiting for the flywheels assembled with the governor balls.
I have word that the iron castings will start trickling in soon.

[maury]

I bet y'all thought I abandoned this project. Not so. I've been held up waiting for castings. These sat in a post office (according to the tracking) for almost a month!!! So now I'm back in business. These are the first iron castings, and from the looks of them, I'm pleased.
Now off to the shop.

[maury]

Moving along, I decided to machine the governor side flywheel so I could check the fitting of the governor parts.
It turns out there is a protrusion on the flywheel for the governor weights. This prevented me from using any of the chucks I have for this lathe. It just wouldn't fit. I decided to make a set of soft jaws for the purpose.

With the soft jaws, machining the flywheel was mostly strait forward, but being a 9 1/4" flywheel it almost didn't fit on my 12" Clausing lathe. Go figure. After the lathe work I took the flywheel over to the Bridgeport to make the slots for the  governor weight arms.

[Dave Otto]

The iron castings look to be pretty nice! You must have had some luck finding a good foundry?

Dave

[maury]

Dave, thanks for tuning in.
I am pleased with the quality of the castings too, but in an ideal world there would be a little less grinding and the sand would be a little finer. Interestingly, the sand they use for the cores is much finer.

A new batch of castings has just arrived. There is a bit of shrinkage on the Exhaust cage, needs a riser, and there is obviously some pattern work to be done on the water jacket for the excessive flashing.

maury

[CI]

Those castings look pretty good.
I have seem some scratch a groove in the sand, to prevent flashing, when using bound sand.
The opposite mold face molds into the groove, making a dike of sorts.

And a bead of mold cement could also be used around the window.

For bound sand, if the molds are not allowed to cure completely on a flat surface after they set, they will actually creep/warp just enough to cause a slight misallignment in the mold halves, and lots of flashing results.

Nice pattern work, and great castings.
So nice to see that.
.

[pirmin]

realy nice castings so far.there are model engine casting retailers that care much less about their stuff than you show in your first batch from this foundry! they realy seem to know what they do in the foundry.

[maury]

Guys, thanks for the compliments and suggestions. I think my foundry uses green sand and air set for the cores, but then I'm not sure. I tried to cast the water jacket at home in aluminum, and it was a disaster.

Soon I'll be posting all the fun I'll be having machining the exhaust cage. It has a lot of set ups and holes that have to align between the setups. I have been thinking of how to hold the casting as it has an odd shape. Normally I'd make a base tool to hold it, but I'm going to try to get by with just a vise first. I have the port and bottom squared up so far.

[maury]

Oh My, I am several weeks behind on my posts. Too much fun in the shop and garden. I know it's a bit early for some folks to get their garden in but here in Texas you have to do it early or it burns up. Everything is blooming and I have lots of baby tomatoes and tomatillos on.
So, to finish the exhaust cage. The side hole in Photo Ex Port 3 will be plugged. It's needed internally to complete the port geometry. A core would have been ideal, but that would have been a second core for the part. The top geometry was made with an external core.

[maury]

This the completion of the Webster Chicago hot tube version. I have been waiting for months to get castings for the Igniter version for this engine, they(mostly) have finally arrived. The Post Office lost some of the parts after having destroyed the original package and re-packaging the remains. This will be my next focus in the shop.

[maury]

Starting the build of the Webster Igniter ve4rsion, I began with the head. There are a lot of holes in that head.
I started on the lathe boring the combustion chamber and the top face which are the reference for the rest of the operation. moving to the mill, I cut the bottom surface and the water inlet. flipping the part I cut the head bolt holes and the water passage slots. Finishing with the igniter and exhaust cage flanges. Lots of setups to indicate in with this part.

[55fairlane]

Very nice work!

[CI]

 

[maury]

Continuing the Webster, I'll be doing the water jacket next. Starting out, there several setups which need alignment along the cylinders axis. To do this I'm making a disc for holding the end of the casting in the core print. I then bolt it to the table on the mill and center the head on it. I can then create a reference surface to use for later alignment. The surface is faced, and the liner hole is bored. A well, the water passages and head bolt circle is machined.

[maury]

Using the same setup with the mill head centered over the disc on the bed, I flipped the casting and aligned the main bearing features along the X axis.

I then faced off the main faces, and made the bolt holes for the main caps. Finally, I milled the inner and outer faces for the mains with the bearing caps installed.

[maury]

Next, I need the gears. one set for timing, and one set for the igniter. Making the blanks on the hob arbor in the lathe. Then moving over to the Barber Coleman.

[Dave Otto]

I don't think that I have ever seen the whole machine, is it very big?
So how many cutters are there for a given DP, just one or like traditional cutters each cutter only will cut a range of teeth?

Dave

[maury]

Dave, thanks for tuning in.
The gear hobber is a Barber Coleman #3, mid 1920's version. When I picked it up, it was a sight for sore eyes. It was set up for a line shaft. The first thing I did when I got it before it was even unloaded from the trailer was a trip to the car wash. under the dirt, the machine was actually in fairly good shape. I replaced a few bearings, and a few other parts, set it up for an electric motor, and went to ebay for some accessories,  change gears, and hobs.

The machine is a little more than 4 feet wide, and high with the base.

The machine is capable of making helical and spur gears up to 6" in dia. Each dp is cut by an individual hob, and that hob can cut all numbers of teeth. Good thing, hobs aren't cheap.

Set up is not difficult. but it is often more time consuming than cutting the teeth if only one one a few
gears are to be made, as the machine is designed for manufacturing.

[Dave Otto]

Thanks Maury, that is a really neat old machine. I remember when you cut the gears for our Goulds pump project, they came out beautiful!

Dave

[maury]

Next I machine the igniter side of the water jacket, and put in the Main Bearing features.