Elmer's Fancy

[EricB]

I had so much fun making Tiny that I decided to do Fancy as well.

Day one was cutting stock for the column and cylinder, and I made the drilling jig for the steam ports. After that I turned the column to shape. I don't work with steel enough to get a good finish all the time. The tapered section turned out very coarse. Just need more practice.

Eric

[EricB]

Day two, on to the mill.

The column has flats for the cylinder and crank on one side, and to clear the flywheel on the other. The flywheel side was first.

After that I started drilling some holes. The crank hole is 5/16." Now I have a drill and a 3/8" chuck, but I didn't have enough Z travel for it to fit. I figured that out after I got started of course. I went ahead and drilled the cylinder mounting hole and its counter bore, then came back and bored the crank hole to size. Then I made the crank locating pin for drilling the steam ports.

The drilling jig is made of some kind of brass that I thought was free machining. It isn't. I tryed to cut it to size with a slitting saw and it was un cooperative. It cuts OK with an end mill though.

[EricB]

Day three, steam ports.

I used the same mill setup for as many operations as I could. When I made the Tiny I held all these bits in place by hand and marked the positions then drilled. This time was much easier. I had to go back and mill an extra bit of clearance for the jig. My attempt to save a few turns of the hand wheels did not work out.

The steam input is taped 3/16" MTP.

[EricB]

Day four. I didn't make much, but I took all day doing it.

The crank bearing is suppose to be a press fit into the column. Well I got it snug but removeable for now. It will be held with locktite later and an oil hole drilled once I'm happy with all the fits. I reamed the bearing to size. I tried to just drill it when I made Tiny, and ended up making a reamer and another bearing. Just made the one bearing this time.

The column was cutoff after the the bearing was fit. The top of the column has an odd pattern from a slight misalignment of the cuttoff blade. We'll just call that a decorative feature for now.

The last part for today was the column foot. I don't have any steel in the size needed so it's made of aluminum. Doesn't look right but it will have to do for now. A few hours of work went into that washer.

[MJM460]

Nice going, Eric.  It looks like a fun little engine to build.

MJM460

[EricB]

Nice going, Eric.  It looks like a fun little engine to build.

MJM460

Thanks, I'm enjoying myself.

[EricB]

So, why does it take me several hours to make what's basically a washer?

I started with a cutoff of aluminum from the leftover pile, flycut one side for the reference surface (this would become the top) and cut it down to size.

After listing and pondering the virtues of various fixturing methods to make the piece circular, I decided on a glue chuck. For that I refurbed a mandrel I had used on my first engine project. The mandrel used a bolt to hold the other engine and this came in handy later for removing the part.

I left the center in place while turning the outside diameter just in case, and then faced and relieved what would be the bottom of the part. So far, so good.

I used a center drill to make a pilot hole. The idea was that I could remove the part and resurface the chuck, then use the center and the pilot hole to align the part to finish the top side. Unfortunatly, I did not drill all the way through the part. That's OK, it turned out I couldn't have aligned it using that method anyway.

My solution was the 4-jaw scroll chuck. I was able to hold the part centered, face the top, bore the center for the column, and put a slight chamfer on the edge. There was not much room for error, and no way to remove the burr on the outer edge while turning. I'll need to make another mandrel to adjust the finish.

About 4 hours.

[EricB]

Day five, crankshaft.

Elmer said this "doesn't require much explanation" so...

[crueby]

Nice progress!


That second picture looks like its an Easter Island statue of an engine!


 

[EricB]

Nice progress!


That second picture looks like its an Easter Island statue of an engine!


 

It has an alarmed look doesn't it? I'm not sure that's justified. 

Here is the completed crank shaft.

[EricB]

Day six, the flywheel.

Started the flywheel from with length of 1.25" brass hex bar and a hack saw. It cuts much easier that aluminum by the way. Faced the sides parallel and knocked off most of the corners and drilled and reamed to fit the crank shaft stock, 3/16" drill rod.

To finish the OD I returned to my favorite glue chuck. This time it too was drilled and reamed for the drill rod. When assembled the drill rod kept the flywheel on center. I made sure the drill rod stayed loose as the glue cured, but left it in place for the turning. I ended up about .006" undersize once all the flats were gone. It's still too wide but I haven't decided how I want it to look yet.

Eric

[EricB]

I started on the cylinder before being forced to quit for the night.

[Chipswitheverything]

Thanks for the well photographed build log of an attractive little project, might encourage the making of a few more of these engines that can be made up from odds and ends of workshop stock materials.  Dave

[EricB]

Thanks for the well photographed build log of an attractive little project, might encourage the making of a few more of these engines that can be made up from odds and ends of workshop stock materials.  Dave

Thanks for the comment.

I know it isn't a technically complex build, but for me it's part of the learning curve.

[EricB]

Day seven, more cylinder work.

Here is the rest of the cylinder so far. It's not mechanically complete yet. I need the piston and rod in order to drill the steam passage. It's also not in it's final form. The plans show it with beveled edges along the outside. Not sure I want to copy that to do something else.