Chris's Slew-Crowd Engines

[crueby]

This morning finished up spaing the eccentric straps, and got the holes drilled/tapped in the ends of two sets for the arms to connect with the levers.

Here is the full set so far:

I was starting to assemble the straps onto the Erie engine, when I remembered that I still needed to drill the holes in the caps to allow a hex wrench to fit through and reach the set screw in the eccentric to adjust timing without having to disassemble the strap.   

Holes drilled/deburred, and THEN got the set assembled onto the Erie engine. On this engine, the straps sit at an angle and connect to a crank arm up on top of the crosshead guides, which then connects to the actual valve lever. The crank arms will sit on pivot rods through tubes you can see on the top of the side rails in this next picture:

So, I need to drill the holes in the other caps, and then start working on the arms/levers/cranks/pivots/rods to connect them all up. Lots of fiddly bits!  But first, we are heading to the indoor pool at the local Y with the RC subs this afternoon!   

[Kim]

Good thing you remembered those holes to reach the set screws.  But I'm betting you'd have remembered them eventually.  At least when you went to time the engines!      (That's when I'd have remembered, at least!)

Kim

[crueby]

Good thing you remembered those holes to reach the set screws.  But I'm betting you'd have remembered them eventually.  At least when you went to time the engines!      (That's when I'd have remembered, at least!)

Kim

Yeah - better to remember when putting in the secodn screw than later on!

[bent]

"the holes in the caps to allow a hex wrench to fit through and reach the set screw in the eccentric to adjust timing without having to disassemble the strap"

Oh, heck that's clever. 

[crueby]

"the holes in the caps to allow a hex wrench to fit through and reach the set screw in the eccentric to adjust timing without having to disassemble the strap"

Oh, heck that's clever. 

Thanks!  I've been doing that on all my engines for years, works out great. Able to adjust timing much quicker. If you have an engine where the cap is down inside a closed-bottom well, then the hole would need to be up next to the arm. It doesn't lend itself well to very narry eccentric straps since it would leave little material at the side.

[crueby]

All four sets of eccentric straps have been drilled for the wrench opening, and fitted into place on the engines. Took a little filing here and there to remove burs left from the machining, but all look good, and ready for making the extension arms for the Marion and Thew straps. Here are pics of the Marion/Erie with the straps in place:

and the Bucyrus/Thew:

[cnr6400]

  Looking great Chris!

[crueby]

Looking great Chris!

Thanks Jeff!  When I look at the set I think its all almost done, but there are still a lot of things to make. Fun!

[Sanjay F]

  Looking amazing already, are all 3 at a similar stages of construction and are you trying to keep them synced

[crueby]

Looking amazing already, are all 3 at a similar stages of construction and are you trying to keep them synced

All four are at the same stage, and yes I am doing the same parts for all together then moving on to the next parts. Its saving a lot of time in figuring out/setting up when the parts are basically the same, just different dimensions, like cylinders/caps/shoulder bolts/etc.  Hard to say just how much time saved, but I'd guess that I'm making four in the time it would take to build two independantly. Its been an interesting experiment to build them all at once.
 

[Sanjay F]

FOUR!! I miscounted somewhere along the way, well I have trouble with 1 so hat's off; you must keep meticulous logs/records to know where you are with each one

[crueby]

FOUR!! I miscounted somewhere along the way, well I have trouble with 1 so hat's off; you must keep meticulous logs/records to know where you are with each one

Definitely - I have the stack of plan sheets for each one on a stand behind each engine, and lay out the current parts in front. All are number stamped to avoid mixups. Doing all four of one set of parts before making the next set means its not bad to keep track of.

[bent]

Well, at least you don't have an engineering department in the room next door, tossing Engineering Change Notices over the wall and expecting you to keep everything caught up!  But if you need that thrill, this retired engineer could help you live/relive that experience...(ducking for the door)
 

[crueby]

Well, at least you don't have an engineering department in the room next door, tossing Engineering Change Notices over the wall and expecting you to keep everything caught up!  But if you need that thrill, this retired engineer could help you live/relive that experience...(ducking for the door)
 

I was an engineer  for decades, we could start a new very long thread about stories of management  (sorry for swearing), marketing  (sorry again), and our own stupervisors! 


 

[crueby]

Got the extension arms for the Marion and Thew eccentric straps made. They are round rod drilled/tapped at either end 4-40, with screws loctited in and the heads cut off:

Here are the ones on the Thew straps, they will connect to pushrods fittings riding in a block in the center of the frame:

and the ones on the Marion, they will go through the frame at either side of the crosshead guides, and connect to the bottom ends of levers coming down the outside of the top platform. For now they are just resting on the top of the frames.

Then made a start on the fittings for the ends of the arms. Turned down the end of a length of larger round bar, drilled and tapped it to fit on the arms:

and rounded the shoulders

then cross drilled for the pivot pins. The locations for the holes was marked after screwing the pieces onto the arms, and marking where the holes needed to be on the sides - I want the parts screwed in tight together, no adjustment is needed on these arms:

Then more milling to flatten the sides and round the ends, that is still in process: