Pacific Vapor Engine from Morrison & Marvin Castings

[smfr]

Amazingly professional-looking work as always, Dave. It's going to be a real pleasure to watch this one run.

Simon

[Jasonb]

Looking good Dave. I've just done the ignitor on the Galloway and used a Tungsten Tig Electrode for the contacts.

J

[Dave Otto]

Thanks guys I appreciate the comments.

Jason I know there are a lot of guys using tungsten for ignitor points; and it does seem to work quite well. My buddy here in in my town has used it in several of his ignitor engines with good results.

I have wondered about the material choice for the points for some time; the material used in the antique engines (which I have several of) is not hard like tungsten. It is relatively soft and easy to file. The meteor metal that I used (probably nickel and Iron) was supposed to replicate the material used in the early engines. 

Recently my buddy purchased a ready made set of points (for a big engine) from one of the US antique engine parts suppliers and he turned them down and put them in his Red Devil engine that he is working on. I took a shaving of this material to work and had it analyzed and it turned out to be Nickel Silver (German Silver) 60% copper 20% nickel and 20% tin. This seems me to this would be an excellent ignitor contact.

To me based on no scientific fact; a softer material would produce a hotter fatter spark than a super hard material like tungsten. It would be interesting to hear the thoughts of someone smarter than me on this subject.

I would still like to (and probably will) try the German silver in the Pacific. Silver soldering points onto the blades I'm sure would remove all the temper from the spring steel; I guess you may be able to use a heat sink on them. My buddy who also built a Pacific (and his is running) used points out of a commercial relay; I keep telling him that those points are designed Not To Arc! Arcing in a relay is not a desirable thing. His engine does run and runs quite well.  He may try something different down the road; but I think he is waiting to see how I make out.

OK I have rambled on enough but if anyone has any thoughts on the subject I would like to hear them.

Thanks again guys,
Dave

[NickG]

Looking superb as always, great machining.

[Mosey]

Wow, I'm not sure I want to speak to this subject, but I have an experience to share. I spoldered a tungsten bit from a motorcycle points set into my Upshur farm engine. It doesn't work very well, as it erodes quite quickly. Dick Upshur worked it over for me and said "Get some good points in there". What to think?
Mosey   

[Dave Otto]

Hi everyone

I have been struggling trying to get an update posted on the Pacific; I haven’t been able to make much progress lately but hopefully that will change.

The next part on the engine is the intake valve assembly; there isn’t anything in the way of plans or a casting for this part. Only some guidelines form Lester Bowman on the prints of what he did on his model.

Some of the guys that have built this engine use a modified check valve for the intake valve chest with good results.

Roland Morrison (Morrison & Marvin) supplies a nice set of lost wax castings for the fuel and air cocks that are designed for 1/6” pipe and are a real nice fit on the Pacific.

Using the size of the hand valves to go by and looking at photos and drawings of the original engines I designed an intake valve assembly that I feel complements the hand valves and fits the scale of the engine nicely.

 This valve could have been made as a built up assembly but I chose to carve it from solid stock using CNC.


Here is my Alibre (Geomagic) assembly drawing of the valve.


Starting out the first side is roughed out.


Here the finish tool path is running on the first side of the valve body.


The first side finished.


The block is flipped over and the second side roughed out.


After finishing the  second side the valve body is ready for some secondary machining operations.
More to follow.

Thanks for checking in.
Dave

[Kim]

Hi Dave,
Thanks for posting the construction pics!  That's pretty neat to see what it looks like while being carved out.

I saw this piece at the GEARS show a few weeks ago, and i can tell you, it looks even more impressive in person!  It's enough to make a guy think about CNC... OK, not for long, but I did think!

Thanks for taking the time to share!
Kim

[Jo]

Looks good Dave 

Forgive my natural tendency not to let the moths out of my purse  .... That looks like a very expensive  bit of stuff you made that out of.... I'd have gone for your alternative option make it out of an assembly silver soldered up 

Jo

[NickG]

Dave, that was awesome!

[Tennessee Whiskey]

That's just freaking amazing. If asked about it in  conversation, I'd just babble. 

Whiskey

[Don1966]

Nice to see you making some progress Dave, that valve body turned out great. 

Don

[Dave Otto]

Thanks for the kind words everyone;

Jo when I started putting this post together you are the first one that came to mind; I was thinking to myself oh man Jo is possibly going to give me a hard time about turning most of that bronze block to shavings.

That's OK I understand and you can  at me all you want  . I really wanted to see this part carved from one piece; also this type of work is a big part of my day job and making parts like this allows me to improve my 3D surfacing skills.

Thanks again,
Dave

[Jo]

Oh dear am I that easy to read 

You have to remember that I have a (damp) shed full of what was good bits of steel 20 years ago that I am determined to turn into bits of model engine. And I am still trying to learn how to spend money again.. it is very difficult.. I do anything to avoid it

And by the looks of things Dave there are a few things you could teach me with your techniques I still have not caught this CNC bug I am more of a traditional hands on type of girl...

Jo

[swilliams]

I'm not a CNC type either, but I really enjoyed seeing that bit come out of the single block. Gotta disagree with Jo, turning all that metal into swarf isn't a waste, it's just making good use of your machine 

Anyway, great work Dave!
Steve

[steamer]

There's as much art in the set up of that part as there is in the part!

Nice Job Dave!

Dave