Stuart Major Beam Engine

[Chipmaster]

Thank you very much for the comments Dave and Per.
Further progress is delayed by the sub zero temperature in my workshop and feeling a bit groggy after having the Coronavirus Vaccine yesterday. My wife and I are very  pleased to have had he vaccination.

Andy

[Don1966]

Awwww love the motion and free movement gets me all pumped up...... 



 
Don

[Chipmaster]

Pleased you’re all pumped up Don, hope this post isn't a let down having no video 

I machined the eccentric rod itself this afternoon, it was a straightforward job using the taper turning attachment on my lathe to create the fish bellied effect. Using 9/32" mild steel which is the mid point diameter of the rod the first job was turning one end down to fit in the 7/32" diameter socket in the bronze eccentric strap and centre drill the end.
The length was copied from the dummy eccentric rod = 8.85"or 8.5" shoulder to shoulder, and the other end centre drilled. I also went in with a 1/8" drill for about half an inch to take the rod used to attach the latch. Each end of the tapered sections were turned down to 7/32" for about 1/8" where the tapers would be at their narrowest.

With half of the rod projecting from the chuck, fine feed and supported by a live centre I set the taper turning attachment to 1.5 degrees (I think) and kept taking repeated five thou deep cuts until the taper was starting at the 7/32" section. The job was reversed in the chuck before adjusting the taper turner setting to ensure the tapers on each end of the rod matched. I merely adjusted the taper turning attachment as the job progressed forming three progressively shallower tapers towards the centre. The taper changes were subtle and a minimal amount of polishing with abrasive roll made them almost invisible.

S Major 1392 by Andy, on Flickr

S Major 1393 by Andy, on Flickr

S Major 1394 by Andy, on Flickr

The machined rod loosely fitted to the latch.

 S Major 1395 by Andy, on Flickr

S Major 1399 by Andy, on Flickr

I hope to make the handle tomorrow.

Andy

[Chipswitheverything]

Lovely fish bellied rod, the taper turning gadget ( which I have not got ) was the very thing for that procedure, certainly.  Interested by your comment about post vaccine effect that you experienced, had my jab yesterday and felt a bit ropey later in the evening, but OK having got up today!  Dave

[kvom]

Taper attachments are great when they work.  Mine is on my 1942 Monarch has a worn slide that limits it to 3" of useable travel.

[Chipmaster]

I fashioned the handle by rough turning, filing and polishing to finish.

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The eccentric rod loosely assembled.



Hi Dave & Kvom - Taper Turning Attachments, yes great when they work, mine has moved in mysterious ways on several occasions when the connecting rod has slipped in the anchor. I only fit the anchor when I want to turn a taper.



The cap head screw arrowed in this picture has to be done up very tightly to clamp the connecting rod.



Fortunately the attachment was already fitted to my lathe when I bought it 30 years ago. I have seen incomplete taper turner attachments offered for sale at more than I paid for the whole lathe - incredible. However, very useful to be able to tweak the setting between cuts to form fishbellied rods.

Andy

[ettingtonliam]

I had to do a number of fishbellied rods for my locomotive. 4 of them were over 8 " long. I turned down a short section at each end to the right diameter, then stuck the lathe on top speed and attacked the rod with a series of files, followed by emery cloth. They didn't take long to do.

[Chipmaster]

Hi Richard, you make it sound quite violent, "attacked the rod with a series of files...."  I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of your fishbellied rods. 

Andy

[Chipmaster]

I started work on the wheel valve body yesterday, here's an extract from the drawings.

Wheel Valve Body by Andy, on Flickr

I prepared a length of 1" diameter brass bar so that I could use a ball turning tool to form the globe shaped centre.

S Major 1410 by Andy, on Flickr

Using a Ball turning tool. I couldn't turn the globe section down to 13/32" radius because the tool fouled to flanges on either. I don't think the radius matters but it was near enough.

S Major 1412 by Andy, on Flickr

Ran a 5/16" drill through the centre.

S Major 1414 by Andy, on Flickr

Then set the job up on my milling machine to drill the 17/32" hole through the globe. I started off with a centre drill and positioned the job by eye.

S Major 1416 by Andy, on Flickr

S Major 1419 by Andy, on Flickr

Then back on the lathe for parting off.
S Major 1420 by Andy, on Flickr

The next job was part No 47 'Wheel Valve Seat' and I carried on using up my 1" brass bar. The valve seat will be silver soldered in the valve body.

Wheel valve seat spindle by Andy, on Flickr

Turned a section down to 17/32" to fit in the globe then used the ball turning tool to turn a radius on the end to match the globe. I had left the ball turning tool set at the same radius.

  S Major 1421 by Andy, on Flickr
S Major 1422 by Andy, on Flickr

A little more turning to form a flange.

S Major 1423 by Andy, on Flickr
S Major 1424 by Andy, on Flickr

Back on the milling machine to mill flats on opposite sides of the valve seat. The parent bar was held in a square collet block.

S Major 1425 by Andy, on Flickr

S Major 1426 by Andy, on Flickr

That provides a flat faces for milling the 5/32" high slots for the inlet and outlet ports.

S Major 1427 by Andy, on Flickr

S Major 1429 by Andy, on Flickr

It seemed to me that simple round holes would suffice rather than the milled 5/32" slots unless I'm missing something. Anyway, that was as far as I progressed today.

Andy

[scc]

Lovely work and educational for me.....I started making one of these for my Charlesworth engine and made a complete bog of it
Your post is now filed away for future reference      Cheers       Terry

[Chipmaster]

Well Terry there is ample scope remaining for me to mess this up.

Andy

[Chipswitheverything]

Hi Andy, you are forging ahead now!, all looking good.  I had a look through my scruffy notes after your PM, but apart from annotaing the dwgs. themselves here and there, there was nothing that I had especially noted about the valve.  Your procedure looks much like what I had done, with the spherical bottom of the inserted piece formed and then the shoulder matched to the main body to form the appropriate length.  When I made the handwheel, I made up a couple of simple gauge plate form tools to create the ogee inner profile of the rim and the shape of the little hub.  Drilled both parts on the dividing head while they were attached to the parent stock.  The spokes were silver soldered in overlength and all cleaned up.  Worth doing, I think.   Dave

[Chipmaster]

Continuing with the valve seat.

Wheel Valve seat by Andy, on Flickr

Milling the ports, I havent got a 5/32" slot drill so I used a 1/8" slot drill. I doubt whether 0.031" will make much difference, I can open up the port using a Dremel with a burr if necessary.

This is the lower inlet port, the job was rotated 180 degrees to mill the outlet port higher up the opposite side.
 
S Major 1431 by Andy, on Flickr

Then back on the lathe for parting off,

S Major 1432 by Andy, on Flickr

Mounted in a three jaw chuck I was able to see the progress of a 1/4" drill through the inlet port and stop when the point had just gone past the opening.

S Major 1433 by Andy, on Flickr

I then went in with a 3/8" drill followed by a 3/8" slot drill to machine the step that is the valve seat. Again I could see the progress of the slot drill though the 'outlet slot'. Then counterbored 7/16" diameter by 1/8" deep.

S Major 1436 by Andy, on Flickr

The valve so far.

S Major 1443 by Andy, on Flickr

S Major 1442 by Andy, on Flickr

Torch lighting up the outlet port.

S Major 1440 by Andy, on Flickr

Dave, hope you won't mind me including a picture of your excellent wheel valve here. Now I'll have to try making a handwheel similar to yours.



 Andy

[Chipswitheverything]

Thanks a lot Andy - I wasn't going to intrude on your blog, but of course you are most welcome to use the picture.  Your valve is really coming on, it is a nice component to work on and a pretty bit of the engine as an small item all on its own.   Dave

[Chipmaster]

The wheel valve is just about finished, it needs the top flange sealed and some gland packing. I fitted a commercial hand wheel that was to hand, I'll have a go at fabricating a spoked handwheel similar to Dave's - Chipswitheverything, later.

The wheel valve in bits

S Major 1458 by Andy, on Flickr

Having made a mess of the two pillars I decided to make them using nickel silver, drilled 8ba clearance through the centres and have 8ba allthread runiing through them, the two cheese head screws will be replaced when the valve is finally assembled and ready for action.

Assembled, the valve seems to work perfectly as it is.

S Major 1444 by Andy, on Flickr

S Major 1445 by Andy, on Flickr

 S Major 1456 by Andy, on Flickr

A couple of failures,

S Major 1467 by Andy, on Flickr

I'm working on the throttle valve at the moment, in particular the throttle valve body part 40 on the drawing.

Throttle by Andy, on Flickr

Using 7/8" brass bar for the body I have cross drilled it 5/16" and silver soldered a short length of 5/16" brass bar leaving generous chucking pieces for the next machining jobs.

S Major 1459 by Andy, on Flickr

S Major 1462 by Andy, on Flickr

S Major 1464 by Andy, on Flickr

S Major 1466 by Andy, on Flickr

Andy