Joy's Valve Gear Horizontal Engine

[kvom]

I've had this engine on my "want" list for a few years having seen a completed model in past years at both NAMES and Cabin Fever.  So this year at NAMES I picked up the casting set.  I had purchased the drawings earlier from Dennis Howe at HistoricModelsandReproductions.com.

At the show I met Lee Whelan who built the working model I'd seen, and also another gentleman who had also completed it.  Both assured me that it should be easy to get running with some case.

Here's a video I made of Lee's model at the show.

[youtube1]www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4GCgJTv5wk[/youtube1]

Some still photos of the engine as well:  http://www.pbase.com/kvom/joys_valve_gear_engine

I'll post some photos of the castings a bit later.  I'm not sure when I'll start this build as I have a number of other projects to wrap up.

[philjoe5]

I'm watching this build.    I really like this engine having seen it a few years ago at a NAMES show.  Best of success in building it

Cheers,
Phil

[kvom]

Unpacked the castings for inspection.

[Jo]

 

[zeeprogrammer]

 

No doubt a good thread on the way.
You do great work.

[Kim]

Wow, those are some pretty big hunks of metal there, judging from the size of the Dr. Pepper can.  Don't think the base would even fit on my mill table    Guess I'm going to have to fertilize it better and get it more sun!  Maybe someday it will grow up!

I'll be following along with your build kvom!
Kim

[kvom]

The base casting weighs about 50 lbs.  However, it's so well done that there's "relatively" little machining needed (i.e., minimum material removal).  That looks to be true for most of the cast parts.  However, the cylinder casting will be reduced a good bit, at least 30% material removed.

I don't think anyone with at least a Bridgeport should attempt this because of the size and weight of the base, which is 22-1/4" long and 7.5" wide.  The flywheel diameter is 9", so you need a lathe with at least that swing.

For fabricated parts, the connecting rods will be the most challenging to make from a single bar of stock.  Mr. Whelan stated he had had a friend weld two pieces together, and in fact the weld point is almost invisible on his engine.

[Johnmcc69]

Wow, those are some nice looking castings! Looking forward to your build of it kvom.
I'm sure you'll create a beauty!

 John

[kvom]

Took some evening free time to model the conrods in Cubify:



In my view this may be the most difficult or time-consuming pair of parts to make,  The bounding box for stock is a 1.5" square bar 10.5" long, or 23.625 cubic inches.  The volume of the finished bar is 2.6 cubic inches, so 89% of the material is to be milled into swarf.  Not to mention that the fixturing for the various ops.  One option that might work better is to machine the U-shaped end separately, as long as there's a way to accurately attach it to the rest of the rod.  Probably best to rough it out and then finish so that the cross hole is drilled perpendicular to the rod surface.  It might even be best to fabricate as 3 separate pieces.

OTOH I've just reviewed Simon's posts on fabricating his half-scale rods, so following his operation order makes in look reasonable, esp. as with a CNC mill I'll avoid needed any rotary table setups.

I've read about people using Shapeways to 3D print various parts, esp. for casting patterns, so I uploaded the STL file to get an idea of pricing.  Printing one of these in steel would cost $350!  That would be a last-hope option.

[smfr]

I'm following along, of course! 

The conrods weren't particularly hard, but there was a lot of material to remove. If I were to do them again I think I'd follow the same series of steps. Just be careful to allow for some warping as you remove the bulk of the material. What alloy are you intending to use?

Note that you may want a square hole for the top end of the pin that holes in the bearings, unless you use a hex-headed bolt. The plans show a round head there, which implies a square hole so you can tighten the nut on the other end.

Do your plans show a bronze bushing for the valve linkage hole in the middle? The original plans are a bit unclear on this, but I'll probably add one later.

Simon

[kvom]

None of Dennis' plans show any bushings for the valve linkage.  CRS for the pieces and drill rod for the pins.

Dennis' plan shows a 1/16" oil hole  drilled into the valve linkage hole from the top, and also one drilled in the top of the large end through both it and the bushing right at the split line after assembly.  You can see these on my drawing.

[DavidF]

that con rod doesnt look so bad if you weld or braze the one end on to it.....

[Jasonb]

Taking it out of round bar may save some waste and you could rough out the middle on the lathe faster than milling it away.

J

[Roger B]

Those are some big bits to machine  Unless you are intending to drive some significant loads with this engine the conrod could be fabricated by welding/brazing.

[kvom]

Taking it out of round bar may save some waste and you could rough out the middle on the lathe faster than milling it away.
J

Sounds as if that may be a good idea.  I'd need 1-5/8" round bar so the volume is 21 vs. 23 cubic inches.  If I turn the center portion down to  .7" I could use that to hold the work between v-blocks while machining each end before working on it last.

The brazing/welding approach is probably even easier as long as too much warping can be avoided, and that there is can be machined at the end.  Lee told me his conrods had been welded for the small end.