The Bolton -Bertinat -Bailey Triple expansion engine

[Chipswitheverything]

Coming on to the mill-wright's section of the work on this complex engine now  A lot of different skills and some lateral thinking involved in dealing with the stages of the build. 

[steam guy willy]

Thanks Dave , and there are lots of small jobs to complete a lot of the parts ...so nothing major to report at the moment....
cheers
willy

[steam guy willy]

more work on the eccentrics and I have to take everything apart to refit the HP eccentrics by reducing the width of the crankshaft bearings and filing out the bed plate to get the clearances for the straps ....
thanks
willy
the bearing has been filed back and the eccentricrods have benefitted in the correct place and everything bolted back in  place
so I will remove everything to file the base plate to give clearance for the straps ....

[crueby]

Its always surprising  how many times an engine has to come apart and go back together as it goes along. Looking good!   

[Sanjay F]

Its always surprising  how many times an engine has to come apart and go back together as it goes along. Looking good!   

I agree and sometimes we've all done it so many times on certain engines, we could do it in our sleep! 

The engine is coming along nicely, following along 

[steam guy willy]

Hi Chris and Sanjay,  yes and as it is triple expansion all these operations are tripled    so I am fitting the HP eccentrics and to start with I have milled a spacer to get them in the correct position for the valve events to function correctly ...I have also drilled through the eccentrics to provide a deep key for the grub screws so they are not over tightened ...and everything is removed to file out the base. To make the construction easier I have been using socket head screws to stop andslipage of a screwdriver to scratch I am also taking this opportunity to mill out the bottom to seat the bolts correctlly.    So things are getting .done slowly
Willy

[steam guy willy]

I have made the  Pull spot facing cutter from some silver steel that is drilled tapped and hardened  I have a used a bicycle spoke as they are 3/32nd and the thread is almost 7 BA . You use it with a hand drill by pulling it backwards so there are 42   more to do  now ?!!!
Willy

[crueby]

Now that's  an interesting  tool!   

[steam guy willy]

Now that's  an interesting  tool!   

Hi Chris  , yes and very easy and quick to make  cheers
willy

[steam guy willy]

The text has decided to disappear ???? I have rebuilt the engine  and hand milled the bolt faces   I have also beenusiung socket head screws to join the parts together as this makes it a lot quicker and easier
Willy

[steam guy willy]

I have now installed all the eccentric parts after a lot of work introducing all the tolerances to get everything moving smoothly ....all the drawings are in Imperial fractions and all mating parts are the same dimension ??!!! as we all know that a 1inch shaft will not enter a 1 inch hole so there has to be a certain tolerance    so you have to decide which part is smaller or larger   and this is where the fitter comes in .  I have also been stamping numbers and centre pops on all the parts so that they all go together correctly  after painting and polishing     I also have some old rules that are engraved with separate scales of  1/8th  1/16th   1/32 and1/64th  this makes measurements in those fractions easier to see...rather then all the measurements crammed together.

[steam guy willy]

after assembling the cylinder to match up the eccentrics I found that there was a 3/16 th discrepancy between the valve rod and the eccentric strap ??!! so I had to bring the eccentrics over by filling the eccentric rods with a taper where the rod flange joined the strap...this worked out fine  and everything now lines up ...I also used some feeler gauges to match the eccentrics rods length for the reversing positions  there is an eclipse today and always use my 13 gauge welding lenses ... cheers   this was me in 1999 selling welding lenses to watch the eclipse  ???!!!!
Willy

[steam guy willy]

I"m now assembling parts of the engine and making all the bolts and screws the correct  lengths including the piston rods and fittings ...this is to try out the HP cylinder  with compressed air ....quite soon .  I have made this bolt holding device as well to make things easier with the assembly...

willy

[crueby]

Getting  exciting,  close to air test!   

[steam guy willy]

Getting  exciting,  close to air test!   

thanks Chris and yes I will just be getting the HP cylinder set up to start with..and its been a strange week ..a new heat wave with two months of no rain at the allotment.  ...an Eclipse ...and a Parliamentary election with 34 people on the ballot with one wearing a bin on his head and a reform chap that only got twice as many votes as  Count Binface 

cheers

Willy