Engines > Your Own Design
Chris's Diesbar Engine Build
Kim:
What fun! This will be yet another great project to follow from you, and you're off to a good start! :popcorn: :popcorn:
Didn't take you long to get your new steady rest dirty, did it! :Lol:
Kim
crueby:
Thanks guys!
Kim, yeah, once it got above 90 degrees outside today it was easy to go into the inside shop and play!
Michael, I agree on the controls for this engine. It took me a long time to figure them out, and using the pictures you sent me from the worker on the ship plus the videos like the one I posted the link for, I finally figured it out. I'll try and put in more detail when I get to that stage of the build. The Penn linkage on this engine is just like the one on the steamship Great Eastern that John Scott Russell built for Isambard Kingdom Brunel in the 1850s, except that engine used a standard Stephenson linkage above the sliding link - probably mainly since there are 4 cylinders arranged in an inverted V shape, so it would have been very difficult to do the disconnection like the Diesbar engine does. The Stephenson linkage would have taken up too much room on the Diesbar engine.
kvom:
This one might take a while.
crueby:
--- Quote from: kvom on May 19, 2026, 04:39:40 am ---This one might take a while.
--- End quote ---
I hope so! :cheers:
crueby:
Today I started in on shaping the center ring blocks. Went through a couple ideas on how to hold/align then for cross drilling, then went back to a way that I've used before on rectangular blocks - using the sides of the jaws on the 4-jaw to clamp it in place. A little trial and error to get it centered, tightened it down, and it worked great. Drilled a starter hole through, then a smaller boring bar bnefore a larger one whicvh didn't chatter as much once the hole was large enough. The holes go all the way through the block, and will accept the trunnion rods once they are made.
Back to the flat setup with the steady rest, and bored out the centers part of the way to finish size. This is so there is a lot less mass to have to heat up to silver solder in the trunnions. I'll have to go back and trim the trunnions after soldering, but its still worth it.
Got most of the way through the first block when the old belt on the spindle gave up. Fortunately I have several spares, since this happens every once in a while. These belts are the same ones used on sewing machines, so they are easy to get. This batch, it was actually cheaper to order them from England even with shipping. Go figure. LOTS cheaper than ordering the exact same belt number from Sherline as a spare. Price of one from them got me 6 from another seller. In the lower right you can see where a tooth broke off - I wonder if that jammed in the pulley and the shock snapped the belt? They are polyurethane belts with a bit of cord embedded around the outside.
Here are both blocks with the centers bored out, ready to turn the trunnions down...
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version