Chris's Porter Governor Build

[cnr6400]

 

[Sanjay F]

Sanjay,  I don't know all the styles of governors so don't know for sure. If those links were flat springs, I'd say a Pickering style, but they are hinged. Governors were made by many companies, in many styles.
Chris

Thanks Chris, the spring has an adjuster on it which must counter the force of the balls lifting somehow - I think you're right though looking at this one:

https://stationroadsteam.com/products/4-inch-scale-pickering-governor-stock-code-10157?_pos=1&_sid=f1d0beced&_ss=r

[crueby]

Sanjay,  I don't know all the styles of governors so don't know for sure. If those links were flat springs, I'd say a Pickering style, but they are hinged. Governors were made by many companies, in many styles.
Chris

Thanks Chris, the spring has an adjuster on it which must counter the force of the balls lifting somehow - I think you're right though looking at this one:

https://stationroadsteam.com/products/4-inch-scale-pickering-governor-stock-code-10157?_pos=1&_sid=f1d0beced&_ss=r

Yeah, that ones a Pickering style, with the flat springs suspending the flyballs directly.   

[PaulR]

Looking great already I didn't have time to keep up with your last build and you've already got stuck in to another one. I'm sure I had more time when I was at work 

[crueby]

Looking great already I didn't have time to keep up with your last build and you've already got stuck in to another one. I'm sure I had more time when I was at work 

He said the W*rk word!  Ahhhhhh!!!!   

 

[crueby]

Got a few  more bits made for the Porter. Made up the lower bearing block, which the vertical rod sits in and spins round. Also drilled the rest of the holes in the base plate and got it painted. I'm really liking the look of this paint, used it on some other engines too. Its the Duplicolor Engine Enamel in the Cast Coat Iron color - goes on with a cast iron looking pattern, though its smooth, not one of those textured paints.

Also turned the top bearing. I put this one on first, put the vertical rod in and used a sqaure to align it to the base, and marked where it hit the base to drill the hole for the bottom bearing.

Yesterday CNR gave me a great idea for the bevel gears needed for the hand crank. I dug around in the toolboxes and found an old Stanley hand powered drill that I have not used in several decades, and took it apart. I was able to easily take off the large side gear and one of the small bevel gears from the shaft - the second bevel gear is buried in other non-easily-removeable parts so I left that one. So, end result is a very nice set of steel bevel gears that are very close in size to what I was going to make. All I need to do is repaint the large gear to something other than the bright blue it has on it, and make up the shafts for them to sit on. I also have a couple of spare spur gears I can adapt and use for the horizontal gears to take the power up to the main vertical shaft. That will all save days of work and use up some stuff from the parts bins.    All I needed to do was shift a couple of the screw holes on the base plate for the gears being a slightly different size (that was done before drilling them, fortunately). Thanks CNR!

[Sanjay F]

I love the recycling of the drill parts - I remember one of those in my dad's toolbox; I just Googled it, they still make them now, not sure of the demand! 

[PaulR]

I've got one of those drill and a near complete 1890s US made hand drill (can't recall the make) - all that's missing from that is the top of the handle, which could be unscrewed to store bits!

[cnr6400]

  Very welcome Chris! Glad the idea helped. You've got the right gear(s) for the governor drive now! 

[crueby]

Thanks guys! My 'old' drill was from the 1970s I think. Worked out perfect!

[crueby]

Knocked out a couple more parts today. Started with the stop collars and the upper pivot holder for the central vertical shaft. Each has a set screw to hold it in place and allow for adjustments of height and travel on the governor.

Then started shaping the lower spinner, which holds the lower ends of the flyball shafts, and transfers their vertical motion to the horizontal lever.  Started by turning to length/diameter, drilled/reamed the shaft hole, and turned in the curved taper. The taper was done by eye for curve, then finished with files to smooth it off.

Used a parting tool to cut in the recess which will get a follower for the horizontal lever

The chuck and piece were moved over to the horizontal rotary table on the mill with a tailstock to support the outer end, and the sides were milled flat above the recess. Took even amounts off each side alternately till I got down to the final thickness of that section. Then drilled/reamed the holes for the pivot rods that will hold the lower ends of the flyball rods:

and finished off by milling in slots for the flyball rod ends to sit into. These slots are deeper around the pivot rods.

Last step was to give it a coat of the same clear coat as the other brass parts. Here it is back on the governor:


Next I will probably make the follower ring for the lower end. It will have a bronze ring set that sit into the recess, and an outer ring with pivot posts for the horizontal lever. Not sure from the patent how the original was assembled, I'm going to have the bronze inner ring in two pieces to fit into place, and the outer ring will screw to them and hold them in place. The outer eing will also hold the pivot posts for the lever. After that will probably start on the flyball arms. Coming together nicely!

[Sanjay F]

I agree, coming along very nicely and very quickly, at this rate we'll see the balls whizzing round shortly! 

[cnr6400]

  The spinner's looking very elegant, and the other parts are looking great too. 

I did send out the shop gnomes in the screamin Jimmy dump truck, with a fresh 8 ton load of premium white popcorn on board for this new build. They were temporarily blown off course in yesterday's tornado here, but they hoisted sail again today and are carrying on. The exhaust stack was fixed, but it snapped off again in the tornado, so you'll hear the Jimmy coming about 5 miles out. 

[crueby]

Thanks guys!


CNR, I  can hear it coming up the Thruway. Also sirens...    Hmmm, if lightning hit the truck, would it pop all the corn? 




That same line of supercell storms came through here yesterday afternoon, after coming across Lake Ontario from  Canada, andit went dark as night a couple hours before sundown. The actual tornados were a dozen miles west of me, all I  got was a ton of rain and lightning. One of the guys in our RC boat group had it go right by his house, he could see the spinning clouds. Tornadoes  are quite rare in this area though we can get straight line winds occasionally.  This storm was very wide. Saw some awesome  pictures of the supercell clouds taken as they moved in, never seen anything like it.  Now, those that live in the great plains areas in the middle of the country get stuff like this all the time, and would yawn at what had us mesmerized!




Sanjay, probably  will be able to spin the flyballs around by hand in a couple days. The slow part will be fabricating the yokes on the arms. We'll see how  good my freehand turning is when I  make the 1" diameter balls on the lathe!


 

[crueby]

Oh, and for those who saw the movie Twister, we got no flying cows!   

EDIT: the national lweather service confirms now that there were 5 tornadoes on the ground, for up to 7 miles. fortunately they were all in farm areas, no houses (or trailer parks) destroyed, just a lot of downed trees and power lines.