Model Engineer Beam Engine - Reeves Kit

[propforward]

Not too much done today, but made progress on form tools and supports for the column.



Just made some light press fit plugs for each end, with a center drill location in the end for the revolving center.





So it goes in the lathe hard up against the jaws, with pressure applied through the revolving center - a genuine Daintree Tools item that I bought directly from Daintree in Australia. A very high quality piece of kit.



Hopefully will get some time to work on this during the week. We'll see - spring means yardwork and other stuff, so it might be a bit before I get to this. At least I'm ready to go.

[Michael S.]

 

[Roger B]

That was a clever setup to machine the top of the column     

[propforward]

I found some time today to work on the column some more. Haven't touched it in weeks. Too many non fun things going on.

Anyway, I used the taper attachment and kind of sort of matched it to a vague sort of average of the cast column taper, as a starting point, using an indicator. The cast taper isn't great of course, and since this is a more or less decorative feature I didn't stress about it too much.



Then started taking light cuts to see how it fared. Run out of the column was pretty severe.



Anyway, it didn't take too long to start cleaning up.



While I'm typing - here is a look at the rubber sheeting I put in place to keep iron dust from getting under the saddle. This seems to have worked out well. It's 3 pieces that overlap significantly. This is a bit of a lash up, but given how well it has worked I'll work on making some brackets for better attachment and easy install.



There was basically a lot of back and forth with some different tools. The thickness of the base was easy to establish, and also the underside of the top platen. The column decorative features were mostly just done to clean up and left where they ended up - although I did take some measurements to make sure I wasn't way off, but with the column running out so much the final dimensions aren't exactly what is on the original print, but I think it looks alright.



Going at the top bulge with a form tool:



And this is where I ended up. Some finishes are rougher than I wanted but will polish up satisfactorily. There is still a little finishing to do on some details in some places (corner radii and some diameters to reduce), but I was out of time. It's come along well though and I'm pretty happy with it.





This part would have been a LOT easier to turn from solid bar, but it has been an enjoyable challenge to work from the casting.

[john mills]

that looks good   remember the full size engines would have been a casting
it would bee a straight forward machining job on a cnc machine but i could not have done it on the mazes i used
they had no tail stock   although one nite the machine said the tail stock was in the way.
john

[propforward]

Very true - the full size would have been left as a casting. This was quite a ways off though so I wanted to make it look a little nicer.

I have seen many examples of these engines where the column is polished. That looks great I reckon, but I’ll be painting mine, so I won’t polish the column much more than needed to basically knock any burrs and rough spots off.

[crueby]

Nicely done!  And good practice for turning out a metal chess set...   

[propforward]

Ha! Yes indeed! 😂

[Michael S.]

Hi Stuart,

I really like the column. You did a great job.
I’m going to paint the column on my Beam later on, too.

Michael

[Chipswitheverything]

That looks fine, and will paint up nicely.  I'd been a bit disappointed when the larger column of my ST Major Beam refused to turn to a uniform finish that would polish up evenly , it had a lot of flecking and some small blowholes in the metal.  But I think now that the painted finish of it is in fact preferable, and certainly more in keeping with the prototype engine.

[propforward]

Thanks everyone for looking in and for your comments. I’m enjoying this, even if it is progressing more slowly than continental drift. 😁

[Jasonb]

Sometimes fully machining is the only way to get a decent looking part

Remember full size were cast

This is true but we need to take into account that sand does not scale, lets say the original was cast with 100grit size sand at 1/12th scale that will be 1200g so the finish would not show any sand texture but most model foundries use the same sand whatever the part.

Also mould shift and parting lines do not scale. So if the model had the two halves out by 1/32" then that is like 3/8" on fill size, same for any flash around the joint line.

[propforward]

I posted a video of the column turning. If you’re an insomniac it might help you get to sleep. 😁

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bhAp4Y_Emk" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bhAp4Y_Emk</a>