Cretors #1 Horizontal Steam Engine Build

[rstreift]

After the angles are milled, the pockets are filled square while the “handle” still exist.  Back to the lathe to finish the top of the gove yoke and part off.
S333-C-GoveYoke-20.jpg, S333-C-GoveYoke-21.jpg

I need pivot pins.  A little lathe and mill work and we have pivot pins.
S333-C-GoveYoke-23.jpg, S333-C-GoveYoke-24.jpg

Time to check out the fit of the ball arms in the yoke.  Unfortunately, there is not enough clearance in the yoke pockets, but the fix is simple.  With some filing with a round file, the arms rest where they are supposed to according to the assembly diagram.
S333-C-GoveYoke-22.jpg

[rstreift]

The Valve & Stem, #S333-B
The stem should have been a simple cut and done, but I managed to make it into story of silly events.   I cut off the length of 1/8” SS stock.  It measured 0.1252 and I figured that was ok.  I’d have sharp V threads and that could be knocked down with some 320 on a stick.
The first dumb thing I did was select the 5-40 die without reading the entire die.  I setup the die stock with the die and it would not start.  Really would not start. I re-measured the as if it had changed. ☹  It hadn’t.  So I examine the die and finally notice the “LH” on the die.  Somehow the left-hand die had leapt from the drawer of special taps-n-dies and landed in the drawer of standard dies.  Oh well, move on.
From the years of living, I have multiples of taps and dies of the same size, but only one 5-40 RH die.  It is an adjustable die, but the type with the screw.  Set it up and run the die manually, not powered.  2.5 inches later it is backed off and neither the valve nut or the thrust nut will screw on more than two turns.  Ok, must be the sharp V, so I knock it off with a couple of swipes of the 320 on a stick.  It measures at or below the 0.125H mark calculated from Machinery's handbook (forget what it was) and it still wouldn’t go.  I didn’t have any nuts, so I tapped a piece of scrape to run on it.  It ran on it fine and I did it under power a couple of times.  The nuts still wouldn’t fit.  Tried it under power again and it seized and made a pretzel of the rod.  At least I escaped without leaking any bodily fluids. 
I cut off another rod and threaded it about a half inch.  Then pulled out the wires and measured it.  It was about 3 thousandths to big.  Since the die is adjustable, I tried screwing down the die, but it would not move more that 4 thousandths measuring the OD.  I figured that might do it.  Another test and didn’t work.
OK, that is getting a bit old.  Back to basics.  I turned down a rod to the truncated V diameter, it was just a couple of thousandths.  Then I used the die stock screw near the split to squeeze the die as much as I could on a little 8-32 threaded screw.  Ran a short test and used wires to measure the thread, it was 2 thousandths under a class 3 thread, so I tried the nuts.  They ran fine, no slop but no binding.  About perfect.  I finally finished the threading.  (I also ordered a replacement die)
S333-B-Valve&Stem-1.jpg, S333-B-Valve&Stem-2.jpg

The Stem gets a 0.067” hole in the end opposite the threads.
S333-B-Valve&Stem-5.jpg

The valve is a simple cylinder with a plug soldered in the end.  The plug ID is 3/16” and the stem is 1/8”.  The plug has a 1/16” pin that goes through the stem in a manner that allows steam to pass to equalize on both sides of the valve.  The stem is wobbly by design.
S333-B-Valve&Stem-4.jpg, S333-B-Valve&Stem-7.jpg

[rstreift]

I didn’t want to solder it as I have no idea what type of SS I used, so I did a shrink fit, but that of course resulted in an interference fit to the body.  Back to the lathe to correct that (needed some support on that wobbly stem).  After that is finished, I marked the position in the valve for the inlet hole with the balls in the fully down position, then spotted/drilled it.
S333-B-Valve&Stem-8.jpg, S333-B-Valve&Stem-9.jpg

Geesh, finally finished it.  Well, almost.  It needs a “topper” on the valve stem.
S333-B-Valve&Stem-10.jpg, S333-B-Valve&Stem-11.jpg

[rstreift]

Finished Governor
The assembled governor is a thing of semi-symmetric beauty.  I’m happy with the decision to follow the curve of the body casting with the pinion bearing cap.  Using SHCS on the pinion bearing cap instead of round head machine screws makes for a cleaner appearance.  It is not “period”, but I think it “looks” better.  The ball arm screws are not fully screwed in this picture, but are flush when they are.  Obviously, I’ll do that on the finished engine.  It may also be polished if I’m that ambitious to polish everything as the original engine was done.  However, I’m not likely to send it out for chroming.
<S333-GovernorAssembly-Side-s.jpg> <S333-GovernorAssembly-Front-s.jpg>

[Dave Otto]

Thanks for the details on your radius turner, if it would not be too much to ask could you include a photo of the travel stops?

Thanks
Dave

[CI]

That is a great looking governor !
.

[rstreift]

CI - thanks, bronze and stainless have a certain beauty to them.

Here is a pdf of the ball turner

[Dave Otto]

CI - thanks, bronze and stainless have a certain beauty to them.

Here is a pdf of the ball turner

Thank you, that is perfect!

Dave

[rstreift]

The Engine

The Frame, #S331-A
The frame is one of those pieces that takes a jig to hold and seems fragile to me.  After fettering the casting and fondling it longer than I care to admit, I decided to mill this as I have enough length and size of boring heads/bars to do it.  On the other hand, my lathe does not have a ready method to fixture the casting and use a boring bar centered on the tailstock, which I never made.
I figured out I could reuse two blocks that I used on anther Briesch casting.  It is a steam hammer that had a cylinder casting where the core had collapsed, but I didn’t know it until it was about finished.  I have a replacement casting, but haven’t gotten excited enough to go back to working on it. I wanted to keep the blocks as they are so I keep that option open, it is about 70-80 % machined.  Just a coincidence that these are both originally Breisch created kits.
After a bit of playing with an indicator, I began lining things up.
S331-A-EngineFrame-1.jpg, S331-A-EngineFrame-2.jpg

I fabb’ed a couple of angle brackets to capture the frame in the blocks and bedded it with packing.  A final check on alignment with the angle plate and we’re ready to move it to the mill.
S331-A-EngineFrame-3.jpg, S331-A-EngineFrame-4.jpg

I face off the crank end with a roughing mill and finish with a fine old shop-made fly cutter.  With a drill and boring head, the ID is finished.
S331-A-EngineFrame-5.jpg, S331-A-EngineFrame-6.jpg

This is where the plan is more difficult than it should be, but it’s a matter of using what I have.  I expect to bore the crosshead guide out with a 3” square boring head using 1” boring bar that is about 1 1/4” at the cutter end.  The casting is about 7/8” internal.  So, I start out with a 1/2" bar on a 2 1/2" boring head.  That gets me to a place I can use a 5/8” boring bar that is about 7” long.  Makes for a rough bore, but the intent is to get it big enough to use a 3” round boring head with a 3/4" bar that has about a 1” cutter head. 
S331-A-EngineFrame-7.jpg, S331-A-EngineFrame-9.jpg

[rstreift]

That works ok so far, I use the 3” round boring head with a 3/4" bar to quickly bore it out enough to use the “3” square boring head using 1” boring bar that is about 1 1/4” at the cutter end” mentioned earlier.  After a couple passes and ready to make the final passes to 1.499 to allow for lapping, I pull it out to sharpen.  This boring bar is a brazed carbide tip type and it came to me with the tip slightly chipped.  Not a problem, I just sharpen it.  It has been used several times before.  Not so lucky as it shattered while touching it up.  Rats !!! OK, not all is lost.  I have a 1” solid bar that uses 5/16” HSS bits I had shortened for a long-forgotten project.  I knew it was just a bit short when fully mounted in the head, but now it’s time to see if I can stick it out of the boring head enough to reach the end of the crosshead guide.  With some careful finagling it can be made to just clear the end of the guide. The square 3” head is too big to pass the angle plate, it was just a millimeter or 2 of clearance when the bit cleared the guide.
S331-A-EngineFrame-8.jpg, S331-A-EngineFrame-11.jpg

What a circus it was boring the guide, below are the boring heads and bars used to complete it.  The bar with the shattered tip is to the right of the 3” square head.
S331-A-EngineFrame-12.jpg

Now its time to relax and spot/drill out the bolt hole pattern. 
S331-A-EngineFrame-14.jpg

I flip it over to face and drill the holes for attachment to the main bearing.   First thing is to align it to the bed axis and find the center.  While I’m at it, I check that the guide is parallel to the z axis.  It is about as perfect as I can make it. 
After adding some packing and clamps, it is ready to mill.  Well, sorta’.
S331-A-EngineFrame-16.jpg, S331-A-EngineFrame-17.jpg

I need to measure the length after facing to make the final pass.  To do that I clamp a plate to the bottom of the casting and make a 7.700” bar that I can measure a depth gage to.  After facing it and drilling the two holes, I need to do some turning.
S331-A-EngineFrame-18.jpg, S331-A-EngineFrame-19.jpg

[rstreift]

I know there are some drops laying around and find one suitable.  Clock it in, turn the boss, and tap it.  The frame gets its flange and some of the body turned to size. 
S331-A-EngineFrame-20.jpg

I’m tending to leaving the rest of the casting in its rough state.  I could turn down some of the guide area, but the rest will need filed/sanded.  I’m going to leave it as is for now.
However, it does need the oil cup and tapped hole.  Since there is no guidance for constructing the oil cup, I decided to make a simple one with a lid.
Centering the spindle over the frame at 2 inches from the crank end, the frame is spotted/drilled/tapped.
S331-A-EngineFrame-21.jpg, S331-A-EngineFrame-22.jpg, S331-A-EngineFrame-23.jpg

The oil cup is turned from brass rod with the major diameter threaded and the round part cut with steps and smoothed with a file.  The through hole is drilled and then parted off to finish the interior.
S331-A-EngineFrame-24.jpg, S331-A-EngineFrame-25.jpg
The cup is mounted and the interior drilled.  The lid is turned from the same rod with the step to match the cup interior.   It is parted off and mounted in a collet to form the top for gripping.
S331-A-EngineFrame-26.jpg, S331-A-EngineFrame-27.jpg

[rstreift]

The Piston, #S331-F
The piston comes as a nice piece of round cast iron, looks like a piece of continuous cast Dura-Bar, who knows. 
It mounts to the piston shaft with a ¼” per foot taper and a nut.  I need to set the compound to cut the taper.  I made a sine bar table to hold a 5” sine bar and stack just for the purpose of setting the taper on a lathe.  The first pic shows the adjustable bar being set parallel to the Z-axis, no travel on the indicator as the saddle traverses the bed.  The next pic is with the sine bar and stacks to set the taper.  The compound is adjusted until the indicator indicates no travel while the compound is traversed. Since I’ll use the same lathe and setup for the piston shaft, this degree of precision is not really needed, but it makes the part interchangeable with any that are made to 1/4” per foot.  The stack needed for 1/4” / ft is ~ 0.0521”.
S331-F-Piston-1.jpg, S331-F-Piston-2.jpg

Swapping a 5C mounted chuck for the collet, the CI lump is indicated in and roughly turned to size.  It is drilled and then bored for the taper.  The piston is remounted to turn and face to roughly size and bored for the nut clearance.
Once the piston shaft is made, I’ll mount the piston and finish the piston to size.
S331-F-Piston-3.jpg, S331-F-Piston-4.jpg


The Piston Rod, #S331-E
I cut off a 5” piece of 5/16” SS 303 stock and mount it in a collect.  The print calls for 316, but what I have is 303.
The print shows 3/8” for the length of taper and remaining 3/8” is threaded.  Nowhere does it indicate the thread size, but it seems a bit obvious 1/4” is a good choice.  Once the threading is done, I cut the taper for the 3/8” length until the piston is fitted.
S331-E-PistonRod-1.jpg, S331-EF-Piston-n-Rod-1.jpg

With the nut tightened, the piston is finished to final size.
The piston rod was faced on the crosshead side, measured from the shoulder for the piston, and the drawing’s measurement subtracted from the actual length.  Then a little dye-chem and the distanced marked from the crosshead’s end.  In the lathe the mark was aligned with the facing bit with a 10x loupe and the DRO set to zero.  After facing to spec, the piston rod is finished.

[Sanjay F]

All looking very good with a great finish   

[rstreift]

Thanks, Sanjay. 

The Cylinder, #S332-A
Playing with the casting, it measures reasonably well for the flange diameters and consistency with the mounting pads.  It is mounted to the angle plate with shims under the mounting pads.  A bit of checking and I’m about as happy as possible.
S332-A-Cylinder-1.jpg, S332-A-Cylinder-2.jpg

On the mill, it is indicated to the table axis and the flange surface is given a cleanup.  As the flange is pretty good to the rest of the casting, I indicate on it to center for the bore and bore to size minus for honing to fit the piston.
S332-A-Cylinder-3.jpg, S332-A-Cylinder-4.jpg

It’s back to the surface plate to figure out where the center of the casting is located and mark where the flanges should be turned to.
S332-A-Cylinder-5.jpg, S332-A-Cylinder-6.jpg

To turn the flanges and have the total length be centered on the exhaust port, I turn a flange to diameter and as perfect to the length mark as I can using a 10x loupe.  Then mount the cylinder back on the mandrel to turn the other flange diameter and total length.
S332-A-Cylinder-7.jpg, S332-A-Cylinder-8.jpg

[rstreift]

Now I can hold it in a vise on the mill, time to bring the mounting pads to size. 
S332-A-Cylinder-9.jpg, S332-A-Cylinder-10.jpg

The steam chest/valve surface is next to bring to size. 
S332-A-Cylinder-11.jpg, S332-A-Cylinder-12.jpg

The steam chest mounting dimension boxed in and I used a ball mill to eliminate some of the filing work needed to blend in the lines.  Then spotting/drilling/tapping for the bolts.
S332-A-Cylinder-13.jpg, S332-A-Cylinder-16.jpg

And while I’m doing bolt hole, the bolt holes for the heads need done also.
S332-A-Cylinder-20.jpg, S332-A-Cylinder-24.jpg