B.Hick & Son oscillating engine

[Sanjay F]

Spent the morning on the wedges and the front bearing locked in nicely, the rear one need some addtional shims in the form of some coke can strips so must have accidently made a deeper cut with the dovetail cutter on that one

I have now have some manual rotation which is promising; I did notice the flywheel is a bit wobbly on the shaft and it needs a new key cut, but I can do that at a later stage......

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WlFU52PJ8hI

[Sanjay F]

I'm really chuffed, the Hicks Oscillator is running .............it's been a bit of a mission this one and I got quite emotional when it burst into life! 

There's lots that needs tweaking like the flywheel key and take a look at the valve block doing some rock 'n' roll moves, that'll need as shim underneath it, but for now I happy! 

Thanks to you all yet again for the guidance and especially to the Jason, the master draughtsman, for deciphering and recreating the drawings 

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m3TB7UgT_Y" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m3TB7UgT_Y</a>

[Kim]

Congratulations, Sanjay!  Very exciting! 

Kim

[Jasonb]

Good to see there is some life in it.

[Jo]

Well done Sanjay. They are lovely little engines aren't they 

Jo

(You let a bit off when you ran it )

[Dave Otto]

Congrats on another runner!

Dave

[Sanjay F]

Well done Sanjay. They are lovely little engines aren't they 

Jo

(You let a bit off when you ran it )

Yes, they are a very nice engine and I really didn't appreciate how small they are until I began building it. Well spotted, I only noticed afterwards when I saw the end cap laying on the bench! 

Thanks everyone for your kind words, the engine is now in pieces in zip lock bags ready for a lick of paint and the last few bits which need sorting

[Chipswitheverything]

Great to see this unusual and interesting little engine running nicely, and your hard work on it come to fruition.  It will look nice painted up  : admire your customary devotion to getting the work done in this heatwave!  Phew!   Dave

[PaulR]

Nice work, sounds as solid as it looks 

[Sanjay F]

I've corrected the snags and given the little engine a lick 'o' paint. It said it was cream on the tin, but its yellow, I think we can all see that! 

I think this one's done, moving rapidly onto the next...........

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LbzqxcTOLC0

[Michael S.]

Congratulations 👍👍👍

The color turned out great. Perfect action.

[Admiral_dk]

You are getting rather good at this 
It runs, looks and sound good 

Per             

[Chipswitheverything]

Engine is running very nicely in the vid., and the colour scheme suits it very well, a smart little model engine.  You certainly didn't hang about with getting the painting done!, was it dry when you ran it for the video demo?!  Dave

[Jasonb]

Good to see it complete, a few comments that you might want to consider for the next projects.

Jo would certainly slap your wrists when it comes to stud lengths. Ideally you want a small amount of stud showing above the top of the nut and a consistent length. Ends of studs also slightly domed with a file while they are spinning in the lathe not left sawn.

Glands and bearing caps. As these are often not fully tightened down particularly in the case of glands it is usual to also fit a lock nut so single nuts don't come loose as can be seen with the piston rod gland

Nuts. If using single chamfer nuts then the chamfer should go at the top, rear crank bearing being a case in point.

On a personal note sand does not scale well so I would have done some more fettling to the standards as at full size those casting lumps would be 12 times bigger. Also as the fluting was redone to improve the cast ones I would have bonded the brass in with JBWeld and painted it all the same as the standards.

[Sanjay F]

All good advice and noted, I’ll definitely turn the chamfers round on the nuts as that’s something I watch out for.

I think my finishing has room for improvement like my school report used to say!