Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

Milled out the pocket anyway. Got the size of the cutout within 0.005" on all sides, within 0.002" on depth and centered on the part within .002" each direction. Always good to see how close you hit the mark.







Thinking I'll polish up the main face on a surface plate before it goes in to service.

Then had a try at some flycutting. I have a piece of aluminum plate that I want to use for holding the chassis casting. I started sanding it flat a while ago, but it quickly became apparent that it was going to need a fair bit of material removal. So, I ground a tool according to the geometry I found on Toms Techniques website, and had a  try.







I don't know much about interpreting the cross hatch pattern, but I think this is not too bad. The casting no longer rocks on the plate, although I still have a bit more clean up to do on the underside of the casting to get it set down all around, but progress made anyway. Only problem being the cross feed motor died shortly after I started, which is a bit vexing, so I had to hand feed everything. Probably just a contact brush issue I think.

I made a start on the crankshaft tonight for no particular reason. It's just what I felt like working on.







Not sure I'm entirely happy with that set up, so I'll look at that again before any more turning. Probably put on a cutting tool with a smaller radius for a start.

Also tonight, a little more flycutting to level out both sides of my jig plate.



My cross feed drive broke down, and is under investigation. I can probably repair it - better that than $450 for a new one.