Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines
Builds, Repairs, Show Your Machines! => Technical Tips, Builds, and Help => Topic started by: yozhek on June 13, 2020, 03:06:03 am
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Hi Pat,
They are and they aren't, these castings are the biggest headache with this build. They are complex shapes but the halves of the castings are badly aligned in all axis when cast with no excess material and too much complexity to machine true.
Ade
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Those are some nice looking iron castings.
I love the machinability of gray iron, although many complain about the dust it creates.
The dust does not bother me, and I generally wear a dust mask when machining iron.
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How is the build coming along?
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Finally got a 63mm face cutter for the mill so i was able to face the main bearing seats and caps and bore the main bearings out, but now i'm stuck for tooling again as i want to put bronze bushes in the main bearings so need to bore them out to 20mm.
[attachimg=1]
I have found a good supplier now so hopefully it won't be stuck in the lathe/mill for too long :-\
Kind regards
Ade
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Good Morning Ade
Glad you have got it sorted .
The imperfection on the base was fixable but it ( crooked mill ) Could have cause you some real serious issue later on
Now you can get back to uncovering some more pieces.
Cheers
Dennis
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Hi Dennis,
Think i have that milling head close enough after much messing. You were bang on, it was leaning back too far, i shimmed it a bit and then it was too far forward and on it went until my brain opted for the 'close enough is good enough' approach. Think it is all too flexible to get any better, feels smooth to the touch now so better than before.
Haha, i kept moving the column to get the side to side true too, more and more until i could see the head was no longer straight to the column, only then did i realise the 0 degree striker bolt was loose from the factory, duh!
Thanks for pointing this out before i messed up a more important surface, much obliged :D
Kind regards
Ade
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You have made a good start and I am looking forward to following your build Ade.
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Thanks for the advice Gil, i will use this method in future :-)
Kind regards
Ade
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Hi Ade, When you post just look below the posting where it says "attach".
Then "choose file".
Then select to the right "in line full size image"
Thanks for asking!
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Great, thank you all for sorting it :)
Ade
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Pictures are back :)
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Hi Guys,
The pictures are hosted on VGY and all seems to be fine from my side, the site is up and i can reach the images via URL. Does the Office of steam web server download and hold the images or just link to the 3rd party image hosting site?
Example URL: https://i.vgy.me/mD6C1U.jpg
Kind regards
Ade
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Pictures were here yesterday and 3 hours ago. Now I just have a box with a blue question mark in the center...
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What pictures?
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Hi Ade, I am not seeing any pictures in this thread.
The pictures have a space between or below the text while they try to load and when they can't load after a brief attempt, the spaces for the pictures disappear.
Is anyone else having this issue.?
Gil
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Guess what Dennis? You are dead right, there are very slight ridges from each pass of the mill. I did not even notice when i finished the job but i can feel the ridging now you brought it to my attention. Thank you very much for highlighting this :)
Cheers
Ade
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Hi Dennis,
I did not feel any ridging on the base, but you got me thinking, i get what you mean, if the column is leaning back or forward then it will create a saw tooth effect. I was real careful not to apply and directional force to the column when adding the support plate but this is a great tip, many thanks Dennis and something i will double check.
Each pass was in opposing directions so maybe the stripey effect in the pic is because of this, probabaly the wrong way to mill?
Many thanks
Ade
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Well you have managed to uncover a couple,of,pieces . Well done .
Need more tools ?? A never ending quest .
The ridges on your base from the passes with the mill how deep are they ?
Looking from here it would suggest you need to undo your anchor bolts on wall bracket and shim out a bit as it appears
your mill colounm is leaning backwards from your lathe.
Wet/dry sandpaper and a sheet of glass will smooth out the base now .
Any way we will be watching
Cheers
Dennis
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The uncovering has begun ;D
Had a shot at the water jacket and liner on Saturday, figured this was the easiest place to start.
This is the first time i have worked with really wobbly castings, and trying to average out the wobble to find a centre and get both ends perpendicular to the average of the wonky outside took quite some time, ha! and this is the easy parts :o
Anyhow i think i got a good average so it doesn't look crooked like a dogs leg once assembled.
(https://i.vgy.me/THTiNc.jpg)
The liner was comparativly easy, all went well there, i left it 0.5mm undersize with the hope of honing out the cut marks, but the mini hone i bought for the last job wore out without making any impression on the finish or size and the proper hones for car engines are too big, oh well get the credit card out...
(https://i.vgy.me/bkiY3E.jpg)
While on the subject of buying stuff, i got my milling attachment for the Warco lathe, not too bad for the price but way to much flex :-\ ended up making a steady bracket to support the head from the worshop wall, not ideal but it does the job.
(https://i.vgy.me/mD6C1U.jpg)
Had to buy a collet tool holder for the mill, really struggled to find any compromise between affordable Asian products and decent quality kit. I ended up ordering a collet set that looked ok, but when it arrived it was in 'one of those wooden boxes' you know the kind of rustic boxes nailed together by a blind person working as slave labour. I guess the same person made the chuck too, what a pile of crap, the tightening collar hit the inner housing before it even touched the collet! Anyway a bit of bodgery with a ginder sorted that and i subsequently managed to find a Vertex collet/chuck set for about the same money for the future, here's hoping...
Suprisingly the mill worked pretty well on the base casting, so at least i have one flat surface to work from :D
(https://i.vgy.me/LSOQpg.jpg)
Thanks for watching :)
Ade
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A nice looking engine in there .
It is just hiding waiting for you to uncover it
Cheers
Dennis
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Oh dear, it is starting again ::)
Some lumps of metal have arrived from Engineers Emporium
(https://i.vgy.me/sW0nSI.jpg)
Kind regards
Ade