Building an Aligator

[stevec]

Sorry Greg, I read, but didn't absorb your statement " even if I had a broach, which I don't " .

[f350ca]

Another big part. 
This bull gear apparently was off a hay bailer. Had to bore it out to 2.890 to fit the shaft. Forgot to get a photo of it on the mill. This will give about 8.5 : 1 reduction from the engine to the paddles.
Quality control stepped in for a size comparison.

[EdK]

Isn't Julia helping on this one Greg?

Ed

[PixMan]

How is the bull gear fastened to the shaft, Greg? Did you mill a keyway in it and broach the bore of the gear? I don't see anything obvious.

Nice find on the gear, you don't often find one that size lying around that hasn't got missing teeth or become part of a garden landscape!

[f350ca]

It wasn't keyed then Ken but it is now.
Don't have any broaches, or a press big enough to centre the gear in. So the shaper came to the rescue again.


Was about at the limit for the Logan. Bolted a scrap of 5x5 angle to the bed and clamped the gear to that. Had the bottom resting on the base for the table support.



Mounting the shaft on the mill was a challenge too. Aligned it to the front edge of the table with a Starret height transfer stand (had to look it up on the net), the two pins slide along the face of the bed with an indicator mounted on it. Checked the shaft weight, 260 pounds.



Fitted with a 1/2 inch key.



Julia has only been inspecting on this one Ed, this project is the old boys club.

[f350ca]

The guys did a pressure test on the boiler then fired the boiler.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bae5YG9M...e=youtu.be

[vtsteam]

Really great to see that engine running, and all your progress with the shaft!

[f350ca]

Cut out the parts for the paddle wheel hubs on the plasma table. Basically two 24 inch disks with spacers between to bolt the wooden spokes to. The outside disk is slotted to allow it to form a cone, to let the outer spokes splay out to the 16 inch wide paddles. The plate was really rusty, after I cut the parts out we had them sand blasted, decided to cut some 4 inch holes and half circles in the dividers after they were cleaned up. Surprisingly the cuts were rougher after sandblasting than before. Think maybe the rough pitted surface deflects the arc worse than when the pits were full of oxide.

[awemawson]

Embedded sand may be the cause of the worse cut after blasting. I'm told it plays havoc with parts to be tig welded.

[f350ca]

Interesting thought, that could very well be what is happening. I can see a sand grain deflecting the arc. Had to slow the cut speed down to get it to sever.