[PROJECT] Bar Stock Steam Engine

[TomG]

Nice work, Trevor. You are giving that rotary table quite a workout!

Tom

[Cross Slide]

(02-16-2022, 12:09 AM)TomG Wrote: Nice work, Trevor. You are giving that rotary table quite a workout!

Tom

Thanks Tom

I really like using it now that I understand more about it. It definitely makes a lot of jobs easier. I just wish mine had four T Slots instead of just three. Would make clamping parts down easier.

[rleete]

Mine has 4, and it's still not enough!

What I did was make a 1/2" aluminum plate to mount to the top, and now I can drill and tap holes in that where ever needed. The plate has a boss on the bottom that registers into the hole in the center of the rotary table, so I can remove it and return it to the same position.

[vtsteam]

Nice looking eccentric strap! (I was wondering...cam bushing? Is this a poppet valve engine?).
Do you have a bandsaw yet? I was just wondering, that's a lot of plunge cutting!
Nevertheless, beautiful result, and you solved the sacrificial plate/clamping problem, which would have been a head scratcher, for sure.

Enjoyable watching you work, this is going to be a fine engine.

[Cross Slide]

(02-16-2022, 11:24 AM)vtsteam Wrote: Nice looking eccentric strap! (I was wondering...cam bushing? Is this a poppet valve engine?).
Do you have a bandsaw yet? I was just wondering, that's a lot of plunge cutting!
Nevertheless, beautiful result, and you solved the sacrificial plate/clamping problem, which would have been a head scratcher, for sure.

Enjoyable watching you work, this is going to be a fine engine.

I do have a couple bandsaws. But it was easier for me to just find the center of the hole and do the rest with my DRO. The plunge cutting didn’t take very long at all once I had my DRO set.

[Cross Slide]

This part of the build is the Valve. For some reason I was fearing this part. Not sure why, because it turned out to be really easy to make. I was wanting to use my 5C collet chuck for this part. But I have yet to get a decent backing plate made up for it. I started out with 5/8” round brass and turned it down to a nice slip fit in the cylinder 0.499. 
I also found out that my tail stock must be out slightly as I was getting a very slight taper in the part. So I had to finish it off with emery paper to get the fit I wanted. But it is a nice fit now.

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Trevor

[Cross Slide]

More of the Valve!

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

   
   

Trevor

[Highpower]

Motoring right along.

[Cross Slide]

The next part on the build is the Aluminum Base. I didn’t take all that much for photos on this piece. I started out by clamping it to my mill table to square up the edges. The plate was bigger then I could do by clamping it down and doing all the edges at once. So I had to indicate the edge to my X axis, do one edge, unclamp it, rotate, etc. 
Once the outside edges where done I clamped it to my table again inducted the back edge to the X axis again, and drilled and tap the series of holes required. My DRO made easy work of that process. I also had to cut a wide slot that the flywheel will run in. The plans called for a section of the base to be cut out on the bottom right. I changed the radius in the corner slightly from the plans as the material removed would be big enough for another project. So instead of a 2.00 radius I have a .375 radius. 

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
At this point the machine work was done on the base other then drilling the corner mounting holes and some filing on the edges. 
   
Now that the holes in the base where done I was able to test fit everything that bolts to the base. Everything fit perfectly as it should.

At this point I’m done machining all the parts for the Bar Stock Steam Engine other then finishing the aluminum base and the wooden base. But I’m not going to be doing them. A friend owns a powder coating and polishing business. He’s going to polish the aluminum parts. 
As for the wooden base. My brother is going to do that for me on his CNC Wood Router with some engraving done in the bottom right corner where the aluminum is cut out. 

So with any luck my next update will be a complete engine with a video of it running!!!

Trevor

[TomG]

Nice work, Trevor. It makes me want to get back to the shop, if I actually had a shop. 

Tom