Twin Cylinder Steam Engine

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Darren:
I made an order late yesterday afternoon for some 2.5 & 3mm screws, nut, & washers from Precision Technology Supplies Ltd

They turned up in the post this morning, bloomin good service I'd say :thumbup:

http://www.stainlesssteelmicroscrews.co.uk/

bogstandard:
That is my major bulk supplier as well Darren, and as you say, a very good service.

This is who I use for smaller quantities of those special little things.

http://www.emkaysupplies.co.uk/

John

Darren:
Thanks John, that's another in the LBB... :thumbup:

Stew, apart from the four support pillars there is nothing much else to line up small hole wise. I did spot the pillar holes though :thumbup:

Darren:
The saga continues with spotting the four holes mentioned above later realising there was no real need as the miller was found to be more than accurate enough to get them bang on by itself.

What impressed me was the way I could tram between all the holes, and it was bang on every time. Even when going back to the first hole.
(and that involves quite a bit of tuning both wheels backwards and forwards for both center drilling and final hole drilling)

For any newcomers to milling, or lathing for that matter, always remember to turn the hand wheels the same way for every time you line them up. I always turn clockwise, so that means that if the movement demands a counter clockwise rotation I over turn by about a 1/4 turn and then come back to the marks I need in a clockwise fashion. This takes out any free play error between the lead screws and nuts.
Hope that make sense, sounds long winded :scratch:

Now comes the time to mount the pillow blocks to the base plate with some 2.5mm screws. My screws where 16mm long and I needed 8mm. So time to shorten a few for the job.
I decided to make a holder so that I could accurately reduce the size of each one.
A piece of brass bar.

Drilled 2.1mm and threaded 2.5mm. (Threaded under lathe power John H :thumbup:)

A piece was parted off and machined down to an exact 8mm. First time I used the lathe dials, bloomin accurate they are too, measured stub with digial calipers, read 10.1mm I dialed in 2mm and the result was 8.1mm. Dialed another 0.1mm and the end result was 8mm bang on !! :clap: I must use the dials more often.

Or get out more :lol:

Then off to the miller to cut a slot so when clamped in the lathe the fixture would tighten on the screw threads to prevent unscrewing when machining. Off center but no matter for this job..... :poke:

Snipped off the excess with a pair of side cutters. The scraps will be saved as you never know I may need some 2.5mm studs at some point.

Clamped up and lathed down to size

Lovely

Fixed one crank pillow block to the base plate, all holes lined up real nice. No forcing going on here :ddb: :ddb: :ddb:

Well that's it for tonight, I will make some more short bolts tomorrow..... :)

bogstandard:
Looking very good Darren, and I am glad you are picking up tips like saving the cut off ends to use at a later date. You will need bits like those when you come to assemble the piston spools to the eccentric joints. Two jobs from one screw.

I see you are also now getting familiarised to the way your machinery is working. I always reckon it takes about six months of use to find all the little quirks of a machine, where you feel confident enough to put on a cut and trust the machine settings to give you the correct result.

Now you are starting to assemble multi parts, don't forget to some way make a tiny mark so they always go back into the same position and orientation. I use a series of very small pop marks (flatted down level after punching), and if done correctly, in a position where they are not seen on the finished assembled part. But sometimes you can't always mark them up so they won't be seen, in which case make the marks as small as possible.

Well done :clap:

John

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