Another Paddleducks build log

[sbwhart]

 

Got this one from Aldi a few weeks ago £12.50 with lots of bits, 240V nice a chunky with plenty of humph, at that price you can risk nackering it up as a tool post grinder.



Stew

[spuddevans]

My "dremel" is in fact the Axminster version, and I was going to try using the flexible extension part of the kit as it is only about 3/4" thick ( or there-abouts ) and hopefully relatively easy to mount to the toolpost.

I figure that even though the bearings may not be rated for this sort of application, it will not be seeing much use, I intend to turn down using conventional methods until I get really close, and then I will grind only the 2 3mm sections after hogging out the middle section. That being the ( theretical ) case I dont see too much wear if I take it really easy. ( famous last words ), and even if it does cause any damage, the damage will be to the flexable extension and not to the tool itself.

But like I said, I'll have another search in the metal stocks to see if I can find the 6mm silver steel,  hopefully I will find it.


Tim

[NickG]

Stew I got that one from Aldi about 6 months ago - same price!

[spuddevans]

Well, talk about resurrecting an old topic I cant believe that it has been over 4 months since I posted any updates.

Due to my better half's health situation, until recently I havent been able to spend much more than 20mins at a time in the workshop, which meant I hadnt made much progress on this build ( or on much else ). But things seem to have settled a bit to allow me a bit more time in the 'shop so I thought I'd update this build log.

To date I have remade one (already remade ) piston valve and made a new steam chest for it and succeeded in keeping a much closer fit.

I also have modified the pistons to accept o-rings.

I then started to chase down and fix as many causes of friction that I could.

I bored the bearing blocks all the way through, they originally had a 5mm thru hole for the crankshaft, and a 8mm diameter pocket each side for the ball races. I have since found that there was some friction being caused by the 5mm sections, so I got all 4 bearing block bored out to 7.8mm in the mill, then I carefully alligned them all together in the vice and used a 8mm hand reamer to open them out the final 0.2mm. Then I stuck some 8mm silver steel rod thru the 4 and gave them all a wipe over some 600grit w&d on a surface plate.

Then I loosely assembled the bearing blocks onto the baseplate, stuck the 8mm rod thru them, and then tightened them up. Then I lapped them using the same 8mm silver steel rod and some T-cut to get them spot on. Then I re-assembled the crankshaft with all the ball races and the difference was unbelievable, silky smooth and free.

After re-assembling the whole engine and re-timing it I applied some air to it and........





It ran    ( for about 20 secs until my little airbrush compressors tank was empty )


It seems to be quite an air-hog at the moment. I got it started on 50psi and it ran until the tank got down to about 25-30psi. I havent got any gasketing installed at the moment, nor any stuffing in the glands, so that will be my next process, chasing down the air leaks.

I also have noticed that there is a lot of air that seems to going straight thru the valving to the exhaust without meeting the piston, so that too will have to be investigated.

Overall I am quite pleased that I have got it to run on my little compressor, previously it had not had enough stored air to turn it over more than a couple of revolutions.


So while it is taking me ( quite ) a while, it is satisfying that at least there is some progress to report, hopefully in the coming weeks I will be able to post up a video of it working.


Tim

[sbwhart]

Hi Tim

Pleased that things are settling down for you, and that you've had some success with the engine, look forward to seeing the video.

Stew

[dsquire]

Tim

Glad to see that things are starting to fall into place again and you can get some shop time to help you relax a bit. We're all pulling for you Tim, hang in there. 

Cheers 

Don

 

[spuddevans]

Thanks Stew & Don, I appreciate your comments.

It's funny, now that I'm starting to get back in the workshop properly, the list of future projects seems to be growing exponentially !!!   After I get this running I am going to leave it in its reletively rough appearance for a while until I get a couple of small projects done, then I hope to bling it up a bit.

Some of the future projects are:-

Air powered hit-and-miss engine loosely based on Chuck Fellows design,
Either a V4 or a straight 6 wobbler type engine ( or maybe both  ),
Convert my X2 mill to cnc control,
convert my rotab to cnc control,
build a skeleton clock.

And that's just what I can remember at 7am!!!


Tim

[NickG]

Well done Tim!  

[spuddevans]

Thanks Nick

Tim

[spuddevans]

Well I got another little blast in the workshop this afternoon and managed to eliminate another cause for friction in one of the steam chests. I then brought my camera in and captured a video for you all to see. ( in HD and all  )

Before you play it I must apologise for the sound, there is still a lot of air escaping and then the compressor kicked in, so it might be worth sticking something in your ears ( or mute/turn down your sound ).

After running it for a bit it will self-start on about 35-40psi, and will run on as little as 18-25psi. It runs great one way, and not so great the other, but hopefully it will bed in after some more running.

It's not too pretty at the moment, and I still havent got any liqued gasket yet, so it still leaks a bit from all the mating metal faces. Once I get it running real smooth and on lower psi's I will bling it up.


Tim

[raynerd]

Nice job Tim.

With all these build logs and Bogs notes, I`m seriously considering this for my next project.

[spuddevans]

Thanks Chris even though I have had a few self-caused difficulties on this build, I can still whole-heartedly recommend the Paddleducks build. I have really learnt a lot doing this build.

Go for it Chris, you know you want to   


Tim

[spuddevans]

Just a little update on this.

I finally got some liquid gasket stuff, so I disassembled everything, thoroughly cleaned each part, and then re-assembled using the gasketing stuff.

Amazingly when I re-assembled it all and re-timed the valves the engine turned over by hand just as smoothly as it did before I broke it all down. I had been expecting to have to jiggle about and make fine adjustments in order to get the sweet spot on all the parts that have some adjustment.

Anyway, the engine is much quieter in running ( much less hiss ), and so I set about running it in some more. I hooked up my (slightly) larger air compressor (12L reciever, doesnt sound larger, but my other compressor is an airbrush  compressor with a 3L tank!! ) and let it run on about 30psi. Due to the small size of tank, and the fairly thirsty nature of my build of this engine at this time, the compressor was kicking in a little too often for my liking, so I would run it for about 5 mins and then let the compressor rest for 15-20 mins while I did something else, and then ran the engine in the opposite direction.

I kept this up until I reckon I had about 30-35 mins running time on the engine ( all the while feeding it with a little oil each time I rested the compressor )

It was then running a lot free-er freeer freer ummm , looser. Even to the point that I can turn the engine over just by gripping the crankshaft ( an oily 5mm steel rod ) with my fingers. Compare that to when I could hardly turn it over gripping the flywheel!!

Now I can run it off my little compressor which has a more accurate pressure gauge, and it will quite happily turn over on 7-8 psi in it's favored direction, and 12-13psi in the opposite direction.

After a little more running I'll take another video of it and post it up.

Then the blinging will have to wait for a little while as I have started on my CNC conversion of my mill. ( yea yea, I know. I will be starting another project log about it soon, with some pics too cos   )


Tim

[Brass_Machine]

Tim,

Haven't looked in awhile, but looks like you have it running now. Would like to see another video of it now that you have the liquid gasket.

Nice job!

Eric

[NickG]

Tim, you've cracked it there then - sounds great will look out for the video! 

[raynerd]

Some of the future projects are:-

Air powered hit-and-miss engine loosely based on Chuck Fellows design,
Either a V4 or a straight 6 wobbler type engine ( or maybe both  ),
Convert my X2 mill to cnc control,
convert my rotab to cnc control,
build a skeleton clock.

Tim

Haha - that looks like my list with the bottom 3 under way!!

pm sent to you re- the clock!

Chris

[spuddevans]

Thanks Eric, Nick and Chris

I'm actually on number 2 of my list of projects, the CNC conversion. But I have been getting to grips with Alibre 3d cad and have designed a experimental V4, double acting wobbler, I've attached a pdf of it for your optical pleasure. ( if you click and hold on the picture in the pdf you can turn it around to see it from diff' angles )

It may not work out, but I have some experimentation to do before I try and build it. If I do get it working ok I will release a set of plans if anyone would like to see them.


Anyway, thanks for the comments guys.


Tim

[NickG]

Looks a nice elegant design that Tim. I haven't done anything on Alibre since my rocking engine, I'll have to get back into it as it's really good to use!
Nick

[spuddevans]

Here's a video of it running today. Actually I have 2 videos but the 2nd is still uploading to youtube, I'll post it up when it finishes.

This one is running at 10-11psi, you can hear that my little airbrush compressor kicks in after a few secs and provides some needed background music to both clips

Here's the 1st vid ( available in full HD as well )

2nd vid to follow.

Tim

[spuddevans]

And here is the promised 2nd vid, this time a closer view and a slower one, running on 5psi !!!

Tim

[dsquire]

Tim

That is a great little runner that you have there. Nice and slow and quiet. All you need now is the boat to put it in. You did an excellent job on this. 

Cheers 

Don

[Dean W]

Really came out great, Tim.  Fine bunch of work you've put into it.
Nice runner!

Dean

[sbwhart]

Great job Tim I've enjoyed following you build.
 


Stew

[Stilldrillin]

Very nicely done, and shown Tim! 

Didn't realise I had been following/ enjoying this for over a year! 

Well done...... 

David D

[NickG]

Running perfectly there Tim - very nice indeed!