Another Paddleducks build log

[spuddevans]

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. 

Thanks Don  , I actually never intended to make a boat for this, I just really loved the design of it and the simplicity of Bog's plans.

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

Thanks Dean  

Great job Tim I've enjoyed following you build.

Thanks Stew  

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

Thanks David   It's amazing where the time goes to, although on this build I did have a break of a few months due to circumstances beyond my control.

Running perfectly there Tim - very nice indeed!  

Thanks Nick  


Indeed thank you all for following and for commenting and giving me help and direction during the build. I have really enjoyed this build and it has challenged me on many occasions, but has also taught me a lot. I really recommend to anyone looking for a 2nd or 3rd engine build to consider Bog's paddleducks.

I do intend to bling this up a fair bit, including perhaps trying my hand at electro-plating, but that is going to have to wait for a bit as I have a couple of projects in mind to get done before that ( starting with my X2 cnc conversion )


Tim

[ozzie46]

  Great job Tim. Nice runner.   

  Ron

[spuddevans]

Thanks Ron

Tim

[Bogstandard]

Just over a year on and off Tim, and what a wonderful engine you have ended up with.

Very nicely done indeed.


John

[raynerd]

Nice job Tim, cracking runner you have got there!! 

[spuddevans]

Thanks John and Chris 

It's great to see you here again John, and even better to see you back in the workshop again

Tim

[NickG]

hear hear! 

[Brass_Machine]

Catching up on posts... Nice job Tim! That's a nice engine you got going there!

Eric

[spuddevans]

Catching up on posts... Nice job Tim! That's a nice engine you got going there!

Eric

Thanks Eric, I'm really pleased with it too.



Tim

[spuddevans]

I just wanted to add a little note to the end of this build log.

I've noticed on madmodder and HMEM some folk are working hard on improving their chinese-made machines and ironing out any imperfections in their lathe and mill, and I am now doing the same thing to my lathe and mill as well.

But dont let that fool any of you who may be wondering about getting one of these into thinking that you have to do a whole load of work on them before you can make any "fun" projects. I bought both my X2 mini-mill and my C2 mini-lathe from axminster (free postage to northern ireland ) and apart from cleaning off the red grease that was liberally spread over every concievable surface (and then some more), bolting them to a worktop and then plugging them in, I have done virtually nothing to the machines themselves. The only thing I did was to get a quick-change toolpost for the lathe and also a ER32 collet set and arbors for lathe and mill, and built a belt-drive for the mill which just made it quieter and smoother running.

My hope was to build a couple of engines and then turn to improving my machines after I was a little more experienced in machining.

These machines have improved a lot in their out-of-the-box state, and I have proved that you can make some fairly precision parts on them without having made a raft of improvements to them. Yes, I am in no doubt that there are many improvements that can be made and that these will greatly improve the ability and repeatability and accuracy of the machines, but dont be put off from getting one of them if that is what you can afford, you can make some very good parts and engines with them, and then you can use them to make parts to improve the machines themselves.


Tim

[Bernd]

Tim,

20 years ago I got one of those far east lathes. If they hadn't improved to the point of today there would be a lot of people not in this hobby.

I started to improve this lathe. It's a project right now that's collecting dust. One of these days I'll be back at it since there are a lot of other projects that I want to do and it will need the improvement of this one lathe.

Benrd

[terryd15]

Well Done Tim,


It's nice to see that they can be made to look good despite the awfully crude originals I may even try one.  I assume the originals were made on very simple machinery which has put me off for years.


Ket

[spuddevans]

Hi Ket welcome to madmodders

This paddleducks engine is well worth building, it tought me a lot of new and valuable skills, plus it was really enjoyable too.


Tim

[Bogstandard]

Ket,

It's nice to see that they can be made to look good despite the awfully crude originals I may even try one.  I assume the originals were made on very simple machinery which has put me off for years.

Actually, page 5 of this article shows one of the originals.

When it was designed and made (on the run) great care was taken to keep all measurements to the nearest half millimetre, so no weird and wonderful calculations to carry out. Plus it was destined to be made by a novice who may not have such precision machinery as a few of us possess.
There were never any plans produced, purely because the sketches told all. Make one good piece at a time from the rough sketches to the dimensions shown, and with minimal tweaking and bedding in (no more than a normal engine being built from plans) you should end up with a fairly complicated looking engine that actually runs. The build article starts off with only basic machining skills required (ideal for a beginner) then as it progresses, and the builder gains in experience and confidence, slightly more complicated parts are made, but still within the realms of a relative novice.

There have been a few builds been shown on the web, all successful, and I am sure there are now at least a hundred that have been built, and I suspect a lot more. So the 'awfully crude originals' couldn't be all that bad.

So with your superior skills and machinery (which by your comments you seem to have), you should be able to knock up a great looking example in a couple of weeks.


Bogs

[NickG]

Tim,

Flat surfaces and flatting and rounding sticks are what you should be using, fingers are no good, they distort the surfaces too much.

Here is the finished blinged up engine of mine. A little different to what you are making, but still basically the same engine.





Maybe a little over the top, but it does show what a few changes can make to the overall look of the engine.

Get yours running first, then strip it down and do all the shiny bits afterwards. Then you know you are not wasting your time.


John

Hmm awfully crude? 

[Stilldrillin]

Wish my work was that crude...... 

David D

[spuddevans]

I've just re-read Ket's post, and through my sleep-filled eyes at 6.15am this morning I missed his comment about the originals being "awfully crude". How rude is that!!

Maybe english is not your 1st language, but John's (Bog's) originals are a whole world away from even being poor, let alone awfully crude. I would be more than happy if my engine had half the finish quality that the originals hold ( and given enough time and careful detailing, hopefully my one will improve )

Wish my work was that crude...... 

David D

My sentiments exactly.


Tim

ps.  I also wish that I had the "very simple machinery" that the originals were made on.

[Bogstandard]

Actually Tim, they were made on a late 1930's Atlas 10F lathe and one of the first and real crap mill drills dating to around 1987.

Not quite the same as I use now.


John

[Divided he ad]

Back to the fun side....  Top job there Tim    I was kind of absent through a lot of your build but have just read through some of it and watched the videos.

Looks neat and runs great    I wish I had the patience and determination that you show     If it takes me more than a week I start to lose the plot 


Congratulations on a job well done 



Ralph.





Side note.... Erm John 

one of the first and real crap mill drills dating to around 1987.

 
Oi!! I got one of those real crap mill's!         

I'll let you off, since your such a good bloke and I've seen the results you got from said machine

[Bluechip]

I wonder if he's referring to  'prototypes' rather than  'originals'.

ie. some full-size engines?

Seen one or two full-size open-crank engines that were a bit er ... unfinished .. in places. Although I should think they were OK where needed.

Sez he, bored stiff watching it snow .. the next clown who mentions Global Warming is a %?>@?# dead man ...

Dave BC

 

[Bogstandard]

Ralph,

When the mill drills first came out, they were nothing like yours, they were like I called them, crap. Made with flint tools and sharpened chopsticks.

So badly made, they wobbled and creaked at every joint.

It was either that or nothing, so I went for it and learned how to get around the problems. I made some of my best stuff using that crappy mill.


John