started a new project

[cfellows]

Hi Chuck,

Just found this thread and am enjoying it immensely.  You sure don't let any grass grow when you tackle a project!  Wish I had half your get-up-n-go!  I've been putzing around with my Henry Ford plumbing parts engine for months now.

The Domestic and it's counterpart the IHC Famous are two of my favorite vertical engines.  I really like what you are doing here.  I have to say, you make things look a lot easier than I know them to be!

I do have a question.  What is the big drawback of an igniter system?  Seems to be simpler than points, coil, and spark plug...

Chuck

[cfellows]

One other question... don't want to get ahead of you here, but are you also planning to fabicate your own flywheels?  Clearly I'll wait for that part of the series, but was just wondering.

Thx...
Chuck

[chuck foster]

the reason this engine is progressing has allot to do with this forum and the kind replies that people have made about this project. to that i say thank you one and all 

chuck i have been following your henry ford engine build and i think you are doing a great job. you have been building and experimenting with different valve set up (running on air) but most of all i think you are having fun.............and that's the main thing, keep the hobby enjoyable.
most things are easy if you remember to take thing's one step at a time.
as for the flywheel's....................well i was going to fabricate them but the steel supplier told me that two pieces of steel 8" in diameter x 1 1/8" thick was going to cost $100.00
so i email bob herders about the flywheel casting's and they are going to cost me $105.00 delivered to my door.................so i thought i better just buy the casting's.

personally i like an ignitor, you don't have to have point's and a high tension coil. i have 4 or 5 model engines with ignitors and i have never had a problem with them. they are simple to make and work very well.

today i managed to make the base for this engine. now i did the welding and fabrication at work so i don't have any pictures of the step's involved.
here is the base after welding and grinding. one thing is for sure................i can't fabricate or weld like tom, man he did an excellent job on the benz engine 



the first thing i machined on it was the top were the cylinder and main bearings mount. then i had to cut a hole through the top to allow the crankshaft to rotate.



here the hole has been cut



next i drilled and tapped the holes for the cylinder mounts and main bearings



i had to cut out the bottom edges of the base to make it look like the original. by using the boring head i was able to make quick work of that.



i had to do these cut out's on all four sides. here is a picture of the original base beside the one i fabricated.
in this picture you can see the cresent shaped cut out's. now i know the base i made is taller than the original but i still have to fly cut the bottom's of the feet to thin them out. they are thicker than the original.............why..............cause i screwed up  and made them 1/2" thick instead of 1/4"







well that's all for today, hopefully i can get some more done tomorrow............like a connecting rod 

thanks guy's 

chuck 

[sbwhart]

Great work with the base Chuck, really enjoying and learning with this thread.

Cheers

Stew

[Rob.Wilson]

Great Build Chuck ,,,,,,,,,,GREAT READ 

Regards Rob

[NickG]

Chuck,

Forgot to ask, what angle taper was on the tapered pins for the crank and were the holes normal or tapered. I will have to read through the igniter bit again to get my head around it I think.

Nick

[chuck foster]

you guys are too kind with your comments  and i'm glad you are enjoying this thread.

nick i think standard taper pins have a diametral taper ¼ in. in 12 in. (0.6 cm in 30 cm)

i haven't been doing much in the shop the last few days due to all the holiday function's but now that's over i hope to get some work done.

i did manage to fabricate the main bearings for this engine. now i didn't photograph all the machining step's because i think you guy's will figure thing's out from the pictures.

the first order of business was to cut out the pieces of brass that would be needed



i then soft soldered the two set's of bearing halves together. the bottom half of the bearing has a flat on the bottom and the top half is rounded as you can see in the picture



i then faced off the bearing halves in the lathe. next i center drilled and then drilled them under size. the reason for drilling under size is the fact that i have to silver solder some more pieces to the bearing halves and i will ream the holes to size after the silver soldering.



roughed out and ready for the next step



the next step was to mill little cresent shaped cut out's, this will be were the pieces get silver soldered into.



here the part's are silver soldered in place (not very good at silver soldering)



i gave the bearings a bit of a cleaning but once they are fitted to the engine they will get a complete polish



the next piece was the cylinder support rods, now nothing fancy here just a bit of turning and threading to get the job done.
the four silver rod's in the picture are the original one's that i had to copy. i made the new one's out of brass for a different look.




well that's all for today, the next pieces to make are the connecting rod and piston.

i hope this all makes sense, if not just let me know and i will try and re-write it.

chuck 

[Powder Keg]

Looking pretty All right Chuck!!! I really like the built up connecting rods.

[chuck foster]

well i got out to the shop early today and managed to get the connecting rod almost done!

the first picture show's the original connecting rod and the piece of steel i'm going to use to make the new one is in the milling machine vise.
now i'm not going to make a connecting rod exactly like the original, i'm going to make a round rod instead of an "I" beam style rod. i think a round rod will look better with the round cylinder support rod's.



the first step is to center drill,drill and ream the bearing hole for the wrist pin. the wrist pin bearing will be a bronze bearing.



next i put the piece of steel in my lathe and started turning the middle section round



here the lathe work is done, now all i have to do is finish shaping the wrist pin end and make the wrist pin bearing and the big end bearing.





here it is sitting beside the original cast brass "I" beam rod



well now it's off to visit some of my wife's family. hope to get some work done tonight.

chuck 

[chuck foster]

got some time in the shop tonight and i finished the connecting rod for this engine.









i manage to get the exhaust rocker arm 1/2 done as well. the original rocker arm is the brass one.



i started work on the ignitor trip rod guide bracket. here is the original one



now this bracket has a funny twist in it as can be seen in the following picture. i was wondering how to make the twist just perfect 



so instead of getting too technical i just gripped the piece in the mill vise and twisted it with my adjustable wrench.



here it is sitting beside the original, now i left the piece unfinished because as i build the rest of the engine i will cut this bracket to fit.



i managed to finish the exhaust rocker push rod, it is a very simple piece and here it is.



it has a thread on one end to adjust the valve clearance.



and that my friends is all for tonight, tomorrows mission is to finish the exhaust rocker arm and all the ignitor trip stuff.
i'm getting excited and just can't wait to hear it run.

chuck 

[Darren]

It's looking great and coming along nicely 

Is the rocker arm cast, if so where did it come from 

[Rob.Wilson]

Hi Chuck

Great job ,i like the way you made the main bearing  ,,cant wait to see it running

Regards Rob

[Bernd]

Lookin' good Chuck.

And about that twist, not bad. Almost looks like the original. 

Nice fabrication job on the whole engine by the way.

Bernd

[chuck foster]

darren the rocker arm is fabricated, so far the only part's that will be castings are the flywheel's the rest will be fabricated.
fabricating takes more time but so far i'm enjoying the whole project. 

next up is the cam shaft bearings and the original looks like this



here are the part's used to fabricate one bearing (i need two bearings for this engine)



the bearing center gets two cut out's were the bolt posts go



next picture show's a complete bearing assembly ready for silver soldering



silver soldered and ready for cleaning





cleaned and installed on the engine





well now it's off to look at some full size gas engine's and one might just follow me home 

chuck 

 

[Bernd]

Nice Chuck,

They almost look like castings. Can't wait to see this engine running.

Bernd

[chuck foster]

not much to report but i did manage to build a drip oiler for the engine



followed by the exhaust valve lock off mechanizim. i forgot to put the ruler in the picture to give an idea of what size it is.
that ugly black set screw in the middle of the first picture is #4-40





and i got a start on the carb.




the carb needed four # 2-56 bolts, now i didn't have any bolt's so i had to make them from some 1/8" hex bar.
it was a very straight forward turning and threading job............and here is one of the bolt's finished




it is hard to describe the function of some of these part's, such as the  exhaust valve lock off mechanizim.
so what i was thinking is, if my camera will co-operate i will try to do a short video describing the function of the various part's.
as always if you have a question about what i'm doing please ask and i will try to answer the question as best i can.

chuck 

[Gerhard Olivier]

Chuck you are doing a fab job on this one -love the bearings (will have to learn to silver solder/ braze some time)

Gerhard

[chuck foster]

i figured today i would make the muffler for this engine. the plans do not show what the muffler should look like so i went looking around on the net for a picture of one.
after getting the picture and see what it should look like i set about making the pieces that would be needed.

first off i would need a 1" long 1/16 n.p.t. nipple so here it is



then a muffler back plate.



then i made the front plate. first picture showing the hollowed out inside portion.



this next picture shows the edge of the front plate and it shows the cut out's that allow the exhaust gases to escape.



then i needed to make three #4-40 hex head bolt's to hold it all together



all the pieces required to make a muffler



and the finished product



and here it is mounted on the engine



the last picture shows the engine as of tonight jan/03/10



gerhard silver soldering has opened up a whole new world of fabricating for me. up until about 3 month's ago i would electric weld some of the bigger part's i needed and i would bolt the smaller pieces together. both of those method's work but silver soldering id much quicker and neater. give it a try, you will like the result's.


chuck 

[Bernd]

That's a mighty fine looking engine you have built there Chuck. 

When is it going to be running?  No pressure. 

Bernd

[NickG]

Chuck,

you're churning these parts out quickly! 

I was just about to ask for an overall assembly pic but there it was - and it looks amazing!

Nick

[spuddevans]

That's looking real nice, I cant wait to see it running 


Tim

[chuck foster]

thanks for the kind comment's guys but this project is now on hold till i order the flywheel castings and get some paying jobs finished in my little shop.

there just never seams to be enough hours in a day to get thing's done 

thanks again for following along and i will let you guys know when i get the flywheel castings

chuck