BMW V8 dry sump from billet

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Dean W:
Well, all right, Ade, if you're not the "Lord of the Swarf", how about the "Benny Hill of the Bridgeport".

I remember those shows here in the states. Seemed like every show ended with a bunch of cops or hot young ladies chasing him around with Yakkity Sax as the cover music.

Keep up the good, fast work.

Dean

madjackghengis:
Hi AdeV, I've run into that sort of problem before of a great deal on a huge piece of metal, and having to cut it with less than ideal tools. I've got a couple of pieces of inch and three quarters mild steel I use for various projects, two pieces each about 150 Kg, and I found the fastest way to cut this is with what we call a "saw's all", which, if you are not familiar with it, basically an industrial strength jig saw which will handle a blade eight or ten inches long if necessary. It works right nice on almost anything using wax based blade lubricant, and I've cut a whole lot of ali with it as well, as I have lots of half inch to two inch plate I've had to cut from time to time. For the thick steel, I even use a coarse wood blade say about five or six teeth per inch, as it clears the swarf much faster than finer tooth counts.
I've got to say, that's quite an ambitious project you've got going there, I could almost cry seeing that huge piece of aluminium cut up, but you can't make an omlet without cracking a few eggs. I'm looking forward to the end result.
Mad Jack :headbang:

AdeV:
Hi Mad Jack - that sounds like a ferocious piece of kit.... I'll have to look out for one :D

I can't believe it's been 10 days since I did anything on this project, but obviously that's how long the wax interlude has taken.... Last night I finally finished pouring; the last bit being to fill the mould where the edges had shrunk away somewhat. So, today, this is what we start with:

The thing on top just directs the pour down the edges, as required. As I'd hoped the block slipped out of the mould as sweet as you like. The only bummer is, a couple of the pieces of wood had some kind of plastic coating, which has partially got itself into the wax. As a result, I may not be able to do the "wings" portion of the sump to full width, in this wax version. Not to worry....

You can see where last night's pour has worked its way underneath the block, such is the extent of the shrinkage. The lines "drawn" on the wax have actually transferred from the mould - cool :)

So: Load it on the mill, lob the biggest cutter I have in (the 2" shell mill), and prepare to flatten each side:

The wedges underneath are just there to keep it roughly level, until I've got enough flat on one side to turn it over & do the other side.

Some time later:

The mould now contains the swarf that's come off the block. That'll melt down into new wax, one day...

Next up, mill one of the ends flat, so we have a reference side. This should be - pretty much - square with the bottom side, in this picture:

As you can see, there's a lot of overhang. This is one big lump of wax... (approx. 18kg out of the mould; approx. 15kg at this stage). The edge being milled:

You can really take liberties with this stuff: That's a 0.040" climb cut going on, and it just takes it. I could probably have cut a lot deeper...

So, this is as far as I got today:

Full day in the workshop tomorrow, I should have that lump squared off completely & have made a start on the main cutting operations by tomorrow.

:thumbup:

Dean W:
It sure does look like it mills nice, Ade. I'm enjoying this thread a lot, and even learning things, (how 'bout that!).

I wonder, when you collect all the shavings from the wax do you have to worry much about foreign matter? Will it just melt down and have all the junk bits sink to the bottom, or do you have to do some kind of straining process?

Thanks!

Dean

AdeV:
Dean - I'm glad you're enjoying it; and heck, if I'm showing people new tricks already, well - it must be dumb luck.... :thumbup:

So, this morning's first job was to get the block on the mill ready to cut a second edge. I wanted it square with the first machined edge - no particular reason at this stage, except that it's good practice. So, I used an edge finder along the first edge to get it dead square with the mill. Don't ask me why I used an edge finder - I thought I was being clever. Turns out I was just lucky - trying to line the next edge up with the same method just took ages & drove me spare; so I ended up using a dial indicator, like I should have done this time!

Once squared up, I lined up with one of my marking out lines (+ a bit of cock-up space), and started cutting. This next shot should look familiar....:

Easy come, easy go; that's when I found the crack in the wax (see the Wax thread). But worse still, when I came to put the dial indicator into the chuck, to dial the other side of the block in - nightmare; the drawbar simply wouldn't tighten the chuck up! It didn't matter how murder tight I went, there was about 1/16th vertical play in the chuck. :scratch: So, a small diversion. As the drawbar was, for some reason, suddenly too long for the mill (possibly, I lost a washer somewhere; I've had the drawbar out a few times due to one of the threads getting chewed up), I needed a washer. Or, to put that another way, it's time to play on the lathe!

Chucked up a piece of 2" ali I happened to have cut off to a respectable length. Centre drilled, drilled progressively to 1/2" (fits over the drawbar nicely), then turned down the outer diameter to around 0.875" (about the same size as the drawbar head):

Then, using my special "parting off" tool, cut the spacer away from the parent:

And presto, a new drawbar spacer:

Worked a treat :)

So, finally, I could dial the block in & finish the last bit of squaring up:

Next job (which starts now): Finding a reference point & drilling some holes....

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