Gallery, Projects and General > Project Logs

Scott flame licker build

<< < (3/59) > >>

NickG: John, thanks for that. I would never have thought this through logically as you have  :smart:  but it all makes sense now. I'm glad I've held off trying any casting yet as I would certainly have cocked them up. I've tried in the past many years ago and never really got anywhere but back then I didn't even really have a feel for limits and fits, let alone geometrical tolerances which is what we are talking about here. I think by the end of your build I might have picked up some of the knowledge required to have a go at a simple kit of castings but just going to enjoy your article for now. Nick

Bogstandard: Most times, small casting kits just come with the instructions to file a flat surface somewhere on the casting and work from that. To me that is not acceptable, and why such a lot of beginners fall foul when doing their first casting builds. Usually ending up by throwing it under the bench when everything goes pear shaped. Unfortunately, castings are all sorts of shapes, purely because the patterns have to release from the mould, and a flat face just won't cut it, so they have shallow tapers everywhere, nothing that you can get a true measurement off. By me choosing this one major face to get perfect, now very easily, I can, if needed, get a few more faces square to it. Whereas before, I would be stabbing in the dark just where to drill holes and whether they are going to be parallel to each other. As I said at the start, this build is a sort of prep for when I get onto the real deal, getting me used to working with castings again, because no matter what, if you do go in blind, you will almost certainly end up with some sort of error or bodge on the finished item. I will say one thing though, working from drawings using bar stock materials is infinitely easier than using castings. It just isn't for everyone. John

NickG: I can see now that with that careful prep work and making the fixtures it will be a lot easier and you will realise the joy of using the casting. All the basic structure is there requiring a lot less tedious machining hacking metal away. You just need to machine the features in the correct positions, not saying it's going to be easy, but surely less tedious. Nick

Bernd: John, That was a bit of brilliant work. It's encouraging me to work on that bronze bottle engine again. I should have tought of doing the same since at work they did the same thing with the large machine castings. They were set up in fixtures to get datum surfaces. One question, maybe more. I noticed you didn't clean off the four bosses were the screws went through. Did you feel confident enough that they were level enough to just bolt down with out warping the whole base plate? Bernd

madjackghengis: Hi John, while most of my experience in life has been with bar stock, flat stock and making parts for broken machinery and engines, once one has had the pleasure of building out of good quality castings, and come out with a high quality piece of gear, whether an engine or a tool, that does exactly what it's supposed to do, and has the advantages of the casting at the same time, it becomes an agrevation when one has to machine away parts of bar stock which wouldn't exist if it were a casting, and they become the preferred way, if they are well cast with good metal and done by those who really understand patterns, and all the intracacies of taking a drawing and making it into a pattern, casting it, and providing what the machinist needs to work straight forward and not have to make allowances for problems.  I just downloaded the pdf file for this engine, and I think you're going to start a run on the casting kits for this engine, with this build.  I think it is going to be a work of art and truly beautiful when it is running.  The castings look very impressive and well formed, and the design looks very much like something that will attract all sorts of attention, particularly with the big bronze flywheel. :nrocks: mad jack

Navigation

 Message Index

Next page

Previous page

Go to full version