Compressed Air Radial Engine

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cfellows:
Today I shaped the Connecting Rod Master Spool (is there a proper name for this piece???) I used a 1.25" end mill to cut the curved part. As you can see, I used the crankcase as a fixture to hold and position the spool for cutting.

I'm going to leave the connecting rods alone for now. Next I'll be working on the crankshaft.

Chuck

cfellows:
I hogged out the crankcase today and mostly finished the other two cylinders yesterday. Still have to round off the edges and fins on the cylinders and crop the base flanges down to size. If you like exercises, try centering a six sided piece on 3 opposing sides in a 4 jaw chuck. Had me scratching my head a few times.

You can begin to get an idea of what it's going to look like:

Chuck

cfellows:
Did a little softening and finishing work today. This first series of pictures shows the radial set of holes being drilled which will hold the front crankcase cover to the main crankcase. I thought the group might like to see the indexing fixture I have built into my drill press. I picked up this round table at a scrap yard a number of years ago. It already had the 24 holes in the sides (well, two holes on opposite sides are missing, but I work around those). I had to turn the spigot down to fit my drill press. Then I bored out the center to fit a 5C collet. Finally, I made an indexing pin and lever from some strap I had on hand.

And here are some pictures of the engine in its current state:

cfellows:
I spent most of today doing remedial work. Paying the price for getting in a hurry earlier on. I discovered the cylinder openings in the crankcase were .010" closer to one edge than the other. And, they varied in size by + / - .005". So I set the crankcase up again and enlarged all the openings so they were centered and equal in diameter. Of course, that meant that the spigot at the bottom of the cylinders was now too small, so I had to build them up by soldering short lengths of brass pipe on them and re-turning them to fit the new openings. Now they are all consistent and fit nicely. I feel much better now! 8)

So, finally some pictures with the engine in an upright position. They always look better when you get some fasteners in place.

Yeah, I know, including the picture of the B-17 which adorns my shop wall is a bit over the top!

The overall diameter of the engine is a tad over 6". Here's a picture with a soda can for size reference:

Chuck

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