OK I had to share this with you as soon as I could.
I remade the melted con-rod yoke today, this time in steel to remove the risk of another meltdown. I then assembled the whole thing to see how it all fitted together. It just needed a little skim of the piston, (I’m using O rings so the seal won’t be an issue), adjustment of the length of the piston rod (the design provides for this) and an ‘eyeballed’ setup of the valve timing. With plenty of oil it was a little bit tight but no really tight spots that required a hammer to shift. It felt ‘right’ so I had to give it a go so I quickly made a ¼” x 40 inlet port and connected to the airline. With a flick of the flywheel it was off (this is not a self starter).
This video is the first run, I didn’t even have time to tidy up the bench
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E8lTwT2RNsIts running on about 10psi of air, not a single gasket or any silicon in sight, just metal on metal. None of the bolts or pins are secured with loctite. You can see one of the pins working its way out, hear the leaking air and see oil seeping out of the bottom cylinder cover.
All in all I’m pretty pleased with that. It just needs a strip down, parts finishing, a bit of paint here and there to highlight things and the obligatory wooden base.
……………….and before Murray says it, it probably now needs its own boiler, but that’s another day.
Pete