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cfellows:
I got some more work done on my engine yesterday and today. I've been working on the design as well as some house projects, so haven't spent much time in the shop lately. Hopefully I can start getting really serious about this engine.

Here is the engine base. It's a piece of aluminum about 8" long, 2.25" wide, and used to be about 3/8" thick. However, it had a bit of a bow in it, so I flattened both sides with a flycutter in my end mill. It's now about .335" thick, but it is nice and flat. I will probably cut down the length some.

Here are the cylinder assembly support blocks. I gang drilled the holes to make sure they were in as perfect alignment as I could get them. They are 2" wide, 1.375" tall, and 3/4" thick.

Here is a partial assembly of what I have so far. The cylinder support rods are 3/8" diameter. Probably could have gotten by with smaller rods, but didn't want to push it. I'm quite happy with the alignment and the fit of the cylinder support rods... nice, close sliding fit. We'll see if that's still the situation after I screw the end blocks to the base plate... :-\

Next, I will fasten the cylinder support blocks to the base plate. Once I get all the air passages and mounting holes drilled in the end blocks, I may mill them down some so they don't look so "blocky".

Chuck

sbwhart:
Good start Chuck

I'm watching this one closely

Stew

cfellows:
Thanks, Stew.

I did a bit of head scratching today, trying to figure out how lash up the base plate and two cylinder support blocks so I could drill and tap the holes to hold them together. In the end, I mixed up a little bit of 5 minute epoxy and spread a very thin layer on the bottom of each cylinder support block. I placed the two cylinder support rods in the end blocks then carefully positioned the assembly on the base plate getting everything squared up, aligned and the right positioning. Then I just let the epoxy harden. After about an hour, the epoxy was nice and firm and the cylinder support rods still slid freely back and forth in the support blocks. So far, so good. I had already laid out and drilled the holes in the base plate, so now, I flipped the assembly over and drilled the pilot holes into the support blocks. After enlarging the holes in the base plate, I tapped all 4 holes 6-32 7/8" deep. I put in the cap screws, snugged them down then tested the fit of the cylinder support rods again. Everything still slides freely.

I'm a little concerned that if I take the screws out, break the epoxy bond and scrape off the epoxy, it might throw off the alignment enough to make the rods bind, but, as long as I don't have to, I won't take it apart. For now, I feel like I got the hard parts done.

Chuck

modeng200023:
You could fit location pins Chuck. That would align the parts for reassembly.

John

cfellows:

--- Quote from: modeng200023 on November 16, 2011, 04:26:40 AM ---You could fit location pins Chuck. That would align the parts for reassembly.

John

--- End quote ---

Yeah, I had thought of that. I'm more concerned about the blocks tipping every so slightly if I scrape the epoxy off. Might not be problem...

Chuck

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