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| tom osselton:
Well I think I finally have all the tooling I need to start on my dad's engine he was one to design anything and this seems to be one of them he wanted to putt around the inner harbour in Victoria (bc) after putting in 34 years at the dnd dockyard. He made his own patterns and had the cylinders cast in Victoria, that is as far as he got. But i do have his drawings and some measurements so here goes! 1-1/2" & 3" cylinders So far I have cut up some 5" cast iron I bought last year along with some 1" cast plate for the chests dad had. I have started to clean up the pillars they were cast in playsand and were quite rough, my first cast job since grade 8 (I'm 61 now) that I made last year ... I think the sand was too wet or not packed good enough. The pillars look like the ones on a triple expansion I saw on utube. because of their slant I will have to start by machining the base and the matching lower face that will give me a reference point to keep the conrod slide at the same distance from the 9/16 piston rod and also for the bushings for the reversing through rod. One question (probably of many) is where to get some cast iron steam rings hopefully closer to home (Canada) and is cast rings a good choice? I'm picking them because of the expansion rate the pistons will be cast iron too. |
| vtsteam:
NICE! :thumbup: I know I've read in several places about how to turn CI rings from the solid, but maybe you want to buy them to make things simpler. Maybe others know of sources. If you want to turn them, I could search through my stuff to find the info. |
| tom osselton:
Thanks vtsteam for now I will try to source some out but if push comes to shove I'll give making some a shot or maybe i'm barking up the wrong tree and there is a better material for cast iron cylinders as it won't be run on a daily basis, I also should see what kinds of gland material there is out there before making the lower covers. I did not get too much done today I finished a part for the eureka gear cutter and set up one of the pillars in the mill ready for tomorow my son is coming over to use the lathe so it should be fun he's a second year apprentice so I'll see if he shakes his head. :D this is the best way I could think of to set it up: A square was held against the base setting the angle while tightening the vise. A level was placed on the mill and the risers for the slide they were real close. Using two height clamps on the square I set them for the high and low on the ends of the pillar to setup the second one. I'm hoping this will be able to have some degree of acuracy it squares both ends and keep the slide square I will record the dro readings for the other pillars mainly for height. This is the only complete drawing dad left us of what it should resemble when finished except for the cast pillars on the front. |
| vtsteam:
Tom I looked up a few things in the books I have this morning. According to Steve Chastain, steam rings were often cast in the form of a flanged pipe and parted off from it. The flange was used to mount the raw casting on the face plate. According to Henry Greenlee, both cast iron and steel rings were used with cast iron steam cylinders on other than small models (which used multiple simple grooves without rings, or felt packing). Cast iron being preferred. He mentions turning the rings 1 to 1.25 % larger in OD than the bore, and cutting the rings "at the thinnest part" diagonally (in profile view) with a "knife-edged file from the inside". I have read somewhere else -- no longer remember the source -- that rings were sometimes broken in preference to being cut. I don't remember how this was done. |
| tom osselton:
I have inquired at Stewart turner and heard back from them today they have the rings but not the overlaping type theirs butt together so I'm not sure about the gap leaking pressure so I'll email him back, anyways I am still looking. i did get some more done on the pillars with only one little mishap the cutter I was using decided to screw itself lower it's not the sharpest of tools (on the side that was not that visible of course) :doh: but have done two more with no problems. I have also started to face off the cylinder heads so there is progress being made although dad's drawings show the top covers going into the chamber almost to the bottom of the steam inlet going deeper than the machined step as the drawing shows. |
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