Thread: Farm Boy

As I am working on the farm boy I was looking at some of the fixings. I have taps and dies for most but when I came to the 2-56 which I did not have any and found that for a set of three taps was £60+ so had a rethink and changed all but the three hopper long bolts to BA then found I did not have any 8BA nuts and bolts as well as a bottoming tap.

Now ordered more nuts and bolts as well as a new tap
But before I found out about the tap I had to sort out all of my loose taps and dies which are not in boxed sets. Just need to add some labels so I can find what types I have.

Tap and dies sort out.jpg

Then with what time I had left today a very simple job of making a square headed bolt as it was only a short job. Tomorrow I hope to drill the hole in the frame for this to fit, that is one advantage as I can do odd small pieces and place them in the box ready for when they are needed. That is an English 1 Pence piece

Smaal square head bolt (3).jpg

Oh don't laugh but ordered two sets of brass balls for the governor. Only need the two but got a spare set just in case

the hopper, front and rear frames are now complete all bar the assembly. Managed to complete all the holes including tapping where needed. Tomorrow I will join the front and rear sections with 4 screws and some metal epoxy this will then be the base unit done and I can add parts as i make them.




front and rear complete (1).jpgfront and rear complete (2).jpg

Metric Derek Metric.

Oh - forgot you are in England. Sorry mate.

Its looking great.

You are a top machinist.

Regards

Keith

I don't own any metric that small Keith I do have a small collection of the most common types.

DSCF2243.jpgDSCF2242.jpgTap and dies sort out.jpg

Today was joining the front and rear base units still need to clean them up the tape was there to prevent getting any epoxy into the threaded holes and any reamed holes

Joining rear and front base units (1).jpgJoining rear and front base units (3).jpg


Then onto the cylinder liner which I got to 0.001" under size which will allow me to polish the bore for the piston to run in.

Cylinder liner bored out (3).jpgCylinder liner bored out (1).jpg

Hi Derek

Looking great.

What is the size of the bore please ? and can you get a photo of the boring bar you used.

Top stuff

Keith

Thank you Keith.

The bar is cast iron and measures 1 1/2" X 4" and I have bored a hole 1" diameter right the way through. I started by drilling through with a small bit and working up to 3/4" before boring out. I used the largest boring bare I had for the length and kept the RPM down to 225. If I went any higher it would start to chatter.

As can be seen in the photos the largest one is still on the machine, I got the set s/h for silly money and they have done me well The inserts are only small and I managed to find some so I have spares



boring bars (1).jpgboring bars (2).jpg

Cylinder complete all but one hole to drill which is for oiling. Lost count the amount of time I had to clean up luckily I had a magnetic tray in a plastic bag which collected a lot of the swarf, just turned the bag inside out to contain the cast iron swarf without it sticking to the magnet. It was a great slid fit as per the instructions on the plans

Cylinder liner turned (1).jpgCylinder liner turned (3).jpgCylinder liner turned (2).jpg

Thanks Derek

Top work

Regards

Keith

After a Saturday at a car rally with my woodturning and a day of rest on Sunday(not because it is a religious day but due to being totally knackered after the Saturday). I returned to the workshop and realised that the liner was sticking out by a very small amount. Not sure why so proceeded to measure and remeasure all of my measurements.
Then it dawned on me I had left a small fillet on an internal corner so back into the 4 jaw chuck and with the parting tool banished it from the piece.
Now that I was happy with that I could set up in the milling machine and drill the oil hole, so now very happy with the liner.
With the two part metal epoxy dry(which I was not happy with got it from Halfords so now ordered some JBWeld) I cleaned up all of the joints on the rear and front halves of the main frame.
Tomorrow I will start on the piston.
No pictures of this silly mistake just a red face for not realising this when turning the liner, well you live and learn which is what I am doing a lot of with this project. It could have been worse.

Today was a slow day I turned the end of a cast iron bar down to 19mm to fit a collet at one end and also a small section of the piston over size so I could reverse it in the 4 jaw chuck. I then reversed the blank in the chuck and turned down the piston to the correct size and faced off, this will be the bottom of the piston. so there is some drilling and milling the bottom as well as a cross hole.
That will be done in a square collet block as the features need to be at right angles to each other. Hopefully that will be done tomorrow as I spent a while getting the piston to a very comfortable fit in the cylinder. As a learner to the hobby like most things it takes a lot longer than a more experienced machinist.
The photos show the piston during machining with a magnetic tray in place catching the cast iron swarf very little ended up on the lathe, will need to turn the bag inside out to contain it. I must buy some plastic bags as the wife keeps on wondering where all the bags are disappearing to

start of piston (2).jpg

The last couple of photos show the cylinder liner in place. If you look carefully there is a small witness mark at each end this is so I can line up a oil hole in the cylinder with the one in the hopper

Liner in place (2).jpgLiner in place (1).jpg

A class act Derek

Regards

Keith

That's a nice trick to capture the cast iron swarf Derek. SWMBO recently bought one of those mag trays for me, but I don't like magnetic things in my shed, and gave it away. Should have kept it for this purpose because cast iron swarf is a real pain.
Good progress on the engine.

Originally Posted by Picko

That's a nice trick to capture the cast iron swarf Derek. SWMBO recently bought one of those mag trays for me, but I don't like magnetic things in my shed, and gave it away. Should have kept it for this purpose because cast iron swarf is a real pain.
Good progress on the engine.

I can't remember where I picked up this tip but it worked great. Another thing I do so save having to dig under the lathe is place a shallow baking tray under where most of the work is done it catches a lot of the swarf just pull it out and dump swarf in a bin. It does not catch everything but does save quite a bit of clean up. I could always get a second one and place it next to that but this one catches the majority of it.


tip time (1).jpgtip time (2).jpg


Have started the piston then had to stop because I need to order the correct sized o ring getting it centred again is no problem as I will use a ER chuck in the lathe.
I had a very small hiccup as can be seen looking into the back of the piston as it is only minor and of no problem of it fitting. The threaded holes are for grub screws to lock the wrist pin in place.

start of piston (2).jpg piston progress (2).jpg


Progress so far showing all the parts I have except the two cast fly wheels, which still need to be machined


progress so far (4).jpgprogress so far (7).jpg


This is a blank I have prepared for the con rod

progress so far (3).jpg

Looks good you know a thing or two about machine work you really do.

Originally Posted by Peter White

Looks good you know a thing or two about machine work you really do.

I am most certainly just a beginner at this and have made some mistakes which I have had to remake a part that has taken two days to make as I am very slow. I have just scrapped the con rod for this engine as I made a simple mistake that should never have happened. Whats the old saying about measure twice cut once and yet still got it wrong