Member postings for Alex Collins

The Gas Tank is complete.

The Valves all seal and it holds gas. (Only put a bit in)
Need to get some 1/4" sealing washers.
The Valve needles are sealed at the top with Teflon Pipe.

They have all soft soldered rather well. Joints are more than strong enough.
I made the side arms. Turned a 1mm nipple to 4.5mm. Drilled the body 4.5 and soldered them before drilling through to the middle with the .0625 hole.
Gas Valves are complete.
However I can't get all 3 into the tank (something you warned me about)

I will have to re think the discharge valve...... ​

Valve needles made tonight.Came out rather well.
Discovered the trick was to turn the die over and use the Back.
Maybe my M3 die is getting past it's best.

I'll make some nice knurled handles for them tomorrow.

You say to Silver Solder the side arms into the valve bodies.
Any reason why I can't soft solder them ? ​

Made the Valve Bodies tonight. Fairly easy turning / drilling / Tapping job.
Going to use Metric Threa​ds for them (M3)

Started to make the 1st Valve needle. Ground the parallel and point with the dremel. Very easy.
Finished with a flour file.
Ground off .15mm to make the rod 3mm.

What's the secret to threading stainless ? Got it started after a bit of effort. About 1/2 way in it stripped.

Decided that's enough for 1 evening.....

Hi James
I was in your position but a few years ago.
Both of the mentioned books are equally good, Go buy at least one of them.

My best advice has to be to get a Machine, get some Metal and learn the hard way.
Sure enough you will screw things up. Learn from your mistake.

A Fire Piston is a great thing to make as a first project.
**LINK**
It's trickier than it looks to make and have work.

The warco machines are very good value and within the limits of the machine work reasonably well.

Hi Martin.

I have ordered new 32DP Drive Gears.

The ones I have don't seem to be anything that I can make sense of....

As for the Gas Tank, It may well cause me issues further down the line. I can drop it fairly low down in the frames but the Bushes will be proud. I can trim a bit off the bushes if need be. I can also cant it either way.
If things get really bad I can cut the top off and add a plate or I have material to make another.

I'm very much learning here and enjoying doing so.
If nothing else my soldering skills have improved no end.

Hmmmm

The Packet says '32DP 30 T .250'

The reality is:
There are 30 Teeth.
The Bore is 1/8"
If they were 32 DP the gears would be about 1" dia.

These are /not/ 32 DP Gears. Great......

Back to the shops again.....

Hi Martin.

Gas Tank looks good and fits perfic.

P873 fig 17 and 18.
You call for 2 X 32 DP 30​ tooth gears for the final drive.

The wheels are nominal .750 Radus (Centre to edge)

My gears are .740 dia and together the centres are .700
This places the axle within the wheels.

Ideas / Comments please.

Thanks

Alex

All soldered up as planned.
The joints all look good. I will know when it's out of the pickle......

Gas Tank is ready to clean up and get soldered together.

I think this is going to be a 1 hit soldering job.
Bushes first then the end caps and Stay.
The cutouts in the end caps for the bushes should help keep them in place.....

Gas tank is well under way.

It's made form the 2​" Boiler tube, 1 1/2" Long.
The end caps have been made the same way as the Boiler caps on a steel former with a Vice and universal adjuster to help things along.

The Tank will fit in line with the frames at the back of the engine between the Buffer Beam and frame beam.
It will however be proud of the frames. Just hope this won't cause me to many issues.
I plan to use Copper Tube to make a central stay and use that to mount the tank with.

The Bushes will fit on the top and will be made separately.

If all goes well the tank should be complete over the weekend. I'll try and take some pictures as things progress.

Moto-Guzzi supplied me genuine Guzzi parts through my dealer.

The original Inner has worn. I wanted to replace the bearing (which was probably fine) and the inner.
The bearring supplied is SKF and of fair quality. More than adequate.

The inner should have a smooth and hardened surface. The inner supplied had neither. It was rough as hell, rusty and very poorly made.

That is why I returned it and made one myself. More and more people are suggesting it should be hardened and tempered ( to straw colour I guess).

Looks like i'll be pulling it apart again and replacing the inner with a hardened and tempered one.......

​

Hi All.

None of the web links are able to supply a suitably sized inner.

It's gone in Raw for now. I'll see what it looks like in a few weeks.

I'll make another, Harden and temper it if need be.

Thanks to all who responded. ​

Hi.
The insert is 25 mm long. 18mm OD 10 mm ID. 10mm bolt through the middle. Total Failure would be interesting but certainly not cause for major concern. ​

No turning down involved. Drill 10 mm hole. Cut it off and tidy up.

Loco axles rotate full turns. This will only ever rotate about 1/8 of a turn.
The worn original is hard - file bounces off even in the worn areas. That leads me to think it wasn't case hardened.

The replacement was that rough it looked like rebar - seriously it wasn't fit for the job in my book.

I'm going to drop it in raw. See what happens. If it gets loose I can put a hardened and tempered one in.

Thanks

Hi
Are you sure the nylon was running true in your chuck before you started ?​

Hi All
My nice motorcycle dealer​ supplied me a nice 18mm bore SKF needle roller bearing and a lump of rough and rusty mild steel as the center.

As the bit of Mild steel was like £30 I suggested that they can have it back. They agreed.

1 Length of 18mm Silver steel bought, Drilled and cut to length.

Do I need to Harden the Silver steel ?
Do I then need to temper it ?
Or can I use it as is ?

The bearing is part of the suspension linkage. High Load but very little movement.

Thanks

Alex.

Please disregard my earlier ramblings. It helps if I'm actually working with the correct end......

Folding up the box seems like a lot of work and a likely large bit of scrap copper.

IF I can make a tank from left over 2" boiler tube.
It'll be 1 1/2" long to fit between the cross beam and buffer beam.
The tank will sit in line with the frame rails.
I need to work out how the bushes will work at this stage.
I may well create a 3 way single bush as a strip along the length and silver solder it to the top rather than 3 separate bushes.
I can put a stay between the end caps in the middle without any issues.
I'll probably soft solder some angle to mount it.

In my book that makes the tank about 52 ml. (48mm X 35mm X 3.14)

Hi Martin.

I think I need more drawings before a decision is made on the gas tank.
The 2" tube can go in 3 ways.

If I go Vertical it fouls the edge of the wheels by around 2-3 mm. Not an option.

If I go Horizontal In line with the frame, I can mount it on the buffer beam frame at 1 end. Make a bracket for the other.
How long can I make it ? In theory a tad under 2" to clear the wheels.

If I go Horizontal across the frame (not something I had thought of) I think it'd fit rather well and mount with a pin through a central stay tube.
Whichever horizontal way, I'd have to try and mount the 3 Bushes in the top. That'll get quite tight I guess.

Going to make a start on the engine frames tonight.

Hi All.

New Edition turned up today. Lots to be getting on with. That'll be great.
I have to say I'm intrigued by the square gas tank. Another 2 or 3 mm on the frame length at the back and you could have used the same 2" tube used for the boiler. I could have also used the End Cap formers again. Maybe hindsight is a wonderful thing here.....
I have lots of copper tube. Can I use the tube for the stays ?

All the gas fittings look easy enough to make.

My Offcut pack can be used for the 2 brass plates.
I probably have suitable material in stock for all the rest as well.

Alex.

It depends on what you want to put on as a top coat.
I always put a single coat of primer on the top of the etch primer.
That makes sure it'll stay good in my book and adds very little cost.