Member postings for ROBERT BLACKSHAW

Thanks for the replies.

The point I was trying o make about cast iron cylinders is if they are in constant use for which they are made for then that is the material of the time to use,

But if I use my Beam Engine and not use it for a few weeks or months, is oil with water vapor and a blow out sufficient not for any rust to appear. surely a cast iron cylinder for appearance,then an liner of stainless etc is a better option.

Just going back to my flame eater with cast iron it was not used for three days or so and it was jammed up solid.

I am a bit of a novice but have archived working model a good standard in my opinion but I am a little worried with cast iron if not in use.

Thanks Bob

Having just finished a scratch build Beam Engine which works fine on a low air pressure I have decided to make a Stuart Half Beam Engine as a scratch build.

The only part that I thought I will purchase was the cylinder as it had internal airways.

To my surprise the cylinder and piston are cast iron, why is it made of this as its going to rust if used as a steam engine.

I made a flame eater with cast iron cylinder and piston only to find it will rust up after one firing up, so I remade the piston and lined the cylinder with stainless tube, it worked ok.

I do not intend to buy the cylinder now I know its cast iron, but the dimensions of the ports on the drawings seem a bit vague. It shows dotted lines as concealed but on the exploded view its open.

A personal message with a rough drawing would be helpful.

Thanks Bob

I am looking for a inverter motor package that is wired up ready for use. I have looked on the internet but I am not sure of what to purchase, it all seems to me to be rather confusing. I have contacted one outlet that looks whats needed but was told I mite need to fit this to the existing belt pulley, as the motor spindle may not fit.

I have a 9x20 lathe, has anyone fitted a inverter, any advice will be appreciated,also if the motor package is ready to run what happens to the safety features on the lathe. I have three features that are vital , emergency stop button, door to gear box stop, and chuck guard stop, how are they wired in.

Basically I don't what to buy an inverter where I will have problems fitting the motor to the pulley arrangement, no hassle needed please.

Thanks Bob,

40mm deep, I cant use a mill cutter as my 8mm has a max of 30mm. I am making all the other parts first so I am in no rush with this.

As this tapper on the lathe will be a ongoing issue if not fixed, I intend after this Beam engine is made is to strip it down and sort this out next year.

Thanks for all these replies, very helpful. The problem I have with my lathe as I have mentioned on a past post is that I have a taper of . .1 mm on dia over 100mm, which is giving me the taper on my cylinders. I intend to make a float reamer holder soon to help compensate the problem, but any suggestions on this please.

As this must be a basic question, but I am trying to bore a 7.5mm blind hole for a cylinder. All my boring tools are to large to do this, is my only option to make one out of silver steel and harden it after, any help on this basic question will be appreciated.

Had a look on e-bay for a brake cylinder hone, I'm going to get one of those, thanks.

As my lathe is a few thou out of alignments I am thinking of getting a float reamer holder , M2 on tail stock and M2 on the holder. But I am a bit reluctant to try reaming 18mm using the tailstock centre with a tap wrench in case it grabs. I have left 6 thou to ream on stainless, also retracting the reamer can this be a problem using the tap wrench method with a stainless sleeve, I have made another cylinder the same using a boring bar and lapping and has come out well but took hours to do. As a float reamer holder are expensive to buy are they worth having or is the tap wrench acceptable method.

I am still having problems with residue on the pistons and cylinder, I have with advice given now have a clean flame with no soot given off. When I start the engine it stops after under 1 minute, it again has residue like a form of corrosion on the cast iron cylinders and pistons, I am thinking is this a form of rust. I put liquid soap in the cylinder as a lubricant overnight and it spun over well but in the morning its now completely jammed up, its rust thats quickly formed. Is this a characteristic of cast iron, if so I will make a liner for it out of stainless with brass pistons.

I have 99% ethanol on order,but while I wait for this I have tried it out several times with butane propane mix, again this will leave a residue. I noticed that a yellow flame is visible and will leave a black carbon mark on a clean piece of material,a disposable gas lighter leaves a even more. I would of thought that gas would be a clean flame. is this to do with the actual temperature of the flame why this will leave a black mark.

After a lot of fine tuning I have got it spinning with out a flame like the video on you tube, but as methelated spirit flame left a build up of residue as said before it run well for about 1 min before stopping. I cleaned the cylinders and used surgical spirit and the same happened, I then tried a butane propane torch and again a build up of residue causing it to jam up. I asked my local chemist for some pure ethanol explaining what it was for but was not forthcoming,any idea where 99% ethanol can be obtained.

I am looking for a Inverter with motor package for my 3/4 hp lathe, can anyone recommenced a supplier for this. I have sent a message to Newton Tesala which has advertised in Model Engineering magazine but will not reply to my questions that I need before I purchase one of there packages.

Thanks for these replies,I checked my centre drills and they are all ok. I will have a go at cutting it out and see what it could be this week and relay what I find.

I have had this round 70mm bar for many years sitting in the shed and I used it to make a flywheel, as I center drilled, the center drill hit a hard spot. I faced it of with no problems and it left a nice finish, I used a 4mm drill but would not pass the hard spot, so then used a masonry drill and the same happened. I used the other end and had no problems with drilling a 8mm hole, any ideas what could of caused this.

I found a tool as shown in the diagram and ground a D shape on the end, I also ground a top rake for it, but it did not cut that well. The tool seemed to rub and became quite noise with powder type swarf coming off, so I ground a slight top side rake and found this a little better but could only cut in at a thou, sought of taking my time. When I cut about 15 thou and cut across it was a fine cut and nice and smooth and no problem. I have tried slow speed 100 and found 500 about the best, I have made a recess 3.5mm which is not enough but this one side has taken me over two hours to do. Looking at the photo thats what I would like to achieve, I have made sure that no play on the top slide so every thing is correct, sorry for this basic question, but I am doing this incorrectly.

I have made a few flywheels so far out of aluminum with not much problem, but to get my flame eater engine going I am making the flywheel out of steel. The problem I am having is cutting the recess, I am using a parting off tool in stages to 3mm deep, but its giving me some concerns. With aluminum its not a problem, how do you make recesses like this on a lathe. I have a rotary table so is the mill the best option.

After making two cast iron cylinders 60mm long by 18.5mm dia I bored them out to a fine finish using a HSS tool for this as advised on these forums. But if the lathe is not 100% true then the bore will have a taper, if it was float reamed then this must be a more accurate way of doing this. The hole dia on each end has a difference of .03 mm, so has a taper of .03 along 60mm, if it was float reamed would this of happened. Is .03 over 60mm acceptable on a lathe bearing in mind that its a China made lathe. When I bored the holes I did not reverse the saddle when it was with in .5 of size I used the DRO for the setting for the final cuts.

It seems I have waisted my time, I've actuality made two of these, I have had better results making the Stirling engines.

Another problem is when I use the clear meths and try and start it up the piston starts to jam up with some sort of residue in the cylinder, is there a difference with clear and coloured meths that can cause a build up of residue