The Workshop Progress Thread 2019

Jason, would I be correct in thinking you have a full set of castings for the engine and going by the picture did you bring them in from the US.

Morning Ron, yes I have the set of castings for the Type B, there are not that many but they will be are proving "interesting" to machine, particularly the main frame.

Nick Roland who is RMC had not been producing any engines for a few years but has started up again just getting small batches of 8-10 engines done and selling through e-bay. I spotted this one in February so ordered one. They are not badly priced but coming from the US cost about $70 postage and then you also have to pay VAT and fees on the total.

Last week he put up a batch of the type D engines so I have just treated myself to a set of those castings for Christmas, as you can see about $100 postage on this as it is a bit heavier but he still has some available if anyone wants a set of castings while they are still hot. Very good quality ductile iron castings and cleanly cast though due to the nature of how the Type D frame is cast there is some flash on that. Some of the best plans and construction notes I have seen plus a CD with several hundred photos taken during construction as well as other helpful info.

I have also got a type A that was recently completed but not running yet and I may have to do some mods to it as being originally designed to run on MAPP gas which you can't get now, it does not really run on other gasses. This was bought from a collector in the US who was thinning out his collection of unmade kits.

Also have my name down for a set of plans for his SB2C when they become available.

J

PS if anyone knows of a set of type C or E castings looking for a new home I would be interested.

Edited By JasonB on 15/11/2019 10:14:20

One thing is for certain Jason, I dont think I would ever get tired of looking at those engines they are different to say the least. I can see that some of the parts may be a bit of a challenge to set up for machining but the end result makes it well worth it, the Type D I think looks amazing.

Can I ask you keep us up to speed with progress it will be good to see them come together.

Ron

p.s. Forgot to say that watching the videos both the Type D and SB2C run very nicely indeed.

Edited By Ron Laden on 15/11/2019 14:02:37

Morning Jason

The picture of the type B main frame set up in the lathe looks interesting I am guessing the V and 123 blocks are balancing out the bulk offset in the casting. Is the V taped on with 123 cross wired over the top..?

Ron

Yes, two Vee blocks held with duct tape but they were not enough so added a 15-30-60 block and in the end also screwed a 10-20-40 to that when boring but 300rpm was about as fast as it was happy to run

Got some brass strip to use for the gib. Clamped it to the dovetail to machine the top edge. Turned it over and packed it up with a hacksaw blade and cut the other edge. De-burred it and tried it for fit.

Some good progress on the RMC Type B engine over the weekend. main casting complete and the pulley made from the now redundant chucking spigot, also got the two main bearings done so things could be slipped together.

The 3mm dia glass tube and 0.5mm tungsten electrode arrived yesterday so a bit of spark plug making may be next on this build though still waiting for the Loctite "Black Max"

Finally managed to get back into the shop and get the dro install finished on the Omnimill. I went down the pc based dro route seeing as I had a small pc and spare touch screen lying around. I had planned on using rotary encoders and rack I have as well but that idea didn't work out so I went for scales.

The monitor is 21" wide screen so I don't have an excuse for miss-reading the dro now. So far it works well and I plan on fitting further scales on the vertical axis and quill.

Edited By JasonB on 17/11/2019 17:17:24

Used the set up below to drill the holes for the gib strip adjusters. It was a bit tight and looks a bit precarious, but it's solid enough for drilling.

I then clamped the gib strip in place and drilled through to put the dimples in the gib.

I then removed the work piece from the milling machine and tapped the holes by hand. I haven't got any 3mm hex socket head screws so I've had to use pozi head screws as a temporary measure.

It's me again. I must be the only one braving the cold workshop. Made a plate to carry the lead screw.

Then fitted the plate and lead screw to the table.

Fitted every thing else back together. Job done.

I wonder what I can do with this vice?

I wasn't braving my cold workshop (which is quite warm, actually). I was on the roof of it replacing some damaged flashing.

I assume there is a PC with box of tricks driving the monitor, I have looked on the Machine DRO website and cannot see anything that resembles the equipment in the picture. Please could you post a link.

Ian P

First picture in Ian's post shows the PC interface sat on top of a small PC.

The Main Machine-DRO site has none listed but M-DRO does?

EDIT, found it on the main site now

Edited By JasonB on 21/11/2019 07:34:11

Looks a good idea ... but:

This product is now discontinued, please contact us for possible alternatives.

MichaelG.

The DRO interface is indeed on top of the small pc. The older model is still on the website but I have one of the first new ones. Looks like they havent got everything finished off yet. Last time I spoke to Tony at M-DRO he said they were waiting on label plates I think. Worth giving him a call if your interested.

Forgot to add that mine has 4 input channels, the other one is on the back. Im sure Tony said that you can choose either 3 or 4 inputs.

I've remembered one of the reasons I'm not keen on casting kits - they don't take long to do Started this one on the 2nd Nov and finished today with the exception of making a couple of screws and waiting for some adhesive to complete the spark plug.

Darn it, I take longer than that to clean up the mess in the shed.

A bit of progress in the "virtual" workshop over the last couple of evenings and I have my next project. I had seen this engine on Preston's site several years ago and liked the look of it so copied the images to my "future projects" file. Size dictated by the offcut of 7" dia thickwall steel tube that I was given which will be used for the flywheel rim.

Still a bit of tweaking needed to the design before I start cutting metal - cylinder may be a bit large in dia and circular base a bit small.

Edited By JasonB on 27/11/2019 07:37:12

Excellent, I really like the look of it, look forward to seeing it run dont forget the video Jason.