Stuart No. 1 Build Progress

Dad and I have started our Stuart No.1. We started with the easy parts. Here's our progress so far. 

Edited By Mark Gould 1 on 07/11/2018 11:27:42

Sorry guys, I am struggling with photos in my album, they're all rotated incorrectly. Bear with me while I sort it out.

Here is our lathe, a Super 7 rebuilt to new here in the Netherlands by a MyFord specialist.

...and our small milling machine, an Emco FB-2.

And then the first machining on our new Stuart No. 1:

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Looking good Mark; I like the lighting set up on your mill, I assume it's an 'angel eye' off eBay. is it powered off a 12v 'wall wart'? would be nice to see more pics of lighting set up.

George.

George,

It is a LED ring that attaches via magnets to the bottom of the milling head, around the spindle. I bought it on eBay but to be honest I am going to replace it with a larger diameter ring. This ring has an internal diameter which is 2mm larger than the spindle thickness and so the light is concentrated around the spindle. A collet/drill chuck or shell mill actually blocks the light from getting to the cutting surface.

I am going to get a larger one with a 100mm diameter (€8 on Banggood) to see whether it clears the tool. Keep you posted.

Mark

Progress and Failure.

Our engine is progressing steadily but it hasn't been plain sailing. We managed to get the lower bearings into the sole-plate. Just need a skim across the top to make the top surface exactly level.

The upper halves were a different matter. We thought some, pondered a bit and then thought some more and then buggered them up. I have no idea how or where we made the mistake but it all went wrong when we got the 2 halves into the 4 jaw. I have ordered 2 more top halves from Stuart.

Here I am milling to mating surfaces of the top bearing halves to be able to super glue them together.

Failure. The radius is off centre. We could possibly salvage the parts but getting one side correct and placing the incorrectly turned faces on the inside of the engine but that would reduce the crankshaft bearing area so we decided to make 2 new ones.

My Dad and I have made slow but steady progress on the No.1. The main bearings are complete and we have drilled and reamed the holes for the crankshaft. I was a little worried about this operation as it is quite important to get it right and we didn't want to ruin the main bearings.

Anyway, here are some pics. Sorry they are rotated. I have tried and tried but am unable to post them the right way up. I managed a few weeks ago but have forgotten how I did it. Most infuriating.

Edited By Mark Gould 1 on 10/01/2019 19:18:51

Looks good so far.

Nice work Mark, why does everyone’s workshop always look much tidier than mine?

Dave W

Progress is slow. The workshop is at my folks place which is 50km from me and with work in the way our days spent machining have been few and far between. I hope to step it up a bit soon.

Today we finished machining a simple but time consuming bit. Not even sure what it's called but it still needs a bit of light filing and sanding but the basic shape is there. It takes a lot of time if you're a newbie and this took quite a while! It tapers by 2mm from end to end, not clear on the pics. 

Edited By Mark Gould 1 on 20/03/2019 17:35:59

Almost completed the next component. This also took quite a lot of time as we kept having to take it out, measure, put it back, find zero etc. It still needs a general deburring but the fit in the standard is excellent.

Looking good Mark. As Dave W. commented... ditto.

George.

Got a bit more done. The con rod bearing and the slide valve. The con rod bearing is actually 2 parts super glued together for the machining. They turned out nice although this gun metal is very “bitey” to drill into!

Got another bit done. It's not perfect but I am happy with it. Somehow (I have no idea how) I messed up one of the inside dimensions so I might have to run this part with a thin bushing on either side. It took us hours and hours and getting the damn thing to run nicely in a 4 jaw chuck is a black art not mastered by me.

My dad and i got a bit more done on the Stuart yesterday. We have basically completed the crankshaft but still have to decide how to join it all together. This engine won't be powering a boat or anything and will probably only run on compressed air for short periods. Perhaps Loctite is good enough or otherwise pinning the crankshaft with taper pins. Anyway here are some quick photo's of everything loosely joined.

Very nice workshop, I will thoroughly enjoy this build thread and thanks for putting it up

What a great thread Mark. Many thanks

Just picked it up from here. I'd personally build as if it's going to drive something on steam, so for me, Loctite and taper pin the crank. Personal choice though I guess. I'm very much a noob and haven't yet started into the world of machining a Stuart, but that's the way I'd like to go.

The light on the mill indeed looks grand. I've gone the easy way mind... I bought some "sewing machine LED lamps" off eBay and they're REALLY cheap. The 30 LED version throws out enough light. It's basically a LED head, on metal gooseneck that mounted onto a magnetic base. They're less than £5 each from China of course.

Great thread though as I say... Looking forward to seeing more

Keep going it looks great I can't wait for next instalment. I would loctite and pin, don't do half measures if you dont do it now you may regret it in the future.

David