The Senior - The Engineers’ Emporium

Hello all,

I’m considering the viability of building The Senior (internal combustion) engine, sold as castings by The Engineers’ Emporium.

It’s advertised as being possible to build on a “Myford or similar capacity lathe”, with references to a 3.5” lathe being acceptable.

I have a Myford Super 7 (no milling machine, but a vertical slide) - how realistic is this likely to be?

I think my primary concern would be the main bed casting: the face which mounts to the cylinder, and the main bearing cap ‘flats’. Can these be achieved on a Myford 7?

I’d very much welcome the thoughts of those with experience! Creative set-ups aren’t my forte, but I’m eager to learn

Many thanks,

Bert

No experience. But the spec says 7" flywheels and 8" overall length so should be doable in a Myford with the faceplate. In a pinch you could bolt the bed to the cross slide and machine it with a flycutter.

You will likely have to mount the bed casting on it's side and end to machine it on a Myford as you are unlikely to have the height above the cross slide to do it sitting the right way up

Once the bottom of the bed is flat which may well have to be done by hand drill the mounting holes and then screw it to a rectangular plate as that will make it easier to clamp and you can run a dti along the plate to check for square. You then need to get inventive with angle plates etc to bore the hole for the end of the cylinder liner and flycut at the same setting, then reposition to bore the main bearings which are likely to be the hardest to set up as the front mounting lug looks like it is at least 3.5" beyond the vertical ctr line of the crank. Something like these setups

Edited By JasonB on 21/05/2021 07:15:02

Edited By JasonB on 21/05/2021 07:31:33

Streuth!

Looks like you dont have a mill, JasonB.

John

Just felt it was the better setup for the job, having 5-6" of cutter sticking out of a boring head can start to flex a bit so the between ctrs bar keeps things parallel and you get a nice steady cut with carriage feed.

Also add to that the length of a boring head and the part which is 11" long and you can run out of head room on all 3 of my mills