johnsmachines

The time which I have had spare in the past few days has been spent tidying up the workshop,  sorting tools and putting them away.  Today I spent a few hours making a start on the intermediate and low pressure steam chests.

Roughed them out and CNC’d a boss on the bottom of each chest.  Then roughed out the steam chest covers.

This is the progress to date.

So far I have drilled, tapped and inserted ~180 BA7 screws and studs. And there are a lot more to go. The steam chests and covers are sitting on the base.

Attaching the cylinder block bases to the cylinder blocks was tricky.  I drilled the holes with the bases glued to the blocks using Loctite, and then tapped the holes and inserted the screws.  I will apply some heat to break down the Loctite.

It is quite difficult to insert the screws to the underside of the block.  Many are quite inaccessible.  There have been multiple tear downs of the model, with many more to go, so only a small number of screws are currently inserted.  I will have to work out an order of assembly, to make the assembly process as logical and easy as possible.

I am starting to consider which method I will use to make the crankshaft.  It has 6 main bearings, 3 big end bearings, and locations for 3 valve eccentrics and an oil pump.  It is quite complex.  Fabricate or turn from the solid.  I am tending to the latter, but we will see.