HOW TO MACHINE A STEAM ENGINE FLYWHEEL - MODEL ENGINEERING FOR BEGINNERS #7

Model Engineering For Beginners #7 shows a quick & easy method to machine a steam engine flywheel.

[FredMiller]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge Keith!

[kevinaustin]

Always a pleasure to watch a real craftsman at work, wonderful narration

[gavendb]

enjoyed the vid.  especially the doobleyou doobleyou doobleyou part.

[SteamerEdge]

Thanks Keith, at last ! ....found someone that I can understand.
Looking forward to the next stage.

[graemebrumfitt]

Hi Keith, Gonna be a great help for when I do mine cheers TFS. G :)

[gusa]

Keith, i really enjoy your videos. Especially the ones about steam engines. 
One question popped up in my head, while i was watching this video. How do you machine the slot for the key? 
Thanks for your answer! 

[tobyw]

Keith, with all due respect to your decades of experience, why not mount the flywheel on a face plate if it won't fit the chuck, with the inner rim of the wheel centered on the part of the rim that will remain uncut, since the outer rim of the wheel has the most leverage on balance. If there is a tradeoff between the center and the rim and balance, should not the rim take precedence? Mounting by the rim should take care of runout too. Once you cut the face of the wheel and machine the hub, you can center and drill the hub then machine away to your heart's content and everything will be concentric and have no runout.

You might even be able to machine the wheel on both sides using a mandrel, a tailstock center and maybe a dog. Adjustable mandrels can pretty cheap.

Just my inexperienced opinion, anyway.
Of course the better the casting, the less the worry

[VBGI]

which  (good quality) small lathe could you recommend please. Should be able to handle seel. Thx

[eggbird]

Hi Keith,

First of all my compliments on the nice video's you have concerning model engineering!

You explain lathe work very well for the beginner, however you mention the chatter problem, and the resolve always seems to be go slower, less depth, to long stickout, etc. All are true but that's not always the case.

When you use light machine tools with inserted tools, you are always in a compromise situation. The inserts need a lot of more speed most of the time than you can achieve with home shop/conventional machine tools.

The "Vc" in meters/min or feet/min an insert needs cannot be achieved most of the times on conventional machine tools and a lot of times the setup is not rigid enough to use the high speeds needed by the insert.

For example a week ago we had to machine 535 mild steel bosses with inside M33x3.5mm thread 60mm deep. We machined these bosses on a Mazak SQT 15MS CNC turning center.

We started out at the lowest recommended speed (Vc) we got from the manufacturer. This was 100m/min (328 foot/min) rpm approx. 1060rpm, the highest recommended speed was 190m/min (approx. 2016rpm). The tool was chattering and the threads looked horrible.

We started increasing the Vc in steps of 20m/min to 160m/min (524 foot/min) and above a Vc of 140m/min the threads where looking nice and no more chatter! However the tool life was bad. 38 bosses per tooth of the insert. After this we started experimenting and the sweet spot of the insert was about 150m/min (492foot/min) now we could do 120 bosses per tooth!

These speeds cannot be achieved on a conventional machine, but it gives an example of the capabilities of the modern inserts and that lower speeds are not always the way to go. So experiment, try lower and also try higher speeds to reduce chatter and get a better surface finish.

Another point I'd like to address is depht of cut. A general rule of thumb is that the cut should be more than the radius of the tool nose. For example if the tool nose has a radius of 0.8mm the depth of cut should be more than 0.8mm.

And when using insert tools on a "light conventional machine", try to use positive or neutral insert tools. Negative tools demand more power.

But enough education ;-) please continue filming, I like watching your movies !

Kind regards,

Egbert de Pauw

[graemebrumfitt]

The bedbox and soleplate on my 10V had the cold cast problem not nice :( G:)

[jeffreybaker]

Keith, why did you say you engineers turn off now.
I think they could learn a thing or 2 from you.
Great work i really enjoyed it, keep it up.

[mrenrollment]

Keith, no doubt you have heard this prior, but I can't help myself: Your use of the word engineer is - well incorrect for American English speakers. We would more commonly use the term "machinist"
or "instrument maker", depending on the persons accumulated experience. An engineer rather, is a

person with a university degree in mechanical engineering or electronics etc. Not that you need to acknowledge this in your speaking, just a friendly bit-o-information. BTW, you do very well at your hobby, no need to suggest that you are somehow doing something wrong. I may never machine a model engine, and maybe I will, in either case I enjoy your video bits. Sometime - I think you should play the keyboard during some of those longer less interesting bits like watching the paint dry.
cheers dan