Main Cylinder Machining! Big Steam Engine Build, Part 6

This episode on Blondihacks, I’m machining the main steam cylinder casting! Exclusive videos, drawings, models & plans available on Patreon!

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[Blondihacks]

Hey everyone- since a lot of people are asking:

No, you can’t use the cast bore for any kind of setup. Bores are cast as cores and they are never straight or round. You can see what happens if you do that on my PM1 engine (see my playlists). The bored cylinder is a little crooked on the casting because I trusted the cast bore as a setup reference. You have to reference cast surfaces that won’t be machined when creating the initial machined ones to ensure the surfaces are well aligned on the casting when you are done.

[cripplecreeksawmill]

"I'm near the end of work on an expensive piece, now is not the time to experiment with new techniques." Wise words for hobbyist and professional machinists, alike. 👍👍

[fellipec]

I love watching you build things. Feels like I'm a friend in your shop

[bornstellar]

Fun fact for @12:20, that function is called 'Dithering' when you vary the speed of a motor, or position of an effector like a solenoid. Often used in proportional hydraulic solenoids to allow for fine movements as the dynamic friction of a continuously moving solenoid allows smaller changes to still be accomplished, where if dithering was not done, the static friction would prevent the solenoid from moving until a larger difference in signal was sent.

[ericbernath]

When I was taught to build threaded pipe systems the ole timer taught me to remember the rule of three. U should be able to thread the nipple into the hole 3 turns by hand, then 3 turns with a pipe wrench, and u should have 3 threads showing. Not sure this translates to tiny threads but for half inch pipe and up it has worked for me for the last 15 years. Love your videos! Cheers!

[alfonse]

Trick for faceplate balancing. Let the spindle spin freely, out of gear. The heaviest side will tend to fall down to the bottom. Add weight opposite that. When you adjust the counter weight like that a few times, you should be turn it to any orientation and it just stays, no heavy spot that tends to fall down.

[austo]

Number Dyslexia is called Dyscalculia and like dyslexia there are a couple of things that can help reduce Fatigue and mistakes, working on coloured paper being one of them! (The specific colour of paper is fairly important and very individual, don't ask me why, but My magic paper colour is a light Blue)

[mamcCaff]

Hi Quinn, I've been a machinist for 40 years. I don't normally watch videos of people machining but I don't miss any of yours. I have the same number problem as well. My solution is when a number has only 2 decimal places I'll add a zero to make all my dimensions 3 places. Especially helps when working with tenths (ten thousands) add a zero to make all my dimensions 4 places. Add the zeros right to the print.

[stephenbridges]

is not the time to experiment." I can't tell you the times I wished that I hadn't. Sage advice in many fields of endeavor.

[RonCovell]

Quinn - thanks for another excellent video. You really caught my attention when you mentioned that you have occasional dyslexia with numbers, which troubles me too. I presumed that your background in programming indicated you were a whiz with numbers. It's nice to have a reality check here, and to see what precautions you take knowing that there are rabbit holes that could trip us up!

[mith]

A cheap set of Forstner Bits ( gasp… woodworking tool!)… can be used to locate a center hole from an external boss diameter. Just blunt the center point into a punch shape. Select a drill diameter close the rough boss diameter, align it to the boss, and smack it. Viola!

[burninpwder]

glad you were able to catch yourself on the brain number switch. My head likes to flip numbers too. Here is a trick i use when working close tolerance I have to get right to make sure i don't flip numbers. When i read a number say 2.380 when i hit that point I use it as a mental switch then read the next numbers as single distinct figures with a pause between each so 2.380 becomes two POINT Reading them that way as single figures stops the brain gremlin from flipping numbers. and gives you a mental check on figures. several times I have caught mistakes in prints or in my copying by this method. can't wait to see this beast under steam. My current shop project is building a forklift :D not a precision job but my back will thank me when i'm done :D

[Reman]

For tapered taps, I used to dip them in marking out blue. It wears off the teeth to the depth the tap goes into the metal, so once you've tapped a few holes to the right depth you get a witness mark to show you where to stop tapping. The only problem is that tiny manufacturing variations in the thread on the fittings can mean about a full threads difference in how far it screws into the part, so I'd still usually have to have two goes at getting it right. On the plus side, these variations also meant that if I'd oversized the threaded hole very slightly, I could just try several of my cheapo fittings until I found one that was also at the upper end of it's thread diameter tolerance.

[ADBBuild]

You can buy tapered pipe thread gauges. They have a flat ground on them that should line up with the top of whatever you are tapping when the gauge is threaded all the way in. If it doesn't, you need to tap deeper, or you tapped too deep already. They are usually expensive though.

[johncrowley]

That's going to be a very handsome engine. I love the tall, slender proportions of early American steam engines as opposed to the often more squat English style.

[SentinalhMC]

binging this series really makes me want to get into machining and build this engine. I have a dream to build a Day-Land Steam Engine and make a Steam Car.

[normanbarter]

A thought comes to mind on ‘The Difficulty of Centering a Small Hole on a Small Rough Casting’

If you move the order of operations(oo) “mill surface of the casting” up the oo to just after you line everything up, that small rough casting is now a clean flat surface.

The expedient of a small round disk (divided into 4 equal quadrants which created a circle w a dot at the center) slightly smaller than the rough circumstance of the milled feature, overlayed against the milled feature now provides an excellent visual guide to center and a flat surface upon which to punch, spot and drill the desired hole.

This was your idea btw., the circular scratch lines on the casting using hand winding and a sharp insert was almost as good as that marvelous piece of fixturing and machining on the stand body thingie, (cross head slide?)

Just a thought. Love this build. Love the show. Yahtzee!

[woxallaviation]

I’m not a machinist, just a fan, wood turner (🙀), and flight instructor, but I find much here that helps my woodcraft. With respect to your numerical transposition issues it’s a well know phenomenon that pilots, when instructed to turn to a heading of 30 degrees (turn zero three zero) will frequently turn to 300 (three zero zero) even after reading back the correct command. You’d make a fine pilot.

[auxchar]

Another neat faceplate trick: if you're ever worried about it, you can take a light facing cut on your faceplate when it's mounted up, and that way you can ensure that it's true with the axis of the lathe.

[misterikkit]

That back side deburring tool is magical