Hello and a part-built blowfly

[jma1009]

Hi Lisa,

You will really struggle with using a compound slide on your pillar drill with those big cast iron castings. You risk wrecking the pillar drill and its bearings which are not the same as vertical mill bearings.

A Fobco Star pillar drill might just be ok with this with a compound slide and gunmetal castings but personally I wouldnt risk it - my Fobco Star is irreplaceable, and far too valuable to me as part of my workshop equipment to be damaged by straining it.

You need to find a relatively cheap old larger lathe. Someone will have one somewhere for sale 'down under' at some stage, and as you say there is plenty to get on with in the mean time - such as the boiler. Or someone locally will have a big lathe they dont mind you using for the cylinders.

Cheers,
Julian

[Lisa]

Julian: That's pretty much what I thought too with the drill, plus there's no way to lock the spindle height; which is just asking for trouble.

It did bring up the possibility of getting a small mill though, which could be an alternative to a bigger lathe.
I keep a pretty close eye on various auction and classifieds sites, and there are a few good lathes in my price range. The issue so far is the size of the country; everything's been a long way away so far, and a lot of sellers are oddly fussy about only allowing the buyer to pick up in person (there's actually an ML7 going quite cheap for this reason, the seller won't allow buyers to arrange a courier).
I've got my eye on a Brittania lathe at present, which is going cheap near-ish to me as it needs reassembly and some restoration.

There used to be another model engineer just around the corner (we had a track around the house at the time, and he stopped by when he saw it), but he moved away quite a few years ago. I'm not aware of anyone nearby now; also anywhere I go, dad has to go too, as a bit of an added complication.

But, there's plenty of other things to do in the meantime; so it's not as if I'm stuck just yet.

[Roger]

This may be a long shot, but is there a local newspaper that would take an interest in what you're doing? It's the sort of unusual story that might get some press, and it might well turn up someone local who's got equipment but not involved in the Model Engineering world.

[Jim]

Following Roger's suggestion have you thought of doing an article for Australian Model Engineering on your building the 'Blowfly' and your dad's story behind it? In it you could include a search for any fellow model engineers who may live in the your area who could assist or even have a lathe surplus to requirements and in need of a good home. It could be worth a try as not all modellers belong to clubs or if they do it may be an out of area club as in my case.
Best of luck.

Jim

[steam4ian]

Lisa

My suggestions on using your lathe were based on the feats reported by some Taig enthusiasts; I can't verify them.

Don't hold milling cutters in a drill chuck, they do work themselves out and will ruin your work. Drill chucks do not normally have a draw bar so sideways pressure on the Morse taper can cause it to release, more spoilt work.

Take care buying old lathes at low prices. From my experience it is the gunge that that makes the controls seem firm. I have a clapped out Hercus waiting for a boat to anchor, the replacement parts (assuming you can get them) will cost more than I paid for it.

Ian.

[Lisa]

Roger, I had considered that back when I had the, now failed, crowd funding campaign going; wasn't sure if they'd be interested, and ultimately doubted myself into not trying it. Probably worth a go though.
Jim, I hadn't even considered doing that with AME; probably also worth a go.
Ian, yeah, it's quite amazing what can be done on the Taig lathe with a great deal of care, and thinking through the setup well. At the same time though, a 4" wheel is a big job on it; so it takes a bit of thought to work out what can be done and what can't. I wouldn't hold a milling cutter in a drill chuck for a bucket load of reasons; but it did make me think. One of those Sieg X2 mini mills would probably work for the port face (and the ports), then either a boring head in the mill, or between centres boring in the lathe, would get the cylinder bores done. I could probably scratch up the money for one of those as easily as for a lathe; and tooling for it in a few months. So that's also a possibility.

Meanwhile, today I silver soldered another connecting rod boss into place, then made a start on what will be the front/side plates for the crossheads:

Obviously different sizes, as I'll file both to size/shape as a matched pair.

[Roger]

It's unfortunate about the crowd funding, but I think people are suspicious of these things when it comes to raising funds that could be construed as being for another reason. I guess that's just the cynical world we live in.
Much as a larger lathe would be useful, a mill would make a much bigger impact on what you can achieve. I'd certainly be inclined to look at that option in preference to a bigger lathe.

[Lisa]

One connecting rod is now shaped and cleaned up to about the same state as the coupling rods, this is now awaiting oil holes and bushes. The second rod has been silver soldered together, and just given a light clean up; it'll get the full filing treatment once my arm's recovered from the first one.

The crosshead cover plates have gained one new hole in between working on the connecting rods; I didn't think that was exciting enough for a picture though.

Regarding a mill, it seems the Sieg X2 has been replaced by the SX2, which has been replaced by the SX2LW... result is that the X2 is going fairly cheap at present (near ½ the price of the SX2LW). So assuming I can scratch up the money before they all disappear, I think that's the best option. The newer models do naturally have some nice improvements, but aren't so budget friendly. There's still tooling to add on top of all that of course, but that can at least be bought piecemeal as required.

[Jim]

That sounds like a good plan Lisa and buying tooling and equipment as needed is the way I've slowly built up the workshop over the years. As a side matter I read once long ago that a mill was a lot more versatile and so useful than a lathe, something I found when building the Burrell.
I was able to bore the cylinders and fly cut the saddle all with homemade boring bars and an ugly big, yet very effective fly cutter plus cut 10" diam gears and all on a mill drill that I was told, 'was nowhere near rigid enough for the work I was doing.' Treated with respect much can be achieved on good but inexpensive machines.
Now I'm rambling again a sure sign of old age

Keep up the good work, you're doing a cracking job Lisa and one your dad will be very proud of.

Jim

[Lisa]

An afternoon of sneezing; spring and I do not get along.

The connecting rods are now both shaped and cleaned up, but still need draw filing to get some scuffs out.


Meanwhile the crosshead cover plates are done, but... despite clamping/bolting them together and making them as a matched pair, 2 holes are a oval thanks to a wandering blunt drill; I caught it which is why there's only 2. But that plate on the left will be getting binned and a replacement made.

[Jim]

It's really annoying when something like that happens and you have to remake a part isn't it? On the other hand we've all been there and done that. Still you're doing a top job and I'm enjoying watching the progress as Barry Potter who designed Blowfly is the boiler inspector at my club in Orange, NSW. Because of the distance I don't get over very often.

Jim

[Lisa]

Jim, yeah, it's annoying, but at least it was just a bit of plate.

This is much better:

Next I'll make the connecting rod bushes, while gradually hacksawing through a lump of cast iron for the crossheads. For now, the neighbour's out mowing, so I'm hiding inside away from the fumes.

[Lisa]

Made one bush today, for the right connecting rod's crankpin end; in amongst a wide variety of distractions, including dad drinking my strawberry milk while I wasn't looking!

A quick overview with my mess in the background:


Also started hacksawing through a lump of cast iron (an axle box stick of suitable size) for the crossheads, which I'll do a bit at a time so as not to completely wear out my arm.

[peteh]

That's coming together nicely Lisa. I wish my shed was as 'messy' as yours believe me when I say that mine is MUCH worse

[Lisa]

Made the crankpin bush for the other connecting rod today, the crosshead bushes will be done next.

Then for a bit of fun I clamped a few bits in about the right place to get a look at things:

Humidity is sky-rocketting here, as seen by the rust showing on the newly-made connecting rod and crosshead cover!

I also finished cutting through the cast iron lump for one of the crossheads, one more to go.

[Jim]

You're not alone Lisa in clamping bits together to see how they look. The humidity where you are must be a real problem especially where freshly cut/machined metal is exposed to it. That's part of the reason I at least undercoat as I go, the other reason is I can't help myself...

Jim

[Lisa]

Jim, I really hope it's not as bad as last summer, which was quite horrendous. To battle it I keep a cheap spray bottle with 10:1 kero/oil on hand, to spray parts with... this of course only works when I remember to use it, or don't accidentally spray one rod twice, and the other not at all.

[Roger]

Have you seen this product which claims to do the sort of thing you're in need of? I thought it might come in handy on bare metal connecting rods and such like when I'm using the locomotive in anger.

[Lisa]

Hi Roger, I'm not sure if I've seen that particular one, but there are a few products like that around. I'll probably stick with the oil coating though, it works fine when I remember it, and it's cheap!

Dad's loco's always got a spray with silicone polish before an outing, which both kept everything bright, and kept it clean.

[Lisa]

Worked on the motion brackets this afternoon, a bit of rain about means it's still humid, but pleasantly cool.


This is as far as I got before dad tried to add some flux to his drinking water, fortunately he couldn't get the lid off the flux, but I decided that it was time to get out of the workshop for the day.