The Elmer's Geared Steam Engine build will be completed in this article. The valve rod is constructed with an interesting technique for turning small diameters. The gears are installed and lapped together for smooth running and finally assembly commences with gasket making and switching over from screws to studs. A piece of clear acrylic is crafted to use as the valve cover so the valve action can be observed while the engine is running.
Construction of the Elmer's Geared Steam Engine continues in this article. A major piece of the project is completed which has many machined features: the engine cylinder. With that component completed, work starts on the many smaller parts of the engine like the steam chest and eccentric. The ER11 collet chuck is highlighted which is a very handy piece of kit for tiny end mills and drills. This engine build will be wrapped-up in the next article.
Presented for your reading pleasure is a small series of articles documenting my build of Elmer Verburg's Geared Engine, often called Elmer's Engine #5, the name of which is derived from the chapter number of the compilation book which describes this engine and many other projects. The cycloidal gearing of this engine makes it a fairly unique project and interesting to watch while running. This engine was not built from a kit and is mostly comprised of bar stock.
Machining of the T-Slotted cross slide continues with drilling and tapping the compound mounting screw holes and engraving compound index marks in the top of the cross slide. Some paint was bought that was color-matched to an original South Bend accessory and that was applied to the cross slide. After seeing how well additional oilers worked with the saddle, some new oilers were also added to the cross slide for lubricating the dovetails.
Machining of the T-Slotted cross slide continues with some metrology of the old cross slide and the newer saddle to make sure the dovetails will be cut at the correct location. The dovetails are then machined with the dovetail cutting tool. Machining the gib requires some custom fixture hardware, so that is manufactured and the gib is shaped to size. Holes are then drilled and tapped along the side of the cross slide for the gib mounting screws.
The newer lathe saddle finally spurred me on to start the Model Lathe Accessories (MLA) T-Slotted cross slide casting that I had in storage for quite a few years. This new cross slide will add quite a few capabilities to the lathe that are really nice for model engineering: a nice surface to attach work for line boring, the possibility of using a rear-mounted toolpost and the nicest feature is that it will be brand new.
A unplanned auction win resulted in a upgraded saddle for the South Bend 10K lathe. In this article we review the saddle to appraise it's condition and then start fitting the new saddle to the existing lathe hardware. The saddle was also upgraded with additional oilers for improved lubrication against the lathe bed. This saddle upgrade will also lead to a compound upgrade and a new, freshly machined T-Slot cross slide.
Test bars are very straight, very round bars used to setup machinery and work fixtures in the shop. They can also be handy for inspecting run-out in chucks and collets. You can buy them commercially, but like most metrology equipment they can be very pricey and therefore hard to justify for the limited use seen in the home shop. In this article a moderately priced bar is made that should satisfy most home shop needs.
The last project required a keyway to be broached in a shop made gear. I already have a nice Hassay-Savage keyway broach kit, but as is so often the case, the kit didn't have a guide bushing for the particular sized hole used in this gear. Rather than wait a week to get the correctly sized bushing via mail order, this article will show how to make one in the shop out of scrap so the job can be completed in a timely manner.
If you are working on old gas light fixtures or strangely enough, microphone stands, you might have the need to single-point cut a 27 TPI thread with your South Bend Lathe. While this particular thread setting isn't directly available through the QCGB, with the addition of a 42 tooth gear into the gear train cutting this thread is possible. Back in the day there was enough interest in this that South Bend sold the optional gear.