It is now time to fit everything together that had been modified or remade.
So I worked out a good position for the new holes to go into the cylinders for holding the new brass covers, and they were duly drilled and tapped.
The covers were then marked up for drilling, and I shortened some small headed 8BA bolts to hold them together.
Luckily, all the holes lined up, so they were bolted together.
Unfortunately at times like this, something comes over me, and I just couldn't resist a bit of bling.
The original inlet and exhaust pipes just didn't look right on this newly rebuilt engine, so I made a new pair. It just so happened, they brushed against the buffing wheel by themselves.
BTW, you can use either tube for air in on oscillators like this, and also piston valve engines, but not slide valves. All that happens is the engine runs in the opposite direction.
I also discovered that the control valve casting got smoothed off and gained a shine, all by itself. I must do a good search in the shop, and get rid of all these bling fairies.
Time to make some cylinder gaskets.
A few years ago, I discovered PTFE sheet material in the US, I tried everywhere to find the same thing here in the thicknesses I wanted, to no avail. It is now available here, but in limited thicknesses.
This stuff is perfect for what I want to do. I have even used the thicker sheet as head gasket material on IC engines, and never had a failure. It is also completely reuseable. It will seal time after time.
So using 0.005" thickness PTFE, and a few basic tools and jigs, I soon had some made up.
The customer also wanted to know if I could make him an oil and water trap. This is getting it ready to have the base silver soldered on, from the inside.
I always try to solder from the inside, even the exhaust pipe above was done that way. It saves hours of clean up time. By the time I had finished this, there wasn't anything on the outside other than perfectly formed fillets, that needed no cleaning off at all. Straight onto the buffer for a polish.
So the engine is now rebuilt, cleaned up, and ready for trying out and adjusting.
Back of the assembled engine.
And now the front.
I finished off the oil and water trap as well.
And just to prove that a scrapper can be brought back to life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ah9YHFR6iwAs I have shown, there is usually a way where almost anything can be rescued. This time it was mainly silver solder that was the cure, to get the castings back to almost original, so that they could be remachined. All it takes is a little experience, and taking a gamble with what you are doing.
Most rescues are like this, but sometimes you have to admit defeat because of materials they are made from, or they have just gone too far. All you can do is hope the next one goes a little better.
A quickie clean up in the shop, and I am ready for my next project.
I have five radial engines to make for a display I am doing, plus rebuild and repair one of my own for the same show. I have six weeks in which to do it.
These are the radials I will be making, but starting with a single cylinder one, then 2, 3, 4 and 5 cylinders.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voU3aRzOY7oSo rather busy for the next few weeks.
I hope you enjoyed this little tour of what some of us get up to in our own workshops.
Bogs