Topic: Marcher Build (Read 16540 times)

IanJ · « **Reply #25 on:** September 27, 2017, 12:02:23 pm »

Fixing the bearing blocks onto the baseplate. Drilled a tapped the fixing holes 8BA using the blocks themselves to keep tap square. Also drilled & tapped holes for support columns. Once all blocks & bearings were inlace I used a 1/4" reamer to ensure correct alignment (no photo) as I left the bearing I/D's 1/64 undersize. Final shots shows shaft inlace with other components. Shaft turns nicely, albeit a little tight so therefore needs 'running-in', so oil holes need drilling and oil cups making. Plan to make a start on the con-rods next as that will virtually complete the bottom end.

IanJ · « **Reply #26 on:** October 05, 2017, 04:07:56 pm »

The build continues with the big ends & con-rods. Reeves provide a piece of gun-metal for the big end bearings. Once squared off it was marked out, drilled, split face off and fastened together with studs/nuts. Placed in the 4 jaw the bearing was drill and reamed 1/4". Mounted on mandrel the faces were machined.

The con-rod as 'foot' of 5/8" dia. A piece of 5/8" bar was tuned having 5/16" shaft that was to form little end. The 'foot' has 1/8" dia. spigot that helps locate in the bearing.

IanJ · « **Reply #27 on:** October 05, 2017, 04:20:06 pm »

Con-rods, are continued;

The 'foot' was drilled and the bearings fixed to it. The rod was returned to the lathe and outer bearing surfaces taken to their finished profile

The excess material of the foot was removed in the mill.

IanJ · « **Reply #28 on:** October 08, 2017, 02:49:18 pm »

Con-rods now finished; I opted to cross drill the little end whilst the shaft was still at its 5/16 dia. Back in the lathe the shaft was reduced in dia. & then tapered. The last task was to machine flats on the little end & add bushes. Next, I am going to make a start on the cylinder head, which again is a gun-metal casting.

bfgstew · « **Reply #29 on:** October 08, 2017, 10:58:26 pm »

Wonderful example of model engineering.....needs to go in the masterclass section.
Look forward to next update Ian.

Stewart

IanJ · « **Reply #30 on:** October 09, 2017, 06:00:46 pm »

Stewart,

Thanks for your kind words

Ian

IanJ · « **Reply #31 on:** October 11, 2017, 02:02:59 pm »

My first task in machining the cylinder head was to 'face' the top & bottom in order to provide a surface for marking-out. With regard the height of the casting it has plenty of 'meat' & is well over size. It is necessary however to mark-out heights from the mid-way point to ensure that depths (including the thickness of the column lugs) remain proportional.
When it comes to the locations of the bores & support columns however, the width & length of the casting is a little tight. It took a number of attempts find the centre lines from which to locate the bores & column drillings. Columns locations were drilled & using the same drill, bore pilot holes were drilled.
The head was mounted in the 4 jaw chuck and centred using the pilot hole/dead centre/dti. It was my intention to drill each bore, then bore out. I could also facing off to final depth. On starting the lathe however, the out of balance vibration caused by the combination of the off-centre head and the extended jaw was considerable. A solution would have been to mount the head on a face plate & fit a counter balance weight, but I don't have one. An alternative solution would be to simply drill & ream the bores, they are only 7/16" dia. after all. My equipment is off the small model making type and my bench drill has a max capacity of 3/8' - 10mm. As such I judge it a little under size for the task that would guarantee a need hole.
My solution; back to the mill and use the small boring head I have. A bit slow having to use small cuts & fine feeds, but in the end I would hope to achieve good well aligned bores. I have an adjustable reamer that can be taken to 7/16", so may do the final finishing with that. My next post hopefully will report a successful out come!

IanJ · « **Reply #32 on:** October 13, 2017, 06:26:11 pm »

The machining of the cylinder head bores continues; Once the boring head tool was set-up with a suitable degree of side clearance at the tip of the tool both bores machined well. It was little slow, as each "cut" needs to be small, although the "feed" rate can be relatively fast until the final finishing cuts. I estimate that both bores took just under 2 hours to complete which I find acceptable. The set-up was then changed in order to take the support column lugs down to finished thickness.

The support columns themselves are a straight forward turning job. In the absence of having a tail-stock die holder for the small 5 BA die the alternative method of following up with the tail-stock barrel against the die stock was used to ensure square threads. I also 'under-cut' the last thread to ensure that the columns seat correctly onto the bed-plate. The final photo shows a trial fit of the cleaned up head in place. Steam ports & associated drillings remain to be done, although I plan to do the top & bottom head covers a long with both trunks next.

ooyah/2 · « **Reply #33 on:** October 14, 2017, 09:06:26 pm »

Hi Ian,

It's always great to get the cylinder up and mounted on it's columns, it seams to give it a bit of life, great job, well done and look forward to more progress.

George.

IanJ · « **Reply #34 on:** October 15, 2017, 01:03:37 pm »

Thanks George,

Very pleased with the end result. I chose the Marcher because of its small size (7/16 bore by 7/16 stroke) as I am looking to but it in relatively small boat. Now that I tried the cylinder head on the columns it's looking a bit bigger than I first envisioned. I may yet (as you have done) swop the bed casting for thiner bed platte. Any suggestion, from any quarter, as to a suitable open launch type hull to match an engine of this size would be most welcome.

I have made start on the top & bottom head covers along with the trunks. As these all have many common diameters & fixing holes I intend to machine them as 'group'
Will post the outcome next.

Ian

steamboatmodel · « **Reply #35 on:** October 15, 2017, 02:53:35 pm »

Hi Ian,
Are you looking for a premade hull or plans to build a wood one?
The River Queen makes a nice boat;
http://www.modelengineeringwebsite.com/River_Queen_steam_launch.html
I think the plans are available through Model Boats plans, there was also a smaller version called River Princess.
There are also some on this link;
http://www.selway-fisher.com/Steam.htm
Regards,
Gerald.

Jerry C · « **Reply #36 on:** October 15, 2017, 02:58:27 pm »

http://www.floataboat.com.au/

Have a look at S. L. Wear. It’s similar to Wide-A-Wake.
Jerry.

frazer heslop · « **Reply #37 on:** October 15, 2017, 06:51:24 pm »

Very nice work on the Marcher engine
You should be impressed once its running as they have plenty of torque for there size
My only criticism of the engine is that its a heavy little lump when finished. I made the piston valved one and had a lot of problems obtaining a good enough fit.
Been a tight wads my version was made from barstock
Shame you just dipped out on a nice wee boat kit from a fine gentleman from Scotland. Its going to have an MB22 fitted another nice little engine that is ideal for Vic Smeeds River Queen you may find Malcolm's video on utube sorry Iv not got a link
best wishes
frazer

ooyah/2 · « **Reply #38 on:** October 15, 2017, 08:58:32 pm »

Ian ,
Here is the link to Malcolm's MB22 engine , thread posted by STEAMUP on this forum http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=45093.0

AS you know I have built he Marcher Engine with Stevenson Reverse and I was quite amazed at how heavy it was on completion, I should have used a thinner base plate of 1/32" thk to keep the weight down.
Compared to a TVR engine at 1lb the Marcher engine as I have built it is 2 lbs.

Both engines are very fine runners and difficult to compare performance as I haven't had either of them in a boat for Comparison.

George.

IanJ · « **Reply #39 on:** October 16, 2017, 01:26:36 pm »

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the information. The River Queen launch is the type I am looking for. I have no desire to build a plank on frame hull as I feel I don't have the skills to do one justice. So, would prefer a moulding of some type that I can fit out.

Regards the weight of the Marcher; I think it is down to the fact that the cylinder head is such a lump in proportion to the small bores of 7/16". Nevertheless, it's nice looking engine & the first one I have made that predominantly gun-metal/brass & not cast iron. What are peoples view, part paint it or no paint?

Ian

steamboatmodel · « **Reply #40 on:** October 16, 2017, 03:05:14 pm »

Something like the Diana Steam Launch would work,
The length overall is 50" and the beam is 13", it is a bit on the beamy side, but you may want that.
http://www.hartmanmodelboats.com/
I have an ISIS model from Calder Craft, but it is a closed hull and will probably need a name change before I fit it out.
Gerald.

ooyah/2 · « **Reply #41 on:** October 16, 2017, 04:41:12 pm »

Quote from: IanJ on October 16, 2017, 01:26:36 pm

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the information. The River Queen launch is the type I am looking for. I have no desire to build a plank on frame hull as I feel I don't have the skills to do one justice. So, would prefer a moulding of some type that I can fit out.

Regards the weight of the Marcher; I think it is down to the fact that the cylinder head is such a lump in proportion to the small bores of 7/16". Nevertheless, it's nice looking engine & the first one I have made that predominantly gun-metal/brass & not cast iron. What are peoples view, part paint it or no paint?

Ian

Definitely leave it unpainted, it lets others see your excellent workmanship, I have seen many TVR's painted and in my opinion look terrible.

Only engines with Cast iron frames should be painted.

George.

KNO3 · « **Reply #42 on:** October 16, 2017, 04:53:37 pm »

Pin can both enhance and ruin the looks of an engine. It all depends on the quality. Looking at the Marcher, I think the massive cylinder block would look good painted.

IanJ · « **Reply #43 on:** October 17, 2017, 12:11:03 pm »

Next the cylinder top & bottom covers. The top covers are simple discs with a bit of detail. The bottom ones have a spigot to accommodate the piston rod stuffing box which is threaded. Identical castings are provided for both types, each having a spigot to mount in the chuck. Without this spigot it would be virtually impossible to turn the top covers as they are so thin. This spigot will be removed latter as it will provide a method of holding when drilling the fixing holes. The stuffing box spigot on the bottom covers do however provide something to get hold of. The trunk guides come as 1 piece. This is a big generous lump of gun-metal, I estimate that 4/5's of it will become swarf in the lathe tray.

IanJ · « **Reply #44 on:** October 17, 2017, 03:30:55 pm »

When comes to machining the trunk guides I opted to keep both parts together in order to have something to hold on to whilst removing a fair amount go the waste material. I took both o/d's down to finished size in turn. I then used a parting tool to partially split them into. The parting tool went a good way, I then used a hack saw for the rest. The two now independent halves were faced off to form the flange then drilled & bored almost to finished size. The final bore was then finished with an adjustable reamer to 7/16".

(There used to be a second-hand tool shop within 3/4 hours drive of me here in the West Country. It was a great place full off all manner of both engineering items & wood working tools. It was there that purchased a number of adjustable reamers[at little cost]; I knew they would come in handy one day. It always surprises me that good quality second had tools only command a such a low price. Sadly the place has now shutdown on the riremeont of the owner)

The same reamer, has remained set to 7/16" has been used to finish all of bores. i.e cylinder head & trunk guides.

IanJ · « **Reply #45 on:** October 17, 2017, 04:12:04 pm »

Top & bottom covers now complete. The trunk guides were set up in the mill vice using a ground bar to assist with alignment. A slot drill was then used to cut out the openings. The more observant my notice that one photo shows the trunk guide with the making out lines & the other, with the cutter, without makings. The reason; I completed the machining without taking a photo. So, put the item back into the vice to show the set-up. The other photos show the various item in a rotary vice for the drilling of fixings & subsequent 'spot drilling' of the head.

Next, holes remain to be drilled, tapped, studs fitted & trial fit.

steamboatmodel · « **Reply #46 on:** October 17, 2017, 06:14:41 pm »

Nice work Ian, It is amazing how much swarf is generated.
I toured an aircraft plant at one time, I was watching a large CNC Mill that when stopped a guy took a shovel and started removing the swarf. the tour guide said that was there main industry producing Swarf, Aircraft parts were a byproduct. Seeing some of the parts made I believed him, One mill they loaded a 800pd billet on and at the end removed four five pound parts. Keep producing swarf and I am sure you will find a nice engine as a byproduct.
Gerald.

derekwarner · « **Reply #47 on:** October 17, 2017, 09:20:11 pm »

Ian...this young machinist uses bronze/brass/gunmetal swarf in an earthenware pot as a bed for the Blueing of carbon steel parts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsnLVYwqESM

You could consider Blueing the support columns on your Marcher

Derek

IanJ · « **Reply #48 on:** October 18, 2017, 03:45:38 pm »

Hi Derek,

Have now decided not to paint over the gun-metal parts and give them a bit more of polish instead. Regards blueing of the MS parts; jury is still out, they also need a bit more of a polish, so see how that goes as first step.

Ian

IanJ · « **Reply #49 on:** October 23, 2017, 02:58:51 pm »

The final component of this group is the gland follower, threaded at 1/4" x 40 to match the stuffing box or gland. I then screwed each gland follower into a piece of brass bar with matching thread in order to hold then when drilling the "tommy-bar" holes prior to facing off to finished size.

Also, drilled & tapped the holes in the cylinder head for fixing studs. I always use an odd piece of material faced off & drilled with a clearance hole matching the thread to be cut that acts as guide to aid getting the threads nice & square.

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Author Topic: Marcher Build (Read 16540 times)