THE TORONTO SOCIETY OF MODEL ENGINEERS
VOL 34 No.7
MARCH 2004 THE MODELLER
Winter ain’t over yet – according to Wiarton Willy it will go on until mid March – at least !! That’s a good enough reason to get out and come down to the next TSME meeting: Please drive with care on you way here and join your fellow members for the March 2004 meeting. We hope to see you there on:
FRIDAY 12 MARCH 2004 AT 8.00pm, at 1001 QUEEN STREET WEST, TORONTO
Don’t forget to pay your $2.00 parking fee and to leave the ticket on the dash !
WE CONTINUE IN OUR 70th YEAR – IN THIS EVENING’S PROGRAM, YOU MAY EXPECT TO HEAR FROM:
BERT deKAT will explain how to attach a Thermocouple Control for your furnace, also a Dividing Head for a Myford lathe.
DON CARR will talk about the swing Links for his Hudson locomotive,
RICHARD TROUNCE will show the Whistle for his Boston and Albany loco, and also talk about Superheaters – part 2,
LLOYD HALL will explain how to keep your lathe warm during the winter months,
JOE FOSTER is going to talk about Lost wax castings,
ROBERT WYSS will talk about an EDM machine to the “Langois” design
JIM SMALL will talk about the techniques of pouring aluminum
DAVE POWELL has a 2 ½” gauge loco to show that he has recently acquired.
There will also be a Question and answer session – so get yours ready !!
IF YOU HAVE A PROJECT YOU ARE CURRENTLY WORKING ON, or recently finished – please bring it along and we will certainly do all we can to fit your item into this program.
2003/2004 DUES:
Please send your dues - $30.00 in to DAVE POWELL, if you haven’t yet paid yours. Or give him your cheque or cash at the next meeting. Dave is acting for Treasurer Allan Gouldburn for the moment.
WHAT’S UP & COMING : MEETING DATES 12 Mar, 9 April, 14 May, 11 June
Views
of Our City: 1854 – 1938. March 4 to May 4. Trace the changing face
of
March Break: March 7 to March 16. Daily 10.00am to 4.00pm. Activities, games, and family fun.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT – THE FEBRUARY MEETING – with many thanks again to DAVID BANHAM for recording these:
DAVE SAGE showed a single throw marine engine crankshaft for an Arcadia Gas Engine he rebuilt. The crankshaft was machined on the lathe; the throw was set up using blocks to carry the main shaft while machining the crank between the webs. The blocks were machined as a matched pair on the milling machine to ensure the correct throw. Dave offered the following process for quick and effective rust removal, which was required to clean up parts of the crankshaft. Dissolve Arm & Hammer Washing Soda in water or use CLR cleaner. Put solution in a container and use a battery charger to polarize the part to be cleaned. Put the negative lead on the part, the positive part on a sacrificial steel plate, five to ten minutes should see the part thoroughly cleaned!
TIM HILL showed his novel stationary vertical steam engine from a design in 'Steam and Sterling Engines You Can Build - Volume 2'. Tim stated that it was very fiddly to build, required very careful machining, and the engine runs very well, but only in one direction. The engine was run and made a lot of hissing and aspiration noises, which was not surprising when Tim explained the unique piston and valve arrangement!
DAVE POWELL described and showed how he machined a cylinder for his traction engine utilizing a converted locomotive cylinder casting. Due to a minor problem drilling the steam ports, Dave decided to line the cylinder with a bronze liner. Dave also showed the rear wheel rims for the engine which were turned out of thick wall pipe and involved 'an awful lot of machining'. Dave also showed a drill sharpening jig for small drills from 'Workshop Hints and Tips' edited by Vic Smeed (the book is in the TSME library!). Dave stated that rather than using a hand stone to hone the drill edges he used his belt sander.
JOHN CHAPPELL gave an interesting talk on production jigs necessary to build many Christmas Gifts of a mechanical nature. The gift was a combination lock built into a puzzle. Female and male dies were made by first shaping the female die and then filing very carefully the male die to just fit within a couple of thou the female die. Registration holes and pins were added to ensure the die parts aligned. Also the dies were riveted to aluminum backing plates using soft copper rivets. John also showed a trepanning tool for cutting thin disks using a blade shaped like an Exacto knife. Other ideas included cutting out parts held between oak blocks using a linisher to shape the parts.
JIM SMALL showed a video on casting. The video showed the process from preparing the foundry sand, molding, removing the pattern from the mold, creating the risers and venting, preparing the melt, skimming the slag from the hot metal, pouring and breaking out the casting. Jim showed a cast brake cylinder.
BILL HUXHOLD showed and ran his compound vertical marine engine, which has a HP cylinder of 0.7" and LP of 0.5" diameter, each with a 0.5" stroke. Bill noted that the cylinder block had about 140 holes drilled in it, most of them tapped. Bill had some difficulty getting the little engine to run. After making a new crankshaft and changing the lap on the valves, he realized the problem was the safety valves in the cylinder head covers. Bill is currently working on a vertical Weir boiler feed pump to go with the engine. Bill passed around a hollow mill made from a HSS drill blank, the hollow center was drilled out with a reground carbide masonry drill and the flutes were cut out using a small carbide cutter. The mill was then sharpened on his T&C Grinder.
ANDY WOJTECZKO showed some machined suspension parts for a race car he is building. Based on a Porsche 944 Turbo engine and body the car is for competition racing. Rubber bushed parts in ball joints are replaced with metal on metal bushings for stiffer more predictable handling. Machining of the parts was done by CNC milling. AutoCAD was used for the drawings and Master CAM was used for generating the G code.
ALAN MEE showed a gear hobbing attachment for a Myford lathe. The gear hob cutter is mounted between centers and the gear blank is rotated using a drive from the lead screw. By using change wheels in the normal manner, the blank and the hob can be easily synchronized. For each rotation of the hob a new gear tooth on the blank is presented to the hob for cutting. Depth of cut is controlled via the cross slide and position of the blank is managed using the Myford vertical slide. Alan explained the math for selecting the change wheels to synchronize the lead screw and hob. Hob cutters were home made using drill rod.
SOME MORE TIPS:
Haide’s Law: If you have a difficult task to do then give it to a lazy man – he will find an easy way to do it.
Herlock’s Law: If it’s good, they will discontinue it.
Leo Beiser’s First Computer Law: When putting something into memory, remember where you put it.
Greer’s Third Law: A computer program does what you tell it to do, not what you want it to do.
Donlap’s Law of Physics: Fact is solidified opinion. Facts may weaken under extreme heat and pressure. Truth is elastic.
FOR
FOR FREE from RICHARD TROUNCE. 2 original IBM PC’s (ones without hard drive) – still working. A/C window unit, 20,000 BTU – still works.
WANTED: by DON CARR. A copy of the “Model Maker” Magazine of January 1939. Don is looking for an article on how to make ¾” scale driving wheel patterns. Also wanted is some 3/32” dia steel rod.
WANTED: by ROBIN COLLARD.. Thread Dial Indicator for South Bend Bench lathe, Model ‘A’.
WANTED: by RON MELVIN. Any back issues of “Strictly I.C.”
WANTED by DEREK O’DELL:. 4” Rotary Table
FOR SALE: Contact HENK HOOGEVEEN.. Heavy Duty work Bench, 6ft long x 34” high x 32 deep
WELCOME NEW MEMBER: No one this month.