[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by AlphaKilo

Nice WW2 memories!

@Thad-E-Ginathom/@Jeroen: Was it normal back in those days to have a junior (Non-Commissioned officer) pilot the aircraft?

From the memoir Board put up for the crew, I see that the Flight Sergeant was the Pilot and the officer with the rank of Squadron Leader was Tail Gunner (I guess "Staartschutter" means tail gunner right?). Strange! Also, there is no second pilot. I believed the Lancasters and such big bombers always had two pilots, flight engineer, navigator and bomb dispenser along with couple of gunners.

Yes, staartschutter means tail gunner. I don’t know how normal it was. I do know that the in particular the RAF never was big on rank, certainly not during war times. If you were good at the job, you got the job, irrespective or rank.

In this particular case I believe it means it was a non commissioned officer, but still a fully qualified pilot. (often in other country airforces too). I don’t think the rank of flight sergeant exists anymore. Non commissioned officers are still around and to date can and do hold very senior post in the military. I know, as my brother in law, used to be a non commissioned officer in the RAF and he was a real hot shot in his particular area of expertise

The Lancaster flew (mostly) with a single pilot. In fact most Lancasters did not even have dual controls! Lancaster standard crew was 7, pilot, navigator, bomb aimer, flight engineer, wireless operator, mid gunner and rear gunner.

Of course, it was simple math; Pilots were scarce, so one pilot per plane made sense. Also, these were relative short missions. 2-4 hours all the way to Germany and back again.

Flight engineers and navigators were sometimes cross trainend. The saying was that flight engineers were failed pilots. Whereas that is probably not true, many flight engineers would be able to control the aircraft. However, landing a Lancaster without experience would be quite the feat I imagine.

In the end, it is a case of making best use of scarce resources I guess.

Jeroen

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by AlphaKilo

Nice WW2 memories!

@Thad-E-Ginathom/@Jeroen: Was it normal back in those days to have a junior (Non-Commissioned officer) pilot the aircraft?

We are not that old

But Jeroen (the younger) seems to have learnt this history: I did not. And my father, being a journalist, was "reserved occupation," So only served in the Home Guard (Dad's Army, as made famous by the BBC). My mum worked on ambulances in and around Birmingham, picking up people, dead and alive, in whole and in pieces, after the air raids.

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

But you'll need a four jaw chuck.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Yes, but I don’t have one. I will be using the lath on the cylinder, even as it has an offset, but that actually works ok in the three jaw chuck as you will see soon!

Originally Posted by Sutripta

I think whoever drew up the plans for this steam engine dimensioned it so that all work could be done on a 3 jaw chuck! Won't be so lucky always!

Originally Posted by Jeroen

All the drawings are here:

And in the drawings is mentioned that designed to be manufacturable using a 3 jaw chuck!

Sutripta

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

And in the drawings is mentioned that designed to be manufacturable using a 3 jaw chuck!

I am so lucky!

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

A pretty productive day here at the Spijk Steam Engine Company, Wobble.

Re-did the bearing first thing. Good thing I buggered it, because when I checked it again I also had got the dimension wrong. Reading technical drawings is not going well.

Even so, the bearing came out wel. Although I am still not happy with how the drill hole looked after reaming. Followed all the tips from buddies on the model building forum, but I am still left with some grooves. Other than that, a very good fit.



Getting ready to dril the holes in the little flange. Very precise. This automatic centre punch is the best tool I have ever bought in my entire life. I kid you not!



Pretty good, bearing assembly all ready:



Little trial fitting and ensuring the main axle turns smoothly.



Next, the biggest and most complex job: The complete piston assembly with connecting rod and bearing.



It took my quite some time to get this far. And the further you get, the more cautious you get. That connecting rod is 4mm diameter. Easy to snap when cutting into it.

End result still on the lathe





Not shown, the piston that went into the parts bin. Because, again, I read the dimension on the drawing wrong. Luckily, relatively speaking, I noticed pretty early on.

The final piston, connecting rod and bearing assembly, all made out of one piece of brass!



Put the various components together to get a feel for how it looked and worked together. Also, I need it assembled to figure out where to drill the in- and outlet ports in the frame.



I used the make shift, modified paperclip, marker to put the correct marking on the frame, when the cilinder, with the piston is in its extreme position.





Next I drilled the outlet port right through and the inlet about 2/3 into the frame.
This is how I solved the problems with the incorrect holes at the top. I just aligned the frame and the drill bit by eye. Drilling down the thread hole into the inlet port. Worked a treat!



Bit more fiddling, a few more holes to be drilled and tapped into the frame to mount the bearing and I was ready for my first assembly. Still missing is the correct pivot nut. For now just an ordinary nut. And also the flywheel needs to be fixed properly. Which will mean drilling through and treading for a grub screw.







Each component on its own runs smoothly, but all together it is not so great. I also noticed that there is probably too much play on the piston versus the caliber.

Once I had the piston ready I noticed that the cilinder boring was not that great. Fine and precise at the bottom, but toward the top the diameter increases. I must get to grips with this drilling and reaming.

Even so, it looks pretty neat. So still the pivot nut to do, the grub screw in the fly wheel and to get it running properly!!

Tomorrow (Sunday) is going to be a nice day. So in the morning I will be out on my bicycle, in the afternoon, I will be taking my wife for a blast in the Spider along the rivers and dikes.

Jeroen

[Thad E Ginathom]

This automatic centre punch is the best tool I have ever bought in my entire life. I kid you not!

Told you!

It is nice to see your little machine coming together and looking like a machine now.

If I ever do get back into some metalwork and into some machining, reading drawings and working with dimensions is the scary thing for me. I notice that the really good people that I watch on youtube have two essential abilities: the first is being very comfortable with numbers, including ease of handling decimal/fraction and metric/imperial. The second is 3d visualisation.

[Jeroen]

The weather was not particularly great, so I did a lot of fiddling in my workshop, rather than going out. So excellent progress over the weekend as you will see:

First thing, the special nut for the cylinder pivot:



Got to use my knurling tool for the fist time:



Not so sure how they want me to change the little wheels? I have got 6 different wheel with as many different patterns. Probably need to knock out the little pin? Weird.



Had to do some tapping and I made use of my, what else, home made tap follower, obviously!!!



Looks good, not shown here, but the spring fits perfectly around the recess on the nut.



Next the grub screw for the fly wheel. Which meant drilling a hole top to bottom.

Just align the fly wheel in the vice with the drill bit :

Obviously, used my fancy auto-punch. Then centre drilled it, then 2 mm drill, a 3.3mm drill (M4) and 2/3 in with a 5,5mm so the M-4 tap could go in:









Tapping of the thread all the way deep down at the bottom of that hole!



Special little grub screw at the ready:



Perfect, that will hold the fly wheel in place:



Smallest part I made, the air connection. Needed M4 thread, a knurly bit and a bit to put the air tube on:







With all the parts ready, I spend about an hour cleaning up my workshop. Next I sat down with all the parts.



Final inspection, some more polishing, some more cleaning. I spend about an hour getting the moving part to run smoothly using some polish paste. I also spray painted the base plate.

Here is the result:









The last week I was getting concerned whether the Wobbler would run properly. But it runs perfectly! Even at quite slow speeds, starts by itself (obviously piston in the starting position) and it goes like the clappers when you give it the beans.

So without any further ado: Wobbly the movie, the making of!

Many thanks for your continuous encouragement and suggestions!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AOOzyGWwzk&t=1s

[Thad E Ginathom]

Great! Congratulations

I live the JJ Cale song, but are you ok for copyright using it? YouTube is strict on that stuff.

Looking forward to seeing the video properly when I go to the pc

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I live the JJ Cale song, but are you ok for copyright using it? YouTube is strict on that stuff.

Looking forward to seeing the video properly when I go to the pc

I am a huge JJ Cale fan! I have got all his records/CDs. I keep them on my iTune account as well and my iPods in the various cars. Best “on the road” type of music, happily cruising along!

So at least I own a legal CD with this song, so I dare say I am allowed to use it too. What I have found is that the music might not be audible in certain regions of the world. So somehow Youtube might filter it, we will see.

Jeroen

[Thad E Ginathom]

I'm a huge fan too.

So at least I own a legal CD with this song, so I dare say I am allowed to use it too.

Not in public, no. Not on the internet, no.

I think it is a huge success for your first machine to run, and run smoothly! Well done!

What's next?

Later...

Nice video. Hey, nice credits, too. And I'm sure from your wife's reaction, that that that bigger lathe will soon be in the shop. Thank you very much for sharing the project

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I live the JJ Cale song, but are you ok for copyright using it?

In the spirit of DIY, Jeroen can sing (karaoke!) it himself. Or a mashup of two lines each from a number of different songs.

The feeling of satisfaction one gets when something one has mase with ones own hands cannot be described. Not just the stean engine, but the video too!

Sutripta

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Many thanks for your continuous encouragement and suggestions!

https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=-AOOzyGWwzk&t=1s

Went through the full video. Thanks for the plug!

It would have been great if you could have shown how you marked out the three hole centres for the cylinder endcap, and the bearing. Doing it accurately is not easy. Do they fit in all positions?

Also intrigued by how you managed to drill a hole at an angle where an existing hole was already drilled. That is a trick I'd like to know.

Sutripta

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

It would have been great if you could have shown how you marked out the three hole centres for the cylinder endcap, and the bearing. Doing it accurately is not easy. Do they fit in all positions?

Also intrigued by how you managed to drill a hole at an angle where an existing hole was already drilled. That is a trick I'd like to know.

Have a look at how the author of the plan/instructions did it:

http://www.steves-workshop.co.uk/ste...cap/endcap.htm

He just left it in the chuck, and used a level to get even spacing. (Another reason why the three chuck jaw worked well!)

I did not have a level, but I used a very similar approach. I just did it all by eye only. So I just used my auto-punch just below each chuck jaw! Worked out fine. Drilled the hole with my mini mill. Although the holes are not exactly 120o apart. Which means they can be fitted in one position to fit only as otherwise the holes don’t line up. But looking at them you would never know they are not evenly spaced!

Drilling that hole at an angle was a bit of gamble, I must admit. I just lined up the frame as per the image and tried. Drill went in no problem. Here is my guess: the bottom of the drill was shaped in the typical v-form of the original drill bit. With the frame at an angle one side of the V must be almost horizontal and thus almost perpendicular.

Worked out fine this time, but I would not recommend it as standard operating procedure. But it was worth a try. The worse what could happen is break the drill bit. If I could not get it out, I would have to redo the frame, which would not have a big job either. I have brass stock to the same exact dimensions.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

As I am looking for a next little project, I am also checking on how to build a steam boiler. Now I knew that even certain "hobby boilers” might require formal certification. Somewhere deep in my memory the phrase “anything above 3 bar” was stuck.

So I found a dedicated Steam Model Building Group nearby in Rotterdam. Obviously, these guys know what they are talking about. Just follow the below diagram and all requirements, tests, calculations, certifications, material will become clear to you. (all in Dutch, but you will get the gist of it)

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Although the holes are not exactly 120o apart. Which means they can be fitted in one position to fit only as otherwise the holes don’t line up.

Actually what I wanted to know.

But looking at them you would never know they are not evenly spaced!

So made in India/ China!

the bottom of the drill was shaped in the typical v-form of the original drill bit. With the frame at an angle one side of the V must be almost horizontal and thus almost perpendicular.

I'm still surprised/ perplexed.

Sutripta