On one visit to my local scrap yard I was fortunate enough pick up a large diameter piece of scrapped brass. It had one problem, which I guess is why it was put into some factories scrap skip, a large cut on part of the bar, but fortunately it had enough unaffected to match the 2 ½” diameters needed for the flywheels.
Brass from my local scrap yard
The first task was to decide a machining procedure for the flywheels and after a little thought I decided that I would make a centre mark and scribe a 2 ½” diameter circle in the available space on the brass bar. This mark would be used to centre the brass in the 4 jaw chuck by using a centre drill in the tailstock, using the pressure from the tail stock to hold the brass in position on the 4 jaw chuck.
Using the tailstock to centre the brass blank in the 4 jaw chuck
I will then face off the blank and turn the outside to a round shape before centre boring the cavity which forms the rear of the flywheel. Once this is done the blank will be removed and then use the 4 jaw chuck to hold onto the inside of the cavity, the front part of the flywheel will be turned and finished to shape. The final diameter however will not be completed until the flywheel is held on a mandrel running between centres as per Westbury’s suggestions, to get the flywheel turned accurate enough to eliminate wobble when used on the engine for real. Well that was/is the plan.
To save me some effort without producing mountains of swarf, I used the new bandsaw to cut away as much as was safe from the scrapped lump. This blank was then taken to the 4 jaw and I decided it would be safer to reverse the jaws when holding the rough blank. They would be reversed again when the cavity is produced.
The blank was set up as per my machining plan and the first cuts made to the outside and this is where I decided that enough was enough. The next session will see the continuation of the turning of the outside until round before facing and then boring out the rear cavity of the flywheel. Look back and see the progress
Progress so far on turning the first of two flywheels for the Seal engine
About Mike Freeman
Hello, my name is Mike Freeman and I am a retired Chief Fire Officer from the United Kingdom with a keen interest in model engineering, silver caddy spoons and sea fishing. I live in the pretty fishing port of Brixham, South Devon, in the United Kingdom.
I am a sufferer of degenerative osteoarthritis, which impacts on the amount of time I can spend in the workshop, and is the reason why you will see seats and a stool in some of the photo's. I have only recently added the above sentence after a discussion with one of my Doctor's from the excellent pain clinic, based in Torbay. This does affect concentration one of the reasons why I double then re-double my measurements and set ups.
Before completing nearly 30 years of public service I and my wife Sandy, owned and ran, a small restaurant in Okehampton Devon. Prior to marriage I worked for my father in his various businesses, in the early days these were garages, which he bought in a run down state, then built them up before moving on, to start again.
I took every opportunity in those early days, to work in his workshop's
learning 'on the job' rather than as an apprentice. This, I suspect, is the reason why my building various model's in the early days, turned into model engineering, when funds allowed the required equipment to be bought.
My workshop comprises one half of a detached double garage. It has a
stud wall separating the two halves and unusually perhaps, its own
shower/toilet/washbasin compartment! (the true reason for buying the
bungalow - don't tell the wife!!!)
It is fully insulated with a ceiling and fluorescent lighting supplementing the one window. Several double electrical sockets are dotted around in
relevant positions.
Equipment consists of 2 lathes (1 Myford ML 10 and 1 Chinese variable
speed motor with etched glass DRO's), 1 milling machine (RF25 far East) floor standing pillar drill, Proxxon bandsaw, Warco bandsaw, 6" wire brush and polishing mop motor, 6" coarse and fine grinder, Proxxon mini drill, various benches and an engineers vice. I have just acquired a third lathe, a Myford ML7 which I am at present evaluating so I can decide which of the Myford's I will keep.
I have only just bought the Chinese lathe and had it fitted with DRO's prior to delivery. And what a bonus they are! So good in fact that I decided to buy another set for the Milling machine. Whilst my engineering experience can only be described as limited, I find the use of DRO's has affected my accuracy levels which have improved tremendously (although that's not saying much!) and would recommend their fitting to any model engineer.
Prior to retirement I built for my son's 17th birthday a Locost car. This
was a tremendous project and a great feeling when it passed its test. The book it was based on suggests it can be built for £250. Ours was nothing special in the sense of all new parts but still cost about £900 to build!
