Bit of a rubbish time really.

Don't worry about the driving dog since this was the first casting and I intend to make a pattern updated to take account of lessons during construction. The idea is that the motor will be engaged and released by use of a lever to slide the whole motor head in and out.  A picture or two should help understand....

Work continued on the pair of patterns for the Seal engine. I am now at the stage of painting to get a good finish. To help me I use two different spray colours so I can see clearly the areas I am covering. This works well and after making a few more adjustments, seen because of the paint finish, I am not to far away from finishing these patterns befre casting some to see what lessons I can learn in pattern making.

Whilst I will need to dust off the furnace I thought it would be sensible to complete all the different project patterns making best use of the furnace time. I must admit to being a little surprised at just how many different jobs on the go (or waiting for me to cast the part). These include a pen stand to display the pens I make (I hope to try a local Saturday craft fair in Brixham soon), a casting of the 3 pronged bracket to run the power feed to the milling table project (I will try first to use the metal part it will mate with before seeing if I need to make a wooden one) and a more substantial table for my Clarke bandsaw (for use when operating vertically).

I am quite happy I have the system of melting the alluminum sorted now but am not so sure about my patterns but the only way to find out is using them. We shall see. I expect to use the furnace the end of this week if I am lucky so watch this space.

When phoning Hemingway's, the supplier of Westbury's Seal castings I found out that whilst Edgar T Westbury designed the engine to work in either direction, no patterns for the 'other' way exist. So I am making a couple of patterns to cast the two parts needed. This is my first attempt to produce patterns to the quality required so it is interesting to say the least.

I have started by looking at the plans and comparing the existing castings to them. Remembering to allow for shrinkage and having the sides sloping, I made a start by tracing the outline then reversing onto wood and rubbing the reverse side, transferring the shape seen in the photo below. One the outline was done it was over to the fretsaw and cutting outside the line the basic pattern produced.

My next stage is to use filler to get the shape I want before spraying in one colour, sanding/filling then spraying in a different one to get as good a finish as I can. Of course the final test will be when they are cast.

Whilst I was at the fretsaw I also cut out some templates to make a set of pen stand patterns. So sometime next week I hope to fire up the furnace. Lots to do but its a start and its working on the Seal. Will post more tomorrow hopefully.

Perhaps I am thawing to wood? Perhaps though its just habit? Anyway the toys are finished and whilst not proud of the quality hopefully she will enjoy them, safety paint and all!

The first toy I made was a puzzle and the only enjoyment was making the aluminium knobs, but Freya loves playing with it so that makes it all worth while.

However, the wooden box I am making at the moment with animals and shapes to push through corresponding holes, is not going well. The main problem has been painting. I decided to paint the inside of the box by painting the panels before assembly. Freya, like all infants likes to put parts into her mouth so all have to be a certain size and the finish must be safe! After searching the internet and eBay I found a supplier and bought pots of 6 acrylic child safe colours.

I decided that I would first sand, then paint with an undercoat, sand again then spray paint the acrylic. However the finish I was getting was poor in coverage, so I decided to dispense with the spray gun and use a brush instead. That's when I discovered that the problem did not lay with my many different mixtures of paint when spraying, but the paint itself is poor in covering even when using a brush.

Now the paragraph above is a shirt one but covered many hours of work! I decided to see if my local hardware store had any other types of paint that was child safe and surprisingly they did. It is called Plasti-kote fast dry enamel paint. I decided to also purchase a soft saple brush to apply it.

On return, after sanding back the previous work with the new Black and Decker Mouse sander I decided to apply a coat with a brush first since it takes a while to clean up the spray gun (and I didn't know how it would spray) and whilst it was in direct sunlight, was disappointed with the finish achieved. So it was sanded flat yet again and the spray gun got ready.

Earlier in the morning I decided to make up a 'lazy susan' (revolving table) using a bearing I had for some time. A couple of pieces of mdf were marked out using my chain method. Simple put I use a chain secured at the center with a screw and then one link is chosen and a pencil is placed in the link and the circle drawn. Good enough for a non critical dimension and it works. Once the pieces were marked it was over to the fretsaw and the circles cut out.

With the first attempt at a thinned mix, I was pleased at last to see good coverage! So at last I could move on and complete the inside part of the box. Additionally, the 'lazy susan' worked tremendously well and I only wish I had made one years ago! It is so flexible and helps spraying a part no end and it only cost a few pounds.

Hopefully now progress can be made and the box finished. With a set of blocks completed earlier in the morning, this is the last wooden toy to be made for a while. I am designing a motorised vehicle but I suspect I have 12 months to make that before Freya can use it. I intend to have it electric powered and flexible enough to allow the chassis to mount different bodies. That will be a project I will have no problem in enjoying though!

Whilst I may well have bought it cheaper elsewhere I picked one up as the need was for a solution now. The sander is a nice fit when working with the main sanding papers but I found it more awkward when using just the nose extension piece, but to be fair that my have just been the position I needed to be in when sanding the square hole.

Its performance however, was excellent and I could not have managed to sand the square without the mouse sander. Also I like the way they have produced the main sanding sheets with two outside tabs. These when removed are used to replace the nose part of the sanding body so extending greatly the durability of sanding time since the nose area can get greater use than the main body at times. So well done for that nice little touch.

Overall for £27.99, the sander is good value for money and a very versatile tool for small scale sanding, exactly what I wanted. I have no doubt it will prove very useful over the coming years.

My reason for replacing is the poor alignment I made when boring the seating s for the valve inserts and really came to light when inspecting it for the first time in over 18 months. On a positive note my skill level must have improved (it couldn't have been worse!) as shown with the second and later casting for the other engine.

Whilst talking to Kirk Burwell (very approachable man)from Hemingway's about the handing of timing cover and backplate castings Kirk confirmed these do not exist and suspects its because there isn't a lot of call for them so it looks like I shall be doing a little pattern making in the near future!

I am hoping that next week I can return to metal work instead of wood! However time always seems to be less available than the projects to be done. Watch this space!

In happier times -before cutting the seats for the valves poorly.

That's when my memory kicked in and I remembered the ball nose cutters I have and one was in the correct size of 0.250". A quick check of the radius showed it to be near enough so my previously turned valve guide was mounted in the chuck and when considering how to get to depth the second part of my memory decided to wake up. I have a clamp that I attach to the tailstock and then use a DTI, secured to a small magnetic base, to rest against the clamp so ensuring complete accuracy with depth. Why I didn't use it yesterday for the tappets I do not know!!!

I did not use the ball nose milling cutter directly on the valve guide but drilled it out first just undersized and using the cutter to clean up and cut the bottom radius.

Another plan issue showed itself yesterday when completing the two camshaft bushes. Neither the article or the plans show the angle of the oil holes required in both bushes.  Nor does it give the diameter of the hole.

My solution was to use the new digital angle ruler bought from Axminster tools on the plan (see photo). This gave a reading of 33 degrees and measuring the plan showed the hole size o be 1/16".  I had a bit of a blonde moment however when working out how best to drill the hole and its chamfered entrance. I thought the best was would be to use my Proxxon drill and stand. So I set the head over to 33 degrees and yes I know you will know but when depressing the stand of course it goes only directly up and down!

Blushing I got out my angle vice and after setting the digital angle meter to zero on the base of the drill stand, I adjusted the vice to the required angle and form then on it was simple.

The next session should see most of the valve guides for this first engine completed. After that as soon as the 1.8mm drills arrive I can complete the two nuts required for each valve before carrying out a new experience for me, case hardening the tappets and nuts. I will cover the experience in a separate section of the website as I have had some advice from a member of the forum I use.

If you don't know it then I can highly recommend the Home Model Engine Machinist forum, especially if you are a novice as they are both approachable and knowledgeable.

As always here are a few photo's that may help explain my ramblings.....

So after completing the valves the next items I was going to tackle was the two 1/4" hex nuts per valve. That was until I found I didn't have a suitable drill for the tapping. According to my charts I needed a 1.8mm No. 50 or 0.0709" drill. When going to my numbers drill box the only one missing is ............yep No. 50. So that job was put to one side and instead I decided to make the two camshaft bushes. The first went well enough and was reamed 0.250" and was pleased when it fits the camshaft nicely.

The second bush however produced another problem when checking the main block casting. This one was bought second and had some work done by the previous owner. All the work when checked previously was of a high standard, however the two holes bored previously were not the same. One, the timing end was spot on but the second was slightly oval! So worked stopped on the bush because it will need to be oversized, and the casting set up on my angle plate on the mill and the hole bored circular. When the finished 'round' hole was measured the bush will need to be some 35 thou oversize.

I can't see this will cause any problems yet, but will keep my fingers crossed.  I will be using some hardening powder for both the nuts and the tappets, for the first time so that will be interesting. I have had it for a couple of years now and never used it before so if anyone has any tips additional to the 'normal' instructions I have, that would be very helpful.