3" Burrell Traction Engine build.

 Ai Mark II Channel. (Created with chat GPT)  Yes really Ai into the workshop we go. Progress on the Motion Work: A Step Closer to the Finished Engine Hello again, fellow builders and enthusiasts! The past few weeks have seen a continuation of work on the motion components of the 3" Burrell traction engine. After tackling the weigh-shaft bracket, it was time to move on to another vital part of the engine's motion work: the Die block and finally revisit crankshaft. Crankshaft Fabrication and Challenges The crankshaft is one of the most critical components of the engine, and creating it to the correct specifications has been both exciting and challenging. I started by sourcing a high-quality cast Iron casting that matched the original drawings. The initial task was to turn down the material to the desired diameter while maintaining tight tolerances. I made sure to take my time with this step, as it’s easy to go too fast and risk losing the precision needed for the subsequent...

 3" Burrell motion work - Part 2 Continued from last month the motion parts are starting to come together a certain amount of fettling has been necessary and now we are on the final part the die block. I decided to make this in bronze as I had a piece well suited to the job and by making use of some scrap SS bar I had in the workshop have been able to machine the almost invisible curve on the part. Its also nice to be making use of the rotary table I bought some time ago for an application its well suited to.  Until Next month, stay safe, make swarf and be the best you can be!

  Some BSA Bike messing a-bout's Aside from making the traction engine, model railways, ammeter radio, snooker, computing, playing Ukulele in a band and a host of other activities. We have been rust-orating and old bike that belonged to my father. Basically it hadn't run for say 45+ years we bought a few bits sorted a stuck exhaust valve and bingo after some effort it started. The plan it to do my CBT test and A licence so we could take part in next years "Distinguished Gentlemen's Ride". More to follow if this happens but a few picture's of the progress below shows the extent of the restoration.   Until Next month, stay safe, make swarf and be the best you can be!

  3" Burrell motion work Work started a few weeks ago on the weigh-shaft bracket, a tricky casting to deal with. I made a start by centre drilling both ends for the shaft and then made up a difficult setup in the milling machine to try to hold it square for drilling horizontally. This worked to a certain degree, basically the length means any miss alignment is amplified massively but within a reasonable tolerance I completed it.  I was then able to turn one end a bit, to stop it looking like an egg. I'm reasonably happy with it, certainly there are probably more out there that look like mine, and maybe some in the bin. I guess if a complete disaster happened it would not be too much trouble to cut the casting up and machine a truly round centre tube and silver solder it back onto the original, to save the day as it not a cheap casting to mess up.        The alignment process prior to drilling   Often I believe the setup's are as important as the r...

Some non Burrell messing a-bout's In an older time, model glow engines use to career around a pond near me, and lots of fun was to be had running model power boats, on the purpose built lake. In this day and age, all has been spoilt by the noise police, and the impact on the Canadian goose, so they are now free to mess the pool up! As a throw back to the good old days, here is one of my cheapest engines purchased at a car boot sale for £1.50; and successfully ran in a small boat mostly on Sundays.  These were taken after some freeing up of the piston, and a quick test run confirms its a animal 20,000 + rpm using old sport 40 fuel.  So why?  Well one of the reasons why I started to make the traction engine was because I had come to the end of messing about with petrol engines, and the fact that IC engines were also banned. An alternative plan was decided upon, making use of the skills and machines I have. It was just a small distraction in (January 2025) to run one or two ...

  3" Burrell motion work (Year 6)! Happy New Year !! - Well its been a while since my last post and with the festivities over attention can be turned to the progress since last time. To say that a break was taken from machining is not strictly correct, as often a small amount is squeezed in to keep it ticking over. This casting, the Way-shaft bracket was actually received just before Christmas, but is intended for my birthday in February, also its currently December, as I'm writing this, ready for next year therefore  ignoring the opening statement. Confused yet? well here we are still building the Burrell and we are into year 6 !     Finally I made a decision with the lifting links they were basically too short, another builder pointed out on the Burrell builder site on Facebook. That he had the same trouble 20 years ago, I stupidly though as my drawings were the latest version from Bridport foundry that known mistakes from 20 years ago would have been correcte...