3" Burrell Traction Engine build.

  Burrell Traction Engine - Door Hinge and other bits It has been a while since I posted an update but work carries on, I didn't have much to show still faffing with the door and names. However, the door hinge was easier than I thought, after cutting it out and careful filling I simply bent it around a length of silver steel as used for the hinge pin. I did have problems with the angle of the door on the outer edge, as any angle causes the hinge to not sit flat at the ends. This has been rectified partly by machining the outer edge to 4 degrees but it is still working progress. Other Works. In the shed is an oxyacetylene set I bought years ago from a car boot sale and hardly used. I was informed that bronze brazing is one way of welding cast iron parts and so with this in mind, I'm going to renew the perished rubber hoses and use this in anger for the first time. The first job is to potentially weld (Braze) the towing bracket onto the perch casting wit...

   Burrell Traction Engine - Milling machine power feed. Some years ago my father designed and made a power feed for the Centec 2A milling machine, this used a small geared sail winch style 12volt motor. It engages with a dog clutch and can drive forward and backward's one direction by a gear drive, slow speed for milling and chain drive in reverse a lower gear so high return speed.  My father being a mechanical engineer was unable to use it in anger and so never connected it up to a supply. I remember he tried to make a speed controller using a Triac circuit out of a Maplins book but it was not finished. Since I had spare a bench power supply with variable voltage and current 0-30 volts, 0 - 3Aamps  I decided to connect it up and after some oil, I was milling with my hands in my pockets. Door Latch The door latch required 2 pieces of mild steel milled to the correct thickness and as I had a nice piece of slightly oversize MS, I u...

   Burrell Traction Engine, Castings for my Birthday As my birthday is fast approaching (2/Feb) it seems like a great time to get a couple of small parts on order from your local Burrell Traction engine foundry supplier. Since I'm trying to make all the front end parts, it seems apt to order the chimney base foundation ring and the chimney cowl, a posh one cast solid in bronze.  (More front end weight!!) After contacting Bridport I received a photo so I could see what it looks like. They are really helpful and I am pleased with the help and support especially as the engine is going to take some time to build. Clearly it's important to get good continued support when undertaking a project of this scale. Looking forward to hours of polishing this up to get a good finish......

  Burrell Traction - Engine, Castings for Christmas Some progress made over Christmas but not as much as I would have liked, man flu struck and prevented me also the festivities meant a rest was long overdue.  I couldn't resist balancing some of the new parts for a photo with the help of my son (the hand of God helping).  Well hopefully with the new year and parts, I can start to make all these new parts hold together by themselves.